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“Why do I think the two of you invited me here for something other than my rhubarb pie recipe?” Sara Yoder asked as she took a chair at Hannah’s kitchen table. Hannah, her dearest friend as well as a cousin, had sent one of her grandsons with a note to ask if she could come over at four.
Since the weather was pleasant and the two houses were less than a mile apart, Sara had walked. She liked being active. She was usually up by six and going until long after the sun had set. Not that it had done much for her figure. Despite her busy lifestyle, she remained hearty. She supposed it was partly that she loved to eat and partly because her mother had been substantial in size.
At the back door, Hannah’s widowed daughter, Leah, recently returned from a long stay in South America, had taken Sara’s denim coat and black outer bonnet and given her a big hug. Sara hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know Leah yet, and she was pleased that she was there this afternoon.
“I’m so glad you could come,” Hannah exclaimed as she dropped into a seat across from Sara. “We’ve been making vegetable soup and canning it. Cleaning out the cellar. Soon enough we’ll have fresh vegetables again and I never like to save canned goods from one year to the next. I have a couple of quarts of soup for you. Too many to carry, but Leah can drive you home.”
Leah wasn’t Amish anymore, although in her plain blue dress and navy wool scarf she appeared so. When she’d married Daniel Brown several years earlier, she’d joined the Mennonite church. The Mennonites, close in belief to the Amish, were not as strict in daily lifestyle and permitted motor vehicles. Sara assumed that the small black automobile in the yard was Leah’s.
Smiling, Leah brought a pitcher of cream and an old pewter bowl filled with raw sugar to the table. “Tea is such a treat,” she said, joining them and pouring the first cup of tea for Sara. “I can’t get enough of it. They have wonderful coffee in Brazil, but it was impossible to find decent tea.”
All of Hannah’s daughters were known for their liveliness and independence, but Leah was the one who residents of Seven Poplars saw as the most independent. After her marriage, Leah had left Delaware to follow her new husband to do missionary work among the indigenous people of the Amazon. There, in an isolated outpost, the young couple had operated a school, a store and a basic medical clinic. Then tragedy had struck. Leah had lost both her husband and her child to a deadly fever. Unwilling to leave her adopted community in need, Leah had remained more than a year until another team could be sent as replacements. Now, she’d returned to her childhood home to pick up the pieces of her life.
Leah might have been the rebel of the Yoder girls but, of all of Hannah’s daughters, she was certainly the prettiest, Sara decided, looking across the table at her. Her red hair, blue eyes and flawless complexion made her a real beauty, more attractive even than Violet Hershberger, who was considered the cutest and most eligible girl in the county. But Leah’s almond-shaped eyes held a depth of sorrow that gave her a fragility of spirit not evident in Violet or any of the other young women in the county. Leah seemed cheerful and strong enough physically. She laughed as readily as her sisters, but Sara could sense a vulnerability in Leah that tugged at her heart. It was obvious that she was still in pain from her loss, but Sara could see that she was making an effort to be a part of the world again. And she seemed to be succeeding.
Sara considered herself a sensible woman, one not easily swayed from the right path by emotion or hasty decisions. But she couldn’t deny that she felt drawn to this girl and felt an instant desire to do whatever she could to help her. “It was nice of you to invite me for tea, but did you ask me here for the reason I suspect?” Sara asked.
Leah smiled and her cheeks blushed. “I think it’s time I wed again and my family’s in agreement.”
“I’m glad you called on me, then. I’ve brokered a few Mennonite marriages, though you may have to be patient with me while I talk with some friends at the local church.”
“Actually,” Hannah said. “Leah has decided—” She broke off abruptly as her youngest daughter, Susanna, came into the kitchen with a basket of clothing she must have just taken in off the clothesline. Susanna had been born with Down syndrome and she and her husband David, also mentally challenged, made their home with Hannah and her husband Albert.
“The wind is picking up, isn’t it?” Sara said to Susanna. She could smell the wholesome scents of sunshine and spring breezes on the clothes the young woman carried in the basket.
Susanna, red cheeked and beaming, nodded. “Ya. Almost blew me over.”
“Ach, Susanna. You’re about to lose your scarf.” Hannah rose and went to her daughter, untied the navy cotton scarf and retied it in place over her daughter’s braided and pinned up auburn hair.
