And then there was one...
Birch Creek, Ohio
Ten of the eleven Bontrager brothers gathered inside the family's expansive horse barn on this chilly, early spring day to discuss the latest family quandary. Perry, their only single brother, was about to be in a peck of trouble.
He was back home in Marigold nursing a serious cold while Devon, their oldest brother who lived in Fredericktown, was in Birch Creek on a quick visit. Phoebe, the eldest Bontrager sibling and their one and only sister, wasn't invited to this particular meeting. She had already tried to help him, to no avail.
Devon leaned against one of the huge vertical beams, his expression dubious. Identical twins, Zeb and Zeke, were seated on a hay bale near one of three dusty windows, their arms identically crossed. The rest of the brothers—Owen, Ezra, Nelson, Jesse, the second pair of identical twins, Mose and Mahlon, and the youngest, Elam—were alternately sitting and standing throughout the barn entryway, their faces a mix of amusement and annoyance. They all had blue eyes and varied tones of dark brown hair, some straight, some wavy, and one corkscrew curly.
They were also all married.
Horses stirred in their stables, as if they were curious about the unusual conference. It was a rare sight to see the brothers gathered in the barn all at once. When they were younger, before having wives and families of their own, they worked the family farm with their father, Thomas, while their patient mother, Miriam, kept them fed, clothed, and content. The Bontragers weren't without their hard times or their family squabbles. But they were a close-knit, caring, and incredibly huge Amish family.
"So what if he's not married yet?" Devon finally said. "He's only thirty-one. There are and have been plenty of older single people in our districts."
"Cevilla, for instance." Mahlon scratched his bearded chin. "But I doubt Perry will be in his eighties when he gets married for the first time."
"Not if Mamm has anything to do with it." Owen regarded his brothers. "She's been trying to fix him up. With everyone."
"Trying being the operative word." Ezra, the tallest, stretched out his long legs. "I think she's run out of single women to beg and plead with."
"I could put another bachelorette ad in the paper."
Every Bontrager turned to Jesse in horror.
"Nee," Zeb and Zeke exclaimed at the same time.
"Are you ab im kopp?" Nelson smacked him on the side of the head, flipping Jesse's straw hat to the ground.
"Ow." Jesse grabbed his hat off the barn floor, but he was grinning. "Hey, if it weren't for me, none of you would be married. Except Devon," he added when his oldest brother scoffed. "But the rest of you owe me."
The men's collective groan brought the horses to life. They pawed in their stalls, and one mare neighed, as if agreeing with the disgruntled men.
Jesse snickered. "I'm kidding."
"Gut," Nelson said. "Or you'd be walking home tonight."
"We all agree. No ad." Zeb, who, other than Perry, was the most stoic of the brothers, moved to the center of the barn. "Maybe Jesse and Nelson can marry him off."
Jesse's good nature disappeared, while Nelson looked at Zeb in serious panic. "What?" they said in unison.
"He lives closer to you guys," Owen said. He managed Bontrager Farms and lived on the property with his wife, Margaret, and their five sons. "Besides, Mamm is getting desperate."
Mose held up his hands. "She's even making Daed a little nuts."
Elam looked at Jesse and Nelson. "You and Devon don't have to constantly hear about Perry's 'woeful bachelor' status."
All three brothers who didn't live in Birch Creek shook their heads. "Mamm's been talking to Charity," Jesse said.
"And Ella," Nelson added.
"Even Nettie." Devon sighed.
"She's obsessed," Ezra said. "Since her and Phoebe's attempts at matchmaking didn't work, she told Katharine she's starting a circle letter with the sole intent to find Perry a frau."
"She wrote twelve letters just this morning." Owen grimaced. "It's only a matter of time before Marigold is inundated with single women."
The men held a moment of silence for Perry.
