Lavinia and Abe stood at the back of the rows of benches that had been set up in her home. They could hear the murmur of conversation as people waited for them to enter the room.
He held out his arm and she took it. “We’re doing it.”
She nodded and smiled brilliantly. “We are.” She felt the thin cast that he still wore on his left arm beneath the sleeve of his black Sunday-best suit.
“You look beautiful,” he told her, his gaze intent.
She felt beautiful in her dress of fine fabric the color of summer violets. “Danki. And you look so handsome today.” She took a deep breath. “Ready?”
“So ready.”
They walked slowly toward the front of the room to meet Elmer and be married. Abe limped a little, but he had worked hard on his therapy and had been able to retire his cane.
All four of their eldres—Rachel and Amos and Waneta and Faron—and members of their familye were there to support them with their presence today. Levi, Abe’s bruder, had brought his fraa and kinner from out of state, and Sadie was here with Naiman and their two kinner. And so many friends, like Rebecca and Samuel and Emma and Eli and Hannah and Gideon and Wayne and Arnita, were smiling at them as they passed. Everyone turned out for such an occasion to give the bridal couple all their prayers and gut wishes.
There were the traditional songs and prayers and then the timeless vows: “Do you promise…this if either of you should be afflicted with bodily weakness, sickness, or some other circumstance, that you will care for each other as is fitting for a Christian mann and fraa? Do you solemnly promise to one another that you will love and bear and be patient with each other and shall not separate from each other until dear God shall part you from each other through death?”
And then Abe and Lavinia were mann and fraa.
The service lasted three hours, so everyone was ready for the meal that followed. Lavinia and Abe sat at the eck, the corner of the table, and accepted the congratulations of their familye, friends, and church members.
Lavinia saw a box wrapped in festive paper and ribbons next to her plate.
“Open it,” Abe told her. “It’s from me.”
When she unwrapped it, she found a box of the same type of chocolates he’d given her when he apologized after their argument.
“Sweets for the sweetest,” he said with a grin. “I promise you won’t get them just for an apology.”
She just laughed. No couple agreed all the time, and she told him so.
The day passed in happy celebration. The adults enjoyed talking and relaxing after long hours harvesting all the crops. The kinner raced in and out of the house playing games. Lavinia and Abe enjoyed their midday meal of baked chicken and roasht and so many vegetables from heavily laden tables.
Katie Ann had provided the wedding cake, and it was a many-layered confection that was decorated with violets made of fondant.
“It’s given me an idea for my own cake,” she told Lavinia. “Daisies are my favorite flower, so my cake will have fondant daisies on it.” She sighed. “I’ve been so busy baking cakes for the weddings of other brauts I haven’t had time to think what I want—and Wayne and I are getting married next week!” She glanced around and nodded with satisfaction as she watched attendees enjoying the rich yellow cake. “Next year, I’m hiring some part-time help during wedding season. Things have been a little hectic.”
The hours passed in a happy blur for Lavinia. Guests were served another meal at suppertime, and then they began gathering their kinner and saying goodbye and heading home.
Phoebe and Ruth stopped at their table to say goodbye.
“Stopped running, have you?” Phoebe asked Abe.
“Ya,” he said with a chuckle.
“Gut,” Phoebe said with a nod, and she walked off with her dochder.
“Finally, we get to go home,” Abe whispered in her ear, and she blushed.
Usually the braut and breidicham stayed at her home on the wedding night to help clean up the next day, but her mudder had insisted that Lavinia and Abe start their new life together at his farmhouse. They’d wake to a new day together as mann and fraa in their farmhouse. So instead of walking upstairs to her room, she and Abe walked to his buggy parked outside.
When she climbed into the passenger side, Lavinia found he’d picked a bouquet of violets and left it on the seat for her. Touched, she lifted it and buried her face in the petals, inhaling their sweet, delicate scent. “Danki.”
“You’re wilkumm.” He climbed into the driver’s seat and called, “Giddyap” to his horse.
When Abe checked for traffic and made a U-turn to go in the opposite direction, she glanced at him curiously. “You’re going the wrong way.”
He shook his head. “Taking the long way home. I want to enjoy this beautiful sunset with my new fraa.”
She smiled and took his hand and squeezed it. The drive was leisurely with the horse clip-clopping along and the late summer breeze carrying the scent of honeysuckle that twined along fences.
They didn’t know what lay ahead, but they would be together, and that was all that mattered. God would provide.
Dusk fell and a full moon came out to light their way home.