“Now what?” Anna frowned. “I will have to tell him the truth and—”
“He knows the truth.”
“You told both my aunt and this guy?”
“Malachi. His name is Malachi, Anna.”
“Ja, ja.” Anna shook her head. “How many others did you tell? Soon my mamm and daed will be hearing about it too.”
“Malachi won’t tell anyone. Neither will Rachel. Don’t worry.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You won’t get in trouble for this.”
“You won’t either, Anna.” Madison reached across the table, took Anna’s hand, and squeezed it. “You are so lucky.”
“I am lucky?”
“Yes. I know you probably won’t believe me, but I envy you, Anna.”
Anna studied Madison.
“There are so many things I love about your simple life. You’re so lucky to be born into it.”
“You can become Amish if you want,” Anna said. “You just have to accept our ways and be baptized. It happens sometimes.”
“I plan to take some Amish with me,” Madison told her. “I’m not sure how. But I plan to change some things in my life. I want to make it simpler.”
Anna nodded. “You have so much stuff, Madison. It made my head dizzy. Your closet is as big as my room at home. There are things, things, things—everywhere. Why do you need so much?”
“I don’t.”
“Oh.” Anna wondered at this.
Suddenly Madison pointed outside. “Look there, Anna.”
Anna looked out the window to see a tall Amish man crossing the street toward them. His posture was straight, his strides were long and confident, and beneath his straw hat she saw blond hair.
“He is very handsome,” she told Madison.
“He is Malachi.”
Anna blinked, then looked again as the man came into the coffee shop. “The same Malachi? Uncle Daniel’s nephew?”
“One and the same.” Madison grinned.
“He does not look like Uncle Daniel.”
“No. He definitely does not.” Madison waved to him, and he approached with a truly bewildered expression.
“Hello?” he said cautiously.
“Malachi, I want you to meet the real Anna,” Madison told him.
“Hello . . . Anna?” He looked back and forth from one girl to the other.
“Hello, Malachi.” Anna smiled nervously. “You want to sit?”
“Yes.” He nodded as he sat, still looking from one girl to the other.
“She really is Anna,” Madison assured him. “We changed clothes in the restroom.”
“You are Uncle Daniel’s nephew?” Anna asked him.
“Yes. And you are Aunt Rachel’s niece?”
“Ja. She and my mamm are sisters.”
Malachi looked back at Madison. “You look different.”
“I am different.” She smiled. “It was what I was trying to tell you.” She pointed to Anna again. “I was trying to be her. But she is the real thing.”
Anna felt her cheeks grow warm. “I was trying to be Madison, but I was not good at it. I am glad to be home.”
Malachi looked relieved. “You are ready to go home now?”
“Yes. Please.”
Malachi frowned at Madison. “How do you get home?”
She reached into the bright orange bag, pulling out a set of keys. “I have a car to drive.”
He looked surprised. “Yes, of course.”
“We should go,” Anna told Madison. “I would hug you, but we already have people looking at us.”
“I understand.” Madison smiled but remained seated. “You two have a nice ride back home.” She actually winked at Malachi, causing his cheeks to get rosy. “It will probably be much more pleasant than your ride into town.”
Anna glanced nervously at Malachi, but he just smiled. Such a handsome smile too! She reached for Madison’s hand, giving it a quick squeeze. “Thank you for everything, Madison.”
“Thank you too.”
“You have a blessed good life.” Anna let go of her hand.
“You too.”
Anna knew she saw tears in Madison’s eyes as she and Malachi left the coffee shop. For that matter, Anna had tears in her own eyes. It felt as if Madison was one of her best friends, yet they had only spent a total of a few hours together. And now it was over.
Still, Anna was glad to be home. Or almost home.
“You are the real Anna?” Malachi asked as he helped her into the buggy.
“I am the real Anna,” she assured him. “Although the truth is I don’t feel much like the Anna I was when I sneaked out of here last week.” She watched as he walked around—he really was a handsome man—and waited as he got into the driver’s seat. “I am very happy to be Anna again.”
“I am very happy you are Anna again too.” He released the brake and shook the reins, smiling as the horse began to move. “I look forward to getting to know the real Anna this time.”
“So do I,” she said. That was true enough. She did want to know the real Anna again. She wanted to reacquaint herself with the girl who had once loved doing her daily chores, the girl who got true pleasure from baking raisin bread and making a window shine—and sewing. She couldn’t wait to hem up little Elizabeth’s dress!
As Malachi drove the wagon home, slow and easy, a familiar song began to hum through Anna’s head. It was an old song Grandmamm used to sing in the garden. A song about peace and home and family. A song Anna hoped to sing to the end of her days.
26
With the morning sun shining brightly, Madison decided to put the top down on her Mini Cooper. She was surprised at how exhilarating it felt, the wind whipping through her hair as she sped down the country road. Okay, she was only going the speed limit, but after living in the slow lane for a week, this felt really fast.
After an hour, she realized her car was on empty, so she pulled into the next town. As she was filling up, the sound of something ringing in her purse made her jump, and then she realized it was her Blackberry. To her dismay, it was Garret. Instead of ignoring the call, she decided to just deal with it.
