The Secret Amish Admirer by Virginia Wise

Author:Virginia Wise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-01-03T16:57:35+00:00

* * *

Eliza was surprised to hear giggles and snorts of laughter while she worked. She didn’t expect the kinner to be having that much fun. When she emerged from the back room to check on them, the paper and pencils she had laid out were untouched. Instead, Gabriel was gesturing and whispering to them. Then he leaned back, grinned and delivered a punch line that made both children erupt into laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Eliza asked as she peered around the doorway.

“You wouldn’t think it’s funny,” Priss said.

“She’s probably right,” Gabriel said with a sly glint in his eye.

Eliza rolled her eyes.

“Can we go out and play now?” Simon asked.

“Please?” Priss added.

Eliza glanced out the window. There was still a steady drizzle of rain with no sign of letting up; low-hanging clouds stretched over them like a damp, gray blanket. In the distance, the emerald green grass in the empty pastureland glistened with moisture. Water droplets dripped down fence posts and the spring buds on the crab apple trees. “Not even the horses are out today,” Eliza pointed out. “And besides, you don’t want to get your dress muddy, remember?”

Priss heaved a heavy sigh but nodded in agreement.

Gabriel looked from Eliza to the children, then back to Eliza. He hesitated, then said, “Why don’t you kinner go see if the quilts need refolding. That would be a gut help. Sometimes people unfold them when they’re browsing.”

“Okay.” Simon and Priss hopped off their wooden stools and trotted over to the quilt display at the front of the shop.

Gabriel nodded for Eliza to come closer. She walked over to him. “Why don’t you let them go out to play?” Gabriel asked in a low voice. “What can it hurt?”

Eliza frowned. “You heard Priss say she doesn’t want to get muddy.”

Gabriel scratched his chin. “I know her nickname is Priss—”

“Because she’s so prissy,” Eliza finished for him.

“Ya. That’s what people say.” Gabriel glanced across the shop to the quilt display, then back at Eliza. He leaned closer. “But is she actually the prissy one?”

Eliza’s eyebrows slammed down. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Gabriel put a finger underneath his collar and tugged. The room felt hot and stuffy all of a sudden. “I mean, maybe she’s just acting the way she thinks you want her to act. Maybe she isn’t that prissy at all. Seems to me like she wanted to go out and play in the rain, but she wanted to please you more. Maybe she’s just trying to be like you.”

Eliza stared at Gabriel.

“I’m sorry if I said too much. I have a habit of doing that.”

Eliza kept staring at him. Gabriel wasn’t sure what to expect, but he suspected it would not be good. He had really overstepped this time. He only wanted to help, but he should have known better than to say something critical about Eliza’s parenting. “You’re a gut mother,” he added hastily. “A very gut mother.” He held up his hands in a gesture of supplication. “But we all miss something sometimes.

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