A mute, foundling girl hides from her pursuers with the help of a reluctant recluse. The two of them have nothing in common except deep emotional scars. Who is she? How did she end up unconscious and scantily clothed on Evan's isolated property? Why...
Evan, I'm writing this for you, because it's easier to get it out all at once instead of me trying to tell my story in bits and pieces on paper sheets from the pads we use. I'm also writing this for myself. The old proverb says confession is good for the soul. I can't speak my confession, so writing is my only alternative. I hope I'll feel better about myself once I'm done.
Thank you for being patient with me and for putting up with my bouts of temper. You don't deserve to be the target of my post-traumatic rage, especially since I owe you my life. Thank you for your kindness and for giving up your bedroom to me. Thank you for respecting me. I never feel uncomfortable around you and hope you'll allow me to stay forever. We are good for each other, so would it really be so bad if you kept me?
My story starts six months ago. It was May the thirteenth when my happy life took a tragic turn. I was born and raised on a dairy farm near Mankato Minnesota. I already told you that. What I haven't told you is my family was Amish. I'm pretty sure you have some knowledge about the Amish. I've always been devout and adhered to the faith, that is until the incident of May thirteenth changed me.
I've been in training to be a midwife and have been assisting an Amish neighbor. Her name is Anna and she's certified in midwifery. On the evening of the twelfth, after I went to bed, Anna knocked on the door to our farmhouse. She came in person because Amish don't allow phones. My mom woke me and told me I was needed, so I quickly got dressed. Anna and I set out in her horse drawn buggy to the home of Grace Yoder, a woman from our congregation. I recall being excited because Grace was a good friend, and this was going to be her first child. Everything went smoothly for Grace, and she gave birth to a girl around five in the morning.
As Anna and I were packing and getting ready to leave, Bishop Forscht knocked on the door. When he entered the Yoder home, took off his hat, and wouldn't meet my gaze, I knew something terrible had happened.
I'm just going to write this part as quickly as I can without going into a lot of detail, because it's too painful and still too raw for me to dwell on. I found out later from the Fire Marshal how a faulty chimney from our woodstove led to an attic fire during the night while everyone was asleep. My mom and my dad and my older brother and my two younger sisters all perished from carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation.
Evan, I lost my entire family while I was out helping Anna. I've been told how I shouldn't feel guilty and how it was God's will, but I can't help wondering since I'm a light sleeper, if I would have been home, maybe I would've woken in time to alert everyone.
My mom's side of the family has left the faith and become estranged. We lost all contact with them. On my dad's side, he was an only child. My grandfather had some sisters, my great aunts, but I never met them, and they moved away to a congregation somewhere in Alberta Province, Canada. The elders in my congregation tried to find them, but they weren't able to.
I wasn't lying when I told you I have nobody, no family. Just like you!!
Anna and her husband allowed me to stay with them temporarily until the elders could find another family within the congregation to foster me. Anna's son, a few years older than me, started bothering me, always trying to get me alone, so their family was anxious for me to leave.
The elders wouldn't place me in any homes with unmarried males. Young families weren't willing to have me either, I believe, because wives were suspicious. You would think I had a reputation, but I swear to you, Evan, it's not the case. I was never a troublemaker or loose, and I've never ever been with a man. Not in that way.
The elders put me in touch with a widow named Ruthie from a neighboring congregation. When I visited with her, she seemed really nice. She ran a small store selling baked goods and told me all her children had moved away. She was alone, like me, and was willing to take me in until I came of age.
It seemed like a good match. I left my home congregation and became Ruthie's foster daughter.
When I lost my family, I thought my life couldn't get any worse.
After I moved in with Ruthie, that's when my horror really started.
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You got to see Sophie's first journal entry before Evan! Does this help you to understand her a little better? How did she turn up a thousand miles away on Evan's property dressed in a wedding gown? Sophie will show us more of her journal entries as the story unfolds.
