Read Online A Husband For Mari (The Amish Matchmaker 2) by Emma Miller - Free Book Online Page A

mother.”
    “She has a child ?”
    “A boy. Nine years old. A man marries a woman with a boy nine years old and he’s got an instant helper around the farm,” he teased. “Makes sense to me. You know, rather than starting a family from scratch.”
    “James Hostetler,” she admonished. “You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?” She cuddled the baby against her. “Well, it’s not funny. You’ve been baptized into the church. If you left again, you’d be lost to us...to me and the children.” Mattie shook her head. “It’s not a joke, brother.”
    He went to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere, Mattie. And I’m not running off with Mari Troyer.” He kissed the top of his sister’s head and wondered to himself what the chances were that Sara knew Mari Troyer better than Mari knew herself.
    * * *
    Friday was hectic at the butcher shop, but Mari already thought she was getting a handle on her responsibilities and a good working knowledge of how the scales and cash register worked. She’d even learned a bit about sausage and scrapple making from Gideon. There was a lot she had to learn, but whenever she hit a snag, Addy or Gideon was there to throw her a lifeline. Ending up in Seven Poplars was really quite a turn of events, when she thought about it. Of all the ways she’d tried to imagine finding self-sufficiency, she’d never thought it would be working in an Amish butcher shop and living with an Amish friend.
    At five o’clock she hung up her apron and walked out the door feeling as though she’d earned her day’s wages. Her only regret was that she had been unable to enroll Zachary in school. The local school secretary had been polite but firm. The school’s policy was not to accept a new student without proper documentation, which meant waiting on the school records she’d requested Wednesday.
    On the plus side, while at work, Mari had been confident that Sara, Jerushah or James was at the house and watching over her son. But it was unfair to expect them to take responsibility for Zachary when he should be in school. Zachary, however, was more than pleased that he couldn’t start yet. And to hear him tell it, he was practically a member of James’s crew and on his way to being a journeyman carpenter. As relieved as she was that Zachary was happy, she knew that she had to get him back into class before he fell further behind in his studies.
    When the van dropped Mari off at Sara’s, the house was quiet. Nothing bubbled on the stove, and the table was not set for the evening meal. Instead of the usual Friday evening supper, Sara was hosting a neighborhood evening meal in a barn that stood behind the stable where she kept her animals. Ellie had pointed it out earlier in the week and explained that Sara had purchased it in the summer for practically nothing because it was about to be torn down at its original location to make room for a development. With the help of friends and neighbors, James’s construction crew had dismantled the barn and then rebuilt it on Sara’s acreage.
    Mari changed out of her work clothing, dressed warmly and followed the pathway through a grassy field to the barn, where light shone from every window. By daylight, it was a postcard-perfect gambrel-roofed building with a metal roof, red siding and jaunty rooster weather vane, but Mari couldn’t imagine why Sara would plan a supper in a barn on a cold January evening. Once she pushed open the white wooden door, Mari was immediately reminded of why she should never doubt her friend. Sara’s barn was amazing.
    Mari gazed around at the interior, taking in the high ceiling, the massive wooden beams and the spotless whitewashed walls. Not only had the inside of the building been insulated, but the old wood floor had been sanded and refinished. Two enormous woodstoves stood in opposite corners, making the main room so warm that she was going to have to take off her coat. And it smelled so good, the