The Amish Bride of Ice Mountain by Kelly Long

about my family, but—”
    Mary glanced over his shoulder and he broke off as a tall woman in impossibly high heels and a very short dress approached them.
    “Is there something I could help you with?”
    Her words were polite sounding but Mary couldn’t help but notice the veiled look of speculation in her eyes as she watched them. Yet Jude was entirely at ease with the situation. Mary longed for the private and quiet shopping of Kauffman’s back on the mountain. Then she reminded herself that these very new experiences were why she was here and she decided to make the best of it.
    “Shoes,” Jude said. “She needs a comfortable pair of black shoes, and nothing with a heel.”
    The woman nodded. “She’s—I’m sorry, I mean you’re Amish, right?”
    Mary decided the woman’s eyes weren’t cold but rather genuinely interested. “I am.”
    The woman nodded as she half turned from them to lead the way toward a beautiful circular display of various shoes. “I’ve watched some TV shows about the Amish. It doesn’t seem like a fun life for a girl.”
    Mary shook her head. “ Ach , but I had great fun growing up Amisch .”
    “How could you, though? I guess I could never see myself dressing like that and being happy.” There was a hollowness in her laugh, and something tugged at Mary’s spirit. She looked into the woman’s green eyes and found them sad in a way.
    “But life is not about clothes and such . . . Of course, all of the things here are beautiful. And you are beautiful, but we have to find reasons to live beyond what we wear or how we look.” She trailed off, realizing she was attracting the attentions of other customers. She sought Jude’s eyes with an apology forming on her lips. But he simply watched her with a smile, one that entered her heart and made her feel glad.
    The saleswoman sniffed. “I suppose you could be right, but fashion is my business. Now, what kind of a shoe are you allowed to wear? Only black?”
    Mary realized the moment had passed for trying to speak of earnest things and concentrated on slipping her feet into the soft black “flats,” as the saleswoman called them. She lifted her skirt an inch to show Jude and wriggled her toes in the surprising comfort.
    “I like them. We’ll take two pairs.” He lifted a finger when she would have protested at the excess. “This is my shopping trip too, Mrs. Lyons, and one pair of those dainty things will wear out a lot faster than Ben Kauffman’s shoe leather. So please accept them.”
    Mary giggled and felt young and carefree as he paid, then took the bag, leading her from the store. They were back in the elevator when she remembered the saleswoman.
    “I don’t think she was really happy.”
    Jude looked at her. “Hmm? Who? Oh, the saleswoman. No, sweetheart, probably not, for one reason or another. But you’d better get used to it—in my world, feelings rule.”
    “But what about the will and the spirit?” Mary asked.
    He shook his head as the elevator doors slid open and they both heard what sounded like the loud howls of a wolf at bay.
    “Let’s worry about your dog for now, Mary. I think he may be scaring away guests.”
    She accepted the change in conversation somewhat gratefully, knowing his opinions on the matter of spirit were not much more favorable than his opinion of Bear.
    She followed him down the hall to their room as the dog’s cries echoed with ghostly intensity and she felt she could understand the sound.
     
     
    Jude fingered his cell phone, really looking at it for the first time in months, and thought what an odd piece of connection it was. He’d retrieved it from the Expedition glove box after Mary had gone to bed with a satisfied Bear in attendance. He’d recharged the phone, deleting month-old messages without listening, and wondered if he should call his family to tell them of their impending arrival the next day.
    He could imagine how that call would go. His mother would need a therapy