Read Online Christmas in Sugarcreek by Shelley Shepard Gray - Free Book Online

message?” Lilly quickly asked. “I don’t want him to think he must adopt all English ways. But does a watch do that? I don’t know.”
    “Lilly, Christmas is about celebrating Jesus’s birth and about celebrating the love we have for each other. The gifts don’t mean all that much . . . and you know the Amish don’t value fancy gifts.”
    “But I want this Christmas to be really special.”
    “Lilly, it will be! Robert loves you. Anything you give him will be perfect. I’m sure he won’t mind a store-bought gift. After all, he knew you couldn’t cook or sew when he married you.”
    But Lilly was still worried about not being good enough “Mom . . .” she fretted, “maybe he hoped I’d become one?”
    Her mother shook her head. “He hoped you’d love him. That’s what he wanted from you, dear.”
    Lilly stifled a sigh. “He knows I love him. But that’s not the point.”
    “Gifts aren’t the point of Christmas, either, dear.”
    “I still want to give him something special.” She bit her lip as she watched her mother put two packages of breakfast sausage in the cart, followed by a chicken. “Maybe I should get him a puppy?”
    “I don’t know if Midnight will care for that.”
    Thinking about her sleek black cat, who Robert had bought for her on their first real date, she nodded. “Midnight would either hide under the couch or hiss at the puppy.”
    “I’d stay away from pets.”
    “What did you and dad used to give each other when you first got married?”
    A dreamy expression filled her mom’s face, making her look even younger than usual. “All kinds of things. Candy. Clothes. One year your father gave me mixing bowls and spoons.”
    Mixing bowls and spoons sounded like horrible presents. “What was Dad thinking?”
    Her mother laughed. “It was pretty romantic, if you want to know the truth. I used to make him cookies every Friday afternoon. He gave me the bowl so I’d never stop.”
    Lilly was flabbergasted. Who knew her father had a romantic streak? Who knew that her mother had been baking sugar cookies all this time for their father? “Wow.”
    As they walked toward to the front of the store, her mother tossed a loaf of bread in the cart, and finally picked up a poinsettia. “Don’t worry, Lilly. You and Robert will begin your own traditions. And you’ll know that whatever you decide to make or buy for him will the perfect thing.”
    “I hope so.”
    “I know so,” her mother corrected as she pushed the cart to the open lane. “Now, let’s get out of here before Carrie wakes up. She’s been asleep for twenty minutes. We know our time is short.”
    Lilly laughed, then felt someone’s gaze on her from across the way.
    And saw Robert’s cousin Abe and his wife, Mary. Both were staring at her, their gazes cool.
    She stopped and looked at them, half hoping they would forget their anger about Robert marrying her and walk over and greet her kindly.
    But instead of looking like they were going to forgive her anytime soon, Abe merely pulled out his watch, glanced at the time, then turned his back to her.
    Making sure she had no doubt as to how they felt about her, and perhaps always would.

Chapter Nine
     
    Seven Days Until Christmas
     
    I t wasn’t the Amish way to put up Christmas decorations. Or a tree. Or sparkling lights. Not even a nativity.
    Ben was fine with that. He’d never needed the English extravaganza that seemed to follow their need to celebrate a holiday until it was fairly beaten down and became tiresome.
    But he couldn’t get over just how quiet and depressing his home was.
    Looking around, smelling the dust and the disuse and the memories— He shook his head. No, this didn’t seem like a home at all. Just a house.
    Here it was too quiet and too drab; there was no happiness. Once again, he was glad it was on the market and had already had a few showings. The day he found out it was sold would be a good one, for sure.
    As he walked through the halls,