Recap: Hope is living with her parents. She misses the Jacobsons and going to the Beth Jacob Academy. She dreams about Alyson; in the dream, Alyson tells her to follow her heart. She asks her parents about Alyson, and they tell her that she was her older sister who passed away. Alyson had come to Hope twice in dreams. She wants to go back to the Jacobsons, but how can she do that to her parents?
The next day, Mommy drove me to the high school so I could register. It was a big public school. I thought of the Beth Jacob Academy and I sighed.
There was nothing about this big impersonal building that I could even like. The principal handed me a schedule. She said I could start today or tomorrow. I told her I wanted to start tomorrow. I really never wanted to start. I missed Beth Jacob, with all the Jewish studies, with the crisp tz’nius uniform, with Rivkah and my friends.
When we were back in the car, Mommy said, ”I have a surprise for you, Hope. I found a ballet school called the Ballet Center. I told the director about your dream of going to the New York City Ballet School and she said she could help you. She has connections to the school. I can take you to the Ballet Center now to sign up for classes.”
“Let’s not go there right now,” I said. How could I explain that my dream had changed? I no longer wanted to go the New York City Ballet School. At Beth Jacob, I’d come to realize that I could dance and choreograph within the framework of what was allowed by halachah. I could use my talents and gifts in a positive, meaningful way. I didn’t want the secular version anymore. I knew that would lead to emptiness and unhappiness.
I began high school on a Thursday. That night, Mommy brought home kosher chicken and other ingredients. I saw she wanted to help me make Shabbos. While we were peeling potatoes, Mommy asked, “How was school?”
“It was okay.” A few tears leaked from my eyes.
“Hope, you’re not happy.”
I couldn’t lie. “I want to be happy. I am happy that we are together.”
“It’s just that you miss the Jacobsons and the school there. Am I right?”
Follow your heart. Alyson’s message echoed in my brain.
“I do. Mommy, I’m sorry. I want to make you happy, but this school isn’t right for me. None of it is.” I was sobbing.
“Hope, it’s okay. You discovered something so valuable, and you want to pursue it. I think I understand. Rebbetzin Jacobson tried to explain it to me but I didn’t understand. Now I think I do. We can’t replace a Jewish education or a community. This is what you crave.”
Mommy went to the phone. She called the Jacobsons. “Yes, please. Yes. It’s just not working out here in the public school and Hope… Yes.”
She hung up and came over and gave me a big hug. “Hope, the Rebbetzin said she expected my call. She knew you needed to stay with them, and she wants you to come back. We will work out an arrangement so when there are school holidays you will come home to us. We will start learning with the Jacobsons by phone and they will help us kasher the kitchen and teach us how to make Shabbos. She said she’s going to buy me a crock pot to make cholent.”
“Oh, Mommy, thank you.”
…
[Five Years Later]
We just returned from Eretz Yisrael. Rivkah and I both went to the same seminary. It was such an amazing experience. Our seminary had a production, and I was in charge of dance. It was on the plane ride home that Rivkah hit me with a real bombshell.
“So, I got a letter from my favorite brother.”
“You always get letters from him and all your other siblings.”
“Yeh, but this letter had something about you in it.”
“What?”
“Tikvah, Avraham wants to know if you would consider him as a shidduch.”
“Whoa! We haven’t even landed yet. I don’t know if I’m ready for––”
“Wouldn’t that be amazing if we were sisters-in-law.”
“Yes, but––”
“Would you consider my favorite brother? I mean he is an amazing brother, so I’m sure he’ll be an amazing husband.
…
I dressed carefully for the first date. “Rivkah, isn’t it strange for Avraham to pick me up from his own house?”
“He doesn’t mind. Anyway, he’s living at the yeshivah.”
When he came, his mother kissed him and then she hugged me. “Have a good time,” she called after us, as we left.
“Are you okay with going to the park?” Avraham asked. “It has some sentimental meaning to me.”
He pulled up to the park, right near the cave where I’d seen him that morning so long ago.
“Shh, if you listen, it’s like the trees are whispering here.”
I listened, and the leaves rustled above in a way that did sound like whispering.
“Sometimes when I come here at night and stand very still, I can hear that sound. I call it ‘whispers in the night.’” He paused to listen. “I always think of you when I pass by here,” he said. “I remember how I suddenly heard you calling for help.”
I blushed.
“That was such a crazy time,” I said.
“You were so brave,” he said.
“Your family is incredible,” I said. “I owe them my life. Well actually, you rescued me that day, so I guess I owe you, too.”
“Good. If you owe me, then that puts me in a good position.”
I had to change the subject. I was feeling too exposed. “Remember the neighbor’s dog?” I asked.
“Oh, Apricot. Yeah, she was something.”
“Rivkah was so proud of you for stepping up and taking care of that dog.”
“Rivkah is a gem.”
”Tell me about yeshivah.”
“Well, I love my yeshivah. I have an awesome chavrusa. I am studying for s’michah now.
“Wow!”
“So, tell me, now that you’re back, what do you want to study?”
“Well, it’s strange how things change. I always wanted to be a dancer, and now, well, I love dance and I could see myself opening a dance school for little girls, but I also always loved writing. I am thinking about taking a journalism course.”
“That’s really neat.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“I want to learn as long as possible and then, when I marry…” He hesitated. “Well, I hope to become a rebbi.” A little bird was standing near us. It chirped and then flew away.
“Hashem is amazing,” I said. “Look at all the blessings He’s sent me.”
“He’s sent us,” Avraham said.
We both stood there thinking things but not sure if we should say them.
Avraham broke the silence. “I’ve known since you first came to our family, but I don’t know how you feel. I know it’s just the first date, but, Tikvah, I know you’re the girl I want to marry.”
I had to sit down. I was suddenly dizzy.
“Sorry, I wasn’t going to do this. It just kind of popped out.”
Marry Avraham, Rebecca’s favorite brother?
Hashem had orchestrated so many things to lead me to this incredible moment, and now here I was with my bashert, about to embark on a new life.
I smiled at Avraham.
And he smiled back.
“Yes!” I said as I silently thanked Hashem for this wonderful miracle. “Yes, I will marry you!”
THE END
Stay tuned for the next historical fiction serial:
The Silver Dollars (about the 1964 Earthquake in Alaska)
Susie Garber is the author of the newly released historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishers, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishers, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams, a novel (Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, and “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022).
