“Well done, friends,” Bishop Monroe said. “I’d hoped we would decide in favor of Phineas’s reinstatement, because it signifies our belief that every sin is forgivable. It rids us of the notion that a soul who calls on the Lord in humility and sincerity would be refused His mercy—or ours—and be forever condemned to remain an outsider.”
“I like the way you folks do things,” Bishop Tom said from the preachers’ bench. “Makes me think it might be time for our congregation to reconsider some of the old beliefs that put a limit on love. Because in the end, this life is nothing without our love for God and for one another.”
Bishop Monroe nodded as he smiled at Annabelle. “Fetch Phineas and let us share our gut news,” he said. “Then we’ll consider whether to impose the usual six-week bann or—”
“While we’re doing things a new way, I propose we readmit Phineas without the lengthy separation a shunning calls for,” Preacher Amos put in. “He’s been forthright with all of us preachers about his intentions. I feel his confession today and his behavior this past month speak to his change of heart.”
“To me, the real testimony to Phineas’s transformation is the radiant smile Annabelle’s worn these past several days,” Frances said boldly. “Her happiness tells me that she and her husband have reconciled and she’s fallen back in love with him. That was not the case when Phineas first showed up on Marlin’s and my wedding day.”
“Jah, we women were all worried that Annabelle would have to go back to Phineas against her will,” Mattie pointed out. “And that’s not the case anymore.”
“I say we plan for their happiness starting this very minute!” Rosetta blurted out. “Why not congratulate Phineas and Annabelle and welcome them to Promise Lodge as our newest neighbors? They’re wonderful-gut people and we’re pleased to have them here.”
Annabelle could only gape at the folks who were nodding enthusiastically, especially when someone began a round of applause.
“Hear, hear!” one of the men put in above the happy ruckus.
“Don’t keep him out there waiting, Annabelle!”
“Jah, you two are the guests of honor—along with Gloria and Tom and Ben!—for our dinner together,” Lester proclaimed as he and the others continued clapping wildly. “It’s a big day for Promise Lodge!”
Reeling with joy, her head spinning with her neighbors’ enthusiasm, Annabelle rushed toward the lobby. She flung open the front door and found Phineas on the porch, gazing out toward Christine’s dairy barn and Rainbow Lake in the distance.
“Do you hear all that noise in the meeting room?” she asked as she rushed toward him. “These folks are so glad we’re here—so happy about the way we’ve turned ourselves around—that they’ve reinstated you without any shunning or discipline whatsoever! Why, back in Lancaster County—”
“Ah, but we’re not in Pennsylvania anymore,” Phineas reminded her. His pale green eyes danced with love light as he grabbed her waist and spun her around. “We’re at Promise Lodge, Annabelle. We’re home.”
“And we’re together again,” Annabelle said before he kissed her excitedly. “That’s all that matters to me, Phineas. The two of us, together again.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Around six that evening, everyone drifted back to the lodge to continue celebrating. After enjoying Bishop Tom and Preacher Ben’s company for the common meal and giving them an appreciative send-off, folks had decided to return after the men did the evening’s livestock chores.
“After all,” Rosetta pointed out, “we were on the verge of losing everything we held dear—including Bishop Monroe, and the right to run our businesses, and the Beacheys!”
“Not to mention a bunch of money!” Preacher Amos put in with a laugh. “I’m grateful to God that our Promise Lodge family has remained intact and in gut spirits. The day could’ve ended a lot differently.”
Gloria’s heart remained light as folks entered the dining room at dusk, because they thanked her repeatedly for ferreting out the truth about Clayton King. Phoebe and Allen brought the last section of their wedding cake from their freezer, other women carried loaves of fresh bread, and Uncle Lester showed up with several packages of freshly sliced deli meats.
“That housemate of mine was always bringing food back from his visits to the bulk stores hereabouts,” he said as he laid the packages on the kitchen counter. “Now I’m wondering if he even paid for it. Do you suppose he had those store owners buffaloed into giving him groceries because he said he was their supplier from back east?”
