Katie's Forever Promise Read online

  Katie walked to the back of the room to greet them. She helped the youngest take off his coat. Johnny Yoder handed it over with a whisper, “I’m glad you’re my teacher this year.”

  His sister Elsie laughed. “Johnny’s been saying that all week. I think he’s scared more than anything.”

  Katie bent over and gave the little boy a hug. “Then we’ll try to make it easy for you.”

  Johnny nodded, hanging on to Katie as Elsie and his older brother left for the outside.

  Katie tousled Johnny’s hair. “Do you want to go out and play?”

  “I guess so.” Johnny looked up at her, his eyes wide, before turning and running outside.

  The schoolhouse door swung open as more students arrived. Katie greeted each one individually. They all smiled a greeting before rushing past her, putting their stuff on desks, hanging up their coats, and then rushing outside again. Katie held the door open for them. A game of softball was already in progress, the students wasting no time getting started. Katie liked that. It spoke of industriousness—using every available moment before she rang the bell.

  Somewhere in that group of children would be Ben Stoll’s youngest brother, Noah. He was in the third grade, if she remembered correctly. At least Noah didn’t look anything like Ben, which was something to be thankful for. She didn’t need the constant reminder of her past in front of her.

  Thoughts of Ben had been swirling in the back of her mind ever since Willis delivered the startling news that Ben wanted to see her. What nerve Ben had, supposing they could resume their relationship. That must be what he wanted. He had more nerve than a fox in a henhouse! But then Ben had always been like that.

  Katie forced thoughts of Ben away and stepped outside to wave at more arriving children. Their parents pulled their buggies into the yard to drop off the students. The children waved back and climbed out of the buggies, pausing to grab their lunch buckets. Most of them ran across the field to join the ball game. The few who came on inside, she greeted at the door with a smile and a cheery “Gut morning!” All of them showed her nothing but friendliness. Katie quieted her beating heart. She was surely doing okay her first day.

  She caught sight of a man tying a horse to the hitching rack. His back was turned, and he looked young. Had one of the parents decided to speak with her this morning? Perhaps to wish her well? Or maybe someone was sending a message through one of the older siblings? Katie caught her breath as the man turned and glanced in her direction. It was Norman! And he was heading in her direction. What could he possibly want beyond dropping off his youngest brother, Abram? Abram was racing even now across the schoolyard to join the ball game.

  Stepping back inside the school, Katie took a deep breath. Norman must intend to finally speak with her. It was time they faced each other and got the awkward meeting over with. Katie pasted on a smile as Norman came to an abrupt halt in front of her. He cleared his throat, looked at the ground, and then glanced back up.

  “Gut morning, Katie.”

  “Gut morning, Norman. Is everything okay with Abram? I see you just dropped him off.”

  “Yah, he’s fine. I need to speak with you about a matter.”

  Katie stepped back. “You’re welcome inside, Norman—if you wish.”

  Norman didn’t move. He just studied the ground. Finally he looked up again. “I’d like to take you home on Sunday night, Katie, if that’s okay with you?”

  Katie smiled. “I’d be glad to, Norman.”

  “You would?” Norman’s face showed the first trace of a smile.

  “Yah,” Katie said, still smiling.

  “Okay, then! Well, I’ll see you on Sunday.” He nodded, turned toward his horse, and left with cautious steps. He untied his horse and climbed into the buggy. He didn’t look back as he pulled out of the schoolyard and drove down the lane.

  Norman was different, but Katie already knew that, and it was okay with her. She didn’t want a dashing man like Ben Stoll again.

  What Katie wanted was stable and plain. Norman certainly fit that. But she mustn’t think of such things right now—especially Ben. That was in the past, and Ben no longer fit into her new life. She’d outgrown the old image of Emma Raber’s daughter and was now a schoolteacher. She was respected and looked up to in the community.

