Chapter Nineteen
At the end of the semester, Hannah deplaned in Pennsylvania.
She had coordinated with John and Elias to get a ride back to the community late at night.
It was John who had made the ride. He and Olivia had rented a hotel room for the three of them, with two beds they would share tonight, and then tomorrow they were off to the community once again.
John had been thrilled to hear that she wanted to see if her life would be much improved by the way the Amish lived.
Elias had been more thrilled to hear that she loved him, from the sound of his letter to her after she had admitted she wanted to return when the semester was up.
She’d officially withdrawn from school now, and she wanted to do this properly.
Her parents were a little skeptical, of course, but they were sure that she was doing what she needed to do for herself.
By the time she got through security, she was glad to see John and Olivia.
They quickly drew her into a hug and then bundled her up in a cloak to head out to the car waiting for them.
They were taking a buggy back to the community tomorrow, but this was far more practical on the streets to and from the airport.
The next morning, after breakfast, they were on the road.
Thankfully, no snow had had time to set and freeze yet.
She was glad for that. It meant they would have an easier time getting out to the community than they otherwise might have.
That was the only issue with finishing the semester at the beginning of the winter.
She had gone back in September and seen the fall term through to Christmas.
One more semester, she’d decided, had been enough.
“Elias has been excited to see you since you told him that you were returning in your letters,” John said as they worked their way up to the community. “I hear you have to get a different kind of visa. Is everything going well with that?”
“Everything’s going as well as can be expected, I think,” she answered honestly.
“I’ve shared my situation with the consulate in the capital, and they’re going to be handling my case.
They’ll have someone coming to me instead of making me come to them because of the religious conversion involved.
I think they want to be sure that I’m earnest in that regard. ”
Olivia frowned a little.
“Sounds like it’s going to be invasive…”
“The bishop is already aware, as I got his address from Elias and wrote to him myself to inform him that all of this would be going on before I started the process. He’s not happy about it but understands that it has to happen so that I can convert peacefully without the years-long process of becoming a citizen.
I don’t want to be a citizen of this country, honestly,” Hannah stated.
There were some pros to getting citizenship, but there weren’t nearly enough for her to justify the cost. It would have been a lot of money and a lot of waiting.
That was hardly what she wanted to have to worry about right now.
All she wanted to worry about was how she could make sure she found her way to the Amish community she wanted to call home.
She wanted to worry about finding her way home to Elias, first and foremost.
“Well, I see that there’s going to be a lot going on in your life for the next little while,” Olivia said. “Are you sure you can handle doing everything all at once?”
“I think so,” Hannah said.
The rest of the ride to the community wasn’t nearly as full of conversation. She wanted to wait and give the rest of the talk while Elias was in the room with them. That would save her from having to give her speech multiple times.
She took in a deep breath as they arrived at John and Olivia’s house. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but she was glad they had finally arrived.
“Well, here we are. You’ll be in the same room that you were in last time you were here,” John said as they arrived. “If you’ll excuse us, we have a ton of things to do because we were out last night. We need to be sure our haus is still in order.”
“Of course. I can put the room in order myself so long as I know where everything is,” she said.
With that, she took her single suitcase upstairs.
She had only brought a small carry-on because she hadn’t wanted to overpack.
Even with all of that, she suspected she had overpacked a smidge because there were a few things that she wasn’t ready to part with yet.
They were smaller items, given to her by her parents.
Surely, everyone here would understand, right?
She had only been able to unpack her suitcase and get all her clothing settled into the wardrobe when someone else arrived downstairs. Out of curiosity, she headed downstairs, only to find Elias had come to see her.
“I wanted to know that you had arrived safely,” he said as he walked over to her. “I’m glad you’ve arrived. And safely. When John and Olivia told me you were coming, I wanted to join them in picking you up at the airport. I couldn’t.”
“It’s all right, Elias,” she said. “You’re here now. Why don’t you sit down? I have some information you might be interested in.”