by Lillard, Amy
“It is a little unbelievable.”
“Not just the shunning,” Caroline explained. “But that we are going to be married.”
Andrew smiled. He let Emma slide down to the floor where she toddled to her toy cart and started to play. Then he pulled Caroline into his arms and showed her just how real it was.
At just after three the following afternoon, Abe walked into the bakery.
Esther tempered her smile and wiped her hands on a dish towel before coming around the counter to greet him.
“Goedemiddag, Abe Fitch. Did you come down for some more of those cowboy cookies?”
Abe took off his hat, holding it against his chest as his eyes studied hers through the thick lenses of his glasses. “Nay, Esther Lapp. I came for something else.”
“Lemon bars? Pumpkin bread?”
He shook his head. “Did you know the bishop came by to talk to Andrew about marrying your Caroline?”
“Jah, I’d heard some mention of it.”
Abe ran the back of one sleeve across his brow. She had never seen him so nervous before. “Andrew asked that the bishop allow him and Caroline to say their vows this coming September.”
“That soon? Though I’m not surprised. That boy is smitten with her for sure.” Esther was happy for her young friends. They had both been through so much, and each deserved this second chance at happiness. “What did the bishop say?”
“He agreed.”
Esther was not surprised. After their talk the night before, she’d had a feeling that Bishop Ebersol thought it best that the kids start their new lives as soon as possible. “Gut, gut”. It was good, so why was Abe so jumpy?
“I talked to the bishop as well.”
“Jah?”
He swallowed hard. “I asked him if it would be possible to have a double wedding.”
“A double . . .” Esther felt the normal color drain from her face to be replaced by a warm heat.
“What say you, Esther Lapp? Will you marry me alongside our young’uns?”
Happiness froze her in place. She couldn’t believe it was happening. After all this time, after the years that she had loved Abe from afar, he had proposed marriage.
“Esther?” A concerned frown wrinkled his brow.
“Jah? I mean jah! Of course I will.”
“Gut,” he said, donning his hat and tipping the brim in her direction. “I’ll be by after work, and we can all have dinner at the farm and discuss our plans.”
“Jah,” Esther murmured again, unable to stop her wide smile as the bell over the bakery door jingled, and Abe let himself out.
“You have to tell us everything,” Lorie said as Caroline slid onto the park bench next to Emily. “Everything.”
Caroline smiled. What a wondrous two days it had been. Today was starting out to be just as promising. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and she was surrounded by gut freinden who loved her. “Well,” Caroline started, making a mental note to bring Emma back out to the park after her nap. It was too gorgeous a day to spend it entirely indoors. “Last night, we all went out to the farm to make wedding plans.”
Lorie and Emily clapped their hands together and nudged each other.
“I told you,” Emily said.
“You only knew because your dat is the bishop,” Lorie protested.
“Still, I was right.” She gave them a small smirk, then took a drink from the to-go cup in front of her.
“Andrew and I aren’t the only ones getting married.” The words left Caroline on a rush of air. She’d been about to bust with excitement from holding them in.
“What? Who?” the girls asked over each other.
Caroline smiled. “It seems that Abe Fitch has made his intentions known to Esther Lapp. They shall be getting married in September as well.”
“September?” Lorie exclaimed. “That’s just a couple of months away.”
“We had talked about a December wedding, but we asked the bishop if we could get married a little before the wedding season. My folks have to come all the way from Tennessee, and I would hate for them to get caught out here in an Oklahoma snowstorm.”
They all nodded in agreement. There was one constant when it came to the weather in the Sooner State, and that was its unpredictability. It could be sixty-five degrees on Christmas Day, or there could be a foot of snow on the ground. A body just never knew.
But secretly Caroline was glad. She was more than ready to start her life with Andrew.
“September doesn’t give us a lot of time to plan a wedding,” Emily said.
“It doesn’t have to be anything big—” Caroline started, but Emily and Lorie immediately shook their heads.
“This is your wedding,” Lorie said, a romantic gleam lighting her deep brown eyes.
Her wedding. Just the word sent excited chills racing up her arms.
Emily nudged her. “Who knows? We may have another wedding coming soon.” She looked pointedly at Lorie.
But the blonde shook her head. “Jonah and I broke up again.”
“Again?” Caroline asked. What was wrong with the couple that they bickered constantly? It was as if they were inexplicably drawn to each other even though they had nothing in common.
She shook her head. “He wants to get married, and before we do that, I have to join the church.”
Of the three of them, Lorie was the only one who hadn’t knelt before the congregation and pledged her life to God. Caroline didn’t fully understand Lorie’s reluctance but knew that it had something to do with the paintings she had secreted away in the room above her family’s restaurant.
Lorie had taken her there and shown them to her once, though Caroline didn’t think Emily had any idea of their existence.
“What is with you two?” Emily asked.
“Us?” Lorie exclaimed. “What about you and Luke?”
