A Christmas Home by Marta Perry

Author:Marta Perry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

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STARING AT THE ceiling and pounding her pillow all night hadn’t done a thing to help Sarah cope with what had happened. She had to face it.

In another moment Noah would have kissed her. Worse, she’d wanted it. It would be convenient to blame Noah for the whole thing, but she couldn’t. She’d known, even if she hadn’t wanted to admit it, that there was a strong attraction underlying their growing friendship.

It was impossible. They both knew it. Noah already had a wife. He was tied for life to a woman who’d deserted both him and her own babies. Sarah couldn’t suppress a surge of anger at the very idea.

The straight pin she was using to fasten the front of her dress ran into her finger, and she sucked away a drop of blood. Was that a reminder not to judge others? Because she certainly had been guilty of that particular sin where Janie was concerned.

Smoothing her hair, she pinned her kapp into place and took an assessing look at herself in the mirror. Not good—she looked like a woman who hadn’t slept all night. It didn’t help to realize that she still hadn’t decided what to do about the situation with Noah.

He’d be feeling as guilty as she did. Somehow, before she saw him, she had to decide what to say to him. But in the meantime, there was work to be done. Slipping quietly down the stairs in the dark, she headed toward the farmhouse to start breakfast.

But by the time she walked down the lane to the workshop, Sarah had an even bigger problem. Eli had picked up the mail and handed her a letter—a letter from Indiana. Her sister had written back, and there seemed little doubt that Janie Raber was living . . . or at least staying . . . near the community where her sister lived.

Sarah fingered the letter she’d tucked inside her mitten. Tell Noah or not? The question made last night’s event fade in significance.

Noah was already at work when she entered the workshop. He glanced at her and gave a short nod, his face unreadable. Maybe that meant he intended to ignore the whole thing. She had a cowardly hope that it was so.

But Noah proved her wrong before she’d even reached her desk. “Sarah.” He put down the tool he had been holding and stared at it, not even glancing in her direction. “About last night . . . I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me. It was all my fault. I’m ashamed . . .”

“Ach, Noah, don’t.” She reached out to him and then let her hand drop. “It was mine, too.”

He was already shaking his head. “You’ve never done the least thing. I’m to blame.”

Sarah took a deep breath. “Let’s start over again. It’s no use arguing whose fault it was. Nothing happened. We were just foolish. Can’t we forget it?”

Finally Noah met her eyes, and she could read the shame and confusion in his face.

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