The Orchard, page 19
“You seem mighty happy tonight,” Dat said, glancing at her as he held the driving lines. “I’m sure ya know your Mamm and I have put our faith in the Lord for the young man you’ll marry one day, Ellie.”
Dat had never said anything like this to her before, but she wasn’t surprised to hear it. Trusting God was at the foundation of how they lived. “I’m thankful for that,” she replied, “’cause I’d never wanna make a mistake in something as important as marriage.”
Dat nodded thoughtfully. “Sadly, some young folks have been known to rush into it for the wrong reasons.”
Ellie thought about Menno. Now that she’d had time to step back and think about their casual dates, she realized that she never could have married him—and not just because of his attitude at the time about Evan. Was it merely his good looks that drew me? she wondered. Yet what a shallow reason to continue going out with someone. “Marryin’ for love is best,” she replied to Dat. “With God’s blessing.”
Giving her a smile, he nodded, sitting so tall in the driver’s seat that his straw hat nearly bumped the top of the carriage. “An unselfish, caring love that puts the other one first,” he said. “That’s a love worth waitin’ for.”
Ellie thought of Sol and the way she felt about him . . . and wholeheartedly agreed.
Heading into the large expanse of the cleared-off haymow in their hosts’ barn, Ellie spotted several of her girl cousins. She made her way to the long wooden table and greeted them. Cousin Sarah Ann was talking animatedly to Ruthann.
Over on the other side of the barn, the young men stood chewing the fat after placing their straw hats in piles on some of the baled hay.
As Ellie stepped closer, Sarah Ann turned from Ruthann and asked Ellie, “How’s Sol getting along now? You prob’ly see him workin’ in the orchard, jah?”
“He’s only been back for a week,” Ellie said, trying to keep a lid on her feelings. “I think he’s bein’ careful not to overdo.”
“Which he should be,” Ruthann said, glancing knowingly at Ellie. “A concussion’s nothin’ to fool with.”
“I wonder if he’ll be here tonight,” Sarah Ann said.
I wonder, too, Ellie thought, seeing Sol’s younger brother, Aaron, enter the haymow door alone at that moment. She looked around but saw no sign of Sol. Maybe he’s not up to coming to Singing quite yet, she thought, saddened by the realization he might not be there.
Lyle took his time returning home, as he sometimes did after taking Ellie to Singing. He’d wanted to make sure she’d be free to accept a young fellow’s invitation to ride in his courting buggy. Since Evan’s leaving, this small responsibility had fallen to him, and he liked having the time alone to think.
Months ago, Lyle had presumed Ellie was seeing someone. He’d guessed Leah’s cousin Menno, but he wasn’t the type of parent to wait up to see who was bringing her home. Here lately, though, surely the love lights in Sol’s eyes whenever Ellie was around were a giveaway. He and Elisabeth couldn’t be more pleased if what they guessed about their daughter and Sol was the honest truth. And, of course, they’d done what they could to make certain the two of them had opportunities to visit during those first weeks of his recovery.
All the same, Ellie had been rather closed-lipped tonight, he thought, chuckling to himself. Like I was back when I fell head over heels for Elisabeth. Ah, young love.
With all the fellows and girls in their places, it was time to begin singing. The host and hostess had made their announcements, and the last of the stragglers had arrived and slid the barn door shut.
But Sol was not among them.
Ellie was disappointed but refused to feel glum. Sol hadn’t actually mentioned taking her out tonight, but he had made it clear he was no longer in favor of double-dating with anyone.
As she sang with the others, Ellie anxiously wondered if something else had kept Sol from coming. Was he not feeling okay? Or was he uncertain about courting her with his limitations after all?
Then, just as quickly, she caught herself, even shaking her head in the middle of a song. Surely Sol understood that she cared about him just as he was. Hadn’t she made that clear?
The last half of Singing was a test of Ellie’s resolve as she tried not to let on how concerned she was about Sol. Thankfully, Ruthann never once asked what was wrong, so Ellie knew she’d managed to put on a pleasant face despite her troubled emotions.