A dim light filled Emily’s dark blue eyes. “You didn’t hear?”
Caroline shook her head. She had been so wrapped up in her own problems that she hadn’t given much thought to the talk around town.
“He finally did it.”
“He did?” Lorie asked.
“He left?” Caroline added.
Tears welled up in Emily’s eyes and she dashed them away with the back of her hand.“Jah.”
“To drive a car around in circles.” Caroline hated her incredulous tone, but she could hardly believe what she was hearing.
“It’s called racing,” Lorie said.
“It’s called stupidity,” Caroline accused. “He gave up everything to drive a car in circles.”
She was normally not one to cast stones. She had been through her share of troubles and knew better than to accept rumors at face value. But in leaving Wells Landing, Luke Lambright had hurt Emily. Caroline was as fiercely protective of her friends as they were of her.
“Well, it’s not like he’ll be shunned. I mean, he hasn’t joined the church. He could come back someday,” Lorie said.
Emily shook her head. “I have, though.”
Caroline caught the underlying meaning. Emily’s father was the bishop, hard though fair. But Cephas Ebersol was as no-nonsense as they came when he dealt with his daughters. With Emily being the eldest of his five daughters, he expected her to set the example. Hanging around with the likes of Luke Lambright was not behavior he condoned.
Emily shook her head and replaced her melancholy with a sweet smile. It didn’t reach her eyes, but Caroline allowed her to change the subject and silently prayed that Lorie would do the same. “Enough about that. We have a wedding to plan.”
And with those words, Caroline allowed herself to be swept along as her best friends planned a wedding like Wells Landing had never seen.
The Oklahoma wind gusted lightly and cooled the heat as the sun set on the farm. Andrew couldn’t imagine a better place to walk and talk and plan his new life with Caroline. The farm offered him peace and relaxation, enough solitude for reflection. Now all he had to do was start
his new plans, but a lot of that had to do with the woman at his side.
“Caroline.” He held her hand in one of his as they walked, Moxie running around their feet. In his other he held the handle to the wagon in which Emma rode. “September will be here soon.” Not soon enough, though.
“Jah.”
“After we are married, I do plan on farming a bit and raising horses. I can run Onkle’s business here and perhaps show more profit for that side of our endeavors while he continues to build furniture.” Woodworking was definitely Abe Fitch’s second love . . . right after Esther. But Andrew enjoyed working the land too much to spend his days cooped up in a shed drilling holes for door handles.
Caroline smiled. “That’s a gut idea, Andrew.”
“And . . . well, Onkle and I have been talking, and he’s going to bring this up to Esther tonight, but . . . I want you to go to part-time at the bakery.”
She opened her mouth, he was sure to protest, but he held up a hand to stay her protests.
“Just hear me out,” he asked. “You go to part-time in the bakery. Abe can move into the apartment with Esther, and you and I will move out here to the farm. What do you think?”
“Are you joshing me, Andrew Fitch?”
He couldn’t read her expression, couldn’t tell if she was happy about the idea or thought he had lost his mind. “Nay. I think the farm is a wonderful place to live. It’ll be the best place to raise Emma and . . . and any other children we might have.” He hated the heat rising in his neck, but he wasn’t used to discussing such matters with women. He and Beth had never gotten to that stage in their relationship.
Caroline stopped so suddenly he had to backtrack to her side. “You really mean it? We’ll live here?” she asked.
“Jah, if that’s allrecht with you.”
“Allrecht? It’s brechdich.”
Magnificent. He couldn’t have said it better himself.
He pulled her close, wrapped her in his arms, and kissed her right there. In the middle of the farm with green pastures around them and blue skies above. Emma and Moxie playing around them. Andrew had found his everything with Caroline.
Brechdich, indeed. It was perfect.
Dear Lizzie,
I am writing with such wunderbaar news! Caroline and I are to be married the first weekend in September. The wedding will be on that Saturday, and I am counting on everyone to be there. I know it’s unusual to have a wedding on Saturday, but we are hoping that it will allow everyone we love to be in attendance. It seems that weekend weddings aren’t all that uncommon here since a great many of the people in Wells Landing live and work in town.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that God led me here so that I could meet Caroline. I will miss living in Missouri, but I am gaining so much here. We are going to move into Onkle’s house, where I can farm and breed horses. It seems the Englischers here like to race horses. Thoroughbreds bring in a lot of income, so with any luck and the good Lord’s grace we should be able to make a fine living. I hope so, since we have a little one to raise. And hope to have many more.
I can’t wait for you to come to Oklahoma and meet Caroline and Emma. You are going to love them. Can’t wait to see you in September.
Andrew
Epilogue
Weddings were always a big deal in Wells Landing, but nearly half the town and part of Missouri seemed to be crammed into the living room at the farm.
Caroline did her best not to look scared silly as she and Emma took their place in the chairs across from Andrew and his side sitters, his brother Saul and his cousin Danny.
