Missing Florence (LARGE PRINT PAPERBACK)

Chapter 1.
Florence placed the framed photo on the mantle over the fireplace, and then stepped back to admire it. It was comforting to have this tiny piece of the mother she barely remembered. 
In the fading, late-afternoon light in the living room of the little cottage she shared with her husband, she moved closer to examine every feature of her mother’s face. The full lips, just like her own, were curved upward, but was that sadness in those eyes? 
Oh Eleanor, if only you could talk to me! And, who had taken the photo? Florence had learned her mother had a rocky time when she was a teenager and from what she’d learned from Betty, Eleanor probably hadn't been happy until she met Dat. 
Betty, the biological grandmother she’d just met, seemed nice, so part of her mother's childhood must’ve been good. Before it fell apart.
How funny life is. 
If her mother’s life hadn’t taken a turn for the worse, causing her to run away, she probably would’ve never met Florence’s father and never joined the Amish community.
It was all meant to be, right from the start. Gott’s will. Florence had to believe that He was in charge and that He had a plan.
Death was so final. 
All their lives had changed so drastically when her father had left them to go home to God. He had been a calming and sensible presence in their lives. Her half-sisters had been so well behaved back then. Just one look from their father was enough to make them pause and think about their words and their actions. 
It gave her a sense of contentment knowing that her parents had been very much in love. They had to have been if her mother had joined the community to be with him. He would’ve been the calming and grounded influence she so needed, given her tumultuous past. 
On the drive home from seeing her grandmother hours before, she’d called Earl at his place of work and told him she’d met Betty. Then Carter had driven her to Mark’s house, and she told him about meeting their grandmother and showed him the photographs of their mother. His memories too would’ve been hazy. Even though her two older brothers hadn’t seemed curious about their mother, they certainly were interested to learn everything she’d found out. Since Earl lived in Ohio, he said he’d see the photos of their mother when he came over in December for their half-sister Joy’s wedding. 
Would she be welcome at Joy’s wedding? She couldn’t go unless someone from the family invited her. If Joy or one of the girls asked her to go, she would still have to be sure that Wilma, her stepmother agreed to having her there. 
Of course, if she did go to the wedding it would be awkward seeing the bishop and the oversight there given that she’d left to marry Carter with no word to them, or anyone. But she’d never officially joined the community—she had taken no instructions and had no baptism. 
Carter walked up behind her causing her to jump. “Ah, it looks good there.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” she said smiling at her mother’s image and then her husband.
He nodded. “Why don’t you take Spot for a walk and I’ll start on the dinner?”
“Okay. C’mon, Spot.” Spot jumped off the couch as soon as Florence took the leash off the peg by the door. 
Carter had taken up cooking and he knew how Florence liked to wander around their property in the evening, just as she once walked around her apple orchard next door. 
Once she had fastened the leash to Spot's collar, she pulled on her coat, scarf and hat to keep out the cold. Then she clipped Spot’s dark blue dog coat on him, fastening the buckle at the front. Being a shorthaired dog, he felt the cold. 
There wasn’t much daylight left and the cool wind had picked up and swept about them. Florence didn’t mind the cooler weather. In winter when the freezing weather was nearly unbearable she always reminded herself that the apple trees needed a good cold snap to produce the best fruit.
Even though she could no longer walk through rows of apple trees, she walked over the property she and Carter owned, visualizing what it would be like once their own trees were planted into rows. When the trees matured, their beautiful blooms would fill the air with fragrance. The ground had already been tested and now drainage had to be dug. Sadly, nothing would happen in the orchard for a couple of years since proper and extensive preparation was essential to having healthy and productive trees. 
That made it all the more gut wrenching to see the mature apple trees in Wilma’s orchard next door—the orchard that would always be her father’s. If she’d had her own baby trees, she could’ve concentrated on them. But she didn’t. And it made that annoyance over Wilma’s attitude toward her gnaw at her heart. 
She knew that even the bishop would’ve been fine with her managing the orchard. If he wasn’t, she would’ve accepted that, but Wilma never even bothered to ask, pushing her aside at the first opportunity. And it was a slap across her face to have Wilma put Levi in charge of the orchard since he knew nothing about running an orchard and probably even less than nothing about running a business.
Pulling her thoughts back to her own land, she consoled herself by concentrating on the fact that her relationship with Carter would grow along with their trees, once they were planted. And, if God willed it, they’d soon have a family of their own. She looked up at the rapidly darkening sky and wondered what Wilma and the girls were doing right now.  Did they miss her? Were they coping without her?
Looking back at Wilma’s orchard, she had a funny feeling deep down that it would be hers again one day. God would hear her prayers. 

