The Christmas Cradle Read Online Free PDF

smiling. “Fill a plate at the buffet table, or ya can order off the menu,” she encouraged. “Get whatever ya want, Lena. It’s gut to see ya lookin’ more rested.”
    Lena returned Miriam’s smile, her spirits lifting. The tables and chairs were sturdy, made in a rustic split-log design, and denim curtains were tied back at each window. Some of the fellows looked at her but then continued chatting with their friends, while a young waitress in a green cape dress circulated among them with a coffee carafe. When she saw Lena, she hurried over.
    â€œI’m Rhoda Leitner,” she said as she filled Lena’s mug with steaming coffee. “We met your Josiah earlier this morning. He’ll have an interesting report when he gets back from Higher Ground. Cream?”
    â€œ Jah , please.” Lena warned herself not to fall for the way Miriam’s daughter assumed Josiah would return—or that he was hers. She couldn’t help smiling, however, when Rebecca came to the table with two huge sticky buns and a red-haired woman whose plaid Plain-style dress suggested she was a Mennonite.
    â€œLena, this is Nora Landwehr. She runs the Simple Gifts shop in the big barn up the road,” Rebecca said. “Nora’s engaged to that gorgeous guy who can’t keep his eyes off her—Luke Hooley. He’s Ben’s younger brother, and he runs the mill that sits on the river.”
    â€œIt’s so nice to meet you, Lena,” Nora said as she pulled a chair up to their table. She had a sparkle in her hazel eyes as she leaned closer. “We’ve not told Miriam yet, but I’m having a baby shower at my place next Friday evening. I sure hope you’ll come. It’ll be a great way to meet the ladies around here—and a lot of them are close to your age, too.”
    â€œBut keep this under your kapp ,” Rebecca insisted in a whisper. “If anybody deserves a surprise party, it’s Mamma.”
    â€œYou’ve got that right,” Nora agreed with a grin that lit up her freckled face. “Willow Ridge would be just another ho-hum little town if it weren’t for Miriam’s nudging us all toward our dreams. She’s everybody’s other mother!”
    â€œI—I’d love to come,” Lena replied. For the first time in weeks she felt a genuine smile on her face. “Awfully nice of you to ask, considering you don’t even know me.”
    â€œ Yet ,” Nora insisted, grasping Lena’s wrist. “Trust me, if these people welcomed me back, they’re the best folks you could ever hope to meet.” She turned and wiggled her fingers at a handsome fellow across the room. “Better get back to Luke. This is the only time we’ll see each other until we close our shops this evening.”
    Lena cut into her sticky bun, watching Nora chat with everyone as she returned to her table. “How could anyone not want such a happy, thoughtful woman in Willow Ridge?”
    Rebecca smiled, attacking her own pastry with her fork. “Nora had to leave town when she was sixteen and pregnant—and then she left the baby on her brother and sister-in-law’s front porch for them to raise while she lived with an English husband, whom she divorced last year,” she explained in a gossipy rush. “ Then she bought Hiram Knepp’s place—the priciest house in town—and came back to reunite with her daughter and her parents, after being away for sixteen years.”
    Lena’s fork stopped in front of her open mouth. “Oh, my.”
    â€œUh-huh. But she’s reconciled with her daughter and her family,” Rebecca went on. “Now she and Millie are engaged to Ben’s two younger brothers. Top that!”
    Lena giggled. “I don’t think I can.”
    â€œSee what I’m saying? No matter how badly you’ve messed up your life,” Rebecca insisted, “you can consider