Read Online Plain Peace (A Daughters of the Promise Novel) by Beth Wiseman - Free Book Online Page A

recall, we were married by the time we were Anna’s age. She’s eighteen years old, and she’s not even participated in much of a rumschpringe , so you need to give the girl some freedoms.” Or she’ll end up like me—hiding things in the basement .
    Isaac ran his hand the length of his beard again, then stood and walked to the window. He raised the green shade and peered outside. “So much danger out there.”
    “But we must trust the Lord to keep Anna safe. That’s all we can do.” Marianne walked to the window and wrapped her arms around Isaac’s waist. She knew what he was thinking. The way He kept Elam and Suzy safe .
    It had taken Marianne years to get past the deaths of their beloved son and daughter-in-law. She wasn’t sure that you ever really recover from something like that. But she’d made her peacewith it. And with God. Marianne wasn’t sure that Isaac had ever done that. Not really. He ruled with an iron fist, an enforcer of the rules, but with a heart so fragile that if anyone could see inside of him, they’d know the fear that drove him. That was why he reacted so harshly today. He was afraid something would happen to Anna. But their granddaughter wasn’t baptized yet, and Marianne didn’t want Isaac pushing her to a life in the outside world.
    Isaac turned to face her. “I still do not want her seeing that boy. He looks like a fancy fellow anyway. He is not right for her.”
    Marianne chuckled. Briefly. “ Ach , Isaac, the boy is very handsome. I can see why Anna wants to get to know him.”
    “ Nee . She will not see him.”
    Isaac walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Marianne just shook her head.

    It was ten o’clock Sunday evening when Cora’s husband strolled into the bedroom like he hadn’t a care in the world, and it didn’t take her long to recognize the smell of alcohol on his breath. Jake Troyer made the wine in his basement even though the bishop had forbidden it. And it hadn’t taken John long to learn about it once they moved here.
    Cora’s chest tightened as she recalled the events of the day. There was the situation with Eli. Plus she’d forgotten about bread in the oven and burned two loaves, then later had to run interference between Mary Jane and Anna Mae when they got into a silly squabble over who would clean the bathtubs. She was exhausted, and the last thing she wanted to deal with was a drunken husband who had disappeared not long after they returned from church.

    “Where have you been?” She eased her hands onto her hips and spoke through clenched teeth.
    John scratched his nose, then belched as he glared at her. He might as well have slapped her across the face. “Ran some errands.”
    “This late? And on a Sunday?” Cora’s heart was pounding in her chest as the possibilities ran through her mind. At Jake’s house? Another woman’s? Drinking out somewhere in public?
    “Ya.” He shuffled to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.
    Cora sat down on the bed, her lip trembling. She was so tired of crying. And so tired of living like this. She knew that Yankees sometimes went to a counselor for depression. No. Not Yankees. Englisch— that’s what everyone here called the non-Amish. Her friend Barbara, who was Englisch , had gone to such a person after her two miscarriages. Maybe John needed someone to talk to. Maybe they all did.
    When John came out of the bathroom in his pajama bottoms and white T-shirt, he walked around to his side of the bed and got underneath the covers. Cora hadn’t moved from her spot on the bed. Within a minute, her husband was snoring.

    Anna couldn’t believe her grandfather hadn’t given her a chance to explain. Did he trust her so little that he thought she’d be off doing something she shouldn’t? She pulled her brush from the drawer of her nightstand and ran it through her hair, thinking about Jacob. No way was she going to miss going out with him Saturday, even if she had to sneak out of the