The Believer by Ann H. Gabhart

narrowed on Issachar.
    "Nay, I do not;' Issachar said. "We are delivering the sugar we bought for the sisters' apple butter making here at the preserves house. After that, I will find one of the sisters to take charge of the two young sisters. Then I will help the young brother settle among us:'
    "Yea, it will be your duty. You brought them among us;" Martin said.
    "Yea, Brother Ethan and I." Issachar didn't look toward the other man as he reached into the wagon bed to pick up a sack of sugar.
    Ethan looked as if he were being tugged in two different directions as he stood between the two men. At the same time, Elizabeth felt he was very aware of her standing there by the wagon waiting to be told what to do. Then she realized that the young brother was also waiting to be told what to do.
    Issachar must have felt Ethan's discomfort as well, for he looked up at him and said, "I can unload the sugar without your help, Brother Ethan. Go on along with Brother Martin if that is what he desires:"
    "Yea, it's almost time for the evening meal," the other man said as he stepped between Ethan and Issachar and took Ethan's arm and turned him away from the wagon.
    "I will need to wash my hands and face,' Ethan said as Martin began hustling him away.
    "Pray that is all you need to cleanse yourself of:" Martin peered over his shoulder back toward Elizabeth, but Ethan kept his eyes straight ahead.
    Issachar turned with the sack of sugar on his shoulder and stood a moment watching the two men walk away with the hint of a frown between his eyes.
    Elizabeth spoke up quietly. "I didn't mean to cause your young brother trouble:"
    "Nay, you did not, my sister." Issachar pulled in a breath and let the frown slip away from his face. "Brother Martin has a fear of any breath of the world touching the young men he teaches. And you are of the world. I think he fears you may be a temptation to Brother Ethan"
    "I have no desire to be a problem for him or for any of you.
    "Our desires often ask no permission to war within us. Brother Ethan has much yet to learn of such things" Issachar turned to smile at her. "As do you:"
    "I will try to learn the Shaker way. We all will:' Elizabeth put her arm around Hannah to give her courage. "Our father said he felt peace when he visited here last spring. That's all we seek with you. A chance to earn our way and to feel that peace.
    "That isn't too much to ask;' he said. "Now come, young Brother Payton, and help me unload the sugar. I think the sisters are no longer here at the preserving house. All have gone to the biting rooms for the evening meal. That's dining rooms to you:"
    "We're not causing you to miss your supper, are we?" Elizabeth asked.
    "Worry not, my sister. All will be taken care of in due time" He climbed up the steps and opened the door into the preserving house. "First the sugar must be unloaded, and then we will take you to the Gathering Family house. There you will begin your life among us."
    "Can we not just stay with you, Brother Issachar?" Hannah asked.
    "Nay, my child. That is not the way of the Shakers"
    "I do not know the way of the Shakers;" Hannah said. "I only know the way of the woods around our cabin"
    Issachar looked at Hannah leaning against Elizabeth and for a moment the shadow of a frown came back between his eyes. But then he smiled. "You will learn, my little sister. I will pray it is not too hard for you."
    But it was hard when they got to the Gathering Family house and the two sisters came out to them. One, called Sister Ruth by Issachar, was tall and angular with no smile on her face. Her sharp eyes looked them over as if for signs of the world they had come from yet clinging to them like the sticktights on their clothes. The other sister, Nola, was as short as the first sister was tall and a bit thick around the waist under her apron. She was smiling, welcoming them into the family even before Issachar told her their names. A few locks of gray hair sprang out from under her cap