A Merry Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

circular motions on her forehead with her fingertips. “It was another one of his tricks to gain my approval, that’s all.”
    “Miriam, please don’t be so harsh. I’m sure Amos meansno harm. I believe he likes you, and he’s no doubt been lonely since Ruth died.”
    “I’m sure he is lonely.” Miriam slowly shook her head. “He came by after school today and invited me to go on a picnic with him and Mary Ellen this Saturday. I suppose he thought the flowers would pave the way.”
    “Did you accept his invitation?” Anna asked hesitantly yet hopefully.
    “Of course not.” Miriam pushed the chair aside and stood. “All he wants is a mother for his child and someone to do his cooking and cleaning.”
    Anna reached out and touched Miriam’s arm. “I’m sure Amos wants more than that. He needs a friend and companion, just as you do.”
    “No, I don’t!” Miriam’s voice broke, and she dashed from the room before Anna could say anything more.
I
    Nick McCormick hurried across the parking lot of the Lancaster
Daily Express
and had almost reached his car when his cell phone rang. “McCormick here. Can I help you?” he asked after clicking it on.
    “Nick, it’s Pete. I was on the phone when you left your office, but I wanted to tell you about your next assignment.”
    “Already? I was just on my way to do a piece on the fireman who saved the kid who’d fallen in an old well, like you asked me to do.”
    “I still want you to cover that, but I’d like you to go to the farmers’ market in Bird-in-Hand on Saturday.”
    “What for?”
    “As I’m sure you know, tourism has started in Lancaster County, and I thought it would make a good human-interest story to have an article and a couple of pictures of the Amish and Mennonite people who shop at the market or sell things there.”
    “Can’t you get someone else to do it?” Nick asked as he opened his car door. “I’m supposed to have Saturday off, and I’d planned to drive into Philadelphia for the day.”
    “Marv Freeman was going to do the piece,” his boss said, “but he’s come down with the flu, and it’s not likely he’ll feel up to working by Saturday.”
    Nick pulled his fingers through the back of his hair and grimaced. Walking around the farmers’ market trying to take pictures of people who probably didn’t want to be photographed was not his idea of fun, but he would do it in order to stay on the good side of his boss. Pete Cramer seemed pleased with his work these days, and if he played his cards right, in the future he might be given bigger and better stories to cover. “Yeah, sure, Pete,” he said in an upbeat tone. “I’d be happy to go to the farmers’ market on Saturday.”
I
    Miriam stood in front of her bedroom window, trembling from head to toe.
Why doesn’t Mom understand the way I feel? Why does she keep coming to Amos’s defense? Can’t she see that he’s not interested in me as a person? He only wants a mother for Mary Ellen.
    She leaned against the window casing as she thought about the eager look she had seen on Mary Ellen’s face afterAmos mentioned going on a picnic. But the child’s expression had quickly changed to one of disappointment when Miriam said she couldn’t go.
    Miriam moved away from the window and over to her bed.
I hope Mary Ellen didn’t take it personally. It’s not her I don’t want to be with, it’s her daed
. She sank to the edge of her mattress with a moan. Sooner or later, Amos was bound to realize there was no hope of them getting together. If she kept turning him away, eventually he was bound to look for someone else to be Mary Ellen’s mother. At least she hoped he would.

E arly Saturday morning, Miriam and her family decided to go to the Bird-in-Hand Farmers’ Market. While none of them would rent a table in order to sell their wares, they all agreed it would be fun to browse and visit with many of their neighboring Amish friends and relatives.
    The sun gave promise of a