A Sister's Forgiveness Read Online Free PDF

aware that whatever she prepared would probably be eaten on the run. Sadie was already on the phone for the third time that morning, and Matt could be heard banging around in his room, searching no doubt for the supplies that he and Emma had shopped for a week earlier.
    She smiled and shook her head. As organized as their parents were—everything in its place—neither child seemed to have inherited that particular trait. Emma could almost imagine the disaster area that Matt’s room would be after he left for school. Sadie’s room would be no less messy. But in her room, the bed would be covered with rejected items of clothing. For a girl who dressed plain, she could come up with an endless number of combinations of tops and bottoms.
    “We can’t ride our bikes in this,” Sadie moaned. “Dan says he could come by here and pick me up, and then we’d go get Tessa.” She delivered this news in a tone that Emma understood was a plea for permission as she covered the receiver with one hand and waited.
    Emma exchanged a look with Lars, and he nodded.
    “The streets will be slick,” Lars told her. “Tell Dan to drive carefully.”
    Sadie grinned and murmured something into the phone; then she giggled as she hung up and took a long swallow of her orange juice.
    Emma turned back to the stove. She had wanted Lars to say that he would drive the girls to school when he took Matt. Dan Kline was a nice boy. He was also a senior and president of the student council as well as the quarterback on Geoff’s football team. Emma could see no explanation why he had fastened his attention on Sadie—a mere sophomore. He was older—and by definition more experienced when it came to dating. Of course, that was the real problem—Sadie was dating the boy. Not in groups, spending time with him and his friends or hers, but actual dates—long walks or bike rides and such. Surely Sadie was too young for anything so serious.
    At least Lars had stood with her on that one. He had told Sadie that unless they were attending a school or community function with them or Dan’s family, she and Dan were to limit their time together to twice a week—during the day.
    “Oh Dad,” Sadie moaned now as she took a bite of the donut that Emma had gotten up before dawn to make as a special treat for the first day of school, “Dan’s eighteen. He knows how to drive in rain.”
    Lars put down his newspaper. “Ja, und it’s because he’s eighteen that I worry,” he said quietly. “Young men of his age tend to think they are indestructible and that anyone with them is as well.”
    Emma hoped that maybe Sadie’s comment had raised enough of a red flag that Lars would reconsider. In their home, as in most conservative Mennonite homes, the man was the head of the household, and wife and children alike looked to him to make these kinds of decisions. But he picked up his paper again. Sadie rolled her eyes and then turned her attention to Emma. “How do I look?”
    “Sehr gut.”
    Sadie groaned and punched in a number on the phone that under most circumstances was kept in her father’s workshop behind the house and used primarily for his business. It was a mark of the importance of this first day of school that Sadie was allowed to use the phone. “Hi, Auntie Jeannie, is Tessa ready?”
    Sadie giggled at Jeannie’s response. “What’s she wearing?”
    A beat and her expression turned pained. “Not the black ones. I love those boots.”
    Emma could hear Jeannie’s laugh muted by the phone Sadie clutched to her ear.
    “Okay, so tell her Dan is picking me up anytime now, and we’ll be by for her in fifteen minutes.” She sighed heavily. “I know. I know. Trust me, Dad has already made the point.” She listened for a moment then blew her aunt an air kiss and hung up the phone.
    Emma knew that she and Jeannie were in agreement when it came to Dan Kline. Although not of their faith, he came from a good family, and his parents were good Christian