Hiding Her Amish Secret by Carrie Lighte

Author:Carrie Lighte
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-02-03T20:01:16+00:00

Chapter Seven

Arleta felt so relieved after she’d confessed her envy of Hannah to the Lord that she decided she was going to do everything she could to encourage Noah to attend the potluck at the Millers’ restaurant in two weeks. She didn’t have as many opportunities to talk to him about it as she would have liked because he began working even longer hours, and he often showered and went straight to bed when he came home in the evenings. But she dropped as many hints about it as she could without nagging him, and Sovilla added her two cents, too.

Meanwhile, the days flew by. The strawberries and raspberries were ripe, and she spent several mornings picking at a local farm owned by a co-op of Amish families. In the afternoons, Sovilla would wash and slice the berries and then Arleta took over the jam-making and canning processes, since the older woman still didn’t quite have enough stamina to be on her feet for that long.

When Arleta called to talk to her mother and sister one afternoon on the way home from purchasing more jar lids, she learned that they’d been making jam and preserving fruit, too. “I miss having your help around here,” Leanna complained. “Especially since Mamm has been sick.”

“Mamm is sick?” Arleta repeated, alarmed. “What’s wrong with her?”

“It’s only a forty-eight-hour bug. I had it last week, too. Everyone around here has been getting it, but it passes quickly. Especially for the buwe—I think their stomachs are made of steel.”

Arleta chuckled, happy that her mother wasn’t seriously ill. “Well, it’s gut that you’re finished with schul now, so you’re home during the day to help Mamm.”

“Jah, but I may not be home for the entire summer. You’ll never guess what I’m going to do.”

Arleta figured her sister must have been planning to visit their relatives in upstate New York. “Are you going to Ant Betty and Onkel Eli’s haus?”

“Neh, nothing quite as exciting as that,” her sister answered with a wistful sigh. “I’m going to babysit for an Englisch familye who comes to Serenity Ridge for the summer. They have twin buwe and one dochder.”

Her sister’s news roiled Arleta’s stomach, and she pressed her hand against her abdomen. “Y-you are?”

“Jah, if Mamm and Daed agree to it. But I don’t think they’ll say neh, since it’s only for a couple of weeks and the Greens will provide me transportation both ways.”

“But why would you do that? Are Mamm and Daed having money problems? Because I’ve been saving and—”

“Neh, it’s not that. It’s because Emma’s mamm has something called a pituitary tumor and she’s having surgery. Emma’s schweschder is going to take a few weeks off her job at the restaurant to care for her and their little brieder, first. Then Emma will take a turn staying home in the middle of August. That’s when I’m going to fill in for her.”

Arleta knew Emma’s father had died two years ago and her family had been struggling to make ends meet, even with abundant help from their community.

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.