LITMIR.BIZ

      The next day, May called her sister, aents and close friends to tell them her big news. Sadie insisted everyone come to her farm for the planning.

      The following day dawned with a brilliant sun to chase away her cloudy mood. Fear started to shimmy up her spine. Had she made the right decision? She could still buy a train ticket. Nein, she shook his hand. She’d made a bargain.

      She forced those thoughts from her head and hitched Gumdrop, her favorite horse, to her buggy and headed to her sister Sadie’s farm to plan the wedding. The clip-clop of Gumdrop’s hooves had a calming effect. She watched the yards of daffodils and roses go by, the birds sitting on the fence chirping take flight, and the occasional motor vehicle zip past.

      She guided Gumdrop up the drive and passed the toolshed. John, Sadie’s ehemann, greeted her with a wave. “Mornin’.”

      “Hullo, May. Congratulations. Sadie is excited and started planning without you so you better hurry on in.”

      “Danki, John. That’s what big sisters are for.” She laughed as she ran to the haus.

      Sadie flung open the door. “Ach, May, I can’t believe you and Thad are getting married. I had no idea you two were back together. That’s so wunderbaar.”

      Her aents and cousins from her daed’s side were there and took over the planning while May worked on her wedding dress. It would have been nice if Aent Edna could have made it, and her other relatives from Indiana, but it was too short notice to make travel plans. And some of her cousins didn’t have the extra money for such things.

      She held up her dress. It was the same material as her Sunday dress, only this one was in her favorite shade of blue. A sense of hope seemed to cling to the cloth as she laid it down and ran her hand down the bodice. A string of emotions wheezed through her one right after the other. Regret, turned to excitement, then slid into nervousness. Moisture gathered and clogged her throat. Mamm, I wish you could have been here to see me married. At the sound of shuffling feet, she cleared her throat and fluttered her eyelids to bat away the extra moisture.

      “May, congratulations.” Aent Matilda whirled into the room with her tochter Josephine close behind. “We are so happy for you.”

      “Danki for coming, and Josie, danki for being one of my attendants.”

      “Cousin, I’m thrilled you asked me. I’m so excited for you.” Josie knelt on the floor beside May’s chair and squeezed her hand. “This is so wunderbaar, and now Leah will have a real mamm.”

      Matilda flounced into a chair next to May. “Jah, and Josie and I will organize your kitchen help and see that all the food is prepared on time. Your wedding will be a very special day, indeed.”

      Matilda gave May a one-armed hug and shared what May’s mamm and daed’s wedding day was like. The day flowed with joy and excitement, and Matilda remembered the stars in both her parents’ eyes. “Jah, now we must go and help plan and prepare and you must finish your dress.” She patted May’s hand as she stood.

      The air stilled after Matilda and Josie swished through the room like a broom, and May stared at her wedding dress and the stitch she just made. Her hands shook as she stuck the needle in the hem of the dress. It was really happening. She was going to marry Thad. Her heart beat fast and hard, but she wasn’t quite sure why. It was only a marriage of convenience. Nein. A marriage bargain. Nothing more.

      Before she’d left the farm, Thad had given the youngies instructions to clean the yard and barnyard, and when they finished with that, they were to start plucking the chickens for the wedding dinner. The women were planning to serve baked chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamy celery casserole, coleslaw, pies, donuts, pudding and several cakes, which included two special ones that her friend Sarah and her sixteen-year-old tochter Mary would make.

      When she got home from Sadie’s, it was non-stop work of washing walls, floors, fixtures, dusting from top to bottom, borrowing dishes and silverware, and planning the seating to feed one hundred guests. Although Matilda had organized and delegated a job to each of her cousins, May still insisted on helping. Most Amish weddings would have as many as three to four hundred guests. When an average Amish family was nine people, it didn’t take long to fill the guest book. Aent Matilda and Josie were in charge of organizing the kitchen and cooks and May knew not to interfere.

      Since Thad’s farm had belonged to her parents, it made sense for her wedding to take place there.

      On the eve of her wedding, May twirled around in her room like it was the last time she’d ever see it. Of course it wasn’t, but why was that feeling stirring in her stomach? She stopped moving and blotted a tear that had collected in the corner of her eye. She glanced out the window and toward heaven. How she wished Mamm and Daed could be here with her right now. But if they were, what would they truly think about her marrying Thad? Would Daed have given his blessing?