Chapter 4
A dam, you don’t have to stay out here with me.”
He glanced up at his cousin Leanna, who had skidded to a stop in front of him on the ice-covered pond near his house.
When she stopped by earlier with her ice skates, he’d offered to go to the pond with her.
She’d been in Mespo a week now, and this was the first opportunity they had to spend some time together.
The winter air was cold, but the sun beamed in the cloudless sky.
He welcomed the warmth. Most of the time he’d rather be outside than indoors anyway.
Besides, he liked seeing her have fun on the ice, even though he couldn’t participate. Seeing her happy was reward enough.
She stepped off the ice and onto the snow-covered grass. Another layer had fallen overnight, but it wasn’t enough to impede his wheelchair. “Can you pass me a sandwich?” she asked, taking off one of her gloves.
He craned his neck to look up at her. She was the tallest woman he knew, even without the ice skates.
With a nod he reached around to the back of his wheelchair for the insulated lunch cooler.
He pulled it off the hook on the back of his chair, opened it, then handed Leanna a wrapped ham-and-cheese sandwich.
“ Danki. Oh wait, I don’t have to thank you, since I made these.” She grinned before facing the pond and taking a big bite of the sandwich.
He smiled. Her quirky outspokenness was one reason she was one of his favorite cousins. That and her loyalty. Whenever she visited Mespo, she made sure to spend time with him. No matter what they did together, they always enjoyed themselves.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked, turning to look at him again.
“Maybe later.” He rested his hands on his lap. He was never without his fingerless leather gloves when he went outside. They protected his palms as he pushed the wheels on his chair, but they did little to keep his fingers warm. That didn’t bother him too much. He was used to it.
Leanna polished off her sandwich. “ Yer mamm said we’re having fish tonight for supper. Did you catch them at this pond?”
“ Ya. Back in the fall, right before the first freeze.” He’d spent that Saturday morning and afternoon fishing with his father, something they did often when the weather cooperated and Daed had the day off.
The fish were biting, and they had hauled in more than they could eat at once.
Mamm had put up the rest in their gas-powered freezer.
“I’m not having any. I’ll eat some of the leftover roast beef from last night. ”
Her brow raised in surprise. “You still don’t like fish? I thought you would have outgrown that by now.”
“It’s personal taste, not a pair of pants.”
Leanna chuckled. “Then why bother to fish?”
“Because I enjoy catching them. I just don’t like eating them.” Fishing was also something he could do independently, whether from his chair or on the grassy bank of the pond. He had to make sure he didn’t catch the line on anything, but even if he did, he could cut the fishing line and start over.
“I like both,” Leanna said. “We’ve got a lot of fish in our pond back home.”
Adam said, “I remember.”
She went to him, her gait clunky from the ice skates as she walked the few steps on frozen ground.
When she was directly in front of him, she crouched down so they were eye level.
He’d never asked her to do that. She just always had.
“I’m going to Kentucky with Maria next week.
When I get back, I want you to come home with me for a visit. ”
Her idea surprised him. When he didn’t immediately respond, she added, “At least think about it, okay? It’s been so long since you’ve visited us.” She sprang up and went back to the pond.
He watched her step onto the ice, then glide gracefully over the surface.
But he wasn’t paying attention to her skating.
It was one thing to contemplate a visit to Birch Creek, another to seriously consider it.
His complicated relationship with Jalon aside, it took planning for him to go anywhere.
Not because he was homebound. Far from it.
He traveled whenever he could, even going to Sarasota two years ago with extended family.
He’d fished on an ocean charter, and had even gone swimming in the ocean with the help of his cousin Mose.
But going to Birch Creek ... that was a different story.
Leanna skated back to the edge of the pond and came to a stop. “So? What’s yer answer?”
“That’s all the time I get to make mei decision?”
“I’m an impatient woman.”
“Impatience isn’t a virtue, you know.”
“I’m not worried about it,” she said with a wave of her hand.
He rubbed his cold fingers across his chin. “Don’t you think you should let Jalon know first?”
“Nah. It will be a surprise.”
Adam grimaced. “I don’t think Jalon would appreciate this particular surprise.”
But Leanna skated off again, as if what he said wasn’t important.
