Courting the Amish Nanny by Carrie Lighte

Author:Carrie Lighte
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-09-03T16:03:57+00:00

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Levi squeezed his hands into fists beneath the table. He had wanted to start today off better than yesterday ended, but he was annoyed Otto had suggested an activity like snowshoeing with the children without checking with Levi first. And it was one thing if Sadie was going to be a sourpuss to Levi, but why was she sidling up to Otto? He should have known this arrangement was a bad idea. Three adults in the house was one adult too many. Just as Levi feared would happen, Otto was upsetting the tentatively happy atmosphere he and Sadie had created.

“You’ll have to go on a Sunday since the farm is open six days a week,” he said.

“Obviously.” Sadie glanced his way for the first time since she arrived and her eyes were as fiery as her voice.

Levi pushed his chair back. “The two of you can make your recreation plans later. Right now it’s time for work. We’ve got to clear the walkways before the farm opens.”

Otto was still spooning oatmeal into his mouth, like the bottomless pit he was. Levi bade the children goodbye in his usual way and said to Sadie, “I don’t mind if they run around in the snow but—”

“But you don’t want them playing anywhere near the cars. You told me—and them—already. Repeatedly,” Sadie retorted. “There’s nothing wrong with my ears.”

Neh, but there’s something wrong with your attitude, Levi thought as he yanked his coat on. Fueled by anger, he’d already carved out a path from the parking lot to the workshop by the time Otto came out to retrieve a second shovel for himself from the barn. It wouldn’t be long until Scott arrived with a plow on the front of his truck to clear out the parking area, which he agreed to do whenever there was snowfall. As Levi and Otto stopped to catch their breath and watch Scott’s truck push snow into high banks, Otto leaned on the handle of his shovel. He surveyed the snow, which glittered in the sunlight.

“The first year you moved to Maine, Leora wrote to Mamm telling her how much she loved winter here,” Otto said.

Levi remembered. That season they’d had a record-breaking amount of snowfall, beginning in October and running until April, yet Leora had rarely skipped the opportunity to hang the laundry on the clothesline outside, instead of in the basement. The clothes would inevitably freeze so thoroughly Levi’s pants could practically stand up on their own, so Leora would have to defrost them in front of the woodstove. But she claimed she loved wearing the smell of winter on her clothes, that it invigorated her.

“She said you two were considering learning to cross-country ski,” Otto continued. “She loved trying new activities.”

If he thinks he can twist my arm into letting the kinner go snowshoeing by talking about Leora, he’s wrong. “That was before she had the boblin.”

“Oh. She became more cautious after Elizabeth and David were born?”

Otto started shoveling again, not waiting for Levi’s reply.

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