Loving Liza Jane Read Online Free PDF Page A

wouldn’t have minded if it’d landed on my desk, Papa. I’m not ascared of snakes.”
    “You’re not afraid of much of anything, young lady,” Ben said, tapping the end of her freckled nose with his finger.
    Taking their seats a moment later, father and daughter clasped hands at the table. “Whose turn is it to say the morning prayer?” he asked.
    “Yours, I believe,” Lili said, her authoritative tone signifying she’d been keeping track.
    “Well then, I’ll take your word for it,” Ben said, grinning at her freckled face before bowing his head.
    “Dear Father,” he prayed, “we thank Thee for the food You’ve put before us. Please watch over Lili, Molly, and me today as we go about our business. You know exactly what our needs are, Lord, and we trust Thee to meet them according to Your timeline.
    “Help us, Father, to live according to the commandments that Thou hast set before us and to be ever mindful about showing the love of Jesus to our neighbors.
    “Please give us generous hearts and kind spirits.
    “In Thy name we pray…”
    “And be with the new schoolteacher!” Lili cut in before he’d managed the final amen.
    Ben couldn’t hold back his spontaneous chuckle. “Yes, Lord, and be with the uh, new teacher, Miss…uh…”
    “Miss Merriwether, Papa.”
    “Yes, Miss Merriwether.” Sneaking a peek at his daughter for good measure, he quickly added, “I believe that’s all—for now—Lord. Amen.”
    Smiling appreciatively, Lili hastily released his hand and took to her breakfast like a famished piglet.
    Ben took advantage of her silence to ponder his day.
    There were fences to mend on the back forty, a lame horse to tend to, Bessie and Sarah to milk, hogs to feed, and fields that needed plowing and harvesting. And then there was that matter of his grandfather’s old house up on Shannon’s Peak. Just when was he supposed to find the time to make the necessary repairs to that so that the new teacher could move in?
    Pardon me, Lord, he inwardly amended, but I wish when You created me, you’d have thought to add a spare hand. I could use an extra about now.
    Shoveling a forkful of eggs into his mouth, he watched his daughter. She had her mother’s hair, golden curls that had a way of shimmering in the light, then changing hues with the slightest toss of her head. And those freckles. My, but she had a faceful of them. There’d only been a few decorating Miranda’s pert nose, but Lili’s face was
peppered. Unfortunately, they coincided with, perhaps lent to, her mischievous behavior. Then there was that lone dimple on her left cheek, positioned in exactly the same spot as Miranda’s had been.
    Miranda. How he missed her. But time and sheer busyness, not to mention God’s faithfulness and grace, had a way of smoothing over the hurt. Little by little, every new day brought him one step closer to wholeness. Still, he had a long way to go, and he doubted he would ever truly love another woman—even if he chose to remarry. Women as sweet as Miranda only came along but once in a lifetime. Nevertheless, there was the matter of his daughters; they needed a woman’s touch. And that was a matter he could no longer continue to ignore.
    What was he going to do when his daughters, particularly Lili, started asking the sort of questions intended for a woman’s ear? Even now, he had a difficult time dealing with Lili’s overwrought emotions. One moment she was laughing hysterically, and the next, drowning in a puddle of tears. Plain reason told him she would only grow more complicated. All women did. To his knowledge, no man had ever mastered the internal workings of the female mind. And as if Lili weren’t enough, God had seen fit to drop another daughter into his lap just fourteen months ago—while taking the one woman who had the means for raising his little girls.
    He wasn’t bitter. He’d passed through that stage in his grieving process and discovered afterward how much better off he was