The Amish of Ephrata Collection: Contains Four Books: The Tomato Path, The Quilting Bee, The Hope Chest, and The Clothes Line by Price Sarah

Author:Price, Sarah [Price, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Price Publishing, LLC.
Published: 2014-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

Part Three: The Hope Chest

Chapter One

Priscilla sat in the attic, the battery-operated lantern on the floor casting a soft glow about the room. There was a large window that faced the east, which brought in bright sunlight in the mornings but deep shadows in the late afternoons. It was late March and the sun was setting on the western side of the farmhouse.

As the days had begun to warm up in March, she often snuck upstairs to the attic. The door always squeaked as she opened it, causing Priscilla to glance over her shoulder and make certain her mamm didn’t spot her. Only after she knew that she hadn’t been spotted, she would quietly steal up the creaky wooden stairs. Holding a battery-operated lantern in her hand, she would set it on the floor before the chest and, with shaking hands, she would reach down to open the lid.

Her daed had said that he would bring it downstairs in the springtime after the crops were planted. Then she could stare at the beautiful items that were held within the hope chest without worrying about her mamm seeing or her brudersteasing her. She didn’t want to appear vain or proud. But her curiosity seemed to get the best of her, no matter how hard she tried to control it.

It was a beautiful hope chest, made of cedar wood and adorned with a carved heart on its front panel. Two birds flew toward either side of the heart, ribbons in their beaks. The hope chest was the symbol of every young Amish woman’s dreams: two lives coming together for the very happiest future possible while living under the love and protection of the Lord. The carvings were not an expression of pride or vanity from the part of the maker or the recipient but rather a testimony to the sanctity of a girl’s future wedding; a union that would perpetrate the traditional values engrained within the Amish community since centuries past.

Priscilla shut her eyes for a brief moment and breathed deeply. This summer, it would be two years since she had started courting Stephen Esh. That time seemed to have flown by quickly. During the first year, she had seen him without fail every other weekend. He made a point of stopping by the house to take her to the singings in the evenings following church service. Just this past autumn, Stephen had also begun to come visit on Saturday evenings when they didn’t have church the next day. It had taken her a while to get used to him showing up at the house. Yet, her family accepted him into their hearts and home as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

For Priscilla, it was more than natural.

While he hadn’t asked her yet, she knew that Stephen Esh was the man for her. He was the man with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life, to father her kinner and work the farm, to grow old together and share in life’s little joys.

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