They Called Me Beautiful

Fourteen: His Name Is Nial

A couple weeks after Irene and I got home from Bible school, I received an email that quite literally changed my life. All the subject line said was, “Virtually on my Knees and Begging You Please.” I might have passed it off as spam had I not recognized the sender name. Nial LeFevre.

My heart skipped one beat, and then another. Nial LeFevre was the guy from Bible school who’d tried to get a seat at my table several times, to no avail. I’d thought of him as childish and silly, just trying to get close to the prettiest girl in the bunch, but maybe it went deeper than that.

I couldn’t open the email. Heart pounding so hard my teeth hurt, I ran and got my mom. She started smiling as soon as I told her I’d gotten a very strange email. “Well, go ahead and open it, Kate!” Of course, she knew about it already. Few Mennonite guys dare to ask a girl out without first consulting her parents.

And I could think of no other meaning behind that subject line.

“Dear Miss Hershberger,” the email started, and I knew right then what my answer was going to be. Nial LeFevre, the cutest guy at Bible school, even by Maddie’s standards, was asking me out.

And out I was going to go.

I went through the motions, of course, of talking to my parents, even my dad, about him. They were both thrilled, and I saw a strange light in my dad’s eyes that I’d never before seen in relation to me. Maybe I’d finally found a way of pleasing him, even if it meant eventually getting out of his life.

“How do you say his last name?” my mom asked, grinning like a little girl. “Lafever?”

“Lafev,” I stuttered, pairing it with my name in my mind. Kate LeFevre. It was almost up there on a level with Madeleine Proctor.

Maddie. Everything inside me screamed at me to talk to her about it before I accepted. But I’d finally found a way to escape her. If I couldn’t undo my own chains, Nial certainly could, and would. It was only a matter of time.

I decided to keep it a secret from Maddie and everyone else at church until Nial could come out for a visit. He lived back in Kentucky, but it’d been whispered around at Bible school that he had more money than he knew what to do with. And now he’d chosen me to spend it on.

I was on such a crazy high I couldn’t believe it. I’d never felt anything like it in the world. I didn’t even know the guy, but already I felt myself falling in love with him. Here was the prince who would rescue me from the drudgery of my home life and the chains of my social life.

Nial LeFevre.

Leah and Irene were nearly as ecstatic as me. Stefan had gotten married years before; it was about time romance visited our family again.

“He’s got the coolest accent,” Irene told me. She’d actually talked to him a few times.

“When are you going to tell him yes?” Leah wondered, her eyes sparkling. She was already thirty, and though several guys had asked her out, she’d never accepted. I didn’t know all the reasons why not, but a dreadful fear of marrying someone who’d turn out like our dad resided in the hearts of all us girls.

“As soon as I can figure out the best way to say it,” I mused. Then I couldn’t keep from laughing. “Can you guys believe this? Nial LeFevre asked me out!”

Pretty soon we were all laughing as Leah and Irene came up with outlandish replies for me to consider. We stayed awake that night till midnight, even though Leah had to teach school the next day.

“Don’t tell Lane,” I reminded Leah when she left in the morning.

“Your secret’s safe with me,” she said, “but Nial’d better come out soon. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep it quiet!”