An Amish Christmas Promise by Jo Ann Brown

Author:Jo Ann Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-09-03T15:22:10+00:00

Chapter Ten

The knock interrupted breakfast. Before Carolyn could remind Kevin she should answer the door in the trailer as she had when they’d had a house, he’d thrown it open. Not that she expected Leland at the trailer’s door while it was so difficult to get into Evergreen Corners, but she couldn’t let down her guard.

“Michael!” her nephew crowed as if having the man on the other side was the greatest surprise ever.

Or the best gift, because the boy began firing questions about what the construction teams would be doing and wasn’t it great that Kevin didn’t have school today because it was a teacher in-service day and he could join the workers and so what did Michael think he could do to help? It was all said without her nephew taking a single breath. He might have kept on going until he ran out of oxygen and keeled over right in the middle of the kitchen if she hadn’t put her hands on his shoulders and turned him toward the table.

“You need to finish your breakfast,” she chided, “before you think about what you’re going to do today.”

“I’m going to help Michael.” He grinned at the man who stood on the steps into the trailer. “I am, right?”

Without looking over her shoulder, she asked before anyone else could speak, “Do you want to join us, Michael?”

“We’re having flipjacks,” Rose Anne announced through a full mouth of pancakes.

“Flipjacks?” asked Michael as he entered. “Another Rose Anne-ism?”

“She seems to have one for every occasion.” Carolyn moved to the small stove, glad for the excuse to put some distance between herself and Michael’s shoulders, which seemed wider in the cramped space. Their heartfelt discussion yesterday on the way back from the church service had created a bridge she’d been trying to keep from forming. With it now in place, she couldn’t think of a way to dismantle it without hurting Michael. “Would you like pancakes, or did you eat over at the community center?”

“The line was long there, so I just grabbed a cup of kaffi and a couple of biscuits. If you’ve got enough batter, I’d appreciate some flipjacks.” He gave Rose Anne a wink, and she giggled, wiggling on the bench like an adorable puppy before she moved over to give him room.

“I’ve made plenty, and if I run out, it’s easy to mix more.” She didn’t look toward the table as she heard the creak of the banquette when he slid in beside the children.

Pouring batter onto the griddle, she took another plate out and listened to Michael tease her niece as Kevin kept interjecting questions about the day’s work that waited at the building site.

“We’ll be putting up the roof rafters today so we can begin the sheathing next week,” he answered. “The house will be closed up before the weather gets much worse.”

“So soon?” she asked, half turning in her excitement. The house had been a skeleton for the past few days with only her imagination filling in the spaces between the rows of two-by-fours.

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