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

a gift for more than babies. Since her involvement with the produce stand at the farmer’s market, his income had gone up tremendously. He had just paid off the last of the hospital bills, something that would have taken him a year to do. But thanks to Jane’s hard work, business sense and presence in the booth, his sales had quadrupled. And she did it all while raising a baby not her own.

He remembered looking at Jane months ago when she first came on as Mercy’s nanny and thinking there was more to her than met the eye. Now that he knew her so much better, that opinion hadn’t changed.

He knew beneath those thick glasses beat the heart of a warm, wonderful woman.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

On the day before Eliza’s arrival, Jane made sure Levy’s house was spotless. She dusted and swept Eliza’s bedroom, and made up the bed with fresh sheets and a cheerful quilt. She topped off the room’s kerosene lamp and made sure the globe sparkled. She swept the house, did laundry and cleaned the kitchen.

And when Levy came in from his day’s work, she hugged Mercy to her chest, kissed the child and handed her to Levy.

“Jane, wait!” he called as she marched out the front door. But she didn’t answer. Instead, the tears poured from her eyes as she walked back to her aunt and uncle’s house.

* * *

Feeling bleak, Levy watched Jane walk away with an air of finality that disturbed him. Mercy cooed in his arms, quiet and content, but he knew that wouldn’t last as the child would soon miss the security of Jane’s embrace and her confident care.

He paced around the kitchen, already missing Jane’s vivacious presence. He didn’t like the way she’d left. He knew she was bothered by Eliza’s upcoming return, but why couldn’t she just give him a few days to get reacquainted with his sister and then get things back to normal?

He looked at the baby in his arms. What was “normal”? This whole summer had been anything but normal. He knew Jane loved Mercy very much. But would Eliza love Mercy too? Or had that bond been severed?

He sighed and put the baby in her bouncy chair, then poured himself a cup of coffee, sat down and played with the baby’s toes.

“Your mamm is coming home,” he told her. Then he wondered if that was true, or if Mercy’s mother had just walked out the door. Who was Mercy’s real mother?

Restless, he unstrapped Mercy and lifted her to his shoulder, then went upstairs to his sister’s bedroom to get it ready. He was certain it needed dusting, and of course the bed needed to be made…

He stopped in the doorway, dumbfounded. The bedroom was pristine, with clean sheets and a bright quilt, a vase of flowers, a polished kerosene lamp on the dresser and not a particle of dust visible anywhere.

This was Jane’s doing, of course. She might be filled with sorrow, but that didn’t prevent her from making sure Eliza would be welcome in her own home.

He swallowed hard. Jane was a treasure. And it hit him how much he wanted to keep that treasure.

The question was, how?

* * *

Eliza arrived the following morning by taxi. She wore a blue Amish-style dress, but no apron—and no kapp. Her dark blond hair was pinned back in a bun, and her blue eyes were wary. She looked world-weary and cautious, as if unsure of her welcome. Above all, she looked older. During the time she’d been gone, she’d grown from a teenager into an adult.

“Eliza!” Levy rushed out the door and scooped his sister into an embrace.

Eliza hugged him tight and began to cry. “Brüder! I didn’t know if you’d want me back.”

“How could I not?” He drew back and watched the tears course down her cheeks. “This will always be your home.”

“But I’ve been gone so long, and so many things have happened.”

“Well, you’re home now.” He fished a clean bandanna from his pocket and handed it to her. “Come inside, we have a lot to talk about.”

“Levy…” Eliza stood rooted on the side of the road. She twisted the handkerchief in her hands. “Mercy…is she okay? Is she here?”

“Ja, she’s here. She had a good nanny while you were gone.”

Eliza nodded, then followed him through the side door into the kitchen. Mercy was strapped to her bouncy seat on the table. She had reached the age where she could bat at the rod of colorful shapes above her.

“My baby,” whispered Eliza. Her hands trembled as she lifted the infant out of the seat and cradled her on her shoulder. The young woman started crying again. “She’s grown so much, and I’ve missed it all.”

Levy poured two cups of coffee and led the way into the living room, where Eliza settled into the rocking chair and cuddled the baby. Levy set one mug on the small table near her elbow.

“We have lots to discuss.” He sat down in an easy chair. “First and foremost, what are your plans? You said you want to be baptized. Is it true?”

“Ja.” Eliza spoke without hesitation. “I want to visit the bishop tomorrow. I need to confess my sins and start the classes.”

Levy closed his eyes. So Gott hadn’t deserted him—or Eliza—after all. He opened them to see his sister cradling her child with adoration in her eyes.

“I’ll have to learn to take care of you, liebling,” she crooned to the infant. “It’s been a long time since I changed your diaper, or rocked you to sleep…”

“It might be hard at first to settle back into the community,” he warned. “Having an out-of-wedlock baby is…”

“Out of wedlock?” Eliza raised her head, shock on her face. “She’s not out of wedlock. I was married.”

It was an understatement to say Levy was surprised. “Married! Then how…”

Eliza sighed. “Let me start at the beginning. It’s a long story.”

She spoke nonstop for almost an hour. There was a whirlwind romance with an Englisch man, a