  Da Hah had healed her heart, and she wouldn’t look back. Norman might not be much of a conversationalist on Sunday night, but they would manage somehow. She would make apple pie for him or something else special. And Norman could go home early if they ran out of things to say. Eventually, with a little practice, she would draw Norman out of his shell. At least she didn’t have to worry that Norman was dealing drugs on the side, like Ben had.

  Walking back inside, Katie retrieved the bell from her desk. Opening the window on the side of the playground, she gave the bell a vigorous shaking. The clanging produced an instant reaction—just like she’d experienced during her school days. Children went running to grab their lunch buckets, dragging bats or ball gloves as they raced toward the schoolhouse.

  In short order everything was stored in the back closet, and the smiling children sat at their desks looking at her. It had taken them only moments to find their seats by following the little white name tags she’d stuck on the desks. They were an intelligent lot, and it would be a great pleasure teaching them.

  “Gut morning,” she greeted them, putting on her best smile.

  “Gut morning!” they chorused back.

  “I know who you are, and you know who I am,” Katie began. Now that the moment had arrived, she was a little nervous—but not too much. “This is my first year teaching, but I’ve been given some gut advice from teacher Ruth. I think I’m ready to go.”

  The children looked at her expectantly, so she continued. “I may do some things differently from what you’ve been used to, but that happens with all new teachers. And maybe you’ve forgotten how things were done last year, anyway. What with the happy summer we’ve all just been through and you helping your mamms and daetts on the farm, I doubt if school was much on anyone’s mind during those months.”

  A few laughs and plenty of smiles met her remarks.

  “So why don’t we spend just a moment this morning for our devotion time by telling what we did over the summer. We could include things we are especially thankful for.”

  Johnny was seated in the front row, and he stuck up his hand. Katie gave him a smile. What a brave little boy he was, risking a speech on his first day in school. She was going to like him, along with all the rest.

  “Okay, Johnny,” Katie said as she nodded to him.

  “We had little chickens hatch in the henhouse, and little ducks swimming on the pond.” Johnny’s face beamed.

  Katie returned his enthusiasm. “Were they all fluffy and cute?”

  Johnny nodded.

  Katie turned to the other students. “Is there someone else who had something happen to them this summer that they can give thanks for?”

  Norman’s brother Abram stuck up his hand.

  “Yes, Abram?” Katie took a step closer.

  “I heard Mamm and Daett talking about something this week which they are very thankful for.” Abram grinned from ear to ear. “I don’t think I was supposed to hear, but I was sitting on the couch, and they forgot about me.”

  “Ah…” Katie said, her smile fading. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk about things you weren’t supposed to hear.”

  Abram wasn’t about to stop though. The words spilled out. “Norman told them he is finally asking a girl home on Sunday night. And Mamm and Daett are very thankful, since Norman is a little shy. I couldn’t hear who it was though.”

  The whole room tittered, with even the first graders joining in.

  Katie blushed, but took comfort that there was no way anyone knew she was the girl Norman had planned to ask home. And even if they did, this was nothing she should be ashamed of. It was an honor to have such an upstanding community member ask if he could take her hom
e.

  “I wonder who the girl is?” Leslie Yoder, a third-grader, whispered, falling into fresh giggles.

  Now what was she going to do? Katie wondered. They would all know next Monday morning anyway, after Norman had taken her home. The whole community would know by then. Should she confess now? Katie paced a few steps. They would just have to wait. Couples fell in love with each other all the time, and they didn’t announce things in public even if everyone would eventually find out.

  “I’d guess the girl would agree to the date,” Katie said instead. “Norman’s a decent young man.”

  There! She’d covered her bases, and she could face them without embarrassment when her secret was made known.

  Elsie, though, was looking suspiciously at her, so Katie glanced away and moved on before the girl could ask further questions. “Anyone else want to tell us about your summer?”

  One of the eighth-grade girls, Clarice Wagler, put up her hand.

  Katie nodded at her.

  “We had a little brother, Kyle, born in our house this summer. He came early but didn’t have to go to the hospital, for which we’re all thankful. Now he’s the cutest little thing and doesn’t even cry during the night. Not like some of us used to, Mamm said.”