Gloria’s mamm shook her head as she got out a platter. “We’ll never know,” she replied. “He had a knack for convincing people to go along with whatever he wanted. But it’s not as though you could return this meat, so we might as well enjoy it.”
“We’ll put these bars out, too,” Beulah said as she took the lid from a freezer container. “Ruby and I made them a while back to use up some dibs and dabs of chocolate chips and coconut, along with overripe bananas.”
“I got some sausage and cheddar biscuits out of the freezer, too,” Irene said as she turned on an oven. “By the time everyone gets here, they’ll be warmed through.”
“Jah, it pays to have food stashed away just in case a party springs up!” Ruby put in cheerfully. “Mattie said she’d bring some jars of her pickled beets, and Christine’s got quarts of the applesauce she put up earlier this fall. It’ll be quite a feast, and nobody had to go to any trouble.”
As their remaining neighbors arrived, Gloria helped set out their food contributions on one of the long dining room tables while other women got out dishes and utensils. It was wonderful to hear the noise level rising with everyone’s excitement, because these families had arrived for church several hours earlier in a much more somber mood. When Bishop Monroe stepped into the dining room to gaze at the crowd, a lighthearted yet grateful smile lit his handsome face.
“Shall we give our silent thanks before the meal, friends?” he asked above the noise. “We have a lot to be thankful for, and I’m feeling particularly blessed because God has preserved us as a community—a family. We stand as an amazing testament to the power of His love and the love we share with each other.”
“You got that right, Bishop,” Harley put in. “Had Clayton King become our leader, I suspect a bunch of us would’ve been moving elsewhere before long.”
When the bishop bowed his head, a reverent silence settled over the crowd. The roomful of people seemed to breathe and pray of one accord, and as Gloria sensed the serenity that filled the room she felt deeply happy in a whole new way.
These people love me, Lord, and they accept me for who I am—and isn’t that as much a miracle as the way Cyrus and I have found each other? Where would any of us be without You?
“Amen,” Bishop Monroe said—and as though they hadn’t eaten in days, folks thronged toward the table covered with food and formed a line to fill their plates.
Cyrus broke away from the crowd to stand beside Gloria. “It’s been a day I won’t forget,” he remarked, holding her gaze.
“It has, for many different reasons,” she agreed. “Bishop Tom was a sight for sore eyes when he showed up unannounced—and then there was the expression on Cornelius’s face a few moments later.”
Cyrus smiled secretively as he grabbed her hand. “I’m hoping tomorrow will be another memorable day, Gloria. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.”
A tingle of anticipation made her squeeze his hand. “What do you mean, memorable?” she teased as she picked up a plate.
“Never mind,” Cyrus replied breezily. “Don’t ask me any more questions, because I won’t give you any more clues.”
“Teaser,” she taunted under her breath.
“Jah, I am—because I like to watch the sparks come out to play in your big brown eyes,” he murmured. “Now pay attention to what you’re doing, sweetie. What’ll folks think if they see that you’re putting applesauce on your sandwich?”
W
hat could she do but laugh at herself? With Cyrus standing so close, tormenting her with the hint of something big happening tomorrow, was it any wonder that she felt ferhoodled? When she looked for seats, she noticed that Laura was sitting with Jonathan and his redheaded cousins, Sam and Simon, cooing over Corene and Carol in their carriers as Barbara and Bernice beamed at them. It made her wonder if her friend might become the mother of twins someday, as well, because she already appeared to be part of the Helmuth family.
Cyrus placed his warm hand on the small of her back and steered her in a different direction. When Gloria spotted two places to sit near Uncle Lester, Phoebe and Allen, and the Beacheys, she knew her smile gave away the fact that she was head over heels in love—
And isn’t that the best feeling in the world? Maybe it’s okay to be boy crazy and do silly things when you know your fairy tale’s headed toward a happy ending that is just the beginning.
“Gloria! Sit by me, sweetie,” Uncle Lester said as he pulled out a chair. “You won’t believe the conversation your old uncle’s just had—and I want you to be the first to hear my news!”
