Plain Admirer. Patricia Davids

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СКАЧАТЬ sick sensation settled in Roman’s stomach. “She told you about the incident last week?”

      “Ja.”

      “It was a freak accident. My sling got snagged on a log going into the saw. The strap broke and freed me.” He tried to make it sound less dire than it had been. He would relive the memory of those horrible, helpless moments in his nightmares for a long time. His confidence in his ability to do the job he’d always considered his birthright had suffered a harsh blow.

      “I understand you were jerked off your feet and dragged toward the saw,” Otis said.

      “I was never in danger of being pulled into the blade.” He was sure he could have freed himself.

      Maybe.

      “That’s not how your mother saw it.”

      No, it wasn’t. Roman’s humiliation had been made all the worse by his mother’s fright. She had come into the mill to deliver his lunch and witnessed the entire thing. Her screams had alerted his father and younger brother, but no one had been close enough to help. God had answered her frantic plea and freed him in time.

      “I’m sorry Mamm was frightened, but sawmill work is all I know. I don’t see how I can be of use to you in this business,” Roman said.

      “I fully expect you to give me a fair day’s work for your wage. Joann Yoder will teach you all you need to know about being a manager and an editor.”

      Roman barely heard his uncle’s words. He stared at his useless arm resting in the sling. It was dead weight around his neck. He didn’t want to be dead weight around his family’s neck. Could he accept the humiliation of being unable to do a man’s job? He wasn’t sure. All his life he’d been certain of his future. Now, he had no idea what God wanted from him.

      “Say you will at least think about it, nephew. Who knows, you may find the work suits you. It would please me to think my sister’s son might carry on the business my brother and I built after I’m gone.”

      Roman glanced at his uncle’s hopeful face. He and his wife were childless, and his recently deceased older brother had never married, but Roman had no intention of giving up his eventual ownership of the sawmill. If he did accept his uncle’s offer, it would only be a temporary job. “Who did you say would train me?”

      “The woman you saw leaving just as you came in.”

      “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Is she someone I know?”

      “Joann Yoder. The sister of Hebron, Ezekiel and William Yoder. I’m sure you know her.”

      Roman’s eyebrows shot up. “The bookworm?”

      Otis laughed. “I had no idea that was her nickname, but it fits.”

      “It was something we used to call her when we were kids in school.” She was a plain, shy woman who always stayed in the background.

      “Joann can teach you what you need to know about this work.”

      Roman clamped his lips shut and stared down at his paralyzed arm. He had trouble dressing himself. He couldn’t tie his own shoes without help. He couldn’t do a man’s job, a job that he’d done since he was ten years old. Now, he was going to have a woman telling him how to do this job, if he took it. How much more humiliation would God ask him to bear?

      He looked at his uncle. “Why can’t you show me how the business is run?”

      “I’ll be around to answer your questions, but Joann knows the day-to-day running of the business almost as well as I do.”

      So, he would be stuck with Joann Yoder as a mentor if he accepted. Was she still the quiet, studious loner who chose books over games and sports?

      Otis hooked his thumbs under his suspenders and rocked back on his heels. “What do you say, Roman? Will you come work for me?”

      Chapter Two

      Joann trudged along the quiet, tree-lined streets of Hope Springs with her head down and her carefully laid plans in shambles. Early May sunshine streamed through the branches overhead, making lace patterns on the sidewalk that danced as the wind stirred the leaves. The smell of freshly mowed grass and lilacs scented the late afternoon air.

      At any other time, she would have delighted in the glorious weather, the cool breeze and the fragrant flowers blooming in profusion beside the neatly tended houses of the village. At the moment, all she could see was more years of shuffling from one house to another stretching in front of her.

      If only I hadn’t dared dream that I could change my life.

      A small brown-and-white dog raced past her, yipping furiously. His quarry, a yellow tabby, had crossed the street just ahead of him. The cat shot up the nearest tree. From the safety of a thick branch, it growled at the dog barking and leaping below. The mutt circled the tree several times and then sat down to keep an eye on his intended victim.

      As Joann came up beside the terrier mix, he looked her way. She stopped to pat his head. “I know just how you feel. So close and yet so far. Take my word for it, you wouldn’t have liked the outcome if you had caught him.” The cat was almost as big as the dog.

      Joann walked on, wondering if there was a similar reason why she couldn’t obtain the prize she had been working so hard to secure. Would the outcome have been worse than what she had now? Only the Lord knew. She had to trust in His will, but it was hard to see the good through her disappointment.

      After a few more minutes, she reached the buggy shop of Levi Beachy at the edge of town. She passed it every day on her way to and from work. Across the street from the shop stood the house that had almost been hers.

      Sarah Wyse, a young Amish widow, had lived there until shortly after Christmas when she married Levi. For a time they had rented the house to a young Amish couple, but they had moved away a month ago and the small, two-story house was vacant again.

      Vacant and waiting for someone to move in who would love and cherish it.

      Joann stopped with her hands on the gate. The picket fence needed a coat of paint. She itched to take a paintbrush to it. The lawn was well-kept, but if the home belonged to her, she would plant a row of pansies below the front porch railing and add a birdhouse in the corner of the yard. She loved to watch birds. They always seemed so happy.

      She would be happy, too, if all it took to build a snug home for herself was bits of straw and twigs. However, it took more. Much more.

      She gazed at the windows of the upper story. She’d been a guest in Sarah’s home several times. She knew the upstairs held two bedrooms. One for her and one for visitors. Downstairs there was a cozy sitting room with a wide brick fireplace. Off the kitchen was a room just the right size to set up a quilt frame. Joann longed for a quilt frame of her own, but she didn’t have a place to keep one.

      “Joann, how nice to see you,” Sarah Beachy said as she came out of the shop with her arms full of upholstery material. She did all the sewing for the business, covering the buggy seats and door panels her husband made in whatever fabric the customer ordered.

      “Hello, Sarah,” СКАЧАТЬ