The Amish Bride by Emma Miller Page A

arriving, as well as families on foot. The night’s fare was a haystack supper, which meant that food tables would be set buffet-style with huge bowls of seasoned ground meat, shredded cheese, cooked rice, shredded lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peas, raw shredded carrots, chopped celery, green peppers, sliced pineapple, crumbled potato chips, Ritz crackers and corn chips and sunflower seeds. Guests could choose any combination they wanted and top it with melted cheese, salad dressing or sour cream.
    Serving at a haystack meal was easy because each person took his or her own plate, helped themselves and returned to the table, where pitchers of iced tea, lemonade and ice water were readily available, as well as yeast rolls, butter and homemade jams and jellies. Part of the fun of the evening’s meal was that, unlike Sunday communal dinners, there was no hierarchy in seating arrangements. Tonight the only rule was that everyone ate together, and people sat male, female, male, female. It didn’t matter if you were married or single; the point was to interact with friends, guests and relatives in a relaxed atmosphere and make everyone feel welcome. Ellen hoped to keep busy in the kitchen or refilling the bowls of haystack filling. Thus, she reasoned, she could tactfully avoid being seated next to either of the Shetler brothers. Unfortunately, her wish wasn’t to be.
    No sooner had Ellen and Saloma helped to carry out the last bowl of cheese sauce than Dinah appeared behind them, thanked them for their help and waved them toward a half-empty table of younger people. “You girls go on and enjoy yourselves,” she urged. “It was kind of you to help out, but it’s time you had some fun.”
    “But you may need someone to go for refills,” Ellen offered.
    Dinah chuckled. “I believe Lizzie, Naomi and I can handle that, dear. You two go along now. Find some nice young man and sit by him.”
    “You heard her,” Saloma whispered when Dinah bustled away to seat an English family who’d just arrived. “Maybe I can find an empty seat next to Micah or that sweet Abram Peachy. He was dating someone from one of the other church districts, but I heard she’s going with a stone mason from Bird-In-Hand now.”
    “You’d better hurry,” Ellen said. “If Abram’s available again, he won’t be for long. Look, there he is.” She smiled at Saloma and moved away.
    There was quite a crowd gathering for the fund-raiser. Ellen spotted Neziah’s Joel seated between two girls; she didn’t see Neziah, Micah or little Asa. She drifted toward the place where the elders were seated, noting that her mother and father, Bishop Andy and a local Mennonite couple had settled at a table. Simeon was there, as well, Asa on his knee. Dr. Gruwell, a popular pediatrician who made house calls to the Amish, was laughing at something Ellen’s
mam
had just said, and his wife was deep in conversation with Neziah and Micah’s
Grossmutter
Lydia.
    Where to sit?
Ellen’s gaze drifted beyond the schoolhouse to an orchard. When she was small and troubled, she would retreat to a big black cherry tree at the edge of the woods line. She would climb high into the branches, find her favorite fork in the trunk and sit there looking out at the valley until she figured out a solution. She’d loved the solitude, the peaceful sound of the birds and the stirring of green leaves around her. What she needed was an hour or two in a treetop to think.
    So many decisions to make...
    First, did she want to be married to one of the Shetler boys? Second, which one would she prefer, Micah or Neziah? Marriage to Micah would never be dull. They had so much in common, and their household would always be merry. Or, should she try to reclaim what she’d once felt for Neziah? She sighed. Round and round like a snapping turtle in a barrel. Her thoughts kept coming back to memories that she’d tried so hard to erase.
    “Ellen! Come here a moment.” Dinah motioned from the end of the