Hidden Mercies Read Online Free PDF Page B

little two-year-old Daniel toddled in from his favorite napping place, the front-room couch. He did not like being tucked away upstairs in his bed because he was too afraid of missing something. He reminded her of a hummingbird, buzzing here and there all day, involved in everything, until he would suddenly stop and nap, and then get up and start buzzing around again.
    “And how is my Danny?” she asked, as he climbed up onto her lap for a quick cuddle.
    He held up one little finger with a Band-Aid on it.
    “Ah, you put your finger where you should not?”
    Maddy laughed. “No, I nicked myself on a knife and when he saw me putting a Band-Aid on my cut, he had to have one, too.”
    Claire kissed the nonexistent hurt. Oh, how she loved this child that she had come so close to losing!
    Daniel, having received all the attention he desired for now, clambered off her lap, scooted carefully down the porchsteps, and was off and running in the front yard. One of the chickens had gotten out, and Daniel thought it was his duty to catch it. The chicken thought otherwise.
    “Shouldn’t the boys and Sarah be home from school by now?” Claire asked.
    Amy looked up from the swirls of her calligraphy practice. “Albert and Jesse brought Sarah home and then went back to help the teacher clear some big limbs that fell yesterday during that thunderstorm.”
    Twelve-year-old Albert, stalwart and steady, could be trusted with as much responsibility as most adults. He would watch out for Jesse, who, at ten, with his quicksilver laughter and tendency to be distracted by a passing butterfly, was not quite as trustworthy. Fortunately, Albert would watch out for his little brother and Sarah.
    “I am pleased they are being helpful, but I wish they were home.”
    The sweeping finished, Maddy hung the broom in its wooden holder in a corner of the porch.
    “They are obedient children, and will be careful, as you have taught them.”
    “Oh, I trust the boys, but you never know when a car might come around a curve too quickly.”
    “Then we will trust the Lord with their safety,” Maddy reminded her.
    She needed the reminder. The older she got, the more protective she felt about her family. She had seen enough bad things happen in her forty-four years that she had lost the blind optimism of her youth.
    “Where is Sarah now?”
    “Grace came by to get her,” Amy said.
    “Grace?”
    Claire was not thrilled with Levi’s choice of a wife. Gracewas a good person, but . . . she was Englisch . “What did she want with Sarah?”
    “She said that she was learning how to bake cookies from scratch today and needed a child to practice on.”
    “Well, Sarah won’t mind that,” Claire said.
    “Yes . . . if she does not come home with a tummy ache.”
    The expression on Maddy’s face was studiously innocent, but Claire hid a smile. Her niece’s gentle dig at the quality of Grace’s cooking was as close as the sweet girl would ever come to saying anything negative about someone.
    “Grace tries to embrace our culture,” Claire said. “It’s a shame she will not go all the way and actually become one of us.”
    “She tries so hard to act Amish, without becoming Amish, Amy and I have made up a new name for her.”
    “Oh?”
    “We call her our Old Order Englisch relative.”
    Claire chuckled. “That well describes our Grace.”
    “She sent over some beef stew this morning with Levi.”
    “Have you eaten any of it?”
    Maddy paused. “I thought perhaps I would wait. I would hate not to share Grace’s efforts with the rest of the family.”
    “Ah. You prefer that we all face it together. Who knows, perhaps it has turned out well this time.”
    “One can hope.”
    Now that all of her chicks were accounted for, Claire could relax. She knew where each of her children was, exactly what they were doing, and all was well.
    Six was such a nice, full number of children with which to fill a home. She hoped she would never have to live in a