* * *

Meanwhile, next door at the Baker home …
“It’s not too late to change things and have them on the same day.”
Joy was tired of having this same conversation with her mother. They’d talked about it nearly every day for the past seemingly endless weeks. Even though Joy didn’t like arguing in front of Isaac, she had to have things her way since it was her wedding—one of the most important days of her life. “I know it would be more practical to have both weddings on the same day, but don’t you see that as a young girl …” Joy stopped and inhaled deeply, reminding herself to talk calmly. “As a young woman, I want to have a wedding where it’s just me and Isaac getting married, okay?” 
“You’re being selfish.  Don’t you understand we’re not made of money? Those are apples growing on the trees outside not big wads of cash.”
“There’s nothing growing on the trees at the moment,” Favor blurted out.
Mamm glared at her, and then stood up from the dinner table to pass Isaac more of the thinly sliced roast beef. “You don’t mind do you, Isaac?”
“I don’t mind when or where I marry Joy as long as I do.”  He smiled across at Joy as though he was saying the right thing and then his face lit up further when he looked down at all the meat Mamm was piling onto his plate. 
Once she was done, she sat back down and passed him the jug of gravy. Joy wanted to scream.  Her mother was working on her husband-to-be through his stomach, and Isaac loved his food. Didn’t he see what Mamm was doing?
“Denke, Wilma.” Isaac said.
Wilma was making an extra effort to be nice. “Would you like me to pour it?”
“Okay.” 
“Say when. Have as much as you like, Isaac.” Mamm’s voice dripped with honey sweetness.
“When,” said Isaac, still grinning.
Wilma chortled, and then placed the gravy jug back on the table without asking whether anyone else wanted any. 
Inside, Joy wanted to scream like Cherish often did, then storm away from the table. She exerted all the self-control she could muster. “It’s already been decided anyway, so what good is there talking about it? The dates have been arranged. You and Levi are getting married on the fifteenth and I’m getting married days before that.”
“When you marry Levi, do we have to call him Dat?” asked Favor.
“Of course not, stupid. Is he your vadder?” Cherish asked in a voice full of sarcasm.  Then she added, “Call him Mr. Brunner.” Cherish covered her mouth and giggled. 
Mamm ignored her two youngest daughters, and spoke to Joy. “We’re a few months out and the dates can easily be changed before we let all our friends know. You just heard Isaac say he doesn’t mind. The wedding day will not be as good as you’re probably imagining it to be. It’s just one day and then it’s over and then you have the rest of your life to be a fraa to Isaac. The day will fade into a memory.”
“Jah, Mamm, a memory she wants to recall,” said Hope, who was obviously trying to help out her older sister. 
Joy gave a grateful nod to Hope. “Denke, Hope. See, even she understands?”
While Mamm glared at Hope, Isaac said, “We could consider what your mudder is saying, Joy. It’s an expensive day and the two rolled into one will halve the cost.”
Joy couldn’t believe her ears. The very person who should’ve been backing her the strongest had betrayed her.
“It would be exciting to have a double wedding,” Favor said.
Now Favor was against her. “You think so, Favor?” Joy asked. With Florence and her other two older sisters married and out of the house, there were fewer people left to be on her side whenever there was a disagreement.
Favor nodded. “Jah, I do.”
“Wunderbaar! Problem solved. Mamm and Mr. Brunner can wait until you get married and have their wedding on the same day as you. You can have a double wedding with Mamm.”
“I would love that.” Favor looked hopefully at her mother. “Will you wait, Mamm?”
“Don’t be silly. Of course, I won’t wait. Levi is planning things right now so he and Bliss can move in here in December the night of the wedding.” Mamm shook her head and pushed her dinner plate away from her. “You girls will be the death of me one day.”
Joy looked at Isaac for support, but he kept quiet. When he finally spoke, she wished he hadn’t. “We can at least think about what your mudder’s saying, couldn’t we, Joy? Compromise a little?” He pushed his fork into the meat and then wiped it into the gravy and then he stared at her waiting for a response. When she didn’t respond right away, he popped the portion of meat into his mouth.
Joy pouted at Isaac to let him see how she felt. Didn’t he know that he was supposed to be supporting her even if he didn’t agree? That’s what a good husband would do or even a good husband-to-be.
“Agh, let Joy have the day to herself, Mamm.”
Finally, someone on her side. She smiled at Cherish, her youngest sister. 
Mamm drew her mouth so tightly that lines started from her lips and fanned out across her face. “It’s the money. The harvest wasn’t good.”
“Should’ve let Florence—”
Hope, the next sister closest in age to Joy, couldn’t finish what she started to say before Wilma slammed her fist down on the table. Everyone jumped and even Isaac stopped chewing to stare at Wilma. “I won’t have another word about Florence in this haus.”
“I was just saying that … she was the only one of us who knew—”
“Go to your room, Hope.”
Hope opened her mouth, but no words came out. It was normally Cherish who was ordered to her room. She pushed out her chair and stood up. “I wasn’t being rude, I was just …”
“Room!” Wilma sprang to her feet and pointed at the door. 
“I’m going.” Hope bunched the sides of her dress into her hands and rushed out of the room. 
