Mittman, Stephanie Read Online Free PDF Page A

like to discuss. He looked up
at the blue sky and the trees. "Nice day," he said, despite the fact
that the minister had ended the service with a prayer for rain.
    Winestock
took the watch from his pocket and flicked it open. "Getting late,"
he said to Annie.
    Before
him the honey-eyed angel took a possessive step forward. "Will you be
comin' to supper?" she asked the minister.
    "Mmm,"
Winestock answered distractedly. "Could anyone resist one of your meals?
And we can discuss the social and some other church business as well."
    Annie
nodded. The look on her face gave her away. It seemed to Noah that she was
trying to show him she was spoken for, as Francie had told him, but the good
Reverend Miller Winestock wasn't so willing to do the speaking. A piece of him
went out to her in sympathy. But the rest of his feelings were doing an all-out
jig at Winestock's reticence.
    "I'm
making your favorite," Annie said, as if she had him to supper every night
of the week and twice on Sundays. "Roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, and a
plum pie for dessert." If the fact that she cooked for Mr. Winestock on a
regular basis wasn't painful enough, the menu nearly did Noah in. He fairly
drooled on his freshly washed Sunday shirt.
    "That'll
be nice, Sissy," the minister said, and then caught himself. "Miss
Morrow. I'll be happy to take supper with you and Bart." Sissy? He
was calling her Sissy?
    "Bart
ain't joinin' us," Annie said quietly. "I believe he'll be down to
the Leemans' tonight." She gestured with her head toward Bart, standing next
to Willa, his arm possessively resting on her waist.
    "Oh,
I see," Winestock said. "And Ethan?"
    ***
    Annie
looked at Noah Eastman. Like Risa, he'd stayed there listening to every word
she and Miller had exchanged. She raised her eyebrows at him as if to ask
whether he knew Ethan's plans. Ever since her brother had started working
there, he took most of his meals with the Eastmans. Money was tight in Van Wert
County, and Ethan's room and board was part of his pay. It was ridiculous,
really. There was plenty of room for him at the farm, and if she was cooking
for herself and Bart, what was one more mouth? But Ethan valued his
independence and he did make some money, all of which he was able to put by for
the moment he could strike out on his own.
    "I'm
sorry," Noah Eastman said, "but I'm afraid I did give Mrs. Abernathy
the day off to go visiting her family in Grand Lake. I expect Ethan will be
showing up at your place for supper."
    Miller
looked visibly relieved. "Well, then," he said, waving to a
congregant and taking a step away from the group, "I'll see you at
four-thirty."
    "That'll
be fine," Annie said.
    Charlie
came over to where they were standing and took his daughter from Risa's arms.
"You shouldn't be picking her up anymore," he chided.
    Risa's
face flushed and Annie knew in an instant that her sister-in-law was once again
pregnant. If there was one thing a Morrow man could do, it was propagate.
Sometimes it seemed the Lord was talking just to the Morrows when He said to be
fruitful and multiply.
    "Risa!"
Annie said knowingly. "You lettin' out your waistbands again?"
    Charlie's
smile was like new shucked corn, wide, white, and even. Of course he was happy.
Planting the seed was the easy part. It was Risa who'd have to bring forth the
fruit of their union, Risa who'd have to devote the next seventeen years or so
to rearing the child, Risa who'd stay up nights with him when he was sick, Risa
whose heart would ache when the child suffered even the slightest pain.
    "That's
wonderful!" Noah Eastman said, pumping Charlie's arm. "Nothing like
children. Nothing!"
    Nothing
for a man but pride and vanity. Nothing for a woman but work and worry. "I
hope it all goes well," Annie said to Risa, stroking her arm gently.
"If you need anything, anything at all, you just send Charlie for me, you
hear?"
    "I'm
fine," Risa assured Annie. "This is when they give you the least
trouble. You'll see."
    Annie
smiled politely.