Chapter 1
Cherish and Malachi's daughter Tabitha was having a hard morning, and it had barely started.
The smell of milk clung to Tabitha’s dress as she burst through the kitchen door. Her fingers were numb, her back ached, and that wretched cow Buttercup had stepped on her foot—twice. She scraped her boots on the mat and dropped into her chair at the table where Dat, Josiah, and Ben were already waiting for breakfast.
She groaned loudly. “Why, why, WHY do I have to get up before the sun comes up and milk a million cows every morning? My hands are freezing, my dress smells like a barn, and Buttercup nearly crippled me. Can’t the cousins do it like before? Or I don’t know—hire someone?”
Dat didn’t even blink. “They have their own farm now. You’re old enough to help.”
Mamm set eggs and bread on the table. “Everyone works, dear.”
They bowed their heads for their silent prayers of thanks. As soon as Dat shifted in his chair, she opened her eyes and sprang back into conversation.
“I’m making an announcement. When I’m an adult, I am never milking cows again. I’ll refuse. I’ll run away. I’ll hide in the hayloft—”
Mamm’s lips twitched. “Once you’re an adult, you’ll be married with your own household. Millie Yoder is being courted and she's only a year older than you.”
Tabitha froze, fork halfway to her mouth.
“Wait—so if I get married, I don’t have to milk cows anymore?”
Josiah snorted. “Sure. But good luck finding someone who can survive your nonstop talking. Last singing, you talked through three hymns.”
“Josiah,” Dat warned.
But Tabitha didn’t hear either of them.
“So the only escape from cows is marriage? That’s the deal?”
“It’s not an escape,” Mamm said gently. “Just… different duties. As long as you don’t marry a dairy farmer.”
“Oh, trust me. That’ll never happen.” She shoveled in a bite, thinking fast. “How soon can someone get married? Sixteen? Fifteen and three-quarters?”
“Eat your breakfast,” Mamm said, laughing. “You have years yet.”
But Tabitha was already planning.
After breakfast, everyone went to their rooms to rest, but she rushed to her room and pulled out her secret notebook—the one where she recorded important things.
She flipped to a clean page.
The young men around here were hopeless. Abraham only talked about horses. Daniel picked at his fingernails. The Müller twins were handsome but boring. How was she supposed to fall in love with any of them?
What even was love? Did it hit you like lightning? Did your stomach hurt? Did food suddenly taste awful? She couldn’t imagine that—skipping meals sounded worse than milking.
Her aunts would know. Mamm’s five sisters always told the truth—no sugar-coating, no pretending marriages were perfect. If anyone could explain how a person chose the right husband, it was them.
Decision made, she tucked the notebook away and hurried to the back door.
Mamm was in the kitchen, elbow-deep in dishwater. “Where are you rushing off to?”
“Aunt Mercy’s. I need to see her, and Willa.”
“Wait until after the quilting bee. I’ll come with you.”
“I can’t wait, Mamm. This is urgent.”
“Tabitha—”
But Tabitha was already out the door.
In the barn, she hitched the buggy in record time, her mind racing faster than her hands as she thought of all the questions to ask.
By the time she climbed in, she had seventeen questions ready, starting with How do you know if you love someone? and ending with Is it true Jonas King proposed to three girls before someone finally said yes?
If Aunt Mercy gave her the right answers, today might change her entire life.
