Harlequin Love Inspired March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Patrice Lewis (best large ereader .txt) 📕

as the kettle started to sing. She poured water over his tea bag. “Will you tell me what happened with you and Eliza? How you came to take care of her? Explain to me why you’re so determined to keep a newborn baby.”

“How much have you heard from others?”

“Not much. Just some gossip. Everyone thinks highly of you, and even if they disagree with why you’re keeping Mercy, they understand it.”

Levy looked surprised. “That’s gut, I suppose.”

Jane sipped her tea. “All I know is you’d taken care of your sister since your parents died. She left, never came back and you only heard from her when she sent the baby into your care.”

“That’s the gist of it.” Levy dipped his tea bag in and out of the cup, staring at the darkening water. “My parents died when a car hit their buggy. That was ten years ago. Eliza was twelve years old at the time, and I was eighteen. My parents only had two children. When they died, it was just Eliza and me.”

“How did Eliza take your parents’ deaths?”

“Very hard, as you can imagine. We both did, but she was at a more impressionable age. I stepped into a fatherly role for Eliza.” He closed his eyes. “I guess I wasn’t very good at it.”

Filled with compassion, Jane touched his hand briefly. He opened his eyes and looked at the spot she’d touched.

“Up until about the age of fifteen, she was fine. I’d already been baptized, and I thought she was on the same path. A nice young man named Josiah was interested in her. But then she hit a rebellious phase, running around with other youngies, neglecting her chores, acting disrespectfully. I just didn’t know what to do, how to cope.” His voice trembled.

“My friend Sarah said she left on her Rumspringa.”

“Ja, that’s right. She was taking classes to be baptized, but one day while in town she met an Englischer, and next thing I knew she was gone. I can only presume Mercy is the result of that relationship. It…it kills me to think of Eliza, alone and pregnant…and all because I didn’t know how to handle a teenage girl.”

Jane tried to be sympathetic. “With Gott, all things are possible. Eliza may come around…”

Levy laughed bitterly. “And be accepted by the community? I don’t think so.”

“Don’t be so sure. If she was never baptized, she can still return and be forgiven for her sins. I think you might be too hard on her.”

“Wouldn’t you be?” He fixed her with an angry glare. “If you were in my shoes, could you speak so easily of forgiveness?”

“Maybe not.” Jane sighed and took a sip of her tea. “I would be devastated if either of my two younger sisters followed the same course Eliza did. But you can’t see into the future, Levy, nor can you change the past. If I were in a position to counsel you, I would tell you to forgive yourself for what happened in the past, and pray for what might happen in the future.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why should Gott listen to me?” he muttered.

She was surprised to hear him say such a thing. “Gott always listens!”

“Then where is my sister?”

“Gott knows, and He’s got His hand on her. Don’t lose your faith, Levy—it’s the most important thing you have.”

“I’m trying not to.” He stared at his mug. “But it’s hard. I worry she’s alone in some big city.”

“The one thing to remember is Eliza is not a child any longer. She’s a grown woman, and she’s making her own way in life. It may not be a way you approve of, but it’s her life.”

“But not her child?”

“Maybe not.”

Levy sighed. After a long pause, he asked, “Jane, that’s another thing I wanted to ask—how long do you think you’ll be able to work as Mercy’s nanny? I need to think about Mercy’s future, and that means finding out how long you anticipate staying.”

“I don’t know.” She toyed with her spoon. “Originally I wasn’t going to stay more than a few months. I like this community, I like the people I’ve met, I like my work, I love my tante and onkel…but I was born and raised in Ohio and want to keep the option of going home. But already I can see this will be a problem—not just because of my future, but because of Mercy’s.”

“So can you give me a deadline for when I should look for a replacement? Are you thinking two months? Three months? Four months?”

“It’s too hard to predict. But one thing is certain. Without a mother in the picture, someone permanent, it’s going to be hard having a series of nannies go in and out of her life.”

“I know…”

Just then the infant started crying from the bedroom. Jane rose to her feet. “As I told you before, however long I’m here, I’ll continue to care for Mercy as if she were my own.” She bit her lip. “In fact, it will be hard to give her up when the time comes.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jane changed the baby’s diaper, then settled into the rocking chair to give her a bottle. She watched the baby as she drank. Her tiny hands looked like stars.

She’d told Levy the truth. It would be very hard to give Mercy up when the time came. She realized she was falling in love with this precious and sweet boppli.

“I think when your belly is full, I’m going to give you a bath,” she crooned. The infant’s large blue eyes gazed upward as she sucked on the bottle.

When the formula was gone, Jane placed a clean diaper over her shoulder and placed the baby over it, patting the tiny back until she emitted a satisfactory braaap.

When she returned to the kitchen, Levy was gone. Jane warmed some water and padded a washbasin with a towel. She filled the washbasin with hot and cold water until she was satisfied with the temperature.

“C’mon, little one, let’s