“It was a challenge, but I really thought you enjoyed the bread making, Mom, and all the other baking we did together.” With Leona, too . . .
Gloria pushed the cart forward while her mother turned her attention back to the shelves, deciding what she needed to stock their small pantry. “We could bake a special cake to welcome Leona. What do you say?”
“It would be simpler to purchase a ready-made cake.”
“Okay with me.” Gloria smiled at her mother’s attempt to cut corners, but she was pleased to see her warming up to the idea of Leona’s visit.
So much has changed since my parents welcomed her like one of us!
Carefully, Gloria removed her mother’s favorite vase from the hutch, having already stacked the supper dishes and utensils in the dishwasher. “Mom, where do you want to display the fresh flowers we picked up?” she asked as she arranged them in the vase. Her mother had already settled onto the sectional with a magazine she’d bought on impulse at the store, her feet up.
“You decide, honey. You have a good eye.”
Adam glanced up from a chair on the opposite end of the room, his phone in hand. “Aren’t you gonna blow up some balloons and put up some streamers, too? Those ought to make Leona feel right at home.”
Gloria almost laughed at his sarcastic tone.
“Come now, Adam,” Mom said, flipping the page of her magazine. “Leona can surely live with a few cut flowers. After all, this is our home.”
Gloria hoped her mother was right, but looking around, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed at how very English their place looked. She glanced at Adam in his ripped jeans. What have I done, encouraging her to visit?
“When does she arrive in Hot Springs?” asked Adam, still staring at his phone.
“Tomorrow afternoon.”
He groaned. “I can’t get off work, or I’d offer to drive you down there.”
“Aren’t you nice,” Mom murmured.
Adam set aside his phone. “I’m actually lookin’ forward to seeing her—wondering if she’s still as Plain as ever.”
Gloria looked at him. “Maybe you’ll have a chance to talk. Did ya ever really get to say good-bye?”
Adam shrugged. “I did my best. We weren’t really dating—only went out that one time . . . but if our family had stayed, I suppose we would’ve.”
It all came back to her—Leona’s excitement over Adam’s interest, their hope of maybe being related through marriage one day. . . . “Well, you’re with Donnalynn now, and she’s wonderful. Bet you’re glad I coaxed you into coming to church with me, right?”
Adam gave her a thumbs-up and took up his phone again, returning to texting.
Mom rose and headed toward the kitchen. “I think I hear your father scouting out a second helping of dessert.”
Gloria found a spot for the bouquet on the side table, where it wasn’t so noticeable.
Leona was surrounded by pleasant chatter as the van rolled across the miles. Manny Stolzfus, one of the Amishmen from a neighboring church district, moved up front to the passenger seat to visit with Ted for a few hours, so his talkative wife, Sarah, sat with Leona and struck up a conversation.
“Have you ever been to Hot Springs?” Leona asked.
“Oh, a couple times . . . we just love to walk at Garvan Woodland Gardens,” replied Sarah. “Will this be your first visit, then?”
“I’m heading on to a small town northwest of there—Hill View. An old friend of mine is pickin’ me up.”
“My goodness, some of our Amish cousins live there.” Sarah leaned forward to pull a bit of mending from her sewing bag.
“Seems like the People live almost everywhere now, doesn’t it? I read recently that Amish are settled in at least thirty states.”
Sarah shook her head. “Well, ain’t that somethin’!”
Leona opened her poetry book and started to read, remembering how she and Gloria had enjoyed reading aloud to each other from this very book. She still could scarcely believe that, after three long years, she would see her former friend tomorrow. At last!
CHAPTER
17
Gloria had traded Thursday shifts with another waitress and gone in extra early to serve the large breakfast crowd, knowing she’d need a head start for Hot Springs later.
She’d made up her mind not to wait for Leona’s call, deciding she could take it while already en route. She was glad she’d splurged on a car with Bluetooth. Dad would have made a ruckus if he knew she used to drive her old beater while listening to music on her phone with earbuds, unable to hear a siren or another car’s honking.
With Leona’s visit imminent, Gloria was having more reservations about it, especially considering how infrequently the rest of her family attended church these days. And Dad never goes at all. Last year, they’d stopped attending the small fellowship where her parents decided they would go after leaving the Amish church here. Gloria was beginning to think they as a family did not fit in anywhere for worship, though she had found a little church to attend on her own.
Even living surrounded by Amish farmland as they were, Gloria still felt the most adrift from her past on the Lord’s Day. At times, she wondered if it was merely a childish yearning for the past, something common in young adults who had rejected the church of their upbringing.
What beliefs do I want to embrace as my own?
“Would ya mind if I use your phone?” Leona asked Ted Bell that afternoon, glad for the rest at a motel last night.
He reached for it on the console and handed it back to her. “Help yourself.”
She thanked him and located Gloria’s phone number in the zipped compartment of her purse. Punching in the numbers, she soon heard ringing.
Gloria answered on the fourth ring, but it sounded like she had a cold or had even been crying. “Are you all right?” Leona asked right away.
“I will be . . . once you’re here.”
