RECLAIM MY HEART(71)

There were several pages of clippings from high school sporting events, football and track. His high school graduation picture made him smirk. His hair had been longer than Tyne’s back then.
“How in the world did you get all of these?” he finally asked his mother.
There was a lovely secretiveness in the twinkle of her blue green eyes. “Father forbade newspapers from the outside to be in the house.” She shrugged. “But a mother has to keep up with her child, doesn’t she?”
She slid her hand up his forearm. “I may not have had the privilege of raising you, Lucas, but I love you. I’ve always loved you.”
With trembling hands, he closed the album and set it on the floorboard of the buggy. Then he turned and wrapped his arms around his mother. She hugged him as if her very life depended on it, as if this were the last human touch she would ever receive.
When they parted, her gaze was so watery, tears trailed down her cheeks. “I never thought that would happen.”
Lucwideivas pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her. “I’m glad you were wrong.”
She laughed through her tears. “So am I.”
“Listen,” he told her. “I want you to know it’s okay. I understand what happened. I realize your religion made it impossible for you to keep me with you. I don’t hold that against—”
“My religion?” she asked, tilting her head a fraction. “Lucas, I didn’t give you to your father because of my religion.”
Refraining from reacting to this unexpected revelation was nearly impossible.
“I became pregnant with you during my rumspringa.” She paused, moistened her pale, bare lips. “During our seventeenth year, we’re given the freedom to experience the world. It’s a time when we’re released from the church. It’s our belief that only informed adults can truly accept Christ and the church and the Amish way. We can’t reject something we’ve never experienced. So, for a time, we’re not bound to the Ordnung. The rules.” Again, that secretive smile passed her lips. “Much to my father’s complete displeasure, I took full advantage of my months of freedom.
“It was not the first time a young girl found herself carrying a child out of wedlock. Usually, such an occurrence would have resulted in a hasty marriage. But I could not marry your father. That was never a possibility. He was…?not one of us. I would have been shunned.” She folded his handkerchief into a perfect square. “Besides, even if it had been an option, I fear your father would not have married me. I loved him, Lucas, but I do not believe Ry Silver Hawk felt the same about me.”
Remembering what his uncle had told him, Lucas found his gaze drifting from his mother’s.
“My father was a hard man. His Ordnung was the death of my mother. The doctor said she died of pneumonia. But I believe she was worn out. She gave up. I was duty bound to stay with him, Lucas. I was his daughter and I was called to honor him and take care of him. He had no one but me.”
Her tone was even, matter-of-fact.
“But I could not allow you to be subjected to that,” she told him. “It almost killed me to hand you over. But I had been to Wikweko. I had witnessed how your community clings together. They take care of one another.” She used the folded handkerchief to wipe an errant tear from the corner of her eye. “I knew you would be happy. And very much loved.”
Lucas stared at Ruth Yoder, her eyes, cheeks, lips devoid of makeup, and thought she was absolutely beautiful.
He cleared the thick emotion from his throat. “I was,” he assured her. “And I thank you for giving me that.”
She smiled and hugged him once again. “I am sure you must have a thousand questions about me. Because I know I have a thousand about you. But we really shouldn’t keep your bride waiting any longer.”
“Yes, it would be a shame if she decided to turn tail and run now.” He laughed. “We moved back to Wikweko, you know. I just opened an office there.”
“That’s wonderful.” Ruth checked that the horse’s reins were secured to the meter post.
“Tyne is thinking of opening a bakery. But she hasn’t decided yet.”
“I am a fairly good baker, myself,” his mother told him. “I may offer her my services. I have lots of free time on my hands these days.”
Arm in arm, they ascended the courthouse steps.
?     ?     ?

“Mom.” Zach tapped his mother’s shoulder, excitement elevating his whisper. “Mom! Here he comes. Who’s that with him?”
She shushed him and promised to answer all his questions later. sti elBut for now, she feasted her eyes on Lucas as he held open the glass door for his mother.
Tyne smiled at Lucas. “I thought you’d changed your mind.”
“Are you kidding me?” he said. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Looking at Ruth, Tyne’s smile widened. She leaned forward and kissed the woman’s cheek. “I’m so happy you’re here,” she murmured. “I know Lucas is too.”
Her gaze skipped from Jasper, to her dad, her mom, her son, and finally to Lucas’s mother. Love saturated every nuance of her being when she looked into Lucas’s eyes. “It seems the family is finally all together.”
His soft kiss was swift and sweet. “Seems so.” He kissed her again. “Can we please get in there and make this official? I’ve been waiting long enough.”
Holding tight to Lucas with one hand, her son with the other, Tyne was ready to say I do. She was ready to be a family. A whole family. At last.