Free An Amish Christmas Quilt by Jennifer Kelly; Beckstrand Charlotte; Long Hubbard Page B

telling him that—even though I agree with you,” Mary replied. It wasn’t the Plain way to value good looks over a man’s other qualities. “And don’t you tell Seth I said so, either!”
    Taylor drew her fingers across her lips, as though closing a zipper. Then she giggled. “I hope it’s not snowy and cold on Christmas Eve. This is going to be so fabulous !”

C HAPTER 7
    When the bell above the shop door jangled, Seth looked up from the shelf he was restocking. Was he imagining things, or was that Mary Kauffman peering into his showroom? “Come on in!” he called out. “I just got a new shipment of wooden toys. They’re on consignment from crafters in other Amish towns.”
    â€œAunt Miriam told me you might have something for Lucy and Sol,” Mary replied as she walked toward him. “She’s baking cookies with them, so this is a gut time to find their Christmas gifts.”
    Seth paused to watch her. What a picture she made! Her strawberry-blond hair glimmered beneath her crisp kapp , and even though Mary still wore black, she seemed so much healthier—and happier—than she had on that fateful day when he’d found her passed out in her surrey. From his basket carrier, Emmanuel gurgled happily. Was it Seth’s imagination again, or did the wee boy kick his feet and wiggle when their gazes met?
    Better keep your mind on business, he reminded himself. Letting your imagination run free can only lead to trouble.
    And yet, how could anything bad come from getting better acquainted with Mary Kauffman, now that she’d committed to staying in Willow Ridge? It was a rare treat, seeing her here without Lucy and Sol . . . even if the tilt of her brows suggested she might have something on her mind besides shopping.
    â€œThese wooden yo-yos are a big hit with the boys,” Seth remarked as he held one up. “And we have wooden pull-carts and checker games, along with doll cradles and kid-sized rocking chairs. Look around all you want. It’s gut to see you.”
    Mary smiled up at him. “If I can’t find something here, either I’m too picky or Lucy and Sol already have too many toys,” she remarked. She placed her hand on the head of a rocking horse with yarn fringe for a mane and tail, smiling as it swung forward and back . . . forward and back. “I’d be fibbing if I didn’t tell you why I really came to see you, though.”
    Seth’s heart turned a couple of flip-flops. His mind raced over several enticing possibilities. “ Jah , and why would that be?”
    â€œYesterday afternoon, Bishop Tom agreed that a living Nativity would be a gut idea, weather permitting. The Leitner kids and my two are so excited, and Ben’s going to fix up that new addition to the barn you built for us, so—” Mary fixed her deep green eyes on him. “All we need is Joseph. I’m hoping you’ll join us, Seth.”
    The smile dropped from his face. “It’s not that I don’t like the Nativity idea,” he insisted, “but Christmas Eve programs were the bane of my existence when I was a kid in school. I’m sorry, Mary, but—”
    â€œBut you won’t have to say one word ,” Mary said persuasively. “I could ask Ben, but . . . well, after the way you helped me when Emmanuel was born, and how you seemed so—so solid and strong—when Dat fussed at me last Sunday, I was hoping . . .”
    Seth really, really hated to disappoint Mary. She didn’t impress him as the type to be constantly pecking at a fellow, asking for favors to get his attention, either. And he couldn’t deny how the shine in her eyes and her melodious voice affected him as they stood in silence . . . a silence she was probably using to make him give in.
    â€œI have a hard time believing you’re afraid to be in front of people, Seth. And you’ve known most of the folks