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

their lunch onto the table, Becca silently agreed. Friendship would go a long way to healing Jesse and Sam’s broken hearts. As the boy’s teacher, this was all Becca could offer and she hoped it helped.

She laid a fresh loaf of bread on the pristine counter, wondering if the men had made as much progress with their chores. She glanced up at the windowsill, analyzing her paint job with a critical eye.

Oh, no! She’d missed a spot. Not very much but it was noticeable if you looked up. She’d just fix it before she finalized lunch preparations. It wouldn’t take more than a moment to run the paintbrush over the narrow area and no one would even know it was there.

Pulling the ladder over to the sink, she climbed up. Dipping her brush into a bucket, she concentrated on her task as the ladder wobbled slightly. She quickly ran the bristles over the trim surrounding the windowsill, then set the brush across the lip of the bucket. There! It was almost perfect.

She was just climbing down when she lost her footing. A moment of panic rushed up her throat and she clawed the air for something, anything to hold onto. It did no good and she felt herself falling!

“Ooff!” Jesse’s breath left him in a sudden exhale as he caught Becca before she could fall off the ladder.

She clasped his neck with one arm, the side of her face smooshed beneath his chin. He held her there for several long seconds, giving her a moment to recover her footing. Her sweet, clean fragrance spiraled around him as she stepped on his toes. Thankfully he was wearing heavy boots.

“Ach, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, pulling back just a bit.

He still had his arms wrapped around her tiny waist. Looking down, he locked his gaze with hers. Her face was so close to his that he could feel her warm breath against his cheek. He saw the confusion in her startled blue eyes. Her pink lips rounded in a circle of surprise. He could feel her soft fingertips against the back of his neck.

“Geht es dir gut?” he asked, his voice low and soft.

“Ja, ja! I’m all right,” she said rather breathlessly.

“Ahem!”

Someone cleared their throat and he looked up and saw Naomi and Abby standing in the doorway.

Becca quickly pulled free and moved over to the stove. She patted her kapp, thrusting stray curls of golden hair back into the head covering. She looked as flustered as he felt.

“Danke for catching me.” She spoke without looking at him.

“Did you fall?” Naomi asked.

“Ja, I fell off the ladder,” Becca quickly explained, seeming embarrassed that the women might think she’d done something inappropriate.

“Ach, it’s a gut thing that Jesse was here to catch you.” Abby spoke with a knowing smile.

Naomi walked to the sink where she began washing red apples. “Ja, it was a very gut thing.”

If Jesse didn’t know better, he would think the older woman’s voice sounded a bit strangled, as if she were trying not to laugh.

Having recovered her composure, Becca busied herself with setting the long table. He was suddenly highly aware of her as a lovely, desirable woman. And that thought left him feeling nervous and out of sorts.

“Um, I’ll tell the men we’re just about ready to eat,” he said, practically bounding out the back door.

Anything to escape. He had to get out of this room right now. Had to get away from Becca and her innocent, confused looks and her aunt’s knowing glances.

“Komm eat,” he called to the other men.

He waited for them to climb down off the roof before following them into the house. No way was he going to be alone with these women again. He needed the other men as a buffer zone.

After prayer, the men sat at the table while the women hovered around seeing that their plates were filled. Abby spread a blanket on the floor in the living room for the children to sit and enjoy a little picnic of sorts. Jesse regretted that he had only four chairs made. With just himself and Sam living in the house, he thought there was no need to make any more. But now, he realized he needed double the number of seats if he was to accommodate his new friends. And the thought of making more chairs made him feel happy inside. It gave him a purpose. Something to work toward.

“How is the work going on the roof?” Naomi asked as she laid another piece of fried chicken on Jakob’s plate.

“Gut! We’ve finished the roof and it should weather any future storms,” he replied.

“Ja, we should have plenty of time this afternoon to work on the barn and broken fence posts before it’s time to leave.” Dawdi Zeke popped an entire boiled egg into his mouth and chewed with relish.

“And you weibsleit? How has your work gone?” Jakob asked. He glanced around the room, seeing the fresh coat of paint on the walls.

“We have finished downstairs. This afternoon, we’ll finish painting the bedrooms,” Naomi said.

The group chatted about their work and inconsequential things. Jakob offered to sell one of his best milk cows to Jesse and discussed the Rocky Mountain Expo Select Sale to be held at the National Western Complex in Denver next month.

“Bishop Yoder and Harley Troyer are the auctioneers. You can get all the draft horses and mules you need,” Dawdi Zeke said.

“Ja, and in April, they’ll hold a draft horse and equipment auction in Brighton. Us men commission a small bus from town and hire an Englischer to drive us there. They’ve gotten to know us Amish and will haul the livestock here to Riverton in a trailer. You’re willkomm to go with us and see if there’s something worth buying for your farm,” Jakob said.

Jesse nodded. This was just the info he needed to acquire some good livestock to work his place. He glanced at Sam, wondering what to do with the boy while he was gone.

“I’ll