Read Online Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand - Free Book Online

disappeared into the barn before Lia even realized what had happened.
    Her head seemed to be doing cartwheels as she brushed her fingers lightly over her mouth. What in the world had he done?
    Stunned into silence and paralyzed by the impact of Moses’s touch, she watched him as, without another word, he led his horse from the barn, quickly hitched up his buggy, and drove it down the lane.
    Her lips tingled pleasantly, but whether from the meatball sauce or the kiss, she couldn’t tell.
    Surely they would tingle for days.

Chapter Seven
    Absentmindedly stirring a pot of stew, Lia gazed at the rain pouring off the eaves of her house. The cloudburst came so fast, outside the window looked like a waterfall. The shadows in the kitchen deepened as the sky grew dark with heavy rainclouds. Lia had been back in Wautoma for only five days, but she already missed Huckleberry Hill as if it were her true home.
    The night following Moses’s unexpected, uncalled for, and unnecessary kiss, Lia got word that Treva Bontrager had passed away and that Lia was wanted at home to help with food for the funeral. She caught a ride to Wautoma the very next day with a van full of mourners from Bonduel.
    Treva’s death was neither sudden nor unexpected. She passed at ninety-two years old and had been living with her granddaughter for over a decade. For the better part of two days, Mamm and Lia baked bread and pies and made three salads to serve at the dinner after services.
    The funeral service took place Saturday, and even though Lia’s time with her family had been short, she was ready to return to Bonduel. To see Anna and Felty. Oh, how she missed them.
    Yes, Anna and Felty.
    The van would stop by the house tomorrow morning to take her back to Huckleberry Hill. She had already packed.
    Lia’s nephew, Thomas, tugged on her apron. “Aunt Lia?” She hadn’t even heard him come into the room. This dazed and distracted state of hers would have to stop.
    “Aunt Lia, Mammi wants to know when supper will be ready.”
    Lia tousled Thomas’s golden hair. “Tell Mammi the corn bread has ten more minutes, then we will be ready. Will you set the table?”
    “Jah. I will tell Mammi first.”
    The chubby four-year-old raced out of the room to deliver his message. Lia grinned. She never tired of the nieces and nephews. Her four older brothers, Toby, Monroe, Luke, and Perry, were all married. Toby and Monroe had four children each. Luke had two sons, and Perry’s wife was expecting their first.
    Perry, twenty-five and newly married, was Lia’s closest brother. He stood six foot five—as tall as Moses—and watched out for her like a shepherd would his favorite lamb.
    Monroe’s four children were sleeping over this week while Monroe and his wife were in Ohio visiting relatives.
    Thomas, Monroe’s youngest, bustled back into the room as if he couldn’t wait to set the table for Aunt Lia. “How many are eating?”
    “Hold up your fingers and count while I say the names. Mammi, Dawdi, Aunt Rachel, me, you, Susie Lynn, Mary, and Linda Rose.”
    Thomas clapped his hands in delight. “Nine.”
    “Eight. I will pull the bowls off the shelf for you.”
    The timer rang, and Lia pulled the pan of corn bread out of the cookstove and replaced it with a raisin pie. Moses liked her raisin pie. Or at least he thought he would once he got a chance to really taste it. Lia pressed her fingers to her lips. Six days since he had kissed her. She could still feel his feather-soft touch.
    “Aunt Lia, why are you smiling?”
    “Never you mind. Here are the napkins.”
    It meant nothing—the kiss. He’d offered it almost casually, like a handshake. What in the world did he mean by giving her a peck and then running away like his pants were on fire? Never mind that she had never been kissed in her life and that boys and girls weren’t supposed to kiss until they were courting or engaged or maybe even married. Moses Zimmerman probably kissed girls with regularity