Suddenly, it seemed as if months had passed since Lena Rose had helped her siblings get packed and moved in with their new families. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat. Uncle Noah and Aunt Mary had been so kind as to suggest that Lena and her sisters choose favorite pieces of furniture to set aside for their hope chests, which Uncle Noah had stored for all of them. Lena Rose had also encouraged each of the children to choose something smaller of their parents’ personal possessions to take with them, letting her brothers and sisters make their choices first. Afterward, she had selected a handful of colorful postcards of Holmes County, Ohio, which Dat had written to Mamma from afar one summer while they were courting.
Lena paid the driver as she got out of the cab, glad to finally have arrived. Yet young Chris was constantly on her mind, and she wondered how he was doing. Did he still wish the Neuenschwanders might have had room for him, too, with his close-in-age brothers? He’d whispered this to her the day before she’d said her farewell, his lower lip trembling. Dear boy!
Alas, other than herself, Chris and Wilbur were the only ones who had been placed in a home without other siblings. She hoped Chris would slowly adjust to life with Dawdi and Mammi Schwartz, who’d also agreed to take Tabby, the family’s beloved cat. Chris was a lively boy, so their grandparents’ being up in years concerned Lena, but the way things had worked out, there was no better option, and she was thankful that Chris was with people he loved and had always spent so much time with. Mammi Schwartz had promised to write to Lena at least once a week, and it would be heartening to have those updates.
Scenes of her other siblings together with their new families played out in Lena’s mind as she carried her suitcases up the driveway to her own new residence, trying to be brave. Lena thought of the difficult good-byes said there to the deacon and his dear wife and the others who came for Lena’s own send-off.
“Nothing will be the same without you here,” Emma had tearfully admitted that day.
Lena thought of all the upcoming fall activities she would miss. All the milestones. And silently, she recited her brothers’ and sisters’ names to God, asking for divine comfort.
Just then, a large black German shepherd came running toward her, wagging its tail. “Someone’s here to greet me,” she murmured. “Aren’t you a friendly one.”
The dog accompanied her as Lena made her way around toward the side yard, where she spotted a picturesque bench made from willow branches near a large tree and a rose garden. She paused a moment, set down her suitcases, and went over to touch the bench, feeling the contours of its wood and eyeing the seat cushion.
A peaceful spot, she thought.
Then, as she was about to approach the window-paned back door, she heard a man’s voice. Turning, she saw the man who had to be her father’s cousin, Harley Stoltzfus, waving and calling her name as he hurried toward her. He closely resembled her dear father, though an older version of him.
“Willkumm, Lena Rose,” Harley said, extending his hand. “I see you’ve met Blackie.” He nodded to indicate the dog and then picked up her things. “Mimi and I have been lookin’ forward to your arrival. You have no idea how glad we are to see ya.”
“Denki, it’s kind of yous to make a place for me,” Lena said, following him through the door as he opened it and stepped aside. It was hard not to stare at the man. The set of Harley’s brown eyes and the shape of his mouth were so similar to Dat’s. Even the lines near his eyes fanned out in the same way, as though he smiled a lot.
“Mimi, lookee who’s here!” Harley called as they entered the outer room, where shoes and boots were lined up on the floor under a row of jackets and sweaters hung from a wooden panel of hooks.
In the kitchen, Lena Rose noticed the highly polished black cookstove, exactly like her mother’s back home. Whatever was cooking inside smelled delicious.
“Mimi must be busy in her sewing room,” Harley said just moments before a woman came into the kitchen through a narrow doorway. “Lena’s arrived,” he said, touching Lena’s arm lightly as he made introductions.
“Hullo,” Mimi said, her voice lilting up at the end of the word. She looked a bit flushed as she pushed a stray hair away from her round face. “We prayed for traveling mercies. Thank our dear Lord you made it safely.”
Lena stepped forward to politely embrace her. “I couldn’t be more grateful.”
“Well, dear, it’s our honor to have you with us.”
The woman’s warm demeanor was soothing, and Lena felt welcomed like close family, rather than merely a second cousin once removed.
“Ada, our older married daughter just up the way, came and redded up the house real gut—cleaned like we were hosting Preachin’,” Mimi said, face still aglow. “You’ll see her over here helpin’ out once a week.”
“Mimi’s too busy sewing to bother keepin’ house,” Harley said, a twinkle in his eyes.
“ ’Tis true, actually,” Mimi said, giving her husband a good-natured look. “But remember, Lena Rose, I don’t expect ya to do a speck of cleaning, either. And you’ll have spare time away from sewin’ on Saturdays, as well as Sundays.”
“I’m glad to do what I can, though,” Lena said, truly meaning it.
Mimi explained that Harley’s uncle, Solomon Stoltzfus, lived in the Dawdi Haus next door, as did their youngest son, Eli, who had recently turned twenty and just moved out of the main house. “The two of them often come over for the noon meal,
