Read Online Naomi’s Christmas by Marta Perry - Free Book Online

Jessie, and she got into the buggy and drove off down the lane
     without another word.
    For a moment he stood looking after her, feeling the worry nagging at him. Shouldn’t
     Jessie be outgrowing these odd humors of hers? Sometimes she acted as if she were
     thirteen instead of twenty-one.
    He shook his head, trying to shake off the worry. Now he had to go and say something
     to Naomi, he supposed. Women certainly complicated a man’s life.
    When he reached the paddock, his daad had joined the children, giving them bits of
     apple to feed Coal, the black pony. Naomi rested her hands on the top bar of the fence,
     watching them with a smile. Nathan came to stand next to her.
    “If they feed that pony much more, she’ll be too fat to pull the pony cart,” he said.
    “I don’t blame them. Coalie’s a sweet-tempered creature, ain’t so?”
    He nodded, wondering what he could say to put the incident with Jessie in its proper
     place. He studied Naomi’s face. She was her usual contained self again, and the hint
     of distress he’d seen when he first came in the house was banished. She hadn’t bothered
     to put a bonnet on just to come out to the paddock, and the chill breeze tossed the
     strings of her kapp.
    “It was gut of you to bring the kinder out,” he said finally. “Jessie is not so temperamental
     when Emma is here.” Was that an explanation or an apology? Maybe a little of each.
    “I understand,” Naomi said. “I just was not sure what to do when Jessie said what
     she did. I knew that Ada did not leave her alone with the kinder, but I didn’t know
     if that had changed.”
    “No.” He found himself wanting to say more—to pour out what worried him about Ada’s
     little sister. But that seemed disloyal, and really was none of Naomi’s business.
    Well, that wasn’t quite true. Naomi had charge of Joshua and Sadie when he wasn’t
     there, so she had a right to be concerned.
    “No,” he repeated. “I think it best not to rely on Jessie to watch them. Emma says
     she is young for her age, and not responsible enough yet.” He realized how ferhoodled
     that sounded as soon as he said it and found himself resenting the fact that Naomi
     had made it necessary.
    Naomi was regarding him with a grave expression. “Maybe Jessie could use a little
     help. There is a clinic over in Mifflin County—”
    “Nonsense,” he said sharply. He knew the clinic she meant. It was run by Mennonites,
     and it served people from the Plain communities who needed help with mental problems.
     “Jessie’s family is perfectly able to deal with any problems she has.”
    And it’s none of your business.
He didn’t add the words, but he might as well have.
    Supper was ready, keeping warm on the stove while Naomi waited for Nathan to come
     in the house so that she could leave for town. She’d already seen Isaiah walking across
     the stubble of the cornfield toward the house he and Libby rented, and a few minutes
     ago Ezra King’s buggy had passed the house as he headed back to his daughter’s place.
    When Nathan did come in, she’d leave quickly. She’d already been embarrassed enough
     for one day over his implication that she’d been gossiping about Jessie.
    Her cheeks burned just thinking about it. Nobody would accuse her of being a blabbermaul.
     It wasn’t in her nature. Anyway, she’d just been expressing her concern for Ada’s
     little sister. Most likely none of her family wanted to admit it, but pretending Jessie
     would outgrow her problems didn’t seem to be helping at all.
    Sadie, who had been building a house with blocks in the corner of the kitchen, skipped
     across the room to grasp Naomi’s apron. “Can I have a snack, please, Naomi? I’m awful
     hungry.”
    “You are, are you? Well, supper is ready when your daadi comes in. In the meantime,
     what about a carrot stick?” She offered the saucer of carrot and celery sticks she’d
     cleaned for supper.
    Sadie tilted her head to one side.