Gloria’s eyebrows rose as she sat down. Across the table, Annabelle and Phineas were smiling just as brightly as her uncle, while Allen and his new bride were holding a quick, whispered conversation. “What are you up to now, Uncle Lester?” she asked. “You look ready to pop.”
“I’m gonna sell my place to the Beacheys!” he exclaimed. “And I’ve asked Allen if he’ll build me a tiny home.”
Gloria’s eyes widened. Her uncle hadn’t said a word about wanting to move out of his house. “Really? What brought this on?”
Uncle Lester’s expression mellowed as he slipped an arm around Gloria’s shoulders. “I intended to live in that place with Delores, you know, and it’s never going to happen,” he said softly. “Those empty rooms are a constant reminder of that—and I can’t think of anybody nicer than Annabelle and Phineas, who need a place to start over—”
“He caught us completely by surprise with his suggestion!” Annabelle put in excitedly.
“And we’d be delighted to live there,” Phineas added. “I don’t even have to look at the house to know it’s as well-built as every other place here. And with winter coming on, who wants to be starting construction—or waiting for spring to do that?”
“This is the most wonderful thing since—well, since Phineas came back!” Annabelle blurted as she smiled at her husband. “And as we were saying, Lester, you can use a room until you have another place of your own. It’s the least we can do for you, for making us feel so welcome.”
Allen eased away from his new wife, his face alight with a smile. “What if you lived in my tiny home, Lester? Now that Phoebe and I have a house—”
“Your place on Rainbow Lake? Really?” Lester cried out.
Phoebe laughed gently. “Why not? Try it out for a while to see if living small is really your cup of tea—”
“And if it is, we’ll work out the finances later,” Allen put in. “If it’s not—no harm done. You can figure out where you’d rather live and move forward from there.”
Noting how the dining room had grown quiet around them, Gloria waved her hand to get everyone’s attention. “We have more gut news to celebrate today!” she announced. “Phineas and Annabelle will be moving into Uncle Lester’s place—”
“And I get to upgrade to lakefront property and Allen’s tiny home!” Lester crowed. “I don’t know who’s happier—the Beacheys or me!”
“Congratulations!” Rosetta calleéd out. “That makes us all happy, Lester.”
As applause filled the dining room, Mattie and Christine went into the kitchen and came out quickly with a tall gift sack. They paused at the end of the table by the Beacheys until folks got quiet again. Everyone shifted, watching them with anticipation.
“Annabelle and Phineas, we have a little gift for you, and this seems like a gut time to present it,” Mattie said as she placed the sack on the table.
“Because we’re delighted that you’re our newest neighbors,” Christine added with a lilt in her voice.
After a moment’s hesitation, Annabelle lowered the sack enough to peek into it—and then flushed happily. “Pleated kapps like the ones you gals wear here—and a new black hat for Phineas!”
“Welcome back to the Old Order, Phineas,” Bishop Monroe said from across the room. “We thought a new winter-weight Stetson might come in handy.”
Gloria thought Phineas might cry as he ran his finger reverently along the wide brim of the black hat. When he put it on, his face took on an inexplicable expression—a combination of serenity and joy and gratitude.
“Denki, friends,” he said quietly. “It . . . it’s a perfect fit for me now. Seems God’s love and forgiveness—and yours—are just the right size.”
“I second that emotion,” Cyrus whispered as he took Gloria’s hand under the table. “Where would we be without love and forgiveness?”
Folks nodded, savoring the meaning of the moment. Gloria couldn’t look away from Cyrus’s gaze, his dark eyes so full of feelings that he wouldn’t have expressed a few weeks ago. Was this how it felt to get beyond the boy-crazy stage and think of Cyrus as a man . . . because she’d become a woman?
A girlish giggle across the table made them both glance at Annabelle as Mattie helped her adjust one of the new pleated kapps over her blond hair.
“Well, now!” Annabelle said. “I don’t know how it looks, but it has more substance to it than a prayer covering made of organdy. These kapps are made to last!”
Phineas smiled gently as he gazed at her. “We can say that about a lot of things at Promise Lodge,” he murmured. “You look beautiful, Annabelle.”
