Anna squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled through her nose and then blew the air out through her mouth. She opened her eyes and moderated her voice to state, “Melinda, I gave you the hairpins after my accident and after I ceased taking any medication. I remember everything from the past week perfectly.”
Melinda wrinkled her nose. “Why are you getting so prickly about such a trivial matter?” But before Anna responded, Melinda shrieked, “Oh, take the reins, will you? I can jump out at this stop sign instead of walking to Schrock’s from the horse and buggy lot. See you later!”
As Melinda bounced down from the buggy and tore through traffic, Eli exclaimed, “Everyone knows you’re not supposed to do that! Doesn’t she have any common sense?”
Shaking her head, Anna wondered the same thing herself. In the pause it took for traffic to start moving again, Melinda scudded across the street and pulled open the door to Schrock’s. Watching her, Anna feared her cousin might not even last a week in the shop before Joseph would have to let her go. He’d be short staffed again and Anna would feel obligated to return, since she was the one who recommended Melinda for the temporary position. In that case, I better make hay while the sun shines, she thought. Or at least make my dress while I have a chance. Although the doctor had prohibited prolonged periods of sewing, Anna figured she could stitch it together a bit at a time, but first she’d need to purchase her wedding dress fabric.
After all of the groceries had been secured in the buggy, Anna shepherded the boys into Yoder’s Bakery, where she treated them to a cup of cocoa each and allowed them to split one of Faith Yoder’s renowned apple fry pies.
“How are you?” Faith asked with a look of concern. “We heard you took a bad fall.”
“Denki, I feel fine now.” Anna deliberately kept her answer vague; she didn’t want to lie, nor did she wish to tell anyone else about her memory problems, lest they question her about her wedding plans, as well. “How about you? Is your business thriving in its new location?”
“Jah. It’s made such a difference to have a shop on Main Street instead of working out of the kitchen at home,” Faith said. “I’m already up to my eyeballs in Easter orders for my Englisch customers’ celebrations. Oh! That reminds me, are you planning to order a wedding cake?”
Although many of the desserts at Amish weddings were homemade by the bride’s family and friends, it was common for the bride to order at least one special-made cake from a professional baker, as well, and Anna didn’t know quite how to reply. She figured it was one thing to buy fabric for a wedding dress at this point, but it was entirely another to order a wedding cake.
Despite experiencing the first sweet stirrings of infatuation for Fletcher, Anna realized that if her memory didn’t return in full, there was still the possibility they wouldn’t marry. If the wedding was called off, she could always wear her dress to church, since it would be in the same pattern as the rest of her clothes. But if she placed an order for a cake, Faith might turn down future business so that she would have time to fill Anna’s order. Anna didn’t want to inconvenience Faith and affect her business like that.
“Er,” she hedged. “I’m not quite certain.”
Faith’s creamy complexion splotched with pink. “Of course, that’s fine. I only asked because your wedding date is so close to Easter, I wanted to be sure to reserve time to make your cake if you wanted one. I wasn’t trying to pressure you into ordering anything from me—”
“Neh, I didn’t think you were.” Anna stammered, “It’s just that I...I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
“Better you should wait, then.” Faith chuckled. “Your cousin Melinda ordered hers last week and she’s already changed her mind three times. I’m not going to stock up on any specialty ingredients for hers until the week before the wedding, when I give her a final deadline.”
“Gut idea.” Anna laughed. “I’ll be sure to place my order as soon as I’ve given it more thought. Meanwhile, would you mind if I leave Eli and Evan here to finish their cocoa? I need to make a last-minute purchase from the mercantile. They’ll behave themselves, won’t you, boys?”
“With six brothers, I know how to keep these two out of mischief,” Faith jested.
