Free To Love and to Cherish by Kelly Irvin

dress tangled around her legs. She lifted the skirt. Her foot caught on the hem and she stumbled. She fell flat and smacked her chin and nose on the ground. She tasted dirt and blood.
    Thomas jerked her upright. “Hurry!”
    The front door flew open just as they hit the porch steps. Her hands around her belly in a protective gesture, Leah leaned out. “What is it? Where’s Luke?”
    “Gather the children! Tell Annie and Catherine.” Emma gasped for breath. “We need to go to the cellar. A tornado is coming.”
    Leah didn’t move. “Where’s Luke?”
    “He’s fine; he’s with the other men.” Thomas took her arm and gently moved her aside. “We must go quickly!”
    Leah’s face changed. She charged ahead, leading the way as they scattered through the house, gathering startled children. It gave newmeaning to the word
herding
. The errant thought whirled in Emma’s head. Time seemed to stand still and then rush ahead of its own accord.
    Outside the wind took her breath away and forced her to double over at the waist in an effort to make any forward progress. Thomas, a twin hoisted under each arm, reached the cellar door first.
    Lowering the girls to the ground, he tugged open the heavy wooden door. “Go! Go!” The children scrambled in, then the women. Thomas followed and fought the wind until the door slammed behind them. The screaming of the wind became a duller, muffled sound, but screaming nonetheless.
    With a muddy, shaking hand, Emma felt along the ledge until she found the matches. She lit the kerosene lamp that hung from a wooden dowel above her head.
    Thomas took the lantern and dangled it close to Emma’s face. His free hand came up. For a second she thought he might touch her. She swallowed hard, caught between the sudden hope that he would and the certainty that he shouldn’t. Their gazes met. He looked away first and his hand dropped. “Your lip is bleeding.”
    Her face as hot as if she’d been standing in the blazing afternoon sun, she touched her mouth. Her fingers came away bloody. “I bit it when I fell.”
    Thomas produced a white handkerchief. “It’s clean.”
    “Danki.”
    Their gazes held for a long second. He smiled. “Keep it.”
    Emma felt as if she still stood in the buffeting wind, breathless. “Danki,” she said again, even though he’d already turned away.
    Then he clomped through the cellar, his muddy boots leaving tracks on the cement floor. The dancing flames reflected on row upon row of mason jars filled with tomatoes, pickles, chowchow, beets, jams, jellies, and other bounty stored away for use during the winter months. He glanced back. “Amazing how quickly the weather changes. It was an unremarkable rain a few minutes ago.”
    Emma drew a trembling breath, thankful for Thomas’s effort to focus on the weather. How could she be thinking about him at a timelike this? She couldn’t help it. His presence gave her comfort and an off-kilter sensation that she might lose her balance at the same time. But what about Luke and Mark and the uncles and cousins? What about Josiah? What about Carl? Was he in a safe place? She didn’t ask those questions aloud. Another thought pierced her heart. “What about your children? Where are Rebecca and Eli?”
    “They’re with my mother. She’ll have the whole family in the cellar.” Thomas held the lantern up so it shone in the dark corners. They were clean and dry, as always. “They know what to do. And the Lord will protect them.”
    He stood, a calm, sturdy island in the midst of swirling turmoil, so sure of his faith. Emma wanted that assurance. She missed it.
    “Joseph, be still, son. Stop wiggling.” Leah’s voice teetered on the brink of anger. Her youngest son didn’t like storms, and he especially didn’t like the cellar. “Sit still and be quiet.”
    Tearing her thoughts away from Thomas, Emma walked over to her sister-in-law. “May I help?”
    Leah’s gaze met hers. “Pray.”
    Emma nodded and bowed her