  “I got to hold him the other Sunday,” Katie added. “And I have to agree Kyle is a very well-behaved baby. But then I only held him for a little bit.”

  “He’s like that all the time,” Clarice insisted. “Dad claims there will be trouble cropping up elsewhere to make up for it because no one can be that gut.”

  Katie smiled. “Well, Da Hah will make that decision. All we can do is accept what He sends our way. But we will hope for the best. Little baby Kyle is indeed quite cute.”

  A few more shared about their summer, and finally Katie said, “Well, let’s have prayer and begin our very first day of school together.”

  As they bowed their heads, an interesting thought flashed through Katie’s mind. Was it proper that she pray out loud? Women seldom prayed aloud in public, and they did it at home only in the presence of their children and when the daett wasn’t present. But weren’t these “her” children? No one had given her any instructions on the matter of praying aloud. Now it was too late to ask the children if teacher Ruth had led them in prayer.

  Gathering her courage, Katie began. “Dear Hah in heaven, I want to thank You for each and every one of these dear, precious children. Be with us today, and bless us with Your presence. Give each one of these dear children strength to study hard. Refresh their minds from the summer break. And forgive us all our trespasses which we may have done, even as we forgive each other their faults. Help us live together in peace during this school year. Amen.”

  Opening her eyes, Katie glanced around. No one was looking strangely at her, so these students must be used to hearing their teacher lead in prayer. Sending up her own quiet whisper of thanks to Da Hah for leading her right, Katie called her first class of the day up front.

  Chapter Four

  Ben Stoll sat at the family supper table the following evening with his head bowed. Around him the others ate in silence, occasionally stealing glances at him. This was his first night home after being released from jail. He couldn’t blame his family for looking strangely at him. He’d do the same if he were in their shoes—and perhaps even more so if one of his brothers or daett had served time in jail for a crime. He’d messed up his life, that was for sure. How he would ever get back on his feet was beyond his comprehension. But then he’d told himself this a thousand times already while waiting out the slow days that crept by while in the county jail.

  Sending a message to Katie through Emery Graber that he wished to speak with her had taken a lot of courage, but it was the right thing, Ben told himself again. He had to apologize to Katie. He couldn’t rest until he did. That they could ever recapture what they used to have was only a wild dream of his mind—impossible and unrealistic, but he couldn’t help having it. Saying sorry to Katie was the least he could do, even if she never wanted to be with him again. He certainly couldn’t blame her for that.

  He at least had something he was thankful for. His sentence could have been a hundred times worse. The prosecutor hadn’t failed to remind him of that fact more than once.

  “If you don’t cooperate, the judge will place you in prison for a dozen years or more.”

  That was the sentence Rogge Brighton and his brother Lyman were now serving since they had been in charge of the drug operation. They were convicted due in large part to Ben’s testimony.

  “You self-serving snake!” Rogge had yelled at him at the trial. “You turned against your best friend just to save your own hide.”

  Ben hadn’t quite looked at it like that despite the prosecutor’s warnings and the deal he offered. What Ben confessed to had been because of the honesty built into him from years of Amish training. He’d also been driven by his guilty conscience for the things he had done wrong. So he’d told everything he knew to the prosecutor and testified to it in court even though testifying against another went against Amish tradition. The result had been favor from the law enforcement establishment and a lesser jail sentence. This had enraged Rogge Brighton, evoking threats hollered across the aisle of the county jail. Those threats ceased only when Rogge and his brother had been transferred to the state prison in Wilmington.

  While he was relatively safe behind bars, Ben hadn’t worried much about Rogge’s threats, but tonight with the darkness falling, he wondered. Were the threats real? His own life wasn’t that high of a concern, but the safety of his family was another matter. Would they be in danger? And did they even know about the threats from Rogge? He hadn’t really thought about that before. What if someone did show up seeking revenge? They wouldn’t show much mercy to his family if they got in the way. It was a troubling thought on top of all the other things that lay heavy on his heart.

