“Here she comes. Be quiet.”
“Shh!”
Abby tried not to laugh as the teenagers were so loud in their attempts to warn the others to be silent. The front room was dark because the curtains on the windows had been drawn tight. They waited there, listening for the hesitant steps coming toward them.
“Why are the drapes closed?” asked an elderly voice.
Stepping forward, Abby smiled at Doris Blomgren. The old woman was almost recovered from the effects of her fall. Now that summer was in full bloom, she was able to get around her house with the help of a walker. She no longer lived alone, because her great-niece, Barbara, had moved in to help her remain in her home.
“We’re done,” Abby said with a broadening smile.
“Done?” Doris’s eyes filled with happy tears. “With my... With the project?”
“Ja.” Without turning, she said, “Open those drapes.”
The teen group, which now included Hunter and one of his former bully friends among their number, sent sunshine falling into the room. It glistened on the black sewing machine that perched atop its refinished stand. The treadle was polished to a sheen, and the useless belts had been replaced with ones that were smooth and taut.
“Oh, my!” Doris put her hands up to her face. “You did it! You brought that old sewing machine back to life.”
David, who looked so handsome in the plain clothes he now wore each day, said, “It works now. We fixed each piece of it and oiled it.” He grinned. “Abby wound bobbins in every possible color of thread she could find. It’s ready to go whenever you’re ready to take it for a test-drive, Doris.”
“Not me.” The old woman linked her arm through her great-niece’s. “I’ve had the sewing machine for a long time. Now it’s time for a new owner. It’s yours, Barbara.”
Her niece’s cheeks flushed with happiness as the teens cheered. “They repaired it for you, Aunt Doris.”
“No, I asked them to fix it up for you. Enjoy it. Use it.” She winked as she added, “And if it breaks down, I know a good repairman.”
Abby gave the women a chance to thank the teens, then herded them out. She didn’t want to tire out Doris with the excitement.
The kids headed toward the school to watch the younger ones play baseball, leaving her and David alone as they were so seldom. He often traveled by hired van to take classes in what he’d need to know before he could begin baptism classes. She’d been overjoyed when Isaac offered to help. She hadn’t been sure if her inflexible brother would be willing to accept David as her future husband, but Isaac had been his usual terse self.
“If he’s going to learn to live a plain life, he needs to learn from someone who will teach him properly,” Isaac had said without a hint of humor.
Her brother had been as gut as his word and taught David almost every day while Isaac helped lay new floors in the big barn for the apartments David hoped to make available to two low-income families. Any animosity between them had faded as they’d come to respect each other’s skills and dedication to their tasks.
Walking side by side through the middle of the village, Abby laughed along with David as he told her stories about his mistakes as he relearned Deitsch.
“For some reason,” he said, making her giggle more, “Isaac and Michael seem to believe I should learn the adult words for things instead of the toddler ones I remember.”
They paused when they reached the empty lot where the old St. Pierre farmhouse had stood for almost two hundred years. The ruined covered bridge was a looming shadow over the road, but rumor suggested it soon would be repaired.
“Mikayla has decided what she wants to do with the land.” David picked up a stone and tossed it into the shallow water. He spoke Deitsch slower than he did Englisch, but was getting better with practice. “She wants to donate it to the town for a picnic park. A park named Boyd St. Pierre Memorial Park.”
“What a lovely tribute to her daed!” Abby laced her fingers among his as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “She has a home with you, so she doesn’t need another.”
“She told me that in the same breath when she announced she intended to dye her hair purple.”
Abby laughed. “At least it’s a color we plain women wear, so she and I will match.” She grew serious. “David, have you heard from your parents yet?”
His parents were slowly recovering at their home in California, and their prognosis was excellent. Though they’d reported gaps in their short-term memories, they were getting better with assistance from doktors and therapists.
“Ja.” He took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her.
“You want me to read it?”
“I think you should.”
She lifted out the single sheet and unfolded it. The letter was brief, but she hadn’t gotten past the second sentence before the page blurred in front of her teary eyes.
Taking it back, he read aloud, “‘While our first choice for you wouldn’t be the life you’re choosing, son, we want you to be happy. A plain life wasn’t for us, but we will pray that it brings you the happiness a good son like you deserves.’”
She wanted to dance with sparkling steps as the light did on the water. “Thank God He has opened your parents’ hearts. What a wunderbaar blessing He has given you!”
“Given us, liebling.” He enfolded her to him for a sweet kiss, and she knew that she’d been wise to follow both her heart’s desire and her head’s joy to love.
If you enjoyed this story,
don’t miss these other books
from Jo Ann Brown:
The Amish Suitor
The Amish Christmas Cowboy
The Amish Bachelor’s Baby
The Amish Widower’s Twins
An Amish Christmas Promise
Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com.
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Amish Nurse’s Suitor by Carrie Lighte.