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they hadn’t come. When they didn’t answer a single letter he’d sent them, Paul sent formal invitations on the Better Path stationery, but he didn’t get a response either.
    “How are you faring?” Paul asked.
    “Good and bad, I guess.” Aaron moved to the dresser. “The good part is I just signed the papers and put down money on the appliance store.”
    “You made a plan and followed through. I’ve seen that strong suit numerous times since you arrived here.”

    “Unfortunately, I’m losing valuable training time in order to return to Dry Lake, a place I’m definitely not wanted. I’m aiming to be back mid-August, but as long as I’m in Owl’s Perch and ready to take over the shop by September first, I have nothing to worry about. That gives me at least eight weeks to do what I should be able to accomplish in four.”
    “It could be tougher than you expect.”
    Daed had always claimed the farm was his dream, but surely he’d had his fill of it by now. Despite how Aaron’s parents felt about him, he was confident they’d jump at selling the old place and join him in becoming merchants in Owl’s Perch. They just needed to warm up to the idea. It would certainly be easier to make a living here.
    Aaron put the last of his things into the backpack. He slung the strap over his shoulder and picked up the tin. “I could use a ride to the bus station.”

    Wiping sweat from her brow and loosening the top buttons on her shirt, Sylvia moved to the open hayloft doors, hoping to feel even a smidgen of breeze on the hot June day. The Blank farm stretched out before her on all sides, and although fence lines divided one pasture from another, no one else’s property was in sight.
    Another two hours of work in this sauna known as a hayloft and she’d have accomplished her goal. Since breakfast she’d tossed, dragged, and toted bales of hay to one side and straw to the other—all in hopes of making it easier to get at whichever one she needed.
    What would possess someone to intermix the two so carelessly?
    She leaned against the doorframe, studying the beautiful wild flowers and rolling fields where a contented herd grazed.

    Her cows . She didn’t own them, of course, but Michael Blank had hired her to tend to them. He trusted her, and she hadn’t let him down. When she arrived here four months ago, the herd was in dire need of diligent care. The overall health of the cows matched their milk production—poor. But after working endlessly, she had good reasons to bask in her accomplishments.
    She wished it were possible to feel joy again, but she didn’t believe she deserved to be happy. Even contentment was beyond reach. She hadn’t been able to resist Elam, and the weight of her sin lay heavily upon her. Finding peace was impossible, even with her new start. She alone was responsible for her actions. She knew it. God knew it.
    She shoved her hands into her pockets. Elam’s life went on as it always had, but she’d had to give up everything.
    When her Daed realized he couldn’t talk her out of leaving home, he warned her she’d be giving up her portion of the farm and all the money he’d put back as a salary for her over the years. He even said she couldn’t write to her sisters, nor would he allow them to write her.
    She had left anyway. No one but Elam would ever know why.
    Thoughts of home flooded her. She missed her sisters most of all. Any sense of accomplishment disappeared as heaviness tightened its grip. If she thought it would do any good, she’d pray for relief.
    Unfortunately, working like an ox came easier than whispering a simple prayer. In the distance the treetops swayed as the humid air stirred, and she wondered if she’d ever pray again. She had called out to God after her adulterous kiss with her sister’s husband, but all she could manage was to beg for forgiveness. God’s silence bore down on her without relief, and she’d given up praying altogether. She had hope for this farm,