But she was.
She sat down next to Emily and Lorie and pulled Emma into her lap.
She inhaled the fragrance of sweet baby and laundry soap, hoping the familiar smell would soothe her.
She had been waiting for this day all summer long. And now that it was really here, she felt a little nervous, a little nauseous, and a whole lot terrified.
It was a little unorthodox to have Emma stand in front of the bishop with them, but Andrew had insisted. Their marriage was more than the union of two people. They were creating a family, and all family members should be present for that.
A smile trembled on Caroline’s lips at the thought.
“Are you allrecht ? ” Andrew asked as they sat across from each other and waited for the church elders to enter the room.
They hadn’t spoken to each other during the meeting with the church leaders from both of their districts. They had listened intently to their words of wisdom and encouragement in the matters of matrimony. It had been decided that Cephas Ebersol, Emily’s father, would preside over their wedding.
Caroline nodded. How could Andrew look so confident and sure when she was as naerfich as a sheep among wolves?
The thought drew her up. These people gathered around were her friends and family, Andrew’s friends and family. They had taken her in when she had no one. They had stood by her when she needed help. She was more than blessed to be a part of such a great community.
She took a deep breath to calm herself. As if God had laid a hand on her shoulders, her breath slowed and a peace descended upon her.
The elders entered from the back of the living room. There were six in all, the four from Wells Landing and two from Andrew’s district, as not all were able to travel so far at the same time. Caroline was secretly glad that none of the elders from Ethridge came. She was well and truly leaving that part of her life behind as she started anew with Andrew. She no longer thought about it as keeping secrets, but more of a fresh slate to start again. Not many received the gift of a second chance, and she intended to make the most of it. Every minute of every day.
Dan Troyer, the minister in Wells Landing, walked to the front of the room and began to read from the Bible. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.”
Caroline looked into Andrew’s eyes and saw love shining there, a love as deep as the ocean. And she knew that she had finally found her home.
The minister continued to read from the book of 1 Corinthians detailing the proper conduct of a husband and wife and onto the Old Testament book of Tobit and his advice to his son, Tobias, “Take a wife of the seed of thy fathers, and take not a strange woman to wife, which is not of thy father’s tribe.”
They were coming from different tribes, so to speak. Her from the Swartzentruber Amish and him from a less-conservative Old Order district. But somehow they had found common ground in the Beachy community of Wells Landing.
Bishop Ebersol stood and took Dan Troyer’s place in front of the congregation. “We have before us two people who have agreed to enter into marriage together, Andrew Fitch and Caroline Hostetler. If anyone here has objection to the union, he now has the opportunity to make it known.” He paused to allow anyone time to speak, and Caroline held her breath. It was gegisch, she knew, but love could make a person as silly as they came.
“Since no one spoke, we can assume there are no objections.” He looked to each of them. “If you are still of the same mind, you may come forward now in the name of the Lord.”
Caroline handed Emma to Emily, then stood. She accepted Andrew’s hand and together they walked forward to stand in front of the bishop.
Cephas Ebersol turned to Andrew first. “Can you confess, brother Andrew, that you accept our sister, Caroline, as your wife and that you will remain by her side until death separates you?�
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“Jah,” Andrew answered.
“And do you further confess that this is from the Lord and that you have come thus far due to your faith and prayers?”
“Jah,” Andrew repeated.
Caroline’s heart swelled with love for him.
Then the bishop turned to her. “Sister Caroline, do you confess to accept our brother Andrew as your husband and that you will remain by his side until death separates you?”
“Jah,” Caroline whispered, then she cleared her throat. “Jah,” she said a little louder.
“And do you further confess that this is from the Lord and that you have come thus far due to your faith and prayers?”
“Jah,” she said again, this time with all the confidence and love she held in her heart.
The bishop turned back to Andrew. “Brother Andrew, because you have confessed that you want to take our sister Caroline as your wife, do you promise to be faithful to her and care for her always, even if she is faced with adversity, sickness, weakness, or faintheartedness, as is appropriate for a God-fearing, Christian husband?”
“Jah,” Andrew said with a smile. They had already been through so much together.
“And do you, sister Caroline, because you have confessed that you want to take our brother Andrew as your husband, promise to be faithful to him and care for him always, even if he is faced with adversity, sickness, weakness, or faintheartedness, as is appropriate for a God-fearing, Christian wife?”
“Jah,” she replied.
Bishop Ebersol once again quoted passages from the book of Tobit. “And he takes the hand of the daughter and puts it in the hand of Tobias,” he said as he clasped Caroline’s hand in his own. He took Andrew’s hand as well and stacked their hands together before continuing with the blessing. “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be with you and give His rich blessings upon you. May He be merciful unto you. I wish for you all of the blessings from God for a good beginning, a steadfast middle, and may you continue on through until the blessed end. All of this in and through the name of Jesus Christ. Aemen.”