“Maybe not,” he said. “But I’ll do my best to keep you comfortable. I promise that.”
“I’m not that bad,” Sarai said with a low laugh. “I cook, and I can shoot. I raise a quality flock of chickens, and I can sell eggs. That’s a start, at least. I can garden and I can produce, and I’m not a great seamstress, but I’ll put some effort into improving. I haven’t lived quite so frugally as I’ll have to yet, but I think I can do it.”
“You’d be willing to?” Arden asked, tugging her into his arms. She felt so right in his embrace, her dress catching on the front of his pant legs. She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling.
“It would be an adventure, all right.”
“But you’re saying you’d come,” he pressed. “Sarai, I need a clear answer here. I love you. I really, truly love you.”
“I love you, too, Arden.”
He was tempted to kiss her just then, but he needed that answer, so he held his breath, waiting.
“Yah, I’d come,” she said at last. “But only after a proper wedding.”
He couldn’t help the grin that split his face. “Of course! That’s what I want. I want to marry you, Sarai, and get down to the business of building a life together.”
“Then you have to ask me,” she said, a little smile teasing at her lips.
“Sarai Peachy, would you marry me?” he asked, and for a moment his heart refused to beat.
“Yah, Arden. I will.”
Arden lowered his lips over hers and tugged her closer into his arms. This was all he needed: Sarai in his arms and a wedding on the horizon. He could work day and night for a life with her, and he’d do whatever it took to set up a home to provide for them.
When they pulled back, he looked down into her face and felt such a surge of thankfulness that it nearly shook him.
This was what Gott’s grace looked like—the love of a woman he didn’t deserve and the undying determination to live a life to make both her and Gott proud of his efforts.
Gott was very, very good. And he couldn’t wait to start the rest of his life.
Epilogue
Sarai and Arden got married on a Tuesday in October. Sarai and her parents had visited the Stoltzfus home in Ohio that September, and they’d dropped off Sarai’s hope chest in the little addition to the family home where she and Arden would be starting their married life. As a special wedding gift to her, Arden had also built her a beautiful large chicken coop to get her started with a new flock of specialty hens.
Today, though, was the day that all of her and Arden’s planning would come together, and their life as a married couple would begin. Leaves blazed in oranges and yellows and crunched underfoot. The church benches were all filled up with guests sitting shoulder to shoulder, and there was a swarm of people in the standing-room space. This was mostly from Sarai’s friends, family and connections, but Arden’s family was here, too.
Sarai had two newehockers standing with her today—Verna and Naomi, who had come all the way from another community in Ohio to be at Sarai’s wedding for her. Naomi’s husband, Mose, was seated with the men, and every little while he’d turn in his seat and glance toward Naomi with a look of such love that Sarai hoped she and Arden would be the same. He was protective right now because Naomi was seven months pregnant with their first child. She couldn’t take three steps without Mose trying to help.
Sarai stood at the back of the tent next to a gas-run heater. Her blue wedding dress wasn’t quite warm enough until the tent warmed up, and the blast from the heater was welcome. The day was chilly but bright with golden sunlight, and Sarai sucked in a breath, trying to find some calm.
“Where is he?” Sarai whispered.
Verna and Naomi looked around. Arden hadn’t arrived at the tent yet, and Sarai’s stomach knotted. All of her extended family was here, as well as his. Their friends and friends of friends who were excited about enjoying the first wedding of the season were all in attendance, lining the benches and whispering in anticipation. Young people would be hoping to meet their own match today.
“There,” Verna whispered, and she pointed.
Arden had slipped in at the front, and he stood to the side with his own newehockers—his brother and his cousin. Arden’s gaze swept the crowd, and when he saw her, a smile spread over his face in a look of relief.
He was here. The knot in her stomach loosened. That was all that mattered—that he was here. Everything else today could unfold any way it pleased. All she needed was for Arden to promise to be hers, and they could handle the rest.
“Let’s get you up to the front,” Naomi whispered. “See, Arden’s heading for the chairs.”
It would be a long service. There would be hours of preaching, singing, recitations...
Sarai let them usher her up to the front of the tent, where the bishop waited with an indulgent smile on his face. Her parents were already seated in the front rows with Arden’s parents.
But it was when Arden turned and their eyes met that she felt like her knees might buckle. She sank into the chair that had been set for her, and Arden sat down in the wooden chair meant for him, a proper eighteen inches apart.
“Ready?” Arden whispered, and he shot her one of his heart-stopping grins.
She nodded. Vows would be said, sermons preached and songs sung. She’d remember very little of it. But this moment—looking at Arden as they got ready for this leap—was a memory that would always remain.
“I’m ready,” she whispered back.
And she meant it with every fiber of her being. She was ready for anything life threw at them—challenges, happiness, long winters, hot summers and hopefully a houseful of babies to raise together.
She was ready for blessings—the obvious kind and the kind that came at a couple by surprise. She was ready for hard work, for struggles, for resting in her husband’s arms and for growing their future together.
Because if there was one thing Sarai was absolutely certain of, it was that Arden was the man for her. Gott had reassured her of that over and over again as she prepared for this wedding. With Arden at her side and Gott leading, she could face anything.
Today, however, this beautiful life began with a vow. Would she promise to love and support Arden, honor and cherish him, as long as they both should live?
And the answer to that was as deep as her heartbeat.
Yes. She would be his. He would be hers. She couldn’t wait!
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