6

Wednesday morning, Lyle recognized Frank Herr at the historic Old Village Store in Bird-in-Hand. Jack’s father had aged significantly, even lost weight, since Lyle had seen him out riding his lawnmower last summer. Grief can do that, Lyle thought as he caught the man’s eye.

Dressed in dark blue bib overalls and a white undershirt like many of the Yankee farmers in the area wore, Frank was waiting to pay the cashier. Suddenly, he stepped out of line and came toward Lyle in the hardware section of the store. “Your son Evan has been a wonderful encouragement to our family since Jack’s death.” He paused, seemingly to collect himself. “Thanks for allowing him to spend time with us.”

Speechless, Lyle nodded.

“And if I’m not mistaken, our Cheryl has a little crush on him.”

Lyle quickly found his tongue. “Oh?”

“They’re young yet. I’m sure it’s simply friendship.”

Better be, Lyle thought, recalling how attractive Cheryl was. “Well, once Evan’s baptized, I ’spect he’ll stay closer to home.” He could tell the man wanted to engage him in conversation. The pain behind his eyes was quite apparent.

“To be clear, we wouldn’t think of stepping on any toes when it comes to that,” Frank was quick to reply.

Now Lyle was embarrassed at his awkward response, but he thought it might be better to leave things at that. Besides, he wasn’t sure what more to say, except “My wife and I are mighty sorry for your loss.”

“That’s very kind.” Frank reached out to shake his hand. “I appreciate it.”

Nodding again, Lyle excused himself and returned to looking for the metal brackets he needed for an extra shelf in the barn office.

The sun was peeking in and out of thick layers of clouds as Ellie walked out to get the mail that afternoon. As she carried the letters indoors and up to the sewing room, where Mamm was mending Dat’s older britches, her mind was on Leah. Now that her dear friend was gone, it was okay to tell Mamm what Leah was up to.

Placing the mail on top of the oak spool cabinet, Ellie said, “Looks like a couple of letters for you.”

“Denki, dear.” Mamm glanced at her. “You seem a bit sad.”

“I am,” Ellie said, and told her all that Leah had shared.

“So she’s already left?” Mamm looked flabbergasted.

“Yesterday, jah.” She paused. “There was no talkin’ her out of it, and she didn’t seem troubled by the fact she’s bound to be influenced by the world. She said she really wants to help this young English mother.”

“I can’t imagine what the poor woman’s goin’ through.”

“Such a tragedy.”

Mamm nodded her agreement. “And Leah’s your closest friend. I’m truly sorry to hear this.”

Ellie sighed. “To be honest, I’m disappointed we won’t be finishing baptismal instruction together.”

“I’m sure her parents are worried ’bout that, too. And to think she’ll be that far away.” Mamm shook her head sadly.

“Even so, Leah will surely be baptized in a year or so, when she returns.”

“We’ll keep her in prayer, for certain.”

Ellie nodded her agreement. “She’ll need it.”

Before bedtime that evening, Ellie looked out over at the Bontrager farmhouse. Leah’s window was ever so dark now. She wondered how Leah would feel if Sol, her close brother, hadn’t registered as a CO. Wouldn’t she be as worried about him as I am about Evan? she pondered. She hadn’t wanted to tell her friend about Evan’s troubling news before she left for Chambersburg and was feeling wrung out and needing to pray just now.

Ellie knelt beside the bed and folded her hands in front of her face.

Dear Lord in heaven, I thank Thee for all the years of my friendship with Leah. Please, I pray, keep her from straying from the Old Ways and from Thy plan for her life. Bless her for being willing to help the troubled family in Chambersburg. Be ever near her and remind her of Thy great love, O Lord. And give Evan wisdom to realize he is not doing Thy will—not even close. I pray these things in Thy holy name. Amen.

Ellie awoke the next day, looking forward to Ruthann’s visit and baking with her. But her cousin had a way of sensing things, and if Ellie wasn’t bright and cheery, she’d ask what was bothering her. Not ready to talk about Leah’s departure just yet—still feeling numb about it—she was determined to keep a pleasant attitude.

After making scrambled egg muffins for breakfast with Mamm, she cut the lawn with the push mower. When she stopped to wipe her brow with her hankie, she heard the familiar song of a black-capped chickadee—a whistled fee-bee-ee. Looking around, she saw its black-and-white head as it scavenged amongst the bushes near the cider-making shed, a few yards from the small family fruit store where she waited on customers four days a week, trading off with Dat and sometimes Mamm, too.

Again, Ellie heard the chickadee singing its heart out. Maybe we need another birdhouse round here. She glanced at the side yard, where Evan had erected two tall purple martin birdhouses several years ago. Was he spending time with Jack Herr and other worldly fellows even then? she wondered. She was upset with herself for not guessing sooner, if that was the case.

But wasn’t it? On the day Evan told her that he was going to Jack’s burial, he’d also mentioned he had started exploring what he might be missing before he was even fifteen.

When Cousin Ruthann arrived, the two of them set to work making butterscotch cookies, another of Evan’s favorites. Ruthann told her she’d heard through the grapevine that Sol had attended the Ascension Day barbecue at Zeke Mast’s farm. “I can’t tell ya how upset I am about not goin’ to the right picnic,” she said. “It’s annoying.”

“Well, you were with Sol at Singing last Sunday,” Ellie said, reminding her. “He talked to ya during refreshments, ain’t so?”

Ruthann shrugged. “He said hi to me, but that was mostly it. And then Menno offered us a ride. . . .” She grimaced. “Anyway, I still can’t believe Sol was at the barbecue where you and Evan were . . . and I wasn’t.”

