Read Online Love Finds a Home (Love Comes Softly Series #8) by Janette Oke - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Janette Oke
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Love Stories, Large Type Books, Religious - General, Religious, Christian, Christianity, Romance - General, Fiction - Religious, Davis family (Fictitious characters : Oke), Christianity: General, Large Print
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raking and stared off into the distance.
Yet . . . yet he kissed me . . . once . . . so long ago. We were just children then. I was only sixteen. It was my first kiss. Such a . . . such a tender, childlike kiss. Like one good friend kissing another. And I thought about it . . . day and night . . . for what seemed like forever.
But it's strange . . . after that kiss, instead of drawing us together, it seemed to drive us apart. Like we both felt embarrassed and didn't know how our feelings should be handled. We only mumbled greetings
67
when we met and avoided looking at each other.
Belinda flushed even now as she thought about it, and then she smiled openly. We were such . . . such kids, she admitted. Both liking each other, yet afraid to let it show.
She bent to trail her fingers in the icy water. It helped some to state the truth, even to herself. She had never, ever shared with anyone just how much she had really cared for Drew.
Well, 'guess he really didn't feel the same about me was her next thought as she straightened up again, or he surely would have tried to stay in touch--some way.
With a sigh Belinda scooped out another batch of leaves and deposited them on the shore.
But what if . . . what if we were both visiting home at the same time? What if . . . what if we suddenly met on the street in town? Would there be any kind of feeling for each other after all these years? Belinda couldn't help but wonder.
And then she reminded herself that perhaps Drew was married. She hadn't asked her father. It certainly seemed that Drew was settled . . . wherever he was now living. He had just come home to visit his ma, her pa had said. That didn't sound as though he had plans to ever come back to the area.
Belinda stirred restlessly. Maybe thinking back isn't such a good idea after all. She finished, leaned the rake back up against the tree, and moved on to explore other favorite places of the farm.
68
EIGHT
Memories
It didn't take Belinda long to visit all her old farm haunts. The first place she went was to her pa's barn. She hoisted her skirts and nimbly climbed to the barn loft to check for a new batch of kittens. She would be terribly disappointed if there were none. But after a short search, she discovered their hideaway in a distant corner.
As far as Belinda could tell, there were three in the litter, but they were as wild and unapproachable as young foxes. She never did get anywhere near them, though she tried to coax them to her for a good half hour.
"Now, if I'd been here," she informed the tabby cat, "I'd have had those kittens of yours licking my fingers and playing in my lap long before their eyes were ever open."
Looking totally unimpressed, the cat said nothing. She also was too wary to let Belinda near her. The mother herself had likely grown up without being handled, Belinda supposed. She finally gave up and climbed down the ladder.
She then spent some time looking for hidden hens' nests. She and Amy Jo had always enjoyed this little game, arguing over which one was the better at outguessing the farmyard flock.
Belinda found two nests with a total of eleven eggs. She shook them cautiously to test them, concluding that neither
69
hen had been inclined to "set." Belinda bundled the eggs in her skirt and took them to the house to Marty
Belinda next chose a favorite book and went to the garden swing. She had intended to read, but with the gentle swaying of the swing, memories of her childhood companions, Amy Jo and Melissa, came to her so strongly she couldn't concentrate.
Why do things have to change? she asked herself unreasonably. Why couldn't we have just stayed in our innocence, our childish bliss? But even as she asked, she knew the answer. At the time, they had felt they were growing up way too slowly. Each of them, in her own way, had ached and longed to become an adult. And now her beloved nieces Melissa and Amy Jo were both hundreds of miles away, with homes of their own. And she,
Yet . . . yet he kissed me . . . once . . . so long ago. We were just children then. I was only sixteen. It was my first kiss. Such a . . . such a tender, childlike kiss. Like one good friend kissing another. And I thought about it . . . day and night . . . for what seemed like forever.
But it's strange . . . after that kiss, instead of drawing us together, it seemed to drive us apart. Like we both felt embarrassed and didn't know how our feelings should be handled. We only mumbled greetings
67
when we met and avoided looking at each other.
Belinda flushed even now as she thought about it, and then she smiled openly. We were such . . . such kids, she admitted. Both liking each other, yet afraid to let it show.
She bent to trail her fingers in the icy water. It helped some to state the truth, even to herself. She had never, ever shared with anyone just how much she had really cared for Drew.
Well, 'guess he really didn't feel the same about me was her next thought as she straightened up again, or he surely would have tried to stay in touch--some way.
With a sigh Belinda scooped out another batch of leaves and deposited them on the shore.
But what if . . . what if we were both visiting home at the same time? What if . . . what if we suddenly met on the street in town? Would there be any kind of feeling for each other after all these years? Belinda couldn't help but wonder.
And then she reminded herself that perhaps Drew was married. She hadn't asked her father. It certainly seemed that Drew was settled . . . wherever he was now living. He had just come home to visit his ma, her pa had said. That didn't sound as though he had plans to ever come back to the area.
Belinda stirred restlessly. Maybe thinking back isn't such a good idea after all. She finished, leaned the rake back up against the tree, and moved on to explore other favorite places of the farm.
68
EIGHT
Memories
It didn't take Belinda long to visit all her old farm haunts. The first place she went was to her pa's barn. She hoisted her skirts and nimbly climbed to the barn loft to check for a new batch of kittens. She would be terribly disappointed if there were none. But after a short search, she discovered their hideaway in a distant corner.
As far as Belinda could tell, there were three in the litter, but they were as wild and unapproachable as young foxes. She never did get anywhere near them, though she tried to coax them to her for a good half hour.
"Now, if I'd been here," she informed the tabby cat, "I'd have had those kittens of yours licking my fingers and playing in my lap long before their eyes were ever open."
Looking totally unimpressed, the cat said nothing. She also was too wary to let Belinda near her. The mother herself had likely grown up without being handled, Belinda supposed. She finally gave up and climbed down the ladder.
She then spent some time looking for hidden hens' nests. She and Amy Jo had always enjoyed this little game, arguing over which one was the better at outguessing the farmyard flock.
Belinda found two nests with a total of eleven eggs. She shook them cautiously to test them, concluding that neither
69
hen had been inclined to "set." Belinda bundled the eggs in her skirt and took them to the house to Marty
Belinda next chose a favorite book and went to the garden swing. She had intended to read, but with the gentle swaying of the swing, memories of her childhood companions, Amy Jo and Melissa, came to her so strongly she couldn't concentrate.
Why do things have to change? she asked herself unreasonably. Why couldn't we have just stayed in our innocence, our childish bliss? But even as she asked, she knew the answer. At the time, they had felt they were growing up way too slowly. Each of them, in her own way, had ached and longed to become an adult. And now her beloved nieces Melissa and Amy Jo were both hundreds of miles away, with homes of their own. And she,
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