“How ’bout the easy one?” She was thinking of Glen and how winded he seemed, and, too, it was the hottest time of the day.

“Denki for showing me this beautiful place,” she said, following him over the well-worn path just as he pointed out a raccoon napping high in a nearby tree.

She stared up at the furry critter and removed her phone from her dress pocket to take several pictures. In that instant, her phone rang, and she saw that it was the call she had been waiting for. She purposely lagged behind Glen. “Hullo, Anna Beachy speaking.”

Evelyn said she was calling with some unfortunate news. “It was delightful to meet you, Anna, but we’ve decided to offer the job to one of the other applicants. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.”

Anna felt the air fly out of her. She scarcely knew what to say—she’d been so sure of getting this job. And what about the divine nudge Sadie had felt? Had she only imagined it?

“It was a difficult decision.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” Anna said politely.

Evelyn mentioned again how lovely it had been to get acquainted with her, then said good-bye and hung up.

Now what? Anna thought, glad she and Glen had taken the easiest path back to the house, because suddenly she felt spent. And that was putting it mildly.

“You all right?” Just ahead on the trail, Glen had turned to look back at her.

“Evelyn called,” Anna said, telling him the disappointing news.

Glen pushed his straw hat down more firmly on his head, looking a bit surprised. “Mighty sorry to hear it.”

Anna nodded, unable to say more.

Chapter 5

THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1948

Just days before her sixteenth birthday, Eliza Hertzler stepped down from the enclosed gray carriage and looked around at what seemed to be an emerald sea of alfalfa in every direction but one: her great-aunt Joanna Beiler’s redbrick farmhouse.

Tired from the trip from Mifflinburg, Eliza stretched her legs a bit, thankful for the charter bus that had brought her to downtown Lancaster. From there, she had taken a taxi to the cobblestoned Strasburg Village Square, where Great-aunt Joanna’s neighbor Jacob Zook met her. Eliza’s Mamma had informed her that, while Jacob was the bishop for the Beachy Amish church district there in Strasburg, Eliza would be surrounded by predominantly Old Order Amish families.

Eliza straightened her long black apron and headed around to the back of the buggy to retrieve her brown suitcase, anxious to get more comfortable and remove her black stockings and tight black high-topped shoes and go barefoot. She longed to brush out her dishwater-blond hair and tidy it up. She reached to take her suitcase, but Bishop Jacob shook his head, saying he would carry it.