Chapter 1
James Graber inhaled the crisp October air and grinned up at the rising sun. It was his wedding day! All his life he'd lived in anticipation of something grand, something beyond the immense satisfaction of his carriage-making trade, and finally, in about an hour, he would achieve that dream when Suzanna Lambright became his wife.
As he gazed across the road, at the lane where horse-drawn carriages were entering in a steady stream, the Lambright place took on a new glow in his eyes. There was the Cedar Creek Mercantile, where Zanna's elder brother, Sam, sold groceries and dry goods and where her sister, Abby, ran her sewing business. Beside it, Treva Lambright, Zanna's mamm, had a glass greenhouse where she raised and sold a variety of vegetables and flowers. Down the long drive stood the tall white farmhouse where Treva lived with Sam's family-his wife, Barbara, and their four children, Matt, Phoebe, Ruth, and Gail. And farther up the lane was the little home Abby had built for herself this past spring. These places, surrounded by sheep sheds, the barn, and acres of rolling green pasture, felt more special to James today, even though he saw them every time he stepped off his own front porch.
And who could believe all these wedding guests? Nearly four hundred family and friends-some from as far away as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana-were arriving to celebrate with the Grabers and the Lambrights, families who had moved here to Missouri generations ago. The clip-clop! clip-clop! of the horses' hooves made his heart sing to their ageless rhythm.
ZAN-na! ZAN-na! James heard in that beat. Silly, the things he thought of when he envisioned her pretty face as she gazed at him in that playful way she had. Lord, please help me make her happy every single day of our lives!
James was glad to be marrying on a perfect autumn day, after the harvest was in but before the traditional marriage month, because it meant these folks from back East had a chance to celebrate with them. Here in Missouri, Old Order Amish married anytime during the year, not just in November, when the many weddings meant that folks had to pick and choose which ones they attended. And what a backdrop the countryside provided; the sweet gum and maple trees blazed in their red and orange glory, with a hint of frost to make them sparkle in the sunrise.
James's younger sister, Emma, joined him in front of the house, smoothing her new purple dress. "That's a mighty fine smile you're wearing, brother. I hope to see it gracing your ugly face every day from here on out," she said, her brown eyes sparkling.
James cocked an eyebrow. "And what would you have to make fun of if I were a handsome man, Emma?" he countered with a laugh. "Zanna thinks I'm downright perfect, you know."
"Gut thing, too. Old as you're getting, none of the other girls would have you."
"We'll see what you say about that when you're within spitting distance of thirty," James shot back. Then, with a welling up of love for this young woman who kept their household running as well as anyone could now that their parents were aging, he slipped his arm around her. "Denki for keeping Mamm's head from spinning off these last couple weeks, getting ready for this wedding," he murmured. "A lot of the weight falls on your shoulders, taking care of her and Dat."
"They're our parents, James. They've been taking care of us all our lives."
"Of course they have, Emmie, but..." James sighed, focusing on the window of Zanna's upstairs room in the white farmhouse across the road. He couldn't see inside, of course, but he liked to imagine her there...putting on her new blue dress and white apron about now, with Treva and Abby helping her get ready. "Not my place to ask Mamm and Dat to move into the dawdi haus, but I can't help wondering...Do you think it'll go all right, when Zanna comes to live with us?" he asked quietly. "Mamm's tongue wags pretty constant and cuts pretty sharp, and we all know how Dat's hearing gets worse, and his brain a little fuzzier, when he doesn't want to listen to all her carrying-on. And neither of them is able to handle anywhere near as much as they used to."
"Zanna's known them all her life, same as everybody hereabouts. It's not like she's walking in blind," Emma replied, resting her head on his shoulder. It was a rare moment of physical affection from this girl, who was usually busy at the stove or the sink or the washer, or looking after their parents, while he built custom carriages in his shop beside the house. "Truth be told, brother, Zanna's all grins and giggles when she talks about you. Her eyes light up, and she's been a different girl since you asked for her hand. I'm real happy for the both of you."
James smiled. His sister hadn't been as generous with her praise for other young women he'd courted over the years. Maybe he was making up things to worry about-wondering how Zanna would adjust to the Graber household-which wasn't normally his way. All in all, his times with Zanna had been among the happiest he'd known. He looked forward to a long life with her and many children to bless them.
Even Sam, James's good friend and Zanna's older brother, had remarked what a fine couple they made-and had thanked James for asking to court Zanna rather than keeping his intentions secret, as was the custom. James had felt that the passing last spring of Leroy Lambright, Sam and Zanna's dat and the head of the Lambright household, was an important reason to get Sam's blessing early on, out of respect for Leroy and the family's feelings. Sam had said right out that he thought James would be the steadying influence his youngest sister needed now that their father was gone.
Imagine that-Sam Lambright, a stickler for the proper order of things, thought he, James Graber, could fashion Suzanna into a fine wife and mother. James suspected that might take some doing. Zanna wasn't one who took to being molded into anyone else's ideal. But what a happy challenge it presented. And what a fine-looking woman she'd grown to be. Truth be told, James secretly admired her tendency to think and speak for herself rather than to automatically submit to the men in her life.
"Over the next several weekends you'll spend visiting kin and collecting your wedding presents, we'll all have time to adjust to Zanna's being in the family," his sister continued. "It's the same kind of change every family goes through after a wedding."
"Change has never been Dat's favorite thing. And he hasn't been the same since his stroke."
"And Mamm's gotten crankier, keeping after him. There's that," Emma agreed with a sigh. "But Lord love them, they're getting by as best they can. I'll work on them while you and Zanna make your family calls these coming weeks. They may as well get used to the fact that their last two kids have lives of their own."
