Читать книгу Amish Christmas Twins - Shelley Shepard Gray - Страница 11

Chapter 5

E.A. couldn’t recall the last time she’d laughed until she’d cried. She was mighty thankful for that. She didn’t want to have another memory to compete with the supper they’d just shared together.

She doubted that any other supper would come close, though. Her little family had been in fine form when they’d rushed in the kitchen door! Oh, they’d come home dirty and tired, that was for sure. But they’d also been full of stories and laughter and chatter. Roy’s sweet face was flushed and his blue eyes were fairly sparkling. Will simply looked like he’d just hung the moon. And as for Jemima? Well, she looked happy.

So happy!

It had made E.A.’s heart want to sing. After she’d cajoled them all to take hot showers and put on clean clothes, they’d gathered around the table, so ready to tell her about their adventures that the children hardly took time to bow their heads while they prayed silently.

Then, the very moment after Will said, “Amen,” they started talking so fast that she could hardly keep up.

Sitting around the supper table, E.A. served warm chicken and dumplings and listened with wide eyes as Jemima, Roy, and Will told her about sipping Harley’s hot chocolate and about Miss Katie’s cookies. About spying deer and rabbits and lots of birds and maybe even a fox in a thicket.

They also told her a rather long and convoluted tale about a mysterious flock of wild chickens that lived in the woods.

When E.A. questioned them about that—honestly, she’d never heard of such a thing—Jemima and Roy looked like they were going to bite their tongues, they were having such a time holding back their mirth.

That’s when she put on her best schoolmarm expression and folded her hands in her lap. “Tell me the real story, if you please.”

Her three looked at one another and seemed to come to a silent conclusion.

“Well, um, Mr. Kurtz didn’t want to hurt the mommy bird,” Jemima said.

“The mommy bird?”

“It was a hen, E.A.,” Will said in an aggrieved tone. “The female turkeys lay eggs, you know.”

“Ah, yes. I believe I heard something about that.”

Just as his cheeks reddened and he looked down at his plate, it had all become so very clear. Her dear husband hadn’t had the heart to shoot their Christmas supper in front of the children.

It made her love him all the more. It was things like this that made her so glad not only that they’d married but also that they’d decided to adopt. He was such a kind man. The perfect man for two children who had already lost so much. She wasn’t sure why the Lord had decided that it was time for her and Will to have a baby now, too, but E.A. figured that He wouldn’t give them anything more than they could handle. Maybe He thought all of them—she, Will, Jemima, and Roy—needed a baby to take care of.

And maybe they did. Caring for a helpless infant would indeed bring them all closer.

At least, E.A. thought it would....

* * *

“I thought you’d have your nose in a book right now, not staring out the window,” Will said as he entered their bedroom two hours later.

After E.A. had gone upstairs to read Jemima and Roy their story and put them down to sleep, Will had gone out to the barn to see to Chip and Dale, their two horses.

E.A. moved over on the mattress so he could sit beside her. “I don’t think I could concentrate on anything right now.”

“Why?” He played with one of the ties at her nightgown collar. “I promise, the kinner had a gut day. And I kept them safe. Neither of them ever left my sight.”

“I didn’t doubt that for a second.” She looked at him fondly. “Actually, I guess I was just thinking about how glad I am to have married you.”

He straightened. “Is that right? What made you think about me?”

“You’re so silly. Of course I would be thinking of you. You’re a wonderful man, Will. So caring of Jemima and Roy.”

“They’re good for me. E.A., when we were walking in the woods, there was a time when I had a child on each side of me. All I could think about was how proud I was that they were mine.”

“Isn’t that something? I had thought it would maybe take months to feel like Jemima and Roy were ours. But I love them already.”

“I do, too. Now I know what it feels like to be a parent. I would do anything I could to help them.”

“I would, too.” She reached for his hand. “I don’t know how we’re going to tell them our news.”

“I know. I was thinking . . . do you suppose maybe we could wait until after Christmas?”

“After Christmas?” She couldn’t help the sound of dismay that was in her voice.

“I know it’s going to be hard on you. I know you want to tell your parents, and you probably aren’t feeling too good, and you’re going to have to be pretending that you are just fine.” He flushed. “You know? Never mind. We can do whatever you’d like.”

“I don’t want them to feel like they aren’t important to us. I can keep the secret, but I want to tell my parents, too. Maybe I can tell them privately.”

“Jah. We can do that.”

He sounded doubtful, though. Was it because he knew her or he knew her parents? Was he worried that they’d spill the secret?

“I’ll make sure that they know they can’t tell anyone.”

“If you tell your family, I’m going to have to tell mine.”

“I know, Will. But I don’t see any way around it.” She looked down at her middle. “Especially since my body already seems to be changing.”

“I didn’t think you would be showing already. Is that normal?”

She chuckled. “I don’t know, but I guess it doesn’t matter if other women experience the same things. That’s what’s been happening to me.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You’re right, sweetheart. Whatever is happening is the right thing for us.”

She decided right then and there that she would wait a little bit longer before telling anyone else about their news. There was too much at stake.