———
After Singing was over and it was time to pair up, Ellie saw Menno and Ruthann slipping out together—no ride there. So she set out to walk home, thinking someone might offer her a lift along the way. She’d seen Aaron asking one of the preacher’s nieces to go riding, though, so it was unlikely he would stop to offer her a ride. Not on a first date.
The tree frogs were especially noisy tonight, and the sound of their croaky song was somewhat of a comfort. As dark as it was, she was careful to walk close to the shoulder of the road. Tomorrow was the new moon, so there was no sign of it tonight. She wished she’d brought along a flashlight or even a small lantern.
After more than ten minutes of brisk walking, here came a buggy, slowing down.
“Ellie!” It was Cousin Sarah Ann’s voice.
Relieved, Ellie turned to see the open carriage coming to a stop on the shoulder.
“Hurry around and hop in,” Sarah Ann called. “You’ll have to sit on my lap, though.”
Ellie felt funny about it but went round the buggy and stepped inside, where Sarah Ann patted her lap. Fortunately, the distance home wasn’t much farther, so Ellie sat lightly, glad for the ride yet sorry about intruding on Sarah Ann and Chester Riehl’s date—though they’d been going out for quite a while now.
“Say, Ellie, I’ve been wondering ’bout Sol,” Chester said. “I saw him out early in the mornin’ the other day, walkin’ down toward the orchard. He was on his way to work, I guess. I s’pose he hasn’t heard that the deacon was warning us fellas not to walk alone along the road.”
This was a surprise to Ellie. She’d thought Sol was coming down through the neighbor’s cornfield each morning since his return. Hearing this from Chester made a shiver go up her spine.
“He’s mighty courageous,” Chester said. “Considerin’ what he’s suffered.”
“Ever so brave,” Sarah Ann said.
Contemplating what Chester said, Ellie was at a loss for words.
When they arrived at the house a few minutes later, Chester offered to pull all the way into the long lane so she wouldn’t have to walk in the dark.
“Oh, I’ll be fine,” she said, still thinking of Sol’s bravery. “Denki, though, Chester.”
“We’ll wait here till you’re safely inside,” he said.
“Mamm keeps a lantern lit in the kitchen near the window, so when I outen it, you’ll know I’m in.” She appreciated his kindness.
“Gut idea,” Sarah Ann said.
Craning his neck, Chester stared at the house. “It looks to me like there’s a lantern lit outside on the back porch.”
“Really?” Ellie stepped out of the carriage. “Not sure why that would be. Well, gut Nacht!”
“Just wave that lantern,” Chester replied, “and we’ll be on our way.”
“Okay.” Very curious, she hurried up the lane toward the golden light near the side entrance, where she noticed someone sitting on the porch steps. At first, seeing the golden-blond hair beneath the straw hat, she thought it was Evan. Is my mind playing tricks on me?
“Ellie.” This time she heard Sol’s voice. “Didn’t want to alarm ya.” He lifted the lantern and rose.
“What a surprise,” she said, never expecting to see him there.
“Hope it’s a good one.”
She smiled. “It surely is.” She mentioned Chester had asked her to wave the lantern, so Sol raised it and moved it a little.
Soon she heard the clip-clop-clip of the horse heading away, and she decided not to mention what Chester had said about Sol walking along the road. “He and Sarah Ann kindly gave me a lift,” she said, hoping it didn’t sound like she’d been left in the lurch without Sol at Singing.
“Do ya mind if we talk?” he asked. He’d worn his nice black trousers and suspenders, rolling up the long sleeves of his white shirt.
“We can go round to the back and sit.”
Sol carried the lantern as they walked to that part of the porch. Ellie was glad he’d brought it. Except for the dim light from the kitchen, it was as black as pitch outside.
“Let’s sit in the glider,” Sol said. “Okay with you?”
“Sure.” She was so happy to see him . . . and to share the glider, too.
They got settled with her sitting on his right so he could hear better, and she realized they were as close as if they’d gone riding in his courting carriage.
