“No need to fuss over me.” Evan jerked on his left sleeve. “Little by little, I’m learning how to function again. The rehab doctor said it might take years, but I’ll get there.” He went on to explain that, after the explosion, he was flown by helicopter to a hospital, though he had no recollection of that. And because his dog tags were never found, the authorities had no idea who he was until his memory returned only recently. Soldiers from his unit who might have identified him were taken to other hospitals, and there’d been many fatalities.

“It was evidently total chaos,” he said, “and I was an unrecognizable mess anyway. They wouldn’t let me see my face until after the skin grafts healed.” He shook his head.

“If anyone’s determined, it’s you,” Ellie said.

“Well, I can only do it with God’s help.”

Ellie’s heart lifted, hearing that.

“You wouldn’t believe all the prayers going up in the trenches,” Evan told her quietly. “And not just mine.”

“Oh, Evan, what ya suffered.” She didn’t want to give in to tears again, so she focused on how thankful she was to have him back. She looked at her brother, his deep-blond hair so short it was practically shaved, his army uniform so strange to her.

Evan looked around the kitchen as though seeing it for the first time. He stared at the cellar door where Mamm’s calendar had always hung. “A lot has changed since I left. I’m guessing you and Sol have taken over the main house.”

“Jah, but not everything changed. I kept your room the way it was.”

Evan opened his mouth to reply but merely nodded, his eyes moist. “Thanks.”

She smiled. “But as you can see, I wanted to make this kitchen my own. Thankfully, Mamm let us keep this big table for family gatherings. Their new place is quite a bit smaller.”

“I saw the new addition as soon as I got out of the cab . . . down the road a ways.”

“Why’d ya come so far on foot?”

“Wanted to see the orchard up close and slow. I missed it dreadfully.”

Ellie cut a large slice of the butterscotch pie for Evan and grabbed a cookie for herself. “Seems like you’ve been gone forever.”

“A year and almost seven months,” he murmured, eyeing the pie she set before him. “And, Ellie . . . I’m glad Sol’s the man who won your heart.”

“Dat is, too.”

Evan picked up his fork. “I secretly hoped he’d be the one.”

“God knew best,” she replied. Then sitting across from him, she told him Menno and Ruthann had ended up together.

For the first time since he’d stepped into the kitchen, she saw a trace of a smile on Evan’s lips. “So . . . Sol and Menno switched girlfriends?”