Read Online Gabriel's Bride by Amy Lillard - Free Book Online

squeeze out. “I am coming in.”
    Gabriel motioned her inside. “Come meet the kinder . I’ll take care of your horses while you clean up the breakfast dishes.”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that he had messed up the dishes and therefore he should be the one to clean them, but washing dishes was one of the chores he expected her to perform. After all, how bad could it be?
    Bad. The kitchen looked as if every last bowl and spoon in the house had been used in the making of one meal. She bit back her gasp of dismay and tried not to stare at the mess as Gabriel Fisher stepped forward and introduced her to his children.
    He laid his hand on the shoulder of a younger version of himself. “This here is Matthew. He’s fifteen and the oldest.”
    “No, he’s not. Mary Elizabeth is the oldest.”
    Rachel watched as Gabriel Fisher’s beautiful green eyes misted over. It seemed he had a heart after all. She wasn’t sure if she was more surprised over that discovery or the fact that she thought he had beautiful eyes. Maybe she would have noticed them before now if he didn’t go around scowling at everybody all the time.
    “That is enough, Simon,” he told the second tallest bu in the room, who was still taller than she. The youngster had the same eyes as his father but hair the color of faded dandelions. If Rachel had to guess she’d say he was about thirteen.
    “Guder mariye.” He politely nodded and gave her a smile, but his sweet dimples somehow looked shockingly mischievous. Or was that just her imagination?
    “Then there’s David. He’s eleven. And Joseph. He’s eight.” Gabriel indicated the next two boys, each one with their father’s dark, dark hair, but clear blue eyes they must have inherited from their mother. “And I believe you’ve met Samuel.”
    The small redheaded boy smiled, his front teeth missing since the first time that she had seen him, and Rachel felt her heart melt all over again. Sweet, sweet Samuel.
    “I’m six,” he said with a grin. “How many are you?”
    Rachel smiled. “I’m twenty plus six. Do you know how much that is?”
    Samuel shook his head.
    “We’ll work on it together,” she said.
    “Are you coming to be our mother?”
    Rachel blinked at Samuel’s blatant question, then gathered her wits enough to shake her head. “Nay,” she whispered, though she felt in that moment she would move heaven and earth to give this child anything he needed. “I’ve come to help your father around the house, cooking and cleaning and such.”
    Samuel tilted back his head, his red hair shining like a new kettle. “’Cuz Mary Elizabeth is gone.” He replaced the r in his sister’s name with a w so it sounded more like “Mawy.”
    “Jah.” Rachel had heard through the talk at the general store that Gabriel’s oldest child had gone to join the Englisch , but she could tell by the way he shifted behind her, Gabriel Fisher was not comfortable talking about it.
    “Are you staying until she gets back?” David asked. Or was it Joseph? They were enough alike to be twins. Only an inch or so separated them in height. Heaven help her when they started moving around.
    Rachel gave a quick nod. “Of course.”
    “ Buwe! Get your lunches and get on to school. That new teacher will have your hide if you’re not there on time.”
    The boys did as he bade, each grabbing an insulated lunchbox before heading out the door.
    All but Samuel. He tugged on her skirt, urging her to kneel down next to him.
    “Aren’t you going too?” she asked.
    He shook his head, his sweet cherub mouth pulled down at the corners.
    “Samuel doesn’t go to school anymore.”
    Rachel whirled around, standing up at the same time and almost toppling over. For a moment she’d forgotten Gabriel Fisher was in the room. A miracle she was sure, but she had momentarily blocked him from her mind.
    “What do you mean ‘anymore’?”
    He nodded toward the child. “When his aenti was the teacher he went