“Hello, Garret,” she said pleasantly.
“Hey, Maddie.” He sounded happy. “Great to hear your voice again. We’re still talking?”
“Sure. We’re talking now, aren’t we?”
“Where are you?”
“Just out for a drive.”
“Your car’s fixed?”
She considered this. “Uh, yeah, it’s running great.”
“So what happened with Jacob? Did he and that Anna chick get back together?”
“No.” She had almost forgotten that Garret had been helping Anna. “It didn’t turn out like she’d hoped.”
“Too bad. Was she okay?”
Madison smiled. “Actually, I think she was better than okay. They weren’t really meant for each other.”
There was a brief pause.
“Do you want to do something?” he asked hopefully. “Now that your relentless search for Anna’s missing man has been resolved, we could still go to Nantucket and—”
“No.” She started her car, moved it away from the pump, and parked. “I think I want to take a break.”
“Take a break?” He sounded mad. “Or break up?”
“I guess it could go either way.”
Garret let out a foul word, which, after she’d lived in an Amish community for a week, felt harsh on her ears.
“I’m sorry to hurt you, Garret. But, like Anna and Jacob, I think it’s for the best.”
“You strung me along for all of spring break just to dump me like this?”
“You knew more than a week ago that we had some major problems, Garret. Seriously, the writing was all over the wall.”
He let out another crass word.
“I have to go, Garret. Sorry to end it like this, but—” She didn’t get to finish because he had hung up. While she felt a tiny bit sad, she was mostly just relie
ved.
She decided to listen to her other messages—a mix from her mom, her dad, and Vivian. All three of them sounded similar in that they (1) wanted to know what was wrong with her, (2) wanted to know why she wasn’t returning their calls, and (3) were irked. She called her dad first, but only because he sounded genuinely worried about her health.
“Hey, Dad,” she said lightly. “I’m feeling a lot better now. I just wanted you to know.”
“You sound better.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner. I got busy and the end of the week just got away from me.”
“It’s okay. I got pretty busy too.”
“Anyway, I was thinking, if you wanted I could drive up to Boston for the night, maybe hang with you tomorrow.”
“Oh, Maddie, I wish I’d known sooner. I was so used to being blown off by you that I made other plans. I could cancel—”
“No,” she said quickly. “It’s okay. We can do it another weekend.”
“Do you want to look into Harvard after all?”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, Dad. I know you want me to go to Harvard. Mom wants me to go to Yale. I’ve decided that I want to do something totally different.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I don’t want to offend you guys, but I feel strongly about this. I’m just not an Ivy Leaguer, not at heart.”
“Hey, that’s okay, Maddie. I want you to go somewhere you want to go. I didn’t mean to pressure you. It is your life.”
“So you’ll support me in choosing a different college—I mean if I have to stand up to Mom?”
“You know I’ll support you.”
“I don’t want it to turn into a power struggle either.”
“Yeah, I hear you. You’re only a junior, you have time to figure this out. Especially if you’re not going the Ivy League route.”
“That’s what I’m thinking too.”
They talked a bit longer, and by the time she hung up, Madison felt like she and her dad had made good progress. Unfortunately, her phone call with her mom was not quite as satisfying. After Madison apologized for not going to Tuscany with them, her mom launched into a lecture about how Madison would’ve enjoyed it, how disappointed her grandmother had been, and that maybe she’d think twice next time.
“I’m sure I will,” Madison said. “If it’s any consolation, I think I might’ve grown up some this week.”
“Well, it’s about time.”
“Yeah.” Madison sighed. “Tell Grandmother I’m sorry I let her down and maybe we can plan something this summer.”
“Okay, dear, I’ll tell her. It’s cocktail hour now, so I’ll have to let you go. Thanks for calling. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
Madison told herself she couldn’t expect too much from her mom, but she still felt slightly disappointed as she hung up. Next she called Vivian. Her messages had gotten increasingly grumpy, and Madison was hoping to simply leave a message. Unfortunately, Vivian picked up.
“Madison,” she snapped, “where are you?”
Of course, it didn’t improve Vivian’s mood when Madison told her.
“I have had the worst week of my life,” she said. “And I have you to thank for it.”
“Why is it my fault?”
“Because I only agreed to come down here with my parents after you promised you’d come too.”
Madison didn’t remember any such promise, but she knew it probably didn’t matter much at this point. “Sorry, Vivian.”
“Sorry? That’s the best you can come up with? Sorry?”
“It’s all I have at the moment. In case you wondered, I had an interesting week and I—”
“Right! Now you’re going to rub it in that you stayed in the city and had a fabulous time. Thanks a lot, but I really don’t care.”
“All right then.” Madison was struggling to keep her voice calm and even. “I guess I’ll see you next week.”
“Whatever!” Vivian hung up.
Madison couldn’t believe she was actually missing Rachel right now. And Anna too. Who would’ve guessed? Then she remembered what Anna had said about Lucinda and her mom’s fashion show, so she called Lucinda’s number.