Joy noticed she’d hardly touched her food and called after her, “I’ll bring your dinner up to you soon.” Joy was frustrated. It wasn’t so long ago she thought her life was awful and she had longed for things to go back to how they had been before Dat died. Now, she wanted things to go back to how they’d been before Florence left. She hadn’t realized how good life was. At least she had Isaac, but how she wished he’d stand up for her.
Wilma turned to Isaac. “Will you talk to Joy some more about it, Isaac?”
Isaac looked a little uncomfortable. It couldn’t have been easy for him especially because he and Joy were staying on in Wilma’s house after the wedding. “I will talk with her, but I think her mind’s made up. We could pay you back the money once we get on our feet. I have managed to save a little, but I had to send money back to my folks when my vadder became ill.”
“Nee. I said I’d pay, but that doesn’t stop me from being practical. I’ve always been that way. 'A dollar saved is a dollar earned,' that's what my grossdaddi used to say. You both need to save for your future.”
Was her mother trying to make her feel guilty?
“Are you going to keep talking about this? Are you trying to wear me down, Mamm? I’ve already said from the bottom of my heart that I don’t want to be married on the same day as my mudder having her second marriage when I’m having my first. We’ll just get married at the bishop’s haus and have no wedding feast.”
Isaac placed his knife and fork down and swallowed his mouthful. “Do you intend to get married a second time, Joy?”
“Nee, that’s not what I meant.” Joy joined in with Cherish and Favor as they giggled. 
Mamm interlaced her fingers in front of her placing her elbows on the table. “I didn’t intend to get married a second time but now I am.  If you die first, Isaac, Joy could very well marry for a second time.”
Isaac puffed out his full cheeks. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Would you rather her be lonely?” Cherish’s eyes twinkled with mischief, obviously enjoying the drama of the moment.
“No one needs you to talk, Cherish.” Mamm glared at her youngest daughter.
Joy knew it wouldn’t be long before her youngest sister would be sent to her room, too.
“I’m sure Cherish didn’t mean anything by it,” Favor said.
“We shall just ignore Cherish the best we can, everyone does.”
Cherish’s mouth dropped open. “Mamm, that’s not nice.”
Her mother glared back at her. “What’s not very nice is for you to join in a conversation that has nothing to do with you.”
“Wait a moment,” Favor said. “We’re talking at the dinner table. Doesn’t everybody have a right to join in the conversation? If you want to have a private one you do that in … well, in private.”
Mamm placed her knife and fork down and held her head with both hands. “Gott, where did I go wrong?”
“All I know is what I want for my wedding day. What’s wrong with that? Mercy had her wedding day and Honor had hers. Why should I be the one who has to be different?”
“I think she’s right, Mamm,” Favor said. “I want my wedding day too, alone, without sharing, now that I thought a bit more about it.”
Mamm pulled her dinner plate back to herself and picked up her knife and fork. “You’re too easily influenced, Favor. You’re like the ship without a rudder and that will lead you into trouble one day, my girl.”
“We’ll have to wait and see about that, won’t we?”
Wilma shook her fork at Favor. “Levi says it’s my fault for spoiling all of you and not giving you enough whippings. That’s why he’s insisting all you girls have jobs away from here.”
Sometimes they had been lazy, Joy admitted to herself, but they also worked hard when they had to. “Mamm, that’s not so. We’ve all worked long hours in the orchard.”
“Jah,” Favor agreed. “Especially at harvest and all the years at the roadside stalls and at the markets when we had a store there. How are we going to work outside the home and also work in the orchard? There are only so many hours in one day.”
Cherish added, “And why didn’t we open the shop this year to make extra funds?”
“The shop just near the road?” Isaac asked. “I wondered that myself. People were driving to it and then I’d see them driving away. There would’ve been a lot of money that was lost.”
Joy frowned at Isaac having the courage to talk about the shop much more boldly than he had been talking about their wedding.
Mamm shook her head. “I have to abide by Levi’s decisions. He’s going to be the head of the household. He said it was too much for me to open it this year. He said after we get married, he’ll have a good look at all the work we’re doing, even my work.”
“So, he’s going to make us work while you sit down and rest, Mamm?” Cherish asked.
“She deserves it, Cherish. She’s the mudder.” 
Mamm smiled at Favor and then turned to Cherish. “And Levi will be your step-vadder and the head of this haus.”
“Never,” Cherish muttered in a low voice that was barely heard. “He’ll never be the boss of me.”
“Yeah, but why didn’t he want the shop open?” Favor asked.
“He wants to do things different than Dat did them. Every man has his own way he wants things done. Levi said if you all keep working for your family you’ll become soft. It will show you the value of money if you work for someone else.” She turned to Joy’s fiancé, Isaac. “Isaac, you’ve got it easy because you work for your bruder-in-law.”
He gulped as he looked across at her. “I work harder for him because of it. I work real hard and more hours than I’m paid. Does Levi think I should get another job somewhere else?”
