“Many years ago, before all the extra attractions were added. Glen took me on a trolley tour of Hershey with several of our older children.”

“I think the trolley still runs.”

Sadie’s eyebrows lifted. “Is that right?”

“We didn’t ride it today, but sometime I might.” She paused. “Need any help?”

“Ach, nothin’ to it,” Sadie said, picking up the roaster. “Now I chust slip this in the oven for an hour or so. You go an’ relax a bit.”

“Okay, then.” Anna walked through the sitting room to her room, where she closed the door and sat on the bed, recalling the day. Mart had seemed so friendly and attentive, and there’d been that flirtatious wink. Did he want to date her at some point? And if so, how would she feel about it?

Chapter 23

SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 1948

Eliza felt frozen in place under the tall pin oak as Eb motioned to her. Except for his white shirt, buttoned at the throat, he was dressed head to toe in black. She’d already come this far from Great-aunt Joanna’s farmhouse, but suddenly she was having second thoughts.

“What’s a-matter?” he asked, inching toward her.

“Not sure why I’m here,” she managed to say, not admitting that she shouldn’t be. But he surely knows I’m breaking the rules. . . .

Eb chuckled. “Well, since we can’t spend time together where we can be seen, this seemed like a gut place.” He waved for her to follow him. “Besides, I wanted to show you something.”

It was getting darker, and without the moon’s brilliance, she might have felt even more hesitant. She honestly wished that Eb had stayed on the other side of the stone wall. Then she remembered what her parents had told her about their family’s past and how their Beachy church had broken away from the Old Order. There’s more than one boundary between us. . . .

Looking around her at the shadowy world, she thought of how Eb had shared about his own parents being forbidden to court, since his father was Old Order and Eb’s mother had been a Mennonite. Eliza had been very curious about that.

Finally, she agreed. “Well, since I’m here . . .”

Eb flashed a grin. “I wanted to tell ya the rest of my parents’ story. Under the covering of night, they spent a lot of time talking right here where we’re standin’. Sometimes, when Dat couldn’t get a chance to see her, he left her special notes hidden in the stacked stones of this very wall. And in time, she started leavin’ some for him, too.”

Eliza thought that his parents had taken a big risk sneaking around for their relationship, just as she and Eb were now.