Anna clutched a bouquet of yellow rosebuds against her chest as she haltingly walked down the aisle, trying to keep time to the music. Bobby, solemn as the ring bearer, held her hand as they made progress to the front of the Englisch church.
She was taking her maid-of-honor responsibilities very, very seriously.
The beautician she had visited with Rachel this morning had washed and conditioned her hair until it felt as light and fragrant as spun sugar. It had been wound it into a lovely bun and secured with hairpins. A stiffly starched, formal black prayer kapp sat on her head, complementing the brand-new navy dress Lydia had made for her.
Rachel had given her a maid-of-honor gift of the most wonderful perfume all wrapped up in a pretty package. It smelled just like wild honeysuckle. A smidgen was behind her ears right now!
She felt beautiful today. Almost like a bride herself, as she walked down the aisle, taking her time, savoring every second of being the center of attention. This was the best day of her life, except maybe for the morning she had walked the beach in Florida and gathered seashells.
Life was good again, even though her home had burned down and things had been very, very scary and confusing for a while.
Her family was getting bigger, and this thrilled her. More people to love!
After the wedding, Joe and Rachel and Bobby were going to be living in Rachel’s house until they could build a new one on property next to the farm. They said she could walk over and visit as much as she wanted. She couldn’t wait!
Joe’s daett was living in the daadi haus. He was ready to retire and wanted to be near his son and grandson. She had heard Joe tell Bertha that he knew his father wouldn’t like retirement and would probably be working with some local church before the year was out. Bertha said she understood completely.
Anna thought Joe’s daett was nice. He always looked her in the eyes and talked with her patiently even though she knew her tongue was clumsy sometimes and her words didn’t always come out quite right. He even liked her “boo!” joke and never acted tired of it.
The announcement of Joe and Rachel’s engagement hadn’t surprised her one bit. She saw a lot more than people thought. She had known for a long time that Rachel thought Joe was handsome. It was written all over her face. It was why Rachel had been so grouchy for so long—because she didn’t want to like Joe so much.
Darren was Joe’s best man. She was happy to see the two brothers getting along so well. That was the way a family was meant to be.
The president of a local community college had come by and offered Joe a coaching job. Joe had been very happy about that. He had swung Rachel around and around in his joy. Lydia and Bertha had turned their heads in embarrassment, but Anna had liked watching all that happiness.
There weren’t as many newspeople camped out on their property anymore. Joe was pleased, but Lydia was disappointed. She had found another sewing machine she wanted to send to the orphanage in Haiti. Lydia had made a lot of money selling those pies and cookies to the newspeople.
And best of all, they now had a brand-new house just like the one they had had before the fire. Only this one had three bathrooms. Two were upstairs! Bertha had been able to pay for the building materials with the money Joe had found hidden in Daett’s books.
Rachel had shocked everyone when she announced that she was going to be working only part-time with the police department. She said it was because she wanted to help Lydia and Bertha start up the Sugar Haus Inn again. Anna had overheard Rachel telling Joe, “If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em.” Joe had laughed.
She thought maybe Rachel was a little bit tired of being a policewoman all the time.
Anna was happy they were going to have guests at the Inn again. Kim Whitfield was going to take Rachel’s full-time position at the police station. Anna thought Kim was nice. Lydia had been giving Kim cooking lessons.
Someone waved at her from the audience. Distracted, she stopped in the middle of the aisle and concentrated hard on figuring out who that person was. Suddenly she recognized her. Stephanie! Only now Stephanie didn’t have a big belly anymore, and she was with some people Anna had never seen.
Oh! A tiny pink bundle was in Stephanie’s arms! Anna hadn’t seen the baby yet, but she knew Stephanie had named the little girl Rachel Jo, after the two people who had rescued her.
Anna temporarily forgot her important responsibilities and wandered over to the side of the aisle with Bobby still in tow. Stephanie obligingly held up the baby so she could see it. Anna let loose of Bobby’s hand just long enough to touch the baby’s little cheek. It was as silky as a rose petal.
“She’s pretty,” she whispered.
“I’ll let you hold her after the wedding,” Stephanie promised. Anna’s bubble of happiness rose higher in anticipation. Babies were even nicer to hold than kittens.
She smiled at the people on both sides of the aisle as she continued her walk. Everyone smiled back.
Many townspeople who had watched the story of Joe and Rachel unfold had come to the wedding. Even Anna’s cousins had arrived in their many buggies and filled up the remaining pews.
As Anna and Bobby neared the front of the church, Joe greeted her with a grin and a wink. He was dressed in a black tuxedo and was by far the handsomest man Anna had ever seen. She decided he was probably the nicest also, except perhaps his daett, who stood beside him holding his Bible, ready to say the words that would marry Joe and Rachel.
Things, in her opinion, had turned out very well.
The music stopped when Anna arrived at the front. She carefully toed to the tape Rachel had put down during the rehearsal, the spot where she was supposed to stand.
She turned around. The new music began, and now it was Rachel’s turn to come up the aisle. She had chosen a lacy white dress that made her look like a princess instead of a police officer. Her shiny brown hair was all in curls.
And the very best thing of all on this big, big day was that down the aisle, still limping from his terrible wreck, Eli walked slowly right beside Rachel. Anna had known that Rachel wished Eli could walk her down the aisle—but no one had thought that Eli would be well enough to do so.
Thrilled, Anna clapped her hands in happiness. Someone else took up her clapping, and then the entire crowd was on its feet, drowning out the wedding music with thunderous applause.
Eli acknowledged the applause with a dignified nod of his head before solemnly handing Rachel over to Joe. Tears were streaming down Rachel’s cheeks, but she was smiling.
Anna checked Joe’s face. He wasn’t crying, but his expression told her that he was thinking Rachel looked like a princess, too, as he stepped forward and gave her his arm.
Joe’s daett opened his Bible to a passage Joe and Rachel had chosen. They said they knew it was an odd scripture to use for a wedding, but they wanted it to be the theme for this one—as well as the theme for their future life together.
Clearing his voice, Joe’s daett read, “ ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’ ”