Chapter One
As he tilted his chaise lounge back to stretch out in the afternoon sunshine, Lester Lehman felt like a new man. It was unusually warm for a March day in Missouri, and after spending the winter in his tiny home on the shore of Rainbow Lake, he reveled in the chance to soak up some rays out on his dock. He’d worked hard all morning installing the aluminum siding on the new Dutch bulk store—a wonderful addition to the other businesses of Promise Lodge—and he’d enjoyed a nice lunch in the lodge’s dining room with his friends. And now, nothing was going to stop him from doing absolutely nothing.
It felt downright sinful, being this lazy on a Monday afternoon. The gentle lapping of the lake lulled Lester as he reclined full-length on the mesh chaise. He folded his arms beneath his head and let his mind go blissfully blank.
Out-of-town families would start arriving today to attend his niece Gloria’s wedding on Wednesday as well as Laura Hershberger’s wedding on Thursday, when they married the Helmuth brothers, Cyrus and Jonathan—but for now, Lester could revel in the hush of a solitary sunny afternoon. Living alone in his tidy house all winter had taught him a sense of self-reliance that had cleared his soul—had given him an unencumbered sense of freedom he’d never expected. His bobbing dock rocked him like a cradle. He felt far, far removed from the grief and despair that had followed the loss of his wife, his son, and his brother last spring, and as Lester eased into a state of semi-sleep, he knew the true meaning of inner peace.
At long last, all was well with his life. With the help of his family and friends here at Promise Lodge, he was moving forward . . . floating on the fluffy clouds of a nap . . .
“Yoo-hoo! Lester, honey! Thanks to Delores, I’ve found you!”
Lester jerked awake. Whose voice was that? nd why had she implied that his dear, deceased wife had led her here?
When he opened one eye, he saw a pudgy little woman starting across the expanse of grass that surrounded Rainbow Lake. Her brown cape dress fluttered around her thick legs as she hurried toward him. Clutching her kapp with one hand to keep it from flying off her head, Lester’s uninvited guest appeared so excited—and in such a state of overexertion—that he feared she might be bringing on a heart attack. He remained absolutely still, hoping she’d believe he was asleep.
“My stars, here you are at long last!” she blurted out, huffing between phrases. “I’ve ridden all the way from Sugarcreek—for Gloria’s wedding—because with my Harvey gone—Delores has been telling me—for quite some time now—that she wants me to take care of you, Lester! So here I am! Because I know better than to—to ignore heavenly guidance.”
Lester sighed. Agnes Plank, his wife’s best friend, had never known the meaning of silence. She barely drew a breath at the end of one sentence before she shot headlong into her next burst of words. There would be no ignoring her now that she’d almost reached his dock, so Lester reluctantly raised the back of his chaise. All hope for a nap was gone. He felt a headache prickling around his temples.
“I’ve been so excited since our bus arrived about half an hour ago! I looked around, but I didn’t see you anywhere,” Agnes continued as she struggled to catch her breath. “It was such an adventure to come all the way from Ohio—I’ve never been to Missouri before—and our friends are so pleased that Gloria’s found herself a young man to settle down with—and it’s such a joy to attend not one but two weddings while I’m here. All that food and visiting time and—and doesn’t the sense of springtime romance in the air make you feel like you could start all over again, Lester? Don’t you just love weddings?”
I was indeed looking forward to these weddings—until a few moments ago.
“Of course, ever since you Lehmans moved here, I’ve been following Promise Lodge’s weekly reports in the Budget,” Agnes went on as she peered at the land and buildings around them. “I was so tickled when Gloria took over as your district’s scribe and—well, she’s so descriptive, but I had no idea what a lovely settlement you’d come to. And of course, you and your brother, Floyd—God rest his soul—installed the windows and siding on these new homes, and with everything except the lodge building being only a couple years old, it seems like the perfect place to start fresh!
