The Courtship Plan by Kathleen Fuller

Author:Kathleen Fuller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2023-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

“Did you get a good night’s sleep, Charity?” Shirley set her mug of coffee onto the seat of her walker and pushed it to the table. The delicious scents of eggs scrambling, crisp bacon sizzling, and fluffy biscuits baking in the oven filled the kitchen. She sure did love Charity’s breakfasts. “You had an exciting day yesterday.”

“Ya.” Charity laid several pieces of bacon on a paper towel–lined plate. “The biscuits should be done soon.”

“Thank you. Everything smells delicious.”

“You’re welcome.”

Shirley frowned and sat down at the table. Yesterday when Jesse came over and said Priscilla was in labor and Charity was going with her to the hospital, she tried not to fret. Several weeks ago Priscilla had confided she was worried about the baby. Not for any specific reason, just that the doctor had told her from the beginning she might have a difficult pregnancy because she was older than thirty-five. When the pregnancy progressed without any issues, he stressed the delivery could be a problem. Shirley thought Priscilla needed a new physician, one that wasn’t such a worrywart.

Fortunately everything had turned out fine, and at ten o’clock, Susan texted her and said Priscilla had delivered a healthy baby girl. Shirley thought about telling Charity the news in the morning. The poor girl looked wrung out when she’d come inside last night. But she couldn’t wait that long and had gone to her room. Charity was awake and said she was relieved. But the conversation ended there, and Shirley went to bed.

As she watched Charity pull the biscuits out of the oven, her concern grew. She’d never been this quiet before.

After Charity brought the rest of the food to the table, she sat down in the chair opposite Shirley’s, closed her eyes, and bowed her head for prayer. Normally Shirley added an extra verbal prayer asking the Lord to bless the food, but she skipped it this morning.

“What are your plans for today?” Shirley selected a piping hot biscuit.

“I’m going to Barton.” Charity put one piece of bacon beside the biscuit on her plate.

“Oh? Do you have some errands to run?”

“Just one. I’m taking my books back to the library. Then I’m coming home and I’m tearing up my courtship plan.”

Shirley fell against the back of her chair. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t need it.”

Finally, the young woman was seeing the light. After spending an afternoon with Jesse, Shirley was starting to see what Charity saw in him. He was polite, competitive at cards without being obnoxious, and didn’t seem to mind spending his afternoon with an old woman he barely knew, although she suspected early on he was waiting for Charity to return. She learned plenty about his large family back in Birch Creek and his job at the buggy shop, and she told him about Alan and Wendy, and shared a few snippets of her life in New York. But on the subject of Charity, he stayed mute.

“That’s good to hear,” Shirley said with a nod. “Like I said, you don’t need a plan to find a date, or a husband.

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