“Did your son build this?” Anna asked, in awe of the amazing structure—so much more than she’d expected.

“Luke contracted a friend of his to construct it a couple of years ago.” Glen paused. “An Amish company. I believe its slogan is Going out on a limb.”

Anna laughed. “That’s creative.”

“The perfect slogan for a tree house–makin’ company, jah?”

“I like it!”

Glen motioned for Anna to climb the wooden staircase, following behind. And at the top of the second level, she stopped to look at the lush greenery in all directions—trees of every kind, leafy and lofty. “You could bring a book out here and spend the whole day reading.”

“Jah, if there was nothin’ else to do.” Glen pointed out a nest with four pale blue eggs. “Well, lookee here—a brand-new nest,” he said as Anna stepped closer to have a peek.

“I’ll remind the children not to disturb it,” he said offhandedly, as though talking to himself.

Surely they won’t, Anna thought as they headed back down the curved staircase to the ground.

“Did ya ever have such a fine place to play when you were little?” Glen asked.

“Oh, not really to play, but to dream . . . if ya know what I mean.” She paused briefly and wondered if she should share about the attic room where she and Wanita sometimes read aloud from the Little House books, as they called them. It might sound a bit slothful to Glen. “Mamm let us sweep out and redd up a little space in the attic. Actually, at first it was for Wanita, but around the time I was reading on my own, she invited me to go up there sometimes, too.” Anna didn’t describe all they had done to make it cozy and the perfect place for some relief from their six brothers. It had been the spot where the two of them often talked about keeping house and cooking for their husbands some future day, wondering what it would be like to have their own families. “We sometimes watched spiders weave their webs and hoped no one would destroy them.”

“Most folk would sweep ’em down without thinkin’ a thing of it, I ’spect,” Glen said.

“Well, we’ve always been mindful of nature and honestly rather tenderhearted toward animals. Once, we took care of a wounded tomcat—its paw had a nasty cut. Another time, we cared for an injured bird.” Anna thought it was funny to tell Glen these things, but she went ahead and mentioned helping her Dat feed the ponies, as well. “He let me ride them, too, whenever I wanted. Well, once my chores were finished, ya know.”

They both laughed at that.

“Well, I s’pose we should head back,” Glen said, removing his straw hat to fan his perspiring face. “Which path should we take this time?”