Anna's Forgotten Fiancé

by Carrie Lighte

  This early in March, they failed to spot any turtles, with or without injured feet. Once they returned home, Anna thanked Fletcher for his visit. Before leaving, he arranged to call on her the next day after dinner.

  “Perhaps by then I’ll be able to remember what your favorite dessert really is,” she jested. “Although I suppose once my memory returns, we’ll have more serious concerns to discuss.”

  “No doubt,” Fletcher agreed as anxiety surged within him at the mention of “serious concerns,” the same phrase she’d used in her note. Speaking to himself as much as to her, he added, “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.”

  * * *

  “You look a little peaked,” Naomi said when Anna entered the parlor where she was sewing. She folded the material into a square and stowed it in her basket.

  “The glare of the sun bothered my eyes,” Anna admitted. “And I feel a bit nauseated.”

  “Uh-oh, the doctor told us to let him know if you became sick to your stomach.”

  “I wasn’t sick, just nauseated. But I don’t think it’s from my head injury,” Anna rationalized. “It’s probably because I ate too much too soon after going without.”

  “Kumme.” Naomi extended her hand. “Take a little nap in my room. That way, you needn’t climb the stairs.”

  “But I’ve been so lazy. I’ve hardly helped with a thing today.”

  “And well you shouldn’t—I keep telling you that. Now go lie down on my bed and I’ll fix us a cup of ginger tea. That should settle your stomach.”

  Anna removed her shoes and reclined on the side of the bed her daed had always slept on. His dog-eared Bible still lay on the nightstand. She picked it up and tried to read the print in German, but she felt too woozy to focus. Squeezing her eyes, she imagined her father poring over Scripture whenever he had a free moment toward the end of the day. She lifted the Bible to her nose, hoping to smell the honey and oatmeal scent of the salve he used on his cracked, calloused hands in winter, but she couldn’t.

  “I used to keep your daed’s sweatiest shirt hidden in my drawer so I could smell it whenever I missed him,” Naomi said when she came in and saw Anna sniffing the Bible.

  “Used to?”

  “After a while, it stopped smelling like him and just smelled musty,” Naomi reflected. “And I was ready to let the shirt go, because my memories of him are more tangible and comforting to me now. As the saying goes, ‘A happy memory never wears out.’”

  Bursting into tears, Anna placed her cup on the nightstand so she wouldn’t spill her tea.

  “Oh, Anna.” Naomi sighed. “I’m so thoughtless. I shouldn’t have mentioned my memories when you’re struggling so hard to recall your own.”

  “Neh, it’s fine, truly. I’m relieved to know you’ve been doing a bit better, Naomi. I wanted to ask, I just didn’t know how to talk about...about your grief.”

  “Your faithful prayers and your quiet strength, along with all of your hard work, have kept our household going, Anna. I’m grateful for all you’ve done, even if it seemed I was too sorrowful to notice.” Naomi squeezed her hand. “You remind me so much of your daed. I’ll miss having you here every day, but I’m grateful Gott provided you such a gut man as Fletcher.”

  “Is he such a gut man?” Anna wondered aloud. “How do you know?”

  Naomi blew on her tea before responding. “I suppose I don’t know for certain. You and Fletcher were very secretive about your courtship—even more than most Amish couples customarily are. But I have observed how sincerely considerate he is of me and how helpful he has been to Raymond and Roy at work. Beyond that, I trust your judgment. I know there must have been very sound reasons you decided to marry him.”

  “I want to believe that,” Anna said. “But I honestly don’t remember what they are.”

  “Give it time, it will kumme.”

  “But there’s hardly any time left! Aaron courted me for two and a half years and I still wasn’t sure whether to marry him. How was it I was certain I should marry Fletcher after knowing him for less than half a year? What if the reasons don’t return to me within this next month?”

