“She’s told Jonah what she suspects, too, but she couldn’t keep it from me when we were out picking rhubarb together yesterday.”

Ellie so wanted to talk more about this, but she didn’t want to call attention to them sitting there whispering. The first set of twins in the family since Evan and me, she thought gaily.

The rest of the morning, they worked to put up large quantities of rhubarb sauce and rhubarb juice. Mamm and Aendi Cora stood over near the sink, heads together as they talked. Undoubtedly about Evan, Ellie assumed. His return to the People is on nearly everyone’s lips. But no one asked probing questions, and Ellie was relieved.

As she, Mamm, and Lydia were getting ready to leave, Ruthann asked to talk to Ellie privately. They slipped into the spare room, and with a smile, Ruthann told her Menno had signed the lease on a small house for them, less than a mile down the road.

“Such nice news!” Ellie grabbed her hands and smiled.

“Isn’t it, though?” Ruthann twirled around like a schoolgirl. “I’ve never been so happy.”

“I can see that,” Ellie said, laughing.

Hand in hand, they walked back to the kitchen, and Ellie thanked her and Aendi Cora for hosting the get-together.

“We’ll have the next Sisters Day at my house,” Ellie said, making her offer as she glanced at Lydia. Her sister’s eyes shone with their shared secret.

Two weeks later, Ellie prepared barbecue chicken sandwiches for the outdoor family gathering in honor of Evan’s homecoming. The women of the family brought sides of homemade French fries, potato chips, five-bean salad, macaroni and cheese, and pickled beets and red beet eggs, in addition to an array of mouthwatering pies and cookies, plus date-nut pudding. The spread was impressive, and Ellie hoped it helped show Evan how happy they were to have him with them again.

The day was most pleasant in the low seventies, a warmth they rarely enjoyed as early as mid-May. But with the occasional breeze and low humidity, no one could possibly complain.

Evan gravitated toward Ellie, sitting with her and Sol and one of their young nephews—eleven-year-old Sammy. Sammy had wandered over and plunked down next to her brother, and Ellie wondered if he was curious about Evan’s strange-looking shirt with its one short sleeve thanks to her tailoring and hemming. Surely Titus and Lydia have talked to him and his siblings about their uncle’s injury, Ellie thought. Nevertheless, Sammy kept sneaking peeks at the empty short sleeve, then glancing up at Evan.

“Wanna arm wrestle?” Evan asked Sammy, grinning.

Her nephew shook his head right quick, looking a little scared.

“I’ve been practicing,” Evan told him, raising his muscular right arm.