Free Noah's Sweetheart by Rebecca Kertz Page B

sat, ready to enjoy the afternoon. As the women chatted about the service, the meal and their children, she listened, content as she rubbed her hand over a dozing Hannah, who lay against her chest. She was conscious of the warmth of the baby against her and tears threatened. She closed her eyes so that no one would notice and willed the memory, the pain and fear, away.
    A young boy’s shout, followed by a woman’s scolding, drew Rachel’s attention. Opening her eyes, she couldn’t help but laugh at what she saw. The second-eldest Peachy boy, eleven-year-old Nathaniel, had grabbed his sister’s head-covering and was parading about the yard wearing Ruthie’s Sunday black bonnet.
    “Nate!” Charlotte King reprimanded, trying to look stern, but Rachel could see that her cousin worked hard to stifle her own amusement. “See how upset you’ve made your sister. Where is your hat?”
    “Over there, Charlotte.” He gazed up at her with wide eyes.
    “Why don’t you give Ruthie back her bonnet and put on your hat.”
    “ Ja, Charlotte.”
    Charlotte nodded, approving his choice. As Nathaniel ran to do her bidding, she caught Rachel’s gaze. Her eyes twinkled and Charlotte’s lips broke into a grin. Rachel nodded and grinned back at her.
    “Charlotte?” Ruthie Peachy drew Charlotte’s attention. Rachel felt a little catch as the grateful little girl offered her hand to Rachel’s cousin, and the two set off to enjoy a walk together.
    Rachel closed her eyes again, but this time her thoughts were amused with visions of a little boy in his sister’s bonnet.
    “She’ll make a gut mudder, ” Alta Hershberger said, her eyes narrowing as she watched Charlotte and Ruthie walk away, hand in hand.
    “ Ja, ” Aunt Mae agreed. “Charlotte, like my niece Rachel, has a way with children.”
    Hearing her name, Rachel opened her eyes. “Charlotte had a good teacher in her mudder, ” she said lazily. Hannah stirred, and Rachel calmed her with a gentle hand on the back of her head. Katie Lapp had removed her daughter’s kapp, as it was too warm for the child to be wearing it, especially when she had no need to wear one at her age.
    “Alta, how is your mudder? ” Katie Lapp asked.
    The two women got into a conversation about Alta’s ailing mother, who had problems with diabetes and arthritis, and Rachel listened, only partly hearing.
    “Joshua!” Katie called a while later. “Will you find Amos or one of my sons for me?”
    “Mam?” Noah appeared suddenly. “Were ya looking for one of us?”
    “ Ja, Noah. Joshua! No need to go looking for Amos.” And Aunt Mae’s youngest was only too happy to scamper away and play. “Once again, you are about when I need you,” Katie said with a smile.
    He had been near but out of sight for some time, watching Rachel as she held his baby sister. She’d looked relaxed and peaceful. She’ll make a gut mudder. He could easily see her married and with children. As he’d watched, he’d realized suddenly that he wanted to be her husband. He wanted to be the father of her children. He saw her eyes pop open when she heard his voice, saw her stiffen and sit up straighter. Hannah started to cry but Rachel immediately soothed her.
    “Noah?”
    He quickly recovered himself. “Mam?”
    “Would you tell your vadder that the cleanup is done here and we can go whenever he is ready?”
    He focused his attention on his mother. “ Ja. He is in the north field with Amos.”
    As he went to find his father, Noah couldn’t dispel the mental image of Rachel holding Hannah, of the loving way she patted the baby’s back and cradled the child’s head. His feelings for Rachel reminded him of a conversation he’d overheard earlier between Miriam Zook and Alta Hershberger regarding his friendship with Charlotte. Many of the church district women believed that he and Charlotte would court, marry one day and then have a family. He might have entertained the idea a year or two ago…long before Rachel