But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
When Aaron got home that evening he came after having received bad news. Courtney knew something was wrong as soon as she saw his face.
“What is it, Aaron?”
“I'm afraid it's Bessie.” He walked further into the house and sat down with Courtney and the two visitors. The children were playing on the floor and Gabriel was asleep in the crib.
“Is she ill?” Willa asked.
“She’s gone home.”
Willa immediately put her head between her hands and sobbed. Beth rubbed her on her back.
“When is the funeral?” Beth asked.
“Tuesday. I must go, Courtney.”
“Jah, of course you must. I’ll mind the children. How did she die?”
“In her sleep. She didn’t suffer.”
Willa looked up. “Beth and I must go too. Don’t you want to go, Courtney?”
“Jah, but it’s hard with the boppli and the children.”
“Didn’t you know her?” Beth asked.
“Courtney knew Bessie. Bessie recommended her for the job as nanny.”
“I remember that,” Willa said. “She showed me a letter you wrote to her Aaron. The letter you sent right after Courtney got here.”
Courtney noticed Aaron didn’t like Willa mentioning the letter, which caused Courtney to wonder what was in it. Willa’s comment made Courtney’s stomach churn like it had when Courtney had first arrived at Aaron’s house.
“Are you okay, Willa? I didn’t know you knew Bessie that well,” Aaron said.
Looking up with tears in her eyes, she said. “I stayed with her for a few weeks a couple of years back.”
“She was a kind woman,” he said.
“I'll come to the funeral with you,” Willa said.
“Are you cutting your stay here short?” Courtney asked hoping she hadn’t sounded too anxious to hear the word ‘yes.’
“I'm too upset to know what I'm doing, Courtney.”
“We could all go,” Courtney suggested, only so she could keep her eye on Willa.
“Nee, there’s no need to disrupt the children like that. I'll go, if you don't mind looking after the children by yourself for a week or so, Courtney?” Aaron asked. "James has already decided he needs to stay here to manage the farm, so he and Heather will be able to help you if you need anything."
“Of course. I don't mind, Aaron, that will be fine.”
“You’re such a good worker,” Beth said to Courtney.
Courtney didn't reply.
Aaron, Willa, and Beth went to James' house to use the phone in his barn to organize bus tickets. Courtney couldn't help being worried that he would be away from her and in close proximity to Willa who was trying to win him over.
The bus trip with Willa and Beth was a nightmare. Willa abandoned her friend to sit next to Aaron. All the way to Lancaster County she spoke of marriage and how she desperately wanted to be a mother. She was throwing herself at him and he knew it. He was upset that she hadn’t brought all her luggage with her, which meant that she would be going back with him and staying longer at his house. He’d tried to tell Willa to sit with Beth, that he preferred to be alone, but she failed to take the hint. After a while her voice was grating on his nerves.
It was the Saturday that Aaron, Willa and Beth had left to go back to Lancaster County and Courtney needed someone to talk to. She bundled the children into the buggy and headed off to visit Heather. The children were excited about playing with their cousins.
As soon as the buggy was close to the house, James and Heather’s children ran outside to greet Aaron’s children. Courtney stopped the buggy to let them out, and then she saw Heather waving from the doorway.
“Great minds think alike,” Heather called out.
“What do you mean?”
“I just told the boys that we’d go over and visit you.”
Courtney laughed as she tied up the reins of the buggy to the post.
Heather reached into the buggy and got Gabriel out. “Stop growing, Gabriel. You’re growing too fast.”
“That’s what everyone says, but I can’t see him growing. I only notice that he’s growing out of his clothes.”
“Come inside. I’ve got plenty of boys’ clothes. I’ll get them down from the attic. I’ve kept all their clothes.”
“You’ve already given me so much.”
“There’s more,” Heather said, “and you can just give them back when he's outgrown them.”
When they were sitting down in the kitchen, away from the noisy children playing in the living room, Heather asked, “Are you missing Aaron already.”
Courtney looked at Heather to see if she knew her secret. “Am I that obvious?”
“I’ve known for a while.”
“Oh. I thought that with Willa visiting I might learn a little of Ellen and what she was like, but Willa’s not easy to talk with.”
Heather scoffed. “I suppose you wouldn’t know would you?”
“Know what?”
“Aaron and Willa once dated.”
Courtney’s jaw dropped open. “He never mentioned anything.”
“It probably was nothing to him. It was just once or twice and then he met Willa’s sister, Ellen.”
“And Willa was angry about that?”
“Ach jah! Willa was extremely angry and accused Ellen of stealing him from her. The two women didn’t talk for years. In a matter of months after they met, Ellen and Aaron were married.”
“So Ellen hadn’t always lived in Lancaster?”
“Nee. The familye moved there from somewhere else. I’m not certain where from.”
“I suppose that explains Willa's attitude to me. She wasn’t very nice at all.”
“She’s trying to get him back.”
Courtney recalled a conversation she’d had recently with Willa where she said she’d nearly gotten married—could she have meant she’d nearly gotten married to Aaron? “Do you think Aaron likes her?”
Heather shook her head. “Not one little bit. That’s what I think anyway.”
“Gut!”
The two women giggled.