Anathema by Colleen Coble

Author:Colleen Coble [Coble, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Book, ebook, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc.
Published: 2010-03-28T22:00:00+00:00

sixteen

“The Tumbling Blocks Quilt is built piece by piece. It’s a picture of

how the Amish life is built around community.”

—HANNAH SCHWARTZ,

IN The Amish Faith Through Their Quilts

Hannah could count the days, the weeks, the months, the years since she’d seen Luca’s crooked smile. Ten years, six months, eleven days. An eternity. Yesterday.

Tuesday morning, she sat in the car beside Asia and listened to the tick of the engine cooling. Could he really tear out his love for her, their past, like he pulled up the weeds in the garden? It seemed as though he had. He ’d been back for several days and hadn’t come to find her.

Maybe he was in the greenhouse. Oh, she was just making excuses. The fact was, he didn’t want to see her. If he did, he would have come to find her.

She should have talked to her aunt sooner. Now whatever Nora knew was lost for good. Hannah had thought she had time.

“Are we just going to sit here?” Asia asked. “Reconciliation doesn’t come unless you’re face-to-face.”

“It doesn’t matter. He ’ll do whatever the bishop says.” Hannah kept her eyes on the front door. Please, Lord, let him come to greet me. A useless prayer. God had forsaken her.

Dressed in an A-line skirt and a sleeveless surplice blouse of Asia’s, she felt like a child playing dress-up. And that was the way she wanted it. Maybe she could step outside herself, be someone else, someone who could handle the rejection. Someone who would laugh at the pain.

“Let’s go.” She shoved open her door and got out. A chicken fled from her feet, then turned and glared as if she were trying to steal the bug it had been after. She let Ajax out of the car. The dog’s presence always made her feel safer. The front door remained closed. The breeze ruffled her hair. No noise came from the open, screenless windows, but she sensed the family watched her from inside the house.

Asia was beside her. “Want me to go first?”

“No, I’ll go.” Hannah walked past the fragrant phlox and mounted the steps to the door. She rapped firmly on the screen door. The seconds ticked by with no one appearing. She knocked again, louder this time.

Asia’s fist thundered on the door when again no one came. “We ’re not going anywhere until we see Luca,” she called.

Hannah shot her a quick look. “He won’t respond to open anger.”

“He’s not responding at all right now.”

Hannah nodded. “He will.” She settled herself onto the top step and waited. Asia shrugged and did the same. A kitten crept near, and Hannah tapped her leg and cooed to the small feline. The scent of horse and hay from the barn blew on the wind.

She’d forgotten the stillness here. No whir of electric appliances, no cars. Just the peace of the past. If she closed her eyes, she could hear her mother’s laughter on the wind. The high sound of the wind in the trees could have been her father’s call for supper.

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