Angels Watching Over Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

Tornado? Fire? Is everyone okay?”
    “Nothing like that. Someone stole the Christmas tree for the pedi floor.”
    “Stole it?”
    “It’s a big artificial tree, a really good one. We take it down every year and put it in the same storage room. But this year when we went to haul it out, it was missing.”
    “Sort of like the Grinch stealing Christmas.”
    “Worse. If I ever find out who did it …”
    “So what’re you going to do about a tree?”
    “Well, we’re taking up a collection to buy a new one so we won’t have to postpone tomorrow night’s decorating party.”
    “I could put in a few dollars,” Leah said, thinking of Rebekah. She wondered if Amish children had ever heard of Santa Claus.
    Molly patted her shoulder. “Patients shouldn’t have to help bankroll a Christmas tree. But thanks for the offer.”
    When Leah returned to her room, Charity was sitting in a chair beside Rebekah’s bed, knitting. Ethan wasn’t there. Rebekah was sleeping, so Charity pulled the curtain that separated Rebekah’s and Leah’s beds and took a chair over to Leah’s side of the room. “Would you like to sit and talk?” she asked.
    “Where’s the watchdog?” Leah asked.
    Charity giggled. “You mean Ethan? He’s exploring. Neither of us has ever been to a hospital before.”
    “Hospitals are pretty boring. Especially when you feel fine.” Leah filled Charity in about what was going on with her medically. “Basically, they aren’t telling me anything.”
    “They will tell your parents, won’t they?”
    “My mother,” Leah corrected. “Neil’s not my father.”
    “Doesn’t your real father know you’re in the hospital?”
    “No. He died when I was ten.”
    Charity looked startled. “Oh—I’m so sorry, Leah. You’ve never even known your own father?”
    Her words stung, but Leah quickly realized that Charity was only curious. From the viewpoint of Charity’s supertight family, a family with no father might seem as strange as a two-headed dog. “He took off when I was three. My name, Lewis-Hall, is the last name of both my parents put together,”
    “My mother took my father’s name,” Charity said. “I thought every woman took her husband’s name.”
    “Lots of people hyphenate last names. And some women don’t change their names at all. If I took a new last name every time my mother remarried, my name would be a foot long.”
    “How many times has she married?”
    “Neil is number five.” Charity looked so shocked, Leah felt compelled to explain. “But she’s done better every time. You know, somewomen work for a living, some marry.” All at once she felt foolish under Charity’s incredulous stare. “Well, don’t Amish women ever remarry?” she asked.
    “Only if they are widowed.”
    “You don’t believe in divorce?”
    “Under some circumstances it is allowed, but marriage is a holy union. It is a covenant, like the one God made with his people. It should not be broken.”
    Leah rolled her eyes indulgently. “Not anymore. Don’t you know what’s going on in today’s world?”
    “No. And I’m not sure I want to know.”
    Charity’s naïveté was beginning to get on Leah’s nerves. “Well, here’s a news flash: People don’t stay in bad marriages anymore.”
    “People think we are strange because we choose to be the way we are,” Charity said softly. “But what’s normal about taking many spouses and not having a family home?”
    Leah stiffened. “Different strokes for different folks.”
    Charity studied her with her clear green eyes until Leah began to feel squirmy. She decided to change the subject. “Um—so, how’s Rebekah?”
    Charity’s brow puckered. “Not so good.”
    Leah sat up straighter. “She’s not improving?”
    “It’s slow. But many people are praying for her—” She stopped abruptly.
    “It’s all right. You don’t have to watch every word you say around me. I had friends back in Dallas who prayed.”
    “But you