Free Courting Emily (A Wells Landing Book 2) by Amy Lillard

request. “It’s my favorite.”

    “I think he likes you,” Mary said as they trotted home that afternoon. They left the Riehls’ house just after three, which gave them plenty of time to get home before milking began.
    It had taken the better part of the morning, but the Riehl house and barn had never looked better.
    “What?” Emily turned her attention from her thoughts to her sister. The horses practically knew the way home and could maneuver without much help from her, which left her wallowing in her own thoughts.
    “I think Elam likes you,” Mary explained.
    “No more than any other maedel .” As she said the words, his cold stare and warning to stay away from his family flashed through her mind.
    “Oh, jah . Lots more.”
    Emily shook her head. “You’re wrong. He hates me.”
    “‘Hate is an ugly word,’” she said, quoting their mother.
    “Strongly dislikes, then.”
    Mary shook her head, their shoulders bumping as they cantered along. “He likes you.”
    “He yelled at me for bringing his father outside.”
    “I watched the whole thing, and there was no yelling.”
    Emily twisted her mouth into a grimace. “He wanted to then.”
    Mary smiled. “You know what the Englisch say.”
    “ Nay, ” Emily said, already tired of the conversation. “I don’t.”
    “It is a short line between hate and love.”
    She frowned at her sister. “Are you sure that is how it goes?”
    “It is something like that. It means that the person who cares about you the most can make you the angriest.”
    “I’m not sure I believe that,” Emily said, pulling the buggy to a stop. She waited at the intersection for a beat before setting the horse in motion once again.
    “Of course it is true.”
    Emily shook her head, her sister’s intentions suddenly clear. “Oh, nay, you don’t. Just because you are in love doesn’t mean the world needs to be in love with you.”
    “What about Luke?” Mary asked with a self-satisfied smirk.
    Her heart gave a painful thump at the mention of his name. She schooled her features to hide her inner turmoil, though if anyone knew how much she missed Luke, it was her sister. “What about Luke?”
    “Does he count in your ‘the world doesn’t need to be in love theory?’ Of course not.”
    Emily sniffed. “I’m just saying you shouldn’t try to see feelings where there are none.”
    “I know what I saw,” Mary insisted.
    “I know he loves someone else.”
    Mary’s eyes grew wide. “How do you know that?”
    “He told me . . . sort of. I mean, he said something that, oh never mind.”
    “Was this before or after he ‘yelled’ at you?”
    Emily decided it best not to answer that question. “After the milking, will you go into town with me?”
    “ Jah, ” Mary said immediately. “What do you want to do in town?”
    “I want to go by the library and look up some stuff on the computer.”
    Mary’s eyes grew impossibly wide. “On the Englisch computer?”
    “Are there any other kind?”
    “ Nay . . . I mean . . . Dat will . . . Emily!”
    “It is for a gut cause,” she defended. “I want to check out some things.” She had been hearing talk of the Englisch Internet where anything and everything could be found. Like ways to help people who had suffered head injuries and problems with medications. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she just did: she needed to help James Riehl.
    “How are you going to work an Englisch computer?” Mary asked.
    “The librarian will help me, jah? ”
    Mary shrugged. “I suppose. But what if Dat finds out?”
    “He’s not going to,” she said with confidence. “And you’re not going to tell him.”

Chapter Seven
    Emily slid from the buggy two days later and smoothed her hands over her lilac dress. It wasn’t the same purple one that James loved so much, but hopefully he would enjoy this one just as well.
    She reached behind the seat and pulled out the basket of goodies she had collected. Tucked in the bottom,