Amish Christmas Joy. Patricia Davids

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      Chapter Two

      Leah stood rooted to the spot. Caleb had a child. That meant he had a wife, too. He had found happiness and love in the outside world after turning her life upside down. It was so unfair. She couldn’t stop the bitterness that welled up inside.

      Caleb’s mother never mentioned he had married or that he had children. Maybe he hadn’t told her. Some outsiders were ashamed of a child who wasn’t normal. Had he become one of those?

      Leah quickly pulled herself together. Caleb’s Englisch life was no concern of hers. “She’s fine, only a little frightened.”

      Caleb set his daughter on the ground and took her by the shoulders. “What were you doing? Why did you run off?” he demanded.

      “I got scared. I wanna go home.” She pushed away from him and covered her ears with her hands.

      “Don’t do that! I’m not going to hit you.”

      “I’m not bad. I’m not bad.” She flew back to Leah and wrapped her arms around her legs.

      He pressed his fingers to his temples and exhaled sharply. “I give up. I don’t know what to do with you.”

      Leah laid a protective hand on Joy’s head. “Patience and kindness are the keys to raising a special child. All children are gifts from God, but we believe a child such as Joy is one of His most cherished gifts.”

      Caleb’s hands dropped to his sides. He looked...defeated. “I know what the Amish believe. That’s why I’m here. The only reason I’m here.”

      She didn’t understand. He tipped his head slightly. A mocking smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “The prodigal son has returned. You don’t look happy to see me.”

      She wasn’t. She didn’t care if he knew it. He had changed a great deal in the past nine years. The wild, handsome Amish boy she had known had matured into a tall, rugged-looking man with a muscular frame and deeply tanned skin. He wore his dark hair cut short in the Englisch way, not in the bowl-cut style the men of her community wore. She didn’t remember the small scar that cut through his right eyebrow. How had that happened? It was a faded white line now, not like the jagged red scar that still marred her sister Rhonda’s face.

      An accident, caused by Caleb’s recklessness during their teenage years, had cruelly marked her beautiful sister, but it was his later actions that had truly scarred her.

      Leah realized he was studying her, too. Watching her with hard, piercing gray eyes that gave away little of what he was thinking. A shiver of awareness raced through her and brought a rush of heat to her face.

      His mocking smile widened. “It’s good to see you, Leah. Did you marry my brother, or did you come to your senses in time?”

      She stiffened. The hurt was old, but it had never healed. “Your brother married Rhonda.”

      “Wayne married your sister? Wow, I didn’t see that coming. Funny how things turn out, isn’t it?”

      “Funny? It is far from funny.” She kept the rest of her angry reply bottled inside only because of the child. How dare he mock that terrible time? He’d left her sister unwed and pregnant when he ran off to start a new life among the Englisch.

      “Bad choice of words. I’m sorry.”

      “Your brother is a man of honor,” she said tartly.

      He tensed. “And I’m not, is that what you’re saying? Oh, if only you knew the truth about my brother and his honor.”

      “Your deeds speak so loudly that I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

      “An Amish proverb for every occasion. I see your quick wit hasn’t changed. I do remember that about you.”

      “And I have not forgotten the way you denied your own child. The way you called my sister a liar to her face. You shamed us all.”

      * * *

      Caleb had held only a faint hope that Rhonda Belier would have admitted the truth sometime during the past nine years. Clearly she hadn’t. He wasn’t the father of her child. They had dated, but they had never been intimate. He had no idea who the father might be.

      That Wayne had fallen on the sword of family honor and married her came as a shock. Had his guilt driven him to it? Had Wayne owned up to his past sins, or was he still using Caleb as a handy scapegoat? From Leah’s reaction, Caleb figured he himself still bore all the blame. He struggled to suppress those unpleasant memories. Nothing hurt as much as knowing his family and friends had turned their collective backs on him. No one had believed his side of the story. Not his parents, not even his brother, and that hurt most of all.

      Caleb had always been the wild one, the one in trouble, the one eager to rebel against the constraints of their closed community. He had badgered and baited his brother into going to a party where he knew there would be drinking that night. He’d thought Wayne deserved one night of fun before he settled down to marry. Caleb had owned a forbidden car. He’d goaded his brother СКАЧАТЬ