“Danki, Mam.” Susanna giggled, her round face creasing into folds of pleasure. “As soon as I...” Susanna’s forehead crinkled as she struggled to find the right words and pronounce them correctly. “Fold the sheets,” she managed. “David’s gonna show me new kittens in the loft. He said ‘Susanna, you help name them.’” She nodded excitedly. “They need names!”
“That sounds wonderful,” Sara exclaimed, and then waited for Susanna to take her leave. Sara didn’t need to be reminded not to speak of matchmaking business in front of Hannah’s youngest. As delightful as Susanna was, whatever she heard, she repeated. It was impossible for Susanna to keep a secret. Arranged marriages were confidential between the candidates and the matchmaker, not food for neighborhood gossip.
Hannah took the laundry basket from her daughter. “Would you like me to help you fold? We’ll take these sheets upstairs and put them away and then you can go and see the kittens.”
“Ya, Mam.” Susanna giggled again. “I’m gonna see the new kittens. We’re gonna name them, me and David. I love David.”
Hannah smiled lovingly. “I know you do. Now come along.”
Leah waited until her mother and sister were out of the room before adding more tea to Hannah’s cup and her own. Then she took her cup in both hands, gazed down into the swirling liquid and said, “I want to marry again, Cousin Sara.” She sighed. “It’s been more than a year since I lost my Daniel and our little one and...I’m the kind of person who needs to be married. It’s what God has always wanted for me.” Her eyes teared up. “I want a husband and children.” She looked up, unashamed of her tears. “Can you help me find a husband?”
Sara leaned forward. “Of course. As I started to say, my contacts among the Mennonite faith are not as extensive as—”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Leah interrupted. “I didn’t make myself clear. I mean to return to the Amish church. I became Mennonite for Daniel, as was right. I believe it was God’s plan for me at the time. And now, I think He means for me to accept the Amish way of life again.”
Sara reached for a sugar cookie on a blue-and-white plate. “I assume you’ve considered this carefully? You’ve lived with many conveniences since your marriage. Are you sure that you can live Plain, as you did as a child?”
Leah didn’t answer at once, and Sara liked that. This was no flighty young woman who chose first one path and then another on a whim. Sara nibbled at the cookie and sipped her tea.
“I’ve thought of little else since I left Brazil,” Leah said finally. She offered a half smile. “I loved my husband. I’ve mourned him with all my heart. I think I will grieve for him until my last breath, even though I know he’s in heaven. Grieve for myself, I suppose. But ours was a good marriage, a strong one, and I want that again. I’m young enough to bear more children, as many as God will send me, and to marry again just seems...right.”
“Children are our greatest blessing,” Sara said. She had never been fortunate enough to have a child, but she had loved many children and hoped to love more. Why God chose to not give some women children—or to take them away—she would never understand. “The ways of the Lord are often a mystery to us, aren’t they?” she murmured.
“Ya,” Leah agreed. “I thought I would lose my mind in those first months after I lost them. I know I shed enough tears to raise the level of the Amazon River, but, fortunately, I had our work. We had a small school and Daniel’s clinic. He had been a nurse and I learned so much from him working at his side. After he was gone, there was no one else to help and I had to make do.” She looked up and Sara gazed into the depths of those cornflower-blue eyes. “I delivered babies, sewed up knife wounds and set broken arms and legs. I was too busy to think much about what I wanted for myself when I could come home.”
“But you knew that you wanted to come home to Seven Poplars?” Sara asked.
Leah nibbled absently at a knuckle. Her hands were slender, her nails clean and filed. They were strong hands to go with her strong spirit, Sara thought.
“There was no question of my staying in Brazil as a woman alone. I wouldn’t even have remained there as long as I did, but there was unrest. Trouble between the lumber contractors and the native people. And there were floods. They were so bad that our clinic was cut off from the nearest town for quite some time. It wasn’t safe for a new team to come in. It was a blessing, really. I had a chance to say my goodbyes and see the school and clinic put in good hands before I left.” Leah shook her head. “But I won’t bore you with my memories. If you think you can help me, then I want to tell you what I require in a husband.”
“I could never be bored with tales of your experiences in Brazil,” Sara assured her. “But it would be helpful if you tell me what your expectations are in a husband.”
Leah steepled her hands and leaned forward on the kitchen table. “First, he must be Amish, of strong faith and respected in the community. I would prefer a mature man, a middle-aged widower, someone who may already have children. How old doesn’t matter, so long as he isn’t too old to father children.”
