Chapter 18
Choosing Home
Daniel stared at Hannah as if she had suddenly turned into a chicken. Disbelief and confusion shone in his eyes as he searched hers. However, it was hard because she was staring into the cup as if it held all the answers.
A small chuckle escaped him. “I should’ve known you would be graceful and kind.”
Hannah looked up at him with tears shining in her eyes.
“Instead of angry and hurt?”
Daniel shrugged.
“Most women would be angry and hurt, perhaps even self-serving. But not you, Hannah. That’s what makes me realize that I made the right decision.”
Hannah nodded demurely. “When will you leave?”
“Hannah,” Daniel said, taking the cup from her. He set down the cup and reached for both her hands, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“I’m not leaving.”
Hannah frowned, baffled by his words.
“I don’t understand. You can’t work the Hostetler farm whilst living here. Traveling to and from – it would waste too much time.”
“I’m not going to travel back and forth either, Hannah,” Daniel let the words sink in.
Hannah’s eyes widened. He could see that she needed him to say the words; she refused to rely on her own intuition. Daniel had never been a man of many words, but for Hannah, he would string them together as best he could.
“Take a walk with me, jah?”
Hannah hesitated for a moment before she got to her feet. Without asking, Daniel reached for her hand as they walked in the moonlight towards the fields.
“I went there today with the hopes of farming the land generations of Hostetlers have done before me. To reclaim what I believed was where I belonged,” Daniel continued quietly.
“Only when I got there, it felt empty.”
Hannah glanced at him briefly.
“Although the bones are still the same, the haus no longer feels like home. The barn no longer carries the scent of my daed’s tobacco and the fields no longer call to me like they did when I worked them with my daed, Hannah.”
“What are you saying?” Hannah asked quietly, as if her words would disturb the quiet peace of the evening that had settled around them.
“I’m saying that it took leaving for a very long time, and meeting you, to finally realize that home wasn’t a memory, Hannah.
Home is where the heart is, and without realizing it, Hannah, you snuck in and stole my heart.
My familye farm no longer holds appeal because you’re not there.
This is your home, and if you’ll let it, I’d like it to be my home too. ”
Daniel held her gaze, searching for a sign, any indication that she wanted him to stay.
She shook her head.
“But your farm… your childhood… your daed…” she babbled senselessly.
“Will all be cherished in the memories I carry in my heart. But it’s time for me to look towards the future, Hannah. A future I want to spend with you. A future I want us to spend here, on your familye farm. I’ll always be a Hostetler, but this here, the Peachy farm, has become my home.”
Daniel turned away, then stared into the fields covered in darkness.
“I want to build a life here with you, Hannah. I want to help you care for your schweschders, work these fields, and honor the memory of your parents. I want us to have a familye here; a seeh I can teach how to farm and a dochder you’ll teach how to sew and cook. “
When he met her gaze again, there was hope in her gaze. “What I’m trying to say is, Hannah, I choose you. I choose our future. Will you allow me the privilege of officially courting you?”
Hannah’s mouth then curved into a smile. Not the hesitant smile he had come to know or the shy smile she used when he caught her off guard. But a smile filled with love, joy, and hope.
“I can’t wait for you to take me on our first buggy ride, Daniel.”
Daniel’s laughter blended with hers as he embraced her then. There were no more secrets, no more fears between them; instead, just the blessed hope of a shared future.
Suddenly, they heard clapping from the porch, only to turn and find Miriam and Lydia standing there, applauding them.
“Does this mean you’re getting married?” Lydia called out to them.
Hannah laughed. “Not just yet!”
Miriam laughed beside Lydia. “It means Daniel is staying. It means they’ve fallen in love.”
Lydia shrieked ecstatically. “Wunderbaar!”
Lydia was about to rush down the stairs towards them, but Miriam stopped her just in time. “Kumm, let’s give them a moment’s privacy, jah?”
Lydia retreated reluctantly back inside.
Hannah turned to Daniel with a cocked brow. “Are you sure you’re prepared for that?” she nodded towards the porch.
Daniel laughed as he embraced her a second time. “That’s been part of the appeal all along. I can’t wait until we have our own kinner to care for; I already know you’ll be a wunderbaar mamm.”
This time when she rested her head against his shoulder, Hannah knew the Lord hadn’t forgotten about her after all. He had a plan for her life all along, and now he was finally revealing to her what his plan had been.
For her to be blessed with a man who loved her, who would share all her burdens and stand by her side regardless of the challenges or losses they might face in the future.
The End.