A Time to Love by Barbara Cameron Read Free Book Online Page B

rolled his eyes. "Now come the questions."
    Hannah stopped dead in the doorway. "Why, Jenny! I didn't know you were here. Willkumm."
    She turned to her brother and frowned at him. "Why didn't you tell me she was going to visit today? I would have baked something special. And I wouldn't have left with the kinner."
    "It was unplanned," Jenny spoke up. "I was taking a walk and fell. Matthew brought me here to warm up."
    Matthew watched as Hannah went into mother-mode, fussing over their guest. Was she warm enough? Had she hurt herself? Would she stay and share a meal with them?
    He watched Jenny start to refuse and then Annie spoke up, asking her to stay. Jenny hesitated; her expression softened, and she smiled, clearly a victim of Annie's charms. She thought of how she'd let her grandmother know where she was and decided she'd be back home in no time.
    Hannah left them and Mary and Joshua drew closer to Jenny, careful when they saw her cane. Matthew held his breath, fearing they'd ask about her injuries, concerned that they'd hurt her feelings.
    But he needn't have worried. They were, after all, the children of his late wife, Amelia, who would shoo ants outside her house rather than kill them. She was the reason for their nature far more than he was.
    "I'm the oldest," Joshua told her proudly. "I'm nine and a half."
    Jenny thought he looked so much like his father with his quiet manner and his steady, intent blue eyes. His body was lanky; Jenny guessed he'd reach his father's height or more for he was already tall for his age.
    Mary was a contrast to her younger sister, Annie. She hung back as Joshua and Annie sat near Jenny. She'd lost the baby fat that filled Annie's face, and though she was two years younger than Joshua, she was nearly as tall.
    Like so many Amish children Jenny had met on her visits, they were blond, blue-eyed, healthy children. By the way they'd greeted their father, it was plain they were happy and well-adjusted, in spite of their mother's death.
    It was hard not to compare them to the children she'd seen overseas. Deliberately she forced that memory away and tried to concentrate on the children before her.
    She asked them about their favorite books, saying she'd noticed all the well-read books in their bookcase. They chattered about them, and Mary told a long story about visiting the bookmobile that made it easier to find new stories.
    Once, while Mary was showing her a page in her favorite book, Jenny looked up and caught Matthew watching her. She smiled shyly and bent once again to be read to from the book.
     

     
    Matthew watched Jenny's hand come up and stroke the child's hair and saw for himself the fondness for children that Phoebe said she had. He knew she'd paid dearly for it when she was the victim of a bombing overseas.
    Hannah called out for the children to wash their hands and come set the table. They ran to do her bidding.
    "How are you feeling?" he asked her when he saw her wince as she shifted to be more comfortable.
    "Fine."
    "I saw you walking this way," he told her as he stood before her. "I watched the way you pushed yourself, how you worked so hard not to be afraid of falling when the road was slick."
    She stared at her hand on her cane, appearing embarrassed.
    "I saw you fall and work so hard to get up," he went on. "And when you couldn't, you fought with yourself."
    Her eyes cut up to his. "Wait a minute. I sat there for a long time! Why didn't you come sooner?"
    He smiled at her. "I knew you wouldn't like it if I rushed to help you."
    Jenny glowered at him, only partly mocking. "I was freezing!"
    "Are you warm now?"
    "Steaming," she told him sternly.
    "Just as feisty as always," he laughed. "I've missed you, Jenny," he said before he could stop himself.
    He held out his hand. After a moment, she took it, grimacing as she stood.
    "Do you think you need to see the doctor?" he asked, looking worried now.
    "No," she said. "I think I bruised my pride more than anything."She glanced at