Chapter One
“Well, well, little brother. You got two letters today—and the F inside the heart where the return address should be means they’re from Fannie Lehman, jah?” Vera teased. “What’s your secret?”
Eddie Brubaker looked up from painting the white latticework beneath the front porch of the house. His older sister’s knowing smile made him wish he’d gone out to get the mail before Vera had seen those two pink envelopes. At least she wasn’t the type to secretly steam them open before she handed them over.
“I have no idea,” he insisted. “I thought moving away from Clearwater would make her lose interest—but who knew she’d be at Danny Yoder’s wedding last month? You’d think she would realize I’m not interested when I don’t reply to her letters.”
“How many have you gotten?” Vera teased, raising an eyebrow.
“Who’s your letter from?” Eddie countered quickly when he saw her breaking the seal on a plain white envelope.
“Aunt Minerva. Don’t change the subject, lover-boy.”
As Vera perched on the top step to read Minerva’s letter, Eddie set aside his paintbrush. They razzed each other a lot, but Vera was considerate enough not to blab to the rest of the family when he confided some of his adventures from painting jobs he drove to for a few days at a time. Hopefully she’d keep his problem with Fannie under her kapp, as well—although she had to have noticed all the hearts Fannie had drawn along the two letters’ seals.
Eddie sighed as he tore open one of the letters.
Dear, dear Eddie!!
It’s not the same in Clearwater now that you’ve moved to Bloomingdale. None of the guys around here interest me—they seem so childish that I don’t even want to ride home from Singings with any of them. What would be the point? When I saw your new wagon, outfitted so you could move from one painting job to the next, it seemed even clearer that you’re a man with a purpose. A man with a future!
I really, really wish you’d answer my letters, Eddie. You have no idea how much I miss you—and seeing you at Danny Yoder’s wedding has only made me more aware of what a wonderful man you are and how lucky any girl would be to marry you . . .
Exhaling hard, Eddie stuffed the letter back into its envelope.
It was worse than he’d imagined. He wished he’d never given Fannie a ride in his specially designed wagon after she’d worn him down with her wheedling. She was spinning her happily-ever-after around him even more intently after he’d been foolish enough to follow her behind the Yoders’ barn and share a few playful kisses at Danny’s wedding. Fannie was a cute little blonde, but at seventeen, he was not interested in courting her, let alone marrying her.
He glanced at Vera, who was still engrossed in the long letter from their aunt, Minerva Kurtz. Minerva, her husband, Harley, and his family had moved to Promise Lodge in northern Missouri a couple of years ago, and she served as that community’s midwife as well as their schoolteacher. Minerva—Dat’s sister—always wrote long, newsy letters, so while Vera was engrossed in reading, he opened the second pink envelope from Fannie. He shook his head again at the S.W.A.K. she’d written along the back seal, not to mention the string of X’s and O’s. Didn’t she have anything better to do than write to him every day?
Dear, sweet Eddie,
I still have such vivid memories of kissing you behind the barn at Danny’s wedding. I can’t help having hopeful, romantic thoughts about how fine life would be if we were together. Weddings make you think about how wonderful the world is when you fulfill God’s intentions for men and women . . . me and you, Eddie . . . in that bunk in the back of your wagon.
When will you be in the neighborhood again? It would be so much fun to ride with you—even be your assistant as you go around to your painting jobs—
“Eddie, listen to this! Aunt Minerva wants me to come to Promise Lodge!” Vera said excitedly. “She thinks I could be the new teacher there, and bring my pottery wheel and—”
“Oh jah? What’s she say?” he asked hopefully.
As his sister pushed up her glasses and began to read aloud, Eddie folded Fannie’s second letter back into its envelope and slipped both pink missives down the front of his loose shirt. Maybe Vera would forget to quiz him about their content.
“‘. . . because now that I’m in the family way, I would love to have you here as my mother’s helper, Vera,’” his sister read in a low, clear voice. “‘After losing two previous little souls, I want to do everything possible to birth a healthy, full-term baby this time, so you would also be taking my place as the Promise Lodge schoolteacher when classes resume this fall. Folks here are also open to artistic talent expressed in useful ways, so I bet you could make and sell your pottery pieces in our new bulk store.’”
The lilt in Vera’s voice was music to Eddie’s ears. Vera loved dabbling in pottery, so much that their stepmother, Amanda—who made and sold beautiful sets of handmade dishes—had bought Vera a wheel for her nineteenth birthday. It was no secret, however, that many of their conservative church leaders considered decorative artwork a sinful waste of one’s time, so his sister received little local support for her talent.
Eddie smiled when Vera looked at him. “Promise Lodge sounds like a great place—”
“And maybe I would meet a nice guy there,” she whispered wistfully. “There’s certainly nobody for me here.”
“You’ll meet somebody, Sis. Don’t you worry,” he murmured, squeezing her ankle gently. “God’s got someone wonderful in mind for you. I just know it.”
Vera smiled over the top of the letter she was holding. She was a pretty brunette, tall and slender, and her years of experience with their younger siblings—and running the household after their mamm had died a few years ago—would make her an ideal wife. She wasn’t one to flirt or play up her abilities—
She wouldn’t write letters like Fannie’s in a million years.
“Maybe that’s why girls have always flocked to you, Eddie. You’re a gut listener and very kindhearted,” Vera remarked softly. She smiled as though she’d saved the best part of Aunt Minerva’s letter for last. “Listen to this!” she said as she found her place on the page again.
“‘And if you’d feel better having Eddie come with you, he could find painting jobs in this area—some of them right here at Promise Lodge. We’ve had several couples marry recently and their homes will need to be painted, not to mention the repairs and painting the lodge building requires after a tornado destroyed—’”
Eddie’s eyes widened. God and Minerva Kurtz had come to him in his hour of need with the perfect solution to his problem. “Who are we to argue with Aunt Minerva?” he blurted out. “We’re going to Promise Lodge, Vera, as soon as you’re packed and ready!”
Vera sucked in her breath, staring at him. “Eddie, we haven’t even mentioned this to our parents, or—”
“Dat helped buy my new wagon because he wants me out working, making my way in the world, jah?” Eddie reminded her happily. “You’re nineteen, Vera, ready for a new challenge. And the parents know Minerva and her family will keep an eye on us—her father-in-law’s a preacher at Promise Lodge, after all. We’re outta here!”