“I should tell ya why I didn’t go to Singing tonight,” he said as they gently moved back and forth.
She tensed up a little. “Jah?”
“I spent some time tryin’ to hitch my horse to the buggy this afternoon with just my left hand, but it didn’t go too well. And it’s too soon to try an’ use my right hand—another ten days or so.” He paused. “I figured if I couldn’t hitch up my own horse, it wouldn’t be safe to take ya out ridin’.”
“Oh, Sol,” she said, moved. And to think she’d fretted about why he hadn’t come to Singing.
“Dat offered to help hitch up, but in the end he understood why I needed to do it myself and agreed that it wouldn’t even be safe to hold the driving lines.”
“I understand.” She couldn’t have been prouder of how hard he was working, and talking with him like this, she had no regrets at all about not being out for a ride.
“I’ll keep my hand wrapped and in the splint till it’s healed.”
“Well, if need be, I’ll help ya hitch up next time.” She paused. “I mean it.”
“Are ya gonna drive us, too?” He laughed softly.
“I would, if ya didn’t mind.”
“I’d mind, all right.”
Now she was laughing.
“Goodness, you’re not like any girl I know,” he said, glancing at her in the soft, golden lantern light.
She shrugged, embarrassed. Had she overstated her caring, saying she’d hitch up for him . . . even drive his buggy? She remembered what Dat said on the way to Singing tonight, about putting the other person first in a relationship.
“So I guess our first official buggy date will have to wait,” Sol said, his eyes still on her. “But I’m mighty happy you wanna be my girl, Ellie . . . if you’re really sure. I want ya to know what you’re getting into.”
“I haven’t changed my mind.” She held his gaze there in the lantern light.
Sol nodded, seemingly relieved. “So next Singing, I want us to be out in my courtin’ buggy for all die Youngie to see.”
She felt so warm and contented hearing this.
“But if that Singing is held somewhere too far to walk home and my hand still isn’t healed enough,” Sol said, “we could skip goin’, and I could come down here to visit. How’d that be?”
“I wouldn’t mind that. We could walk in the orchard—where we first got to know each other.”
“Where God brought us together,” he said, leaning closer.
“True,” she whispered.
“By then, the moon’ll be out, hopefully . . . and lots brighter.”
“We don’t have to think too far ahead,” she replied. “Your hand could improve a lot in two weeks . . . and your hearing.” She recalled what Dawdi Hezekiah said about things taking time to heal.
“I knew you were real special when we first started talking,” he said. “The way you stopped to chat with the orchard crew . . . and the love ya have for Evan even though he’s gone against everything the People believe in. And Leah, too—you never said an unkind word about her when she up and left so suddenly.”
“You seemed to understand how hard that was for me . . . what I was feelin’.”
He was quiet for a time, the glider gradually slowing. “Seems to me like we’ve practically been a couple for a while already.”
She nodded. “We’ve had something big in common, each of us missin’ a sibling.”
Over the last year, Sol had expressed so many of the same things she’d been feeling and struggling with. And now, here they were talking like a pair who’d known each other for a long time—which, of course, they had.
“Then when I was injured, I worried that I could never tell ya how I felt, and that I’d spent time dating someone I didn’t care for like I care for you.” He stopped talking for a moment, and she could hear him breathing. “It wondered me if I’d missed my chance to date ya, Ellie.”
They were silent for a moment or two, surrounded by the night sounds she so loved. “Nothin’ changed for me after you were hurt, Sol. Nothin’ at all . . . except I realized how much I care for you.”
“I like the sound of that,” he replied, his eyes shining.
When Sol left to cut through the meadow and their neighbor’s cornfield toward home, Ellie watched from her window high in the eaves, keeping her eyes on the bobbing yellow light of his lantern until it was no longer visible.
31
Ellie could scarcely wait to tell Leah what was happening with her and Sol. It’s the best feeling ever, she wrote in a letter before the sun rose the next morning. I dreamed the happiest dreams all night long!
