"(CHILDREN PLAYING)" "(ROOSTER CROWING)" "(STRUMMING OUT-OF-TUNE CHORD)" "(STRUMMING)" "(HUMMING)" "BENJAMIN:" "What do you think you're doing?" "Benjamin." "Don't bother explaining, Katie." "Just be thankful it was me that heard you up here." "Not Mam or Dat." "I just wanted to hear it one more time." "This isn't how you want to start your new life with the Bishop, is it?" "Sneaking around." "Keeping secrets." "Now, you'd best go help Mam with supper so they don't wonder where ya are." "Got the first 10 acres harvested today." "Lord willing, we'll be harnessing up the hay-mower next week." "We better." "That ol' draft horse is about to give up the ghost." "Mmm." "Smells like heaven." "Mam must have cooked it." "Benjamin Lapp." "I'd best get to my own dinner table." "See you in the morning, Dat." "SAMUEL:" "Yeah, okay." "Gut, Son." "Katie." "Before we bless the meal, your mam and I have something for you." "SAMUEL:" "It's your dowry." "We've been saving it up since you were just a baby." "I'm right proud of you, Katie." "Not every man's daughter marries a bishop." "What are me and John Beiler going to do with all this money?" "Maybe build an extra room onto his house." "For all them grandbabies we pray you'd be bringing us." "We'll be sure to put it to good use." "Invite the Bishop and his boys for supper tomorrow." "We should all have one more meal together before the big day." "# A cool summer night was spent watching the fireflies # dance in the light of the moon" "# Who would have guessed that what we thought was real # was so fragile and ended so soon?" "# I miss what we had together" "# Promise each other forever" "Whoa!" "# Was it a long time ago?" "# I don't even know" "# I barely recognize the places where we used to go" "# I've lost track of time" "# It seems like just yesterday" "# But you're slipping away" "# You're slipping away #" "Hello, there, Jacob." "I just finished the milking." "I can see that." "Here, you want me to help you?" "No, ma'am." "Papa says I'm big enough to do my own chores." "Papas always know what's best." "Of course he does." "He's the Bishop." "What were you singing just now?" "Singing?" "Jah, I heard ya." "It was awful nice." "Oh, 'twas nothing." "I don't remember anything like that from the hymn book." "Welcome, Katie Lapp!" "Yeah, it was." "Just a different one, is all." "Hello, Hickory John." "John, help your brother to the kitchen with his milk." "Dat told me to take it." "I got it." "Give it here." "He told ya to help." "Get the door." "He'll warm to you in time." "It's only been a few years since his mama's passing." "So, what brings you out so early in the morning?" "On my way into town to clean for the Millers." "My dat wanted me to come by and invite you and the boys to supper this evening." "Jah." "Jah." "That would be gut." "By the way, I want you to tell those English that it's time for them to start looking for a new housekeeper." "Once you and I are tied, you'd be plenty busy with those boys, not to mention some of our own, I hope." "See you tonight then?" "Jah." "(SIGHS)" "(POP MUSIC PLAYING ON RADIO)" "DANIEL:" "I got ya something." "Where did you get it?" "When I went to the city last month to visit my cousins." "Katie Lapp." "You are the most beautiful creature God ever made." "In a few years, when we're both old enough," "I'm going to marry you." "Then I'll be sure to grow up fast." "(CAR DOOR CLOSING)" "Help you, ma'am?" "Yes, I'm trying to locate someone." "An Amish woman named Rebecca." "I'm sorry to say I don't have her last name." "Well, there's more'n 350 souls in Hickory Hollow." "Must be at least a dozen or more named Rebecca." "It would be a start if you could point us to where they live." "No, ma'am." "Not without permission." "Please, sir." "It is important that I find her." "She would have a daughter, about 20." "Sorry, ma'am." "Thank you, anyway." "It's the same thing in every one of these little towns." "No one knows anything." "If they do, they're not willing to say it." "The Amish are very private people." "You just have to keep knocking until someone opens up." "What if that door never opens?" "Then I'll crawl through a window." "Let's stay on this road." "Maybe I'm the problem." "I haven't seen another brother within 100 miles of this place." "(CAR ENGINE STARTS)" "Couldn't help but overhear ya in the store." "Old as I am, I suppose I know just about every soul in this county." "The Rebecca I'm looking