And what would they do when Emma married? James wondered. Would she move away like their two elder sisters, Iva and Sharon, had? James breathed in deeply and then exhaled, consciously relaxing the tightness this thought caused in his belly. Inevitably, the day would come when his sweet, capable sister would cleave to her own husband and start a home...which would leave him, as the only son, and Zanna, as his wife, to care for his parents. As well they should.
But this was no time for such concerns. His bride was waiting for him. James lightly kissed Emma's temple and then released her. "I'd best go over to help Sam with the last-minute details. See you in a few. Or would you rather I took Dat over to-"
"Get out of here! What with Daniel and Amos, our big, burly brothers-in-law, staying with us last night, I've got lots of help with Dat this morning. And Sharon and Iva are in there helping him dress." Emma shook her white apron at him to send him on his way. "If you dare to poke your face into that Lambright kitchen full of women, you might see how Mamm's doing. Tell her I'll be there directly."
James hurried down his family's gravel lane, pleased to see the pie pumpkins that remained in Emma's garden. He stopped beside his shop to wave at Zeke and Eva Detweiler in one buggy, and the two buggies full of Detweiler children that followed them-including the carriage he'd designed to accommodate young Joel's wheelchair. Then he crossed the road and strode alongside the mercantile, which was closed on this Thursday so the Lambrights could celebrate this special day.
It struck James how many of the tipped-up buggies behind the Lambright barn had come from Graber Custom Carriages-how every family in Cedar Creek depended on his vehicles and repair work. It was a blessing, indeed, to live among the friends he served and to be entrusted with getting their families where they needed to go. And today it seemed every man, woman, and child for miles around was showing up to wish him and Zanna well. Fellows in their black hats and suits stood chatting in clusters outside the house while their wives gathered in the kitchen to finish preparing the wedding feast.
He gazed again at Zanna's upstairs bedroom window. As he recalled tossing pebbles against it those first Saturday nights he'd courted her, James grinned like a kid. She'd looked so pretty in the moonlight, smiling down at him before she letting him into the kitchen. She'd seemed tickled that a successful, established fellow she knew so well wanted to win her heart.
Had Zanna come downstairs for the wedding yet? Did she feel as frisky and excited as a new foal, the way he did? In his black vest, trousers, and high-topped shoes, with a radiant white shirt, James was filled with an excitement he'd never known. He greeted Matt's border collies, Panda and Pearl, with exuberant pats on their black and white heads. "Dressed for the wedding, I see," he teased.
In less than an hour, Zanna would be seated with him and their four newehockers. It might be difficult to sit through most of the long wedding service, and Bishop Gingerich's lengthy sermon, before they were at last called to stand before this gathering of family and friends.
James paused when a familiar figure stepped out the Lambrights' front door. Ordinarily folks came and went through the kitchen entry, but something about Abby Lambright's expression announced that she was on no ordinary mission. She glanced across the yard, where their many male guests stood visiting, and then she headed straight for him.
"Gut morning, Abby!" he called out, hoping to dispel her gloomy frown as she pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. Abby was a maidel, a few years older than he, and in his entire life he'd never known her to raise her voice or lose her temper.
"James," she replied with a stiff nod. Her eyes looked puffy, but her gaze didn't waver as she stopped a few feet in front of him. "There's something we've got to tell you, James. And since Sam's talking with the bishop, he's asked me to let you know that...Well, there's no easy way to say it."
Frowning, he stepped closer. "Did somebody fall sick? Or get hurt carrying all those tables and pews and-"
"I wish it were as simple as that," Abby interrupted. She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "James, Zanna is nowhere to be found. As far as we can tell, she didn't sleep in her bed last night...and we have no idea where she might have gone."
Chapter 2
Abby regretted being the bearer of this bad news. James surely must have felt like he'd been kicked in the chest by a spooked horse. As he crushed the brim of his hat in his sturdy hands, Abby ached for this man in ways he couldn't imagine. Never had she felt more embarrassed and sickened and worried.
"What do you mean, Zanna's nowhere to be found?" James demanded. They might have been talking in a cavernous empty room, the way their voices had become hollow with shock.
Abby cleared her throat. "I spent the night in my own house-to leave more room for out-of-town kin here at Sam's-so I'm not sure what all was said and done," she hastened to explain. "But when Phoebe and Ruthie heard Zanna slipping downstairs in the wee hours, they thought she was meeting up with you."
He swallowed so hard his Adam's apple bobbed above his black bow tie. "But I was home last night, keeping Dat and Mamm settled so they'd be rested for today's festivities."
"I know that, James, and-and I'm so sorry this has happened." She gazed at him with as much compassion as she dared. This was no time to pour out her personal feelings. Her little sister had done something beyond belief, beyond unthinkable. And now their two families and four hundred guests were about to suffer for it. "Matt and Sam drove out looking for her earlier, as soon as we realized she was missing, but they didn't find her."
James crammed his hat on his head and then yanked it off again. "Missing?" he said hoarsely. "How does a girl in a house full of folks, with a brother who lets no one get away with any shenanigans, go missing on her wedding day?"
"If we knew the answer to that, maybe we'd know where to look. Or what she was thinking, to disappear this way." Abby shrugged, helpless and at a loss for the right words. "Sam and Matt came back without her, knowing we had to decide what all to do by the time the bishop got here."
Abby glanced back at the house. She simply couldn't burden poor James with their other discovery-Zanna's new blue wedding dress snipped to ribbons and left lying on her bedroom floor. If that sight had torn her heart in two, what might it do to James, her lifelong friend, who was looking more devastated by the second? "Mamm's fit to be tied-same as your mamm," she said sadly, "while Barbara and the girls are fretting over all the food that's been fixed. And now hundreds of people are arriving, expecting a wedding."
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