A Plain Love Song Read Online Free PDF Page B

Crooked.”
    “That’s George Strait, silly.” She laughed, touched by how hard Matthew tried. It had been apparent to Adah all along that he didn’t care much about country music. Or music in general. He bought the radio for her at a secondhand store, knowing one day he would have to sell it back to the store. Before his baptism. And hers. “Next you’ll be telling me they’re playing a Johnny Dollar song.”
    “No, it’s Johnny Check.” His impish grin widened. “Or is it Johnny Penny?”
    They both laughed, drowning out the music for several seconds. Adah wiped tears from the corner of her eyes, feeling better. Matthew had that way about him. He wouldn’t know a Johnny Cash song if he heard it, but he tried for her sake. He made her feel better about herself. He didn’t see her as the black sheep, the way others did. He never looked at her with that perplexed look her mudder and daed sometimes had. But then he didn’t know everything. He only knew she liked music and he wanted to please her. It shouldn’t always be about her. She leaned close to him and turned the radio down. “How was your day?”
    “It was fine. It looks like the wheat and the corn will be bumper crops. Daed is real happy.” The good humor in Matthew’s voice didn’t fade. Aaron Troyer could be as cranky as Adah’s father. He was a hard worker and expected his oldest son to match him stride for stride. Adahunderstood that. She simply couldn’t understand why the two men couldn’t smile more. Sing while they worked. Enjoy the sunrise before picking up the shovel.
    “Is he as grumpy as ever?”
    “He’s not grumpy. He’s the same old Daed he’s always been. He works hard and expects the rest of us to do the same. If he’s short with me sometimes it’s because I’m at fault.” Matthew halted the buggy on the banks of the pond. Frogs croaked in a chorus that threatened to drown out the crickets. A dragonfly buzzed Adah’s ear. She leaned in to Matthew to hear his voice. It always softened when he talked about his daed. “He had some news to tell me yesterday. My grandparents are coming to live with us And the Gringriches too. For a while.”
    “All of them? At once?” The news sank in. Elizabeth, Abigail, Loretta, and Jenna Gringrich would be living in Matthew’s house. Ages nineteen, eighteen, sixteen, and fourteen. A strange feeling like envy or jealousy or fear slithered through her. She didn’t like that feeling. It made her feel mean-spirited. Hospitality and generosity of spirit went hand in hand. The Gringriches must be in need. The community would meet that need. “What happened?”
    “My grandparents need looking after and Aenti Josie isn’t up to it, I guess.”
    “Not that. The Gringriches.”
    Matthew shrugged. “They need a new start.”
    “Didn’t they just make a fresh start in Walnut Creek?”
    “Didn’t work out, I guess.”
    “Your house will burst at the seams with eight more people.” And he would see Elizabeth with her dimples and green eyes every day—morning, noon, and night. “Where will you put them all?”
    “We’ll start building the dawdi haus next week. We’re having a frame raising. Luke has okayed it. Daed hired a driver to take him to fetch the grandparents.”
    “Do you have the permits?” Adah had listened to the men hash and rehash the issues they were having with the New Hope building codes while she served the sandwiches after the prayer service on Sunday. Michael Daugherty had had to start over on the foundation of thehome he hoped to share with Phoebe after they deemed the cement not up to code. Whatever that meant.
    “Yep. We had to get blueprints, but we did it.”
    “What did Luke say about that?”
    “You know Luke. He says we need to meet them halfway. Seems like we’ve been doing that since we moved here, but it isn’t our way to make a big stink about anything.”
    He chuckled, a sound that never failed to make her smile too. “What’s so