Read Online Rebekah's Quilt by Sara Barnard - Free Book Online Page A

sad about their barn. I heard that you went in and saved their new calf.” Katie’s sing-song voice trilled in the still air. Rebekah closed her eyes.
    “Well you’re half right.” Pushing himself up, Joseph stood and crossed his arms. The arm crossing was a sure sign he was either completely comfortable, or completely nervous. Rebekah guessed it was the latter.
    “It is unfortunate about the barn, but it wasn’t me who went in for all the animals.” He turned to face Katie and in doing so, faced Rebekah, too. “It was Rebekah.”
    “Here you go, Sissy!” Thomas screeched, flying down the stairs. In his haste, he tripped. Turning and reaching at the same time, Rebekah made an expert save. With a light pat to her littlest brother, she sat him down.
    With butterflies flitting wildly in her stomach, she glanced at Joseph to see if he’d witnessed the display.
    He stared back, grinning.
    She shoved her headpiece down over her sizzled locks. “Thank you, Thomas,” she whispered.
    “You’re welcome, Sissy,” he yelled, dashing passed Joseph and Katie without so much as a glance in their direction. Rebekah guessed his five-year-old heart and mind were already out the door, off the porch, and playing in the surrounding woods.
    Katie turned just as Rebekah finished straightening the gauzy white covering. She smoothed at her nightgown.
    “There’s she is now,” Joseph announced, stepping to her side. “Rebekah, come sit with Katie and me.”
    Joseph took her hand, guiding her, as she tried to hide her limp in the short walk from the stairs to the sitting room.
    Ever gracious, Rebekah spoke first.
    “Katie, thank you for my pouch of quilting squares.” Both her voice and her heart were genuine, despite their mutual object of affection. “Did you piece them together yourself?”
    Katie nodded. “I did. ’Fraid I’m not much of a quilter, so they’re a little uneven. Nothing like your Ma’s.”
    Rebekah shifted her weight on the seat. “My squares aren’t anything like Ma’s, either.” She turned her attention to Joseph. “How was breakfast?”
    “Well, everyone was fed. If there were any complaints, I didn’t hear them.” He brushed the end of his nose with his thumb. “But then again, I made it a point not to listen.”
    Katie giggled.
    “I’m surprised to find you two here.” Rebekah didn’t mean for her voice to come out as harsh as it did. “What I mean is,” she sputtered to clarify, “I thought everyone was going to gather at the Yoder’s today.”
    Joseph extended his hand to her. “There was a change of plans.”
    She accepted it, stood up, and hobbled toward the door. Needles of pain pricked her foot. Quieting the yell that threatened to erupt from her throat, she squeezed Joseph’s hand.
    He pushed open the door, revealing the busy scurrying of all the Gasthof Village families.
    Mr. Yoder and Mr. Knepp were pushing up the new wooden frame of their barn as Mr. Raber, and Mr. Odon steadied them from the top. They called out orders and requests in German, giving the clearing around their house the old-world feel that Rebekah had only knew from her mother’s stories.
    Her Pa, Joseph’s Pa, and Simon Wagler were unloading goods from the row of parked wagons. There were piles of hay, animal feed, and tack scattered about, but with an orderly look.
    Tears welled in her eyes. “Everyone came here,” she managed. “Instead of going to services?” Her hand fluttered to her chest, grasping at her housedress.
    Joseph’s voice was soft and warm. “Sometimes the best way to love God is through action, not through talking.”
    “Anyway, where else would we go?” Joseph’s tender voice was a whisper through her covering.
    Katie coughed.
    Turning back to the sitting room, Joseph’s shoe bumped her tender toe.
    Stars filled her vision and doubled her over.
    Worried creases pinched his inky eyebrows together. “What’s this?” His sapphire-blue eyes searched her face with such