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At the time, Becca and Daed had six children under the age of thirteen, and the twins were just a couple of months old. With Daed’s health issues, he wasn’t much help.
    But Annie would graduate in just a few weeks, so she’d be able to help Becca full-time.
    With exhilaration pulsing through her, she headed for the pasture to chase down her horse. Mahlon would be surprised when she arrived more than an hour ahead of schedule.
    Before she got to the cattle gate, a wagonload of her girlfriends called to her as they pulled into her driveway: Rachel, Linda, Nancy, Lydia, Frieda, Esther. And Lena. They were talking and laughing softly among themselves while waving to her. Lena’s smile was enough on its own to stir happiness. But her cousin never left anything at just a grin. She loved laughing and making people laugh. The birthmark across her cheek never dampened her spirits, and Deborah thought she was the most beautiful of any of them, but at twenty-three Lena had never had a man ask to take her home from a singing.
    Lena brought the rig to a stop. “We came to help you get your chores done.”
    “Ya,” Nancy said. “That way there’s no chance of you having to cancel looking at houses with Mahlon.”
    “Becca said I’m through for today.”
    Raised eyebrows soon gave way to broad smiles.
    “Then come on.” Lena motioned. “We’ll take a spin around the block…and play a trick on Anna Mary before we drop you off at Mahlon’s.”
    When Deborah climbed into the wagon, Lydia patted a store-bought sack of pebbles. “We’ve got a good plan. And Lena just happens to have some inside information, like the fact that Anna Mary hasn’t had time to repot her indoor plants, but she’s purchased a bag of soil.”

    The girls began reminiscing about past pranks they’d pulled on each other. When they arrived near Anna Mary’s, Lena brought the rig to a stop. Two girls stayed with the wagon while the rest of them snuck past the house and to the shed. They took Anna Mary’s bag of potting soil and replaced it with the sack of rocks. Soon they were on their way to Mahlon’s, everyone guessing how long it would be before Anna Mary discovered the switch.
    Deborah sat up front with Lena. “If she thinks she bought the wrong stuff, Lena and I should try to go with her to return it. Then one of us can pull another switch while she’s loading other things.”
    The girls broke into fresh laughter.
    “And yet you look so innocent,” Lena quipped.
    Deborah pushed the tie to her prayer Kapp behind her shoulder. “Not just me, dear cousin. You do too. It’s how we get away with such antics, ya?”
    As Lena turned onto the road that led to Mahlon’s home, Deborah spotted a car coming from the opposite direction. She thought little of it until it pulled onto the side of the road twenty yards from Mahlon’s place. A car door opened, and an Amish man got out. It wasn’t until the man closed the car door and walked around to the driver’s side that she recognized Mahlon. Even at this distance she could tell who it was by the way he carried himself—his slow, easy pace. With all the silly banter and laughter in the wagon, not one of her friends seemed to notice the vehicle or Mahlon. He stood outside the driver’s window talking to whoever was inside. Then he stepped away, waved, and started walking through the field toward his home.
    Like watching children performing a play at school, memories of their friendship ran through her mind—years of shared lunches, games at recess, and walks to and from school together. It all began when she’d been in fourth grade and he in sixth.

    They’d borne each other’s grief since the day they’d both lost a parent. They had learned to accept their loss together, learned to laugh afresh, and figured out how to trust in life again. Together they’d weathered change after change as they’d gone through their teen years. He’d been in New York City on September 11, 2001, and