Free Joyful by Shelley Shepard Gray

how he used to gaze at her so sweetly, as if she were the only girl in the world. Well, the only girl in the world he was interested in.
    Remembering some of the things he’d said, fearing that some of his excuses might even make sense, she took another fortifying breath and brushed off her disappointment. Tonight, when she was back home in her quiet house, she would have all the time she needed to dwell on their past.
    Now, though, she needed to swallow her pride and do what she could for his family. Now that Randall was gone, she was able to relax enough to really examine the kitchen. She’d only been scrubbing the kettle to have something to do besides stare at him. And maybe to needle him a bit because she was feeling so uneasy being around him again.
    As she returned to the kitchen, she realized that under the dirt and grime was the saddest sight ever. Instead of colorful chaos, the large kitchen was spotless and bare. No papers or notes were attached to the front of the refrigerator, nothing lay on the countertops.
    She blinked, remembering when Beverly, Claire, and Junior were still in the house. Back then, things had looked much different. The colorful dish towels that used to hang on the gas stove’s door handle were now gone. As was the ceramic cookie jar fashioned in the shape of a dachshund.
    A year ago, books and papers and candles littered the countertops, making the big house into a comfortable home, illustrating to one and all that a family lived there. Now? What wasn’t covered in dust and grime looked sterile, almost as if no one had lived there for months.
    Opening the refrigerator, Elizabeth half expected it to be empty and bare, too. Bracing herself, she peered inside, wondering how she was going to make a decent supper out of nothing. But instead of vacant shelves, there was a bounty of food nestled inside. Rows of vegetables, cartons of fresh berries, and a container of raw chicken were on one shelf. Milk, eggs, butter, a block of cheddar cheese, and a carton of sour cream lay on another.
    After opening a few cabinets, she found sugar and flour, a glass jar filled with rice and a dozen boxes of flavored gelatin.
    It looked like supper was going to be made after all.
    With Kaylene in mind, she decided on a simple meal of fried chicken, broccoli and rice casserole, and a Jell-O salad. And she would make some sugar cookies, too, because she had a feeling Kaylene would be happy to have a treat when she came home from school.
    After wrapping an old dishcloth around her waist, she got to work, taking pleasure in doing such simple things as measuring flour and sugar, then carefully rolling out the dough. She was humming to herself by the time she was cutting neat circles in the dough with the top of a glass.
    Once the first batch of cookies were baking, she walked upstairs, peeking in bedrooms and bathrooms.
    Funny how she knew each Beiler well enough to guess whose room was whose, just from the quilts on the beds and the small number of items on desks and bedside tables.
    Micah was the easiest to spot. He had piles of textbooks on every available space. He also had three spiral notebooks on his desk, an assortment of pencils, each in various need of sharpening, and a calculator tossed on the floor.
    His room was also the only one without a quilt. Instead was a neat-looking plain brown bedspread and three pillows. Four pegs lined one wall. Two shirts, one light blue, one green, hung beside a pair of dark blue pants.
    Levi’s room was the complete opposite. His bed was unmade; clothes, both Amish and English, littered the floor. On his bedside table was a novel and a sports magazine. But there was also a well-worn Bible next to his bed. Unable to help herself, Elizabeth peeked inside.
    As she suspected, it was their family’s Bible. Both of their parents’ names were neatly inscribed at the top of the first page. Elizabeth ran a hand along the leather cover, wondering just how much