“I’m sorry I’m late. I had a few unexpected delays.” John stepped down from his wagon as Melvin Taylor came out of the house to meet him.
“You said you’d be here today. It’s still today.” Melvin pushed the brim of his red ball cap up with one finger and grinned.
Relief made John smile. Melvin appeared to be the understanding sort and a rare Englisch fellow in John’s book—one who wasn’t in a rush. His hopes for more work from the man rose.
“Can’t thank you enough for taking on my little project.”
“I enjoyed restoring it.” He loved re-creating useful things from the past.
Melvin rubbed his hands together. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense any longer. How did it turn out?”
“I’ll let you be the judge.” Moving to the back of the wagon, John untied the ropes and lifted the tarp covering his load. The antique blue-and-gold sleigh had made the journey unharmed.
“I knew she was a beauty under all that neglect.” Melvin drew his fingers along the smooth, elaborately curved metal runner. “I’m right pleased with your work, John Miller.”
“Danki.”
It had taken John weeks to duplicate all the missing pieces in his forge and assemble it. After he replaced the tattered upholstery with a plush blue tufted fabric, the result was well worth his time and effort. The Portland Cutter would glide through the snow as neatly now as it had a hundred and fifty years ago.
He had managed to turn back the hands of time for the sleigh. If only he could change one hour of the past for himself.
Such a thing wasn’t possible. He had to spend the rest of his life knowing his pride had cost the life of the only woman he would ever love. His penance was to go on living without her. Hard work at his forge was the only way he kept the long hours of loneliness at bay.
Melvin stepped back from the wagon with a big grin on his face. “Would you be willing to take on another project for me?”
John tried not to sound too eager. “I’d have to see it first and we would have to agree on a price.”
“Sure. I think you’ll like my latest find.”
John followed the childishly eager man to a large shed. Melvin pushed open the sliding door with a flourish to reveal a half dozen sleighs. Five were in pristine condition. Only one needed restoration work. A lot of work.
Melvin patted the faded front seat, sending a small cloud of dust into the air. “I found this vis-à-vis sleigh at a farm sale about an hour north of here.”
John walked around the vehicle, assessing what needed to be fixed. Vis-à-vis sleighs were easily recognizable. They consisted of a raised coachman’s seat and two lower passenger seats behind the driver that faced each other. They had originally been used in cities where well-to-do people were driven about during the winter to parties and such.
He checked the floorboards first. They were rotten. That was to be expected. Three of the ornate lantern holders were missing, but he could duplicate them from the one remaining. The runners looked sound. They must have been repaired at some time in the past. The upholstery definitely needed replacing, but the wooden frames of the seats looked in good shape. “I can have it ready in three weeks, maybe less.”
He could finish it in two weeks, but he didn’t want to lock himself into a shorter time frame. More pressing work might come up. Better to finish earlier than promised rather than later.
“Awesome. To have it finished before Christmas, that will be great. Let’s hope for plenty of snow.” They agreed on the price and the men shook hands.
“Shall I ship it to you?” Melvin asked as they walked toward the door.
“I figured the cost of transporting it home and bringing it back myself in my estimate. If I have to hire someone to ship it back, that will be an additional charge.”
“Agreed. I’ll help you get the other one unloaded and this one strapped on, and then we can have a cup of coffee. The missus put on a fresh pot when she saw you drive in.” The two men walked toward the house.
Unbidden, the thought of the young mother he’d met earlier entered John’s mind. He should have asked her name. Melvin might know. Although her business was none of his, John’s curiosity got the better of him. He glanced at Melvin. “I met someone on my way here who said she knew you.”
“Oh? Who might that be?”
John unstrapped one side of the sleigh and tossed the lines to Melvin. “She said Ezekiel Lapp is her grandfather. I gave her a lift to his place.”
Melvin’s bushy eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Willa Lapp has come home?”
“She didn’t give her name.”
“It has to be Willa. Ezekiel only had one son and one grandchild. I haven’t seen that sweet girl in years. How is she?”
So her name was Willa. “She looked fine. She had two daughters with her. Twins about three years old.” He and Melvin lifted the sleigh down and carried it to the shed.
Melvin put down his end and leaned on the upholstered back. “Little Willa is a mother, if that don’t beat all. I sure can’t imagine her grown and married with kids. I hope Ezekiel has the good sense to let bygones be bygones. He’s a lonely old man. His wife passed on years ago. Then his son left the Amish and took his wife and Willa with him. I heard Ezekiel’s church shunned them, so I reckon he had to, as well.”
That brought John up short. Was Willa an excommunicated member of the Amish church? If so, her relationship with her grandfather was much more complicated than a non-Amish person like Melvin realized. To willingly take the vow of baptism and then break that vow was a serious offense. John started to wish he hadn’t asked about her.
“It broke the old man’s heart. He wouldn’t even speak his son’s name. I thought the Amish forgave everyone. Don’t they forgive their own for leaving?”
“If a person leaves before they are baptized, they are not shunned. If a baptized member repents and confesses their sins, they will be forgiven and welcomed back into the church.” Perhaps that was why Willa had returned after so many years.
“And if they don’t repent, they have to be shunned forever?”
“That is our belief.”
Melvin shook his head. “The Amish folks around here are fine people and good neighbors, but I don’t expect I’ll ever really understand them.”
Embarrassed that he had pried into Willa’s personal life when she hadn’t shared anything, he decided to dismiss her from his mind and changed the subject. “How did you get into collecting sleighs?”
Melvin happily shared the story of his passion while the men loaded the vis-à-vis.
An hour later, John left Melvin’s farm with his thermos full of coffee and a dozen oatmeal cookies in a box under his seat. He would spend the night again with his cousins near Berlin and be home by late afternoon on Monday. As the mailbox for Ezekiel Lapp came into view, John slowed his team and looked toward the house.
His own sister hadn’t joined the faith, choosing instead to marry a non-Amish fellow. Many Amish families had Englisch children and grandchildren who were accepted and cherished. He prayed that Willa and her daughters would find kindness and acceptance, too.
He slapped the reins to get his team moving faster. It was a long way to Bowmans Crossing. He had no cause to worry about a stranger and her family. He would never see them again. They were in God’s hands.
* * *
Willa raised her head and saw it was almost dark outside. She must have fallen asleep. Her head hurt from crying. She rose stiffly and stretched her aching back, then wiped her damp cheeks as she