for would have a daughter, born 20 years ago." "EPHRAM:" "Ella Mae Zook!" "You have left your groceries in the basket." "What I was saying was she would have been born on..." "June 5th." "Yes." "EPHRAM:" "If you ain't coming back, I'm gonna put your stuff back on the shelf!" "ELLA MAE:" "Hold your horses, Ephram Yoder." "I'll be in presently." "It would mean everything to me if you could give this to Rebecca." "Do what I can, child." "(EXHALES)" "Mam, did you ever love anyone before Dat?" "Even if I did, I wouldn't be telling ya now, would I?" "The answer is no." "Once your dat sets his mind to something, there's no changing it." "Well, he set his mind on me and I'm grateful he did." "I just..." "I thought I'd be sewing my wedding dress for someone else." "I know." "Your days with Daniel, the memories you made, they'll always be a part of you." "But you can't build the rest of your life on memories." "ELLA MAE:" "Sorry for interrupting." "Come in, Ella Mae." "I can't stay, child." "I was just hoping to have a word in private, Rebecca." "Ella Mae." "Happened to pay a visit to Ephram Yoder's store this morning." "There was a fancy English woman there who give me this." "I don't understand." "What made her give this to you?" "What ya say?" "She was a determined woman." "And I didn't want this letter to fall into anyone else's hands, except yours." "Should you need me, I'll come." "Leave me to do this, Katie." "Go upstairs and finish stitching your wedding dress." "I'd rather be here with you." "No, I insist." "Go on." "Right now." "Mama." "You'll be awful busy being a wife and mother to those boys." "We likely won't see much of ya, except for the Sunday preachings." "Never far away, Mama." "Never far away, Katie." "So, have you chosen a side-sitter yet?" "Jah, my youngest brother, Noah." "Boys, what do you think of the shoofly pie?" "Delicious." "I'm gonna need another slice right quick." "It's Katie's recipe, you know." "Our good fortune, then." "Katie'll makes us lots of good pies when she's our mam, won't ya?" "You'll have to patient with me, little Jacob." "Never been a mama before." "Dat, can we play checkers after supper?" "Jah, Benjamin will get out the card." "Maybe Katie can sing to us, too." "The song you were singing today, from the other hymn book." "You must be confused, Son." "We only have one hymn book, the Ausband." "We do not sing the songs of the English." "That is what sets our world apart." "JACOB:" "All I know is it's real nice." "Katie, will ya please sing it?" "Jacob, that's enough about the singing." "Finish your pie." "Now stop your worrying." "She's a willful child." "But she knows right from wrong." "It's not that." "An English woman gave this to Ella Mae Zook to pass along." "I've been too afraid to open it." "Oh, dear God." "This woman promised to leave us alone." "We all made a promise." "She's staying at the fancy hotel in the city." "She's not leaving, Samuel." "What are we going to do?" "Nothing." "If we don't respond, the matter's dead and buried." "No one can find out." "If anyone finds out, it would change everything." "Our whole life here." "Guess who?" "(LAUGHING)" "When I heard that clacking at my window," "I thought maybe Noah King was finally coming to call on me." "I thought you were sweet on Elam Glick." "Can't choose between the two." "(BOTH LAUGH)" "You're blessed to be marrying John Beiler, you know?" "He's a good man." "I just wonder if I'm fit to be the Bishop's wife." "How can I be the kind of wife he needs, the kind of mother those boys need when I can't even control myself?" "What are you talking about?" "Little Jacob overheard me singing one of my songs today and told everybody at supper." "Katie, I thought you was clean past all that." "I prayed and prayed for God to take the songs out of my heart, but I can't get rid of them." "I don't understand why he'd put music in your heart and not let ya sing it." "But it ain't just the songs." "Is it?" "He understood me, Mary." "Like no one else." "Some mornings I wake up and look out my window and expect to see him walking down the road." "The river took him, Katie." "It's been three years now!" "God called Daniel Fisher home." "But they never found him." "Katie, he's gone." "You have to accept it." "But God has given you a new man, a man that any single gal in this county would be honored to call her own." "It's time you accept that, too." "(BOTH LAUGHING)" "(SNIFFLING)" "I