A Promise for Miriam by Vannetta Chapman Read Free Book Online

interpret her every wish?”
    “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
    “Is it? Why? It’s the very thing you were about to do.”
    “I was helping my dochder .”
    “You think that’s helping?”
    “More than what you were doing.”
    “I disagree.” Miriam tried to ignore the intensity of his gaze, as well as the fact that mere inches now separated them. But she refused to back down. Someone needed to be objective here. Someone needed to stand up for Grace.
    Gabe clenched his hands at his side, took one step closer, and fought to lower his voice. “Do you think today was easy for her?”
    “I don’t—”
    “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be among strangers?”
    “Well, no.”
    “To be without someone you love?”
    “No, but—”
    “And to have no chance of getting them back?”
    Miriam pulled up short, his words hitting her with the force of a bitter winter wind, stopping any argument she might have offered.
    He was right.
    She had no idea what he and Grace were enduring. She’d never been among strangers, and she had never lost someone she loved.
    He walked to the neighboring stall, put his hands against the door, and pulled in two deep breaths. When he seemed to have calmed himself, he walked back to her, his voice icier than the pond behind their home.
    “I’ll thank you to not experiment with my dochder , Miriam. I know what’s best for her. You don’t. You are a girl who has no idea what life or love or loss is about. You know books and nothing else.”
    He turned and stormed back into the stall where Grace waited.
    By the time Miriam caught up with him, he stood in front of his daughter and the crate of kittens, looking down at the message she’d written in the dirt floor of the stall.
    She’d found an old stick and scribbled it into the ground. “May I keep Stormy?” Beside that she’d added the word “Please.”
    Grace seemed immensely pleased with herself. She’d found a way to make herself heard.
    Gabe looked miserable.
    Miriam pulled in a deep breath, stuffed her wounded feelings deep inside, and walked over to the little girl. Kneeling down in front of her, she reached for the strings of her small prayer kapp , straightened them, and then finally looked into her brown eyes.
    “I suppose Stormy is the dark-gray kitten.”
    Grace smiled and nodded.
    “He’ll be ready to go to your house by the end of the month if your dat says it’s okay.”
    She didn’t turn to look at Gabe Miller. She couldn’t have borne to see the pain in those eyes one more time. He must have said yes, though, for Grace smiled once again, threw her arms around Miriam’s neck, and hugged her tightly.
    Then she ran to her father.
    Miriam heard them leave the stall and walk down the length of the barn. She remained there a few more minutes, watching the kittens, Pepper now at her side, and wondered how much damage she had managed to do with her well-intentioned ideas.

Chapter 6
    G abe told himself there was no reason to feel guilty regarding the scene in the barn. He told himself that while he herded the bull back into the pasture and mended the fence yet again. He repeated it to himself while he worked on the leaking roof of his barn in the biting wind. And he tried muttering it yet again each time he opened Grace’s lunch box and found it empty of any notes.
    He could justify his actions to himself as much as he’d like. The guilt still had a way of worming its way into his mind. His words had been harsh, and he had not been raised to speak in such a way. Moreover, as Gracie’s drawing tablet was filled each night less and less with the scene outside their kitchen window, and more and more with kittens, school, and her new favorite person, Miriam, he realized if there was a bright spot in his daughter’s life he should be grateful for it.
    All of which explained why he had trouble remaining angry on Wednesday.
    Grace struggled out of Eli’s buggy, her arms loaded down and barely