Free A Time to Love by Barbara Cameron Page A

teacup, she found herself thinking about his question. "I've had time to think about that," she said slowly. "During my stay in the hospital, you know? I had been too busy going to college, doing an internship at a TV station. Then, suddenly, I got the opportunity to go overseas, and time just slipped away."
    She sighed. "It's hard to meet someone when you're on a plane going, coming, going, coming."
    The only men she saw were soldiers who were concentrating on their job. Or they were men from foreign countries who considered American women to be too forward.
    The years had slipped away. But it was more than being overseas or being so involved in her work. Because she'd found a way to go on camera, people thought she was outgoing, that she was career-driven. That she wanted to be "modern" and pursue a man or just be independent. But Jenny was pretty traditional—or, as a few people had teased her, "old-fashioned."
    Feeling his gaze still on her, she looked at him. "Why are you asking, Matthew?"
    "It is so obvious how much you love children. And you look like you enjoyed being at home with us."
    "Oh, I have," she agreed with a smile. "Thank you for letting me be with you and your family, Matthew."
    "We enjoyed having you," he said with that touch of gravity, of formality, in his tone and speech that was ever-present in the Amish world.
    "You know, things are changing in the Englisch world," she said slowly. "Young men and women are waiting longer to get married. They feel they have to get a foothold in their career. And sometimes the—" she couldn't think of the word—"the broken marriages of their parents make them wary. When they marry, they want so much to make sure that the marriage will last."
    Divorce— that was the word she hadn't been able to remember. Divorce was so unheard of in his world she wondered if she'd have to define it for him. But he nodded.
    "My grandmother told me that many Amish marry young but all the marriages last a long time," she said.
    "Our faith in God, our marriages, our families are not only important to us, they are everything to us," he said simply.
    "But—" she stopped.
    "But it does not mean we're guaranteed there will be no challenges," he said, as if he knew where her thoughts were going. "And it does not mean we're guaranteed our spouse will be with us for fifty years."
    He glanced at the window and stood. "It's getting late. I should take you home."
    Nodding, she pushed her chair back and used the table and her cane to lever herself up. She'd sat too long and was stiff. The first few steps were always tricky.
    Moving carefully, she reached for her coat and was relieved to find that she didn't waver on her feet.
    "Let me help you." Matthew took the coat and held it so that she could slip one arm in, then the other.
    He called his kinner and they came running to say goodbye.
    Annie jumped up and down, excited that she was going with her father to drive Jenny home.
    "Maybe you can come again?" Mary asked shyly.
    Matthew laid a hand on Mary's shoulder as he looked at Jenny. "We hope that she'll visit us often."
    Jenny nodded. "I would love to. Thank you all again for the wonderful meal and company."
     

     
    Her grandmother was in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot, when Jenny got home.
    "Mmm." Jenny sniffed the air. "Is that hot chocolate?"
    "I knew you would be home soon. I made enough for both of us."
    "Great." She hung her coat on the peg.
    "Did you have a good time?" Phoebe served the chocolate in thick white pottery mugs.
    "I had a wonderful time."
    Taking a seat, she took a sip of the chocolate. "This is so good on a cold night."
    A memory came to her of Matthew fixing her hot chocolate after he'd carried her to his home to warm up. She'd felt so taken care of that day.
    She came back to the present, conscious that her grandmother was looking at her, waiting for her to continue.
    "Matthew's children are so sweet. They cooked the supper with Hannah's help, before she