Hope Chest by Wanda E. Brunstetter Page B

will come, Rachel. Just be patient and have the hope that God will send the right man your way.”
    “I’m hoping,” she mumbled. “Hoping and praying for a miracle.”
***
    By the time Silas had reached the town of Paradise, his horse was breathing heavy, and the poor animal’s sides were lathered up pretty good. Silas knew he shouldn’t have made the gelding trot all the way there, but he’d been in such a hurry to see if he could find Anna that he hadn’t thought about what he was doing to his horse.
    He pulled up to the back of the variety store and secured the horse to the hitching rail that had been put there for Amish buggies. “Sorry about making you run so much,” he said, as he rubbed the horse’s flanks with a rag he’d taken from the back of the buggy. “I’ll get you a bucket of water, and then you can rest while I go inside and see if there’s any sign of Anna.”
    Silas took care of his horse first thing. Then he hurried into the store. After checking every aisle and asking both of the women who worked in the store if they’d seen Anna Beachy, he realized that Anna wasn’t in the store, nor had she been there any time today.
    “Guess I’ll have to check somewhere else,” he mumbled as he climbed back in his buggy. “She couldn’t have left town already.”
    For the next hour, Silas drove around Paradise, checking inside every store and asking all the clerks if they had seen Anna. Not one person remembered seeing her, and Silas thought it was more than a bit strange. If she had really come to town to run some errands, then surely he would have spotted her by now, or at least someone would have remembered seeing her come into their store. Maybe Anna had changed her mind about going to Paradise and had gone to one of the other small towns in the area to do her shopping.
    Silas knew it would take too long for him to travel from town to town looking for Anna, and he’d probably miss her anyway. Finally, with an exasperated groan, he took his seat in the buggy again and gathered up the reins. “There’s no hurry getting home,” he mumbled. “So I may as well let my horse walk all the way.”
***
    It was after nine o’clock, and the sun had nearly set, yet Anna still hadn’t returned home. Dad and Mom sat on the front porch, talking about their workday, while Rachel kept Elizabeth entertained with a game of checkers she’d set on the little table at one end of the porch. Joseph and Perry were out in the barn, grooming the horses and cleaning Joseph’s courting buggy.
    Rachel had just crowned her last king and was about to ask her little sister if she wanted to give up the game and have another piece of funny-cake pie their Mennonite neighbor had given them earlier that day, when a horse and buggy came up the graveled drive. It was Anna, and before she even got the horse reined in, Dad was on his feet.
    “Why are you so late, daughter?” He ran toward the buggy, shaking his finger all the way. “You sure couldn’t have been running errands all this time.”
    The porch was bathed in light from several kerosene lamps that had been set out, but the night sky was almost dark. Rachel knew Anna wasn’t supposed to be out alone after the sun went down because of the risk of an accident, even with the battery-operated lights on their buggy.
    Rachel peered across the yard and strained to hear what Anna and their father were saying. Sure hope that sister of mine hasn’t done anything foolish. An unsettled feeling slid through Rachel as she watched Anna step down from the buggy.
    “Your mamm and I were gettin’ worried,” Dad’s deep voice announced.
    Mom coasted down the wheelchair ramp. “Oh, thank the Lord! I’m so glad to see you’re safe.”
    “Sorry. I didn’t realize it was getting so late,” Anna apologized.
    “Well, you’re home now, and that’s what counts. We can talk about where you’ve been all this time after I get the horse and buggy put away.” Dad quickly