“Stop bickering,” Melinda called. “This is a happy occasion, remember? Hooray!”
She picked up a handful of old, dried leaves and tossed them into the air and then tried to catch them as they fluttered around her. Then she and Aaron cavorted down the hill like schoolchildren, racing to tag each other’s shadows until they disappeared into the woods, while Fletcher and Anna followed at a slower pace, neither one speaking.
When they reached the stream, Anna closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “Mmm, it smells like spring,” she said, and then raised her lids to view the bubbling current, the gently sloping embankment and the thick stand of trees. “What a beautiful place.”
“I have to agree, it’s a fine fishing spot,” Fletcher responded. Thinking aloud, he added, “But Aaron’s too impatient to fish and even if he weren’t, Melinda’s such a chatterbox, she’d frighten the fish away.”
Anna narrowed her brows. “That may be true of them now,” she said, “but people change. They grow. With Gott’s help, we all do.”
Fletcher hadn’t intended to be insulting. He simply meant the location seemed better suited to his and Anna’s preferences than to Aaron and Melinda’s, since he enjoyed fishing and Anna appreciated solitude, so he was surprised by how quickly Anna seemed to defend them. And what did her comment about people changing and growing mean, anyway? Was she indicating that she had changed? Was she implying she thought Aaron had grown? Fletcher’s brooding was interrupted when Melinda capered up the embankment.
“Help!” she squealed. “Aaron’s trying to splash me and that water’s freezing!”
Aaron reappeared and the four of them ascended the hill. At the top, they were greeted by Oliver Zook. “Guder nammidaag. Grace sent me to invite our prospective new neighbors and their future in-laws for cookies and cider.”
“That sounds wunderbaar,” Melinda said, accepting the invitation for all of them.
The fragrance of hot cider and freshly baked cookies wafted from the kitchen when Grace ushered everyone inside. As they situated themselves in the parlor, where Doris and John Plank were also visiting, the Zooks’ baby began wailing in the next room.
“I’ll get her while you prepare the refreshments,” Oliver said, squeezing his wife’s shoulder.
“Wait till you see how much she’s grown since the last time you saw her, Anna,” Grace remarked before leaving the room, understandably ignorant of Anna’s amnesia.
When Oliver returned, jostling the fussy baby, Aaron suggested, “You should let Anna take her. She has such a soothing, maternal touch. She was always able to comfort my eldest sister’s son when he was a newborn.”
“Jah, I remember,” Anna said, smiling as she lifted Serenity from Oliver’s arms. “Your nephew had colic and your poor sister was exhausted because he gave her no rest.”
Although he knew it wasn’t Anna’s fault, Fletcher felt a slight twinge of sadness that she could remember everything that happened during her courtship with Aaron, but not a thing that happened during her courtship with him. And who was Aaron to openly flatter Anna, as if he were still her suitor? Of course, Aaron’s compliment was well deserved: within a few moments of cooing and swaying, the bobbel had fallen asleep in Anna’s arms. She sat back down and accepted a cup of cider from Grace with her free hand.
“See that, Fletcher? The bobbel in one hand, a cup in the other.” Oliver laughed. “Anna will have no problem keeping your household in order.”
Anna demurely glanced at Fletcher from beneath her lashes and a tickle of exhilaration caused his nerves to tingle. He momentarily forgot all about her note as a glimpse of their future bobblin flashed across his mind’s eye.
“You’re a fortunate man, indeed,” Doris Plank interjected. “But I have to say, you could have knocked me over with a feather when the intentions were announced. For the longest time, I suspected Aaron was betrothed to Anna. Even after it was rumored he’d begun walking out with you, Melinda, I always assumed he’d eventually wind up with Anna again, don’t ask me why. But then, I never expected I’d marry John, either, so I guess it’s a gut thing I’m not a matchmaker!”
As Doris gleefully tittered at her own humor, Fletcher’s ears burned and his jaw dropped. Doris had a reputation for making bold remarks, but he’d personally never been on the receiving end of one and he didn’t know how to respond without sounding rude himself.
“Jah, life is full of wunderbaar surprises for everyone, isn’t it?” Grace diplomatically cut in. She passed the tray to Anna. “Here, Anna, you haven’t had a cookie.”
“Denki, but neh,” Anna declined. “I...I...”
“She has to watch her figure,” Melinda finished for her. “But I don’t, so I’ll take some.”
“Ah, you must have finished sewing your wedding dress then, Anna?” Grace’s eyes lit up. “You don’t want to have to make any last-minute alterations, is that it? If you’re anything like I was, you’re counting down the days!”
Blushing, Anna gave a pinched smile and a slight shrug but didn’t answer.
“You’re fortunate your intended is so calm, Fletcher,” Oliver remarked, as he patted his wife’s hand. “As soon as our intentions were published, the wedding preparations were all Grace talked about to anyone who would listen. And even to some people who wouldn’t!”
As everyone else laughed, Fletcher did his best not to frown, acutely aware that Anna’s last communication about their wedding preparations had been anything but enthusiastic.
Suddenly, Melinda sniffed exaggeratedly and declared, “Oopsie! I think Serenity needs a diaper change.”
All three couples soon made their way out the door. As they departed the farm and headed back toward Anna’s house, Fletcher thought, The schtinke of a dirty diaper makes a fitting end to this afternoon. Disappointed that he and Anna hadn’t exchanged a private word between them, and feeling even less certain about their future today than he’d felt all week, Fletcher decided the next time he went out with Anna, they were going out alone.
The Sabbath was supposed to be a day of rest, but Anna felt utterly exhausted by the time she said her prayers and slipped into bed. Yet as achy and tired as her body was, her brain was wide-awake, reliving the afternoon’s unpleasant events.
First, the buggy lurched about so much, she’d become increasingly nauseated as they journeyed toward their destination. Second, she was nettled by Aaron’s wisecrack about her continued inability to remember Fletcher—and judging from Fletcher’s expression, he was equally peeved. Third, Melinda’s prancing and twirling caused Anna’s head to spin. Then, Fletcher and Aaron squabbled like two boys on a playground. Finally, when she tried to focus her attention on something positive by commenting on the beauty of the scenery, Fletcher pulled a face. His remarks about Aaron’s and Melinda’s personalities may have been true, but they weren’t especially generous, which made her wonder if he was characteristically judgmental.
Not that Aaron or Melinda took much care to measure their own words about others: Melinda’s pronounced insinuation that Anna needed to watch her weight would have been humiliating, had it been true. In reality, she’d been far too nauseated to eat any cookies, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself by saying so.
Of course, all eyes had been on her when Grace questioned Anna about whether she’d sewn her wedding dress or not. Making her dress was one of the wedding preparations an Amish bride reveled in most, but Anna couldn’t even recall if she’d bought her fabric yet. Nor did she know if she’d selected her