“Before that terrible traffic accident took Delores away from us,” Agnes continued with a brief frown, “all she talked about was coming here to live in the fine new home you’d built for her. Lately she’s been telling me how lonely you’ve been, Lester, and—well, you know me, I just have to help people. The way I see it, Gloria’s wedding is a heaven-sent opportunity.”
Fully awake now, Lester swung his feet to the dock. When he could get a word in edgewise, he needed to deflate Agnes’s high-flying hopes in a hurry, because in her vivid imagination, she was already standing before the bishop with him, repeating her wedding vows. As he opened his mouth to speak, however, another urgent female voice hailed him.
“Lester! Lester Lehman, it’s me—your Elverta! I read about Gloria’s wedding in the paper, so it seemed like the perfect reason to come and see you!”
Lester moaned. His sense of freedom, peace, and unencumbered living had just hit another serious snag.
As the national newspaper for Plain communities, the Budget was a wonderful way to keep track of far-flung friends and kin, but he suddenly wished that Gloria—and Rosetta Wickey, their community’s original scribe—hadn’t been quite so descriptive in detailing the Lehman family’s relocation. The tiny town of Promise, Missouri was out in the middle of nowhere, yet Agnes and Elverta had apparently followed every line of the newspaper’s weekly reports right to his doorstep.
As Elverta Horst, dressed in deep green, strode toward his dock, her tall, skinny, ramrod-straight body reminded Lester of a string bean. He knew better than to express that opinion, of course, because the woman he’d broken up with to begin courting his Delores had never been known for her sense of humor.
“Wh-who’s this?” Agnes asked him under her breath.
Never one to beat around the bush, Elverta stopped a few yards from the dock. She glanced at Lester before focusing on the flustered woman beside him. “And who might you be?” she demanded with a raised eyebrow.
Lester answered as indirectly as possible, because he knew these women would soon find out every little thing about one another. “Elverta, this is Delores’s best friend, Agnes Plank. She lives down the road from our former home in Sugarcreek,” he explained hastily. “And Agnes, this is Elverta Horst—”
“And I was engaged to Lester before he took up with Delores,” Elverta put in purposefully. “First loves are often the strongest, ain’t so? The flame may flicker through the years, but it never really goes out.”
Immediately Elverta turned to take in the house, pointing her finger. “And what’s this? A storage shed for equipment you folks use on the lake?”
“It’s a tiny house,” Lester informed her. He was accustomed to folks joking about the size of his place, but he suddenly wished he could lock himself inside it until these women went away. “I live here. And I happen to like it just fine.”
“My word, Lester, you might as well live in a blue boxcar,” Elverta shot back.
“But what about the house you built for Delores?” Agnes asked with a puzzled frown. “She described it as having two stories—like a normal place—and said you and Floyd had installed the windows and siding—”
“You’re being funny, right?” Elverta demanded. “Teasing us while you figure out how to send Agnes away so you and I can take up where we left off.”
Lester’s headache was throbbing full throttle now. “Jah, I built a house just up the hill from here,” he explained with a sigh, “and in November I sold it to a couple who needed a place before cold weather set in. The young man who lives just up the hill behind us earns his living building these tiny homes, so he’s letting me stay in this one—”
“I’ll be staying in the lodge,” Agnes put in with an eager smile. “My rent’s paid up for long enough that you could build us another home—”
“I’ve got an apartment, too,” Elverta interrupted triumphantly. “But the lodge is just for unattached women, so I won’t be living there very long. Lester and I go way back, Agnes. You might as well—”
“Puh!” Agnes spat. “I’ll have you know that Delores has been guiding me here for quite some time now, assuring me that I’m destined to take her place. Why do I suspect you’re a maidel, Elverta, without any experience at being a wife and—and a lover?”
Lester nearly choked as his cheeks went hot, but Elverta wasn’t deterred for a second.
“Why would Lester want another man’s leavings? Let alone a confused, befuddled woman who claims she’s getting advice from his deceased wife?” she asked with a scowl. “If folks get wind that you’re hearing voices from beyond the grave, they’ll likely have you committed to the loony bin.”
