Mary Davis - Courting Her Secret Heart

What was he thinking?

Clearing his throat, he pushed himself up to his feet, then offered her assistance. His hand was large and strong. And warm.

As soon as she was on her feet, he released her quickly as though embarrassed, and stared up at the ceiling. “Too many of the boards are rotted beyond repair, and the ones that are serviceable won’t be for long. It would be best to replace the whole floor. I’ll take the wagon into town and order the necessary lumber.”

Now he was chatty? Or had their little moment made him uncomfortable? She missed the moment of closeness they’d just shared. Would they have another one in the future? She hoped so.

Chapter Three

The next morning, Amos was sent into town by the oldest twin, Hannah, to pick up some medicine for Bartholomew Miller. Though identical in most respects, he noted that Hannah had a worry crease between her eyebrows, which helped him to differentiate the two sisters.

He now drove back along the paved road. Floyd plodded along. The rhythm of his clip-clopping hoofbeats lulled Amos’s thoughts—thoughts that drifted to his cousin. Jacob was gut to help Amos. Amos wouldn’t know what to do on the outside. Having his cousin’s guidance made him feel less anxious about the whole endeavor. Jacob knew all about Amos’s hurts back in Pennsylvania. How Esther had let him court her and led him to believe she cared for him, only to turn down his offer of marriage. Then when he’d arrived in Indiana, the situation was nearly repeated with Bethany.

Then his thoughts turned to the Millers’ farm. The work there was gut . Gave him purpose. And being around all those women would give him insight into the female mind. Maybe then he could figure out what he’d done wrong in the past.

Up ahead, an Amish woman meandered in the middle of the two-lane country road.

What was she doing?

A car came down the road, honked and swerved around her.

She sidestepped but didn’t move to the side of the road.

He snapped the reins to hurry the horse. When he pulled up beside her, he said, “Ma’am?”

She faced him but didn’t really look at him.

“Teresa? Teresa Miller?” He hauled back on the reins.

“Ja.” She raised her hand to shade her eyes from the morning winter sun.

“What are you doing out here?”

“I was going somewhere.” She chuckled. “But I seem to have forgotten where.”

That didn’t explain why she was in the middle of the road. He jumped down. “Come. I’ll drive you home.”

“That would be nice. Danki. ” She climbed into the buggy and waited.

How odd. But other than her being in the middle of the road, he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly was off about this encounter. He got in and took her home.

When he drove into the yard and up to the house, the twins rushed outside without coats on. Hannah opened the buggy door and took Teresa’s hand. “ Mutter , where have you been? We’ve been looking for you.” A forced cheeriness laced her words.

“I went for a nice little walk.” She patted Amos’s arm. “But I was safe.”

Hannah helped her mutter out and exchanged glances with Lydia. Hannah’s gaze flickered to him. “Danki.”

“Bitte.” Amos held out the paper sack with the prescription. “Here’s your vater’s medication.”

Lydia took it. “Danki.” The women rushed into the house, leaving Amos to wonder.

Women. They behaved strangely. How was a man to figure them out? Maybe it was impossible, and he should give up on them altogether.

A while after Miriam had completed the late-afternoon milking, Amos headed to the house for supper. Though he’d been mulling over this morning’s incident with Teresa all day and wanted to ask about it, he decided not to embarrass her by mentioning anything.

He stepped through the kitchen door into barely ordered chaos. One girl went this way while another went that way and two others looked to be on a collision course, but both swerved in the appropriate directions and barely missed running into each other. The women seemed to almost read each others’ minds with each one going in a different direction. How did they ever get anything accomplished? But somehow they managed to pull supper together.

Maybe there was some order to their mayhem he couldn’t detect. That men in general couldn’t. He would like to figure it out but sensed he could spend a lifetime and never understand women. He should give up even trying anymore.

Teresa Miller smiled and came over to him. “My brother stopped by and brought some of your things. They are in a suitcase by the front door.”

“ Your brother?”

“ Ja. David. He wore that blue shirt I made him for his birthday.”

Hannah gave a nervous-sounding giggle, and the crease between her eyebrows deepened. “She meant your brother.”

He didn’t have a brother named David. Maybe she meant Daniel.

“ Ne. I didn’t—”

Lydia put her arm around Teresa, effectively distracting her. “ Mutter , did you get the cake frosted?” The two walked to the far side of the kitchen.

Why did the twins seem nervous? Calling someone by the wrong name was common enough. Most everyone had done it. How many times had he been called by one of his brothers’ names? If he had a cookie for every time, he’d be fat.

Hannah spoke to Amos. “Why don’t you take your suitcase out to the barn? It’s going to take a few minutes to get everything on the table.”

Was she trying to distract him ?

“All right.” He snagged the case and headed out to the barn. That had been strange. But then this had been a bit of a strange day. And he was surrounded by women who didn’t behave or think like men. They were mysterious creatures whose sole purpose was to confuse and distract men.

He set the case on his bed and saw, out of the corner of his eye, the tabby dart in. When he turned to look, the cat dashed back out. What had scared it? He leaned to look on the other side of the potbellied stove, where the cat had run from.

A tiny kitten with its eyes still closed was lying on the ground. It raised its wobbly head and let out a small mew.

Amos picked it up. “Where has your mutter gone?” It seemed females of all species acted strange. He stepped out of the room and scanned the dim interior of the barn.

From the hayloft, the tabby trotted down the slanted ladder with another kitten hanging from her mouth. She ignored Amos and darted into his room. She quickly came back out and meowed at him. Then she put her paws on his leg and meowed again.

“I have your little one.” He crouched down and she took the kitten from him.

He followed her into the tack room. “How many little ones do you have?”

She obviously liked the warmth of the stove for her babies. She looked from him to beside the stove and back again.

He waved his hand. “Go on. Get the others. I’m not going to make you sleep in the cold.”

She darted out.

Amos snagged an unused crate, put in a layer of straw and then an old towel. By the time the mutter cat returned with number three, Amos had the crate with the two kittens in it next to the heat.

The tabby peered over the edge of the box, jumped in with the third kitten and lay down.

“I’ll figure out how to keep the door open and stay warm later.”

When he headed back to the house, all the girls sat silently at the table, hands folded in their laps. No one fluttered about. He could have waited until later to take out his suitcase. It didn’t matter now. He sat next to Sarah as before.

As well as Bartholomew, Teresa and one of the twins weren’t at the table. Which twin was here? She had the crease between her eyebrows, so she must be Hannah.