Read Online His Amish Sweetheart by Jo Ann Brown - Free Book Online Page A

few moments and didn’t remind him it wasn’t the Amish way to celebrate beating someone else. There was time enough for those lessons later. For now, Jacob needed to feel like a kid.
    â€œWell done.” He clapped the boy on the shoulder. “Next time, I’ll beat you.”
    â€œDon’t be so sure.” As Jacob smiled, his brown eyes were filled with humor instead of his usual lost expression.
    Nathaniel laughed, thinking how pleased Esther would be when he shared this moment with her tomorrow. He opened the door and ushered the boy into a kitchen that looked the same as it had the day he’d arrived from Indiana for his summer visit so many years ago. The kitchen was a large room, but filled to capacity with furniture, as the living room was. There were enough chairs of all shapes and sizes to host a Sunday church service. His grandparents had been fond of auctions, but he’d been astounded when he arrived to discover the house chock-full of furnishings.
    Nathaniel had stored many chairs and two dressers from the living room in an outbuilding, which was now full. He had to find other places to put the rest until there was a charity auction to which he could donate them. Until then he had to wend his way through an obstacle course of chairs every morning and night to reach the stairs.
    Jacob walked in and sniffed. “This place smells like Onkel Titus’s house.”
    â€œIn what way?” He hoped something familiar would make the boy feel more at home.
    â€œFull of old stuff and dust.” He looked at Nathaniel. “Don’t grown-ups ever throw anything out?”
    He grinned. “Not my grandparents. My grossmammi saved the tabs from plastic bags. She always said, ‘Use it up, wear it out—’”
    â€œâ€˜...make it do or do without,’” finished Jacob with an abrupt grin. “ Onkel Titus says the same thing. A lot.” He glanced around. “Don’t you think they could get by with a lot less stuff?”
    â€œI know I could. If you can find an empty chair, bring it to the table while I make some sandwiches.”
    That brought a snort of something that might have been rusty laughter from the boy, but could have been disgust with the state of the house. Nathaniel didn’t look at Jacob to determine which. Getting the boy to smile was wunderbaar . As they had an impromptu supper, with Nathaniel eating two sandwiches and Jacob three, he let the boy take the lead in deciding the topics of conversation.
    There was only one. The alpacas. Jacob had more questions than Nathaniel could answer. Time after time, he had to reply that Jacob needed to ask Esther. The boy would nod, then ask another question. That continued while they got the alpacas ready for the night.
    Nathaniel hid his smile when he heard Jacob chatter like a regular kid. He thanked God for putting a love for alpacas in his grossmammi ’s heart, so the creatures could touch a lonely boy’s. God’s methods were splendid, and Nathaniel sent up a grateful prayer as he walked with Jacob back to the house when their chores were done.
    Leading the boy upstairs—where there were yet more chairs—he smiled when Jacob yawned broadly. He opened a door across the hall from his own bedroom. It was a room he’d had some success in clearing out. In the closet were stairs leading to the attic, where he’d hoped there might be room to store furniture. However, like the rest of the house, it was already full.
    â€œHere’s where you’ll sleep.” Nathaniel was glad he’d kept the bed made so the room looked welcoming. He’d slept on the bed with its black and white and blue quilt the time he came to stay with his grandparents. Pegs on the wall waited for clothes, and a small table held the storybooks Nathaniel had read years ago. The single window gave a view of the pasture beyond the main barn.
    â€œI can see them!” crowed Jacob,