  “We’ll build that bridge when we kumme to the creek,” Naomi responded with Anna’s father’s carpenter variation on the old saying, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  The two of them shared a chuckle before Naomi continued, “Even if it takes a while longer for your memory to fully return, I’d suggest you wait to make any changes to your wedding plans until the last possible moment. After all, if you postpone the wedding now and your memory suddenly kummes back, you’ll have to wait until autumn’s wedding season to get married. That delay can seem like forever to a young couple in love! Plus, you’ve already invited all of your guests. And, if you and Fletcher don’t marry in the spring, it’s my understanding the house could possibly go to Aaron and Melinda, which hardly seems fair since the two of you have already paid the back taxes. But you needn’t think about any of that today. Right now, rest is the best thing for you.”

  Feeling reassured, Anna dropped into a deep slumber until she woke to someone rapping at her door. It was Melinda, declaring, “Guder mariye. Time to get up, schlofkopp.”

  Noting her surroundings, Anna suddenly understood why her cousin referred to her as a sleepyhead. “I slept here all night? Where did Naomi sleep?”

  “Upstairs, in your bed,” grumbled Melinda. “When I came in after curfew, she lectured me about how I must guard my reputation, even though I’m soon to be wed. By the time she finished her spiel, I hardly got a wink of sleep, but she let you sleep in, since it’s an off-Sunday.”

  Although she felt completely refreshed, Anna was just as happy that church wouldn’t meet again until the following Sunday—she didn’t feel prepared to field questions about her injury from the well-meaning leit of her district. After breakfast, the family read Scripture and prayed together. They followed their worship with a time of writing letters, individual Bible reading and doing jigsaw puzzles, but since Anna was prohibited from activities that required using close vision, Evan and Eli took turns reading aloud to her. Then, after a light dinner, the boys were permitted to engage in quiet outdoor leisure and games.

  “What will you and Fletcher do when he visits today?” Melinda asked her.

  Anna shrugged. “I have no idea what kinds of things we enjoy doing together. I suppose we’ll take a walk and talk.” She secretly just hoped to get to know him better.

  “That sounds rather boring. Why don’t you kumme out with Aaron and me?” Melinda suggested. “We’re going for a ride to the location where Aaron plans to build our house later in the spring. It will be a tight squeeze in his buggy, but we can fit.”

  “Are you sure you won’t mind if we accompany you?”

  “Of course not. After all, think of how many times you and Aaron let me tag along on your outings,” Melinda said.

  Anna remembered. She’d intended to demonstrate how a young Amish woman ought to behave in social settings and she naively believed Aaron was being forbearing in allowing Melinda to join them: she didn’t realize he was interested in Melinda romantically.

  “Besides,” Melinda chattered blithely, “Naomi won’t fret about my reputation if I’m out with you.”

  Anna sighed. So that was the reason she was being invited. Still, it seemed she and Fletcher had an easier time conversing when there were more people around. “I’d like that,” she said. “As long as Fletcher doesn’t mind.”

  * * *

  Because they’d been so discreet about their relationship, Anna and Fletcher usually favored spending any free time they had with each other instead of attending social events within their district, such as Sunday evening singings. They’d certainly never accompanied another couple on an outing before, so Fletcher was startled when Anna asked if he’d like to join Aaron and Mel
inda on a ride to see the property Aaron intended to buy. But, realizing Anna wouldn’t have remembered their dislike of double dating, Fletcher deferred to her request. Besides, he was heartened by the fact Aaron was considering buying property—perhaps it meant he was as dedicated as ever to marrying Melinda, and Fletcher’s concerns about him and Anna were for naught.

  The afternoon was unseasonably sunny and warm, and the tips of the trees were beginning to show dots of green and red buds. As the two couples sped up and down the hills in Aaron’s buggy, Anna kept marveling at the changes in the landscape. She noticed nearly every tree that was missing and each fence post that had been replaced after the October tornado. She seemed especially aghast to discover the schoolhouse was one of the buildings that had suffered the worst damage, but she was relieved to learn none of the children had been harmed.

  “Now that you’ve had more rest and you’ve seen the destruction, surely you must remember the storm,” Aaron suggested. “It was so violent that I couldn’t forget it if I tried.”

  Anna shrugged. “I still have absolutely no recollection of anything that happened in the past six months, whether big or small, positive or negative.”

  “I guess that’s gut news for you, huh, Fletcher? Anna can’t remember any of your faults,” Aaron needled his cousin. “On the other hand, she probably can’t remember why she agreed to marry you, either.”

