Plain Paradise by Beth Wiseman Read Free Book Online

themselves. Linda just wanted to get in the hallway before she completely broke down in front of Lizzie.
    Once outside the hospital doors, that’s exactly what happened. She folded onto one of the benches in the courtyard on the east side of the hospital and buried her face in her hands. Stephen sat down beside her and draped an arm around her shoulder.
    “Did you not realize how sick Jonas is?” His voice was comforting, but his words stung.
    She pulled her hands away, swiped at tears, and then turned to face him. “I guess not. Jonas has been sick for years, and somehow he always seems to get better.” She paused, sniffled. “Remember three years ago, when the doctors told him that he couldn’t attend Kade and Sadie’s wedding? They said he was too sick and made out like he was going to die any minute.” She shook her head and grinned. “But Jonas said he wouldn’t miss the wedding for anything, and he insisted Sarah Jane and Lizzie take him. Remember?”
    “ Ya , I remember.” Stephen took a deep breath, and with his free hand, he reached for hers and held it tightly. “Jonas is a fighter, but Linda—”
    “Don’t say it. Just don’t say it. Jonas is so special. To everyone.”
    Stephen nodded, gave her hand a squeeze, and they sat quietly for a few moments.
    “How’d you get here? Barbie?”
    “ Ya . She’ll probably be here any minute to pick me up. She was going to run some errands.”
    “I guess I’ll catch a ride too. Anything special you want to do the rest of the afternoon?” Linda snuggled closer, but Stephen pulled his arm from around her shoulder and put a tiny bit of space between them when two doctors walked into the courtyard, though he kept hold of her hand. Most men in their community weren’t comfortable with much public affection, and Stephen was no exception.
    Linda twisted slightly to face him and wished they could just go somewhere, anywhere, so Stephen could take her away from her worries about Jonas. She knew that to worry about such matters was a sin and that Jonas would have a special place in heaven when he arrived, but the thought of not seeing him anymore, playing chess, listening to his wise advice—she just couldn’t imagine. Poor Lillian. And Sarah Jane and Lizzie. There would be a huge void in so many lives when Jonas passed.
    “Anything with you is fine,” Stephen said after the doctors passed by them. Linda could feel her cheeks blush and wondered if Stephen could read her mind, if he knew how much she longed for him to propose. She’d be eighteen in August, on the seventeenth. That wouldn’t leave much time to plan a wedding for November or December of this year. Weddings were always scheduled after the fall harvest. Besides, her parents would argue that she was too young to get married, even though Mamm and Daed were married at seventeen.
    “There’s Barbie.” Stephen pointed to the white minivan, then turned back to Linda, arched one brow, and eased into a smile. “Wanna go to the old oak tree?”
    Linda knew what that meant. The old oak tree was a place where couples went to be alone, a huge oak in the middle of a field off of Leaman Road, with arched branches that formed a globe around those who ventured beneath the protective limbs. She felt her face reddening even more, and she nodded.
    “We’ll get Barbie to just take us to her bed and breakfast, and we can walk to the old oak from there.” Stephen stood up, offered Linda a hand, and she rose from the bench along with him, relieved their Englisch friend wouldn’t know their destination.

    Mary Ellen paced the kitchen. She’d sent Matthew and Luke over to Samuel and Lillian’s house with two shoofly pies she’d baked that morning, along with a big container of high fiber balls. She knew how much her brother liked the fiber balls filled with peanut butter, honey, raisins, chocolate chips, and coconut. Truth was, she needed to keep busy to keep her mind occupied.
    Abe’s conversation that