The Shunning Read Online Free PDF

before them.
    In the early 1700s, William Penn had made all this possible for Samuel and Rebecca Lapp’s ancestors. Close-knit Amish communities were promised good land and began to form settlements in Pennsylvania. She thought again of Samuel’s great-great-grandfather who had built the very house where Rebecca lay shivering in the dark, cold bedroom.
    After a time, she felt the warmth rising through the floorboards, from the woodburning stove directly below. Samuel’s doing, most likely. Ever kind and thoughtful Samuel. He’d been a good husband all these years. A bit outspoken at times, but solid and hardworking. A godly man, who held to the teachings of the Amish church, who loved his neighbor as himself . . . and who had long ago agreed to keep her secret for the rest of his life.
    “How’s Mamma?” Katie asked as Samuel emerged from the bedroom, holding the oil lamp aloft. Evidently, she’d been hovering there at the landing, waiting for some word of her mother’s condition.
    “Go on about your duties.” Samuel gave no hint of a smile, but his words were intended to reassure. “Nothin’ to worry over. Nothin’ at all.”
    He headed for his straight-backed rocking chair, pulled it up nearer the woodstove, and dropped into it with a mutter. Pretending to be scanning a column in the weekly Amish newspaper, Samuel allowed his thoughts to roam.
    What had Rebecca said upstairs—something about Katie finding the infant dress? He’d always wanted to get rid of that fancy thing. No sense having the evidence in the house. ’Twasn’t wise—too risky— especially with that English name sewed into it the way it was.
    But he’d never been able to bring himself to force Rebecca to part with it—not with her feeling the way she did. As for himself, the grand memory of that day was enough, though he hadn’t laid eyes on the infant gown even once since their daughter had worn it home from the Lancaster hospital.
    Minutes ago, it had come to his attention that Katie had stumbled onto the tiny garment—had found it in the attic. How, on God’s earth, after all these years? Had Rebecca ignored his bidding? She was a good and faithful wife, his Rebecca, but when it came to Katie, there was no reasoning with the woman. She had a soft place holed up in her heart for the girl. Surely Rebecca had obeyed him and at least done her best to hide the dress away. Surely she had.
    Now that Katie had discovered the dress, though, he would remind Rebecca to find another hiding place. First thing tomorrow. Jah, that’s what he’d do.
    Eli and Benjamin weren’t too worried over their mother, Katie observed as she wandered into the kitchen. They’d started a rousing game of checkers on the toasty floor near the woodstove and had barely glanced up at her approach.
    She went to the cupboard where the German Biewel and other books were kept. Reverently, she carried the old, worn Bible to Dat and set it down in front of him, then seated herself on the wooden bench beside the table. She picked up her sewing needle and some dark thread.
    Would Mam mind having company? Katie wondered as she threaded the needle. She’d feel better if she saw with her own eyes how her mamma was doing after the fainting spell a few minutes ago.
    With threaded needle poised near the hemline of her wedding dress, Katie gazed at her brothers, unseeing. She’d always insisted on knowing things firsthand. And that stubborn streak in her had caused more grief than she dared admit.
    For a good five minutes she sat there, sewing the fine stitches, hearing the steady purr of the gas lantern while a forbidden melody droned in her head. She suppressed the urge to hum.
    Looking up from her work, she got up the courage to speak to Dat. “I want to go up and see Mamma, jah?”
    Samuel lifted his eyes from his reading corner. “Not just now.”
    “Tomorrow, then?”
    “Jah, tomorrow.” With an audible sigh, he picked up the Bible for the evening Scripture reading