Free A Wedding Quilt for Ella by Jerry S. Eicher Page B

girls didn’t stay single, locked away from society, and lost in their own worlds. She was almost twenty-one. Soon she knew the questions would come. In a thousand ways, she would know she must show she was ready to live again. There would be litde dropped hints and seemingly innocent questions raised, perhaps not immediately but soon enough.
    “I wonder if the time’s been long enough,” they would say. “Has Ella healed from her sorrow yet?” Even her mamm and Dora would join in. “When are you going to move on, Ella? You know you mustn’t waste your life. There’s a man somewhere who needs you, who can love you, and whose children you can bear.”
    She held both hands out in front of her. No man’s arms would ever be placed around her again. There would never be another to draw her into his embrace, to find her lips in love, or to feel the beat of her heart on his chest. In fact, she did not desire another man to love, and she would not allow herself to be drawn into another man’s embrace. I will stay true to Aden, to his memory, to his love, and to what we experienced together. Let people say what they want. She raised her face to the sky. Let the heavens dare to say nee.
    A soft whisper of a breeze flowed across her face, cooling her brow, soothing the throb of her headache. Ella took a deep breath and let it back out slowly. Her eyes were dry now, and her fingers were clenched in her hands. Yah, I will live my days alone in my parents’ house if necessary but not in another man’s. Ella Yoder, you will not be untrue to Aden’s memory, whatever the cost. My life will stretch out before me as long and lonely —
    “I saw you come out,” the voice of a man called out behind her, the sound soft on the morning air.
    Startled, she whirled around to find Daniel a few steps behind her, his eyes cast down.
    “You surprised me,” she said.
    “I didn’t mean to,” he said, raising his gaze to hers. They were sad eyes, as hers must be. “He was a good brother, Aden was. Yah, as good a brother as one might ever have.”
    She nodded.
    “I see the sun is putting on a right good display,” he said.
    She turned to look again at the colors in the sky. “It doesn’t seem right,” she said slowly. “This beauty…does it? Not today.”
    “Nee.” He shook his head. “None of it makes much sense.”
    She glanced at this face, his eyes studying the bright colors above them.
    “How can one understand such a loss as Aden?” he continued. “Aden was so alive, so full of life…only a few days ago. We worked on the job together the day before. It’s so hard to believe that it could really have happened.”
    “Oh,” she said, her interest rising, “you were with him?”
    “Yah,” Daniel said, nodding, “we worked hard all day. Aden, of course, always worked hard. With what we know now, that was the worst thing he could have done. It must have pumped the poisons all the way through his body, with his appendix ruptured like it was.”
    “Why didn’t Aden visit the clinic? He could have seen a doctor.”
    “He could have,” Daniel said, meeting her eyes. “He probably wanted to save money. I don’t know. Aden didn’t think it was serious enough, I guess, especially when the pain seemed to have gone away.”
    She nodded. Choosing to be frugal was a common trait in her people. Usually, though, the results weren’t this tragic.
    “By the evening I could tell he was tired,” Daniel went on, “but I just thought he’d worked a little too hard too quickly. Mamm checked his temperature when we got home. She said he ran a fever and that he should eat supper and rest, which he did. I guess we all figured he’d be better by morning. I heard nothing from him all night. You would think I would have heard something, as sick as he was. I was just across the hall.”
    Ella nodded again.
    “That’s the kind of man he was. It took a lot to slow him down,” Daniel said and then turned the topic to Ella. “I’m