is private. It’s boastful to let others hear what you say to God.”
Lori continued to frown across the table. “So…you never pray out loud?” She took a big bite of her sandwich and followed it with a chip.
Only one time had Kenzie prayed aloud, when she was seven years old. Mamm was laboring to deliver her seventh child, and Kenzie—or, more accurately, Mackenzie—had climbed into the barn loft, the closest spot to heaven she could reach. She’d opened the vent window and yelled her desire to the blue sky, fully aware that all her brothers from the oldest, Timothy, to the youngest, Caleb, were also in the barn and would hear every word.
Her childish voice rang in her memory. “Dear God, let my baby sister be born fast and healthy!”
Mamm’s labor continued for another nineteen hours before the newest brother finally arrived. The midwife declared him healthy, but Seth was never as robust as the other Hochstetler boys, and he succumbed to a fever when he was not quite eight years old. After the long, difficult labor and delivery, Mamm never conceived another child. Although Kenzie’s minister had assured her God’s sovereignty had already determined the course of Seth’s life, Kenzie would never stop wondering if his condition was her punishment for making bold demands from the barn loft. She wouldn’t risk it again.
Kenzie shook her head.
“Do you think you ever will?” Lori tapped the edge of the plate with her pickle, turning a thoughtful look on Kenzie. “I mean, you’ve left a lot of your Amish behind—you don’t cover your hair, you wear modern clothes and use modern technologies.” She grinned impishly. “Well, sort of. Seriously, Kenz, skirts all the time, and no TV?” She pointed at Kenzie with the pickle spear. “It’d be okay to totally unbend, you know.”
Kenzie laughed. “I totally unbent during my running-around period, believe me.” She hadn’t gone as wild as some of her friends, but she’d sampled enough of life’s temptations to know what she was missing by living more conservatively. “Wearing skirts and not having a TV have nothing to do with how I was raised. I’m more comfortable in skirts than in blue jeans, and I can’t afford cable.”
“Makes sense.” Lori didn’t sound convinced.
Kenzie waved her hand toward the living room. “Stop and think…if I had a television in there, would I be lazy and watch it after work instead of using my loom?”
“No.” Lori shook her head. “No.”
Kenzie gave her friend a rueful smile. “That’s kind, but sometimes I think your opinion of me is higher than it should be. I’m not perfect.”
Lori rolled her eyes and laughed. “Did I ever say I thought you were perfect? Nuh-uh.” She bit into her pickle, still grinning. “But you’re dedicated. You’re what I’d call an old soul. Earning money to send to missionaries is too important to you to set it aside for a little TV watching, so your loom will always come first. Am I right?”
Kenzie lowered her head, trying to hide the warmth flooding her cheeks. “You’re right.” If the mission team in Indianapolis hadn’t shared the good news of Jesus with her, she’d still be lost in a pit of insecurity and worthlessness. No one should spend her life so entangled. As she wove, she always prayed for the lost—including her daed and mamm, her brothers and their families, and those living in her former community. She’d weave rugs until she was too old to thread the warp, even if she could afford cable.
“Thought so.” Lori sounded smug.
Kenzie glanced at her friend. A grin curved Lori’s full lips and brought out her dimples. Kenzie shook her head, smiling. “You’re a mess, you know that?”
Lori laughed. “I’ve been told that before.” For a moment, her expression clouded, but her grin returned so quickly Kenzie wondered if she’d imagined it. “Let’s hurry and eat so I can get back to sorting and you can get the brownies baked, okay?”
Kenzie picked up her sandwich. “Okay.”
Lori stayed until past ten and organized all but the last bag of clothes. She squealed in delight when Kenzie presented her with her very own pan of brownies, and she gave Kenzie a hug that stole the breath from her lungs.
After Lori left, Kenzie cleaned up the kitchen while her radio crackled out tunes broadcasted by a contemporary Christian music station. With everything restored to order, she started for her bedroom, intending to put on her pajamas and ready herself for bed. But as