Free Miriam's Heart by Emma Miller

her throat. She didn’t want to do anything to hurt her friendship with John, but she didn’t want to betray her mother’s trust, either. “I think I had better go. They’ll wonder where I am.”
    “All right. It was nice talking to you. Can you call me again tonight?”
    “What time?” She lowered her voice.
    She could hear Irwin calling to Jeremiah. Irwin always played with the little terrier in the morning before chores. Irwin would throw a stick and Jeremiah would run after it, then Irwin would try to get the dog to bring the stick back. But the ragtag little terrier had ideas of his own and he’d tease Irwin by running circles around him. It was a fun game, but Irwin and the dog could spend a half hour fooling around when there were chores to be done.
    “Ten?” John suggested.
    Miriam shook her head. “Too late. I share a bedroom with my sister, and I’d have to sneak out. How about nine?”
    “Ok, nine it is. Wait, will you be at Spence’s tomorrow?”
    “Ya. At least this week. We have eggs and jams to sell.”
    “I’ll see you there, then.”
    “I have to go, John. ’Bye.” She hit the Off button.
    Now, what to do with the phone? She didn’t want to carry it around all day with her. What if it fell out of her pocket? What if Anna or Ruth noticed the bulge and asked what it was?
    She climbed on Susanna’s chair and pushed the red phone back on the top shelf, then slid a book on Pennsylvania Dutch Recipes in front of it. The book was old and tattered and had once been sold to tourists. Mam said the recipes weren’t very good, but Aunt Martha had donated the book, so it had to go in the library.
    She got down off the chair and looked at the book. No one had borrowed it since the library opened, and if they did, Susanna would knock the book down with the broom handle Irwin had found for her. No one would ever see the red cell phone and no one would know that she was secretly calling John Hartman.
    Miriam crossed her fingers and said a prayer that they wouldn’t.
     
    As she and Anna began setting up their sale table at Spence’s Bazaar the following morning, Miriam glanced around anxiously for John. She’d told him that she’d call last night, but she hadn’t been able to think of an excuse to get away. They’d had a family emergency.
    What would she say to him? She couldn’t share family problems with John, but neither did she want him to think that she’d promise to call and just not do it. She wondered if he would act differently if he did show up. Would Anna suspect that something more than their usual friendship was going on? Would she be able to talk to John as easily as they had in the past? Her stomach knotted. She’d not been able to eat this morning. Instead of her normal hearty breakfast, she’d had a slice of toast and a cup of coffee. If this was what romance was, she wasn’t certain that it was as much fun as everyone insinuated.
    And, besides worrying about John, she couldn’t get Johanna out of her mind. Johanna and the children had showed up at the back door just as they were finishing supper last night. Johanna’s eyes were red and Miriam suspected that she’d been crying, but her oldest sister would never admit such a thing. Johanna had asked her and the others to watch the children. She said she needed to talk to Mam. Naturally, they all wanted to know what was wrong, but Johanna was the stubborn one. Whatever her problem was, no one would know until she was ready to reveal it.
    Mam and Johanna had spent the better part of two hours together in Mam’s bedroom. Miriam had wanted to find some excuse to creep down the hall and listen at the door, but she’d never do such a thing. She had to respect Johanna’s privacy, but it wasn’t easy. She, Ruth and Anna were all worried. Only Susanna was her normal happy self, rocking baby Katie in the big rocker Dat’s father had handcrafted until the baby had drifted off to sleep.
    It had been after nine when Mam had asked