It turns out Fred had taken Frances to that summer picnic...Heads surely turned when folks saw the two together...

"Oh my goodness!...I can't believe it!...Does this mean you're together?" Liz said to her best friend exictedly...after Fred had gone to spend some time with the men...

"Liz, be reasonable...its just ONE summer picnic!...It isn't like we're courting now or anything!" Frances smiled. "At least I don't think so...he did speak to Pa about something a couple weeks ago...About what...I don't know..."

"Well, you better tell me if anything happens!"

"Like what?" Frances smiled...

"Like your first KISS, Frances!...Get with the times!...It isn't the 1700's anymore!...All the talks on the porch...guarded by the girls' parents?...Those days are gone, girl!"

"Then why haven't YOU had your first kiss yet, Liz?...Hmmmmm?" Frances said, smirking at her...

"Do you SEE me with a beau lately?...No..."

"I see, said the blind man..." Frances giggled...

"I rest my case!" Liz said...and walked off...

"Hey Fred,...bet there's no way you know how to ride a horse and use a Civil War saber!" One of the men began to tease him.

"I sure do!" Fred insisted..."I fought in the war, you know..."

"No way...Not a young whipper-snapper like you!" One of the older men said...

"Well, it was the later part of the war..."

"Still say you can't do it!"

Then, all the men began to tease Fred, which urked him somethin' fierce!...

"Anybody got a saber layin' around anywhere?..." Fred asked...

"We have one up in the attic, I'll go get it..." The hostess of the party, Mrs. Abbey said...and went inside. She came back with it...The one her nephew Graham used..."Defeated much of the enemy with this here saber..."

An old farm horse was saddled and Fred ordered for the men to put 8 or 10 sitcks, 4 or 5 feet high in the air, into the ground, in a zig zag pattern...with an apple on each stick...Fred mounted the old farm horse, grabbed the saber from one of the men, and rode at top speed, and speared each apple on the top of the saber...The crowd went wild with shouts and applauses...one young lady being the loudest of them all...

"How's THAT for not knowing how?" Fred smirked, dismounting the horse...Frances ran to him, and embraced him...

"Oh, I KNEW you could do it, Fred!"

Fred placed a kiss on her forehead..."Thanks for rooting for me..." He smiled down at her...and a wide smile crept across her face..."Did he actually kiss me on the forehead a few times?...And are we really holding each other?...Am I dreaming?...Oh, I just can't believe it!...Boy, Liz probably won't shut up for awhile after this moment!" Frances thought.

Fred and Frances walked hand in hand to the creek where they first met almost two years before...

"So...Does this mean you're my beau now?" Frances smiled, sitting on her 'story' rock...skipping stones across the water...it was a little hard to do, even though the creek was flowing at a slow, gentle pace...

"Only if you want me to be..." Fred smiled..."I did ask your Pa about it though."

"And what did he say?" She turned her head and looked at him...

"He said...'yes'...He thinks I'm a good man...very respectful...that I'll be able to take good care of his 'little girl'..."

"I sometimes wish he'd stop saying that...Yes, I'm his girl...but I'm not a little girl anymore!...I'm a young woman..."

Fred raised his eyebrows and smiled..."Now that's what I'm talkin' about..."

Frances smiled at him..."You really see me as a woman?"

Fred smiled..."Well, what can I say?...You are...and one pretty one at that..."

She blushed..."Thank you, Fred..."

The next thing that happened, Frances couldn't believe, but she was glad it was happening...They both found themselves leaning in and Frances tilted her head to the left, and like clockwork, Fred's leaned to the right...their lips met, and Frances experienced her very first kiss...No matter how hard she could have tried...Frances would not have been able to wipe the excited smile off of her face...It was like it was glued there.

A few months later...

It was a Sunday...and everyone was in church, bright and early that morning...Rev. Weirich was preaching a very good sermon...surely kept people from falling asleep!...Well, except for the town drunk,...Mr. Ferro...and every time...Rev. Weirich pounded his thick hand on the wooden pulpit, the drunk would jump, as he was startled by the noise, and he would wake up...So there he was, old Mr. Ferro...fast asleep and snoring away, and Frances rolled her eyes at him but then looked up and payed attention to Rev. Weirich's preaching...and suddenly he brought his fist down on the pulpit, and Mr. Ferro jumped...and woke up...To be a little smart alec, and to be humorous, Frances jumped as well, as if SHE had been asleep...George and John started snickering, but one look from Ma got them to quiet down...It was VERY hot that morning as well, folks were cooling themselves, or trying to...as best as they possibly could...Since it was so hot some women 'fainted', well, according to Frances they "faked a faint"...because they ALWAYS had a strong man near to catch them...The women made sure of that!...Everytime a girl fainted, Frances would roll her eyes back in her head...She had never fainted, and she thought it was all put on.