  Fletcher’s mouth burned with a sour taste but before he could respond, Anna abruptly shifted the subject, asking Melinda, “Where will the two of you live until Aaron has time to build a house?”

  “With Naomi and the boys,” she replied, clutching Aaron’s arm as he rounded a corner. “It will be crowded but I’m trying to convince Naomi to temporarily move into the room in the attic so we can have her room downstairs.”

  From the corner of his eye, Fletcher caught Anna frowning. He usually felt as if he could read her expression as easily as the pages in a book, but today he couldn’t tell if she was scowling because of Aaron’s rambunctious driving, Melinda’s gall in asking Naomi to take the attic room, or some other reason altogether. The uncertainty caused his mouth to sag, too.

  “Here we are,” Aaron announced as he swiftly brought the horse to a standstill. He made a sweeping motion with his hand to indicate the field to their right.

  “The old Lantz homestead?” Fletcher asked.

  The modest square of land on the corner of the Zooks’ farm used to belong to Albert Lantz, who resided with his granddaughter, Hannah. After their home was flattened by the tornado, they chose not to rebuild because Hannah married a visiting cabinetmaker from Blue Hill, Ohio, and thus moved out of state. Her grandfather accompanied her, but first he sold his property back to the youngest generation of the Zook family, who now lived on the farm.

  “Their old homestead and then some,” Aaron boasted. “The Lantz plot was barely as big as a postage stamp. I’m in negotiations with Oliver Zook to purchase the acreage running all the way down the hill to the stream.”

  “Isn’t it wunderbaar?” sang Melinda, spreading her arms and twirling across the grass.

  “Jah, it’s lovely,” Anna answered, but Fletcher noticed how taut her neck and jaw muscles appeared. Was she jealous? Was she imagining herself, instead of Melinda, owning a house with Aaron in such a picturesque location? Fletcher stubbed his shoe on a root as the tumultuous thoughts rattled his concentration.

  “Kumme, have a look at my stream,” Aaron beckoned.

  “I believe the stream belongs to Gott, although He’s generous enough to allow it to run through your property—or actually, through Oliver Zook’s property,” Fletcher stated wryly.

  “Lighten up. Worship services are over for the day,” Aaron countered. “Or if you’re going to preach at me, how about remembering the commandment, Thou shalt not covet?”

  “Stop bickering,” Melinda called. “This is a happy occasion, remember? Hooray!”

  She picked up a handful of old, dried leaves and tossed them into the air and then tried to catch them as they fluttered around her. Then she and Aaron cavorted down the hill like schoolchildren, racing to tag each other’s shadows until they disappeared into the woods, while Fletcher and Anna followed at a slower pace, neither one speaking.

  When they reached the stream, Anna closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “Mmm, it smells like spring,” she said, and then raised her lids to view the bubbling current, the gently sloping embankment and the thick stand of trees. “What a beautiful place.”

  “I have to agree, it’s a fine fishing spot,” Fletcher responded. Thinking aloud, he added, “But Aaron’s too impatient to fish and even if he weren’t, Melinda’s such a chatterbox, she’d frighten the fish away.”

  Anna narrowed her brows. “That may be true of them now,” she said, “but people change. They grow. With Gott’s help, we all do.”

  Fletcher hadn’t intended to be insulting. He simply meant the location seemed better suited to his and Anna’s preferences than to Aaron and Melinda’s, since he enjoyed fishing and Anna appreciated solitude, so he was surprised by how quickly Anna seemed to defend them. And what did her comment about people changing and growing mean, anyway? Was she indicating that she had changed? Was she implying she thought Aaron had grown? Fletcher’s brooding was interrupted when Melinda capered up the embankment.

  “Help!” she squealed. “Aaron’s trying to splash me and that water’s freezing!”

  Aaron reappeared and the four of them ascended the hill. At the top, they were greeted by Oliver Zook. “Guder nammidaag. Grace sent me to invite our prospective new neighbors and their future in-laws for cookies and cider.”

  “That sounds wunderbaar,” Melinda said, accepting the invitation for all of them.

