Read Online At Home in Pleasant Valley by Marta Perry - Free Book Online

years.
    He glanced up from the harrow he was inspecting, his eye caught by someone coming from behind the small brooder coop next to the henhouse on the host farm. Even at this distance, even after meeting him only once, he had no trouble identifying the man. John Kile.
    His eyebrows lifted. That was a surprise, for sure. Anyone could come to the Mud Sale. Plenty of Englischers were here, but Kile couldn’t hope to pass unnoticed, not with the number of Amish in attendance. This was a public announcement of his return.
    How would his family take that? They’d no doubt been through plenty of grief already. His stomach twisted. He knew that feeling only too well.
    Kile moved quickly, almost like he was running away. Shoulders stiff and hands clenched, he headed for the nearest cluster of people gathered around a stand selling sausage sandwiches. He disappeared into the crowd.
    Someone else came from behind the brooder coop. Black cape, black bonnet hiding her face. But as soon as she moved, Daniel knew it was Leah. Teacher Leah meeting with her old sweetheart in a not-so-secret place.
    He stood, irresolute, for a moment. It was not his place to confront her. But if he had seen, others might have as well.
    Even as he hesitated, she turned slightly and saw him. She stopped, her body stiff. Then she came toward him across the stubble of grass.
    He waited. If she wanted to talk to him, he wouldn’t avoid it, although he didn’t think she’d want to hear anything he was likely to say.
    Leah stopped a few feet from him. A couple of men who’d been looking at the tools moved off, leaving them alone.
    â€œI suppose you saw.” Her mouth was firm, but her face was pale with strain.
    â€œJa.” He hesitated. She’d be angry if he told her what he thought, but—
    â€œI met John Kile to give him his family’s answer to seeing him.”
    For some reason, that gave him a sense of relief. She hadn’t been with Kile on her own accord, then, but had been trying to do the right thing for her friend.
    â€œI take it the answer was no.”
    She nodded. “How did you know?”
    â€œHe didn’t look like someone who’d just had gut news when he went off.” He searched her face, understanding the strain he saw there. “It was not easy for you.”
    â€œHe was very hurt.”
    And she’d had to be the one to deliver that hurt. Given their history, it was probably more painful for her than for him.
    â€œI’m sorry for him,” he said gravely, praying that he honestly meant it. “And for you, having to be the one to tell him. But I understand why they decided that.”
    Her face was still troubled. “If he had come back sorry, they’d have forgiven him in a moment. The prodigal son, home where he belongs.”
    â€œThat would only be right.”
    But he thought of his wife and his hands tightened, pressing against his legs. If Ruth had returned, wanting to be accepted into the church again, wanting to resume their marriage, he’d have forgiven her.
    But would things ever have been the same between them? He didn’t think so.
    Still, the relationship between a man and his wife was different from that of a parent to a child.
    â€œThey’re in so much pain.” She turned to start walking back toward the crowd, seeming to assume they’d walk together.
    â€œThey love him and want him back. It’s hard that the only way they have to push him to return is to stay separate from him.” He fell into step with her.
    The brim of her bonnet moved as she nodded. “I know that’s what they’re thinking, and they could be right. But what if you’re dealing with a person who will never come back, no matter what?”
    Leah couldn’t know that she was causing him pain with every word. If she knew about his wife, she would never have spoken to him about this.
    But this was what he’d wanted when he’d