Chapter Four
Once the four women had left, Elias looked over at John, who had started to walk back to his workshop.
“What do you mean, you have familye outside of the community, John?” Elias asked.
“I suppose we all do, in some manner of the word,” he said.
“In my particular case, they all happen to be in London. My great-great-great-grandfather moved to the United States and left them all behind. I didn’t know any of this until my rumspringa when I got placed with an Englischer familye who had a big interest in genealogy.
” He shrugged. “I’ve been able to keep in touch with Hannah’s father, a wunderbar mann named David.
Never mentioned anything about Hannah wanting to learn more about her familye out here.
Otherwise, I would have started writing to her and introduced myself that way.
Might have saved her some anguish about making sure she had the right community. ”
“Well, I’m glad that they do have the right community,” Elias said. “I was a little caught off-guard by her accent, but it’s quite sweet to the ear.”
John smiled a little.
“Are you wondering if she’d like to court you?”
“A little bit, but I know it entirely depends on whether or not she decides that the Amish life is for her,” Elias shared. “What would you suggest I do?”
“Well, she’s going to be here for a couple of days.
And it sounds like they like you enough to consider you a tour guide,” John said.
“I would start there. Just be a friend to her. If she decides she likes the way of life, or you, enough that she wants to explore more, then you can be a resource for her.”
Elias nodded slowly. That was entirely true.
While he wasn’t sure how quickly that decision would be made, he was sure that he could at least help her make it.
The best way to do that was to show her the community as it was, without trying to influence her decision either way.
He was silently glad she had decided to visit during the summer.
If they had visited during the winter, there was a good chance they wouldn’t have been able to navigate the road between the community and the hotel to get their things.
The path to the city was usually covered in snow. It was also not a priority for the snow plow to clear. Usually, they’d let the sun do the clearing for them.
“Now, go, Elias,” John said. “It’s my lunchtime, and I don’t normally take meetings during lunch.”
“Danke for delaying just enough to see them,” Elias said. “I’m sure Hannah appreciates it more than any of her friends, and I know that I appreciate it quite a bit.”
John nodded as he walked into the back room.
With that, Elias left and made his way back to his farm.
His duties had been delayed an hour because of this unforeseen distraction.
It wasn’t a bad delay. It was, however, a delay.
Some of the animals were already cranky, having been made to wait for their food to be replenished.
That was easily fixed, and the crankiness soothed. He just wanted this farm to run smoothly. To do that, he knew he’d eventually have to find someone to help him, whether that was a partner on the farm or a fraa to run the household.
It didn’t matter much to him, but he felt that finding a fraa would at least go a long way toward keeping him saner.
He took in a deep breath before finishing the chores that he had started. It wouldn’t do him any good to get distracted by something he couldn’t control right now. All he could do was hope she would want to have dealings with him beyond his role as a tour guide.
What he did know for sure was that he needed to get these chores done before they returned.
He wasn’t sure how far it was of a drive to the hotel they had been staying at.
However, four women staying in the same room meant that everything was going to be a jumbled mess.
He predicted that he’d have plenty of time to take care of the animals, and perhaps get some weeding done, so long as nothing unexpected popped up.
Two hours later, Elias met the women where he had first come across them. They parked their car in the same little lot, and he showed them to John’s haus.
His fraa, Olivia, was indeed there to meet them. He wasn’t sure whether she had been told about the unplanned houseguests. When she answered his knock with a welcoming smile, Elias was sure that John had managed to get word to her.
“John told me all about you four heading to our haus. Please, kumm in. All of you,” Olivia said. “Danke for showing them here, Elias. I wasn’t sure that I’d have time to get all the way down to the little lot to fetch them myself if you never showed up with them.”
“I’m their tour guide for the next two days,” Elias said softly. “I’m sure that it’s all part of the job description somehow.”
This got a laugh out of the four women, who then introduced themselves to Olivia. Upon hearing Hannah’s accent, Olivia was intrigued. They didn’t hear many accents here beyond Pennsylvanian Dutch and German, which were widespread throughout the community.
“Well, you’re going to get stares the entire time you’re here, Hannah. That’s a beautiful accent,” Olivia said. “We don’t hear too many British accents here.”
“I figured that one out the moment everyone started staring at me,” Hannah shared. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to just put my stuff down and see the community.”
“If it’s all right with you, Hannah, the rest of us want naps,” Jasmine said.
“That’s fine.”