Anna's Story - Part Four

When Stephen kissed her, she felt week in the knees and felt her heart race.  None of her beaus had ever made her feel this way.  As he pulled away, she looked deep into his eyes.  This was her Gypsy after all.  One day, he would be hers and hers alone.

Stephen asked to see her again the day but she couldn’t.  She quickly asked him for Sunday dinner.  He agreed.  She smiled, turned and went through the door.    She saw a quick movement from the corner of her eye as her father had just made it to his chair.

“I’ve invited Stephen to supper”, she said walking over to her father.  He sat in his favorite chair.  She came up from behind him and hugged him around the neck.

“Please behave!” she scolded as she kissed the top of his bald head.

With the arm he had left from the railroad accident a few years before, he hugged her back. 

Winking at his wife, he told Anna, “It will be painful mein Tochter, very painful.”

With that, she swatted the top of his head and floated up the stairs to bed.  She dreamed of her future. 

Spring cleaning completed and the afternoon meal started, Anna and her parents walked to mass.  Her head was fixed forward as her eyes searched for Stephen. She spotted him with a group of young men from the parish.  He glanced. She quickly moved her gaze to the doorway of the church.  She felt herself blush. It seemed to grow from her toes. 

She thought to herself, “What could he possibly see in a girl like me?  I’m such a child, blushing at the sight of him,”

Stephen glanced in Anna’s direction and saw her blush.  He pretended he was talking to his friends but watched her every move. 

“Talk to you later, I have someone I have to talk to”, said Stephen as he walked away from his friends.   He didn’t walk up Anna but up to her father asked permission to court his daughter.  Permission was reluctantly given. 

And so their courtship began.  They spent most of their time together on the porch or in the parlor where Anna’s father kept a watchful eye on the two of them.  Mary knew her daughter wanted to be alone with Stephen and did her best to distract her husband.  Stephen saw Anna every day after work.  He would stop and she would have a plate ready for him.  It had become customary he read the paper to Mary in her native German.  He managed to capture the hearts of both of Andrew’s women.

Anna’s graduation and eighteenth birthday came and went.  There was no need for a chaperone.  She and Stephen stopped sitting on the porch. They took long rides in the country. They’d talk of about the future.  By the end of summer, the two saw each other every day.   

Anna looks around the room at her family.  She knows Steve would be proud of them too.   They were all strong and happy.  As she reaches for her tea, Heidi touches her hand and smiles, you look so happy Oma.”

“Who wouldn’t be with all the love in this room?”