Every now and then, Frances would look over at Fred...she saw him uninterested in the preaching...and that worried her...There he was, flipping through the hymnal...As bored as a little boy would be...whether he absolutely didn't want to be there...or he was under conviction...she didn't know exaclty...When Rev. Weirich called for the invitation, Frances went down to the altar to pray...She let the Lord guide her into praying for Fred...and the words came to her..."Dear Lord...I don't know what all is going on with him...But...it worries me Lord...He seems uninterested...Lord,...please open his eyes...Let him know You love him...Let him come to You, Lord, for salvation...if he hasn't already...Bless him in a special way...In Jesus Name, Amen..." She found wet spots on her brown Sunday dress...and tears still stained her cheeks...so she dabbed at her cheeks and her eyes, got up and walked back to her pew she was sitting in with George and John...Joseph was sitting with a young woman named Nona Schmidt...and Ma and Pa Gruber were sitting in the pew behind them...

It was a warm, May afternoon...and the church had another picnic...and yes, Frances and Fred went together. Frances was about to turn 17 in a few weeks, and Fred had bought a little something for her...

"Hope you like it, Frances..." He smiled, waiting for her reaction as she opened the brown paper bag...

"Lavender perfume!" She gasped. "My favorite!...Thank you so much!" She said wrapping him up in a hug. "I love, love, LOVE it!...And you!" She said, and kissed him.

"So...am I going to be getting to do a wedding anytime soon?..." Rev. Weirich smiled at Big George, as they were looking, a ways off, at the young couple...

"The young man still hasn't asked me for her hand...To court her, yes...but to marry her, not yet..."

"Give him time...I'm sure he will, George..." Ma Gruber said, placing her hands on his shoulders..."What about Joe and Nona? You think something's up with them?"

"No!" Big George insisted..."Besides, they only sat together in church once!"

"I think they're sweet on each other..." Franziska said...

"How can you tell that?"

"A mother knows..." She smirked at him...Big George grunted and walked off to talk with the men...

"Oh, I just can't believe it! He actually KISSED you!" Liz said, hugging her friend...Frances FINALLY told her best friend what had happened at the picnic...a year earlier...she wanted to keep that moment secret, but she knew it couldn't for long! "...What else?...There's something else...I can tell...Frances, if you don't tell me..."

"Will, you calm yourself?" Frances laughed..."I'll tell you, okay!...Fred said he talked to Pa, and..."

"And what?...Tell me, girl!"

"We're COURTING!"

"AAAAAaaahhhhhh!" Liz let out a girlish squeal, hugged Frances and both of them jumped around together in a little circle.

"Gosh, I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks!" Frances smiled..."Now all we need to do is get YOU a beau, Liz..."

"Sounds GREAT to me!" She laughed.

A/N: Joseph "Joe" Leo Gruber did eventually marry Nona Leona Agnes Schmidt...They had 7 children...Frances "Fran" Josephine Gruber German (born on November 12, 1921), Leonona "Snooky" Agnes Gruber Davis (September 7, 1923), Joseph "Joey" Leo Gruber Jr. (July 30, 1925), George "Pudge" Thomas Gruber (July 15, 1928), Delores "Butzi" Marie Gruber (September 14, 1930), Kathleen "Kate" Rose Gruber Greibe (Febrauary 7, 1934) and Madonna "Donna" Jo-ann Gruber (March 7, 1936)

The story of the drunk falling asleep in church, with Frances jumping too like she had been asleep, is true, but I picked out his name...The story of the women "faking a faint" and how Frances rolled her eyes and thought it was all "put on" is also true. She never fainted a day in her life!...Also, Rev. Weirich was the Gruber's Catholic priest...yet, he was still called..."Rev. Weirich" and not "Father", I guess it was different back then than it is now.

At the time of writing, I did not know that it was Yardley's English Lavender soap that Frances loved, not its perfume.

The story about Fred and being teased about "not knowing how to ride a horse and use a Civil War saber" is true...Boy, he sure showed them! lol. :)