The Amish Teacher's Dilemma and Healing Their Amish Hearts by Patricia Davids (all ebook reader .txt) 📕

we were in a romantic relationship, which by the way every one of those women approves of, so what do we do now?”

He rubbed his knuckles on his cheek stubble. “Talk will die down eventually. I’m afraid the more we deny it the more they will think it’s true. That’s the way of human nature. I’m going to take her home. You will spend the rest of the day in your room, Maddie. Go get in the buggy.”

The child walked away with dragging footsteps. When she reached his buggy, she glanced back but she didn’t say anything. After she climbed inside, Eva pressed a hand to her heart. “She looks so sad.”

“Do you think I was too tough on her?”

“I don’t think so. I hope she has learned her lesson. If Samuel Yoder gets wind of this story he could say I’m not fit to teach the children.”

“You don’t think he would take it to heart, do you? She’s just a little kid.”

“Who can say.”

“Well, there is one good thing about this,” he said, rising to his feet with his back to the other women.

“Tell me quickly. I need to know.”

“You check a couple of items off the wife-to-be wish list. You’re only fifty and you’re a good cook.”

“Go away.”

“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow at church. Remember I’m happy to give you and Danny a lift if the weather is bad.”

“I remember. Danki.” She hoped it would rain and she could travel to the Fisher farm seated beside Willis. It wouldn’t stop any gossip about them, but she was willing to risk a few knowing looks and awkward questions in order to spend more time with him. Such brief moments together were all she could expect, but she was rapidly growing to believe they would never be enough.

It was raining when Eva woke. She sprang from bed and hurried into her best Sunday dress. It was a deep maroon with an apron of the same color. She put up her hair and pinned her kapp in place. Although it was vain, she took a moment to pinch some color into her cheeks. She shook her head sadly. Was she trying to check “being pretty” off the list? That was a hopeless task.

At least Willis didn’t seem to mind her appearance. Would riding to church with him fuel the gossip she was sure would circulate today? If it did, it would be a small price to pay for time spent in his company.

She had to admit she was falling for Willis, but it was a secret she would guard closely lest it ruin their friendship.

Willis pulled his buggy to stop outside her front door. She gathered together the food she had prepared for the noon meal and went to the end of the hallway. “Hurry up, Danny. Willis is here.”

Her brother came out of her guest room dressed in his Sunday best. He wore a black suit coat over a vest, a white shirt and dark pants. He carried his black, flat-crowned hat in his hand. “The rain is letting up. We can take the cart.”

“We will be more comfortable in Willis’s buggy. It might start raining again and I have no wish to arrive at my first church service here looking like a drowned rat.”

She hurried outside. Willis wore a suit almost identical to her brother’s. He looked particularly handsome. She was so used to seeing him with a leather apron and rolled-up sleeves that she almost didn’t recognize him. He helped her into the front seat. Maddie sat quietly in the back, wearing a pretty green dress with a white apron and a white kapp on her head that Eva had finished the night before last. Otto and Harley looked clean and uncomfortable in their Sunday best.

Danny climbed in the back. “Morning, Willis. Boys. Maddie, you seem quiet today. Is something wrong?”

“I got in trouble for telling someone Eva was going to be my new mamm.”

“Which isn’t true,” Eva and Willis said at the same time.

“Good to know,” Danny said with a smirk and a wink at his sister. She turned to stare out the windshield.

The trip to the Fisher farm was less than a mile. It started raining again, and Willis didn’t hurry. What was he thinking about? Was he as happy to ride beside her as she was to be sitting beside him? Their times on the swings together made her believe he was. Good friends enjoying each other’s company. If she was courting a heartache in the future she pushed that thought aside.

He leaned closer. “You smell nice. Like cinnamon and fresh bread. Have you been baking?”

“Check, check,” she said, knowing it would make him laugh to refer to the list. It did.

She turned to the boys in the back. “I hope you enjoy my rolls after the service.”

“What if they are all gone before we get through the line?” Otto asked.

“I kept a second pan at the house in case you wanted some for breakfast tomorrow.”

Willis grinned. “You are spoiling them.”

“Nonsense. I intend to teach Otto how to make them so they can enjoy them whenever they like.”

“You’re going to teach Otto to bake?” Harley moaned. “Argh, I’m never going to eat a cinnamon roll again.”

In spite of their slow place, they soon turned into the Fisher farm. The service was to be held in the barn. Eva and Maddie took the food up to the house where Mrs. Fisher and the older women of the community were preparing to serve the meal when the preaching was done.

After visiting briefly and getting a few sidelong glances but no direct questions about her marriage plans, Eva walked into the barn. The sun had come out and shone brightly beyond the open barn doors at the other end. Rows of wooden benches had already been set up and were filled with worshippers, men on one side, women on the other, all waiting for the church service to begin. The wooden floor had been swept clean of