Pennsylvania Patchwork by Kate Lloyd

Author:Kate Lloyd [Lloyd, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Family Relationships, Pennsylvania, Amish Fiction
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2013-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

I saw Zach’s pickup parked outside the barnyard! My heart blipped into high gear the moment my grandfather’s buggy passed by it. But Zach was probably in the barn checking on Cookie, I reminded myself. My mother was the only individual tentatively exiting the house and descending the back steps.

“Hello, Jeremiah,” Mom said as she came over to us.

Jeremiah tied the mare to a post, then turned to her. “Gude Mariye, Esther.”

“Where’s Nathaniel’s buggy?” Mom laced her fingers. “And Armin?”

“Armin’s horse ran off,” Jeremiah said. “Nathaniel’s buggy is at our place.”

“Ach, ya don’t mean it.”

“Yup, Galahad flew the coop,” I said, and let out a huff. “Rascal, too.”

“Armin’s dog’s name is Rascal?” Grandpa Jeremiah gave his head a slight shake. “You can tell a lot about a dog by its name.”

“Like Wolfie?” Mom said.

“I can’t argue with you there.” Jeremiah tipped back his hat. “Wolfie isn’t the friendliest Hund, but you won’t find our goats getting attacked at night. Now Armin’s dog—”

“Do ya think Rascal is at fault?” my mother said.

I moved closer to her. “Mom, did you see Galahad trot by?”

“No. But I wasn’t keeping an eye open for him.” She clasped her hands under her chin. “I’m glad I didn’t know about it when I spoke to Nathaniel earlier.”

“He called?” I said.

“Larry did—” Mom covered her mouth with her fingertips for a moment, then spoke to Jeremiah. “It’s a long story, but Larry is Holly’s Englisch friend from Seattle who is kindly driving Nathaniel somewhere.”

“I heard all about Nathaniel’s predicament,” Jeremiah said. “Such a jumbled mess. Good to know God’s in control.”

“Yah, God is in control.” Mom’s brows furrowed. “But we can pray, can’t we?”

“Yah, sure, that his will be done.”

I felt sorry for Mom—she reminded me of myself—but I thought we should wait until we were alone to discuss Nathaniel and her iffy future with him.

“Is that Zach’s pickup?” I knew it was, but I tried to act blasé by directing my gaze to Jeremiah’s mare.

“Yes, he’s in the house. I didn’t know if I should invite him to stay for dinner.”

A kaleidoscope of emotions and questions bombarded me, including bewilderment, foreboding, and dejection. But my desire to see him overpowered my negative thoughts. “Please do,” I said, “and invite Jeremiah, too.”

“We’ve got plenty of food,” Mom said, “but I didn’t know if Armin and Zach could sit peacefully at the same table together.”

“If Armin shows up, I’ll make sure the young men are at their best behavior,” Jeremiah said, the corners of his mouth lifting.

Mom slipped her hand under my arm. “I need to tell you, I accepted Zach’s offer to drive Mamm to her doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. We need a ride, and I was about to hire a driver. But they can be costly.”

I recalled our measly financial state. “Okay, I suppose.”

“You could sit in the backseat with your grandma,” she said, as if that would solve our problems.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.