Anna was glad for the opportunity to shop for the fabric without the boys around. The two of them had eyes and ears for everything, and she was concerned they might report her purchase back to Naomi, who would fret endlessly about Anna sewing, no matter how many breaks she took. Anna swiftly backtracked down Main Street to the mercantile, but selecting the color took more time than she’d anticipated. Brides in her district tended to choose a traditional blue for their wedding dresses, although some, like Melinda, favored brighter variations, such as shades of purple. Anna liked both colors, but neither particularly appealed to her over the other.
She was fingering a swatch of navy blue cotton when she caught sight of a bolt in a deep green hue. It reminded her of the shade of the grass beneath a willow tree. She’d be pleased to have a new dress in that color, regardless of whether it ended up being her wedding dress or not. And somehow, just the act of selecting the fabric made her feel more confident about the future. She bought enough for herself and her two newehockers and hustled back to the bakery, knowing Naomi would begin to worry if she and the boys didn’t return home soon. A young Amish woman was exiting Yoder’s with a stack of cardboard boxes full of treats in her arms and two bags of doughnuts swinging from her hand as Anna was entering.
“Excuse me,” Anna apologized, peering around the large package of fabric she carried.
The woman held the door open for her with her elbow as she balanced her own packages.
“Denki, but I don’t think there’s room for me to squeeze by. I’m just here to summon my brothers anyway.” Anna smiled, calling, “Eli, Evan, kumme please.”
The woman made a discontented huffing noise as the boys passed her.
When they were out of earshot, Anna instructed, “Boys, it’s only proper to hold the door for someone who has packages in her hands, even when she’s being very polite and holding it for you. I think you offended that lady.”
“I’m sorry, Anna. We’ll remember that next time,” Evan promised.
“Jah,” agreed Eli. “I didn’t want to get my handprints on the door handle. But we’ll apologize to Katie Fisher at church on Sunday.”
“That was my friend Katie Fisher, Tessa’s sister?” Anna asked abashedly.
Suddenly she understood why Katie had acted so crabby: it must have seemed as if Anna was snubbing her, just as she’d apparently snubbed her sister, Tessa. Anna pressed her lips together, silently praying for her memory to return before she hurt anyone else’s feelings or had to tell another person about her amnesia.
* * *
Fletcher pried the lid off a paint can. Painting was no one’s favorite part of the job, but it was a necessary one. He wanted to be certain Raymond and Roy took as much care performing the mundane aspects of their responsibilities as they did the more challenging tasks.
“We’ll have to move up our completion date on this site,” Aaron announced. “I accepted another project that begins next week.”
Fletcher voiced his surprise. “This office suite is going to require hanging more than the usual amount of trim, which we don’t even have on hand yet.”
“Jah, that’s why I’m heading to the lumber store now.”
“Now?” Fletcher repeated. If Aaron left, they’d fall behind on the painting.
“It’s not as if I can call them on my cell phone, is it?” Aaron cracked. “If I don’t talk to them today, I won’t know if they have what we need in stock.”
Fletcher hesitated. “The boys and I could stop on our way to their house after work today,” he suggested.
“Neh, I’ll go now,” Aaron insisted.
To Fletcher, it seemed a waste of time and manpower for Aaron to r
un errands during the workday when Fletcher offered to do it off the clock, but he knew that was Aaron’s decision to make, not his, since Aaron was the foreman. After giving it more thought, Fletcher concluded he’d prefer to arrive at Anna’s sooner rather than later anyway, so he could finally spend an afternoon alone with her, helping her to recall the past. As he painted he silently asked God to bless their time together, and before Fletcher knew it, Roy signaled that it was nearly dinnertime.
At Anna’s house, Evan and Eli zipped pell-mell across the yard to greet them.
“Fletcher!” Eli shouted. “Mamm says you’re joining us for dinner. We made certain to taste test your food for mushrooms—just like Nehemiah did for King Artaxerxes in the Bible.”
“Really?” asked Fletcher. “I didn’t realize King Artaxerxes was allergic to mushrooms, too.”
“Not mushrooms but anything poisonous,” Eli explained solemnly.