The days continued to warm, the rains came, and the new semi-dwarf apple trees thrived. Prior to that planting, the acre had been resting, covered with sorghum-Sudan grass, then plowed to nourish the quality of the soil and prevent disease. Since they’d stopped bearing fruit, some of the old trees Dawdi Hezekiah had named years ago had been removed, and it had been hard to bid them farewell—especially the one he called Methuselah.
Meanwhile, the orchard workers mowed the grass between the many rows of trees with the horse-drawn mower, a constant chore to keep pests from invading the low-growing branches. It wasn’t something Sol could readily do with one hand just yet, though.
Ellie had started to occasionally work with her father in the barn office, helping take inventory of the harvesting tools and the right containers needed for the coming peach harvest in early July. They’d also discussed the fruit supply and the hoped-for demand for the next five years.
With some regular customers still backing away—likely due to Evan’s going to war—Dat had seemed concerned about the profitability of the orchard. “Those new clients you contacted came along just in time,” he told her. “Denki.”
“Whatever I can do,” she replied, grateful to be included. “I only wish all our Plain customers would realize that we’re the exact same people we were before Evan left.”
Dat gave her a smile. “Time will tell.”
“And I’ll keep makin’ new contacts for the future.”
Driving rain pelted the ground as Ellie ran out to get the mail in her raincoat and hat. Mamm had said she had the supper-making under control and to go ahead and make a dash for it.
On the way back, she noticed the column of woodsmoke billowing up from the chimney, then made her way around to the back of the porch, where she stood searching through the stack of mail for a letter from Evan. Instead, Leah had written, and Ellie quickly settled onto the glider to read her letter. Considering all the time she and Sol sat there talking privately these days, recently watching the sunset and enjoying every minute, she thought the glider had become one of the best investments Dat ever made. “Our courting spot,” Sol had referred to it.
Smiling at that, Ellie began to read to the sound of pattering rain.
Dear Ellie,
How are you? Still smiling-happy?
I could tell by your last letter how pleased you are to be courted by Sol. It was the dearest thing to hear . . . and one of my secret desires, too, for you to become my sister-in-law someday!
I’m thrilled for Sol as well—two precious people have found each other. I couldn’t be more excited. (I’ll be writing to him right after I finish this letter.)
And in case you wondered, things are going along nicely between Reuben and me.
Ellie smiled at Leah’s response, then read on and learned more about Bobby and his little twin sisters. All three of them had been asking Leah where she went off to on Preaching Sundays, dressed in her royal blue dress and white cape and apron. Their mother, Carolyn, seemed ferhoodled, not knowing how to answer when Bobby wanted to know why they didn’t go to Preaching, too.
Ellie caught herself nodding, thinking back on what Dawdi Hezekiah had said some time ago—how Leah’s influence on young Bobby might just change the little fellow’s life. As hard as it had been not having Leah around, Ellie could see that good things were happening because of her willingness to work there.
Leah also mentioned Evan in her letter, saying she was committed to praying morning and evening for his safety. The more who are praying, the better, Ellie thought, finishing the letter and eager to show it to Sol when she saw him next.
Thankfully, a longed-for letter from Evan arrived in June.
I hope you don’t think I’ve forgotten you, sister! he’d written. The monsoons keep me from writing often, so please share this letter with Mamm and Dat. It’ll rain cats and dogs practically around the clock till September, I’ve heard from guys who’ve been here long enough to know. Not sure I’ll ever get used to that.
But I wanted you to know I’m safe for today.
The letter continued, inquiring about the family, but it was shorter than usual. Even so, it’s a relief to hear from him, Ellie thought.
The month of August, just as sweltering and oppressive as July had been, was demanding, especially during “the overlap,” when the tail end of the peach harvest coincided with the beginning of the apple harvest.
Ellie looked forward to seeing Sol at the house on weekend evenings. They took long walks together through the orchard, occasionally with Dawdi Hezekiah and sometimes with Shadow, too. Oh, how she lived for Sol’s wonderful visits.
