Anna's Forgotten Fiance by Carrie Lighte

Author:Carrie Lighte
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

On Thursday morning, Anna lay in bed, thinking about the previous evening. As euphoric as she was that her memories were starting to return, she simultaneously felt let down by Fletcher’s subdued reaction. In response to her news, she had imagined a scenario in which he would have picked her up, twirled her around and declared there was no better “birthday” gift he could have received than having her memory come back. Instead, he hardly uttered a word about it and he noticeably flinched when she later took his hand in hers to soften it with salve.

Wasn’t he a physically demonstrative person? Try as she did to recall, she couldn’t summon any recollection of the two of them holding hands or embracing before her accident. After her accident, he’d occasionally offered his hand or arm to steady her, but not as a spontaneous gesture of affection. Perhaps his reticence was simply part of his personality. Or was he upset by something else? Had she done something to perturb him? Was he taken aback that she shared the story of his original birthday party with everyone else?

There was only one way to find out: talk to him. He’d indicated he wanted them to be open with each other, didn’t he? That was her desire, too. Anna quickly rose, donned her kapp and thanked the Lord for the memory He’d restored and for those yet to come. Then she finished dressing, made her bed and tiptoed out of the room in order not to wake Melinda.

After making oatmeal with raisins for her brothers, she scribbled a quick note for Raymond to deliver to Fletcher. My dear Fletcher, she began, but then she feared he might think it sounded too coquettish. She ripped up the paper and started again. Fletcher, will you join us for supper at six o’clock? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. —Anna.

Aaron had arranged to pick Roy and Raymond up that morning, and as soon as his buggy departed the lane, Eli and Evan entered the kitchen.

“Eggs, oatmeal, or cinnamon raisin French toast, boys?” she asked them.

“French toast, please!” they chorused.

“How did I know?” Anna chuckled as she sliced the loaf of bread Naomi made the day before.

The boys sat quietly at the table, rubbing their eyes and chatting with Anna as she made their breakfast. She was glad her stepmother was catching a few extra minutes of sleep; she always relished spending time alone with Eli and Evan. When they were younger, she used to pretend they were her children, not Naomi’s, and she suddenly realized how quickly they were growing and how much she’d miss their familiar childish expressions and antics.

“Have you remembered anything else, Anna?” Evan asked, stifling a yawn.

“Neh, not yet. But I trust it won’t be long until everything returns to me, so if you’ve done anything naughty in the past six months that I never found out about, don’t think you’ve gotten away with it!” she joked, kissing the tops of their blond heads as she reached over them to set the platter of French toast on the table.

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