Read Online Summer of Secrets by Charlotte Hubbard - Free Book Online Page B

to go well for all of us . Miriam carried the basket of food to the front door, noting how the petunias in the hanging baskets could use a good drink ... probably one of many things Bob Oliveri was at a loss about, now that his wife was gone. She held her breath and pressed the doorbell. It occurred to her that in her black mourning clothes, second nature to her now, she wasn’t exactly a ray of sunshine—
    The door opened and a pudgy, balding man of fifty-something blinked in the sudden daylight. “Yes? I—if you’re handing out religious tracts, I don’t want any!” He was ready to close the door before Miriam found her voice.
    “Please, I know this must seem strange to ya,” she blurted out, “but when Tiffany came to our café in Willow Ridge this week, I—I just had to meet ya! And I hope this food will—” As she held out her basket, Miriam’s heart fluttered so frantically she could barely breathe. “How can I possibly thank ya for pullin’ my little girl from the river eighteen years ago? I—I thought I’d never see my Rebecca again, and her comin’ back is nothin’ short of a miracle!”
    The man’s mouth dropped open. He blinked rapidly, and then glanced at the van in the driveway before focusing on Miriam again. “You’ll have to excuse me if I seem—I lost my wife last week—”
    “And I’m so sorry about her passin’. Lost my husband a couple years ago, and I’m still not all the way over it.” Miriam caught herself running at the mouth and paused for a moment. “And if I’m intrudin’ by comin’ here, I’ll just leave ya this food—”
    “—and when Tiffany stormed out of the house with that little dress she found, I was afraid she might do something—” He swallowed hard and made a futile swipe at his thin hair. “I’m Bob Oliveri, by the way. Won’t you come in—?”
    “Miriam Lantz. Thank you ever so much, sir!” Eagerly she beckoned Sheila, and then stepped into the house as he held the door for her. “I can’t tell ya how overjoyed I was to see her—to know she survived—even if she wasn’t, well, pleased to find out she has Amish roots. And she has two sisters who look exactly like her—if ya don’t count the clothes!”
    He shook his head as he quickly cleared the sofa. “I’ve never understood why Tiff ruins her pretty looks with all that black getup. Goth, they call it. I hope she didn’t say or do anything offensive. Tiffany—Rebecca, you called her?—always had a mind of her own, but when Janet was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor a couple years ago, it was like our ... the delightful daughter we’d always known turned into an alien creature who seemed determined to self-destruct.”
    “ Jah , kids go through that.” Miriam tried not to stare at the dirty dishes on the coffee table, until an arrangement of photographs on the wall drew her eye immediately. “Oh my,” she breathed, her hand fluttering to her mouth. “She ... except for the hairstyle and the clothes, she’s the image of Rachel and Rhoda, ain’t so, Sheila?”
    The presence of her driver settled her. Miriam gazed eagerly at photos taken during her Rebecca’s school days ... several alone, and some with Mr. Oliveri and his wife. They made such a ... nice-looking family. Happy. Like they belonged together.
    “I’d know her anywhere,” Sheila agreed, shaking her head in amazement. “This whole story is giving me goose bumps, it’s so wonderful.”
    “And I’ve forgotten my manners! Mr. Oliveri, this is Sheila Dougherty, who was kind enough to drive me here today. You see, we Amish have no cars—no photographs, either, as we believe such graven images go against the way God wants us to focus on Him alone. But I can tell ya ... I’m thankful for these wonderful- gut pictures. I can see you were a—a close-knit family, and I’m so glad for that.”
    She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue Sheila pressed into her hand. For a moment the three of them stood gazing at