“Come here, all of yous!” Lena said, reaching for her younger sisters, who clung to her and Emma.
“This is the best surprise,” Liz said, brushing tears from her cheeks.
Verena was nodding, seemingly speechless.
“You look like you’re in a daze,” Emma told Verena.
“I . . . I must be.” Verena reached out to touch Lena Rose.
“That’s okay, go ahead and pinch me.” Lena laughed and leaned to hug her.
They invited Lena inside, asking so many questions: When had she arrived, how had she gotten there . . . and had she seen any of their brothers yet?
Standing in the middle of the large kitchen, Lena answered everything they were curious about and so much more.
“Wait’ll Chris finds out you’re here,” Emma said, grinning and shaking her head. “I still can hardly believe this!”
“Honestly, we were startin’ to wonder if you’d ever get home again,” Liz said, clutching Lena’s hand. “Even though we prayed you would.”
“You haven’t changed much at all, Lena Rose. Not one little bit,” Verena said quietly, her eyes brimming with tears. “But I s’pose ya think we have.”
“Well, you and Liz are taller, that’s for sure. You’re young women now.” Lena Rose looked admiringly at the three of them. “You’re so beautiful, each of you. . . . I know we shouldn’t say such things, but it’s the truth.”
“Mamma used to whisper it to us,” Liz said. “Remember?”
“I surely do.” Lena extended her arms wide to embrace all of them again. “Oh, how I love you!”
Farmers were busy in their fields, and while Lena assumed most of the plowing was done, there was plenty of planting and cultivating going on. She relished the sunshine on her face and the soft May breeze. To think summer would be here soon, with haying and the womenfolk canning vegetables and making jellies and jams.
Hoping to see her grandparents, Lena hurried on to their Dawdi Haus and knocked on the back door, calling out softly so as not to alarm them.
Mammi came to the door, real serious at first; then her face burst into a welcoming smile. “Well, praise be! It’s you in the flesh, Lena Rose. Come in, come in!”
Lena kissed her on both cheeks, their tears mingling. “I missed ya so,” she whispered, letting Mammi hold her near.
“Let me look at ya.” Mammi stepped back, eyeing her as her cheeks were damp with tears. “Seems to me, you’re lookin’ more like your Mamma.”
“Am I?” Lena pressed her hands to her face. But it was Mammi she wanted to gaze at—she looked so frail. “Is Dawdi around?”
“Nappin’ like usual.”
Lena asked how he was feeling, and Mammi said he was moving more slowly. “He sleeps a lot nowadays and has little energy,” Mammi said as she wiped her brow with her white hankie.
Lena was concerned and wondered how they could possibly keep up with Chris. It wasn’t fair to expect them to take care of such a lively youngster. I need to find him a more suitable living arrangement, she thought.
But she changed the topic to her school teaching job, come fall. “Had ya heard I was comin’ home?”
“Well, it was your Dawdi Schwartz and Noah who put the idea in Preacher Yoder’s head.” Mammi laughed softly, then put her hand over her lips. “I’d better not wake Dawdi till he’s had his forty winks,” she whispered.
Moving into the kitchen, they talked a bit more, and Lena asked, “How’s Chris doin’?”
“Well, he still pines for his siblings . . . and for you, most of all.” Mammi hobbled over to the sink and poured a glass of water and took a drink. She got another glass down from the cupboard, filled it, and handed it to Lena Rose as they went to sit at the small table. “Chris said right from the start that he wished he lived at Elmer Neuenschwander’s farm with his school-age brothers,” Mammi said, holding her glass with both hands. “It makes your Dawdi and me awful sad for him.”
“Well sure,” Lena said. It made her feel sad, too.
“He’s a fine young scholar, though, so no worries there,” Mammi added, then offered to make Lena a ham-and-cheese sandwich. “We eat very light anymore.”
“Why don’t you let me make something for the three of us?” Lena asked. The reality of how much things had changed since last fall, especially in regard to her grandparents’ health, weighed heavily on her. But what could she do?
CHAPTER
35
After enjoying a noon meal of sandwiches and some homemade split-pea soup with Dawdi and Mammi, Lena headed back to Preacher Yoder’s place, wanting to write some quick letters before school let out—one to Mimi, and definitely one to Lydia. She found her stationery and went to sit on the chair over near the bookcase. Since there was no desk, she removed one of the books to use it as a lap desk, then considered what she wanted to share with her other family.
She penned her thoughts about the bus trip here and how wonderful it was visiting with her sisters this morning, writing first to Mimi.
Next, she wrote to Lydia, but partway down the page she stopped. It was all she could do not to ask about Arden, even though it had been such a short time since she’d encountered him on Eby Road.
She considered all the miles that separated her from Lancaster County, yet she did not regret leaving. After all, Lena’s parents were buried here in Centreville, and her brothers and sisters were here, and they would eventually marry and start their own families. Dat and Mamma’s grandchildren will run and play on Michigan soil someday, she thought.
Wistful, Lena looked out the nearby window, staring at the moving clouds and the cobalt blue sky. She thought of what she might have had with Arden, had she stayed. “I must not have loved him enough. . . .” She rose and walked to the dresser to remove his few cards. Sitting on the bed, she reread the words he’d taken the time to write even when she’d said she only wanted
