Read Online Sarah's Orphans by Vannetta Chapman - Free Book Online Page A

the pants she’d sewn for him. He hadn’t found that out until he’d tried to put them on, and then he had insisted she search them thoroughly before he stuck himself again.
    Luke had refused to get up at all, claiming he was too tired from his extra chores the day before. He finally tumbled out when she told him that Andy had brought the buggy around. Isaac was out of bed but not ready. Sarah saw him fiddling with a shoe box, which he quickly slid under his bed when she ran upstairs to check on him. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that critters were inside the box, but there wasn’t enough time to pursue that topic. So she let it go and told him to hurry.
    They made it into the buggy with no time to spare, she and Andy up front and the three younger boys in the back. Fortunately, the services were held at Brian and Katie Walker’s, which was just two miles from their house.
    â€œMight have been quicker to walk,” Andy mumbled.
    â€œWith those three?” Sarah tossed what she hoped was a serious look toward the backseat. “Not a one of them would have been dry by the time we got there. They attempt snowball fights out of the tiniest bit of snow, which ends up being mudball fights.”
    â€œWe can hear everything you say.” Henry leaned forward over the front seat. “And I’ll have you know I’m much more careful with my appearance than my brothers, especially now that I know you’re hiding pins in my clothes.”
    Sarah didn’t mind the teasing. It proved that her family was healing, that even though they were orphans—the word seemed strange to her—they were managing.
    By the time they reached the two-lane road that ran in front of their property, a small line of buggies was heading to the Walkers’ place. They fell into line with the others and soon reached their destination. Andy said he would park the buggy, and Sarah hurried into the barn with her brothers.
    The place was bright and cheery from many lanterns. The benches they sat on had been placed in rows facing a heater that was positioned to the side of the large room. Some were afraid of heaters in barns, but Brian had been careful to brick the floor under and around the heater. It was cozy and warm, and the barn was filling quickly with the people from her community.
    What Sarah hadn’t expected was for so many people to ask about her mother. She tried to answer noncommittally. She certainly didn’t want to lie, but she also didn’t want to admit that her mother had gone to Florida. Instead, she thanked them for their concern and left it at that.
    She thought she noticed Paul Byler glancing her way a few times during the singing. Possibly she was imagining that. Several times he rubbed his right hand up and around his neck. As usual, his expression was quite serious. She wondered if she’d ever seen him smile, but then she hadn’t exactly been staring at him the two months he’d been in town. He’d arrived the weekend before Thanksgiving, immediately after Joseph’s heart attack. She did remember that well enough.
    Turning her attention to the preacher, she focused on his words. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
    She’d just been thinking about orphans. Plainly, she was to look after her brothers, but her mother was now a widow. How could she look after her? Deborah was gone, and even when she had been here, she wouldn’t allow anyone close to her.
    Their services were still in German, though Sarah had heard that some Amish communities were now conducting services in Englisch . She liked hearing the old language. The words brought back good memories of her mother and father when she was a child, when things were simpler. Her mind must have wandered at that point, because suddenly they were standing