Free A Wedding Quilt for Ella by Jerry S. Eicher

were allowed. The apostle James said, ‘Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.’” He had quoted the verse in German, making the matter sound even more serious.
    Stutzman continued to quote James, “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten.”
    He then quoted the apostle Paul from Corinthians, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”
    Stutzman said the apostle also said, “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
    Bishop Mast had cleared his throat loudly at that point and replied, “Yah, Stutzman, we know this is true. It’s all well and good, but contracting won’t be allowed in any case. It seems to me that’s as good an answer as any. Besides, in all the other businesses Aden just mentioned, the customer can examine the product well before he makes the purchase. Is this not true? Yet it is not true for contracting. Besides that, contracting holds greater temptations because of the large sums of money involved.”
    That, of course, closed the matter but not in Aden’s mind. He figured out a way he could contract, at least for a few years until he had enough money to pay for his house. He would simply do it, tell no one about it, and pay Daniel by the hour. No one need be the wiser for it.
    If and when he built his house, he wouldn’t need to lie about where the money came from. Everyone would just assume that it came from a loan. It would work out. Aden had smiled with great confidence. Ella deserved a new house, one that was paid off. “She’s just that kind of girl,” Aden had said.
    So Aden had contracted the work. He paid Daniel and the rest of the crew their wages, and the rest of the money was now tucked away in the bank in Randolph. If he could, he would help his brother spend the money in the way it was supposed to be spent. Perhaps Aden had left some instructions somewhere.
    Daniel, weary of his thoughts, got out of bed, stared out the window at the moon, but soon returned to bed. Hopefully he could sleep through the few remaining hours until morning and the dawn of a very sad day.

Ten
     
    E lla woke up when the two neighbor ladies came to prepare break-fast for the family. The soft click of the front door brought her upright on the couch. Her head was pounding, her hands were shaking, and her stomach was ready for food—all of which seemed quite out of place. Her body shouldn’t want to go on with life when her heart didn’t.
    “Good morning,” the women greeted her.
    “You must be Ella,” the younger one said.
    She nodded and stood a little shakily.
    “The news about Aden was so sad,” the younger one said, offering Ella a hug. “I’m Ida, and this is my mamm, Susan. We live just down the road a bit.”
    Susan gently shook Ella’s hand. “I hope we didn’t get the house up too early.”
    “No,” Ella said, “I’m used to getting up at this time of the day, anyway.”
    “Then we’d best get busy,” Susan said. “Food still has to be made, and I’m sure everyone is hungry. The body is the first to move on with life even if the heart no longer wants to live.”
    “Yah,” Ella said, nodding, “it does seem so.”
    “Lost a child myself… It was years ago,” Susan said. “He was just a small boy, my David, but I did sorrow for him. I imagine it would be worse if he had been full grown. I guess Da Hah always has mercy.”
    “It does hurt a lot,” Ella said, unsure of how to reply. Then she added, “I think I’ll just step outside for a little while.”
    “Yah, you do that, and we will get busy here,” Ida said. “We’ll have breakfast ready soon, and you can eat when you want.”
    Behind them the bedroom door opened, and Lydian stepped out,