Sara pressed her lips together to keep from smiling inappropriately. This adventurous child of her cousin was certainly outspoken. Whether it was her nature or a trait she’d picked up in her travels, Sara wasn’t certain. It was all she could do to not show her amusement. “You’re still a young woman,” she said. “Not yet thirty. Are you certain you wouldn’t prefer a younger bachelor?”
“Ne. I’m sure of it,” Leah said firmly. “I’ve been the wife of a young man. I married for love. I’ll never have that again, and I know that. I’m a realistic woman, Cousin Sara. I know that affection and respect may lead to a different type of love someday.” She met Sara’s gaze. “I want someone different for a second husband, someone I’ll not ever compare to my Daniel.”
Sara nodded thoughtfully, and while she didn’t know that she was in agreement, she certainly understood what Leah was saying. “Do you have a choice of occupations?” she asked. “Farmer? Carpenter?”
“It matters not. I’m used to making do with few material goods. I ask only for a husband who isn’t lazy and will be a good example for our children. He must know how much I want more children.” Leah’s voice took on a breathy tone. “I could not bear it if I never rocked another baby in my arms or woke to see my precious child’s shining face beaming in wonder at the new day.” She inhaled deeply. “So you see, it might be best if my husband-to-be already has children. I can adapt to any personality, but he must be someone who will welcome children and not treat them harshly.”
“Or treat you harshly,” Sara suggested.
Leah shrugged. “I can accept whatever the Lord sends me. I’ll be a good and dutiful wife, so long as he knows that my children must come first. My Daniel was an indulgent father. He adored our...” Tears glistened in her eyes again. She looked down, took a moment, then looked up at Sara again. “I want to be sure I’m being clear, Cousin Sara. What I want is a marriage of convenience, a union entered into for the purpose of forming a solid family. I’m not afraid of hard work, and I’ll be the best wife and helpmate I can. But I need a sensible man, a practical man who doesn’t expect more than I can give.” She hesitated. “Because part of me died in Brazil, Sara. All I can do is go on with what I have left.”
“You don’t believe in the possibility of a second love?” Sara asked gently. “Not when you see how happy your mother is with Albert, after the death of your father?”
“I’m not my mother,” Leah replied, sitting back in her chair. “I honor her, and I love her, but we are not the same. She and my father had many years together and time to form many memories. Daniel and I... It went by so quickly. Too quickly.”
Sara considered the young widow’s words. “Wouldn’t your Daniel want you to be happy?”
“Of course.” Leah smiled through the tears. “But I know myself. I know what I want. Offer me no lighthearted, carefree noodle-heads. I’m seeking a sober and steady husband, one with gray in his hair, who knows what it is to suffer loss. Can you find me such a man?”
Sara reached across the table and took Leah’s hands in hers. “I will do my best to find what you need in a husband. But you must remember, I can’t promise you children or happiness. We are all in God’s grace and we cannot see the path He plans for us.”
“I understand,” Leah agreed. She squeezed Sara’s hands and then pulled free. “And I was hoping that you would have room for me at your house. Where I could stay.”
“Certainly,” Sara agreed, genuinely surprised by the request. “But what about your mother? Surely, Hannah must want you here with her.”
“I don’t think that would be best,” Leah said firmly. “You know my mother. She’d want to put her spoon in my soup pot. I love this house and I love my family. But I’m not ready to fall into the habit of being a dutiful child again. You know exactly what I mean. I’m sure you’ve seen it before. A young widow returns home to her parents’ house and the next thing you know, twenty-five years have passed and her mother is still cooking her supper and hanging out her laundry. No. I’ll come to your home and put myself in your capable hands.”
She rose and picked up her teacup to carry to the sink. “Find me a husband, Cousin Sara.”
Chapter Two (#ulink_bd58baf2-0715-5d1d-8203-f3852bdc4646)
Leah drove her little car slowly down her mother’s driveway, savoring the familiar sights of green fields, grazing cows and her brother-in-law plowing with a four-horse team. Beside her sat Sara, several quarts of vegetable soup in a basket at her feet.
“It’s so strange to be back in Seven Poplars,” Leah said as she came to a stop at the edge of the blacktop and looked both ways for traffic. A buggy passed the mailbox, and several automobiles approached from the opposite direction, so she waited until it was safe to pull out. “One minute I feel like an outsider, and a few minutes later, it’s as if I never left home.”
