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pulled her shawl more closely around her and stepped out the back door onto the wraparound porch. She loved the way Onkel David had built it. She used to beg Daed to copy it and make their porch a wraparound. He’d said that the big front porch was enough. At least he’d hung a porch swing, her favorite place to read.
    Grasping the coffee in one hand, she started walking toward the front of the house, but male voices stopped her.
    “Just stay away from Daniel’s Becky,” she heard her cousin Ben say.
    When Jacob asked why, Ben repeated those awful words that Kent had said.
    Tears flooded her eyes, and her throat burned.
    She could only imagine what Jacob thought.
    She gripped her coffee cup handle so tightly that her knuckles turned white. With the other hand, she dug her fingernails into her palm.
    At the first singing she’d gone to after finding out she was pregnant, and after Kent had dumped her and started spreading those awful rumors, one of the Brunstetter buwe had tried to talk her up into the hayloft. She swallowed hard, remembering the scary look in his eyes, the whispers and pointing fingers and stares of the others there.
    She’d refused to go. Instead, she’d slunk off into the darkness and gone home.
    She’d never been back.
    Becky turned to go back inside, hoping no one had heard the creak of the loose floorboard she’d forgotten to avoid. She wouldn’t go to another singing. Ever. Not even Jacob’s brilliant blue eyes and smooth talk would sway her. But he’d probably never ask her again after hearing those lies from her cousin.
    She grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, blinking back the tears. If only she could take Emma and go home to the solitude of her room.
    Something brushed her arm. She bit back a scream and jerked her shoulder, the coffee in her mug sloshing out, spilling lukewarm liquid over her hand.
    “Bex.” Jacob spoke in her ear. He removed the cup from her shaking fingers and set it on the rail. “Kum, walk with me.”

Chapter 10
    When Becky looked at him, the tears in her eyes almost undid him. Jacob never had been able to handle women’s tears. At least she seemed to have them under control. They sparkled on the ends of her eyelashes but didn’t run down her cheeks.
    He leaned toward her and swallowed when he caught a whiff of her scent. “Please.”
    Her eyes narrowed, and she studied him, as if unsure of his motives.
    “We’ll stay in plain sight.” She might open up once they were alone, but he knew suggesting such a thing would frighten her.
    “Nein. They’ll think we’re courting.”
    Jacob tilted his head. “I don’t care what they think. I have a girl. And your family should care enough for you to not jump to the wrong conclusions.”
    From what Ben had said, though, that wasn’t the case. Jacob wanted to throttle Ben, especially after he’d heard the creaking of the boards behind them, then seen Becky moving away. But, even more, he wanted to know the truth about what was going on.
    “Nein,” she repeated, and this time, she shook her head to punctuate it. “I need to be alone. Just…go.”
    Jacob frowned and tilted his head. “Bex. Walk with me a little ways.”
    She hesitated.
    “Kum.” He reached his hand toward her.
    She drew back, but after a moment, she nodded and headed toward the steps. Jacob moved to her side in silence.
    She walked in the direction of the barn but bypassed it for the fields beyond. Jacob stayed beside her, a body width separating them as they matched step for step. With everything in him, he wanted to ask questions, to clarify things in his mind. But Daed had once told him that silence forces people to talk to fill the dead air. He waited patiently to put that theory to the test.
    Becky’s breath was ragged, like she’d been crying or was angry or something. Jacob looked out over the fields, to the trees in the distance, and to the neighboring farms around them and waited for her emotions to calm down.
    But after fifteen