A Home for Hannah Read Online Free PDF Page A

us?”
    His eyes softened as he smiled at Ada. “Of course not.”
    “I’ll get it later, Mamm, I’m sure the sheriff has other things to do.”
    “I’ve certainly got time to fetch the crib for your mother.”
    His cheerful reply grated on Miriam’s nerves. She felt jumpy when he was near, as if her skin were too tight.
    Her mother said, “ Goot. Miriam, I’ll take Hannah.”
    Miriam handed over the baby. Her mother smiled happily, then looked to the sheriff. “Nicolas, if you would give me the bottle warming on the stove, I’ll feed her.”
    He lifted the bottle from the pan at the back of the stove. To Miriam’s surprise, he tested it by shaking a few drops of formula on his wrist, and then handed it over.
    Did he have children? Was that how he knew to make sure a baby’s formula wasn’t too hot? Had he been able to find happiness with someone else, the kind of happiness that eluded her?
    He caught her staring when he turned and asked, “Which way to the attic?”
    She all but bolted ahead of him up the stairs to the second floor. The attic was accessed by a pull-down panel in the ceiling of her bedroom. She rushed into the room, swept up her nightgown and the lingerie hanging from the open drawer of her bureau, stuffed everything inside and slammed it shut. She whirled around to see him standing in the doorway.
    Her bed wasn’t made. Papers and books were scattered across her desk. A romance novel lay open on her bedside table. The heat of a blush rushed to her face. For a second, she thought she saw a grin twitch at the corner of his lips. Her chin came up. “I wasn’t expecting company in my bedroom today.”
    The heat of a blush flooded her face. She stuttered, “You know what I mean.”
    Stop talking. I sound like an idiot.
    Nick pointed to the ceiling. “Is that the access?”
    “Yes.” She worked to appear calm and composed, cool even. It was hard when his nearness sent her pulse skyrocketing and made every nerve stand on end.
    He crossed the room and reached the cord that hung down without any trouble. The long panel swung open and a set of steps came partway down. He unfolded them and tested their sturdiness, then started upward. When he vanished into the darkness above her, Miriam called up, “Shall I get a flashlight?”
    A bright beam of light illuminated the rafters. “I’ve got one.”
    Of course he did. She’d noticed it earlier on his tool belt. Sheriff Nick Bradley seemed to be prepared for every contingency from checking baby formula to searching cobweb-filled corners. Strong, levelheaded, dependable, they were some of the words she had used to describe him to her Amish girlfriends so long ago. It seemed that he hadn’t changed.
    Miriam jerked her mind out of the past. This had to stop. She couldn’t start mooning over Nick the way she had when she was a love-struck teenager. Too much stood between them.
    He leaned over the opening to look down at her. “Any idea where the baby bed is? There’s a lot of stuff up here.”
    “No idea. If you can’t find a crib in an attic, you’re not much of a detective.” Her words came out sounding sharper than she intended. She was angry with herself for letting him get under her skin.
    The sound of a heavy object hitting the floor overhead made her jump. It was quickly followed by his voice. “Sorry. I don’t think it broke.”
    She scowled upward. “What was that?”
    “Just an old headboard.”
    “Great grandmother’s cherrywood headboard, hand carved by my great-grandfather?”
    “Could be.” His voice was a shade weaker.
    Miriam started up the steps. “Let me help before you bring the house down on our heads.”
    “It’s tight up here.”
    “It might be for a six-foot moose,” she muttered. She reached the top of the steps to find him holding out his hand to help her. Reluctantly, she accepted it and stepped up into the narrow open space beside him. They were inches apart. She wanted to jump backward but knew there was