Cyrus squeezed Gloria’s hand again. “Phineas is stealing all my gut lines,” he whispered. “You’re the best, Gloria—and you’re beautiful. I hope to prove I mean that every day from here on out.”
Chapter Thirty
Early Monday morning, Gloria went downstairs filled with a sense of great anticipation. True to his word, Cyrus hadn’t given her a clue about what was to happen—but she couldn’t stop smiling. During the remainder of the party, he’d made his long-term intentions clear.
“Somebody’s looking mighty happy,” Ruby remarked as she arranged strips of bacon in a skillet.
“Jah, mark my words, a couple of young ladies we know will soon be making big announcements.” Beulah looked up from the biscuits she was cutting. “And we’re tickled pink, Gloria. Makes us curious about who’ll manage the apartments after you and Cyrus get hitched—but it’ll work out. Always does.”
Gloria recalled that she’d once referred to the Kuhn sisters as biddy hens and had refused to live at the lodge with them. They’d become like a pair of favorite maidel aunts since then, however, and Gloria realized just how much she had changed over the past months.
“It’ll work out,” she agreed. “Cyrus knows I’m a total failure in the kitchen, yet he still wants to be with me—so we have to believe that anything’s possible!”
Beulah chuckled patiently. “Ruby and I could help you learn to cook, if you’d like.”
“You’re probably more motivated than you were before,” Ruby pointed out as she placed her skillet on the stove. “And you’re so used to thinking of yourself as a failure, it’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy—but we can change that. You are what you believe you are.”
Gloria blinked. She’d never thought about it that way—but the Kuhn sisters wouldn’t lie to her. “Maybe we could give it a shot. What could it hurt?”
When the mudroom door opened, Laura stepped inside. Her blue eyes twinkled in a face made pink by the chilly morning air. “Jonathan told me I’d want to be here for breakfast,” she said as she hung up her coat. “Any idea what’s going on?”
Beulah and Ruby shrugged, but Gloria suspected they knew more than they were saying.
“Annabelle and Phineas have gone over to eat with Lester, so they can discuss the
details about buying his house,” Ruby said.
“And of course, Irene’s been baking pies with Phoebe for an hour already, so she won’t be here, either.” Beulah placed the biscuits on a baking pan and slipped them into the oven. “Seems to me we could let the young folks have the meal to themselves, don’t you think, Ruby?”
“Fine idea! I hear the Skylark Café calling my name for breakfast in town, because I wanted to shop this morning, anyway,” Ruby replied with a laugh. “Let’s go, Beulah!”
“But—” Gloria looked at the stove and the oven, panic rising inside her. “You said you’d teach me to cook, not that you’d run out on me!”
“Experience is the best teacher,” Beulah quipped as she and her sister put on their coats. “You’ll do just fine, girls. Cyrus and Jonathan will be here any minute, so—”
“They put you up to this!” Gloria blurted. “What if I burn the bacon, or—”
“Just pay attention to the skillet,” Ruby suggested. “Give those biscuits about ten more minutes. See you later!”
As the back door closed, Laura peered through the oven window. “We’ve got this, Gloria. Let’s scramble some eggs in a bowl, and set out plates—but you do have to watch that skillet in the meantime.”
“Ah. I got so rattled, I forgot that you’ve been cooking for years,” Gloria murmured. “We’re in gut hands.”
When Cyrus and Jonathan arrived a few minutes later, Gloria was removing perfectly cooked bacon from the skillet and Laura was taking the biscuits from the oven. Rather than waiting at the table, the brothers came into the kitchen as though they felt right at home there.
“Smells really gut in here,” Jonathan remarked. “I’ll set out the butter and honey—”
“And how about if I take charge of these eggs?” Cyrus asked as he turned on the gas burner. “Looks like you ladies have them mixed with milk and ready to go.”
Puzzled, Gloria watched Cyrus pour the mixture into the skillet she’d used for the bacon. “You know how to cook?”
He winked at her as he stirred the eggs with a spatula. “I can handle basics like eggs and roasts and baking potatoes—but Jonathan’s the pastry chef. Makes a mean pan of cinnamon rolls.”
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