Harvest of Blessings Read Online Free PDF Page A

Annie Mae and Adam’s wedding feast.”
    Wilma’s eyes shone like tawny marbles in her withered face. “ Denki for all ya do, Miriam,” she murmured. “Don’t be a stranger.”
    “If ya need anything, I can be here in two shakes of a tail.” Miriam sent up a prayer that the Glicks would rely on God’s love and comfort and direction to—
    “What’s goin’ on?” came a shrill voice from the kitchen. “And who is Nora ?”
    Miriam turned to see Millie standing in the doorway. As she crossed the front room ahead of Ben, wondering how much of their conversation the girl had heard, her heart rose into her throat. Millie’s freckled face, hazel eyes, and deep red hair marked her as Wilma and Atlee’s kin, as surely as Miriam’s own triplet daughters resembled their blue-eyed dat . Bless your heart, Millie, you’re the picture of your mother, last time any of us saw her , she thought.
    But she couldn’t say that out loud.
    Miriam gazed into Millie’s sweet face, which was taut with a sense that something immensely important had been discussed, and that she had been purposely left out. “Never forget that God loves ya—we all love ya—and that you’re not alone,” she murmured. “If ya need to talk, come see me. My Rebecca could help ya, too.”
    Millie’s eyes widened as she looked from Miriam to Ben. She was trembling like a frightened rabbit. “What’s goin’ on— really ?” she rasped.
    “Ya need to hear about it from your family. It’ll all work out, if ya give it a chance, honey-bug.” Miriam hugged the girl and then headed for the kitchen door. Her pulse raced as she wondered how this situation might end. The outcome all depended upon how Lizzie, Atlee, Wilma, Gabe—and Nora—handled it.
    Once outside, Ben reached for her hand. “Okay, so who is Nora?” her husband asked quietly.
    Miriam gazed across the road, past her Sweet Seasons Café and Ben’s blacksmith shop, to where dozens of buggies were still parked at Bishop Tom’s place. Dressed-up folks chatted in the shade around the Brennemans’ cabinetry shop, where they’d eaten their dinner. The people of Willow Ridge had banded together in support of Annie Mae and Adam, who had no parents to help with their wedding—and who’d come through some tough crises in their young lives to stand together in love and faith. Miriam believed her friends and neighbors would also rally around Millie and the Glicks when their story came to light, but some bumpy roads and stormy weather loomed ahead.
    “Nora is Millie’s mother. Wilma and Gabe’s daughter,” Miriam replied, gripping her husband’s hand. “She was about Millie’s age when she got pregnant. Gabe sent her out of town to Wilma’s sister’s house to have the baby—”
    “As often happens when an Amish girl’s not married,” Ben remarked.
    “ Jah , and I suspect words got said and feelings got hurt before she left home. Nora had a stubborn streak every bit as deep as Gabe’s,” Miriam continued as they walked down the driveway. “He and Hiram agreed that no more was to be said about Nora in her shamed state—but about nine months later, a redheaded baby showed up on Atlee and Lizzie’s porch, in a basket. No doubt in anyone’s mind whose baby she was, and that Nora had no intention of raising her.”
    Ben’s brow furrowed as he followed these details. “So Atlee is Nora’s brother, and Millie’s uncle. And he and Lizzie have raised the girl as their own child.”
    “That pretty much sums it up,” Miriam said with a sigh. “But it’s a tangled web they’ve been weavin’, goin’ along with Gabe’s demand for silence and not tellin’ Millie the truth as she got older.”
    “It’s a shame Atlee’s distanced himself from his dat and mamm , too,” Ben said. “When ya mentioned his name—back when we were votin’ on new preachers after Tom became the bishop and Gabe retired—I hardly knew who ya were talkin’ about.”
    Miriam smiled ruefully.