Free Miriam's Story: Part 2 Romance in Amish Country by Melanie Schmidt Page A

– she had Jacob’s baby to consider as well. She’d sit down with Ezra and force herself to eat something. Miriam smiled to herself as she thought about nourishing Jacob’s unborn child – the only bright spot she’d known in weeks.
    Grateful for the kerosene-fueled refrigerator, Miriam pulled sliced ham, cheese, and juice out of the refrigerator, put them on the kitchen table, added slices from a fresh loaf of honey wheat bread, a tub of butter, and thick slices of zucchini bread. She set the kitchen table with the plain stoneware dishes they used for daily family dining and poured juice for Ezra and a cup of tea for herself. When the clock on the mantle chimed twelve, she went looking for her son.
    Seth, always thoughtful and perceptive, had gone to the animal shelter in Paradise last week and brought home a young dog for Ezra’s very own. The medium-sized, mixed-breed dog had whelped four puppies almost immediately, giving Ezra just the perfect distraction from his grief. Losing his father had been particularly hard for Ezra, because as the only son he had been so very close to his beloved Papa. Miriam couldn’t have dreamed up a better way for Ezra to spend these difficult days than in caring for Daisy and her pups. The dogs were currently holed up beneath the side porch in a special box Seth and Shem had brought up from the barn, so Ezra could watch over them next to the house.
    As Miriam approached the side door, she heard Ezra speaking quietly.
    “Papa died four weeks ago today,” he said
    Miriam’s heart constricted as she heard her son share his grief with the dog and her puppies, and she was startled when she heard a deep voice answer Ezra. .
    “I am so sorry for your loss, Ezra. My own papa died when I was not much older than you are, so I know how hard it is.”
    Miriam rushed to the door, knowing that the voice belonged to an unexpected stranger, but something held her back as she paused to let the scene outside continue.
    “What happened to your papa?” Ezra asked.
    “There was a young horse. Papa was training him, when something spooked the beast. I do not know exactly what happened, but my uncles could not get to him in time.”
    Ezra thought about the stranger’s words for a long moment while Miriam waited, holding her breath. Her son had barely spoken since his father’s death, and yet here he was, talking to a stranger.
    “My papa fell off a ladder when he was working on the roof of a barn. My uncles could not get to him in time, either.”
    “I am sorry,” the man said once more.
    Rachel could only see the back of the man’s head, which was covered with a typical Amish straw hat. He sat on the ground with Ezra, the puppies tumbling about them.
    “Did you want to cry all the time?” Ezra asked, so softly Miriam could barely hear him.
    “Yes, I did,” the man replied. “But I tried not to. I was the youngest, and everyone else—my mother, my brothers and sisters—they were trying so hard to be brave in front of me that I did not want to make them sad.”
    “If I cry, I make Mama sad,” Ezra confided. “So I try really hard, too.”
    Miriam blinked back tears.
    “Are you afraid of horses, now?” Ezra asked suddenly.
    “No,” the man answered. “But I am very careful around them, especially the young ones.”
    “I am afraid to climb a ladder,” Ezra whispered.
    “It is all right to be afraid of great heights,” the stranger said, his voice full of understanding. “I know grown men who do not like to climb high ladders for one reason or another.”
    “Are you afraid of heights?” Ezra asked, sounding surprised that a grown man would be afraid of anything.
    “No. Heights and horses do not bother me,” he answered. The man looked at Ezra as if her were about to share a deep, dark secret. “For me, it is water.”
    “Water?”
    “Since I was a small boy, I have never liked being in water. All my brothers and friends would swim in the big pond we have back home, but I