An Amish Match by Jo Ann Brown Page B

and honest with her was dashed. So easily he spoke of keeping his love for his late wife a secret.
    Secrets! They had dominated her first marriage. Now they dashed her hopes for her second one.
    She edged away and pressed back against the wall so not even her shadow would betray her presence. Eavesdropping was wrong, especially during such a private conversation.
    She walked away as quietly as she had come up the stairs. She knew it would be silly to run away as she longed to. She could fall and hurt herself on the stairs.
    When she looked in the bedroom to check on Sammy, she saw him curled up in bed, his toy in his arms. He must have remembered where he’d left it and gotten it on his own. She blinked back abrupt tears. The way Sammy cuddled with his precious Spot reminded her of how Joshua had held the torn rag rug with such love and sadness. A peculiar sensation surged through her.
    Envy.
    Envy that Joshua’s love for his wife had survived even after her death, while Lloyd’s had vanished as soon as he had had that first drink after their wedding. She wondered what it would be like to be loved like Joshua loved his Tildie and if she’d ever find out for herself.

Chapter Six
    â€œG ute mariye!”
    Joshua’s mamm called out the greeting. Deborah rushed to hug her grossmammi . Wiping her hand on a towel, Rebekah smiled at Wanda Stoltzfus. The older woman’s casted arm was wrapped in a black sling, but her eyes twinkled as she handed a basket topped with a blue cloth to her granddaughter.
    During the two weeks since the wedding, the kinder had often visited the house down the road where Wanda lived with her six unmarried sons and younger daughter. Rebekah and Joshua and Sammy had been invited along with the rest of the family to dinner one night last week, but a bad storm had kept them at home. At church services on Sunday, Rebekah had appreciated her mother-in-law introducing her again to people she’d met at the wedding. She hoped she’d match names and faces better when the next church Sunday came around.
    The past fourteen days had been a whirlwind. The lives of Joshua’s family and her own had fallen into a pattern with meals and work and family time in the evening, but Rebekah avoided spending time on the porch—or anywhere else—alone with her husband. If he’d noticed, he hadn’t said anything. Perhaps he was relieved she expected no more from him.
    â€œWanda, why are you waiting for an invitation?” Rebekah asked, glad a visitor gave her the excuse to think of something other than her peculiar marriage. “Come in, come in.”
    Putting her arm around her granddaughter, Wanda walked in. Her expression softened when her gaze alighted on Sammy.
    â€œHow is our big boy?” she asked.
    Sammy clutched Rebekah’s skirt. She scooped him up and settled him on her hip. He pressed his face against her shoulder.
    Wanda winked at Rebekah before she said, “I hope you don’t hide too long, my boy. Chocolate chip cookies are best when they’re warm.”
    He didn’t look up, but shifted so he could watch what the others did. The cookies smelled wunderbaar , and she guessed he was wavering between his shyness and his yearning for a treat.
    â€œDeborah, will you unpack the basket?” Rebekah asked, earning a wide grin from the little girl. “Wanda, would you like to sit down?”
    â€œ Ja . This cast feels like it weighs more every day.” She sat at the table and grimaced as she readjusted her arm. “I thank God I broke my left arm, though I had no idea how much I did with that hand until I couldn’t use it.”
    â€œI discovered that when I broke my finger.” She fought to keep her smile from wavering as the brutality of her past poked out to darken the day. “I appreciate you coming for a visit.”
    â€œI wanted to give you time to become accustomed to your new home.” She looked around.