“Hey, Lucinda,” she said, “this is Madison.”
“The real Madison?”
“Yeah. Anna and I switched back.”
“Really? How did it go?”
Madison filled her in a little and they talked back and forth congenially almost like they were still friends. But eventually the conversation wore down.
“Anyway . . .” Madison decided to take care of one last thing. “Anna told me about your mom’s fashion show and how she signed me up, and I want—”
“To tell me to forget it, right?”
Madison considered this—that had been her initial response, but not now. “No, I wanted to tell you that if you still want me, I’d be honored.”
“You’d be honored?” Lucinda sounded skeptical. “Seriously, is this really Madison Van Buren?”
She laughed. “Yes, it’s me.”
“Okay, if this is really Madison, tell me about your thirteenth birthday.”
“You mean the time we went skinny-dipping at the Ritz after the pool was closed?”
Lucinda laughed. “Yeah. And that was my idea.”
“We used to have fun.”
“Used to.” Lucinda sounded a little bitter.
“Did you have any fun during spring break?”
Lucinda groaned. “All I did was work.”
Madison was getting an idea. “So . . . what are you doing this weekend?”
“Not much.”
“Well, I’m thinking about going to the Hamptons. Are you interested?”
“Really?”
“Totally.”
“Who else is going to be there?” Lucinda sounded suspicious.
“Just you and me,” Madison assured her. “Like old times—well, except no parents.”
“Really? No Vivian? No Garret? None of your other snooty friends?”
“Just me . . . and you if you come.”
“I’m in.”
Suddenly they were making plans. Lucinda would gather up some food, Madison would be in Manhattan before eleven, and they would easily make it to the Hamptons by two.
“You’re traveling light,” Lucinda observed when she saw the overnight bag that Madison had quickly packed after she’d told Nadya to take the weekend off.
“I’ve been living light this past week,” Madison confessed as she tossed her bag into the backseat. “It’s kind of nice.”
Lucinda stared at Madison as she started her car. “You really have changed.”
Madison chuckled. “Are you making fun of my hair? Because I haven’t washed it in days and then it was blowing in the wind with the top down. I know it’s pretty bad.”
“I’m not talking about your hair,” Lucinda clarified. “You just seem really different.”
“I actually feel really different,” she admitted.
“You were really living with Amish people? On a farm?”
“That’s right.” As Madison drove, she told Lucinda all about her strange week. Not only was Lucinda sincerely interested, she seemed to actually understand how Madison was now longing for simplicity in her life.
“I want that too,” Lucinda told her.
They talked about that all the way to the Hamptons. They both agreed that rather than stopping at any of the regular spots, they would go straight to the beach house, open it up, fix a late lunch, and enjoy a simple afternoon of beach and sunshine. And that’s exactly what they did. Madison knew that her other friends would probably have spoiled a time like this—either by wanting to party hardy, pair off, or, as Lucinda put it, act “snooty.”
In the evening, Madison told Lucinda that she planned to go out to the beach and just look at the stars. “Do you think that sounds dumb?” she asked as she gathered up a quilt.
“Not at all,” Lucinda said. “Do you c
are if I join you?”
“Only if you promise not to talk too much,” Madison said. “I mean once we’re out there.” As they walked outside, Madison confessed to Lucinda that, for the first time in her life, she was beginning to experience God in a real way.
“Seriously?” Lucinda sounded truly shocked. “Wow, you really have changed.”
“I think I’m still changing,” she admitted. “There’s something about being in nature, being quiet, calm, still. When the noise and distractions are cleared away, I feel more aware, more spiritually awake. Like I can almost hear his voice . . . like I’m starting to understand what God is about.”
“Cool,” Lucinda whispered.
They were out on the beach now, and Madison threw the quilt open and spread it out on the sand, where they both stretched out. Thankfully, Lucinda kept her promise of silence. The only sounds were the repetitive swish-swash of the ocean’s waves and an occasional seabird settling in for the night. Overhead, the stars came out, and before long a nearly full moon crested over the ocean. Lucinda let out a little gasp, and Madison couldn’t fault her for it. Truly, it was beautiful.
Maybe it was the aftermath of living with the Amish, or just her personal preference, or the influence of the Creator’s amazing creation—or perhaps it was all three. But Madison felt certain that God appreciated simplicity. Because that was where she had found him. And that was where she was determined to remain.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mindy Starns Clark for consulting with me in regard to how the Amish live today. Mindy has written a handy little booklet, A Pocket Guide to Amish Life (Harvest House Publishers, 2010). To learn more about contemporary Amish, check out her website: http://www.morefrommindy.com.
Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of over two hundred books for adults, teens, and children. She is the author of many novels for teens, including Just Another Girl and Anything but Normal, as well as several series for teens, including Diary of a Teenage Girl, TrueColors, Notes from a Spinning Planet, the Carter House Girls, and Words from the Rock. She has won a Gold Medallion Award and a Romance Writers of America Rita Award, and she was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. She lives with her husband in Sisters, Oregon. Visit her website at www.melodycarlson.com.
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