Fletcher nodded seriously and clapped Eli’s shoulder in return. “I appreciate that.”
When Fletcher entered the kitchen, Naomi was slicing bread. Anna had just slid a pan from the oven and her cheeks were glowing. She gave him a little half wave with the oversize oven mitts she wore on her hands and then giggled at herself. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her spontaneous sense of humor and he suddenly felt unnerved by her charm.
“Hello, Naomi. Hello, Anna,” he said. “You smell appenditlich.”
He’d meant to say the food smelled delicious, but before he could correct his mistake, Evan hooted, “Fletcher said, ‘you smell appenditlich’ instead of ‘the food smells appenditlich’!”
“Beheef dich,” Anna shushed Evan with the command to behave himself before giving him a playful swat with the oven mitt. “Go wash your hands, please.”
“I’d better wash my hands, too.” Fletcher quickly ducked into the washroom until his ears lost their crimson flush.
After the meal, he informed Anna she might want to wear a heavier shawl, as they’d be spending time near the creek, where the air was especially cool.
“You’re going to the creek?” Eli asked. “Can we kumme, too? We finished all of our chores.”
“Jah. We can look for Timothy again,” Evan begged. “Please?”
For a split second, Fletcher feared Anna would allow Eli and Evan to accompany them, but then she glanced in Fletcher’s direction and gave him a wink.
“I think the turtles are still in brumation,” she said. “Besides, you boys already went on an outing with me today. Now it’s Fletcher’s turn.”
Satisfied, Fletcher uncrossed his arms, but there was still a delay before he set out with Anna: she insisted on washing and drying the dishes, despite Naomi’s protests. When they were finally seated in the buggy and traveling down the lane, he glanced sideways to see Anna smiling broadly.
“Look!” she exclaimed, pointing to a robin in the field. “I guess that means winter is officially over, although our winter was so mild this year, it was as if it hardly happened.”
“You remembered our mild winter?” Fletcher asked, unable to keep the tension from his voice.
“Neh, Naomi told me,” Anna confessed. “I’m sorry if I got your hopes up. I assure you, as soon I remember anything from the past six months, I’ll let you know.”
“Of course you will.” Fletcher hadn’t meant to sound as if he were pressuring her. He loosened his grip on the reins and lightened his tone. “We did have a white Grischtdaag, though. The landscape was blanketed in pristine perfection.”
“So then, white must be your favorite color?” Anna asked him cheekily. “And winter must be your favorite season?”
“Neh, spring is my favorite season—same as yours. And green is my favorite color,” he answered, thinking in particular of the green radiance of Anna’s eyes.
“Oh, that’s interesting to know,” Anna replied. “Because today I purchased green fabric for my wedding dress.”
Fletcher again felt a surge of apprehension. She was making her dress, which was another significant step in the wedding preparations. Although that was a good sign, he had to remind himself that once Anna’s memories returned, it was possible she’d cancel the wedding to him in favor of a renewed courtship with Aaron. Even so, Fletcher allowed himself a small measure of optimism.
They rode in silence until they came to the public park that hosted the stony path running adjacent to the creek. Following the trail, they eventually arrived at the same spot Anna and her brothers frequented by cutting down the hill and through the meadow directly behind their house.
“We could have walked straight to the creek from my house,” Anna noted. “I’m not as fragile as everyone seems to think I am.”
“Jah, but the creek isn’t the only stop on our itinerary,” Fletcher replied as he pulled a blanket and thermos from the back of his buggy. “We’ll need the buggy to travel to the other place we’ll visit today.”
“As long as our next destination isn’t Tessa and Katie Fisher’s house,” she remarked. “I’m afraid I’ve managed to slight them both on separate occasions. I had no idea who they were and I feel awful I don’t remember them.” Anna sighed.
“You’ll remember them yet,” Fletcher encouraged her.
