Amish Refuge by Debby Giusti

Author:Debby Giusti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

The rain intensified through the night. The ping of the fat droplets against the tin roof kept Miriam from sleeping. She walked to the window and stared into the darkness and shivered, knowing who could be out there waiting and watching.

Closing the curtains, she lit the gas lamp and opened the trunk. The dress she had worn today was spattered with mud. Tomorrow she would wear something fresh to town. The smell of cedar from the inlaid wood brought comfort.

She peered at the inscription, handwritten in black ink, on the inside. To Rebecca. With my love. From your husband, Abram.

Miriam’s heart constricted. Not with jealousy or envy, but because of her own desire to have someone love her as completely as Abram had loved his wife.

Tears burned her eyes, knowing the pain of loss he must have felt when Rebecca and their child had died. He continued to carry that pain, Miriam felt sure. The look of longing in his eyes revealed the depth of his grief, even now.

Wiping her hand across her cheek, she inhaled deeply to quell the onslaught of sadness that clung to her as surely as the scent of cedar.

Miriam pulled a dress from the trunk. This one in a deep royal blue that almost seemed too rich for an Amish woman. She shook out the fabric and held the bodice against her, then looked down at the skirt that billowed around her legs in a graceful flow that made her feel totally feminine.

She twirled once. Yards of fabric swirled around her legs and, in spite of her heavy heart, she smiled, feeling as graceful as a fairy princess with the skirt swishing back and forth. She almost laughed, until the light flickered, drawing her back to the moment. She wasn’t Abram’s wife. She was a stranger who had barged into his life. A stranger who had dreamed thoughts of what could have been—of love and marriage, a home and family—all of which Miriam would never know.

A man’s love and affection were not in her future. She was her mother’s daughter, as much as she wanted to break the generational ties. Yet she would not walk the same path as her mother, who had needed a man to validate her life.

Miriam didn’t need a man.

But you want one, her mind taunted. An Amish man who is bigger than life.

A door opened into the hallway. Footsteps sounded then stopped outside her door. Miriam’s heart lunged. She clasped the dress to her heart, wanting to hide it from sight as if Abram could see through the closed bedroom door and know her thoughts.

She held her breath and looked at the gas lamp. Abram would see the light spilling into the dark hallway from under the bedroom door, and he would know she was awake.

Her right hand raised to cover her mouth as she slowly exhaled the air that burned her lungs, half expecting him to open the door and demand to know why she was holding his wife’s dress.

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