A Sister's Wish by Shelley Shepard Gray Read Free Book Online Page B

right.”
    â€œFor who?” Sheer frustration caused her voice to tremble. “Simon took care of me today. He’s been nothing but kind to me. And . . . and I think I love him.”
    â€œYou might think you love him, but you’ll meet someone better. Look what happened with me and Jacob.”
    â€œPlease leave. Both of you.”
    â€œDon’t be like this.”
    â€œDon’t be like this? You and Lukas are ruining my life.” Picking up the call button, Amelia glared at both of them. “You two need to leave, or I’m going to call the nurse to ask you to leave.”
    Just as Rebecca looked determined to argue, Darla grabbed her hand. “We’ll go now, Amelia, but please try to understand. Lukas loves you so much. And he feels responsible for you since your father is gone.”
    No, the problem wasn’t that she needed to try to understand. What was happening was that she understood too much. For most of their lives, the four of them had been living in each other’s pockets. Because of their mother’s early death, they’d helped out around the house together. They’d worked at the mill together. Essentially, they’d intertwined their lives around each other so much that it was almost impossible to do anything independently.
    But over the last year, Lukas had courted Darla without Levi’s blessing. Rebecca had pursued her dream of teaching. And even though that hadn’t panned out like she’d hoped, she’d pursued it. Even Levi, their usual carefree brother, had needed a break and gone away.
    She, however, had done none of that. Instead of courting or working or, well, complaining, she’d stayed at home and tried to make their lives run as easily as possible. She would have even been relatively content to hold her crush close to her chest. It would have been okay if Simon never realized that he—and only he—made her heart beat a little faster.
    But when he’d begun to focus more of his attention on her, she’d known it was time to spread her wings a bit, too. She wanted to follow her dreams as much as her siblings had. The problem was that they weren’t used to her ever following her dreams. Certainly not at the expense of their expectations.
    Though all of that was running through her head, she was too tired to try and explain herself. She didn’t even think they’d listen. Therefore, she simply did whatever she could to get them to leave her alone.
    â€œBut Lukas is not my father, and neither of you girls is my mother.”
    â€œAmy,” Rebecca bit out, “you aren’t listening. If you would just see things from—”
    â€œYour point of view?” Amelia finished sarcastically. “I could say the same thing to you. Just know that I’ll remember this, Rebecca. I’ll remember just how you forced your way into something that wasn’t your business.” Then she shifted and turned away.
    It was childish, she knew, but didn’t open her eyes again until she heard the women shuffle out the door.
    Then, with a sigh, she adjusted her bed and tried to come up with a plan to get Simon back. He’d promised to return to see her tomorrow. When he came back, she’d thank him for his care, then push a little bit. It was time for the two of them to move forward. To face her family together.
    Liking how that sounded, she smiled. She might have been the youngest member of her family, but she was not the weakest.
    Lukas and Rebecca were about to discover that.
    W HAT DID A person say to a sibling he hadn’t seen in years? Simon had no idea. As he sat in the passenger seat of the fancy sports car that Tess was driving, he tried to come to terms with the fact that this Englisher woman was the same girl he’d grown up with.
    But so far, the only thing that seemed familiar was the scar on her lip. He didn’t dare bring that up, though. He remembered exactly how