“Nee.  We’ve never talked about you. Levi’s only concerned about the girls.”
He looked relieved and continued eating. 
Joy still had her mind on her wedding day and repeated the suggestion she made before that apparently no one had heard. “I’ll just have a quick wedding at the bishop’s haus and invite no one if you’re so worried about the money, but either way, I want to have my own day.”
Isaac smiled. “Jah, that’s what we’ll do. That’ll keep everyone happy.”
Mamm ignored Isaac and stared at Joy. “Nee you can’t. Folks will think that you had to get married and that will bring shame upon us all—the whole family. I know you keep saying that you don’t want your wedding combined with mine, but it’s not unusual that people in the community get married on the same day.”
“But not mudder and dochder marrying on the same day at the same time, same place.”
Wilma looked over at Isaac. “You understand how it will look if you have a quick wedding at the bishop’s, don’t you, Isaac?”
“I do.” He nodded. “People will wonder why we did it that way, and they’ll come to their own conclusions.”
Joy couldn’t believe her ears. That was the second—or third—time in the last few minutes that he’d failed to agree with her. Not only that, he was making things worse by adding fuel to Wilma’s fire.
Favor was sitting next to Isaac and she dug him in the ribs. “But you want what Joy wants too, don’t you? Whatever makes her happy, jah?”
“Jah, I want Joy to have all that she wants.” He gave Joy a big smile, but she was too upset with him to return it.
“I don’t think you should ask Isaac about this, Mamm,” Cherish said. “It would be embarrassing for him to tell you that he doesn’t want the wedding on the same day. He’s only being polite. Of course, he doesn’t want that. Who would?”
Timmy chirped loudly from his cage in the corner of the room.
“Will you make it be quiet, Cherish? And next time you go to the farm, leave him there.”
“Malachi doesn’t like birds.” Cherish got up from the table, scraping her chair across the linoleum flooring. Then she walked over and covered his cage like she did every night. “Gut nacht, Timmy. And don’t worry you won’t be going back to the farm until I move back there.”
The pointless conversations about a double wedding went back and forth, continuing over the dessert of apple pie, cream and Isaac’s favorite green jelly that Joy always made just for him. 
After dinner, as always, Joy and Isaac left the table to have a quiet moment on their own. In the warmer nights, they sat on the porch, but now the weather was cooler so they chose to sit by the fire in the living room. 
With the others in the kitchen doing the after dinner clean up, Joy took hold of her husband-to-be’s hand. “Isaac, you have to speak up for me.”
“It’s hard. I could see you were upset, but I’m trying to stay on her good side for both our sakes. We do have to live here after we’re married.”
She nodded. He did have a good point. 
He continued, “And I don’t want to upset her or Levi. I really don’t care when we get married or who gets married on our day. Makes no difference to me. She’s bothered about it, though so …”
Oh no, would she really have to compromise? Compromise about such an important event? It was unfathomable. She couldn’t do it. Even the very thought of sharing the day with Mamm twisted her stomach into a knot. She stared into his eyes, trying to use her womanly charms for the first time in her life. Snuggling closer to him, she placed her head on his shoulder. “What about what I want?”
“That’s important too. You’re the most important person in my whole life, always will be. I’ll have a talk with Wilma and see if I can change her mind.” He looked into her eyes and smiled. “Trust me. It’ll be okay.”
“Are you certain?”
“Jah.”
She let out a deep breath and then Mamm walked into the room, ending their brief conversation and causing them to move further apart. “Ada’s stopping by the day after tomorrow and she’s helping us with the organizing of the wedding. It’s too much for me to think about, and someone who left us helped with the other weddings.” 
“Florence. You can say her name.”
“I don’t want it said in this haus.” Mamm sat down. She’d deliberately cut short their alone time that they were normally allowed in the evening. 
Soon all the girls were huddled around the fire. Except for Hope who was still in disgrace in her room.
Joy waited and waited for Isaac to say something to her mother about the wedding, but he never said one thing. A couple of times, Joy even raised the subject again hoping he’d jump in. 
Nothing.
An hour later, Joy excused herself and went to bed even before Isaac had gone home. Joy had to be by herself. 
When Ada came, she was going to try to talk Joy into having a double wedding. That was the real reason she was coming. 
Joy had just walked into her darkened room when she heard the front door open. She rushed to the window and saw Isaac leaving. It had been rude of her not to walk him to the door and to make him leave without a proper goodnight, but she knew if she’d stayed downstairs any longer, she would’ve said something to him that she might later regret.
All that night, Joy tossed and turned, worrying. A few times she dozed off but woke in a cold sweat.  If Isaac was disappointing her now, would he disappoint her further when they were married? There was no divorce, so she had to choose her husband wisely or forever hold her peace, happy or miserable. As much as her heart loved Isaac, she had to be practical. 
Would Isaac be the kind of man who would always allow Wilma to run their lives?

