A Dream for Hannah (24 page)

“We can be wrong sometimes,” she said. “The ways of God are not our ways.”

John nodded. “That’s right.”

“I don’t much trust girls now,” Jake muttered. “She gave me no warning—none at all. Granted I was stupid, but it was because I trusted her. It was over just like that. Now she’s dating my cousin…right there in front of me.”

“You really loved her?” Elizabeth asked, sympathy in her voice.

Jake nodded.

“Still, it’s better to find out now rather than later. That’s what dating is for, I guess,” Elizabeth offered.

“God has His ways,” John repeated. “We must learn to trust Him…and not become bitter.”

Jake numbly nodded but said no more.

The first of the buggies started to arrive, and the volleyball game was quickly organized. Until enough players came, it was a hit or miss scramble to knock the ball over the net. As more people arrived, the game soon turned into a fierce competition between opposing teams.

Hannah was uneasy when she noticed that boy, Jake. When he ended up on the opposite team from her, she felt more at ease.

Two games later, they broke for popcorn and cider. The women, headed up by Elizabeth and Betty, brought out the heaping bowls of white fluffy stuff.

“Bring up the picnic table,” Elizabeth told John, who was still winded from the game. “If we set it up under the tree, it should be fine. There’s no wind tonight.”

John agreed with a nod and asked Steve to help him move the table. Together they carried the bench from the barn overhang to where Elizabeth wanted it.

Once the table was in place, she set the large bowls of popcorn down and scattered the smaller bowls around so that individual portions could be served. Betty went back into the house and returned with the cider jugs. These were then set up so cider could be poured into glasses as needed.

John saw that the women were ready and announced loudly, “Let’s have prayer.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around. John then led out in thanks for the food and finished with a request for the grace and mercy of God to be on them during the rest of the evening.

The boys filled their bowls with popcorn first and then splashed cider into their glasses. They spilled generous amounts onto the picnic table, although no one seemed to mind. Hannah went next at Elizabeth’s insistence.

“You are our honored guest,” Elizabeth whispered. “It’s not every day we have a girl your age visiting us for the summer.”

“Is that good or bad?” Hannah asked with a chuckle.

“Good, of course, even if she’s already writing to someone.”

“How did you know that?” Hannah asked and looked quickly around to see who else had heard the comment. All the males seemed busy, and some of the boys were already knocking the ball back and forth over the net again, their bowls of popcorn and glasses abandoned in the grass.

“Oh, a little birdie told me,” Elizabeth said, glancing in Betty’s direction.

“You did not!” Hannah exclaimed in mock horror but partly serious. She reached over to pull on Betty’s dress sleeve.

“I couldn’t help it,” Betty protested. “It just came out. It seemed like they should know. It
is
good news, after all, isn’t it?”

Hannah wasn’t sure what to say. They apparently took her hesitation as a sign of love’s sweet work and turned the conversation quickly to other subjects to spare her any further embarrassment.

To comfort herself, Hannah took a deep swallow of her apple cider and was amazed. It
was
better than Indiana cider!

Twenty-one

Sam’s dad, Enos Knepp, had wanted to talk with his son ever since his wife told him about the letters to Hannah. Tonight he got the chance when he and Sam were alone in the living room.

“Your mother tells me you’re writing to Hannah Miller,” Enos began.

Sam looked up from
The Old Farmers’ Almanac
and nodded.

“You’re serious, then?”

“Yes.” Sam nodded again. “It’s pretty serious, I would say.” Then he asked, “Don’t you like her, Dad?”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Enos said quickly. “She’s a fine girl as far as I know. She comes from a good family. I was just wondering if Hannah’s right for you. It seems to me that a real nice farm girl would be the better way to go.”

“Hannah knows how to farm,” Sam said.

“Well, maybe she does,” Enos said, “but her father’s only a part-time farmer. He doesn’t seem to make enough of a living at it…to stay home full-time. He has that job at the factory now.”

“What has that got to do with Hannah?”

Enos thought for a long moment before he responded. “It might reflect on her, that’s all. I’m just concerned about you. When we leave you the farm,” he said and motioned toward where Laura worked in the kitchen, “you’ll need a wife who was raised on a farm. You’ll need a wife who knows what it’s like to get up early, milk cows, and put up the hay…all in the hot sun sometimes. Farm life is hard. You know that, Sam. Just make sure you choose wisely. That’s all I’m saying.”

Sam nodded, his face sober. “I will think about it, but I really feel that this is the right thing to do. Maybe when Hannah comes home, she could come over to visit and maybe help out some here on the farm.” Sam waved his hand around as if to indicate the more than two hundred acres surrounding them. “We can make sure then that she’s comfortable with farm life.”

“That would be wise,” Enos allowed, “but you also need to keep your eyes open. Don’t let feelings of love or her beauty blind your eyes. You will regret it—even if she is a decent girl.”

