Winter of Wishes Read Online Free PDF

honey-bug.”
    Taylor, somewhere around nine years old, was a thin little pixie and, bless her, she’d
     styled her hair herself . . . because who could help her, if her mother was gone and
     her grandma could hardly hold a comb? “Dad says you do have a bakery. I—I just wanted
     to make something for when you came—”
    “And isn’t that thoughtful? I can’t recall the last time somebody made cookies because
     I was comin’.” Rhoda picked up the blackened half of a chocolate-chip cookie that
     had fallen to the counter, but when she raised it to her lips, Taylor snatched it.
    “Don’t eat that yucky one! I’ll make you a good one, Rhoda.”
    Rhoda grinned at her. “Now there’s a better idea! Would it be okay if I tucked some
     pans in your oven first, though? So we can share some turkey dinner and get to know
     one another?”
    “You brought turkey dinner? Like, for Thanksgiving?” Taylor’s eyes lit up behind her
     tears.
    “ Jah , today at the café we cooked turkey and green bean casserole and yams and stuffing—”
    “Oh, I love all that stuff. But since Mom’s been gone . . .”
    Rhoda’s heart tightened painfully. How could any woman leave such a precious daughter?
     “Things change for everybody. And sometimes it’s all we can do to figure out what
     comes next,” she remarked. “I bet you’ve been tryin’ to cook and clean up, now that
     your grandma’s sick, and it’s a big job for a little girl, ain’t so?”
    Taylor nodded somberly.
    “Can ya clear the table and set out plates for us, while I meet your grandma?”
    “Uh-huh. I set the table all the time.”
    “See there? You’re takin’ care of the family, doin’ what needs to be done,” Rhoda
     assured her as she slipped her pans of warm food into the oven. “Your dat ’s mighty proud of ya, too, for holdin’ up your end when times get tough.”
    The little girl’s eyes widened, another set of deep, dark eyes like Andy’s. “He told
     you that?”
    Rhoda closed the oven door. “He didn’t have to,” she replied as she leaned down to
     whisper in Taylor’s ear. “I can read his mind, ya see. I know what he’s thinkin’.”
    “You do?” Taylor considered this for a moment. “Mom used to always be yellin’ about
     how he was so impossible to figure out. Or to live with.”
    “Oh, honey-bug, I’m sorry.” Rhoda rested her forehead on Taylor’s, wondering if she’d
     opened a tricky can of worms, talking as though she really knew what Andy Leitner—or
     any man—was thinking. If that were true, would she still be single at twenty-one,
     feeling pinched about her possibilities for marriage? “I’ll see your grandma real
     quick, and then we’ll put dinner on. If I take this job, I’ll need your help f indin’
     things around the kitchen. And I’ll want ya to tell me how the house should look,
     and—”
    “I’ll be the best helper you ever had, Rhoda. Promise!” Taylor nodded decisively.
     “Go see Gram, and when you come back, everything’ll be ready for dinner—mostly because
     Brett left when he saw all the cookies were burnt.”
    Rhoda squeezed her shoulders. “See there? Every cloud has a rainbow, ain’t so?”
    As she left the kitchen, she glanced at what her family would have used as a dining
     room. Computer desks stood against two of the walls . . . most likely one computer
     for the kids and one for Andy. Family portraits on the wall showed the four Leitners
     fairly recently, as well as when Taylor was a toddler and Brett couldn’t have been
     a year old.
    Rhoda stepped closer, to see what sort of woman Andy’s wife had been. She seemed sleek
     and blond and glamorous—at least by Plain standards—yet she was focused in a different
     direction from the others, her eyes not looking toward the camera like the rest of
     her family’s.
    “Those photographs stab at me,” Andy said softly. “But I don’t have the heart to take
     them down. It’s all the kids have left of their