Amish Christmas Blessings: The Midwife's Christmas Surprise/A Christmas to Remember by Marta Perry;Jo Ann Brown

Author:Marta Perry;Jo Ann Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarlequinUKLtd
Published: 2016-10-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

Linda opened her eyes and stared at a white ceiling. No rafters or water stains broke the painted expanse. A propane lamp hung from the center, its flame turned low. She started to move her head, but pain exploded like a sky filled with fireworks behind her eyes. She squeezed them shut and rode the wave of pain until it eased.

Fireworks...

She remembered fireworks. Maybe from the Fourth of July. Standing by a fence and watching them detonate in the distance. Waiting for the bang to follow almost a minute later. The heat of a humid summer day and the smell of freshly cut grass and a charcoal fire. Hamburgers? Ja, but when she tried to recreate more of the scene to see where she stood and who else was there, the fragments of memory vanished as if they’d never existed.

Tears filled her eyes. She refused to let them slip past her lashes to fall down her face. Why was she crying? What filled her mind could have been something she read or someone else had described to her. The tantalizing bits of memory might not be her own. Focus on the here and now, she told herself. Guide me, Lord, until I find my way.

When she opened her eyes a second time, she looked around. She was in a living room if she were to guess by the furniture. A braided rag rug was on the floor in front of a fireplace. A gas fireplace, she realized when she noted how the fire came from behind the logs rather than within them.

A clock ticked steadily. She hoped it wouldn’t chime. That would be agony.

Closer she saw a low table. On top was a bowl filled with water. A cloth hung over its edge, and she realized another damp cloth was draped across her forehead. For a moment, she savored its gentle warmth, letting it sink into her.

“How are you doing, Linda?” asked a woman.

Her eyes struggled to bring the woman sitting beside her into focus. Concern was vivid on the woman’s face as she wrung the cloth from the bowl and used it to replace the one on Linda’s forehead.

“I don’t know,” Linda replied as she examined the woman’s features, desperate to know her.

Someone else spoke. “Don’t try to recognize where you are.” The deep voice, though the words were soft, resonated through her. She knew that voice! “You’ve never been here before, and you’ve never met my mamm, Wanda Stoltzfus, before.”

She turned her head on the pillow and fought not to wince. Amos Stoltzfus leaned one shoulder against a staircase. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his face was drawn. She couldn’t keep from smiling. Not only was he familiar, but his words were the kindest ones she could imagine.

She had been struggling to place this room and the woman. Despite knowing her memories were lost, she’d longed to see something she knew.

Someone.

And Amos understood. She appreciated his words more than she could have guessed.

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