Then again, to her it might not be. If she ever wondered why he and Jalon didn’t talk since the accident, she’d never asked Adam.
Part of him was glad. How could he explain to her how their relationship had devolved, when he wasn’t sure he understood why himself?
He felt a twinge in his leg. The accident had broken his back and robbed him of the use of his legs, but he still had some sensation in them.
“It’s settled then?” Leanna said, as she skated by.
“I don’t”—she was nearly on the other side of the pond by the time he got the two words out—“know.” He glanced up at the sun, which was almost directly overhead. It was nearing noon. “I have to be at work by two,” he yelled as she skated by again.
“We’ll leave soon.” Then she came to a stop and skated toward him, her hazel eyes twinkling. “You should skate with me.”
Adam scoffed. “If you haven’t noticed, I hung up mei skates a long time ago.”
“ Yer sarcasm is noted. I mean skate in yer chair.”
His brow lifted. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I am. This pond is frozen straight through. But we don’t have to geh to the middle. We’ll just stay at the edge.”
He eyed the pond again. A few strong pushes would get him on the ice, so logistics wasn’t a question.
Wisdom, however, was. He wasn’t sure how smart it would be to put his chair on the pond.
The ice could crack, or break completely, and he would fall into the frigid water.
Worse yet, Leanna could fall in too. It wouldn’t take any time for them to get hypothermia, and they weren’t close enough to the house to yell for help.
Yet the ice beckoned to him, as did Leanna’s pleading look. She would be the only one brave enough—or foolish enough—to suggest this. Finally, he shrugged. Why not? Life wasn’t worth living without taking risks.
Grinning, he shoved the chair over the bank easily due to the cold, hard ground and sparse snow.
Immediately he started to slide on the ice.
“Whoa!” he said, as his chair coasted forward, farther than he expected.
He started to yank on his brakes, wondering if they would even work on ice.
Probably should have taken that into consideration.
Then he felt Leanna grab the handles of his chair and pull back, slowing him down. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” she said, sounding uncharacteristically unsure.
He turned his head and looked up at her. “Are you kidding? This is great! I haven’t been on the ice in years.” And he’d never thought he’d be on the ice again.
“Then let’s geh .” With her guiding his chair, they made a turn around the pond, staying close to the side but not too close so his wheels wouldn’t catch on the bank.
Exhilarated, he couldn’t stop smiling. Freedom.
Anytime he got a taste of it, like when he was swimming in the ocean, he could forget about his disability and his limitations.
His face and fingers were freezing and there was the possibility that at any moment the ice would break under his chair, but he felt too good, too free , to care.
After several spins around the pond, Leanna pushed him back onto the bank.
Once his wheels were able to grip the grass, he took over and shoved himself farther along the snow-dusted ground.
He spun his chair and faced her, still grinning like a fool.
“ Danki , Leanna. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. ”
“You’re welcome.” She wiped her gloved hand under her red nose, her expression growing serious. “I really want you to come back to Birch Creek with me.”
Back to that again.
“Can you get the time off work?”
He thought for a long moment. “I might—”
“ Gut. Then that means you’re going.”
“I never said—”
“You implied, which is the same as saying yes.”
“ Nee , Leanna, it isn’t.”
Her left eyebrow lifted, disappointment entering her eyes.
Adam paused, curious about the full-court press she was giving him over this visit. She’d been to Mespo many times since the accident, and this was the first time she’d pestered him about going to Birch Creek. “Why is it so important I geh ?”
She leveled her gaze at him. “Because it is.”
A non-answer, but clearly the only one she was going to give him. He still didn’t think it was a good idea to surprise Jalon, but it was past time the two of them talked face-to-face. “All right. I’ll geh .”
She clapped her hands together, her eyes shining with delight. “You’ve got a few weeks while I’m in Kentucky to work it out with Onkel Jeremy.”
It wouldn’t be a conversation with Leanna without a little bossiness thrown in. He didn’t need a few weeks. His uncle was pretty lenient about time off, and the winter months were always slow. “Okay.”
Leanna smiled again, her cheeks rosy from the cold. “Let’s celebrate with another skate around the pond.” She started to move toward his wheelchair, but he shook his head.