got your prescription, Mrs. Bennett." "I'm fine for now." "(CELL PHONE RINGING)" "Don't you want to stay ahead of the pain?" "Maybe later." "Were there any messages at the front desk?" "None." "Speaking of messages," "Mr. Bennett's been starting to leave them for me every hour." "He's worried." "You've been avoiding his calls since we got here." "When are you going to tell him why we're here?" "I don't know." "Soon, maybe." "Since the Amish don't have phones, please finish your lunch and then go back down and check again to see if anyone left a message at the front desk." "(CELL PHONE RINGING)" "Oh!" "I might as well get it over with." "Hi, Dylan." "Laura, thank God." "It's been two weeks." "I'm your husband, I deserve more than a text message every other day." "I know." "I'm sorry we haven't talked." "No, sorry is "I forgot to make dinner reservations."" "I was seconds from calling out the National Guard to come look for you." "You're right." "We've just been so busy." "With what?" "I get that you love the Amish, but what's so fascinating there that you can't pick up the phone and let me know that you're okay?" "Nothing." "And everything." "I don't even know what that means." "But what I do know is that you shouldn't be traipsing all over the country." "I want you to come home." "You need to be home." "I'm not ready yet." "I still have something to do and I can't tell you about it yet." "I thought husbands and wives are supposed to share everything." "I just need you to trust me for a few more days." "And then if you want, you can come and get me yourself." "All right." "You know I love you." "I love you, too." "We'll talk soon." "(SIGHS)" "(SIGHS)" "I suppose you know why I came by." "Figuring it had something to do with all that singing business." "A confession is a redemptive thing, Katie." "It's good for the soul." "I guess you already know that I've been singing English songs." "And I've been fibbing to my dat, too." "He told me to get rid of my guitar, but I've been playing it in secret." "Are you truly sorry for these transgressions?" "I suppose I am." "And do you agree to turn your back on songs not found in the Ausband?" "I do." "Then, Katie Lapp, today you have been restored to your faith." "And the church forgives your indiscretions." "Just as God does." "But there is one more thing." "The scripture tells us that" ""if thine eye offend thee, ye must pluck it out."" "I think you know what you must do." "Destroy the guitar." "DANIEL:" "B chord." "Gut." "And then E." "Excellent." "Now F-sharp." "And E again." "That's it." "You've got it." "# A cool summer night was spent watching the fireflies # dance in the light of the moon #" "I'm just not sure if we should be doing this." "Because the ordinance say not to?" "They say it's prideful." "Well, I suppose it would be." "If we were trying to impress the world." "Like rock stars." "(IMITATING ELECTRIC GUITAR)" "(LAUGHING)" "But what if the music comes from the heart and is our way to please God?" "Wait, can we try that again?" "What's the matter?" "Was the kiss not right?" "I can do better if we practice more." "No, the problem was, that kiss was perfect, Katie." "Everything I had imagined it would be and more." "Could you ever leave Hickory Hollow?" "You mean move to another Amish community?" "I wouldn't want to live far away from my family." "Listen to me, Katie Lapp." "If anything should ever happen to me," "I want you to promise me that you'll keep on singing." "Why are you acting so strange today?" "Nothing's gonna happen to ya." "Just promise me." "Okay." "I promise." "I'm sorry, Daniel." "I'm so sorry." "(GRUNTS)" "So you spoke to the Bishop then?" "Jah, confessed." "Like Dat asked me to." "It's gut to set things right, Katie." "Get to the plain truth." "You'll feel better." "Mam, who's Laura Mayfield?" "Mama." "You cut yourself." "I'm okay." "What happened down there?" "She found a scrap of the letter in the stove." "Tea, Mam." "With two sprigs of mint, just how you like it." "Go see to supper, Katie-girl." "Let your mama rest." "How much did she see?" "Just a name." "What if she starts asking questions?" "What do I say?" "Nothing." "We say nothing." "For 20 years," "I've been praying this day would never come." "She's been our daughter since the day we brought her home." "I will not allow this English woman to interfere with our lives." "Mam, whose dress is this?" "Where did you get that?" "In the attic with