Free Leah's Choice by Emma Miller Page B

wouldn’t stop loving me, would you, Mam?”
    “ Ne, child, never. I want you to be happy, but I also want you to be realistic. And I want you to realize that if you chose a husband from outside our faith, many of your larger family—friends, relatives, neighbors would be lost to you.”
    “I know that…but I don’t know why you’re saying this to me. I’m not dating anyone, and—”
    “Hush, Leah. Don’t say what you’ll regret. We’ve always known each other’s hearts. You may look like my mother, but you’re a lot like me. There’s an independence in you that your sisters don’t share. You’ll follow your heart, no matter where it leads you.” She took a deep breath. “I’m just saying that your life will be a lot simpler if you find a nice Amish boy and start walking out with him.”
    “Do you have anyone in mind?” Leah went to the steps and whistled for Jeremiah. “I’ve a mind to leave him out all night.”
    Her mother joined her. “I wouldn’t have you think that your grandfather was a bad man. He wasn’t. He was a good man. He loved his children, and we loved him. But he was very set in his ways. My mother always said that Dad would have been a martyr if he’d lived in the bad times in Germany.”
    Leah stepped back and looked into her mother’s face. It was dark on the porch, and her features were hidden in shadow. “So you knew the price you’d have to pay, but you chose to follow your heart and marry Dat.”
    “ Ya, I did. For me, I think it was the right choice. I could never have had a better husband—a better father for my children.” She sighed. “Maybe I took after my Dad…maybe I’m as stubborn as he was.”
    “But you wouldn’t—” Jeremiah began to bark. “What’s wrong with him?”
    “I think someone’s coming,” her mother said. “There.” She pointed.
    Leah stared into the darkness and saw a small beam of light. “Who’d be coming this late? On foot?”

Chapter Seven
    “W e’ll see, won’t we?” Mam started down the steps.
    “Wait,” Leah cautioned. “Let me get a flashlight.”
    “Hello!” Mam called.
    “It’s me! Johanna.” The flashlight beam bobbed and grew brighter. Jeremiah’s excited yips nearly drowned out her sister’s voice.
    “Johanna?” Leah called. “Is someone sick?” She hurried down the steps after her mother. She couldn’t imagine why her eldest sister had walked over in the dark this late at night.
    “We’re all fine,” Johanna answered. But something in her voice told Leah that wasn’t quite true.
    Leah’s nephew, red-haired Jonah, ran into her mother’s arms and Mam scooped him up. “How’s my big boy?” she asked. “Did you walk all the way over here?”
    “Ya,” Jonah said shyly. “I did. Katy rode.”
    Leah heard the squeak of wagon wheels and Johanna materialized out of the dark, pulling Jonah’s little red wagon. Katy, the baby, sprawled inside, one small booted foot hanging over the wooden railing.
    “Not so far,” Johanna said. “We took a shortcut through the fields, came down the woods lane and up through your pasture.”
    It was still a long way for a four-year-old to walk and her sister to pull the baby. “Is she asleep?” She hugged Johanna. “I wish I’d known you wanted to come. I’d have hitched up one of the horses and driven over to fetch you.”
    “Too bad we don’t have one of those cell phones,” Johanna said, switching off her flashlight and putting it in the wagon. “But it didn’t take me long. Katy’s sleeping like a log. It’s way past her bedtime.”
    Leah looked at her, waiting for some explanation.
    “Wilmer’s not at home, and Jonah and I decided that it would be fun to spend the night with all of you,” Johanna said.
    “Wilmer took the horse and buggy?” Mam asked. Leah could tell by her mother’s tone that she was suspicious, too. This simply wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision to come visiting, but Johanna would tell them the real reason when she