The Amish Bachelor's Baby. Jo Ann Brown

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СКАЧАТЬ farm, when it reopened in the spring. As shy as her twin was, Annie wasn’t sure how Leanna would handle interacting with customers.

      They were mirror twins. Annie was right-handed, and Leanna left-handed. The cowlick that kept Annie’s black hair from lying on her right temple was identical to Leanna’s on the other side. They had matching birthmarks on their elbows, but on opposite arms. Their personalities were distinct, too. While Leanna seldom spoke up, Annie found it impossible to keep her opinions to herself.

      How many times had she wished she was circumspect like her twin? For certain, too many times to count. Instead, she’d inherited her grossmammi’s plainspoken ways.

      Annie edged toward the gate, leaning forward so the socks were on the other side of the fence. She needed to finish bringing in the laundry so she could help her grossmammi and Leanna with supper. Her younger siblings were always hungry after school and work. She’d hoped their older brother, who lived past the barn, would bring his wife and kinder tonight, but his six-year-old son, Junior, was sick.

      Keeping the sock carousel out of the goats’ reach, she stretched to open the gate. One of the kids, a brown-and-white one her twin called Puddle, butted her, trying to get her attention.

      Annie looked at the little goat. “If you weren’t so cute, you’d be annoying, ain’t so?”

      “Do they talk to you when you talk to them?” asked a voice far deeper than her own.

      In amazement, she looked up...and up...and up. Caleb Hartz was almost a foot taller than she was. Beneath his black broad-brimmed hat, his blond hair fell into eyes the color of early-summer grass. He had a ready smile and an easy, contagious enthusiasm.

      And he was the man Leanna had her eye on.

      Her sister hadn’t said anything about being attracted to him, but Annie couldn’t help noticing how tongue-tied Leanna was when he was nearby. He hadn’t seemed to notice, and maybe Annie would have missed her sister’s reactions if Annie didn’t find herself a bit giddy when Caleb spoke to her. Before Caleb’s sister, Miriam, had mentioned that Leanna seemed intrigued by her brother, Annie had been thinking...

      No, it didn’t matter. If Leanna had set her heart on him, Annie should remind him how wunderbaar her sister was. She’d do anything to have her sister happy again.

      “Gute nammidaag,” Annie said as she came out of the pen, being careful no goat slipped past her.

      “Is it still afternoon?” He glanced toward the western horizon, where the sun touched the mountaintops.

      “Barely,” she laughed. “I’ve been catching up with chores before working on supper. Would you like to eat with us this evening?”

      “Danki, but no.” Caleb clasped his hands behind him.

      Annie was puzzled. Why was he uncomfortable? Usually he chatted with everyone. While he traveled from church district to church district in several states, he’d met with each of the families now living in Harmony Creek Hollow and convinced them to join him in the new community in northern New York.

      “What can we do for you?” she asked when he didn’t add anything else.

      “I wanted to talk to you about a project I’m getting started on.”

      Curiosity distracted her from how the icy wind sliced through her shawl, coat and bonnet. “What project?”

      “I’m opening a bakery.”

      “You are?” She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.

      A bakery? Amish men, as a rule, didn’t spend much time in the kitchen, other than to eat. Their focus was on learning farm skills or being apprenticed to a trade.

      “Ja,” he said, then grimaced at another blast of frigid air. His coat was closed to the collar, where a scarf was edged with frost from his breath. “I stopped by to see if you’d be interested in working for me. The bakery will be out on the main road south of the turnoff for Harmony Creek Hollow.”

      She set the sock carousel on a barrel. “You want to hire me? To work in your bakery?”

      “I’ve had some success selling bread and baked goods at the farmers market in Salem. Having a shop will allow me to sell year-round, but I can’t be there every day and do my work at the farm.” He shivered again, and she guessed he was eager for a quick answer so he could return to his buggy. “Miriam told me you’d do a gut job for me.”

      His sister, Miriam, was one of Annie’s best friends, a member of what they jokingly called the Harmony Creek Spinsters’ Club. Miriam hadn’t mentioned anything about Caleb starting a business.

      “It sounds intriguing,” Annie said. “What would you expect me to do?”

      “Tend the shop and handle customers. There would be some light cleaning.”

      “Will you expect me to do any baking? I’d want several days’ warning if you’re going to want me to do that.”

      He frowned, surprising her. It’d been a reasonable request, as she’d have to rearrange her household obligations around any extra baking. Asking Leanna would be silly. Her sister could burn air, and things that were supposed to be soft came out crunchy and vice versa. Nobody could quilt as beautifully as her twin, but the simplest tasks in the kitchen seemed to stump her.

      “You’ve got a lot of questions,” he said.

      Don’t ask too many questions. Don’t make suggestions. She doubted Caleb would treat her as her former boyfriend had, deriding her ideas until he found one he liked so much he claimed it for his own.

      His frown faded. “I may need you to help with baking sometimes.”

      “Will you expect me to do a daily accounting of sales?”

      “Ja. Aren’t you curious how much I’m paying you?”

      She rubbed her chin with a gloved finger. “I assume it’ll be a fair wage.” She smiled. “You’re not the sort of a man who’d take advantage of a neighbor.”

      His wind-buffed cheeks seemed to grow redder, and she realized her compliment had embarrassed him.

      Apologizing would cause him more discomfort, so she said, “Ja, I’d be interested in the job.”

      “Then it’s yours.” His shoulders relaxed. “If you’ve got time now, I’ll give you a tour of the bakery, and we can talk more about what I’d need you to do.”

      “Gut.” The wind buffeted her, almost knocking her from her feet as she reached to keep the sock carousel from sailing away again.

      “Steady there.” Caleb’s broad hands curved along her shoulders, keeping her on her feet.

      Sensation flowed out from his palms and riveted her, as sweet as maple syrup and, at the same time, as alarming as a fire siren.

      “Danki,” she managed to whisper, but she wasn’t sure he heard her as the wind rose again. It made her breathing sound strange.

      “Are СКАЧАТЬ