Read Online The Christmas Cradle by Charlotte Hubbard - Free Book Online

I don’t think Savilla’s ever made a wedding cake.”
    â€œThat settles it,” Nora proclaimed. “I’m glad you spoke up, Miriam, because the cake you baked for Rhoda and Andy’s wedding was fabulous.”
    Miriam shrugged modestly. “I love makin’ them,” she admitted, “and I’m happy that so many young folks are hitchin’ up and settlin’ down here. But we haven’t heard Josiah’s answer.”
    Once again everyone gazed at Lena with a sense of expectation that lifted her spirits. “I’ll call him right now.”
    â€œOur phone shanty’s behind the Sweet Seasons—and take your time with Josiah,” Miriam added. “I think he’ll be mighty glad to hear from ya.”
    When Lena stepped outside, gray clouds hung low over the horizon, hinting at snow, yet she felt like a little girl who held a handful of colorful balloons. From the Hooleys’ lane she gazed at snow-blanketed fields dotted with dairy cows, sheep, and horses. Red barns added color to the otherwise snowy scene, and she yearned to call Willow Ridge her new home.
    After Lena crossed the snow-packed blacktop and eased into the phone shanty, she stared at the phone. How could she convince Josiah to accept the opportunity Nora and the Hooleys were offering him? Although his cell was always in his pocket, Lena suspected he wouldn’t answer when he saw where this call was coming from. She tapped in Josiah’s number. His voice mail prompted her to leave a message.
    â€œJosiah, you won’t believe it!” she began. “Nora’s asked you to cater her and Luke’s wedding a week from Thursday. Everybody wants to try your food—wants you and Savilla to set up your business here. Wouldn’t working at the Sweet Seasons be easier than hauling your cookers everywhere?” she added.
    If she made this sound like a command performance, however, Josiah would turn a deaf ear. Lena closed her eyes, praying for the right words. “Why not give it a shot?” she murmured earnestly. “If this event doesn’t go the way you want—or if you and Savilla have a better idea for your catering business—it’s okay. You have to do this your way or it won’t work. I—I love you, Josiah. And I miss you something awful.”
    Lena hung up, fearing she’d sounded desperate—and hoping Josiah didn’t think she was using this wedding to lure him back to her.
    â€œThis is bigger than you and me and the baby, Josiah,” she whispered as she hugged their unborn child. “It’s about taking your place in another part of God’s world, where you’ll do well—if you’ll only believe that.”
    Josiah didn’t call her back, so Lena left the phone shanty. There was nothing to do but wait.

Chapter Five
    Josiah waited for the incoming call to end and the voice mail number to appear on his cell phone screen. If it was Lena, he wasn’t sure he could resist the sound of her voice. It had been a knee-jerk reaction to abandon her the moment he heard her neediness and saw the disappointment in her blue eyes, and he regretted that. Maybe if he’d had a dat to show him how to be the man of a family . . . maybe if Dat and his mamm hadn’t been killed in that rig wreck, snatched away without any rhyme or reason, he wouldn’t be so afraid to love Lena. If he lost her, too . . .
    Josiah finally tapped his phone screen and listened as Lena’s voice rose with excitement, telling him of a Willow Ridge wedding dinner before easing into that husky murmur that did crazy things to him.
    I love you, Josiah. And I miss you something awful.
    Why had Lena stuck with him so long, believing he could make something of himself? Josiah tucked his cell into his pocket. She’d probably used the Hooleys’ phone, which meant Ben or Miriam might hear his message if he called her back. So he