by Sarah Price
“Willis?” Now Anna’s full attention was focused on the discussion.
“Your daed’s nephew’s son has been round to see them.”
At this, Anna gasped. “I almost don’t believe you! Daed has disowned him ever since Willis came calling on Elizabeth before marrying another!”
Happy to have some riveting news to share, Salome nodded her head. “It’s true, ja. His wife died, poor thing. She was sick for so long and refused treatment from Englische doctors. She wanted holistic treatment, instead.” The way that Salome said the word holistic spoke volumes for her opinion about that decision. “I heard they even traveled by train to Mexico for some treatment!”
“Mexico!”
Salome nodded. “Now that she’s passed, he is alone and childless. He went visiting his parents who live down there now. His daed has arthritis too. In his joints.” The reference to the arthritis reminded Anna that her father and Elizabeth had used that excuse as the main reason for leaving Charm in the first place. Leaning forward, Salome lowered her voice so that the boys couldn’t overhear her as she continued with her story. “Elizabeth says that Willis comes round almost every evening to visit with them. Your daed has forgiven him and restored him to the family’s good graces. It seems he has matured quite a bit over the past years.”
At this part, Hannah interrupted. “He’s to visit here to check on the property,” she said, a gleam in her eyes.
Without saying it, Anna knew what that meant. If Willis were to marry Elizabeth, the family could be restored to the farmette. A young man could work the ten acres, possibly even lease some adjourning land to expand the crop yield. No wonder that Elizabeth sounded so joyful in her letter to Salome.
“She wrote that he’s to stop by here to visit when he returns,” Salome announced, picking up her needlepoint once again. “His aendi lives in between Charm and Sugarcreek, you know.”
“Do you expect him soon then?” Anna was only half interested in meeting her distant cousin, but wondered what Willis could have possibly said to gain favor with her father after so many years.
“I suspect by the weekend,” Salome said. “The letter was dated three days ago. And, if a wedding were to be announced, it would be within the next few weeks. After communion, anyway, wouldn’t you think?”
Anna chose not to think at all. The realization that, quite possibly, not just Leah and Hannah could be married within the next two months, but Elizabeth as well, caused her a moment of angst. With everyone married, she would be the lone unmarried maedel in the family.
That was a thought that lingered long after Salome and Hannah returned to their house. If she never married, Anna knew that she would become a burden to the families, floating from house to house in order to care for kinner and bopplies. Then, when her services would no longer be needed, she’d be forced to move in with her father down at Pinecraft, the one place she did not want to live. He’d need someone to care for him, and with two of his three daughters married, that responsibility would fall on her shoulders.
The entire situation had become so complex in the past few weeks that Anna felt it was best to simply push it aside and deal with the situations at a later time.
After a nearly sleepless night, her mind racing with images of being forced to move to Florida, Anna faced the morning with a new determination: to think less about the future and focus more on the current day. Who am I, she scolded herself, to challenge God’s plans for me?
Before the two boys awoke, she sat down at the kitchen table, a cup of steaming coffee set before her as she bent over a pad of paper making a list of things to do. While Mary was away, Anna was determined to be more productive than ever, and she would start by doing the very things that Mary neglected. Just the previous evening, she had noticed that the pantry was missing essential ingredients to make bread or even pancakes. Anna knew that Mary detested going to the market, so she listed that as the first order of business for the day.
Shortly after breakfast Anna harnessed Cris’s horse to the buggy and loaded the two little boys inside of it. They were excited to accompany her but even more enthused to learn that Anna intended to make fresh bread and sugar cookies in the afternoon. She listened to them chatter to each other, first about who would help Anna knead the bread, an argument that was quickly resolved when she informed them that she would make two loaves, instead of one. Satisfied, their attention drifted to watching the different cars that passed them, little Cris favoring the trucks while Walter preferred a red sports car instead. At one point, she let each boy hold the reins so that they too could drive the horse. To her relief, and secret pleasure, neither child misbehaved once as she guided the horse and buggy down the road.
The market was not busy for a Saturday, and the boys ran ahead to look at the candy section. Anna had promised them each one piece if they would behave, the reward carrying enough weight so that they’d followed through on their commitment to do so. She pushed the cart down the narrow aisles, pausing to kneel down and examine a large bottle of aloe vera water. With colder weather upon them, a daily dose of the liquid would help ward off colds and the flu, so she picked one and started to stand up.
A man stood behind her, reaching for something on the top shelf. When Anna turned around, she knocked into him and, startled, dropped the plastic container.
“Oh, help!” she muttered, kneeling once again to retrieve it. Thankfully the plastic had not cracked.
He too had knelt down to fetch the container and, upon doing so, their hands touched, ever so briefly.
Anna stood up again and took a step backward. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, her eyes downcast as the color flooded to her cheeks.
He remained silent for a moment, his eyes studying her. And then he broke out with a smile. “Cousin Anna?”
Lifting her eyes, she tried to recognize his face. While not as striking as Freman, the young man was handsome in a more cherubic way with straight blond hair, cut in a simple manner across his forehead, and dark brown chestnut-shaped eyes. His skin was tanned, most likely indicating that he was a farmer. While, like most Amish people, she had plenty of cousins, this was one that she did not know. “Are we familiar . . . ?”
