Abram's Daughters 02 The Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page A

dear II, Hut Lizzie was already gone.
    It la had been standing at the open window upstairs, havpui I he baby down for an early afternoon nap. Grateful the coolness after the rain, she stepped back to allow a
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    breeze into the bedroom. She could clearly see Leah up there in the woods, waving a fond good-bye to Lizzie. Then, here she came, bounding almost deerlike out of the trees as her long skirt swept the damp ground.
    What's rrry sister filling Leah's head with today! she wondered, suspecting the pair had gone walking together, picking wild flowers, making a fuss over every little plant and animal. That was Lizzie's way always had been. She was bent on soaking up every inch of the woodlands, introducing each of Ida's girls to the vast world of flora and fauna. Sadie had been spending all kinds of time up at Lizzie's during the past few months. Nearly all summer, really, until just the past week or so. More recently, Lizzie had singled Leah out.
    She supposed Lizzie had every right to spend her spare time with whomever she pleased, but it irked her to no end. Truly, she wished Lizzie might keep her nose out of Abram's and her family's business. Lizzie and Peter Mast both. They'd all lived this long just fine. Some things were best left unsaid.
    She exhaled sharply and headed downstairs, refusing to dwell on her fears for another minute. In the kitchen she laid
    out the flour, sugar, and all the necessary ingredients for the mouthwatering pies. As she did she thought ahead to the next Preaching service to be held here this weekend. Two hundred and more church members would come from a four-squaremile radius to gather where Abram's own father the respected Bishop Ebersol had raised this stone house as a shelter for his family and as a house of worship amongst the People. Hopefully, by then Lizzie's urgency could be put to rest. Ida made a mental note to talk with Abram about it once again.
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    Bit*, vviili a bucket of soapy water in hand, set about to own I be bedroom walls, helping Mamma cleanse the it w;t'i I heir custom, creating a holy place for the SunBudiinj;. "Might as well get a head start on some heavy f," she'd told Mamma at the noon meal, ft* ii i;iit thing to make hay while the sun shines, too," Ml liiuI .said in passing, somewhat inattentive. Kit' was relieved to have the afternoon alone. Her twin mwir downstairs dusting, sweeping, washing floors, and uv, These days it was best on her nerves to have absoliuiili', though that was next to impossible with seven I in ihe house. She had been suffering such a peculiar Bhc up and down her forearms, confiding it only to Aunt nrliiT this summer.
    Kill a surprise to discover Lizzie's remedy was to carry H a live-pound sack of potatoes, much the size of a wee lL-u and behold, when she did so, Sadie found it truly Ihcr pain. Accordingly, she clasped the potatoes quite
    .mil ever so gently while spending time at Lizzie's away
    tnmma's eyes.
    ulo from frequent walks up to Lizzie's place, Sadie preI in spend her "alone" hours cleaning for Mamma or
    11; and weeding the vegetable garden, along with visits
    Ii m >r lo the Dawdi Haus to chat with Dawdi John. "day she wholeheartedly threw herself into her work, i ii|! back now and again to see if she'd covered every
    inch of the light gray walls. The bedroom windows nrxi on her list of things to do. She'd already decided to
    ilu'in single-handedly. No need asking for help from i.ih and Mary Ruth, not when they had plenty to keep
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    ilicm occupied downstairs. As for Leah, she'd hurried out the hack door and headed up toward the mule road, as if going to visit Aunt Lizzie.
    But Sadie was schmaerder. It didn't take much effort to
    figure out Leah these days. All of them assumed she was going off to the woods to write to her beau. Just so she kept her promise and didn't reveal Sadie's wild rumschpringe to Jonas Mast. Both Leah and Lizzie had vowed to