“I will consider it,” Sam assured his dad. “Maybe after you’ve seen more of her, you can tell me what you think.”

“When is Hannah coming home?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Sam said. “I hope by the end of summer.”

“There’s another thing I want to talk with you about,” Enos said. “I’m not quite ready to retire, but when I do, I’ve been thinking about building a smaller house down the road—on our acreage, of course—to eventually serve as our
daudy haus.
But until I’m ready to retire, you and your wife—whoever she is—could use it.”

“How soon were you thinking of building this?” Sam asked with obvious interest.

“Are you in such a big hurry?” Enos said with a laugh.

“You never know how things work out,” Sam said, his grin crooked. “I haven’t asked Hannah yet, though I think it’ll come to that. We’re just writing now.”

“It’s serious then.” Enos pondered the situation. “I don’t think we can do anything for at least two years. If you should marry before that, I guess you could move in with us and take the large upstairs bedroom. That might work for six months or so. Not much more than that. They say two women in the house—no matter how well they like each other—never works for long. I hold to that opinion myself.”

Sam nodded as if he thought this fair enough and went back to reading
The Old Farmers’ Almanac.

Enos hid his surprise, got up, and walked to the kitchen. He glanced back, making sure he was out of earshot, and then approached Laura. “Sam’s really serious about this girl.”

“I’m afraid so,” Laura said.

“Do you think she’s the right one?” he asked.

“Well,” she said, “we never made decisions for any of our other children—other than they had to be in the church and all. They turned out all right. We’d better do the same for Sam, don’t you think?”

“I suppose so,” he agreed. “I guess I’m just getting jumpy in my old age.”

“Ah,” she said, chuckling, “you’re still young.”

“I am?” he said and grinned. “I wish I was, but I do need to trust God and place this into His hands. In that you are right.” He playfully kissed her on the cheek.

“This is true,” she said, grinning and lightly pushing him away.

As the sun was setting, another round of volleyball was beginning. This time Jake was on the same side as Hannah. She felt her heart thump and wondered if he’d end up placed close to her when the game began? What if she missed the ball, tripped, and tumbled down around his feet?

Since darkness threatened, Hannah had a quick hope the game might be canceled. Bishop Nisley crushed that hope when he came out of the house with two gas lanterns, lit them, and set one on top of each buggy. Perhaps they could play one more game but not much more. The lantern light simply wasn’t strong enough.

The boy who had picked Hannah for his team was also in charge of the player lineup. He started off with a rapid boy-girl-boy-girl configuration, which left Hannah in-between Bishop Nisley and Jake. Her heart sank, but there was nothing that could be done about it. A protest would only reveal that she didn’t want to stand beside Jake.

Self-consciously Hannah took her place. John was on her left and Jake on her right. As she stood closer to Jake, she could tell that her early impression that he looked like Peter had indeed been mistaken. Jake was a unique person.

From the corner of her eye, Jake appeared to be relaxed as he stood there. Taller than she was, yet he didn’t tower over her. He had an air of calm assurance about him, but his face wasn’t hardened. Perhaps he had his tender edges? He glanced toward her and briefly nodded and smiled. Hannah thought her return smile was perhaps tense, but his eyes didn’t register a reaction. They looked sad, in fact. Perhaps he was lonesome for home or had some other reason for his sorrow. She took a deep breath and tried to relax.

Someone shouted, “Test!” and the game got underway. The ball came over the net in a clean arch, arriving in the second row. It was returned easily. The ball came right back to where Hannah stood in the front row between John and Jake. She expected a commotion of waving arms in her face as one or the other tried to reach for the ball but was surprised. Clearly both John and Jake had plans to stay in their places. This was to be her play. She gathered herself together, took a deep breath, and lifted both hands. A solid swat sent it solidly back over the net.

“Hey, how about setting me next time?” Jake said.

His words shocked Hannah out of her shyness. “Will you set for me too?”

“Of course not,” he said. “You just set the ball for tall people.”

“That’s not fair,” she retorted. “Girls want to play too.”

“And I want to win,” Jake said. “Is that fair?”

It was then that Hannah realized she had just spoken to him, and her good sense forsook her. “I guess so,” she muttered.

Jake must have noticed her flustered state of mind and softened. “I do want girls to play—so don’t pay any attention to me.”

Hannah couldn’t think of anything to say before the ball was served again. In a high arch, it passed over their heads.

“The next chance I have, I’ll set for you,” she said.

“Well, that’s settled then,” Jake said, smiling. “Now we can really play.”

Well, indeed,
Hannah thought. She had talked to this boy, and for some reason she felt her heart pounding. Now what did all that mean?
Stop imagining things,
she told herself firmly.
If he wants to talk to me, then I’ll talk to him. It means nothing. I’m not going to dream again.

So when he asked, “You’re from Indiana?” she could answer him without any nervousness.