my keepsakes." "There's a name stitched into it." "Katherine Mayfield." "Same name that was on that scrap of letter." "It's an English name." "Ain't so?" "REBECCA:" "Katie, I..." "Katie, go." "What are you not telling me?" "Go." "Go." "Samuel!" "Time has come." "Katie." "That fancy dress there." "It's yours." "I'm Katherine Mayfield?" "Jah, you were." "Please, explain." "Since the day we laid eyes on you, we've loved you like our own." "What are you saying?" "We're saying that you are English by birth, and you are Amish by adoption." "I'm not your daughter?" "You have always been our daughter!" "You just weren't born to us." "Why didn't you tell me?" "It would have made no difference." "Yes, it would, I'm not Amish!" "You are Amish through and through." "The name on the letter." "Laura Mayfield." "She's..." "Yes." "The letter was from her, wasn't it?" "What did it say?" "It don't matter none, Katie!" "Yes it does, it matters to me!" "Why did you burn it?" "Because some things are better left unsaid." "All that matters is we are your family." "But, Dad." "Katie." "Please, trust me on this." "You're better off not digging up old graves." "Does Benjamin know?" "No, just the three of us." "And that's how we're going to keep it for everyone's sake." "(DOOR OPENS)" "(WHISPERING) Not a word about it." "BENJAMIN:" "Morning, all." "ELLA MAE:" "Don't suppose you can pretend not to have seen this when it shows up as a wedding gift." "It's for me?" "Cow's out of the barn now." "Please, pour yourself some tea." "What's weighing on you, Katie-girl?" "Last time you stopped by unannounced was three years ago." "Talking to you lifted my spirits, Ella Mae." "The only thing that got me through some days." "Well, I still have ears to hear." "That envelop you give Mam the other day." "May I ask how you come by it?" "You and your folks have a talk?" "Jah, they told me about the English woman." "But they wouldn't tell me what the letter said." "Plainly, it weren't meant for my eyes or yours." "All I know is that I was the baby catcher in this community for 50 years." "Of all those hundreds of babies, only one I didn't catch." "Me?" "Your folks brought you home all bundled up from the hospital in Lancaster." "Why do you think she gave me away?" "Perhaps the better question is why has she come back?" "My folks won't say." "Maybe they're doing what's best for you." "They kept it a secret from me my whole life." "How is that what's best for me?" "Don't be so quick to judge." "You don't have all the puzzle pieces." "But don't I deserve to?" "What if I was supposed to have a whole other life, Ella Mae?" "Out there, among the English." "Oh, I won't deny this is powerful news." "But no matter where God puts us, it's up to us how we choose to live." "Can I help you?" "I want to look like you." "Excuse me?" "I mean, I would like to dress in something like you are wearing." "Not like this." "Okay." "All right, then." "Yeah." "Trust me." "You were born to wear these." "(CHATTERING)" "EPHRAM:" "God has said, "It's not good that man should be alone." ""Let us make him a partner like himself."" "And for this reason, a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife." "And the two shall become one flesh." "So, we stand here today to join this couple," "John Beiler with Katie Lapp, in the eyes of the Lord." "If there's a soul present who could give cause why these two should not be united," "let them speak now, for after this, not one complaint should be heard." "If there be no objections and our sister and brother agree..." "I..." "I..." "I'm so sorry, John Beiler." "I cannot marry you." "I'm so sorry." "Katie, are you in here?" "Katie!" "Katie, are you out here?" "Please, answer me!" "I'm not angry with you!" "I just want to know you're okay!" "(CRYING)" "Katie!" "Katie!" "Katie!" "Where have you been?" "Have you any idea of what you've done?" "What will the people think of us now?" "Your conduct today has put shame on this entire family." "I don't expect you to understand." "But I did John a favor today." "What you did was leave a widower with no wife and no mother for his boys!" "John thought he was marrying a good Amish woman." "But that's not what I am." "Is it?" "Daughter." "Don't let your willful spirit get you shunned." "Benjamin, take little Eli." "Go home to your family." "Katie." "You are to go to the Bishop tomorrow." "You are to repent for what you did and beg him to take you back." "If he