THE AMISH BONNET SISTERS

Book 1 Amish Mercy

Book 2 Amish Honor

Book 3 A Simple Kiss

Book 4 Amish Joy

Book 5 Amish Family Secrets

Book 6 The Englisher

Book 7 Missing Florence

Book 8 Their Amish Stepfather

Book 9 A Baby For Florence

Book 10 Amish Bliss

Book 11 Amish Apple Harvest

Book 12 Amish Mayhem

Book 13 The Cost of Lies

Book 14 Amish Winter of Hope

Book 15 A Baby For Joy

Book 16 The Amish Meddler

Book 17 The Unsuitable Amish Bride

Book 18 Her Amish Farm

Book 19 The Unsuitable Amish Wedding

Book 20 Her Amish Secret

Book 21 Amish Harvest Mayhem

Book 22 Amish Family Quilt

Book 23 Hope's Amish Wedding

Book 24 A Heart of Hope

Book 25 A Season for Change

Book 26 Amish Farm Mayhem

Book 27 The Stolen Amish Wedding

Book 28 A Season for Second Chances

Book 29 A Change of Heart

Book 30 The Last Wedding

Book 31 Starting Over

Book 32 Love and Cherish

Book 33 Amish Neighbors

Book 34 Her Amish Quilt

Book 35 A Home of Their Own

Book 36 A Chance for Love

Book 37 Her Amish Wish

Book 38 Amish Harvest Time

Book 39 Whispers of Change

Book 40 Her Hopeful Heart

Book 41 Return to Love's Promise

Book 42 Amish Circle of Blessings