“For me, it’s much like that, too,” Sara agreed. “I haven’t been in Delaware that long, but most of the time, I feel like I was born and raised here. Your mother and I have been close since we were children, but I didn’t know anyone else until I got here. It was a pleasant surprise to find all of Seven Poplars so welcoming.”
“I’m so glad.” Leah smiled at her. Plump Sara’s hair was dark and curly, her eyes the shade of ripe blackberries and her complexion a warm mocha. Although a generation older, Sara was a widow like Leah. And Sara had also made major changes in her life after she was left alone.
When it was safe, Leah turned onto the blacktop in her little black Honda and smiled to herself, suddenly glad she’d decided to put her future in Sara’s hands. She instinctively felt she could trust Sara, maybe even more than she could trust herself right now, which was why she’d decided to hire a matchmaker to find her a husband.
“Do you have a preference on where you live?” Sara asked, breaking into Leah’s thoughts. “Does it have to be in Seven Poplars, or just in Delaware?”
Leah nodded. “I’d love to stay in Seven Poplars, but I know that’s not likely. Though maybe you’d find a man looking to relocate here. Anywhere in Delaware would be fine. I just don’t want to live so far from my family and friends that I can’t visit again. I missed them so when I lived in Brazil.”
“I can understand why you’d want to stay here. This is a special community. Still, many young women might wish that they had had your opportunity—to travel so far to another country,” Sara observed. “To see so many different kinds of people and to live in a jungle.”
“It was an amazing experience. I feel blessed to have served God as a missionary. I already miss the friends I made there.” Leah’s throat clenched as she remembered the Brazilians standing on the muddy riverbank to wave goodbye. Small Pio clinging to his grandfather’s leg, gentle Caridade nursing her new baby girl, and the collection of village elders, all in their finest basketball shorts, rubber-tire flip-flops and feathered headdresses. And around them their most precious possessions—the beautiful children, shrieking with laughter, heedless of the ever-present dangers of poisonous snakes, caimans and piranhas in the swirling, dark water.
“Their lives are so different from ours, harsher, and less certain,” Leah murmured. “I went to teach, but ended up receiving far more than I gave.”
“And do you have a timeline in mind? How soon would you like to marry?” Sara asked pointedly.
“As soon as possible.” Leah gripped the wheel, confident in her response. “It’s time I was married, and God willing, I want another child as soon as possible.” It felt good that she could finally keep her voice from breaking when she spoke of being a mother again. God truly was good, and time, if it didn’t heal wounds, made them easier to bear. “Is that a problem?” she asked Sara.
“Not at all,” Sara answered warmly. “You’re past the mourning stage of widowhood. At your age, most would agree, the sooner the better.”
Leah nodded as they approached a tall Amish man striding along on the shoulder of the road. Recognizing him, she slowed and waved. It was her brother-in-law Charley’s friend Thomas Stutzman.
Sara waved and then glanced back at Thomas as they passed him. “Wait! Stop the car.”
Startled, Leah braked, looking anxiously to see if she’d barely missed some hazard. “Something wrong?”
“Ne.” Sara shook her head and motioned toward the side of the road. “Pull over onto the shoulder, can you? We should... I want to give Thomas some soup for his grandparents.”
“Of course.” Leah pulled over and put on her flashers.
Sara got out of the car and motioned to the man. “Thomas! Hop in. We have some soup here for your grandparents.”
Leah watched in the rearview mirror as Thomas approached the car. He and Sara exchanged words, but Leah couldn’t make out any of what they were saying. Then Sara turned back toward the car. “No more than you could have expected. Ellie’s quite set in her ways,” Sara said as she walked back to the car and opened the rear door. “Get in. Leah won’t mind driving you home. You can hardly walk and carry quarts of soup down the road. But you’re headed in the opposite direction. You weren’t headed home, were you?” She gave a wave, indicating again that he should get in. “No matter.”
Thomas, seeming to realize there was no sense arguing with Sara, folded his long frame and climbed into the back. His head nearly brushed the roof so he removed his hat and dropped it into his lap. “Leah,” he said in greeting.
“Thomas.” Her backseat was small, and Thomas had broad shoulders. He took up most of it, even before he removed his hat.
