Free Anna's Crossing: An Amish Beginnings Novel by Suzanne Woods Fisher Page B

what she expected him to be. His gray eyes met hers with a gentle compassion that surprised her. She couldn’t look away from his eyes. They were gray. Not blue-gray. Not hazel-gray. Pure gray like polished pewter. They pierced into her eyes from beneath straight dark brows and tanned skin that contrasted with his sun-streaked hair. A strange feeling arose—something familiar, something appealing. Slowly, she adjusted her stance, balanced on her own feet, and backed away, then hurried to join Felix at the stairs.
    At the top of the companionway, she chanced a glance back and found Bairn staring at the bottom of her dress with a curious look on his face. She looked down and realized she was barefoot. He had been looking at her ankles and she felt her face go scarlet once again.
    He tilted his head as if he wanted to say something, but then the ship bell clanged and he moved away, tipping his head once more.
    Felix waited for her on the next step, his eyes glued on Bairn as he strode down the deck.
    “Felix, you foolish, foolish boy. How could you have dared to go into the captain’s bunk?”
    “Well, I won’t do it again,” he said in a puny voice.
    But he would. She knew he would. She could read his mind.
    Anna paused, reluctant to go below, and watched the sea, watched sailors climb up and down the rigging as if it werechild’s play. The idea of climbing that high left her dizzy. The sway of the ropes was more nausea-invoking to her than the rolling of the deck. She couldn’t look up at them anymore.
    Not so for Felix. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
    “Amazing,” she echoed faintly, though her tone wasn’t the same as his.
    “Being up there must feel like flying.”
    She took a deep breath of salty air, dreading the thought of going back down into the stale, putrid air of the lower deck.
    “What do you think of Bairn?”
    What did she think of him? She didn’t know. She had no idea how to act with this man. She was accustomed to older men, like Christian and Josef and her grandfather, and young boys, like Peter and Johann and Felix. But she hadn’t been around many men her age, and certainly not someone like him. “What kind of name is Bairn for a ship’s officer?”
    “It’s Scottish for boy , he said.”
    Aha! She knew Felix understood more English than he let on.
    He lifted his head. “He’s nice, isn’t he?”
    Nice? Yes, in a way, Bairn was surprisingly kind to them. But his eyes were distant and a little mysterious. A bit sad too. “He’s not one of us, Felix. He’s a stranger, an outsider. He doesn’t follow the straight and narrow path. You ought not to be talking to him.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Nor should you be sneaking into places you don’t belong. The captain’s quarters, of all places! You should be ashamed. Next time, Bairn may not be as friendly to you.”
    Anna resisted the urge to pinch her nose as she reached the bottom step of the companionway. With more than a little relief, she realized that her stomach wasn’t bothering her nearlyas much as it was before she went above deck. She wasn’t sure if it was the fresh sea air, the ginger, or just the benefit that came from thinking of something other than seasickness. She went straight to her chest to search her grandmother’s remedy box for ginger root and smiled when she found it. She sliced it up to pass out to those who were sickest.
    Lizzie lay on her pallet, green as a spring gourd, utterly miserable.
    “Chew this, Lizzie. It will help.” Anna knelt down beside her and tried to distract her. “Your babe will be the first of our church to be born in the New World.”
    “Or on this horrible ship.”
    Anna’s head jerked up. “What?”
    Lizzie’s face crumpled. “Oh, Anna. I lied. I was with child when Peter and I were wed. I’m . . . six months along.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Maybe seven.”
    Anna’s heart pounded so hard it threatened to bruise her ribs from the inside. She couldn’t