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

rushing around the iron bed to peer out the window. “The alpacas! They’re right out there.”
    â€œThey’ll be there until I move them to another pasture in a couple of weeks.”
    The boy whirled. “Why do you have to move them?” His tone suggested Nathaniel was doing that to be cruel to him and the animals.
    â€œIf I don’t move them, they’ll be hungry.” He tried to keep his voice calm. The boy needed to learn that not everything was an attack on him, but how did you teach that to a kind who’d seen his parents cut down and killed by a car? “Once the alpacas eat the grass in that field, I must put them in another field so they can graze.”
    â€œOh.” Jacob lowered his eyes.
    â€œBut they’ll be right there in the morning. Why don’t you get ready for bed? I’ll put an extra toothbrush in the bathroom for you.”
    The boy nodded, his eyelids drooping. “Can we pray for my onkel first?”
    â€œJa.” Nathaniel was actually relieved to hear him speak of Titus. The boy had said very little about his onkel since Esther left.
    Kneeling by the side of the bed along with Jacob, Nathaniel bowed his head over his folded hands. He listened as Jacob prayed for his onkel ’s health and thanked God for letting him meet the alpacas. Nathaniel couldn’t help grinning when the boy finished his prayers with, “Make the alpacas like me, God, cuz I sure like them.”
    Nathaniel echoed Jacob’s amen and came to his feet. Telling the boy he’d be sleeping on the other side of the hall, he added that Jacob should call if he needed anything.
    An hour later, after he’d washed the few supper dishes and put them away, Nathaniel closed his Bible and placed it on a small table in the living room. The words had begun to swim in front of his eyes. He went upstairs and peeked into Jacob’s room. The boy was sprawled across the bed in a shaft of moonlight. He’d removed his shoes and socks but not his suspenders. One drooped around his right shoulder, and the other hung loose by his left hip. His shirt had pulled out of his trousers, revealing what looked like a long scar. A legacy of the accident that had taken his parents? He mumbled something in his sleep and turned over to bury his head in the pillow once more. Nathaniel wondered if the boy had nightmares while he slept or if that was the one time he could escape from the blows life had dealt him.
    Nathaniel slowly closed the door almost all the way. The evening had gone better than he’d dared to hope. He went into his own room. He left his door open a crack, too, so he’d hear if the boy got up or if someone came to the kitchen door.
    He went to the bedroom window and gazed out at the stars overhead. Was Esther looking at the same stars now? Was her heart heavy, as his was, with worries for Jacob and his onkel ? Was she thinking of Nathaniel as he was of her? Since she’d fallen into his arms at the ball game he’d found it impossible to push her out of his thoughts. Not that he minded. Not a lot, anyhow, because it was fun to think of her sparkling eyes. It was delightful to recall how perfectly she’d fit against him.
    He shook the thought from his head. Remembering her softness and the sweet scent of her hair was foolish. No need to torment himself when holding her again would be wrong. He couldn’t ignore how much she loved being with kinder and how impossible it could be for him to give her kinder of her own. He needed to put an end to such thoughts now and concentrate on the one dream he had a chance of making come true: being a success on the farm so it didn’t have to be sold.
    * * *
    Esther had just arrived home from school when she heard the rattle of buggy wheels. She looked out the kitchen window in time to see Nathaniel drive into the yard. She went to greet him and Jacob. She hoped letting him skip school had been a gut idea.
    The