Love Letters From the Grave(55)

They breakfasted simply on some provisions they’d brought, but by late afternoon they were hungry. They stopped at a filling station for gas, and the attendant suggested they consider a very popular restaurant, The Amish House, which was about five miles out of town.

As they approached, they noticed how full the parking lot was, and that many cars were parked on both sides up and down the road. They pulled in and managed to find a spot, then entered the restaurant to the buzz of conversation and laughter as crowds of people milled around.

An Amish receptionist greeted them, and on finding out that they were first time customers, informed them they had the option of going through the food line or ordering from their table. They chose the line, discovering a wide selection of meats, vegetables, breads, condiments and deserts – all typical homemade Amish fare.

Molly selected a slice of prime rib, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, biscuits, bread pudding, and a glass of apple cider. Charlie selected two slices of ham, baked sweet potatoes, green beans, cornbread, custard pudding, and a glass of apple cider. As they were enjoying their delicious dinner at their table, a young, pretty waitress brought them a glass of water, and informed them that they could go through the line as often as they wanted to - or she or one of the other waitresses could bring them anything they wanted to order. The price was the same, no matter how many dishes, or how much, they ate.

In talking to the waitress, they found out that the employees, all dressed in typical Amish attire, were mostly from the two families who operated the restaurant, and the rest of them were aunts, uncles and cousins. All the dishes were prepared by the extended family members. It was truly a family affair, with every one of the dishes home cooked. As the waitress brought them another glass of cider, Charlie excused himself to go through the line again to get another piece of cornbread, a dish of navy beans and ham, and a dish of bread pudding.

When they left their table to go to the cashier to pay their bill, they discovered that there was another wing of the building containing a bakery, a candy shop, and four rooms filled with knick-knacks, handicrafts, linens, and furniture - all homemade and hand-crafted by members of the Amish community. From that day on, The Amish House became their favorite restaurant and place to shop, where they always dined when they ate out when staying at the lake, and even frequently drove to from their home to dine there on weekends.

The six days they spent at the cabin were a truly classical romantic idyll. The balmy, bright, sunny days were spent strolling, hand-in-hand, on the wooded paths along the lake shore. They rowed the boat around the lake, anchoring in spots that appeared to contain a lot of large, hungry, fish, just waiting to be caught, fishing at those spots for an hour or two to land an incredible number of keeper-sized fish - mainly Large-Mouth Bass, Channel Catfish, and fat Blue Gill.

The days were punctuated, of course, by romantic interludes in the cabin, Molly showing her pleasure as much as Charlie and admitting to him that, after eighteen years of marriage, first to Tommy and then to George, this was the first time she had ever known sexual satisfaction. Love she had experienced, but this was something new.

They ate all three meals, each day, at The Amish House. An unexpected bonus in going regularly to the Restaurant, and getting to know many of the Amish people who worked there, was that they appreciatively accepted all the fish that Charlie and Molly caught. Molly actually caught more fish than Charlie, and despite her initial reluctance, from that time forward she became an avid fisherwoman. On two of the afternoons they were there, a family fish fry was held on the patio behind the restaurant. Charlie and Molly were honored guests, not only for contributing the fish, but also because they were on their honeymoon.

In the balmy evenings, before retiring to nights of exciting love making, interspersed with periods of sound sleeping, they often daubed their skin with mosquito repellent and lounged in comfortable chairs on the boat dock, watching the sun set and the moon rise. Their idyllic honeymoon at the lake was the happiest period in Molly’s life. And as for Charlie, he truly believed he’d found Heaven on earth.



Until they could find a place to rent near the factory, Molly had arranged for herself and Charlie to stay with Jesse. Very reluctantly, Jesse had agreed, saying they could stay in her old room for as long as they needed to.

‘Why don’t you like him, Dad?’ she’d asked, although she already knew the answer.

‘I don’t really know him,’ he replied, unwilling to share his evident dislike.

‘Is it because he was married before? Because I was too. This is my second divorce.’

Jesse’s eyes narrowed. ‘That’s as may be, Molly, but you didn’t go breaking up a family.’

‘He’s going to look after her properly, and the children,’ she assured him. ‘We both are.’

‘And who else was he married to? What happened to that wife?’

Molly wasn’t sure what he meant, but then worked out that he’d calculated that Charlie must have been married before, as he was so much older than Muriel. She took a deep breath. ‘He wasn’t married before, Dad. He was in prison. For twenty years.’

She told him Charlie’s tale of incarceration, and Jesse heaved himself up to make coffee.

‘Got yourself a fine one, there, Molly,’ he said quietly, and she had bitten back a retort about how much he’d approved of Tommy, and what a “fine one” he turned out to be.