The Christmas Cradle by Charlotte Hubbard Read Free Book Online Page B

should’ve known better.”
    â€œYa got that right,” Miriam agreed as she took a pan of baked oatmeal from the oven. “He had a big business breedin’ and trainin’ Belgians—in the barn where Nora’s Simple Gifts shop is. That photograph was the first in a string of forbidden things we found out about Hiram when he was our bishop. Sad story. And a nasty breakup of his family, as well.”
    Once again Lena felt uneasy about Higher Ground, and she hoped Josiah had headed back to Bloomfield. It would be just like him to hire on with Hiram, however, if only because these well-intentioned folks had told him not to.
    Maybe he’s not ready to be a father. Josiah has a contrary attitude about everything that’s important .
    Lena kept this startling thought to herself. If her baby’s father was going to run the other way for the rest of his life, she should indeed consider staying with the Hooleys rather than doggedly standing by Josiah. The midwife in Bloomfield had said the baby would come in less than two months, so she needed to have her plan in place.
    When they’d put the baked oatmeal and a bowl of fried apples on the table, Miriam called Ben. The three of them bowed their heads for a moment of silent thanks.
    â€œWe’re gettin’ in some quiet time before the others arrive,” Ben said as he spooned up some baked oatmeal. “Once Andy Leitner’s kids get here with Rhoda—”
    â€œTaylor and Brett, from Andy’s first marriage,” Miriam clarified.
    â€œâ€”and Rachel’s new baby starts fussin’, it’ll get noisier than we’re used to,” he finished with a chuckle.
    â€œ Puh! You’ll grab little Amelia at the first sign of a whimper,” Miriam teased. She smiled brightly at Lena. “Amelia’s our first grandbaby, born just a couple of months ago. And with Andy joinin’ the Old Order and marryin’ my Rhoda in September, we’ve got his kids in the family now, too. It’s been an exciting autumn.”
    â€œNot many brides have their wedding interrupted by the birthin’ of a baby,” Ben recounted with a chuckle. “Rachel was Rhoda’s side-sitter, and she’d gone past her due date. What with Andy bein’ the groom and the local nurse, Bishop Tom halted the vows so Andy could take Rachel upstairs when her contractions got the best of her.”
    â€œThe wedding was in that big white house down the lane behind the Sweet Seasons. That’s where my girls grew up, and where Rachel and Micah live now,” Miriam explained. “We ladies decided to serve the wedding dinner—over in the Brennemans’ shop—so the guests wouldn’t be listenin’ to Rachel cry out with her birthin’ pains. By the time the second shift of guests had eaten their meal, Amelia had been born, and everybody returned to the house so Rhoda and Andy could take their vows. We got a new son-in-law and a new grandbaby on the same day!”
    Lena hugged her unborn child, touched by the love on the Hooleys’ faces—and amazed at yet another unusual situation in their family. It was rare for an English person—and a divorced one—to be accepted into the Amish faith. “I wish my baby was going to have a family like yours,” she blurted out.
    â€œOh, Lena, I can’t imagine your mamm and dat will stay mad once they’ve got a grandchild,” Miriam insisted as she reached for Lena’s hand.
    Lena sighed. Maybe she should explain how things had been at home, before the rest of Miriam and Ben’s family arrived. Her feelings about her parents were so upsetting, so jumbled up. “My mamm didn’t tell me a thing about how babies happen,” she began tentatively, “so when she figured out why I was throwing up, she got really mad at me—and at Josiah. I was hardly even showing when my folks sent me to stay with my maidel aunt