Read Online Harvest of Hearts by Laura Hilton - Free Book Online

Amish author—funny how she wanted to read about the Amish but didn’t want to be one—and a cozy chair by the window. She’d never cared much for watching television. That was an Englisch thing she could live without.
     
    Joseph cackled, and she glanced back at the checkerboard, finding that it had changed while her thoughts had been focused elsewhere. Now, Joseph’s remaining pieces were all kings, and Matthew had one left that hadn’t been kinged yet.
     
    Still, the game failed to hold her attention. She got up, wandered over to the window, and stared out at the trees, their branches whipped by the wind. A second later, she opened the door and stepped out on the porch. The rain and hail had stopped, leaving pea-sized pellets melting on the deck, like a late snow. They shifted and crunched under her bare feet. She shivered.
     
    “What are you doing?” Matthew stepped outside and shut the door behind him. At the edge of the porch, he peered up at the sky. “Looks like the worst is over.”
     
    Shanna shrugged. “Not like it got bad, anyway.”
     
    Matthew lifted one shoulder. “Bad’s debatable. I saw a tornado when I was little. Killed some of our cows and damaged some of our property. Do you have a storm cellar here? Just in case?”
     
    “Not a storm cellar, exactly. It’s more of an outside-entrance basement.” She led the way around the corner, trying not to step in the mud—she’d always hated the feel of mud squishing up between her toes—and pointed to a trap door beside the house. “There. Mamm keeps her canning equipment and canned goods down there. There are some camping cots, all folded up, if we have to be down there overnight. Just have to watch for spiders. Brown recluses like it down there.” She gave an exaggerated shudder. “They bite Johnny around his ankles, almost every year.”
     
    “Ugh.” Matthew frowned at the sloped wooden door. A strong breeze blew past them, and he reached up and clamped his straw hat in place.
     
    Shanna felt a couple of raindrops hit her cheek, and she looked up at the sky.
     
    “We’re going to get rained on again. Best get inside before you get that dress wet,” Matthew advised.
     
    “Jah.” Shanna grinned and twirled as she followed him back to the porch. “So, what do you think?”
     
    His face colored, and he looked away. “Um. You look like a very nice Amish girl.”
     
    ***
     
    Matthew thought they would go back inside, but Shanna stopped on the porch and leaned against the rail. It appeared that she wanted to stay out awhile. “Do you think you might take me for a buggy ride sometime?” she asked. “Do you go to singings or frolics?”
     
    Matthew hoped that his facial expression didn’t reveal his shock at her boldness. Hadn’t anyone ever told her that men preferred to do the chasing? He shrugged. “Jah. I’ve been a time or two. You should go with your brother Joseph and see if anyone asks to give you a ride home. I think someone will.” If it was someone other than he, though, he wasn’t sure how he’d feel. “But then, you don’t want to be Amish. You’re returning to school and your Englisch world.”
     
    Shanna nodded. “Jah, I am. But I think it’d be fun to enjoy the Amish community while I’m home. I sometimes miss it.”
     
    “You do?” Why didn’t she quit school and return home, then?
     
    “Jah. Springfield is so busy. In the part of town where I live, there’s a lot of crime. Occasionally, we receive text messages and e-mails from the school, telling us to stay locked inside our dorms because there’s a gunman on campus. That’s happened twice, so far. After dark, we have to walk in pairs, or call for security to give us a ride. Sometimes, I miss the quiet country. The safety. The comfort in knowing I can walk down the dirt road to my friend’s haus and not worry.”
     
    Matthew looked around at the two neighboring homes they could see from the porch. One sat across the road, and the