Free The Heart's Journey: Stitches in Time Series #2 by Barbara Cameron

Everglades, where they watched a man actually climb into a pen to be near one and not run screaming like a girl as Nick would have done. Nick had sat, entranced, as the trainer grasped the reptile and not only managed to not get eaten but actually talked to it and stroked the gator’s throat and stomach until it went to sleep!
    They explored swampy places in the Everglades with trees that dripped strands of something called Spanish moss that looked like the gray beards of old men—and with shifting pools of quicksand that were said to have caught men unaware.
    There were Native Americans there who didn’t dress like the ones he’d seen in other states. The women wore bright cotton skirts and shirts with intricate pattern bands on them and arranged their hair in an unusual topknot. The men wore long shirts and trousers, not feathers like in other states.
    Those road trips and being around his father’s business had led to Nick’s interest in making transportation his career after community college. He’d joined the business in driving the Amish and the tourists who came to visit the area and had taken over when his father died two years ago.
    He’d remembered that long-ago Florida trip when Leah began talking about Pinecraft. So it had been intriguing to him when Leah mentioned Florida. He’d always wanted to come back and hadn’t found the time or the money. Then suddenly,it seemed it all worked out for both Leah and him to have what they wanted. And Naomi coming along hadn’t hurt.
    He had to admit to a strong attraction to Naomi. But it was just that—a strong attraction that couldn’t go anywhere. He wasn’t looking to break up her relationship. Even if he’d wanted to, something couldn’t happen between them.
    Then, too, he was pretty realistic about why a woman might or might not be interested in him. He surely didn’t have the looks, personality, or money as enticements to have a relationship—not that Naomi could ever be considered someone interested in him for money. The trip had shown him that. She’d been upset when he paid for their coffee and snack yesterday and had asked a number of times how they were going to reimburse him.
    He glanced in the rearview mirror. Leah was glued to her window. When she realized he was looking at her, she grinned. “Do you need directions to the cottage?”
    “Already got them in the GPS,” he told her.
    They traveled down a wide boulevard with waving palm trees and then Nick turned at a light.
    “I see I won’t have to miss Amish food,” he said with satisfaction as they caught a glimpse of Yoder’s Amish Restaurant to the right.
    “You know you’re going to be eating with us a lot,” Leah told him. “We wouldn’t let you starve after you went to all the trouble of driving us here.”
    “That’s hardly a vacation for you if you’re cooking,” Nick said.
    “But I love to cook,” Leah protested. “And here I’ll have more time than I do after a workday.”
    “You’re staying off that ankle,” Naomi told her firmly.
    Dozens of charming little houses came into view, all with scrupulously tended lawns. Brightly colored flowers bloomedin pots everywhere. Nick half-expected to see little bluebirds fluttering from the trees.
    “They look like little fairy tale cottages,” Naomi mused. “Don’t they look like the ones in the storybook I had when I was a girl?” she asked, turning to her grandmother.
    “They do,” Leah marveled. “What a pretty place to vacation.”
    “There are some year-round residents, I’m told,” Nick said. He wasn’t as fanciful as Naomi, guessing these were the smallish cottages built in Florida after World War II. But he’d never seen homes so meticulously kept up.
    He drove slowly around the streets—they were packed with visitors dressed in Amish and Mennonite garb—past the shuffleboard court where people played one last game as dusk fell. Others were cleaning up from what appeared to be a community barbecue