A Christmas Bride in Pinecraft by Shelley Shepard Gray

okay?”
    â€œWe’re going to be just fine, Bev.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Because she certainly wasn’t.
    He lifted up a pair of kitchen towels with fanciful reindeer appliquéd on them, a sweet gift from a frequent guest. “It’s almost Christmas. All around us, people are thinking of others, making holiday plans, planning special memories.”
    She didn’t follow. “So?”
    â€œSo, holidays come in spite of troubles. Friendships and family still matter even when we are sick or troubled. Life happens.”
    â€œI know, but—”
    â€œWe can’t just sit still and worry, Beverly. The rest of the world doesn’t stop when we do.”
    â€œI suppose it doesn’t, at that.”
    â€œThen, let’s move forward, too. After all, what other option is there?”
    â€œNone, I suppose.”
    â€œAll right, you get busy in here. I’ll be back soon.”
    Once Eric was gone, Beverly turned back to the pantry. Asalways, it was immaculate and neatly organized. Before the robbery, the pantry had been one of the things in her life she was most proud of. Now it seemed like nothing more than a surplus of food. She frowned but then remembered what all those ingredients could eventually be made into.
    And how much Eric liked homemade meals.
    Maybe it was time to make something special for him. She needed to do something to ease things between them. And to make amends for betraying his trust. Even if he never found out that she’d shared his story with Ginny Kaufmann she knew that it hadn’t been the nicest thing to do. If she couldn’t let him know how much he meant to her through words, she would have to show him through her actions.
    At the very least, it was worth a try.

Chapter 7
December 4
    M ark Hilty knew he shouldn’t be hanging around the Quick Stop, the small convenience store on Bahia Vista that most of the Englisher tourists favored, but Laura Beachy worked there.
    And lately, wherever Laura was, he wanted to be there, too. Luckily, it usually wasn’t too busy this time of day. Which meant he’d have her all to himself.
    â€œHow much longer until you get off this afternoon?” he asked her, trying not to stare at her long blond hair like he usually did.
    â€œThe same as always,” she said in mock annoyance. “Six o’clock.”
    â€œOne more hour.” He smiled.
    â€œYep. One more hour, then you can walk me home.”
    â€œOr you can come home with me to the farm.” His fatherowned an organic farm that was open to the public. They’d moved to Sarasota a couple of months ago from Charm, Ohio, after Mark’s mamm had passed away. At first the move had been kind of hard, though he would never have told his father that.
    When they’d arrived, his daed had given him the option of attending high school. At first he’d said no in favor of helping with the family farm, but at the beginning of November, he’d changed his mind. On his first day of school, he’d met Laura. She’d been wearing loose jeans and a faded blue shirt that matched her eyes. He’d thought she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen.
    â€œI’ll think about coming over. I love seeing your stepsisters.”
    â€œYeah, they’re cute.” That was another big change. His father had fallen in love with a widowed mother of three little girls. Mark, his older brother Ben, and younger brother William, had been taken aback at first, but had come to love both Emma and her daughters. Emma was a great mother and she made their father really happy.
    So things were finally going well.
    â€œI could come over for a couple of hours.”
    â€œGreat. Emma’s cooking.”
    â€œThen I’m definitely coming over,” she teased, then stilled as the shop’s door opened.
    Mark turned around, wondering about her reaction. When he saw it was Peter Yoder, he understood. Peter was their