  “It’s gut to have you home,” Ben’s daett, Leon, said, breaking the silence.

  “Thank you.” Ben kept his head bowed. His family was trying to make things comfortable for him, but they didn’t know how to act. He didn’t know either. None of them had ever been in this situation.

  “Teacher Katie was awesome today,” Noah announced, obviously trying to move the subject somewhere comfortable. “I think I’ll like her a lot.”

  Mamm winced and reached over to pat Noah’s arm. “Yah, all of us like Katie.”

  Ben didn’t look up. Noah hadn’t known much about his relationship with Katie, although Mamm and Daett and his older siblings had. Noah couldn’t be blamed for bringing up the subject, but now the tension around the table was worse. They already felt sorry for his ruined life. They all knew his relationship with Katie was over. Katie had made that plain enough by never showing up at the trial or inquiring after him in any fashion since his arrest.

  Yet Katie shouldn’t be blamed, Ben thought. They’d only been seeing each other a few months, though it had seemed much longer with how much he’d enjoyed being around her. Katie had reacted the way any decent young woman would to the betrayal of her deep-rooted trust and love. She’d grown close to his heart, if truth be told. At the beginning, Katie had been more of a way out of what he was doing wrong. But she’d become much more than that. He’d been a fool not to tell Katie of what he’d done and how he was getting out of his past life. But he’d told himself he was cutting all of that out, that he was quitting Rogge, and that Katie need never know. He’d been afraid she wouldn’t believe his repentance and that he’d lose her. But he’d lost her anyway. Now it was too late for anything but regrets.

  “Katie’s going home with someone on Sunday night!” Noah sang out, obviously thrilled with this news concerning his new teacher.

  Ben looked up. This was news he couldn’t help showing interest in. Let them see the pain in his heart. There was no point in hiding it now.

  “Now, how would you know something like that?” Brenda, the eldest girl in the family asked. “You�
�re kind of a little tot to obtain such information.”

  Noah puffed out his chest and quickly added additional information. “I heard the older girls whispering out in the playground. They said Katie turned all red when Abram Kuntz announced that his older brother Norman was taking someone home on Sunday night. So there! Abram heard this from his mamm and daett when they thought he wasn’t listening.”

  “Sounds like a bunch of gossip to me,” Brenda muttered, stealing a sideways glance at Ben.

  Ben knew Brenda really did feel sorry for him, and he hated it. That someone would feel pity for him. Still, this feeling was gut for him. The shame helped him humble his soul and cleanse it from the awful things he’d done. He’d never thought of himself as evil before being arrested, but now he saw things in a much different light. No one who was gut would sell or distribute drugs that destroyed people’s lives.

  “I think it’s true too,” Noah continued, sticking with his story. “And I think Norman is getting a very decent girl. Katie’s swell. And we all think it’s going to be a fun school year. Much better even than teacher Ruth, and I liked her.”

  “I’m glad to hear that news,” Daett said, smiling.

  Ben stood up, his food only half eaten. “I think I’ll go to my room.”

  “You sure you don’t want to finish your food?” Mamm looked alarmed.

  “I’m okay.” Ben gave her a smile. “It’s not your fault. Maybe things will go better tomorrow.”

  They all—even Noah—looked concerned as he left the room. To Daett’s credit he didn’t insist Ben stay for the evening devotions. They’d been having the family’s Bible reading and prayer time without him for well over a year now, and they could see that it would take awhile for him to get back into the flow of things.

  After putting his dishes near the sink, Ben opened the stair door, letting it shut behind him as he took the steps two at a time. Inside his room, he lit the kerosene lamp and rummaged around his dresser drawer for Katie’s picture, taken when she’d needed a photograph for her passport. He’d left it here somewhere before his arrest—hidden under a stack of pants, he thought. And there would have been no reason for Mamm to open this drawer, much less find the picture. But if Mamm had, the picture would no doubt be destroyed. Mamm wouldn’t allow a photograph of anyone in the house. That was the Amish way because it was considered vanity, and that was strictly forbidden.