Her Amish Holiday Suitor. Carrie Lighte

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      Mildred and Katura were considerate enough not to turn on the lamp while they were getting ready for bed, but their voices woke Lucy anyway.

      “I wish Mark didn’t have to go back to Ohio tomorrow morning,” Mildred whined. “One of the rare few likable guys who comes to Willow Creek leaves as soon as he gets here. It’s not fair. I hope he visits Frederick again at Grischtdaag.”

      “Speaking of Frederick, didn’t you tell me he was planning to ask to court Lucy tonight?”

      “That’s what Melinda Schrock told me she heard Frederick’s mother saying to Jesse’s ant in the store last week,” Mildred said, and her words caused Lucy to remember what the book of James said about a little fire kindling a great matter.

      “Do you think Frederick got a chance to ask to court Lucy before she left with Nick?” Katura questioned.

      “Probably not. Otherwise, she would have stayed until the singing was over so Frederick could have given her a ride home. Or she would have asked him for a ride right then since she was sick.”

      “I suppose that’s true.” Katura yawned. “Can you believe she asked Nick for a ride instead? That’s awfully forward.”

      “Jah, but Nick’s so nice he probably agreed because he felt sorry for her.”

      Lucy considered coughing to let her stepsisters know she was awake and could hear them, but she felt too humiliated. Why didn’t Mildred and Katura believe she hadn’t left because she was ill? Couldn’t they at least entertain the possibility Nick was interested in her?

      As if answering Lucy’s unspoken question, Katura said, “One thing’s for sure. He’d never consider being her suitor. She’s not his type. Nick only courts women who are outgoing and adventuresome. You know, women who are more like you and me.”

      Lucy heard Mildred gasp. “That’s it!” she exclaimed. “Nick probably wanted to talk to Lucy about one of us!”

      “Do you really think so?” Katura questioned, and Lucy discerned the hopeful catch in her voice.

      “Jah. That’s how buwe in Willow Creek sometimes determine if a maedel is interested in being courted. They talk to her friends or sisters. Or if they’re really shy, they’ll pass a note,” Mildred explained knowingly.

      “But Nick isn’t shy at all.”

      “Neh, not usually. But maybe he likes one of us so much he’s afraid we’ll reject him. Maybe that’s why it’s taken him so long to propose courtship—he hasn’t been able to work up the courage. So instead of asking us straight out, he’s taking the safe approach.”

      Lucy would have been inflamed, but instead she pushed her quilt against her mouth to suppress a giggle. Her stepsisters might have lacked self-awareness, but they sure didn’t lack self-esteem.

      “I should get him. I’m the oldest,” Katura demanded, as if she were competing for a prize.

      “You can’t claim him. He’ll decide for himself which one of us he wants to court.”

      As her stepsisters bickered about who was more worthy to have Nick as her suitor, Lucy rolled to her side and curled the pillow over her ear to block them out. They may have been right to think Nick didn’t want to court Lucy, but they were just as wrong to imagine he wanted to court either of them. Once again, she stifled a guffaw. She couldn’t wait for her cousin Bridget to visit at Christmastime so they could share a laugh over the hilarious irony of it all.