Anna's Return by Marta Perry Read Free Book Online

waiting cluster of people. For a moment no one else moved. Anna’s eyes seemed to see them as an outsider would, as a group of solemn, archaically dressed strangers. Then one figure started toward them, running a few steps, and Leah threw her arms around her.
    “Anna. You’re home at last.” Leah pressed her cheek against Anna’s, and Anna wasn’t sure whether the tears came from her or her sister.
    “Ja, I am.” But even as she said the words, guilt pricked at her. Home? It was home, but not in the sense that Leah meant. Leah thought she was here to stay.
    She’d given this life up three years ago. She belonged to the outside world now. This place was only a refuge, until she felt it was safe to leave.
    Leah drew back, studying her face, her green eyes intent and serious. In spite of all the times they’d quarreled, Leah had been the one to understand her the most. She’d even understood why, after the accident, Anna had had to leave.
    For an instant, panic edged through her. It was as if Leah looked right into her and saw all that she was trying to hide.
    Anna turned away, hoping she’d done it quickly enough to mask her feelings, and returned her brother Mahlon’s warm hug. She stood back, gazing up at him. “You can’t still be growing, can you? You seem bigger to me.”
    “That’s my Esther’s fine cooking,” he said, his ruddy face flushing with pleasure. He reached out and drew his bride to him. “You remember Esther, ja?”
    “That I do.” She hesitated a moment, not sure how to greet the girl who’d married her brother a year ago last November in a wedding she’d missed.
    But Esther seemed to have no qualms about following her husband’s lead. She pressed her cheek against Anna’s. “Wilkom, Anna. Wilkom home.”
    Over her shoulder, Anna saw Leah picking Gracie up, holding her in a close embrace. Something that had been tense inside her seemed to ease. It was going to be all right, wasn’t it?
    Barbara marched off the porch, managing not to look at Anna. She clapped her hands. “The food is ready. Komm, we must eat while it is hot.”
    A moment of silence followed, and then came Daadi’s voice. “We will all greet Anna first. Then it will be time enough to eat.” He fixed Barbara with a firm stare.
    A flush mottled Barbara’s round cheeks. “Ja, ja,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean anything else.”
    But she had. And maybe, despite the hugs and the welcomes, there were others who weren’t best pleased to see Anna again.
     
     
    By the time supper was over, Samuel realized he’d started to relax. Funny, that he hadn’t recognized how tense he felt. Not for himself. For Anna.
    They sat around the picnic table, all the adults. The children had gone off to play, the older ones watching the younger, except for Gracie, who sat on Anna’s lap, chewing contentedly on a wooden rattle Leah had given her.
    So things were all right between Anna and her older sister? He wasn’t sure. On the surface, Leah had welcomed her warmly, but an outside observer like he was could see the awkwardness that still lay between them.
    “More pie, Samuel?” Barbara held a slice of apple crumb pie out temptingly, but he shook his head.
    “It’s wonderful gut, but I couldn’t find a place to put it. Give it to your husband, won’t you?”
    “Ach, Levi will be having it for a bedtime snack, like as not.” She moved around the table, but getting no takers for the pie, she slid back into her seat next to Levi. And fixed her gaze on Anna.
    As if aware of that stare, Anna moved slightly. She was feeling uncomfortable, that was certain-sure. He remembered that feeling from his own return, even though the circumstances had been different. It was a sense of being caught between two worlds and belonging to neither.
    She’d get over it. Even now she was joining in the easy talk from time to time. With the baby to consider, she had every reason to sink back into the life she’d left with no second