Chapter 1.
Cherish was feeding her dog outside when she looked up and saw Ada and Samuel approaching the house in their buggy. It was so early in the morning that she was surprised to see them. Hoping Matthew would be with them, she walked over.
Ada stepped down from the buggy. Then she pulled out a box from the back.
Matthew wasn’t with them. “Hello. Where’s Matthew?”
“He’s working at Mark’s saddlery store today.”
“That’s right. I forgot he was doing that.”
Ada smiled at the box in her hands and then looked up at Cherish. “I brought chocolate cake and those chocolate cookies you love.”
That made up for Matthew not being there. “Thank you.”
Ada started walking to the house. “Simon left yesterday. I suppose you know that.”
“He left?”
Ada nodded.
“Left for home?” Cherish asked.
“Yes.” Ada stopped walking when Levi passed them and said hello. Then he got into the buggy and left with Samuel.
Cherish just stood there, staring at Ada.
“So he didn’t tell you?” Ada asked.
Cherish shook her head. “No.”
“I thought you and Simon were closer than that. I must’ve been mistaken.” Ada left her and walked into the house.
Cherish was frozen to the spot. She had hoped Simon would come and say goodbye and then they’d plan something for when she went to her farm since he lived close by. What was the point? He clearly wasn’t interested. Now Ada knew it too. Cherish could see it in her eyes the way she'd stared at her just now.
Bliss came out of the house. “Hey, Cherish, Mamm wants to know…”
“I’ll be back later. I forgot to do something.” Cherish ran into the orchard and when she was far enough away from the house, she slumped to the ground and allowed some tears to escape her eyes and fall down her cheeks. She hated being weak and crying was weak, but she couldn’t stop.
The orchard was so barren and lifeless in the winter. The rows of leafless, tangled branches reaching up to a cold, gray sky emanated a certain eeriness. The frozen ground also did nothing to lift her mood.
It was such a shock that Simon had left without telling her. He’d said he’d stayed longer than he had meant to and she thought that was for her. Maybe he’d stayed for some other reason. Just when she’d started to see a future for herself, she’d fallen flat on her face. Was this a sign that nothing in her life would run smoothly?
Then her mind started to wander as she looked up at the clouds. What had ever gone right for her?
Dat had died and then her oldest sister, Florence, who was like a second mother, abandoned her whole family to marry an outsider. Then she got close to Aunt Dagmar and then she died too. Cherish sobbed at all the people who’d left her. It didn’t matter that Dat and Aunt Dagmar couldn’t help dying, the pain was just the same as if they’d walked out the door and kept going.
Simon leaving without a word felt just like all the other disappointments she’d suffered.
“Cherish, what’s wrong?”
Cherish scrambled to her feet, wiping her eyes when she saw Bliss had found her. She didn’t want her or anyone else to see her crying on the ground. “I’m okay.”
“It doesn’t look like it. What’s upset you?”
Cherish brushed down her dress with her hands. She trusted that she could tell Bliss the truth. After all, Bliss was no stranger to life’s cruel disappointments. “I’m just upset that Simon left and he didn’t even say goodbye.”
Bliss produced a letter from beneath her black coat. “Maybe he did.”
Cherish stared at the envelope in her stepsister’s hand. It didn’t even have a stamp. It simply said, ‘Cherish.’ “Is that from…?”
“Yes. I got it from the letter box just now. I was hoping Adam might have written a note explaining his feelings and telling me why he doesn’t want anything to do with me. There was something there, but it wasn’t for me and it wasn’t from Adam. It has Cherish written on the front and on the back it’s got Simon. He must have put it in there himself. It’s not been sent through the postal service.”
Cherish sniffed. “It’s really from him?”
“Yes. I guess so, unless you know any other Simon?”
“I wonder why he did this.” Cherish started feeling a little better. He’d left, but he was thinking about her.
“Open the letter and find out. I’ll be back at the house if you want to talk.”
“No, stay in case it’s bad news.” Cherish couldn’t take her eyes off the envelope. “No, go. I’ll be okay. No, stay.”
Bliss smiled. “Am I going or staying?”
“You go. If it’s bad news, you’ll hear me screaming and you can come back.”
“I’ve got a feeling it’ll be good news.”
“Really?”
Bliss nodded.
“Did you read it already?” Cherish asked.
The smile left Bliss’s face. “Of course not. I’d never do anything like that.”
“Okay. Sorry. I didn’t mean to say you would.”
Cherish watched Bliss walk away. She was sad for Bliss, how she checked the letter box, hoping to hear from Adam. It didn’t make sense that Adam would leave her a note, but it seemed Bliss was grasping onto any, even the smallest, hopes.
