A Convenient Amish Bride by Lucy Bayer

Author:Lucy Bayer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-03-30T16:10:07+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“And they were friends from that day on.” Ruby read the words from the last page of one of Mindy’s books.

She was sitting on the edge of the little girl’s bed. Mindy was tucked underneath the covers, crying again. Silent tears had been streaming down her face for the best part of a half hour.

Ruby and David had slipped into something of a routine these past twelve days. Things hadn’t gotten better with Mindy.

And there was a part of Ruby that missed the man who’d paid her pointed attention, had courted her at the concert.

Earlier today, David had sent a message with a young neighbor boy that he had to help a customer on the far side of town, and he expected to be home late. So Ruby had gone about their day and was now putting the girls in bed.

Maggie was lying in her crib, drowsing in the low lamplight. Through the slats of her crib, Ruby could see her sucking her thumb, her eyes blinking slowly as she fought off the last moments of wakefulness.

Ruby reached out to smooth the fine hairs at Mindy’s temple, curly because of the moisture from her tears. Mindy turned her head away, and Ruby let her hand drop to the quilted cover.

It was Friday now. Almost two weeks since that first morning together as a family, since Mindy had melted down in the kitchen.

Things hadn’t improved.

Every morning when David left for work, Mindy started crying. She clearly didn’t want him to leave. She’d tried holding onto his legs, tried blocking the doorway. This morning, she’d hit Ruby with her fist just after the man had walked out the door.

Ruby hadn’t had a chance to tell David. She wasn’t sure she was going to.

Several nights ago, she and David had stayed up late, trying to figure out a solution.

She watched David come home exhausted from working all day. His was a physical job. And then he’d come home and found the house a mess, with toys scattered throughout the living room and two little girls on the verge of tears. She didn’t have a solution.

After that first day, Mindy had refused to be distracted by her bunny rabbits. Gone was the little girl who’d clung to Ruby, who’d drawn sweet pictures of them as a family.

Mindy threw tantrums when Ruby asked her to clean up her toys. She stomped her feet and fumed silently, and when Ruby patiently insisted that Mindy obey, Mindy cried.

Mindy also stuck to Ruby like glue. If Ruby left one room to go to another, Mindy followed. She wasn’t eating like she had been before. She picked at her food and left much of it on her plate.

David was always so exhausted when he came home. He usually tucked the girls in, scarfed down the plate Ruby had left for him on the stove and closed himself into his bedroom. She assumed he went right to sleep.

Lying awake at night in her room down the hall, she found herself wondering if David would soon come to realize that marrying her was a big mistake.

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