Leona wasn’t convinced Gloria was okay. “We’ve just passed Forrest City, so our driver thinks we’ll link up with you in close to two and a half hours. Meet us in the Staybridge Suites parking lot.” She gave the address. “He says it’s easy to find.”
“You must be worn out,” Gloria said. “Such a long trip!”
“I was a little tired of riding till I heard your voice just now.”
“Well, I’m thrilled you’re coming, Leona. I really am.” Gloria sounded perkier now. “Safe travels.”
Yet when they said good-bye, it wasn’t Gloria’s words that lingered, but the melancholy tone in her voice.
Unable to shake his nagging qualms about Leona’s venture into unfamiliar territory, Tom had talked out his concern about Joe’s checkered past with his father as they worked together oiling saddles yesterday evening.
“I’m afraid Leona’s setting herself up for disappointment,” Tom had said, still questioning whether his own motives were muddled. After all, in a way he actually hoped she’d be let down enough by this visit to get the Gingeriches out of her system for good, although he really didn’t want to see Leona suffer the depth of sadness she had after they left.
His father had been as understanding about the trip as Tom expected, focusing on Leona’s close friendship with Gloria as a youngster. But the one thing that stuck in Tom’s mind gave him both comfort and pause to the point he felt a bit convicted. “We must never turn our backs on the wayward, son,” his father had said. “Leona is quite right to make the trip if her intentions are pure.”
“I know her heart’s in the right place,” Tom confirmed. “She’s gone for the best of reasons.”
“Then your place in all of this is to pray for a gut outcome,” Dat told him. “Nothing less.”
So pray Tom did, every which way he could think of, including for traveling mercies and wisdom once Leona arrived safely.
Leona tried to be patient as the two couples gathered their belongings and disembarked from the van near the hotel entrance in Hot Springs. Eventually, Leona, too
, was able to climb out of the van and stretch her legs. She wished Manny and Sarah and the other couple a relaxing vacation. Then, turning, she spotted what she assumed was Gloria’s car creeping up behind them while Ted unloaded the luggage.
“I think she’s here!” Leona waited to move toward the car. Gloria had rolled down the window to smile and wave at her before jumping out of the vehicle. The sight of her former friend as an Englischer was a shock, and for a moment, Leona wasn’t altogether sure it was Gloria. The young woman wore pencil-thin jeans and a white sweater, her deep auburn hair loose and bouncing around her shoulders, her lips tinted by gloss.
Look happy! Leona told herself as Gloria gave her a quick hug.
“Let me see you.” Gloria stepped back, smiling. “You haven’t changed. I mean it . . . you look exactly the same.”
Leona wished she could say the same about her. “Let me get my sewin’ bag and purse so my driver can get checked into the hotel, jah?”
Gloria reached for the luggage and carried it toward the car, opened the trunk, and stashed it inside, then returned for Leona, who was paying the driver.
“I can pick you up in Hill View early Sunday morning if that’d suit you better,” Ted Bell offered.
Leona conferred with Gloria. “Would it help you out?”
“If that’s no trouble, sure.”
“All right, then. Let’s plan on that.”
“Just give me the address,” Ted said, pulling out his phone to enter it into his contacts. “Be ready at six-thirty in the morning, sharp.”
“How many passengers will there be on the way back?” Leona asked.
“Five that I know of,” Ted said. “We might be fairly full with all the luggage.”
“Denki ever so much.”
“Here’s my number if anything comes up and you want to stay longer.” He handed her a business card. “Travel safely, young ladies.”
Leona followed Gloria to her car, which seemed low to the ground compared to the vans she was accustomed to. Inside, the car smelled new. “My legs feel like rubber,” she admitted, sliding in and reaching for the seat belt. She had never ridden in a car before, and the seat belt felt extra snug against her. She tugged at it a bit until Gloria mentioned she should unfasten it and try again if it was too tight, which she did.
Looking around at the interior, the front dash and the console with all the gauges and whatnot made her feel distinctly out of place.
“It’s too bad you have to ride two more hours to get to my house,” Gloria said as she started the ignition.
“That’s all right, really.”
“I can never repay you for putting yourself out like this,” Gloria said, slowly pulling out of the parking lot, then making the turn onto the main road.
“Ach, you would’ve done the same for me, ain’t so?”
Gloria smiled at her before switching on some soothing music. “Maybe you can rest a bit.”
“Do ya really think I can doze off now that we’re together? Nix kumm raus—nothin’ doin’—in case ya forgot what that means.”
Gloria didn’t reply, and Leona wondered if she should have said it quite like that.
“How’s your family?” Leona asked, not wanting to start out on the wrong foot.
“Mom’s anxious to see you. She bought a cake to celebrate.”
“Hope it’s no bother.”
“Are you kidding?” Gloria reached over and squeezed her arm. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”
Wondering when Gloria might reveal the reason for her pressing letter, Leona decided to wait till her friend opened up on her own. She glanced over, still trying to reconcile her memory of Gloria’s familiar Plain attire with the person next to her. She should have mentally prepared herself. After all, what had she expected—a former young Amishwoman who still wore an apron and the sacred Kapp?
“How’s your family doing?” Gloria asked. “Are your parents well? And your Dawdi Benuel—is he still living?”
