Chapter 1.
Amy watched Olive drive her buggy away. She turned and kicked a stone with her black boots as she walked toward her house. It wasn’t a good thing for an Amish girl to be approaching twenty with no man on the horizon, something her parents reminded her of almost daily. Being the eldest in a family of six girls increased the pressure on her to find a man.
Her four friends had found men. What was it about her that she was the only one who remained single? For one thing, she was the one whose parents pressured her to be married, and day after day she bore the burden.
Olive and Amy had been with their girlfriends for their usual Saturday get-together at the coffee shop in town. On the way home, all Olive talked about was her upcoming wedding, quite unaware that Amy wanted to talk about anything but. Amy told Olive to let her out way before her house and said she’d walk the rest of the way. She would surely scream if she had to hear more of marriages. For the first time, Amy was the odd one out amongst her friends.
As she moved closer to the house, she heard her sisters before she saw them. When she turned onto the driveway, she saw them playing baseball in the field. It was a new game for them and they played it whenever they could.
“Amy.”
Amy looked up from kicking another stone to see Martha running toward her.
When Martha reached her, she said, “I don’t know why you never take me to town. I’m nearly the same age as you and I love coffee.”
“You’re not nearly the same age; you’re two years younger. Besides, they’re my friends, and they don’t bring anyone else. Why should I be any different?”
Martha wrinkled her freckled nose and looked over her shoulder at the other girls who were still playing. She turned back to Amy. “I heard Mamm and Dat talking about you last night.”
Amy stopped still. “Me?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“What did they say?”
“It was something about a letter. They got a letter from someone, and then I heard them say you should go.”
Amy tugged on her sister’s arm. “Go where.”
“Ow.” Martha rubbed her arm.
“Tell me.”
“I don’t know.”
“Think, Martha, think.” Amy slouched to look directly into Martha’s green eyes.
Martha’s gaze rose to the sky. “It was something about sending you to marry someone.”
Amy reeled back and her hands flew to her mouth. “Nee, it can’t be.”
Martha leaned forward. “Mamm didn’t want you to go, but Dat said there are no men here your age, and if you don’t marry someone soon you’ll be alone like Marie Byler.”
Amy rubbed her chin. Most people were too scared to even speak to Marie Byler. She found something wrong with everything. “They can’t send me somewhere, can they? And who is it that they think I should marry? Do they even know him?”
“I don’t know, but Amy, you can’t tell ‘em I told you. I’ll be punished for eavesdropping.”
Amy looked into her sister’s worried face. “I won’t say anything. I hope you were having a bad dream.”
“Would it be so terrible? They might send you somewhere nice and you’ll meet a wunderbaar man. There’s no reason to think it’ll be awful.”
“Hush, Martha. It’ll be painful. I only know this place; I was born here and I’ll die here. I don’t want to be anywhere else. Besides, all my friends are here. And you wouldn’t want me to go, would you?”
Martha threw her arms around Amy’s waist and held her tight. “Nee, that would be awful. I want us to stay together forever.”
Amy patted Martha on her back. “Gut. Now you tell that to Mamm and Dat if they try to send me away. I’m sure you were dreaming. Did you hear it at night?”
Martha nodded and took a step back.
“See? Just a bad dream.”
Amy’s four young sisters ran to her giggling loudly.
Amy sputtered to Martha before the other girls could hear. “You haven’t mentioned this to anyone, have you?”
“Nee.”
“Gut, then don’t.”
Amy stayed outside with the girls for a while before she went into the house to help with the dinner. While she stood with her mudder cutting the vegetables, Amy noticed she was unusually quiet. “Is anything wrong, Mamm?”
Her mudder shook her head and didn’t look at her.
Amy placed the knife on the wooden cutting board. “What is it, Mamm?” She could see her mudder close her lips together, and then screw up her face.
She looked at Amy with tears in her eyes. “I’ll let your vadder tell you.”
Amy tilted her head. Her heart nearly stopped. Maybe Martha was right. “Tell me what?”
Her mudder looked away, but not before Amy saw that a tear had trickled down her cheek. She was not going to get any words out of her mother, that was for certain. Amy left the vegetables and went to look for her father. Just as she stepped out of the house, she saw his buggy stop outside the barn. As she drew closer, she heard her sisters talking excitedly to their father.
Amy strode toward him, determined to get answers. “Girls, Mamm wants to see you right now. Leave Dat alone. Go help with dinner.”
