Leah's Choice by Emma Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

hard.
    “I do.”
    “Me, too,” she admitted softly.
    “Leah! Leah!”
    Both Leah and Rebecca turned toward the stairs as the clatter of footsteps echoed down the hallway.
    “Leah! There’s a man!” Susanna’s eyes were wide, her cheeks red with excitement. “In a truck! In the kitchen!”
    “A truck in Mam’s kitchen?” Leah teased.
    “Ne!” Susanna was breathless from running up the steps. “An Englisher man. He wants…” She inhaled deeply. “He wants you!”

Chapter Five
    A s Leah hurried down the front staircase, she suspected that she knew just which Englisher was waiting in the kitchen for her. It could only be Daniel Brown, and the thought that he’d come to her home so soon after leaving her at the Beachy farm a few hours ago made her pulse race.
    What she wasn’t expecting was to see Daniel seated at the head of the table in her father’s chair, the one always ready to welcome guests. When she stepped through the doorway and Daniel saw her, he immediately rose to his feet. “Leah.” His intense green-eyed gaze locked with hers, and her heart skipped a beat. “Good morning,” he said with a smile.
    Suddenly too shy to speak, she nodded and patted her kapp . She’d dressed so quickly that she wasn’t entirely sure she was put together.
    “I hope…” Daniel began.
    “Yes?”
    “You got some sleep?”
    Leah nodded again. “Yes, I did.” She didn’t miss her grandmother’s frown of disapproval. Grossmama didn’t have to say a word. Her expression left no doubt as to what she was thinking. Disgraceful ! A Mennonite boy come to seek out one of her unmarried granddaughters—more evidence of Leah’s unorthodox behavior.
    “The sun is shining,” Daniel said, all in a rush. “After last night…I mean…after the rain.”
    “It is,” Leah stammered. Behind her, she heard Rebecca stifle a giggle. “A beautiful morning,” she added, feeling foolish. What was wrong with her that she was suddenly tongue-tied, unable to think of anything sensible to say? Daniel must think her a wooden head. “It happens a lot,” she finished. “A beautiful sunny day after a storm.”
    “Yes, it seems that way,” he answered.
    “Sit, please,” Leah said. Her stomach felt as though she’d swallowed a live moth. She clasped her hands together, and then smoothed her apron. When she’d first stepped out of the hall and seen Daniel at the table with her family, the kitchen had felt warm and welcoming, but Grossmama ’s tight-lipped stare was quickly frosting the air.
    Leah sucked in her breath, realizing that Daniel had displeased her grandmother even more by standing when Leah came into the room. It wasn’t Plain behavior and went against the beliefs of the Old Order Amish.
    Standing up when a woman joined them was what Leah had seen Englishers do in restaurants or on TV. Of course, television and movies were frowned upon by the church elders, but Leah was fascinated by glimpses of the outer world. Her Mennonite girlfriends had a television set in their family room, and Leah had watched Disney movies and some family shows with them on Saturday evenings when she was in Ohio. But she wasn’t in Ohio now—she was in Kent County, Delaware, and Daniel’s action had reminded everyone that he was an outsider.
    “I didn’t mean to intrude on your breakfast,” Daniel said. “I wanted to invite you all to come back and…” He paused for breath and her mother finished the explanation.
    “Daniel’s program at the Grange will be this evening,” Hannah said. “He wanted to make sure that we knew about it.”
    “He missed his breakfast this morning so he wouldn’t be late for church,” Aunt Jezzy put in. Grossmama glared at her, but Aunt Jezzy went on in her timid voice to say, “Hannah asked him to eat with us.”
    “I really didn’t need to eat—” Daniel began.
    Thirteen-year-old Irwin cut him off. “Don’t just stand there, Leah. Come to the table before the pancakes get