Read Online Patchwork Dreams by Laura Hilton - Free Book Online Page B

minutes, she still didn’t seem inclined to speak. Perhaps she had more patience than he did. Waiting had never been his strong point.
    Jacob drew a deep breath and stepped a bit closer, not so much to crowd her space as to make speaking softly easier. He ventured a glance at her. Tears ran unchecked down her face, dripping off her chin.
    Jacob exhaled and looked away, glancing back toward the house. He couldn’t see it, not with the barn separating them. He reached his arm out to wrap his fingers around Becky’s, tugging her to a stop. If only he could comfort her with a hug. He spoke with all the sympathy he could muster. “Bex—”
    “It’s not true.”
    He kept still, waiting.
    She stomped her foot, a futile effort in the muddy ground, if she wanted the sound effect. “It’s not true! Not a bit of it!”
    That pretty much said it all. Especially when he considered her volume.
    He opened his mouth to apologize but then closed it again when he couldn’t think of what he had to be sorry for. Maybe for not understanding the situation completely. Jah, he definitely stood in the dark.
    She jerked her hand from his and wiped her brow, which glistened with beads of moisture. “And you shouldn’t listen to gossip.” She spat out the words, then whirled and headed across the field. Going away from him, away from her onkel’s house.
    Leaving him feeling like he’d run headlong into the side of the barn. Again.
    She’d said she wanted to be alone. He should have listened.
    He whipped off his hat and ran his hand roughly through his hair. “Women,” he muttered.
    ***
    Becky needed to get away. Her heart hurt, her eyes ached, and she had a sore throat. All from crying so much. Something she still couldn’t get under control.
    At least Jacob hadn’t followed her home.
    Why couldn’t he leave her alone?
    Emotions whirled about in her head. Jacob shouldn’t have listened to gossip—but then, how could he help it? Sometimes, it seemed she was a popular topic. Her choices, decisions, sins, all held up to the young people as an example of what not to do. The young men were warned to stay away from her. It just wasn’t right. And now, Jacob would be getting a warped opinion of her. He’d already been told to keep his distance.
    Yet he seemed to care about her in a way that no one else ever had.
    Becky hated the feelings of vulnerability that filled her. Why did she have to be the one who ran scared?
    Her hands trembled as she hitched up her buggy horse. Still, she had to go someplace to calm down. Someplace far away from Jacob and the flood of emotions he’d released. She couldn’t take it anymore. If he was going to invade her territory, she needed to get away.
    If only she could think of someplace to go.
    And she certainly wouldn’t run away without Emma.
    But right now, Emma was safely with her grossmammi, which was good, because Becky could hear chocolate calling her—a big, yummy Hershey’s candy bar, and maybe a cappuccino from McDonald’s. Both were rare treats and served as her method of dealing with extreme stress.
    Daed and Mamm knew her well enough to guess where she’d go. They wouldn’t worry.
    Not so long as she was home by the time Emma got hungry. She should have about two hours.
    She hoped the escape would calm her down—build up her defenses—before she returned home and had to face Jacob over dinner and devotions.
    And if she wasn’t calm by then, well, she would think of something else. Like maybe coming down with a migraine.
    She climbed into the buggy, hands still shaking, and made a clicking sound. When the horse started moving, she turned the buggy out of the gravel drive. After a car passed, she headed down the road toward town.
    ***
    Jacob didn’t see any sign of Becky when the family returned home that afternoon. He figured she was hiding out upstairs in her room, away from everyone. It hurt to think that he might have been the cause of her distress. He only wanted to help.
    She