“I feel like goin’ out to the phone shack and makin’ a call to Evelyn,” she said softly, almost hoping Glen wouldn’t hear. “See why she didn’t favor Anna.”

“Why would ya do that?” Glen closed his magazine and placed it on the settee, where a few cookie crumbs had fallen. “She has her reasons, and it wouldn’t be right to meddle.” He removed his reading glasses and held them in his right hand. “Anyway, she might think Anna put ya up to it.”

Sadie groaned. “Ach, true.” Hard of hearing as Glenn sometimes seemed to be, she hadn’t expected him to overhear her. More like selective hearing, she thought.

“Ain’t the end of the world.” Glen rose from his seat. “Somethin’ else will turn up for Anna.” He headed out through the kitchen and opened the noisy screen door.

Sadie assumed he, too, felt restless, and she again thought of Anna and where she might have taken herself off to. That dear girl!

Just as Anna was climbing the stairs to the second level of the tree house, the mother robin flew off the nest. “So sorry,” she whispered, going to lean on the bannister and look out to see where the startled bird had landed.

She spotted her on a nearby branch. “You’re out on a limb,” she murmured, recalling the slogan of the Amish company that had built this creative and sturdy structure, carefully nestling it around the wide tree trunk. Is that what I’ve done by coming to the Flauds’ before knowing if I’d get the job?

She heaved a deep sigh, then turned to sit in one of the wooden alcoves, curious how long it might be before the robin would return to its nest. “Someone else must have needed the work more than I do.” Leaning forward, she began to pray, her elbows on her knees. “I will trust Thee for whatever is ahead and offer thanks for the answer when it comes. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

Straightening on the boxlike seat, Anna saw the robin fly back to the nest and settle in, warming the pretty blue eggs. I, too, must wait till the time is right, she thought, gazing at the mother robin. Till God opens the right door.

When Anna returned to the house, Glen and Sadie invited her to join them for supper and stay for Bible reading and prayer before her return trip. Sadie had such an encouraging smile on her round face that Anna couldn’t bear to disappoint her.

In passing, Glen mentioned the 1927 split of the Beachy Amish church from the original Casselman River Old Order Amish congregation in Somerset County. “If I remember correctly, your Mamm’s an Old Order Amish descendant . . . ain’t that right?”

Anna nodded. “And I’m told my paternal great-grandfather was one of the deacons before that.”