You’re not stopping in the city, are you?”
“Oh, no. I’m headed to a small town near Middlefield.”
“We are as well. Where, exactly, are you going?”
“Jacob’s Crossing.”
Calvin looked truly taken aback. So stunned, Lucy looked at him curiously. “Have you heard of it? It’s not very big.”
“I should say we definitely have heard of Jacob’s Crossing. That’s where we live.” Beside him, Katie giggled.
“Truly?” She’d never heard of such a coincidence.
“Truly.” He grinned. “Who are you intending to see?”
She cleared her throat. “My cousin Mattie. Mattie Lapp.”
His bark of laughter startled her. “The Lapp’s farm is adjacent to ours. We’re practically neighbors.”
Lucy shook her head in wonder as the waitress delivered their plates of food. What were the chances that two strangers seated next to each other on a train would just happen to be going to the same place?
There was only one thing to credit their meeting to. Obviously the Lord had His hand on this situation. For some reason, He had intended that the two of them meet.
After joining him and Katie in a silent prayer, Lucy picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of sausage.
When they were almost done, Calvin sipped his coffee and picked up their earlier conversation. “Lucy, are you visiting Mattie because of her sickness?”
“I am. She’s been in a mighty bad way, you know.”
“Indeed, she has. We’ve all been worried about her. Not only do our lands border each other, but we’ve been friends of a sort all our lives. My brother Graham is especially close to her. He’s taken her diagnosis terribly hard, I’m afraid.”
Lucy looked at him curiously. “I didn’t know she had a sweetheart.”
“They’re not close in that way. Just close as friends.”
She couldn’t imagine being friends with a man. “Oh.”
After the waitress took away their plates and poured Calvin more coffee, he gazed out the window. “She, uh, has just had surgery.”
“It was a difficult operation for her, I fear.”
“Her mother said the same thing.”
“I am going to be staying with her for a month. To help her recover and to be with her during her chemotherapy treatments.”
“I’m sure she is thankful for you.”
“No more than I am thankful for her.” It was hard not to think of Mattie without remembering how strong she’d been when Lucy had been recovering from Paul’s death. “We’ve been through a lot together.”
“Even though you live in Michigan and she lives in Ohio?”
“Yes. She’s, uh, come to visit me several times. To be honest, I haven’t been out to Jacob’s Crossing in years. I’m anxious to see it again.”
“Don’t be too anxious. Not much ever changes there.”
He sounded so aggrieved, she chuckled. “Believe me, I’m counting on that. I like things to stay the same.” Then, recalling how many changes she’d been through, she amended her words. “I mean, I like most things to stay the same. The good things.”
Though Calvin looked at her curiously, he didn’t say anything.
Later, after they’d finished and had exited the diner, Calvin looked up at the fancy clock tower across the street from them. “It’s only twelve-thirty.”
“We are going to have a terribly long day.”
“I have an idea,” Calvin blurted. “On the train, I read a magazine article about the Toledo Zoo. It’s supposed to be a mighty nice zoo. Would you ladies care to go?”
Katie’s eyes widened. “Oh, Calvin, can we?”
“I don’t see why not. We’ve got hours.”
Katie grabbed Lucy’s hand. “Please say yes.”
Calvin’s eyes shone. “You really should. It will be fun. I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you. You’ll be safe with me.”
Though protective instincts were calling out to her not to trust him, Lucy found herself ignoring the warning voices. She wanted to do something fun. “All right,” she said. “I will be happy to join you all.”
Katie squeezed Lucy’s hand and smiled, and Calvin nodded. “Gut!”
“What about your uncle? Should we go see if he wants to join us?”
Calvin shook his head. “He did say earlier that he wanted to sit and relax. Wandering around a zoo would be the opposite of that. No, it will just be the three of us.”
He looked so pleased, Lucy felt her cheeks heat—at first with pleasure, because she made him happy, then with embarrassment. Here she was, twenty-four years old, and this man was making her feel like a schoolgirl!
But certainly it was past time she had an adventure or two. Later, when they were back on the train, she’d have plenty of time to worry about what she was getting herself into.
“Do