Agatha sucked in her breath, which puffed her up like a toad. “You have no right to say that about Delores—my very best friend! I bet she’ll find ways to stall you and block your intentions—”
“Oh, if anybody’s blocking me it’ll be you,” Elverta spouted. “But not for long!”
As they moved toward each other, Lester stepped between them with his arms extended. “Whoa! Hold it right there,” he said, looking from one woman to the other. “I’m telling you both right now that I’m not hitching up with either one of you! So instead of having a cat fight you can just head on back to the lodge—and after the weddings, you might as well get back on your buses to Ohio. Save us all a lot of embarrassment and bad feelings, will you?”
“I have nothing to be embarrassed about!” Elverta declared. “And I’m not leaving until she does!”
“Well, I’m not going anywhere until Lester makes his choice, right here and now!” Agnes blurted out as she stomped her foot. “I was here first, after all.”
“But I’ve known Lester since we were scholars back in the early grades of—”
“Start walking,” Lester said, pointing toward the lodge. “And don’t think you’re going to pester me about this tomorrow, because I’ll be at my job site working. Let’s go.”
As he strode toward the timbered structure across the road, Lester couldn’t recall when he’d ever felt so flustered. Not five minutes after these two women had arrived, they’d gone for each other’s throats—over him. All he wanted was to get Agnes and Elverta out of his sight so he could enlist help from his friends and send the two women packing as fast as possible.
Approaching the lodge’s steps, Lester saw that a couple of big buses were parked over in the Helmuth Nursery’s lot—and folks were still getting out of them, claiming their suitcases. Agnes and Elverta must’ve been in such a toot that they’d each rushed to the lodge and inquired about where he lived, and then hurried over before they’d even unpacked. When he glanced back at them, the rivals were a distance behind him, focused on him rather than looking at each other. Even so, they appeared ready to spit nails.
Lester entered the lodge and headed straight for the kitchen, hoping to explain his situation before Agnes or Elverta got the facts twisted. Aromas of sugar, cinnamon, and roasting chickens filled the air, and as he passed through the large dining room he saw that the tables were set to serve dinner to several wedding guests who’d be staying in the extra rooms upstairs as well as in the cabins behind the lodge and with residents who owned homes. He was relieved to see Ruby and Beulah Kuhn, maidel sisters who lived at the lodge, as well as Rosetta Wickey, who owned the building.
“Ladies, I’ve got a real problem,” Lester blurted when they looked up from the pies they were putting together. “The two gals who’re following me have both come to Promise Lodge thinking I’m going to marry them—”
“At the same time?” Beulah teased. “Ooh, la la!”
“Why, Lester, you amaze me,” Ruby put in with a catlike smile. “Maybe I should put my hat in the ring.”
He shook his head. These good-natured Mennonite ladies had become his close friends over the past year—and his situation did sound too funny to be true. Almost.
“No matter what they tell you—or what information they try to pry out of you, to gain the upper hand—I do not want to hitch up with either one of them,” Lester insisted. “They’ve already worn out their welcome, and we still have two days of weddings to get through—and they’re planning to stay until one of them wins. Just so you’ll know.”
Out in the lobby, the sound of the front door opening warned him that Agnes and Elverta had arrived.
“I’m out of here,” he said, winding his way between the worktables and counters. The lodge kitchen had once been the hub of a church camp, so the industrial-sized ovens, sinks, and refrigerators required a lot of space. “If I think about possible solutions—and if you gals put your heads together—surely we’ll figure out a way to settle this. Please? See you later.”
Lester ducked through the adjoining mudroom and past another big freezer before exiting through the back door. He’d escaped this initial encounter, but neither Elverta nor Agnes would give up easily.
So much for those peaceful, easy feelings and catching the sunshine. Might as well put in another couple hours at the bulk store and work off my frustrations where those biddies can’t find me.
And Delores, I’m not saying you got me into this fix, but if you could help me out of it, I’d be forever grateful, honey. Nobody could ever love me the way you did. I miss you so much.
