“Then when I was injured, I worried that I could never tell ya how I felt, and that I’d spent time dating someone I didn’t care for like I care for you.” He stopped talking for a moment, and she could hear him breathing. “It wondered me if I’d missed my chance to date ya, Ellie.”

They were silent for a moment or two, surrounded by the night sounds she so loved. “Nothin’ changed for me after you were hurt, Sol. Nothin’ at all . . . except I realized how much I care for you.”

“I like the sound of that,” he replied, his eyes shining.

When Sol left to cut through the meadow and their neighbor’s cornfield toward home, Ellie watched from her window high in the eaves, keeping her eyes on the bobbing yellow light of his lantern until it was no longer visible.

31

Ellie could scarcely wait to tell Leah what was happening with her and Sol. It’s the best feeling ever, she wrote in a letter before the sun rose the next morning. I dreamed the happiest dreams all night long!

The days continued to warm, the rains came, and the new semi-dwarf apple trees thrived. Prior to that planting, the acre had been resting, covered with sorghum-Sudan grass, then plowed to nourish the quality of the soil and prevent disease. Since they’d stopped bearing fruit, some of the old trees Dawdi Hezekiah had named years ago had been removed, and it had been hard to bid them farewell—especially the one he called Methuselah.

Meanwhile, the orchard workers mowed the grass between the many rows of trees with the horse-drawn mower, a constant chore to keep pests from invading the low-growing branches. It wasn’t something Sol could readily do with one hand just yet, though.

Ellie had started to occasionally work with her father in the barn office, helping take inventory of the harvesting tools and the right containers needed for the coming peach harvest in early July. They’d also discussed the fruit supply and the hoped-for demand for the next five years.

With some regular customers still backing away—likely due to Evan’s going to war—Dat had seemed concerned about the profitability of the orchard. “Those new clients you contacted came along just in time,” he told her. “Denki.”

“Whatever I can do,” she replied, grateful to be included. “I only wish all our Plain customers would realize that we’re the exact same people we were before Evan left.”

Dat gave her a smile. “Time will tell.”

“And I’ll keep makin’ new contacts for the future.”

Driving rain pelted the ground as Ellie ran out to get the mail in her raincoat and hat. Mamm had said she had the supper-making under control and to go ahead and make a dash for it.