Amish Homecoming. Jo Ann Brown

was only a neighbor.

      “I’m sorry you had to hear that,” Leah said as she stared at the now empty lane. “The change has been harder on her than I expected it to be. I tried to live plain in the city, but Johnny consented to letting her have a cell phone, which he allowed her to use whenever she wanted.”

      “So he didn’t want her to grow up with our ways?”

      “It wasn’t that. It was more he couldn’t deny her anything she wanted.”

      Seeing the grief in her eyes, he wondered if she was thinking of her brother or her niece or both of them. “Why isn’t Mandy with her mamm?”

      “I don’t know where she is. After Johnny’s accident, Carleen spent more and more time away from the apartment. One day she was gone. She left a note saying that she couldn’t handle the situation any longer. She refused to marry Johnny because she wasn’t ready to settle down. She surely hadn’t expected to be tied down to an invalid.” Her voice grew taut. “Or tied down to a baby. She took the money we had, as well as everything that was hers, and vanished. We never heard from her again.”

      “Does Mandy know?”

      She shook her head. “Johnny and I shielded her from the truth. No kind should think she’s unwanted.” Squaring her shoulders, she said, “But Mandy isn’t unwanted. In spite of what she said, she knows I love her, and she’s already beginning to love her family here. She will adjust soon.”

      “And what about you?”

      She frowned at him. “What do you mean? I’m happy to be back home, and I don’t have much to adjust to other than the quiet at night. Philadelphia was noisy.”

      “I wasn’t talking about that.” He hesitated, not sure how to say what he wanted without hurting her feelings.

      “Oh.” Her smile returned, but it was unsteady. “You’re talking about us. We aren’t kinder any longer, Ezra. I’m sure we can be reasonable about this strange situation we find ourselves in,” she said in a tone that suggested she wasn’t as certain as she sounded. Uncertain of him or of herself?

      “I agree.”

      “We are neighbors again. We’re going to see each other regularly, but it’d be better if we keep any encounters to a minimum.” She faltered before hurrying on. “Who knows? We may even call each other friend again someday, but until then, it’d probably be for the best if you live your life and I live mine.” She backed away. “Speaking of that, I need to go and console Mandy.” Taking one step, she halted. “Danki for letting her name the cow. That made her happier than I’ve seen her since...”

      She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to. His heart cramped as he thought of the sorrow haunting both Leah and Mandy. They had both lost someone very dear to them, the person Leah had once described to him as “the other half of myself.”

      The very least he could do was agree to her request that was to everyone’s benefit. Even though he knew she was right, he also knew there was no way he could ignore Leah Beiler.

      Yet, somehow, he needed to figure out how to do exactly that.