Read Online Kate's Song by Jennifer Beckstrand - Free Book Online

buy these if I had known. I cannot eat the whole bag.”
    “You are doing a gute job.” Nathaniel chuckled as Kate cuffed him on the shoulder.
    Kate motioned toward the gift shop attached to Eicher’s Dairy. “We are the only Amish folk here,” she said. “The tourists are gute business.”
    “Jah, I think the sign attracts them.”
    Kate read the large billboard standing above the dairy entrance. “‘Eicher’s Dairy. Monroe County’s only authentic, organic Amish dairy. Always smooth, always creamy.’”
    “It is wonderful-gute how many adjectives you can pack into one advertisement,” Nathaniel said.
    Kate kept reading. “‘Milk, cheese, curds, cider, venison jerky, and quilts.’ Cider from the Weavers’ apples, I’ll have you know.”
    “Jah, of course. I don’t eat anything but Weaver apples.” Nathaniel rolled onto his stomach, propped his chin in his hand, and gazed at Kate until his piercing eyes compelled her to look away. “Can I show you something?” he said.
    “Of course,” Kate said, glad to be able to reply with some semblance of composure. What was it about Nathaniel’s stare that knocked her breathless and sent her head spinning into a jumble of random thoughts?
    Nathaniel jumped to his feet and jogged in the direction of his buggy. Kate smiled at his boundless enthusiasm.
    He returned carrying what looked like a small wooden box. When he came closer, Kate could see it was a miniature house complete with windows and a tiny front door. Without a word but grinning from ear to ear, he laid the house in her lap and sank next to her on the grass.
    “Oy, anyhow!” Kate ran her fingers along the individually crafted shingles on the detailed roof and peeked inside the shuttered windows.
    “Look at this,” she said, as she swung the door open and shut on its little hinges.
    “It’s a birdhouse,” he said. “There is an opening in the back so the birds don’t have to learn how to open the door to get in, and there’s a ledge to keep out the squirrels too.”
    Kate stroked the smooth walls and grooved shutters. “I have never seen anything so beautiful,” she whispered.
    Nathaniel beamed. “I thought you could hang it on one of the fence posts down your lane. With a good sturdy foundation, you can see it out the kitchen window.”
    Kate breathed in sharply. “ Oh, sis yusht! Nathaniel. I cannot accept this. How many hours it must have taken you to make!”
    Nathaniel’s shoulders slumped, and he looked like a farmer whose crops were destroyed by hail. “You do not want it?”
    “I like being with you just to be with you. Not because you bring me something.”
    His concern melted into a smile. “You like being with me?”
    “Jah, certainly.”
    He contemplated that notion for a moment. “That is the nicest thing I have ever heard.”
    “Ever?”
    “Certainly in the last ten years.”
    “Gute, then you understand you don’t have to bring me gifts.”
    “But the first present I tried to give you went horribly wrong. I am trying to make up for it.”
    “And what present was that?”
    “The kiss, of course. I liked you, so I naturally thought you must like me and were hoping for a kiss. But instead, you slugged me.”
    Kate nodded her head in satisfaction. “You deserved it. That was the worst moment of my life. At least in my eleven-year-old life.”
    Nathaniel grimaced. “The worst moment of your life. I have to live with that on my conscience.” He picked up a pebble from the ground and rolled it around in his palm, his eyes glued to his hand. “Especially since it was the best moment of mine.”
    Kate giggled. “The best? Poor boy. You have led a very boring life.”
    He grinned. “Unfortunate but true. And, ach, how I have regretted it since.”
    “Of course you regret it. I hit you very hard.”
    He sat up and studied her face. “I regret that my actions hurt and embarrassed you. I would do anything to change that.”
    “I was eleven, Nathaniel. Exactly half