will still have you." "I will not." "I will not obey you in this, Papa." "All my life, I trusted you to know what's best for me." "But you never trusted me enough to tell me the truth about myself!" "I have a right to know what that letter said." "I demand you tell me what it said!" "You demand?" "You speak to me with respect, you hear me?" "I'm your father!" "You are not my father!" "(REBECCA GASPS)" "Oh, Katie." "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "(DOOR OPENS)" "She's here." "Thank you for coming." "Please, won't you sit down?" "We made a promise to each other all those years ago." "We took her and raised her as our own." "And you were never to come looking for her." "I know, but things changed." "Not for us." "For her own sake, we never told her about you." "But you coming here, sending letters, snooping around, forced us to tell her about you." "I am so sorry." "I just wanted to meet with Katherine." "Katie." "Katie." "I just..." "I just wanted to see her for a few moments." "You may think that I'm naive." "But I know what you want." "You want to take her from us." "No." "I would never do that." "If that's true, write another letter." "Another letter?" "One that says you're sorry for coming here, for trying to see us." "And that once you got here, you realized that it was all a foolish mistake, that you lost your heart to see Katie." "And that you're going home, never to return." "I could never write those things." "You would if you wanted what's best for Katie." "Not what's best for you." "But I couldn't say what isn't true." "Then we have nothing more to say to one another." "I've come to you seeking counsel." "I'm at my wits' end with the girl." "We sympathize, Samuel Lapp." "It's a good thing you want to bring some order back to your household." "It looks to me as if the poor lamb has just lost her way." "Let us not forget, our Lord left the 99 to go and bring the one lost sheep back to the fold." "True, Ephram, but what if all this ruefulness is evidence that she wants to run from the flock?" "Leave the people behind." "Samuel, this is the question only you can answer." "Are you fearful she's on the brink of leaving the church?" "I pray to God it's not the case." "But I can't promise that it ain't in her mind." "Then the scripture is clear on that." "If she will not listen to admonishment, then for her own good," "she has to be disciplined." ""With such a one, you shall not even eat!"" "Bishop John, as grievous as this is, as our shepherd, this matter now falls to you." "John." "I was planning to come see you, but I didn't want to upset the boys any more than I already had." "Were you planning to make a confession?" "No." "(SIGHS)" "This confirms it then." "You are drifting away from the people." "As of today," "you are shunned." "None of us in Hickory Hollow can speak to you." "You may not eat at the same table with other church members nor do business with any plain soul until such time that you come to your senses and we see that your actions meet with your convictions." "Then you may be able to offer a kneeling confession before the congregation." "And it is only then die Meinding can be lifted, even if it takes the rest of your life." "Mama, why is Katie sitting at the kids' table?" "(SHUSHING)" "Just eat your food." "Did you run into Abe Stoltzfus at the farmers' market today?" "No." "He was going to give you some medicine to deliver to Ella Mae." "What's the matter with Ella Mae?" "Must be the old girl's arthritis." "Acts up with the change of seasons." "I'll go by tomorrow, take it to her." "Or you could let me take it to her." "SAMUEL:" "Horses need their supper, too." "I'll help." "Ephram, please." "You don't have to say nothing." "Just let me buy the thread I need." "I've always been able to help her when she's suffering." "And now there's not a thing I can do." "I can't speak to her." "I can't hold her hand." "I know I've been hard on the girl." "Have been all her life." "Give her some time." "She'll come to her senses, do a kneeling confession." "All will be well again." "It's what the shunning's meant for." "You'll see." "But this pain, Samuel?" "Is this God's way of showing us what Laura Mayfield has felt all these years?" "Just wanted to be close to her child, just to see her one time, but having a wall separating her." "(GUITAR PLAYING)" "She has no respect at all." "I'm not trying to be disrespectful." "It's the only way to