The Crossroad by Beverly Lewis

the truth, I prefer Adele. The name Lily was a crutch. I don’t have to hide behind my middle name anymore. The Lord has freed me from those insecurities. Even the nursing staff has agreed to change my name, so to speak!”
    Lavina truly hoped she wasn’t staring just now, but she couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off the woman in the hospital bed. Was this really Adele Herr—Gabriel Esh’s old sweetheart? She studied the features even more closely. Could this be the selfsame young girl who’d come to Bird-in-Hand those many years ago, filling in at the schoolhouse? She’d changed more than Lavina thought such a beauty ever could. ’Course, they were each growing older, and who was she to be thinkin’ any such haughty thoughts, with plenty of wrinkles spreading across her own face? Enough to share with Adele and Rachel—both!
    Combed into a short bob, Adele’s former chestnut brown hair was now snowy white, nearly silver hued. ’Least, certain ways she turned, it looked thataway.
    Lavina could hardly sit still, anxious to join in the conversation. But she listened as Adele brought up Philip Bradley, the reporter from New York she’d heard
    ’bout from both Adele’s letters and from Susanna Zook while making applesauce a couple months back.
    “I’ve been giving some thought to possibly inviting my new friend Philip for a visit,” Adele announced, her eyes shining.
    “Nice thing to do,” Lavina agreed.
    Rachel said nothing.
    “He could come for our Christmas party,” Adele continued. “Maybe he would like to write an article on all us old folks.”
    Lavina noticed the sudden flush on Rachel’s face and wondered what that was all about.
    Adele glanced up at a bulletin board not far from the side of the bed and pointed to a slightly yellowed card. “There’s the postcard Philip found, and it’s changed everything … absolutely everything .” She went on to say, “Philip is such a forthright person. And, you know, he’s following the Lord again.”
    “You mean he wasn’t before?” Lavina asked, feeling awkward because Rachel had hardly said a word.
    “He wrote that he’d strayed from his first love, his commitment to Christ … as a boy.” Adele turned and seemed to observe Rachel, and at one point Lavina’s eyes met Adele’s. The two women shrugged, but Adele went on. “Philip’s attending a men’s Bible study twice a week, I believe he said. He’s full of questions in his letters, and more recently he’s started calling long-distance.”
    Rachel spoke at last. “What sort of questions?”
    “Life questions, he says,” Adele answered, catching Lavina’s eye once again. “He’s preparing himself for ministry.”
    Lavina wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. “Gonna be a preacher, then?” she asked.
    “Not a preacher, I don’t think. But he feels called to something—just what , he’s determined to find out. And from our exchange of letters, I believe it’s safe to say he’s open to God’s leading.”
    Lavina found this information to be mighty interesting, but more than that, she wondered what on earth had come over Rachel. Why had she closed herself up like this? Was it something one of them had said out of turn?
    She observed the beautiful blind woman, thinking back to when Rachel had first blushed crimson. Then she remembered, and the startling realization caught her truly by surprise.
    Hearing Adele speak of Philip in such glowing terms had Rachel nearly beside herself. She felt her face growing warm as Adele commented on the New Yorker’s attributes. Jah, she’d also experienced Philip’s straight-forwardness, among other things. And she was ever so glad to know he’d returned to his faith in the Lord. In fact, she was a bit surprised to hear that he might’ve neglected his childhood covenant to God. But it was Adele’s mention of her possible Christmas invitation that had flustered her so. She knew it was the thought of Philip coming to visit his ailing