Read Online A Wedding for Julia by Vannetta Chapman - Free Book Online Page A

indeed.”
    “And we rejoiced.” Her mamm appeared so frail, so small against the white pillowcase. Something in Julia’s heart threatened to tear.
    “We did.”
    “I’m glad.”
    The words of Psalm 118 weren’t lost on Julia. She’d heard them every Sunday since she was a wee kind .
    “I know you are.” She bent and kissed Ada’s cheek—soft, weathered, and worn. “I am too.”
    She pulled down the shade and a gentle darkness blanketed the room, though a small amount of light was still visible through the open door from the hall.
    “What will you say to Caleb?” Ada’s hand plucked at the quilt that had been covering her bed longer than Julia could remember. “How will you answer him?”
    Julia didn’t bother to ask how her mother knew.
    “I haven’t decided.”
    Ada patted the bed, so Julia sat.
    “How would you have me to answer?”
    “He’s a gut man, yes?”
    “He seems to be.”
    “Maybe Gotte has sent him to us in our time of need.”
    Julia thought of what Caleb had said, of his prayer asking for a freind . She shrugged and remained silent. She expected Ada to spout a Psalm, maybe 145 or 139. They were both favorites. Instead, a smile tugged at her mother’s lips, one Julia could barely make out in the light from the hall. Ada’s next words caused her to laugh in spite of the weariness spreading through her limbs.
    “He does need a haircut, though. If my hands weren’t so bent, I’d sit him in a kitchen chair and do it myself.”
    “I remember when you would cut dat ’s hair.”
    “Back when he had some on top, it was a twice-a-month chore.”
    Julia stared down the hall, as memories of her dat and then Caleb flooded through her mind and then through her heart. She wasn’t surprised at what her mother said next.
    “Go read your Bible, dochder .”
    “Yes, mamm .”
    She was nearly out the door again when her mother spoke from the bed.
    “Read the story of Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis twenty-four.”
    An unusual selection, one Julia couldn’t remember her mother ever recommending before. Maybe she’d take her Bible and a cup of tea to the garden. There was enough light yet. Maybe that was exactly what she needed after a day with not enough answers and too many unexpected twists.

Chapter 9
    S haron crept back to her house as the eastern sky lightened to pink. It was too close to dawn. Her father would surely be up and working. Her father would see.
    Should she go in the front or risk sneaking in the back? Either way she was bound to be caught and there would be a scene. Though the morning was cool, she wiped at the sweat beading underneath her hair.
    Her hair! She’d forgotten all about her kapp .
    Ducking back behind the hot water shed, she hastily braided her hair and pinned it back into a bun before covering the chestnut mass with her kapp . James loved her hair. He’d told her so again last night…or was it this morning? Warmth heated her cheeks as her mind flipped through the memories. The evening had been worth it, even if she did wind up in trouble.
    And she’d do it again. There was no doubt in her mind she would do it again.
    Going to Indianapolis, eating in a real restaurant, seeing a movie, and driving in the old truck with her hair down and her hand out the window—for the first time in her life she had felt careless and free.
    She wanted to feel that way every day.
    She did not want to feel like a twelve-year-old sneaking home after having skipped school.
    Glancing left and then right, she ran toward the front steps.
    Her mamm would be in the kitchen making breakfast, and the boys would be up readying for school. Better to enter from the front, and maybe she could sneak up the stairs and into her room. She crept through the front door, which was never locked. The smell of coffee from the kitchen almost persuaded her to change her plans. Coffee would be good, but her mother would notice she was wearing the same clothes she’d worn to last night’s singing.
    Sunday