Amish Christmas Twins. Shelley Shepard Gray

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СКАЧАТЬ who had been stenciling letters of the alphabet on each page, put her pencil down. “Of course, dear. It’s going to be our family’s Christmas present and you two are part of the family.” Her smile wobbled. “I mean, you are right now.”

      Right now. That didn’t sound very permanent. A new sense of doom settled in Jemima’s chest, making it hard to breathe. Over the last few days, she and Roy had felt a little bit like they had woken up in a dream.

      Everything that had been so awful and wrong at the Millers’ was so right with Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz. E.A. and Will wanted to be with them and never got mad, even when Roy sucked his thumb or when Jemima accidentally knocked over her milk on the table.

      Will always greeted them after he kissed E.A. hello after work. No matter how tired he seemed, he always sat down beside them and asked about their days . . . and their nights when he took the night shift.

      And then there was the food! It was so good and there was lots of it. Even though it felt wrong to compare, Jemima had to admit that even their real mother hadn’t cooked as well as Elizabeth Anne.

      “Jem,” Roy whispered. “You’re daydreaming again.”

      Oh! She certainly had been! Right there at the kitchen table. “I’m sorry.” She darted a quick look of apology at her brother before answering. “I mean, I’m not a very good artist.”

      “I’m not either,” Roy said quickly. “Sometimes I don’t color in the lines.”

      “But see? These pages are blank. That means anything you want to write on each page or color is the right thing to do.”

      “All I can think for ‘C’ is candy,” Roy said.

      “Or camels,” Jemima said quickly. “The Wise Men rode on camels to see baby Jesus.”

      “But I like peppermint candy canes,” Roy said.

      But instead of saying that Jemima’s was better, because it was better to think about Jesus instead of candy, E.A. frowned. “Boy, those are two gut things for our letter ‘C,’ aren’t they? Hmm. Oh, how about we write: ‘ “C” is for Christmas candy and a camel caravan.’ If the Wise Men had candy canes, they would have surely brought them for Jesus on this birthday.”

      Roy’s eyes got big. Jemima couldn’t help but gape as well. “You want to write that?”

      “Why not? It uses both of your ideas.” She got out a black marker and carefully printed out the sentence next to the stenciled letter “C.” When she was done, she smiled. “What do you think?”

      Roy said, “I want to draw a camel carrying a candy cane in its mouth.”

      E.A. giggled. “That sounds splendid, Roy.” She slid the paper over to him. “Well, children, look at that! We already have one of our pages done.”

      “Only twenty-five more letters to go,” Jemima said.

      E.A. giggled again. “You remind me of my friend Harley, Jemima. Harley is nothing if not a realist.”

      “Is that bad?”

      “Oh, no. A realist is simply someone who dwells on things they can see and prove. They aren’t always real comfortable when it comes to considering fanciful things.”

      “Does that mean ‘made up’?”

      “Jah. Or things that might seem like just a wish.”

      “Oh.”

      E.A. stood up and walked to the stove. While Roy started drawing camels that really only looked like lumpy dogs, Jemima reached for the “W” page.

      “Do you have a special wish, Mrs. Kurtz?”

      “I have lots of wishes, but for Christmas, my wish is that I am able to finish sewing all my projects on time. And for snow.”

      “I like snow, too,” Roy said as he picked up a red crayon.

      “Do you have a special Christmas wish, Jemima?” E.A. asked as she poured chocolate powder into the milk she’d been heating on the stove. “Is there something special that you would love to receive on Christmas morning?”

      “Nee,” Jemima said.

      “Really? Not even a new dress or maybe a stuffed animal or a doll?”

      “My mamm gave me a dalli before she died,” Jemima said before she realized what she’d shared. She slapped a hand over her lips. “I’m sorry. I meant, nee, Mrs. Kurtz. I don’t have any wishes for Christmas.”

      E.A. was quiet as she pulled out a container from one of the cabinets, then brought over three mugs of hot chocolate. It was the fanciest hot chocolate Jemima had ever seen. In the center of each mug was a giant marshmallow and on top of the marshmallow was a sprinkling of red and green candy sprinkles.

      “Wow!” Roy said.

      “I’ve never seen marshmallows like this,” Jemima added.

      “That’s because I make them.” E.A. chuckled softly. “I’m afraid I’m not the cook that my friend Kendra is. She can make beautiful marshmallows. Mine taste okay, but they’re on the lumpy side, I’m afraid.”

      “They’re real gut,” Roy said when he put his mug down. He smiled, showing off a marshmallow mustache.

      After handing Roy a napkin, E.A. shuffled through the papers and pulled out the “M.” “How about this?” she asked as she picked up the marker. “‘“M” is for marshmallow mustaches’?”

      This time Jemima couldn’t resist giggling, too. “Jah, Mrs. Kurtz. That’s a good one.”

      As she wrote, E.A. gestured toward the “W” page in front of her. “What have you decided for ‘W’?”

      “ ‘ “W” is for Wish and for White Christmas’?” She held her breath.

      “I think that is a mighty good sentence, dear.” She handed over the pen. “I’ll write it down on a scratch piece of paper; then you can write the official sentence. Okay?”

      “Okay,” Jemima said. She would never tell Mrs. Kurtz that her secret sentence was “W” is for wonderful parents who make wishes. That one she was going to keep for herself. As another one of her not-wishes.

      Chapter 4

      Eight days before Christmas

      “I’m not so sure about this,” Roy whispered to Will as they climbed out of John Byler’s truck. Will, John, and their friend Harley were taking Roy and Jemima turkey hunting.

      Bending down to pick up his shotgun and backpack, Will fought back a smile. He didn’t want the little guy to think he was making light of his concern, but boy, it was hard to keep his happiness in check. This was the first time Roy had spoken to him without coaxing.

      After checking to make sure that Jemima was being occupied by Harley—he СКАЧАТЬ