An Uncommon Grace Read Online Free PDF

magazine back onto the table. Movie stars’ divorces and personal dramas felt unimportant in the cold light of an emergency room. Besides, she had been out of the country so long, she didn’t even know who most of the people in the magazine were—and furthermore, she didn’t care. Her efforts to watch TV since coming home had been met with little success. It was just too hard to concentrate on the silliness of a sitcom after all she had seen.
    She closed her eyes again and leaned her head back. The disconnect between the reality of an Afghanistan battlefield and the culture to which she had returned was not something she had been able to bridge in the two short weeks she had been home. Outside of her grandma’s farm, she felt like an alien in her own country. She couldn’t help but wonder if that feeling of alienation would ever go away.
    “Does my mother live?”
    Her eyes flew open. The sudden sound of Levi Troyer’s voice startled her so badly that she almost dove for cover. Struggling for equilibrium, she took a deep breath and studied the small family group standing before her. Levi, in his dark blue pants and sweat-stained blue shirt, towered over her. In his arms, he held a towheaded little girl wearing a dark gray dress and a black bonnet. The child’s eyes were as blue as the sky but also red from weeping. A piece of straw clung to a wayward curl in the process of escaping the bonnet. Standing solemnly beside Levi were two small boys who were near-replicas of their older brother. Both had the same gold-streaked brown hair and dark eyes. She judged them to be somewhere between eight and ten years old. They woreidentical straw hats, with brims so wide, the hats looked too big.
    “Your mother is with the surgeon right now, but I haven’t heard anything.” Because of the worried-looking children, she forced a cheerful note into her voice. “Who do we have here?”
    Levi laid his free hand on the smaller boy’s hat. “This is Jesse.” Then he rested his hand on the older boy’s shoulder. “And this is Albert—my Bruders. ”
    “Hello, Albert and Jesse.” She solemnly shook the boys’ hands.
    Levi noticed the straw in the little girl’s hair and plucked it out. “This is Sarah, our sister. She spent too much time in the hayloft this morning.”
    “Hello, Sarah,” Grace said. “You have pretty eyes.”
    The little girl gave her a shy grin before laying her head against her big brother’s shoulder.
    “Sarah does not have many Englisch words yet,” Albert informed her.
    “I do,” Jesse volunteered. “I have many Englisch words.”
    She had no idea what they were talking about.
    “Our children usually speak only German when they are small,” Levi explained. “They don’t learn Englisch until they go to school.” He gently tweaked the little girl’s nose. “I think Sarah understands some of what you said, but she is being bashful.”
    “Oh.” She absorbed that information. That would explain why the few small Amish children she had spoken to on the street since moving here had given her sweet smiles but not answered.
    “How did you get here?” she asked.
    “The sheriff came after you left. He called a driver for us after he finished asking questions.” Levi looked worried.“I—I did not refuse. It would have been hard on our horse to come so far and it would have taken a long time.”
    At that moment Dr. Allen entered the room. He was an older man and his face was gray with fatigue. He did not look happy.
    “Are you Claire Shetler’s family?” he asked.
    “We are.” Levi swallowed hard. “Does my mother live?”
    “Yes.” Dr. Allen glanced at the children clustered around Levi and forced a smile. “She’s . . . fine.”
    “And the babe?” Levi’s voice sounded strained.
    “We are airlifting him to Children’s Hospital in Columbus.”
    “My mother had a boy?”
    “She awoke long enough to name him Daniel. We had to do a C-section because of . . .