get your attention." "We've given her every opportunity." "How does she repay us?" "Please, Dat, talk to me." "Samuel, please!" "She brings this English instrument into our home!" "Dat, please talk to me!" "I don't know what to do." "I need my papa's help to help me to know what to do!" "REBECCA:" "Samuel, maybe we could just..." "What?" "We could what?" "You want to defy the order?" "No." "You want to walk away from everything we believe in?" "No." "Everything that sets our world apart?" "Please, talk to me." "No!" "(CRYING) Talk to me, please." "I need you." "DANIEL:" "Remember the fireflies?" "They were everywhere, weren't they?" "DANIEL:" "Shining all around us as I took you home in my buggy on this very road." "The night we first fell for each other." "Everything was perfect." "Everything was right." "The people have always been there for me, Daniel." "When you drowned, they gave me the strength to go on." "Now I've lost them, too." "Is this what my faith has been about, being banned for the rest of my life?" "I don't even know who I am anymore." "Then maybe it's time you find out." "The only people who know the truth about my birth are Mam and Dat." "And even if they wanted to, they can't tell me anymore because I'm shunned." "I don't have anyone left." "Is that true?" "You mean her?" "But I don't even know who she is." "I don't know how I would even find her." "Deep down, you know what you need to do, Katie." "Why did you have to leave me, Daniel?" "Mrs. Lapp?" "Hello, I was hoping to see Mrs. Bennett again." "Oh, I'm sorry." "You're too late." "She's gone." "Gone?" "But she said she was..." "MAN:" "Jessica." "Out front." "Your flight leaves in 90 minutes." "I'll be right there." "Can you give this to her for me?" "I suppose so." "I really have to go." "She left so suddenly." "Her husband arranged for an air ambulance to fly her back to her doctors." "She collapsed this morning." "Collapsed?" "You mean she didn't tell you?" "Tell me what?" "Her vitals have stabilized." "BP 90 over 60." "She's been in and out of UC all the flight over here." "Laura, can you hear me?" "What's wrong with her?" "Please, tell me what's wrong." "Laura, I want you to look at me." "That's very good." "Okay." "I love you." "Prep her stat, I'll be right behind you." "The good news is, I don't think she's had a stroke." "But I did warn her this could happen." "That tumor's pressing on her spinal cord and interfering with the blood flow to her brain." "Oh, dear God." "We should have done this surgery a month ago." "I know." "She kept insisting there was something she had to do first." "Whatever it is, I hope it was worth it." "(CELL PHONE RINGING)" "Hello?" "Yeah." "Yeah, she's doing great." "The surgery was a week ago." "Yeah, she made it through with flying colors." "Yeah, so about our deal..." "You went through a major surgery, honey." "It's normal to feel a little down." "We'll have you back on your feet soon." "You'll see." "How's she doing today?" "Singing the blues." "We need to give her some space to heal, so keep it short." "Hmm?" "I understand." "I know, but I just need to have a reasonable rate of return." "Morning, Mrs. Bennett." "What's that?" "Rebecca." "She came by the hotel when I was leaving and she gave me this for you." "Oh!" "Oh!" "Hey, look, I'll have to get back to you later." "Thanks." "Sweetheart, what's that?" "Could you give us a few moments?" "Mam." "I want you to know everything, Katie." "It's time you come to know what happened the night you came to be our baby girl." "But the ban, you shouldn't be talking to me." "I would rather be shunned myself than have another minute in silence with you." "I was eight months pregnant, Katie." "We loved your brother more than anything, but your dat and me had been praying for more children." "And God answered our prayers." "Just not in the way we expected." "LAURA:" "There was a time before my inheritance that you don't know about." "And it's the reason that I went to Lancaster County." "My mom was an alcoholic and a drug addict." "And my grandmother disinherited her." "And when I was 16, I met this boy who made me feel like I mattered." "And with no one really watching over me, things happened." "After Ben was born, we tried having more babies." "I got pregnant three times and lost each one." "I wasn't taking chances with this baby." "I was going to fight for this one." "But the baby started coming too early." "Your dat wanted