“You should’ve come with us,” Ellie said, teasing now.

“Oh, next time I will.”

Ellie suggested she should be sure to smile at Sol next time she saw him at market or after Preaching. “Don’t be shy, okay?”

Later, when the cookies had cooled, Ruthann insisted on their taking her father’s carriage to deliver the cookies to two women—one who’d broken her right wrist and the other grieving her close friend’s recent passing. Between houses, Ruthann looked over at Ellie and said, “I think you should know somethin’.”

Will this be gut news? Ellie wasn’t sure she could take more sadness.

“After Menno dropped you off Sunday night, he asked if you were seein’ anyone.”

Ellie’s ears perked up. “You wouldn’t fib to me, would ya?”

“Never.” She nudged Ellie with her elbow. “It seemed very clear why he was askin’.”

Ellie was grinning now. “I’m glad ya told me.”

“I knew you’d be happy.”

“Why’d ya wait this long to say somethin’?” she asked, eager to write to Leah about this.

“Guess I wanted to spread out the joy.”

Ellie laughed. “For mercy’s sake!”

“Hey, wouldn’t it be nice if Sol and I could double-date with you and Menno sometime?” Ruthann asked.

“Sure would.” Ellie tried not to get her hopes up, though. Menno, after all, was the most attractive fella around Bird-in-Hand. Shy as he was, he still must know lots of girls who would like to date him.

“Of course, Sol would have to ask ya out, too, jah?” Ellie said, teasing her cousin again.

During the next week and a half, Ellie worked in the orchard alongside Evan whenever she had a spare moment. She didn’t mind carrying a shovel to tamp down the soil around the newly planted trees or using a sickle to cut grass near the trunks of trees before the fruit store opened in the morning. Dat had insisted she didn’t have to help with “men’s work” after her indoor chores with Mamm were finished, but Ellie merely smiled. Dat should know by now I’d rather be here than anywhere else.

On May twenty-third, the Saturday before the next Singing, Sol stopped to talk to Ellie near the easternmost border of the orchard near Leacock Road. She was assessing the shape of several larger trees, trying to decide which ones might require further pruning.

“I don’t want to jump ahead of Menno if he hasn’t asked ya yet, but . . .”

“Asked me what?”

A sheepish expression crept onto Sol’s face. “Well, about doubling up with Ruthann and me after Singing tomorrow night.”

“If he’d like to, that’s fine.” Ellie tried to keep her tone casual despite her excitement for both her and her cousin.

“Gut. I already asked Ruthann, and we’re both lookin’ forward to it.”

Ellie smiled. She couldn’t believe it, and she was sure her cousin was as happy as she was. At last!

Midway through Singing the next evening, Ellie was delighted when Menno approached her about doubling up with Sol and Ruthann. Not letting on that Sol had already revealed the idea to her, Ellie smiled in agreement.

“We’ll ride around in Sol’s father’s buggy, then head over to my older brother’s place for ice cream,” Menno said as they stood by the refreshment table. He looked handsome in the black dress trousers, vest, and coat he’d worn to Preaching that morning, and his exceptional eyes captured her attention yet again.

“That’ll be nice.” She was somewhat relieved that their first time out together wouldn’t be a solo date.

It was starting to rain when she and Menno climbed into the back seat of Sol’s buggy, and he commented on how good it was that they had an enclosed one.

“A little rain wouldn’t hurt, though,” she said.

“Well, in late May, it can make down real gut sometimes.”

“I s’pose. Besides, we wouldn’t all fit in a courting carriage anyway,” she added with a laugh.

“No kiddin’,” Sol said from the front seat as he picked up the driving lines. Ruthann smiled at them over her shoulder.

The ride took them past the southernmost tip of the orchard, then over to East Gordon Road and on to Belmont Road. A train whistled in the near distance, but Ellie paid it little mind since they’d already passed the railroad crossing.

Sol was more talkative than Menno, which wasn’t a surprise to Ellie. Menno had always been more reserved, though from observing him stand around with the fellows at youth activities, she was aware he could be quite talkative with people he knew.

Ruthann, on the other hand, was fully engaged in conversation with Sol. They were talking about the upcoming chicken barbecue to raise money to support the work of the volunteer Hand-in-Hand Fire Company firefighters that served the Bird-in-Hand community.

While Menno glanced at Ellie to smile occasionally, he didn’t say much unless Sol asked him a question, and Ellie felt too shy to talk much herself. Later, though, Menno told her he’d arranged to help his father’s cousin with haying and other tasks in the Big Valley area until mid-July.

“So you won’t be able to work in the orchard, then?” she asked.

“Oh, I’ll be back for the peach and apple harvest, if help is needed.” He paused to look at her. “And I’ll write ya, too, when I can.”

Ellie was happy to hear the latter, but a little sad that she wouldn’t be seeing much of him for weeks on end.

During their visit to Menno’s brother’s farm, Menno talked quietly with Ellie as they ate homemade chocolate chip ice cream. He hesitantly mentioned hearing that Evan hadn’t registered as a conscientious objector.

Ellie nodded. “Jah, Evan told me that, too.”

“Well, it wonders me,” Menno said, frowning. “Doesn’t he know he could be drafted if he gets a low lottery number?”

While Menno was right, she wasn’t going to be disloyal to her brother. “I s’pose you’d have to ask him,” she replied, aware that Menno didn’t have to think about this year’s lottery since he’d turned twenty last November.

“I’m sorry, Ellie,” Menno said now. “Don’t mean to bring up a sore point.”

“Honestly, it’s in the back of my mind all the time.”

“I’m sure it is.” Menno gave her an endearing smile, those golden-brown eyes twinkling, and her heart fluttered.