When they reached the water’s edge, Fletcher spread the blanket he’d been carrying beneath a barely budding willow tree and motioned for Anna to have a seat. Then he poured fragrant hot liquid from the thermos into a cup and presented it to her.
“What’s this?” she questioned.
“It’s sage tea,” he replied, filling a cup for himself. “Remember? Dr. Donovan said he had patients who claimed it helped their memories return.”
Anna pursed her lips to blow on the steaming drink. “He also said some of his patients practiced hypnotism. You’re not going to try to hypnotize me, too, are you?”
Fletcher could tell by the way her cheek dimpled that she was pleased rather than annoyed. “Neh. But he did say it was important to get rest—which is why we’re going to relax here for a while.”
“Oh, I see,” Anna said with a lilt in her voice. “We’re not merely whiling away a Saturday afternoon. We’re actually following doctor’s orders?”
“Doctor’s orders,” Fletcher reiterated, enjoying their flirtation. “Actually, we’re following his orders and his patients’ suggestions. He mentioned some of their families and friends tried to recreate memories in order to jog the patients’ recollection. There’s no pressure, but I hope these surroundings might prompt memories of our early days together. You see, I hadn’t been in town for more than a week when I first met you fishing down at the bend in the creek.”
* * *
“I was fishing?” Anna was surprised. “But I’ve never liked handling grubs.”
Fletcher gave a hearty laugh, exposing nearly perfectly aligned teeth, except for one at the top left corner, which was slightly crooked, as if it didn’t quite fit among the others.
“Neh,” he said. “I meant I was fishing. You were leaning against a willow on the embankment.”
“Just loitering there?” That didn’t sound like something she would have done, either.
“Actually, you were weeping,” Fletcher admitted.
Anna’s cheeks went hot when she heard Fletcher had first encountered her in such a vulnerable state. “I’m afraid I did a lot of crying in the months following my daed’s death.”
“Perhaps, but when I made a dumb joke about suddenly understanding why the tree was called a weeping willow, you were gracious enough to laugh.”
“You don’t expect me to start weeping under this willow again now, do you?” Anna bantered.
“Neh,” Fletcher replied. “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s seeing you in tears.”
Fletcher’s response was so earnest it warmed Anna to the tips of her toes. She looked around and noted, “I’ve alwa
ys appreciated what a peaceful place this is.”
Fletcher guffawed. “That’s the very thing we first argued about.”
“We did?” Anna’s curiosity was piqued. “Why?”
“Well, after I met you here the first time and you were crying—you hadn’t yet confided the reasons behind your tears—I made that dumb joke, but then I contrived an excuse to leave, so you’d have your privacy.”
“That was kind of you,” Anna commented.
“Not really,” Fletcher admitted. “I was agitated because I believed our voices had scared away the fish. See, I’d specifically chosen this spot instead of the location upstream where everyone else was fishing because it seemed more peaceful here. So, when you showed up the next evening, we got into a bit of an argument about who had more of a right to be here.”
“You were a newcomer to our community,” Anna said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t friendlier. That was rude of me.”
“Neh, what’s rude is what I did on the third evening.”
Listening to Fletcher talk about their first encounter was like reading a very good book: Anna wanted to hear all of it at once yet she didn’t want the story to come to an end.
“What did you do on the third evening?” she asked.
“I presented you with a pen and a journal and suggested you might benefit from writing about your heartache instead of reflecting on it here at the stream,” Fletcher said, cringing at himself. “What a heel.”
“You weren’t a heel. I can be a bit territorial—my daed always said it came from living as an only child for so long and not having to share my space. I was being selfish.”
“Neh,” Fletcher countered. “What a heel is what you wrote about me on the first page of the diary I’d given you. You scribbled, This journal was given to me by Fletcher Chupp, what a heel. And then you thrust the diary under my nose to show me what it said.”
“I did?” Anna was mortified. “That was childish.”
“It was true. I was being a heel. I cared more about fishing than about your feelings. And I tried to disguise my self-centeredness with a gift.”
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