Read Online Leah's Choice by Marta Perry - Free Book Online

parked.”
    She nodded, moving with him. It had been a long time since he’d walked anywhere, even through a muddy field, with a woman. It felt odd, but somehow natural, too.
    She glanced up at him, and it seemed the strain had eased from her face a little. “Do you have no answer to the problem, then, Daniel?”
    “I don’t.” He managed a smile. “I know that surprises you, Teacher Leah.”
    “It does. But you’d best be careful of expressing too much wisdom, anyway. Someone might think you’d make a gut minister.”
    He shook his head. “Like most, I pray the lot never falls on me. My father is the bishop of our church district back in Lancaster County, and I know how heavy a burden it can be.”
    Her steps slowed, and she smiled. “Now I’ve learned something more about you.”
    “Is that gut?” He could get used to that smile, to the way it made her green eyes fill with light.
    “It satisfies my regrettable curiosity, I’m afraid. Yours is the first new family in our church district in quite a few years. You’ve given us something to talk about besides who’s courting whom and whether the price of milk will go up.”
    That sort of curiosity was the last thing he wanted, but it was inevitable. “Both of those things are more important than anything you might learn about me.”
    “People are always more interesting to me than cows,” she said lightly.
    He found himself wondering what she had been like at eighteen, before John Kile had left her behind. More like her pert sister than he’d have originally guessed, perhaps, before grief and disappointment had taken that liveliness away.
    “Not more important to a dairy farmer,” he said.
    They rounded a row of cars. At the end of the next row, two motorcycles were parked.
    Three Amish boys surrounded one of them, gawking at the boy who’d been brave enough, or foolish enough, to climb onto the motorcycle. Daniel stopped, taking in what he saw. The boy was Matthew.
    For a moment Daniel froze, feeling as if he’d taken a pitchfork in the stomach. Then he surged forward, grabbed his son, and pulled him off the contraption.
    “What are you doing?” It was all he could do to keep from shaking the boy. “Is this how you behave when I let you go with your friends? Is it?”
    He was vaguely aware of Leah drawing the other boys away.
    “Jacob and Thomas Esch and Gabriel Stoltzfus.” It was very much her teacher voice. “You go back to your parents right now, before you find yourselves in trouble.”
    Murmurs of agreement, and the other boys ran off, leaving them alone. Daniel looked at his son, and Matthew stared back at him.
    “Well? What do you have to say for yourself, Matthew?”
    His son’s face was white and set. “I didn’t do anything so bad. It’s just a motorcycle.”
    “It’s not for us, as you well know.”
    Something flashed in Matthew’s eyes, an expression he’d begun to dread. One that made his son look like a stranger.
    “I rode on one once, with a friend of Mamm’s.” He spat the words out. “She didn’t think it was wrong. I didn’t either. It was fun.”
    The pitchfork in his belly twisted. He heard the quick intake of Leah’s breath. He turned to her, knowing his anger was irrational but not able to stop it.
    “Ja.” He snapped off the word. “You heard. My children lived in the English world for two years. Now you really know something about me.”
    Holding Matthew by the arm, he charged off.
     
     
     
    “Don’t you bother to tell me you’re not interested in Daniel Glick.” Barbara paused at the kitchen door on her way out on Monday afternoon, clearly determined to have the last word on the subject. “I saw you together at the Mud Sale with my own eyes already.”
    She waved, chuckling a little at her comment, and scurried off the porch toward the waiting buggy.
    Leah counted to ten, keeping a smile pinned on her face with an effort. By the time she reached eight, Barbara was in her buggy and heading down