Free Love’s Journey Home by Kelly Irvin Page B

hoped.
    “You’re Mary Elizabeth Gless, aren’t you.” Mark’s voice interrupted Annie’s reverie.
     Her brother stood in the doorway, a twenty-five-pound bag of flour on his shoulder
     topped by another of sugar. He marched forward with a jaunty stride as if they weighed
     no more than a puppy. “I saw you at the parade.”
    The girl’s face turned pink once again. She barely glanced at Mark, instead giving
     Annie an imploring look. Annie took pity on her. “Jah, this is Mary Elizabeth. She’s
     come to work here. You’d best do the same. She’s on a try-out and she wants to do
     well so she doesn’t need you nattering on about parades and such.”
    “I only wanted to say hello and welcome.” Mark wasn’t one to be bullied—especially
     by a sister. “It’s the neighborly thing to do.”
    Annie doubted Mark’s intentions were that lofty. “Consider it said and take the pineapple
     sheet cake on the counter to Mrs. Fisher. While you’re out, stop at the IGA and pick
     up a large can of shortening. I’ve run short and the restaurant supply truck won’t
     be in town until tomorrow.”
    Mark dropped the bags at Annie’s feet and made a show of dusting his hands. “I’m off
     then.”
    “Thank you for the welcome.” Mary Elizabeth managed to summon the courage to take
     two steps in Mark’s direction. Annie hid a smile. “We’ve only been here a few days,
     but everyone has been real nice. Makes it easier.”
    “We’re pretty nice folks.” Mark tucked his thumbs under his suspenders. “You’ll see.”
    Annie suspected Mark would go to great lengths to make sure of that. She suppressed
     a sigh and turned back to cutting shortening into flour for the pie crusts. Those
     first baby steps in getting to know another person. The joy of the journey toward
     finding that individual who would be the one with whom a person could spend his life.
     Mark and Mary Elizabeth had that journey still in front of them. Perhaps with each
     other. Or with another. A journey full of delights and sorrows. Her own journey had
     ended abruptly in front of a white stone marker in a long row of identical headstones.
     She swallowed against the ache in her throat. She thought of Noah and began to count
     her blessings as she did each day. The ache didn’t ease.

    Helen added another dozen peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to a tray already laden
     with snickerdoodles, haystack cookies, and thimble cookies. She glanced around her
     kitchen. What else? Slices of banana bread. She wiped her hands on her apron and studied
     the tray. Enough? With Thomas and his crew, Gabriel and his boys, and Luke and his
     brothers, more than two dozen men and boys were working in front of the Crouch house.
     The tree had taken out two windows, knocked in part of the front living room wall,
     and damaged the wooden floor as well as any furniture in its wake. Rain soaked everything.
     The east side of the house stood in shambles.
    Better add the blueberry muffins too.
    Helen inhaled the scent of fresh wood planks and vinegar and water cleanser. Calm
     prevailed today. The storm, if nothing else, had put her problems in perspective.
     Everyone had survived safe and uninjured, just as they had been after Edmond’s escapade. Gott’s timing allowed for the children to be safe in their beds on the other side of the
     house when the tree fell. With the sun shining and the sky blue, the terrors of the
     storm dissipated, brushed away by the girls as they swept the areas the men cleared.
     Their excited, high-pitched chatter filled the air like birds singing in their nests.
    “Helen, where are you?”
    “Right at the counter, Mudder, getting ready to take snacks out to the men.”
    Mudder trundled into the kitchen, her cane making a clickety-clack sound on the vinyl
     linoleum. She didn’t seem any worse for the wear after the night’s adventure. No broken
     bones or even bruises, despite the force of Helen’s desperate shove to the