Autumn's Promise by Shelley Shepard Gray

Author:Shelley Shepard Gray
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, Religious, Fiction
ISBN: 9780061852374
Publisher: Avon Inspire
Published: 2010-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Caleb knew he should be grateful that his family was being so open-minded about him venturing to Cleveland. But somehow obtaining his parents’ permission made him feel like he was still a child.

If he was so sure about his need to leave, shouldn’t he be able to leave on his own? Wasn’t it time for him to accept the burdens of his responsibilities all by himself?

It seemed wrong that the most important event in his life was now being managed by so many others.

When he walked through the hedge that separated his family’s land from the Allens’, he couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d seen the family. It had been late November. Just days after Anson had broken his arm. He’d spied Lilly arguing with her brother on their driveway.

Now Caleb knew that she and Charlie had been arguing about her pregnancy and their abrupt move to Sugarcreek. That day, though, all he’d seen was a pair of teenagers having more freedoms than he’d ever imagined. From that point on, he’d ached to be just like them.

“Hey, you,” Lilly called out when he stepped onto their driveway. “Come up to the front. I’m sitting on the porch.”

When he walked up the two steps to meet her, Caleb saw that she had two mugs of hot cider. “Want some?”

“Sure.” Sitting down in the rocking chair next to her, Caleb felt completely nervous. “Thanks for meeting with me.”

She grinned. “I didn’t have much choice. Your parents asked me to.”

“Oh.”

Her smile vanished. “Hey, forget I said that. I’m sorry. Don’t mind me. I’m a little grumpy. A certain somebody at the restaurant put me in a bad mood.”

Caleb figured a bad customer there was like any he’d had at the store, and he had no need to think about them. As a few seconds passed, and she said nothing more, he said, “Lilly, I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, you better think of something! You’ve got your whole family in a dither.”

Remembering how calm they’d all been, he shook his head. “Not really.”

“They might be all smiles to you, but underneath, I promise, they’re really worried.”

“I don’t know what to do now. Part of me feels like I should have never said anything.”

“Caleb, you didn’t have a choice. Not really. Things would have been worse if you had just left in the middle of the night.”

It was like she’d read his mind. “Perhaps.”

“You know, I’ve been where you are.”

Caleb doubted it. “You’ve wanted to stop being Amish and move away?” he asked sarcastically.

“I’ve had to tell my parents things they didn’t want to hear. First when I told them I was pregnant, and then when I told them I wanted to keep the baby and not put it up for adoption. Telling difficult news isn’t easy.”

Leaning against his chair, he looked beyond Lilly, to the neatly mowed grass in the front of Lilly’s house. To the small garden that was in dire need of tilling—the Allens really were terrible gardeners.

As her words sank in, he relaxed.

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