He extended his hand, and when she reluctantly accepted it, he grinned. “Cousin Willis at your service.” He bowed, just slightly, an awkward motion that embarrassed her enough to be thankful that the store was empty. “I’d recognize you anywhere. You bear a great resemblance to your mother.”
She gasped. “I do?”
He laughed at her reaction. There was something contagious about his happy-go-lucky attitude. “Oh, ja! I met her twice before she passed away. I reckon you don’t remember that family gathering?”
Immediately, she knew which reunion he referenced, for it had been just months before her mother had died. Certainly her mother must have impressed this Willis Eicher more than he impressed Anna, for she did not recognize him at all. Her manners, however, dictated that she not admit as much to him. Instead, she changed the subject.
“I had heard that you were coming here from Florida,” she said. “Is that where you live now?”
He shook his head. “Nee, I was just visiting my parents. They too have recently moved down there, you see.”
Anna nodded. It was increasingly popular for older Amish couples to purchase small houses in the Pinecraft community, mirroring the Englische trend of retirees from the northern states moving down south in search of a better climate. Many people only stayed there during the harsh winter months, migrating south like the robins and finches. That was why her grandparents had originally purchased the house. Other Amish, however, were finding the climate and activities in Florida more to their liking and stayed there year-round. Without having to tend to horses, farms, or other responsibilities, their time was freed to attend Bible study, visit friends, or simply sit outdoors and enjoy the year-round sunshine. And most everything was just a battery-operated golf cart ride away, a far simpler mode of transportati
on than having to hitch up a horse to a buggy every time an errand was required.
At least she finally understood how the reunion between her father and Willis had occurred. With the community being so small, it would have been hard, if not impossible, for the two men not to encounter each other . . . whether at church or at a store or even walking down the street! And, of course, neither her father nor Elizabeth would have wanted anyone to question the reasons behind their dislike for a member of their own family. Reconciliation was the logical answer in order to avoid uncomfortable situations that might result in unwanted speculation.
And, of course, with Willis being a widower without any offspring, he certainly would be keen to remarry. Rekindling the relationship with Elizabeth was, no doubt, an easy progression for him on his journey to find a new wife and rebuild his life. However, Anna wondered how he could rekindle such a relationship if he was standing here, in a store located in Ohio.
A moment of awkward silence fell between them. Despite being related, distantly at that, Anna realized that they were, in fact, complete strangers.
“I suppose you have heard from your father, then?”
His question interrupted her private thoughts. She flushed, too embarrassed to admit that he had not written to her personally. “I hear he’s doing well,” she finally settled upon as a response, figuring it was not a misleading statement. After all, hadn’t Salome received a letter just that week?
“Indeed he is! And your schwester, Elizabeth too.” He chuckled at the memory. “It was quite surprising to run into them.”
Anna could only imagine. After so many years of Daed insisting they have nothing to do with Willis, something must have transpired to change his mind.
As if reading her thoughts, Willis continued. “Her friend, Martha, invited my parents and me to supper after church one day. It was wunderbarr to reconnect with your family. I would like to hope we have moved past our differences, for we parted on friendly terms.”
“So Elizabeth wrote,” Anna admitted. Another awkward silence fell between the two of them. She had never been one to speak for the mere sake of idle conversation. Now, however, she felt the pressure to do so. According to Elizabeth’s letter to Salome, Willis might, after all, become her brother-in-law soon. “I hear you are visiting your aendi and checking on Daed’s property,” she managed to say.
He nodded. “Ja, I am. And I heard you were tending to cousin Mary’s two boys.”
She glanced at the floor, feeling uncomfortable in his steady gaze. While he seemed pleasant enough, she wasn’t used to engaging in casual exchanges with people she didn’t know. And given his history with the family, she wasn’t certain what else to say to him. “Speaking of the boys, I best go find them.” She started to back away, adding, “It was nice to run into you, Willis.”
His response was a simple smile and wave of his hand.
She hesitated and then waved back before turning around to continue walking down the aisle. At the end she glanced back and, to her surprise, saw him still standing there, watching her. The color rose to her cheeks and she hurried away, uncertain whether she was more eager to find Cris Junior and Walter or to simply get away from Willis.
Chapter Fifteen
THE SHOUTS COMING from the direction of the Mussers’ house startled Anna.
After a long weekend, an off-Sunday when they did not have a worship service to attend, then several days of watching the boys, Anna was enjoying her Wednesday morning working in Mary’s garden. Salome and Hannah were entertaining the boys, giving Anna a welcome respite. The chill in the air that morning warned of the upcoming winter quickly approaching, and she wanted to enjoy as much time as she could outdoors, basking in the afternoon sun. Soon the weather would change and the joy of outdoor work would be dampened by the need for heavy coats, mittens, and scarves.