Leah had seen him at church services the previous week. He was Charley’s age, older than she was, but he’d always seemed younger. Her sister Rebecca had told her that Thomas was still unmarried, but walking out with the little schoolteacher. Leah wished her well. Thomas was a good guy, though not the sort of man she’d be interested in. Thomas was far too immature and happy-go-lucky to suit her. And too self-centered.
“Your mother lets you keep a car at her house?” Thomas asked, glancing around the vehicle as he put on his seat belt. “I know you Mennonites drive, but...” He didn’t finish whatever it was he was going to say.
“We do drive.” Leah put the car into gear and eased back onto the road. “This car belonged to my late husband’s cousin. Ben moved to Mexico to serve as a missionary and he gave it to me.”
“Hannah doesn’t object to Leah driving.” Her arms crossed, Sara looked over her shoulder at Thomas. “Leah’s Mennonite sister Grace drives every day, doesn’t she? And Leah’s stepfather has his pickup for veterinary emergencies. Bishop Atlee approved.” She chuckled. “Leah isn’t a child anymore. She respects her mother, but she doesn’t ask for permission on how to conduct herself.”
“That’s what I tell my mother,” Thomas said. “About me.”
Sara made a small sound of disbelief. “And how does that work?”
“Not very well.”
“Didn’t think so,” Sara replied.
“Doesn’t work so well with my mam, either,” Leah said with a grin. “It’s why I’m going to stay at Sara’s.” She kept her eyes on the road. “I’d be happy to drop the soup off at your grandparents’,” she assured him, “if you’re headed somewhere else?”
“I’m going to Sara’s actually,” Thomas admitted sheepishly. “I left my horse and buggy there. Ellie—she’s my girl—was my girl—Ellie likes to walk home after school on nice days like this. I thought it would be a surprise if I walked over and carried her books home.”
“Ach,” Sara said. “And it was you who got the surprise, wasn’t it?”
“Ya,” he admitted. He exhaled and went on. “I asked her to marry me and she turned me down.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Leah glanced at Thomas in the rearview mirror again. He didn’t seem all that upset for a man who’d just proposed to a girl and been turned down. Seemed more put out than anything.
“Tough to be told no, but tougher to marry the wrong girl,” Sara observed. “No need for you to take it personal, though, Thomas. Ellie’s been saying for months how happy she is teaching at the school. You just weren’t listening. You know the board wouldn’t keep her on if she married. She likes her independence, our Ellie.”
“I knew that she said that,” Thomas said. “But how was I to know that she meant it?”
Leah turned into Sara’s driveway.
“By tonight, everyone in Seven Poplars will know Ellie refused me,” Thomas went on. “I’m going to look pretty foolish.”
“Ne.” Sara shook her head. “Not true. You’re not the first one to be turned down in Seven Poplars and you won’t be the last. But maybe this will teach you to listen to what a woman says. She told you she wasn’t going to marry you. I heard it myself.”
“Guess I should have listened,” Thomas admitted.
“I do know a thing or two about compatible couples,” Sara said. “Which reminds me. I’m giving a get-together on Friday night in my barn. You should come, Thomas. There will be eligible young women there. I want to have games, as well as food and singing.”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure I’d be good company.”
“Nonsense,” Sara replied. “I could use your help setting up. And if you don’t come, you’ll just sit home feeling sorry for yourself.”
“I suppose I could make the effort. If you need me, I could come for a while, just to help out.”
“It will do you good. Take your mind off losing Ellie.” Sara clasped her hands together and turned to Leah. “And you should come, too. It should be a lively evening—you’ll enjoy yourself. And you and Thomas can catch up.”
Leah eased the car to a stop near Sara’s back door and Sara handed Thomas two quarts of the soup from the basket on the floor beside her feet.
“Thanks for the ride,” Thomas said, getting out on the driver’s side, a jar in each hand. “And for the soup. I know my grandparents will appreciate it.”
“No trouble.” Leah smiled at him, leaning through the window. “It’s not as though I took you far.”
He started toward his buggy, parked on the far side of the barnyard, then turned back to her. “It’s good to have you home again, Leah.” Then he grimaced. “That didn’t come out right. I mean, I know that you’d rather not have...that...” He looked down and then up at her, meeting her gaze. “I’m really sorry about Daniel and your little one.”
Leah was touched by the emotion she heard in his voice. “Please don’t feel that you have to tiptoe around me. This is a new start for me. What better place than home, where I have so much support?”
