The following Friday evening, they drove over to Jesse's to stay overnight, then early in the morning, after Maureen served them a light breakfast, the three of them left for the lake. They drove directly to their cabin, stopping only at a bait store to purchase some bait. While Molly showed her father to his room, Charlie got the boat ready and retrieved all their fishing gear from the shed.
By the time Charlie had the boat ready to go, Molly, a picnic basket, and a beaming Jesse, complete with fishing gear, were all prepared. Charlie drove the boat out to a promising cove which he had previously had his eye on; they fished for about six hours, with only a lunch break, without ever leaving the boat. In the waning afternoon, they returned triumphantly to the cabin with a large catch of fish. Half went to The Amish House, and half the weekend’s catch went home to Maureen. Their bounty was abundant, in so many ways.
During the next eight weeks, they spent five weekends at the cabin, going alone twice and taking guests with them three times, including Amos, his wife and his children, Andrew and Clive, who loved every moment of their outdoor lifestyle. They enjoyed their two times alone, much more, by far, than the times in which they had guests. Their love for each other was still so intense that they sought every opportunity to be completely unguarded in their intimacy with each other. In late November, they winterized the cabin and boat, pulled the boat out of the water, and up the ramp into it covered storage place on the dock. They didn't return again until the following March.
During the next month and a half, the couple was very busy. They celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas at Jesse's home, and went to a New Year's Eve party at George's place. They also visited Muriel and the children several times during the holiday period. Thanksgiving at Jesse's featured a large roasted turkey with all the trimmings. Maureen did most of the cooking honors, with Molly contributing home-made noodles and biscuits, having watched their preparation at The Amish House. Pumpkin and mincemeat pies, and a fruit salad, were enjoyed as desserts. There were nine people for dinner, and after eating there was a special party to celebrate the announcement that Maureen and her widower, James, would be getting married in three weeks at their church. It was a very nice wedding with two receptions - the first one, with refreshments, was held at the church and the second one was held at Jesse's house, with a potluck dinner and with Molly serving as hostess. Molly noticed the difference from her own wedding to Charlie, of course, but was simply glad that everyone had accepted it by now.
As the holidays approached, Charlie and Molly were unable to decide whether they should do any Christmas decorations. They finally decided to put up a few evergreen wreaths, and to see if Muriel would agree to let them put up a Christmas tree, with all the trimmings, at her mother's house for the children. Betty readily agreed, and on the 20th they took a very nice tree, which they cut down themselves at a nearby Christmas tree farm, along with a great variety of trimmings to Betty's house. Charlie and Roger set up the tree, and they then had an old-fashioned trimming party with Muriel, Roger, and Charlie's oldest daughter, Detty, doing most of the work.
Molly also helped a lot, with Betty mainly taking care of the baby, Brenda, and Charlie playing with the twins, Char and Charlie. Before leaving they left Christmas presents under the tree for Betty, Muriel, Roger and the four children. They also gave Betty a large cured ham, for their Christmas dinner. They arrived back at Betty's home just at sunset on Christmas Eve, and enjoyed watching the children open their presents. Betty served coffee, cocoa, brownies and Christmas cookies, and Muriel surprised Charlie and Molly by introducing them formally to Harry, also known as Dr Manson. Charlie and Molly stayed for about two hours, and then excused themselves to drive to Jesse's house to spend Christmas Eve and day with him, James and Maureen.
To round out their first holiday season, and a very busy one at that, the couple went to the New Year's Eve party at George's. There were four other couples, and six other single people attending the party. It was a very nice party, at which George served Tom-and-Jerry eggnogs, several kinds of wine, a large selection of beers and ales, and about a dozen different kinds of hors d'oeuvres. He also had several bottles of excellent champagne for the New Year’s toast after midnight. For the non-drinkers, like Charlie, he served hot cocoa, apple cider and lemonade, and a sparkling cider for the midnight toast. Everyone had a very good time and Molly was especially pleased to see that George spent a lot of time talking to Charlie
‘Happy New Year, darling wife,’ whispered Charlie as they clinked glasses at midnight. They didn’t kiss, to spare George’s feelings.
‘I don’t see how it could be happier than last year.’ Molly tweaked Charlie’s fingers. ‘I feel as though we’ve been so lucky that we ought to start sharing it around.’
Charlie smiled, looking thoughtful. ‘That’s a very Amish approach.’
‘How perfect,’ said Molly.
It had been a very busy and eventful holiday season, and they looked forward with great happiness to their life together in the coming year, and for many years beyond.