Free A Husband For Mari (The Amish Matchmaker 2) by Emma Miller Page B

Mari liked Anna at once, with her warm expression and laughing eyes. “You’re Grace’s sister, right?”
    “One of them,” Anna replied. “Take my spatula and keep this meat from burning. I’ll mix up the salsa. Watch me, and you’ll know how to do it next time.”
    “Everyone will be starving,” Ellie said.
    Jerushah and another young woman who Anna introduced as her sister Rebecca came into the kitchen and began to chop onions and grate cheese. Soon the five of them were laughing and talking in Deitsch . Rebecca, a pretty girl a little younger than the rest of them, was as friendly as her sister Anna, and Mari liked her at once, too.
    “Oh, don’t forget,” Rebecca said to Anna after a few minutes, “tomorrow is the coat exchange at Mam ’s. She’ll need help.”
    “I’ll be there.” Anna glanced at Mari. “You should come. Sara says you’re a good organizer. We could use your help.”
    “ Ya , come,” Rebecca urged. “We have a good time, and our mam really does need extra hands.”
    “I’d love to.” Mari added more fresh ground beef to a frying pan. “But I have to work until noon.”
    “Perfect,” Rebecca said. “I’ll pick you up a little after one. It doesn’t start until two o’clock, but there’s a lot to do there before the moms and grandmothers arrive. You have a son about... What is he? Eight years old?”
    “Nine.” Mari dumped the pan of cooked ground beef into a strainer.
    “They grow like weeds at that age, don’t they?” Anna asked. “Anyway, if you have any boots or coats, sweaters or hats that he’s outgrown, bring them. We call it a coat exchange, but really it’s a clothing exchange for our kids. The whole afternoon is a little crazy, but it’s fun. You’ll enjoy yourself.”
    Mari smiled but didn’t say anything. She loved the idea of a coat exchange; she just wished she had a coat to contribute.
    “And be sure to take something home with you,” Rebecca insisted. “If you have a boy, you can always use another winter coat. We do this twice a year, midwinter and summer before school starts.”
    Anna chuckled. “Mari may not want her Englisher boy wearing an Amish coat. They’re warm, and they hold up good, though.”
    “You can meet our mother and most of the women in Seven Poplars,” Rebecca offered. “And you and your son should stay for supper. My sisters will be there, and your son can meet our kids. It will be fun—I promise.”
    Mari wavered. “I’ll be glad to help out, but I’m not sure that your mother will want me to stay for—”
    “Our mam?” Anna laughed. “The more at our mother’s table, the happier she is.”
    “She’s coming,” Rebecca told her sister. Then she glanced at Mari. “You’ll have a good time, I promise you. And so will your son.”
    “All right.” Mari gave in with a smile. Everyone was so nice that she wanted to pinch herself to prove she wasn’t dreaming. “Thank you.”
    “Don’t thank us yet,” Anna teased. “Wait until you see how much work you’ve just agreed to.”

Chapter Five
    T he coat swap was every bit as crazy as Anna had warned it would be. Dozens of children ran, climbed, crawled and tumbled through Hannah Yoder’s kitchen. Babies cried, clapped their hands and squirmed in their mother’s and older siblings’ arms. School-age boys in lined denim coats and black wool hats were tugged into the parlor, which held piles of coats of all sizes.
    The system was simple enough. People dropped off coats, found ones that fit their children and left. Between helping find sizes, Mari sorted through the trade-ins to see if they needed mending, washing or were too far gone to be used for another boy. Anything that couldn’t be worn any longer, she’d been told, would be cut up to be used in rag rugs.
    For two hours Mari worked. As fast as coats went out, coats came in, and soon her neat piles of particular sizes weren’t so neat anymore. When there was a lull in activity and she found herself