Hannah's Joy Read Online Free PDF

look in her eyes. “Where are you planning to go?” she asked, all innocence.
    Hannah suppressed the urge to say that her aunt already knew. “I think I’ll go and have a little talk with William,” she said.
    Maybe he’d want the limited help she had to offer. Maybe he’d reject her, feeling embarrassed or offended. She didn’t know. But she had to try.
    *   *   *
    Jamie bounced eagerly in the stroller when they started down the street, hanging on to the tray as if it were a steering wheel. “Go,” he announced.
    A woman who was passing slowed, smiling at him. “Hi there, sweetheart.” She gave a friendly nod to Hannah and moved on.
    That sort of thing happened all the time in Pleasant Valley, and Hannah still hadn’t gotten used to it. She wasn’t sure whether people were just naturally friendly or whether they knew who she was and connected her with Aunt Paula.
    She wheeled the stroller past the hardware store and glanced in the window of the harness shop run by Bishop Mose, leader of the local Amish. She could see him at the counter, white beard flowing to his chest.
    Memory stirred. She had walked down this street as a child, probably been wheeled down it in a stroller even earlier, just as Jamie was. Maybe it wasn’t so odd that people seemed to know her.
    She hesitated in front of the frame building that housed the cabinetry shop on one side and the quilt shop on the other. It wasn’t too late to turn around and walk back.
    Don’t be such a coward,
she lectured herself.
All he can do is say no. That might hurt your pride, but nothing else.
    She pulled the door open and maneuvered the stroller inside, and paused again to figure out a path through the furniture pieces displayed in hospitable-looking groupings. Maybe she should have left the stroller on the sidewalk.
    “Komm in, komm in.” An Amish woman stood at the count-er, talking to a man behind it who must be William’s cousin. “Can I help you with the stroller?” She was already coming toward them, smiling. “I am Katie Miller. You must be Paula’s niece.”
    She must. It was what everyone said. Hannah nodded, returning the woman’s smile. “I’m Hannah Conroy. Everybody seems to know that.”
    “Ach, I remember that feeling very well. I was the newcomer for a while, and it seemed so strange that everyone knew me when I didn’t know them.” Katie knelt, face-to-face with Jamie. “This fine big boy must be Jamie. I have heard about you from William.”
    Jamie chuckled, standing in the stroller and banging on the tray. He raised his arms in an unmistakable gesture. “Up!” he demanded.
    “Jamie, she doesn’t want—” Hannah began.
    But Katie was already lifting him in her arms. “For sure I do want,” she said. “Look, Jamie, here is Caleb.”
    She carried him to the counter with Hannah following.
    “Wilkom, Jamie.” He smiled, holding out a hand to the baby. “And wilkom to your mammi, too.”
    Caleb didn’t share William’s blue eyes and fair coloring, but Hannah thought she might have picked them out as relatives. Something in the strong bone structure of the faces was very similar.
    “It’s nice to meet you both.” She glanced from Caleb to Katie, who was bouncing Jamie in her arms. Hadn’t Aunt Paula said something about the two of them getting married? Through the archway she could see the bright colors of Katie’s quilts. Maybe sharing the building had brought them together.
    “Can we help you with something?” Caleb asked. “We make a few wooden children’s toys, but nothing is on display right now.”
    “No, I . . . actually I wanted to speak to William for a moment. Is he here?” She’d nearly had as much difficulty getting the words out as William might.
    “Ja, for sure. He’s upstairs in the workroom.” Caleb gestured toward a flight of steps. “Go right on up.”
    “I would love to watch Jamie while you talk, if you think he will stay with me,” Katie said.
    Since Jamie was pounding