to fetch Ella Mae, but I knew something was wrong." "I just knew I needed an English doctor." "LAURA:" "I begged and begged him not to leave me." "But he did." "He did leave me." "REBECCA:" "Our precious baby girl was born, but something was wrong with her heart." "There was nothing they could do." "She lived only a few minutes." "The doctors said my child-bearing days were over." "Said we'd never again hold a little one of our own." "LAURA:" "I remember sitting in the wheelchair wondering what I was gonna do, when I saw..." "REBECCA:" "That's when she came to us." "She was no more than 16." "She wanted you to have a good life, the kind of life she didn't think she could provide at the time." "She offered you to us in secret when no one was watching." "That buggy driving away was the last I ever saw of her." "All that searching and you didn't get to see her?" "No." "I realized that's the greatest gift a mother could ever give her daughter," "putting her needs before her own." "REBECCA:" "All anyone knew was that we left the Hollow pregnant and we returned with a beautiful baby girl." "Why did you keep it a secret?" "Because we loved you so much." "We were afraid if anybody knew," "that some people would come and try to take you away." "And that's a risk we were never willing to take." "It mightn't have been legal in the English's eyes." "But we knew in our hearts, it was legal in God's." "You were a gift to us." "Straight from heaven." "But I now see you were a gift to her, too." "She just realized it too late." "Where is she now?" "She went back home." "To New York." "There's something else." "She's dying, Katie." "And that's why she came back." "She wanted to meet the daughter she gave away all those years ago" "and to ask for your forgiveness." "I know you can't speak to me, but I was hoping you might just listen." "You're just in time for tea." "Thank you for talking to me, Ella Mae." "Breaking the ban, I mean." "Half the folks in this community think I'm as senile as a loon anyway." "They'll think I forgot there even was a ban." "Besides, there are times the human heart needs more than the old ways can give it." "My mam also talked to me." "She told me everything." "Thought she might." "The reason Laura Mayfield came looking for me after all these years is" "she's dying." "She wanted to see me while there's still time." "Then I guess you've got a decision to make." "If I don't go now, Ella Mae, I might never get to see her." "I might never find out who I really am." "Who you really are?" "That's a peculiar thing to say." "What do you mean?" "Well, I know who you are." "You're that little girl who loved picking flowers of every color." "Squabbling with her ornery brother." "Listening to her mama's stories." "And always at her father's feet." "Taking late-night buggy rides with Daniel Fisher." "All of that, child." "That's who you are." "If you need to go see Laura Mayfield, then go." "Or if you just need to discover the world, then go." "And God be with you." "But don't go thinking you're gonna find something out there that you ain't already found right here." "The miracle ain't the life you missed, Katie," "it's the life you've got." "Twenty years ago, love brought you to Hickory Hollow" "and if you're gonna leave, let it be that same love" "that sends you off." "When are you leaving?" "There's a bus out of Lancaster later today." "You're going to see her then?" "Yeah." "I'm going to try." "But even if I don't," "I have questions I need answered for myself out there." "If you do find her, what will you say to her?" "I'll say thank you." "Maybe she regrets giving me away, but I'm grateful that she did." "Because she gave me to the best parents a child could hope for." "She gave me to my true family." "How will we know you're all right out there?" "I have money saved up from housekeeping." "And I'll write you." "Katie, I'm so sorry if we hurt you." "I'm sorry for all the secrets." "Can you forgive me?" "Mama, I already have." "No matter how far you go, or how long you're gone, we'll always be right here." "And when you're ready to come back, we'll be waiting." "I love you, Mama." "I love you, too, Katie-girl." "Never far away." "Never far away." "I suppose if I was going away on a journey, a little extra cash might help." "Dat." "MAN ON PA:" "Attention, passengers for Buffalo, New York." "All passengers for Buffalo, New York." "The bus will now begin boarding." "Katie!"