A Simple Charity Read Free

“Everything I love is here in Sugar Valley,” she had told him.
    “Not everything,” he’d said. “I’ll be heading back home next week, and I don’t want to go without you.”
    Verhuddelt
though it seemed, it had felt right as rain to follow him back here to Lancaster County and get married as soon as wedding season allowed.
    The Fisher clan was a family of bakers with a successful shop in the town, but her David had wanted to work the land. He had been handy with machinery and good with animals—apt skills for a farmer. They had been living in a small outbuilding on the Fisher farm, saving up for their own house, when David died in a farming accident. She had been hanging wash outside on the line when she got the word. And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, she was an Amish widow living in a settlement hundreds of miles from home.
    Although the community had supported her, she had not been comfortable living on their charity, and with her marriage so new, she never felt completely accepted by David’s family. Although the words were never said, she sensed that they were disappointed David didn’t choose a wife from here in Lancaster County. The family was never cruel to her, but she didn’t have a friend among them.
    Fanny had been making plans to return to Sugar Valley when the bishop had asked her to help out a family in need. Widower Thomas Lapp needed a woman to come in and do some cooking and cleaning and minding his young ones, seven-year-old Elsie, ten-year-old Emma, and Caleb, just coming into his teen years.Fanny had accepted because it was the charitable thing to do, and she’d stayed because the children had won her heart, along with their kind, thoughtful father.
    A gray cloud of grief had hung over her, but Fanny had learned how to occupy her hands to ease her mind. As months went by, her heart began to mend, and Tom and the children kept her on her toes. One year after David’s death, to the day, Tom came into the quiet kitchen while she was cutting vegetables and the children were off doing chores. His muscular arms were brown against the blue of his shirt, and instead of taking his usual seat at the table, he had stood behind her, his hat in his hand.
    “It’s time that we talk, Fanny.” She turned to find his eyes gleaming, his fingers pinching the brim of his hat nervously. “I haven’t said anything until now, out of respect to David, may he rest in peace. But I want you to know that I believe Gott sent you to us. You’re like a part of the family now. And I’m asking if, well, if you ever see fit to court again, I’d like to be on the top of your list.”
    Fanny told Tom that she hadn’t planned to court again—and she held true to that plan for a few weeks. But as time passed, she had realized that, in large and small ways, Tom Lapp had become a good friend to her. A dear friend. And though she tried to push him away, after a year of working in his household, he had already found a place in her heart. He didn’t pressure her, but he was always there by her side, kind and good.
    “How is it that the carrots have all this space, and yet they grow right against each other?” she had asked Tom one day as they worked together in the garden. “See this?” She held up two fat carrots that had twined so close, they were nearly one.
    Tom had stepped over the broccoli and come to kneel by her side as he examined the tangled carrots. “Maybe carrots are like people,” he said, pushing back the brim of his hat so that she couldsee the glimmer in his eyes. “No one should be alone. People could spread out over the land, and yet, we live together. A community, a family. A couple.”
    With a broad smile, she put the two carrots in her pail. “I was only talking about vegetables, Tom.”
    “I know. But I’ve been looking for a way to talk about this, and carrots are as good as any.” He took her hands in his, capturing her eyes. “Marry me, Fanny. You know I love you, and you’re