  The fragrance of hot cider and freshly baked cookies wafted from the kitchen when Grace ushered everyone inside. As they situated themselves in the parlor, where Doris and John Plank were also visiting, the Zooks’ baby began wailing in the next room.

  “I’ll get her while you prepare the refreshments,” Oliver said, squeezing his wife’s shoulder.

  “Wait till you see how much she’s grown since the last time you saw her, Anna,” Grace remarked before leaving the room, understandably ignorant of Anna’s amnesia.

  When Oliver returned, jostling the fussy baby, Aaron suggested, “You should let Anna take her. She has such a soothing, maternal touch. She was always able to comfort my eldest sister’s son when he was a newborn.”

  “Jah, I remember,” Anna said, smiling as she lifted Serenity from Oliver’s arms. “Your nephew had colic and your poor sister was exhausted because he gave her no rest.”

  Although he knew it wasn’t Anna’s fault, Fletcher felt a slight twinge of sadness that she could remember everything that happened during her courtship with Aaron, but not a thing that happened during her courtship with him. And who was Aaron to openly flatter Anna, as if he were still her suitor? Of course, Aaron’s compliment was well deserved: within a few moments of cooing and swaying, the bobbel had fallen asleep in Anna’s arms. She sat back down and accepted a cup of cider from Grace with her free hand.

  “See that, Fletcher? The bobbel in one hand, a cup in the other.” Oliver laughed. “Anna will have no problem keeping your household in order.”

  Anna demurely glanced at Fletcher from beneath her lashes and a tickle of exhilaration caused his nerves to tingle. He momentarily forgot all about her note as a glimpse of their future bobblin flashed across his mind’s eye.

  “You’re a fortunate man, indeed,” Doris Plank interjected. “But I have to say, you could have knocked me over with a feather when the intentions were announced. For the longest time, I suspected Aaron was betrothed to Anna. Even after it was rumored he’d begun walking out with you, Melinda, I always assumed he’d eventually wind up with Anna again, don’t ask me why. But then, I never expected I’d marry John, either, s
o I guess it’s a gut thing I’m not a matchmaker!”

  As Doris gleefully tittered at her own humor, Fletcher’s ears burned and his jaw dropped. Doris had a reputation for making bold remarks, but he’d personally never been on the receiving end of one and he didn’t know how to respond without sounding rude himself.

  “Jah, life is full of wunderbaar surprises for everyone, isn’t it?” Grace diplomatically cut in. She passed the tray to Anna. “Here, Anna, you haven’t had a cookie.”

  “Denki, but neh,” Anna declined. “I...I...”

  “She has to watch her figure,” Melinda finished for her. “But I don’t, so I’ll take some.”

  “Ah, you must have finished sewing your wedding dress then, Anna?” Grace’s eyes lit up. “You don’t want to have to make any last-minute alterations, is that it? If you’re anything like I was, you’re counting down the days!”

  Blushing, Anna gave a pinched smile and a slight shrug but didn’t answer.

  “You’re fortunate your intended is so calm, Fletcher,” Oliver remarked, as he patted his wife’s hand. “As soon as our intentions were published, the wedding preparations were all Grace talked about to anyone who would listen. And even to some people who wouldn’t!”

  As everyone else laughed, Fletcher did his best not to frown, acutely aware that Anna’s last communication about their wedding preparations had been anything but enthusiastic.

  Suddenly, Melinda sniffed exaggeratedly and declared, “Oopsie! I think Serenity needs a diaper change.”

  All three couples soon made their way out the door. As they departed the farm and headed back toward Anna’s house, Fletcher thought, The schtinke of a dirty diaper makes a fitting end to this afternoon. Disappointed that he and Anna hadn’t exchanged a private word between them, and feeling even less certain about their future today than he’d felt all week, Fletcher decided the next time he went out with Anna, they were going out alone.

  Chapter Three

  The Sabbath was supposed to be a day of rest, but Anna felt utterly exhausted by the time she said her prayers and slipped into bed. Yet as achy and tired as her body was, her brain was wide-awake, reliving the afternoon’s unpleasant events.