Read Online Christmas at Promise Lodge by Charlotte Hubbard - Free Book Online

the bathrooms— not that he saw Mattie merely as a cook and housekeeper. His Anna had been very capable when it came to tending the household and raising their three kids, but she might have been a more joyful, adventurous wife had he encouraged her to think outside the traditional Amish box. And maybe if he’d made Anna happier, their twin girls and Allen wouldn’t have moved back east.
    He wouldn’t—couldn’t—follow that pattern with Mattie. She’d lived independently for long enough to know that she didn’t really need a man, especially one who expected her to obey his every whim or else suffer the discipline he dished out. Amos’s goal this time around was to have fun with his wife, to enjoy their time together in his new home—which he was going to allow her to decorate as she wished. The careworn furniture from his first marriage had served its time. New easy chairs and a sofa—and a new bedroom set—would be symbols of their fresh start together.
    With Mattie, he wasn’t going to be so frugal or stern. Amos considered her his equal. It was an uncommon mindset for a Plain preacher, but it was the only way their union would thrive.
    Amos showered, shaved above his silver-spangled beard, and dressed quickly. After a fast cup of coffee and a fried egg sandwich, he went out to tend his two horses. On his way to the barn, he glanced toward the lodge and saw light in Mattie’s upstairs apartment window. It was his fondest dream, his firm intention, to make light shine in her life for as long as they lived. He was fifty and she was forty-five, both of them fit and healthy, so they could look forward to a lot of happy years together.
    When he drove his open rig down the hill toward the lodge, Mattie was waiting for him on the big porch. “ Gut morning, Amos!” she called out as she hurried toward him with a picnic hamper.
    He hopped down to relieve her of the basket. As his hand closed over hers, Amos brushed her cheek with a quick kiss. “It is a gut morning, dear Mattie,” he murmured. “I’ve been looking forward to this day with you ever since you suggested it at the wedding. You make me feel like a kid again, you know it?”
    Mattie’s laugh tickled his ears as he stuck the hamper behind the seat. He lifted her up into the buggy, enjoying the feel of her slender, sturdy body beneath the light coat she wore.
    â€œI’ll never be twenty again, but I’m fine with that,” she replied. “Now that all my kids are grown up—”
    â€œAre you sure about that?” Amos settled himself on the seat. He raised his eyebrows, partly teasing but gazing straight into Mattie’s wide eyes. “We know folks who’ve had kids at our age.”
    â€œBut it’s been twenty-one years!” she protested. “My baby got married this week. And besides, you built a small house because your kids are married and gone.”
    Amos clucked at his horse, not surprised at the alarm in Mattie’s answer. He considered his response, treading carefully. It was too early to upset her on a day he wanted to go perfectly. “I could certainly expand the house, if need be. Children are gifts from God. We’re to welcome them as blessings,” he reminded her gently. “And I do enjoy, um, what causes them.”
    Mattie’s cheeks flared. She gazed steadily up and down the road they’d reached, checking for traffic instead of looking at him. “ Jah , I suppose you would.”
    Amos wasn’t surprised that this subject wasn’t her favorite, considering that Marvin Schwartz had once broken her nose. “We’ll figure it out, sweetheart,” he assured her as he reached for her hand. “But I might as well confess that when you’re out working in the garden plots, leaning over to pick beans or pumpkins or whatever, I stop what I’m doing to look at your nice