Mary’s garden was smaller than the one at the Charm house. It was also not as well tended. With a heavy rake Anna removed the dead remnants of plants and weeds. Once it was cleaned and raked nicely, she would cover the dirt with a fine layer of straw, a way of protecting the soil for the winter as well as creating fodder for next year’s garden.
Just moments before, she had paused to watch as Hannah raced little Cris to the mailbox, Walter’s smaller legs leaving him too far behind to be in the race. Knowing that he’d lose, he lost interest and disappeared into the barn to climb the rafters and jump on the hay bales, a favorite pastime that he wasn’t allowed to do when his mother was home but that Anna willingly permitted. She too had fond memories of playing in her father’s hayloft when she was a child, although theirs had been much smaller than the Mussers’.
While Anna had watched Hannah and Cris’s race on their way to the end of the driveway, her back had been toward them when they returned to the house with the day’s mail in their hands. A thick vine had caught her attention, and using the rake as leverage, she had bent over to give it a strong tug.
The moment it broke free from the soil was the moment that she heard the shouts coming from the house. With the wind blowing in her direction, the loud noise of the commotion carried on the breeze.
Quickly Anna stood up, leaning against the rake’s handle as she tried to ascertain whether the shouts were from joy or despair. Her heart beat rapidly and she had to take several deep breaths to calm her nerves. It had been over a week since Leah’s accident. While Cris had called a few times, updating the family on her recovery, not one letter had arrived from Mary since Hannah and Anna returned.
With Leah on the mend, a letter was certainly expected, if for no other reason than to provide details about when they would all be arriving home. For that reason, Anna doubted that a letter had arrived with bad news. Certainly, if something had happened, Cris would have called.
Ruling out bad news, there was only one conclusion that came to mind: the contents of the letter surely must contain news that would be happily received by everyone . . . everyone, that is, except for Anna. And that surely meant that a wedding had been announced.
Regaining her composure, she set down the rake on the side of the garden and dusted off her hands on her dirty apron. She took one last breath as she prepared herself to hear the unimaginable. Over the past eight years, she had wondered about his life and where he had settled. In the quiet of her room, she had shed many tears when she thought of him happily settled with a wife and children. Upon his return to Holmes County, when she had learned that he never married, the gratification she felt could never be described.
Now she wondered at the irony of those feelings. Would it not be better if Freman had married a woman who was not so entwined with her own family?
Heading toward the house, she tried to steady her nerves for what she imagined was the inevitable announcement that Leah had written a letter announcing her betrothal to Freman. Anna’s emotions ranged from happiness for Leah, a young woman who deserved a fine husband, to despair over the realization that, at last and without doubt, he loved another.
Stepping into the house, she let her eyes adjust to the dim light and looked toward the sitting area. Salome sat on the sofa, tears streaming down her face as she held the open letter in her hands. Hannah sat beside her, gently rubbing her mother’s back as she consoled her.
“Wie gehts?”
Salome sobbed and waved the letter in the air.
A wave of relief washed over Anna, quickly followed by guilt. Clearly something awful had happened, something that had nothing to do with a wedding. How could she be so selfish as to secretly hope that the news would not be about Leah and Freman? For shame, she scolded herself as she hurried to Salome’s side.
“Oh, mercy,” she whispered. “What awful thing has happened?”
However, Hannah’s next words proved her suspicions wrong.
“Leah is to wed and will be moving away,” she said to Anna, tears in her eyes.
“I knew this would happen,” Salome wept, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. “How will I survive wi
th her living so far away? And among strangers! What do we know of this man? Of his family?” Another sob escaped her throat. “I never should have permitted that trip to Lancaster!”
The color drained from Anna’s face as she sat beside the distraught mother, fighting her own urge to cry.
It is done, she told herself. The decision from eight years ago, the one that she regretted on a daily basis, was now complete. While there had been room for speculation as to where Freman lived or whether he had married, she realized that she had still held out a whisper of hope that, mayhaps, circumstances would change and she would have a second chance.
Now, with the announcement of Leah’s wedding, that second chance had instantly vanished . . . both in reality and fantasy.
“Maem,” Hannah soothed, despite her own tears. She sat on the arm of the sofa and rubbed her mother’s back. “You should be happy for Leah.”
Salome clutched the letter to her chest. “Oh, I am,” she said through tears. “She’s a deserving girl. I just wish she didn’t have to move.”
Ignoring the bad feelings in the pit of her stomach, Anna tried to focus on Salome’s words as she rambled on. Apparently Mary and Cris would return without Leah, a surprising but welcomed change of plans. Anna didn’t ask what the reasons were for Leah to remain in Lancaster; she could only imagine that Freman wanted to spend some more time with his fiancée before they returned to Sugarcreek. Under the supervision of Jonas and Rebecca, they could make their future plans without facing any gossip from the g’may. Once they returned to Leola, they would only get to see each other during brief visits and on private buggy rides until they married.
Fiancée. The word made Anna stop breathing, just for a moment. How was this possible, she wondered? How had life played such an ironic trick on her? She lifted her hand and pressed it against her chest, feeling her heart beating rapidly against her palm. It beat for Freman and would never beat for another. What she had been to Freman, regardless of how briefly, was now reserved for Leah.