Shunned and Dangerous (An Amish Mystery) by Laura Bradford Read Free Book Online Page A

the muffled effect on her words making Claire lean closer. “No. No. Eli and I, we do not fight. Ever.”
    She tried not to look at all of the tasks she needed to do around the shop—the pricing of Martha and Esther’s new items, the changing out of the front window display for the upcoming Thanksgiving season, and the letter to her landlord she dreaded writing—and focused, instead, on the troubled girl seated on the next stool. “Then why aren’t you happy, Esther?”
    Dropping her hand into her lap, Esther picked at an imaginary piece of lint rather than answer.
    “Esther?” Claire nudged her friend’s chin upward with her forefinger. “Talk to me.”
    “I . . . I am eager t-to be Eli’s wife,” Esther stammered, “but I will miss being here . . . with you each day.”
    Claire willed herself to remain upbeat, to squelch the like-minded feelings she had been inwardly moping about all morning. Somehow, someway, she and Esther would remain close just as Ben had said. She had to believe that. For Esther and for herself.
    “I will still make things for the store, of course,” Esther rushed to add. “But I will not be here to work and to laugh.”
    “That makes two of us.” She hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud until she looked up and saw Esther eyeing her curiously.
    “Claire?”
    “We’ll figure something out, Esther . . . no matter what happens. I promise.” It was a promise she knew she shouldn’t be making, but she couldn’t help herself. The last thing she needed to throw on Esther at that moment was the reality of Heavenly Treasures’ pending demise.
    The faintest hint of a smile appeared at the corners of Esther’s mouth. “Perhaps you could come to dinner sometimes. I know Eli would be pleased if you did.”
    “Then we can laugh together there, right?”
    The smile moved to the young woman’s large hazel eyes, igniting the amber flecks that underscored her kinship with Jakob. “Yah!”
    “Then we’ll be okay, Esther.” She took a moment to catch a much-needed breath, the sentiment Ben had shared only hours earlier resurfacing in her heart at just the right time. “We’re friends, Esther. The only thing that can change that is us.”
    “Then it is settled. We do not need this shop to be friends.”
    “No, we don’t,” Claire rasped.
    “You will come to the wedding, yah?”
    She pushed the fog of emotion from her throat and smiled at her friend. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
    “It will be the second Tuesday in December.”
    Claire liberated a red marker from the can beside the register and marked the date on the calendar with a big heart. “Can I ask a question?”
    “Of course.”
    “Why a Tuesday? Isn’t that a work day for your community?”
    Esther clasped her hands together in her lap and sat up tall. “Wedding season happens after the fall harvest. That is why it does not interfere with work. The reason we marry on Tuesdays and Thursdays is for benches.”
    Claire returned the marker to the can and faced Esther once again. “Benches?”
    “Yah. Monday and Wednesday is when the benches travel in the bench wagon to the home where the wedding will be. On Saturday they are to travel again for Sunday worship.”
    It made sense. Basic, common sense.
    With the Amish, there really wasn’t any other way.
    “There will be much to do to get ready.”
    “How many people will be there?” Claire asked.
    “Mamm thinks it will be three hundred.”
    This time, she didn’t shut her mouth in time. “Uh . . . three hundred?”
    Esther shrugged. “It could be less, it could be more.”
    “And Martha will be expected to feed all of those people . . . in your home?”
    “Yah. But I will help. My sisters will help. Neighbors, too.”
    “Three hundred people eat a lot of food!”
    Esther reached into her satchel and retrieved a sheet of folded paper. With careful fingers, the young woman unfolded it and handed it to Claire. “Mamm and I made a list last