An Amish Gift by Cynthia Keller Read Free Book Online

their fresh start. Once it became clear that life here wasn’t going to go the way he’d imagined, the old walls came back up. He was locked deep inside himself and wasn’t letting her in. She was at a loss. Should she beg him to talk to her? Demand it? She didn’t know how long they could go on with him being the only one who knew exactly how much financial trouble they were in, and refusing her help on any level.
    She wished there were someone who wanted to feed
her
milk and cookies and listen to her complain for a while.
    It was quiet now, and she had a couple of hours before she had to start dinner. She grabbed a light jacket and left the house. She had to get some air, find something other than the sense of failure that clung to her as she cleaned or cooked in that broken-down kitchen. Without even thinking about it, she turned at the corner toward the Fisher house. Since the day several weeks back when Mattie had invited her in for coffee, the two of them had exchanged greetings and sometimes stopped to chat when Jennie took her morning walks. She found her encounters with the Amish woman invariably soothing and would go on her way cheered and optimistic. Whatever quality it was that Mattie possessed, Jennie wished she had it as well. Patience, or maybe acceptance. Perhaps it was a sense ofsecurity about who she was, or a feeling that her life was what it was supposed to be. Jennie couldn’t put her finger on it. All she knew was that she could use some of it right now, and she was about to find out if a surprise visit was another thing considered acceptable by the Amish.
    Up until today, Jennie hadn’t encountered anyone besides Mattie when she went by the house. Surprised to see children in Amish dress outside, she recalled that today was Saturday, so of course the schedule would be different. Three children were crouching down by a flower bed, examining something, their heads close together. A teenage girl was walking toward the house, holding the hand of a little boy who looked to be around five or six. Two men wearing wide-brimmed straw hats stood outside the barn, talking. From this distance, she guessed one was Mattie’s husband, Abraham. The other might be their eldest son, Peter. She stopped, taking in the scene before her, a busy family engaged in activities. Compare this with her family, she reflected, isolated from one another, all sulking in different places. She closed her eyes, overcome by sadness.
    She heard her name being called and opened her eyes to see Mattie on the front steps, smiling.
    “A nice surprise. Please come and meet my family.” Mattie waved her over and met Jennie halfway, leading her to the flower bed. The children stood up as their mother and her guest approached.
    “This is Mrs. Davis.” Mattie pointed to the children as she said their names, starting with the oldest. “Joshua, Becky, and Aaron.”
    Jennie thought she had never seen such adorable, well-mannered children. As they were introduced, they looked her directly in the eyes with some obvious curiosity, smiled politely, and nodded. The boys wore dark pants with suspenders and dark blue short-sleeved shirts. Their blond hair showed beneath straw hats with flat brims and a black band, smaller versions of what their father wore. Becky, like the other girl Jennie had seen walking to the house, wore a replica of what her mother had on, a white head covering and a long dress, minus the apron. The girl had the same pulled-back hairstyle, down to the neatly twisted side pieces.
    “I’m glad to meet you,” Jennie said. “I live nearby, so we’re neighbors. Well, in the same neighborhood.”
    “Do you live on a farm?” Joshua asked. He had an accent like his mother’s, Jennie noted.
    “No, not a farm. Just a house. My husband runs a bicycle shop.”
    The little girl’s eyes lit up. “We know how to ride tricycles. Do you want to see?”
    Mattie frowned. “We do not put on such shows.”
    Becky turned at once to her