Adam's Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

brother’s lips. But it was something she hadn’t seen for months. Or felt in her own life.
    “Do you ever think what life might be like if they hadn’t died?”
    Lidia cleared her throat at her brother’s question, unable to stop the sudden flood of emotions that overtook her and brought the sting of tears to her eyes. “You know thinking like that won’t bring them back. All we can do is make the best of what we have.”
    Koby folded his arms across his chest, his chin set in fierce determination. “You could always marry someone like the mister inside. He might not be rich, but he’s got all this land. Maybe he wouldn’t mind having a boy like me around if I was extra good. I’d work hard so he wouldn’t have any reason to send me away. It would almost be like having a family again—”
    “Koby!”
    “What’s wrong with my dreaming about having something gooder?”
    “Something better.” Lidia frowned. She couldn’t blame him for wishing things were different. It was something she did, as well. But in reality, sometimes life handed you a plate of sour pickles instead of a huge iron vat of sweet maple syrup. No gallant hero was going to sprint from the pages of a legend and into her life to change her situation. She had to pull them through herself—that was what Americans did.
    “What about you?” Koby took a step forward. “Don’t you want more out of life than working ten hours a day for some overseer who doesn’t care anything about us, except that we can get the work done so they can make more money?”
    “Koby, you—”
    “Well, it’s true, ain’t it?”
    “Isn’t it?” Lidia shut her mouth at the attempt to correct her brother’s grammar. Perfect speech and fine manners would never really change who they were. She’d found that out firsthand. Their parents had worked for a dozen years to establish themselves as hardworking American citizens who could provide for their family in ways they never could have in the old country. And they had achieved much of what they’d dreamed.
    She’d seen the look of pride in her father’s eyes when he returned from work with a piece of penny candy for each of his children. Her mother would scold him for spoiling them, but her eyes couldn’t hide her own feelings of thankfulness for the blessings God had showered upon them. Life had been good.
    But all that had changed. It had only taken the dreaded cholera a matter of days to rob her parents of life and in turn change Koby and Lidia’s future forever. With the loss of her father’s income, she and her brother had become nothing more than immigrant factory workers. It was useless to spend her life dreaming about things changing. Someone like Adam would never choose a girl like her. Fairy tales like that didn’t happen in real life.
    “It’s time to get back to work, Koby.” Swallowing the lump in the back of her throat, Lidia picked up her bucket, stiffened her shoulders, and resolved to forget the past and concentrate only on the matter at hand. Saving Adam Johnson’s maple crop.

    Adam rolled over onto his side then winced at the sharp pain that splintered behind his eyes. Reaching up to feel the throbbing knot on his head, he struggled against someone’s hand pressing down on his shoulder.
    “Please. Lie back, and I’ll get you some broth to drink.”
    He opened his eyes and let them adjust to the fading shadows in the room. Something simmered on the stove, making his mouth water. How long had it been since he’d eaten? He focused on the figure leaning over him. The final rays of the evening sun filtered into the room, bathing Lidia’s face in the soft light and causing him to wonder if he was simply dreaming about the fairylike girl who fluttered in and out of his dreams.
    Adam pushed his elbows against the bed and tried to sit up again. The pain that seared through him confirmed he was awake.
    “Not so fast.” Lidia felt his forehead with the back of her hand. “Your fever