“Ja.” Paul walked over to where his brother had parked the wagon, climbed up and sat alongside him on the bench.
Paul picked up the reins and slapped them against the horse’s backside. The wagon jumped forward as the horse picked up its pace. On the short ride home, Paul thought about what he was going to say to his vader. Paul knew he wasn’t going to be able to change his vader’s ways, but he also knew deep in his heart that he wouldn’t be changing his mind, either. He nudged the horse to the right, making a wide turn with the wagon onto the dirt road that led to his family’s ninety-acre parcel. Most of the land was covered in trees, which were eventually cut into lumber and used in their furniture business. As he drove past their family’s large white farmhouse, he gave a tug on the leather straps of the reins, signaling for the horse to turn onto a narrow dirt roadway that allowed access to their barn. Up ahead stood the attached structure of the woodworking shop, where he and his bruders worked alongside their vader.
Knowing the path well, the horse came to a stop right in front of the open side door. Paul set the reins on the seat between him and Ben. He could feel his bruder’s gaze on him. The last thing on this earth that he would ever do would be to hurt his family. He prayed that his vader would see his reasons for wanting to open up his own shop.
He felt Ben’s hand on his arm.
“I’ll see to the horses. You go on inside,” Ben said, still looking worried.
Paul jumped down from the wagon and ducked inside the doorway of the spacious workshop.
“Hallo! Is anybody here?” Paul strode through the large open area, where neat piles of lumber stood stacked shoulder height on top of a row of pallets.
“Ja. What’s all this shouting?” His vader came out of the workshop, shaking the wood shavings off his leather apron.
Paul looked at the man who, if not for the slight hunch in his back, would be the exact same height as himself. “I’ve got things squared away over at the Miller house,” he said, looking into eyes that were the same shade as his.
They also shared the same square jawline and cleft chin. Besides their age, their one big difference was the gray hair sprinkled throughout his vader’s beard.
“How is Joseph doing?”
“As far as I know, he’s going to be in the hospital for a few more days while they run some tests.”
His vader didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Paul knew to wait for him to speak.
His vader nodded to the stack of wood slabs to the right of Paul, saying, “Help me bring two more of these inside.”
Hoisting one end of the slab onto his shoulder, vader said, “Seems like there was a lot of excitement at the Miller house today. It will be some time before things return to normal.”
“Ja, for sure and certain. But Lizzie had a lot of help today. And for many days to come, if her family needs it, no doubt.”
“That’s good.”
Paul took the other end and followed him into the workroom. They set the wood on top of a large counter. On the wall at the back of the area was a large pegboard where all of the tools hung in neat rows. They worked in silence for a bit while they prepared for the project his vader had been working on. Paul knew better than to try to coax any conversation out of the man. So he waited.
When his vader stopped to wipe his forehead with a handkerchief, Paul knew the time had come.
“I’ve a thermos of iced tea over there on the table. Why don’t you pour us some?”
Doing as his vader had asked, Paul came back to hand his father a full cup, saying, “It looks like you’ve got the Smiths’ cabinet order almost finished.”
“Ja. This was an easy project. They only needed a simple cupboard for their little girl’s bedroom.” His father said, then took a sip from the cup. He took his time drinking the cool liquid.
Paul found he wasn’t all that thirsty.
“I heard from the owner of Becker’s grocery that you’ve been asking around about renting shop space in the village. Did he speak the truth?”
Paul met his vader’s hard stare. Even though he’d known this time had come, it didn’t make standing here any easier. “Ja, he did.”
“You’re going to leave your family?” His face reddened.
“I am not leaving the family.”
“That is what it sounds like to me, sohn.”
“Daed. I’ve been looking at our sales numbers for the past few years and we could be doing better.”
“We are doing well enough.”
Paul sighed. “I want to put my furniture out where it will be seen by the tourists who are traveling through.”
“We get plenty of them right now. Besides, I need you here to help with the farm chores.”
Like most of the community, the Burkholders had both their farm and a business. Some families specialized in cheese production, others canned goods and bakery items. The Troyers had a very popular greenhouse business four miles from here. The Burkholders were cabinetmakers and furniture makers.
“I can still be doing my chores here and working on the family business.” He knew he had to tread lightly, but in his heart, Paul also knew moving his side of the business was where his future lay. Expanding into the village would eventually bring the entire family more revenue. Paul wanted to make this work. “I would like to be able to do this with your blessing.”
“You should be concentrating on finding a wife.” Vader wagged his finger at him. “You get married, have children and then you can think about this business idea. Right now your place is here, helping me keep your bruders in line, seeing to the daily chores and working here—” he paused to spread his hands wide “—with your family.”
Paul lowered his gaze to stare at the top of his boots. He wanted to give his vader time to think about the possibility of expanding, and yet if he didn’t act soon, the shop would surely be rented out to someone else. He couldn’t let that happen.
“You need time to think about this,” Paul said in a quiet voice.
“Nee, I don’t. Your place is here.” His vader’s tone was dismissive. “Another order for a cabinet came in while you were over at the Millers’. I wrote the dimensions down. You can get started on that.”
Paul loved and respected his vader, but he couldn’t accept his decision. Not when Paul hadn’t even shown him his plans for the new store, or explained to him how this would help the entire Burkholder family, not just himself. But his father had turned his back on him. The last time he’d wanted to go against his vader’s wishes had been the day David Miller had died.
Paul had wanted to go play with his friends in the barn, but it had been a particularly trying day at their house with the loss of one of their cows after a difficult birth. Paul remembered wanting to be allowed to play. That day he’d followed his father’s wishes and stayed home. The outcome had left one friend dead and one scarred for life. To this day he’d felt that if he could have been there in that barn with his childhood friends, he could have prevented what had happened. Paul had never forgiven himself for what had happened.
Now, more than ever, he wanted to stand his ground. He wanted to see his dream of one day having his own store become a reality. He knew about the pride the Amish took in their families and their homes; after all he had the same pride. He’d taken his time when it’d been his turn to partake in rumspringa. Then Paul had thought about his life as an Amish man, the only life he’d ever known, and how he wanted to be a part of this church district. It had been seven years