Read Online Finding Love at Home (The Beiler Sisters) by Jerry S. Eicher - Free Book Online Page A

expected, even if it is my first one.”
    “You’re doing okay!” Ida encouraged.
    Moments later Sadie came back. Ida left to fix herself a plate in the kitchen. Joe was gone, so she sat at the table and ate alone. Sadie had put the coffeepot on the stove to heat, so the aroma filled theroom. Joe must have taken her advice and gone upstairs to lie down while he could. The house stood silent. Ida’s thoughts wandered to Minister Kanagy again. If she married him, her life was about to change in radical ways. Overnight she would become the mother of eight children and the wife of a minister. Becoming a mother was a hope she’d not dared to dream since Melvin’s death. She’d let go of his children, figuring they were gone forever from her life. But apparently Da Hah had other plans.
    “Help me do my duty,” Ida whispered into the air of the silent kitchen. “And help me love them all—including Minister Kanagy.”
    She finished her meal and cleared the table. On the stove the coffeepot hissed as steam rose into the air. This was so like life, Ida thought. You lived and then you were gone, just like vapor that rose upward and vanished from the world. At least her life would have meaning and purpose.
    “Thank you, dear Hah for this change.” Ida glanced at the ceiling. “And let Verna birth a healthy child. If it is not against Your will. Otherwise help us bear the sorrow with Your grace.”

Eight

    T hat same Sunday evening, Alvin sat bent over at the table, his head resting in his hands at his parents’ kitchen table in the dawdy haus . He was here to visit his mamm , yet he knew that wasn’t the real reason. He should be at the hymn singing, but he wasn’t. Mildred had gone there an hour ago. She’d driven her own horse and buggy. He’d watched her by peeking around his living room curtains. He’d almost gone out to help her hitch her horse to the buggy, but that wouldn’t have been right. Mildred would get more ideas in her head about their relationship than she already had. And she would have asked him why he wasn’t going.
    She could see that his buggy was still here… it sat in plain sight. He would still have to answer her question eventually. But now he could do that tomorrow morning when she came to help with the chores. Hopefully by then he’d have a satisfactory answer for his strange behavior. His real concern tonight was Debbie. What would she think when he didn’t show up at the hymn singing? She had to know Crystal Meyers had been at the church service this morning. Debbie had probably even recognized her when she arrived because Crystal was sitting with Deacon Mast’s frau , Susie. And that waswhy he’d kept his head down all day and rushed home before the noon meal.
    Would Debbie think he had anything to do with Crystal’s sudden appearance? He should have driven over to see Debbie this afternoon, but he couldn’t bring himself to face her right now. And it wasn’t because he still had feelings for Crystal. He was sure he didn’t. But Crystal must still have an interest in him, otherwise why would she have come? Debbie would think he’d done something to encourage that. He hadn’t. But how was Crystal’s presence explainable? Who would believe him? Especially not after he’d admitted to Debbie just last Sunday that he’d feared she might in some ways be like Crystal. After all, Debbie had come from the Englisha world. Yah , he had been wrong to think that, but now with Crystal showing up, what would Debbie think? It was a horrible mess, and he was to blame for it.
    Alvin stood. His daett , Edwin, had stirred in the living room. Alvin hadn’t wanted to sit alone with him, and his mamm hadn’t been up from her Sunday afternoon nap, so he’d settled in the kitchen. Now she must be out of the bedroom.
    Alvin stepped through the kitchen doorway and winced. The sight of his mamm in her crippled condition tore at his heart. His parents weren’t that old—at least to him. Yet