Lydia's Hope by Marta Perry Page B

Susanna’s mamm is, and how Susanna is her only comfort
     in her last days. I couldn’t disrupt her life at a time like this, could I?”
    “No, it’s certain-sure you couldn’t,” he said, relieved. “You did the right thing
     in keeping silent.” He put his arm around her, hugging her close to his side. “Maybe,
     someday, you’ll be free to tell her.”
    “Ja.” She rubbed her head against his shoulder. “Ja, I will, won’t I?”
    “That’s right.” At least this sister was Amish, and not living too far away. From
     the sounds of it, Susanna would be needing support in the future, and there was nothing
     Lydia liked better than helping someone. “You can look forward to that day, even if
     you’ll never be able to see the youngest one.”
    Lydia pulled back, her eyes wide as she stared at him. “Why do you say that?”
    “Ach, Lydia, you must think about it.” Why couldn’t she accept the truth? “If even
     the bishop doesn’t know how to find the woman who took the little one, it’s best to
     resign yourself to God’s will.”
    “It’s true I don’t know how to look for her, but Seth says that he does.” She clasped
     Adam’s arm with both hands, her smile chasing away the sorrow. “He says it won’t be
     hard at all to find her. He’s going to start searching right away, using the Internet.”
    “Seth.” Adam couldn’t help it if he sounded disapproving. Why did Seth have to push
     his way in where he wasn’t wanted? “I don’t think it’s a gut idea to involve an outsider
     in family matters.”
    That was not the reaction Lydia expected from him—he could see that in her face.
    “Seth isn’t an outsider. We’ve known him since we were kinder. We went to school together.
     Ja, he’s Englisch now, but that’s what makes him the ideal person to help me find
     Chloe. Don’t you see? Maybe it’s God’s will that Seth finds her for me.”
    “I don’t want—” Adam stopped, knowing the words he was about to say were unwise. Lydia
     was so excited at the idea of finding her sister that he didn’t have the heart to
     throw cold water on the scheme, even though he hated the idea of having Seth involved
     with his family’s trouble.
    “Look, here are the boys.” Lydia waved, her attention distracted by the sight of Daniel
     and David running toward them.
    Adam made an effort to be sensible. He couldn’t keep Lydia from an opportunity to
     find her baby sister just because he was jealous of Seth.
    Besides, chances were it would come to nothing. Not even Seth could make bricks out
     of straw.
    The boys came rushing into their arms, both of them talking a mile a minute. Adam
     stood with his arms around his family, smiling with the pure joy of it.
    So what if Seth had driven Lydia home from her first singing? In the end, she had
     turned to him, and the end was what counted.
    * * *
    S eth paused for a moment on Adam and Lydia’s back porch that evening. Lydia, he was sure,
     would welcome the news he’d brought. As for Adam—well, it wasn’t hard to read Adam’s
     attitude. Adam hadn’t exchanged more than a few sentences with Seth since his return
     to Pleasant Valley months ago, despite the fact that Seth’s mother was Adam and Lydia’s
     nearest neighbor and close friend.
    Seth tapped lightly on the screen door. He hadn’t expected to be greeted with open
     arms by his old community. Even though he wasn’t under the bann, since he’d left before
     being baptized into the church, the
Leit
, the term the Amish used to refer to themselves, still looked warily at a former
     Amish who had achieved what they’d consider worldly success. As for what success actually
     meant—
    The door swung open. Two small faces tilted up to him, expressions questioning. Seth
     couldn’t help but smile. No matter how much they changed later, young Amish boys all
     seemed to look the same, with their fair hair, light eyes, black pants with suspenders
     crossing their shoulders,