Dear Arden,
How are you? How is your business with Manny coming along?
I know it’s been a while since we last saw each other, but I wanted to let you know how thankful I am that you encouraged me to take the opportunity to teach here. At the time, I was impressed that you’d urge me on like that, but I’m even more impressed now at your insight. It’s not something every friend would have done.
I’m not writing to ask anything of you. There are just so many happy memories of our times together. It hasn’t been easy to forget them . . . or you.
My brothers and sisters are a great joy to me, just as you knew they would be, and my schoolhouse full of scholars keeps me ever so busy. And I often think of Mamma, who taught me so many things; I’m not sure I’ll ever fully comprehend how much I owe to her and Dat, or to people like you and Lydia and the Stoltzfuses. God has truly blessed me with the people He has brought into my life.
Still your friend,
Lena Rose Schwartz
Before she could rethink this, Lena folded the letter and placed it in an envelope, addressed it, and sealed it. Tomorrow, she would mail it with a prayer that Arden would receive it in the spirit in which it was sent.
More than three weeks passed with no reply from Arden. Lena assumed he was either too busy or had been offended by her boldness in writing an unsolicited letter. As the days came and went, she felt increasingly bewildered, then embarrassed. Was I wrong to write? she thought, all the more miserable for having taken the risk.
Finally, one Saturday morning in late September, she sought out Emma for a long walk. “I did a peculiar thing,” she confessed, pouring out her heart about Arden . . . and the letter.
“You wrote to him?” Emma was not so much shocked as gleeful. “That’s great! I wondered if you’d have the courage.”
Lena felt somewhat taken aback. “Why do you say that?”
“Well, when a girl loves—er, I mean, really likes a fella—it’s best that he knows it, jah?”
Lena didn’t know whether to laugh or not. But when she looked at Emma, she could see that her sister was absolutely sincere. “Maybe the letter got lost in the mail,” she suggested.
Emma shook her head. “He’s prob’ly just pondering things.”
“Or maybe he’s too astonished.”
“Well, he might be surprised, but more than likely it’s because you’ve come around at last.” Emma paused as though considering what to say next. “Are ya thinkin’ of going back there, so he can court ya?”
Now Lena was the one who was shocked. “Nee, I’m here, where I ought to be.”
“Just checkin’.” Emma leaned down to pick up a pretty white pebble. “You do know that at some point, years from now, all of us kids will prob’ly be married and have families of our own.”
Jah, and will I be alone? Lena wondered. She tried to laugh it off. “If I’m still single by then, Emma, maybe you can build a Dawdi Haus for me to live in.”
“That’s silly. You’ll marry—I’m sure of it.” Her sister tossed the pebble high into the air and caught it.
“How can ya talk so?”
“You wait an’ see.” Emma grinned and reached for Lena’s hand.
“I’m glad we can share face-to-face like this.”
Emma agreed. “And while we’re sharing, I want to ask if you’d be in Ammon’s and my wedding a year from this November.”
“Aw . . . I’d love to.” Lena looked out across the meadow, where wildflowers still bloomed purple and red even during this golden season. She realized now that all the talk from Emma about Lena’s getting married someday was really a way to work up to saying that Emma was. “I’m not surprised, since ya love each other,” Lena told her.
“We do,” Emma said softly.
Lena turned to give her an embrace. “Somehow in the heavenly order of things, Mamma and Dat must know how happy you are.”
CHAPTER
38
October brought cooler weather, and menfolk donned their black felt hats, while womenfolk took their long black woolen shawls out of their cedar chests to wear on Preaching Sundays.
As the temperatures dropped and wedding season neared, Lena began to feel increasingly lonely even though her dear family and old friends surrounded her. To compensate, she threw herself into planning the school Christmas play, although it was still two months away.
Always planning ahead, she thought while sitting at her desk. The last child had left the schoolhouse, and she had already washed the blackboard herself, since Chris had gone to play with the twins and Ben and Tim at the Neuenschwanders’.
Looking through her Tips for Teachers handbook, she scanned through some suggested gifts for children to make for their parents. Her eyes fell on the instructions for making letter holders. Ideal for the younger girls to give their mothers, she thought, knowing that many of the Amishwomen in the area were avid writers of circle letters.
Hearing footsteps outside, she assumed it was one of the children’s parents coming to visit. Here lately, she’d had two mothers drop by with homemade goodies as a thank-you for a strong start to the school year. The sweet gesture had made her smile, and as the door opened, Lena glanced up. The light behind the man entering made it impossible to see whose father this was.
She rose from her desk and walked around it to greet him.
“Hullo, Lena Rose.”
She recognized that voice at the same moment she recognized his handsome face. Mercy’s sake!
Arden removed his straw hat. “Looks like you’re busy,” he said, his manner tentative.
“Nee, not that busy,” she replied, trying to keep her wits about her. Am I dreaming?
He glanced about the room, nodding at the bulletin board behind her desk. “Your classroom looks wunnerbaar!”
Lena followed his gaze. “Chris and I worked on it together.”
Taking in the sight of him—tall, handsome, his striking blue-green eyes—she recalled the day she realized she’d fallen in love
