The Matchmaker by Sarah Price

Gideon, which only caused young Henry and John Junior to beg to hear the story about how their daed had let a cow escape the dairy rather than milk it at chore time.
    Listening to Gideon tell the story, Emma found herself smiling. What a right gut daed he would have made , she thought.
    With lunch on the table, Irene called everyone to be seated. Henry assumed his position at the head of the table, and after he cleared his throat ever so slightly, everyone bowed their heads to say the silent blessing over the prepared food. When Henry shifted his weight, the subtle sign that prayer was over, a new round of activity resumed. Plates of bread and bowls of steaming vegetables were passed around the table, the adults helping to serve the younger children so that food was not spilled upon the fresh tablecloth.
    Henry opened up the conversation. “Gideon offered to plow the old garden patch, Emma,” he said as he reached for the boiled potatoes. “Fresh vegetables next year will keep us all healthy. I’m not too keen on those store-bought foods,you know. Those Englische use chemicals that are certainly killing us!”
    Exasperated, Emma rolled her eyes.
    Not one to be discouraged, he pointed his fork at Emma. “It’s true! And all those sweets with refined sugar!” Clicking his tongue in disgust, he shook his head and turned his attention to Irene. “You best be using only that organic sugar.”
    “I am, Daed .”
    Emma caught Irene’s eye when her daed wasn’t looking and mouthed the words I told you so . Both women suppressed their amusement and bent their heads down, choking back laughter by avoiding each other’s gaze. Even Hannah joined in, familiar by now with Henry’s concern for proper eating habits and good nutrition.
    Indeed, Henry’s concern was not a new one. His reputation among the g’may included more than just his being a godly man with a fierce sense of piety. He was also known to fret about just about anything and everything under the sun. As he continued to lecture Irene about what was permissible to feed his grandchildren, Emma caught a smile sneaking on Gideon’s face. When he glanced up and saw that he had been discovered, the smile turned into a grin and she too found herself smiling back.
    After tending to the needs of her kinner , Irene took a deep, satisfied breath and began to focus on enjoying her own food. “What news, Daed , of Francis Wagler? Has he come back to meet his new maem ?”
    “Nee ,” Henry replied, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand. “Curious that. I have heard nary a peep about him. Emma, what says Anna?”
    The eyes of the adults shifted to Emma, and for just a moment, she wanted to squirm. Instead, she merely shruggedher shoulders. “She shared a lovely letter that Francis had written to congratulate his daed and Anna. He apologized for not attending their wedding, but apparently his aendi in Ohio is ill.”
    With a disgusted wave of his hand, Henry dismissed Emma’s comment. “That woman never was well thought of! Never letting that boy come back to Lancaster and making Samuel travel to Ohio to see him.”
    “Daed ,” Irene said softly. “He is a young man now who can make up his own mind.”
    Despite the validity of Irene’s comment, Henry shook his head in disgust. “Bah!”
    Gideon spoke up next. “I never quite understood that arrangement, I confess,” he stated, properly setting his fork down on the side of his plate.
    Henry shook his head. “None of us did, Samuel most of all, I imagine.”
    For a moment a silence befell the table. To speak further of the situation would be inappropriate in front of the young kinner . However, Emma knew that everyone was thinking back to the year when Francis’s maem had passed away and her older schwester had convinced Samuel to allow her to raise the young boy. What was to start out as just a few months had turned into several years. With Samuel left in Lititz to tend to his aging parents and work toward