“Everyone’s doin’ all right just now, jah.” She mentioned seeing her nephew and nieces recently, how much they loved playing with Brownie. “I doubt you’re surprised, ’cause he always liked children. Remember how we played fetch with him for hours on end?”
“Seems like a lifetime ago.”
“Well, we’re all grown up now. Naturally things are different. . . .”
“Different’s good,” Gloria replied and began to talk about her waitressing job. “I meet so many fascinating people traveling through town. The regulars are great, too. If I were a storyteller, I could fill a bunch of notebooks with the tales I hear.”
“I’m glad you’re happy, Gloria.”
“Happiness is a choice, right?”
Leona nodded. “Maggie used to tell me that when I was lonely, back before you moved to the farm next to us.”
Gloria nodded but fell silent once more.
The music on the radio was so tuneful and sweet, Leona could have gone on listening to it for hours. “Do you have a radio like this in your room, too?”
“Not in my room,” Gloria said. “And it isn’t the radio we’re listening to, but the playlist on my phone.” She explained how her phone connected wirelessly to the speakers.
Leona sighed—this was all so strange. She felt like Lucy Pevensie must have when opening the door to the old wardrobe and falling into the very different world of Narnia.
CHAPTER
18
When they finally arrived at Gloria’s house, Leona was aware of the two cars parked in the driveway, as well as the gleam of the outside porch light. Gloria insisted on carrying Leona’s luggage up the driveway for her, and Leona could hear what turned out to be a TV as they entered by way of the front door. Not around to the back?
“Come in, come in,” Jeannie Gingerich said, rising from the sectional and motioning for one of Gloria’s younger brothers—James, it looked like—to turn down the TV. She came to the front door to greet Leona, reaching to hug her. Leona found herself momentarily comforted by the woman’s familiar scent, so at odds with her changed appearance. Like coming home, she thought, torn between delight and sadness.
“I hope you stopped for supper somewhere,” Jeannie said.
“We ate on the run, anxious to get here,” Gloria said and excused herself to take Leona’s bag to the guestroom, leaving Leona there with the rest of the family. With the boys’ cropped hair and jeans, they couldn’t be mistaken for Plain. Joe, however, still wore a bushy beard, which surprised Leona.
“Welcome to Arkansas, Leona.” Joe flashed his old smile. He was a blend of Amish and English with his long beard and khakis and checkered blue shirt. “You picked a nice time to visit . . . everything’s bloomin’.”
Adam stepped forward to shake her hand, and Jonas and James came over and did the same. Prompted by their parents ahead of time? Leona wondered.
“We’ll visit more once you’re settled,” Jeannie said, showing her the way down a hallway lined with numerous framed family pictures. They found Gloria in the spare room, folding a handmade afghan at the foot of the bed. “Be sure to show Leona the bathroom, dear,” Jeannie told Gloria.
Thoughtful as ever, thought Leona.
“Denki . . . thanks so much.” Despite their kindness, Leona felt overwhelmed with the Gingeriches in such modern attire and surroundings. The reality of their new life was mind-boggling.
Are they happy living this way?
———
Gloria invited Leona to come over when she was unpacked, then slipped off to her room to change into sweats.
“Such a perty place you have here.” Leona’s eyes grew wide when she entered later.
Gloria relaxed against the headboard, her pillow behind her. “It’s just stuff Mom’s bought me,” she said. “She’s a housekeeper for several families, but I wonder sometimes if she just works so she has money to spend on stuff. Thank goodness I’m a penny pincher—I’m savin’ up for college classes.”
Leona did
n’t comment on that. “So many bright colors,” she said. She seemed curious, laughing softly, pointing out the large white net holding oodles of stuffed animals. “Where’d ya get all of these?”
She means in the short time we’ve been Englishers. . . .
Her friend turned to look at her. “Did it seem strange, at first, having fancy things?”
“Sure, but after a while it became just the usual thing. Normal as white bread.”
Although Leona smiled politely, this seemed to bother her.
“Doesn’t Maggie sell some of these kinds of trinkets and things? Do you still work there?” Gloria had to ask.
“Well, I do, but we offer mostly homespun goods, remember? Tourists love locally made items.”
“Oh, I guess I forgot.” Gloria laughed as she climbed off the bed. She couldn’t stop staring at Leona. It was remarkable how little she’d changed.
The following morning, Gloria awakened to sunshine spilling through her white lace curtains. She squinted over to see Leona standing at one of the windows, staring out, already dressed for the day, her dark blond hair up in the traditional bun. “Morning,” she said groggily. “Did you sleep all right?”
“Jah, but I think I woke up too early.”
“Oh, the time change, maybe,” Gloria reminded her. “It’s an hour earlier here than back at your house.”
Leona came over and sat at the foot of the bed. “Hope ya don’t mind me wanderin’ in here.”
“It’s just fine.”
Leona smiled. “Like the old days, when you and your family welcomed me in.”
“I remember when your mother was so sick.”
Leona nodded. “It was a scary time . . . and your family was so nice to me.”
Gloria wondered why she was bringing this up. “Maybe if I shower, I’ll be able to wake up and join the human race.” She yawned.
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