Rebecca's Return by Eicher Jerry S

Author:Eicher, Jerry S. [Eicher, Jerry S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Amish, Christian, First Loves, Fiction, Christian Fiction, Amish - Ohio, Ohio, General, Religious, Love Stories
ISBN: 9780736926362
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Published: 2009-02-28T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Rachel finally roused herself, her duties of the moment returning with enough force to make her move. She would go on about her day but with the knowledge that her life was different now. She was with child. The suddenness of it left her numb.

The day had started with such hope but now was full of bugs. The thought of the child should make her feel thankful and glad, but it didn’t. It filled her with a sudden and stabbing guilt.

“It’s the money, always the money,” she told herself bitterly, standing up. The hardness of life pressed in from all sides, matching the hardness from where she had just risen. “It’s not fair,” she told the heavens, knowing no one would hear in this world, hoping someone would in the other.

When nothing happened, a sense of urgency returned and propelled her back into the house. Now, more than ever, she must succeed. If there was another child involved—a child to carry to birth and to rear—then she must not fail in her mission. God must be appeased—and right quickly.

Failing to provide Reuben with pancakes, now that he knew she was making them, wouldn’t help. Certainly she couldn’t use the bugs as an excuse for failing to produce pancakes. The news of the coming child might help, but Rachel doubted whether Reuben would think that much of a reason either.

Even if she told him about the weeping spell on the back steps, he would think her sinful for being sorrowful. To Reuben such an attitude was not only against Gottes villa, but against His favor and that of the church. Rachel needed Reuben to continue seeing her in as good a light as possible.

Rushing in, she opened a new bag of flour, ran her fingers through it, and checked for bugs. Breathing a sigh of relief when none appeared, she mixed the new batch of pancake batter, careful not to breathe in the smell too deeply lest the nausea return. Even then, with all the rushing, she barely got the pancakes and eggs done by the time Reuben came in from the chores.

A stack of steaming hot pancakes and a full plate of eggs greeted Reuben’s hungry eyes when he walked into the kitchen and sat himself. “Let’s eat,” Rachel told him to cover up her feelings and shortness of breath. “Things will get cold.”

This efficiency he understood—appreciating the practical side of her.

“You do make good pancakes,” he said, a smile spreading across his face.

“I try,” she said, knowing enough to be modest. Any signs of pride would fast change his mind about her, even with pancakes and eggs on the table.

“Maple syrup?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said because there was some—enough she hoped—purchased with precious money that never seemed to stretch for such luxuries as maple syrup.

“That’s good,” Reuben said, his smile even wider, his chair scraping the floor as he pulled the seat in closer.

Luke came in and sat down on the opposite side of the table.

Bitterness ran through Rachel’s mind.

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