Free An Amish Match by Jo Ann Brown

table soon,” he said as he did every evening after work. “So don’t dawdle.”
    â€œAre you sure your bride will have it ready?” Timothy asked.
    He glanced at his grinning teenage son. Tempted to remind his son that Timothy didn’t know anything about Rebekah, he refrained. Joshua would have to admit he didn’t know much about her, either. He wasn’t going to confess that to his kinder .
    â€œWe’ll see, won’t we?” Joshua strode toward the kitchen door.
    He paused to check the garden. It needed weeding again. He glanced at the chicken coop. The patch he’d put on the roof last month was still in gut shape. Reaching up, he gave the clothesline that ran from the back stoop to the barn a gentle tug. The tension remained gut , so he didn’t need to tighten it yet to keep clean clothes from dragging in the grass.
    Joshua sighed. He’d told the boys not to dawdle, and he was doing it himself. Coward! When he’d asked Rebekah to wed him, he’d known there would be changes. There had to be, because the marriage was bringing her and a toddler and soon a boppli into the family. He’d convinced himself he understood that.
    But he hadn’t.
    Not really.
    Knowing he could not loiter in his own yard any longer, he climbed the two steps to the small porch at the back door. He wasn’t sure what he’d find, but when he opened the back door, he stared. Every inch of the kitchen shone like a pond in the bright sunlight. Even the stain he’d assumed would never come out of the counter was gone. Dishes were stacked neatly in the cupboards, and each breath he drew in contained the luscious aromas of freshly baked bread as well as the casserole Rebekah was removing from the oven.
    The last time the kitchen had smelled so enticing was before Tildie became ill. Supper at his mamm’ s house was accompanied by great scents, but his own kitchen had been filled with odors of smoke and scorched pans and foods that didn’t go together.
    His gaze riveted on her. Strands of red hair had escaped her kapp and floated around her face like wisps of cloud. Her face glowed with the heat from the oven, and she smiled as she drew in a deep breath of the steam coming from the casserole.
    He had never seen her look so beautiful or so at ease. The thought shocked him. He’d always considered her pretty, but he’d never thought about how taut her shoulders usually were. Not just since he’d asked her to marry. Every time he’d seen her.
    â€œDaedi!”
    Deborah rushed over and threw her arms around his waist. He embraced her, turning his attention from Rebekah and the kitchen’s transformation to his daughter. Her smile was wider than he’d seen in a long time. She must have enjoyed her time with Rebekah and Sammy after school.
    A pulse of an unexpected envy tugged at him. He dismissed it, not wanting to examine too closely how he wished he could have shared that time with them.
    â€œPerfect timing,” Rebekah said as she carried the casserole of scalloped potatoes to the table. Platters of sliced roast beef were set beside bowls holding corn and green beans. Sliced bread was flanked by butter and apple butter. Chowchow and pickled beets completed the feast. She looked past him, and he realized Timothy and Levi stood behind him when she asked, “Do you boys need to wash up?”
    His mouth watered. His sons’ expressions were bright with anticipation, and he wondered if his own face looked the same. Even so, he motioned for the boys to go into the laundry room to wash their hands. They went with a speed he hadn’t seen them show before dinner...ever.
    As he went to the kitchen sink, he almost bumped into Sammy, who was racing to his mamm . The kind glanced at him fearfully. He hoped the little boy would get used to him soon. Maybe in his own young way Sammy mourned for Lloyd and wasn’t ready to replace his daed with another