The girls obeyed and went inside the haus.
“I’ve never heard you speak to them with anger before, Amy.”
Amy rubbed her temples. “Mamm said you had something to tell me. She looked upset.”
“Ah.”
“Well, what is it?” Amy’s body tensed as she waited for an answer.
Her father walked over to his horse and patted him on his neck. “I’ll fix you in a minute, boy.” He looked toward the house, and then said to Amy, “Let’s find somewhere quiet to sit.” They walked into the barn and sat on wooden boxes.
Amy’s vadder took off his hat and rubbed his head. “It’s not been easy for us with six girls. I’ve had to sell half the farm because we don’t have a son to help out.”
Amy frowned. How was it her fault she wasn’t a boy? This wasn’t the first time she’d heard her parents’ preference for sons.
“That aside, your mudder and I are concerned that some of your friends have turned to Englisch boys.”
“Nee, that was only Claire, and Donovan said he might join us.”
“Jah, but ‘might’ is a long way from making a decision. Olive Hesh is another one.”
“Jah, but you know that Blake and Olive are getting married. Blake is getting baptized soon.”
“It turned out that way, but what would Olive have done if Blake had changed his mind about joining us? Do you think that she wouldn’t have followed him right out of the community and into the outside world?”
Amy shrugged her shoulders keeping quiet, knowing Olive would’ve most likely followed Blake anywhere; she wasn’t going to admit that to her father.
“I’ve written to a bishop from another Amish settlement. He has a bruder who needs a fraa.” Her father’s face flushed red and even the tips of his ears went red.
“And what does that have to do with me? There would be a lot of menner who need fraas.”
When her father frowned, she knew her comment bordered on cheeky, so she looked away fearing a reprimand.
His bottom jaw flexed. “You need a husband. You haven’t found one by yourself and you’ll soon be twenty.”
Amy straightened and pulled her shoulders back. “That’s not so old. It doesn’t matter. I’ve got my maid job. I’m saving money to support myself.”
“I’m a deacon, Amy. It’s important my familye sets an example for others to follow. One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
“I’m a bad example because I’m not married? Dat, there are a great many bad things I could be doing, and I don’t think being unmarried is one of them.”
“I’m not giving you my opinion alone, Amy. The Bible warns us to be careful who our friends are. Look what your friends have done. They’ve been associating with Englischers and looking for husbands among them.”
Amy hung her head and covered her face with her hands. This could not be happening to her. She looked back to her father. “What is it you want me to do? Marry someone I don’t even know?”
“Bishop John from Wisconsin is expecting you next week. You’ll stay with them.”
Amy’s mouth fell open. “I can’t. What about my job?”
“You’ll have to leave it. If you find the bishop’s bruder entirely unsuitable, you don’t have to marry him. You must give him a chance first, and get to know him.”
Amy rubbed her temples. Martha had been right. “What do you know about him?”
“He’s thirty and—”
“Thirty?” Amy shouted. “That’s far too old. Why hasn’t he found a fraa; what’s wrong with him?”
“Possibly the same thing that’s wrong with you.”
Amy clutched at her throat, and her voice rose in pitch. “Jah, but I’m not thirty.” Amy huffed and crossed her arms. “You don’t mean it, do you, Dat?”
“It’s arranged.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And what does Mamm think about it?”
He slowly nodded. “Your mudder and I are always in agreement.”
Amy scowled and looked away. What he meant was her mother had been given no choice but to agree to his plan. Amy had already seen her mother wasn’t in agreement.
“Go inside and help your mudder. We’ll talk later. I have to rub the horse down.”
Once back inside, Amy organized a game in the living room for her sisters so she could talk privately with her mother in the kitchen. She was her only chance of escaping this scheme. “Dat told me about sending me away.”
Her mother nodded and her bottom lip quivered.
“I know it’s Dat’s idea.”
“You do need a husband, Amy.”
“Jah, but Gott can just as easily send one to my door. Why do I have to be packed off to some place I’ve never even heard of? Where was it again?”
“Wisconsin. I hear it’s very nice. It has rivers and fishing and it’s north of here and colder … I think.”
“I don’t like the cold. I hate it. I’ve been longing for the hot weather to return.”
“You don’t have to stay long. Your vadder and I had planned to talk to you about it after dinner when the girls would be in bed. We’ll have no more talk of it now until after dinner.”
Amy nodded and turned her attention to slicing the beans. She’d never been away from home or her family.
