Lydia's Hope by Marta Perry Read Free Book Online

piled loaves of bread into the wire baskets
     behind the counter.
    “Lydia!” Paula’s face creased in her welcoming smile. “It’s nice to see you. What
     can I get for you?”
    Her stomach was too tight to enjoy even one of Paula’s sticky buns, but she had to
     order something. “Just coffee, Paula. And a little talk with you, if you have time.”
    “Ach, we always have plenty of both,” Paula replied.
    “At this time of day, anyway,” Hannah added, reaching for the coffeepot. “Why don’t
     you have a chat and relax a bit, Aunt Paula? I’ll take care of what needs to be done
     in the kitchen.”
    “She fusses over me,” Paula confided as Hannah vanished into the kitchen.
    “It gives her pleasure to help you, ja?” Lydia followed Paula to one of the small
     round tables.
    “Not as much pleasure as it gives me, having Hannah and her family here.” The glance
     Paula sent toward the kitchen door was loving. “I didn’t realize I was lonely until
     Hannah came home.”
    Lydia nodded, knowing what joy Paula had experienced when her niece came back to Pleasant
     Valley with her small son. Hannah was now wed to William Brand, and the family was
     whole at last. That was what she wanted—that sense of wholeness. It wasn’t too much
     to ask, was it?
    She toyed with her coffee mug, not sure how to begin now that she was here.
    “Something is wrong, ain’t so?” Paula’s expression was kind, as always.
    “A little.” That was certainly putting it mildly. Lydia took a deep breath. She might
     as well plunge in. “Do you remember my birth parents?”
    “Diane and Eli? Ja, for sure. I didn’t know them well, you understand, but well enough
     to talk to.”
    Lydia thought she detected a certain reservation in Paula’s voice, which told her
     that Paula might have guessed what was coming.
    “You knew, didn’t you?” she asked, directing a look at Paula’s face. “About my two
     little sisters?”
    Paula was silent for a long moment, staring down at her coffee. “Ja,” she said finally.
     “I knew. And now, I guess from your question that you know, as well.”
    “Ja.” At last, she knew. “I just found out about them, and I want . . . I need . . .
     to find my sisters.”
    “I understand.” Paula’s voice was soft, as if she were remembering something. “I lost
     my sister to the Englisch world, but at least I finally got Hannah back. I don’t know
     how I can help you.”
    Lydia didn’t either, but she had to try. “My mamm and daad told me about Susanna,
     but they don’t seem to have any idea what happened to Chloe, the baby, after her grandmother
     took her away.”
    “That was a sad circumstance.” Paula shook her head. “Still, I don’t know that I can
     tell you anything that your parents can’t.” She hesitated. “I do know Diane wasn’t
     on such gut terms with her mother.”
    Mamm and Daad had implied the same thing, but Lydia wanted to hear someone else’s
     view of the situation, one that wasn’t colored by the need to keep her safe. “Did
     Diane ever talk to you about it?”
    Paula nodded slowly, her forehead wrinkling. “Once, I think, when I took a meal out
     after the last baby was born. I had picked up the mail from the box to carry it in
     with me, and I gave it to Diane. She picked one envelope out and tossed it on the
     table, and I saw that it was a letter she had written that had been returned unopened.”
    “From her mother?” Lydia had to say that this Englisch grandmother of hers wasn’t
     sounding like such a nice person.
    “Ja, that was so. Diane’s eyes filled with tears.” Paula’s eyes were moist, as well.
     “She said that her own mamm wouldn’t know about her baby daughter, because she wouldn’t
     open letters from Diane. It made me feel so sad for Diane.”
    Lydia’s throat was tight, and she had to take a sip of the hot coffee before she could
     speak. “Did you ever hear anything else about the woman?”
    Paula shook her