Free Anna's Return by Marta Perry Page A

ought to be doing.”
    “What I’m doing is working in the machine shop with Joseph,” he said flatly. “That is what I do, and I’m content.”
    Even as he said the word, he wondered. Was he content? He’d made his decision, and he’d abide by it. But whether it had been made with the heart or the head, he still wasn’t sure.
    Star, taking exception to a barn swallow that swooped low over the fence, tossed his head and trotted to the far end of the field, where he pawed at the ground a few times before dropping his head to the grass.
    Anna watched him. “You’ll have your hands full with this one, I think.”
    “Ja, you’re right about that.” He tickled Gracie’s chin. “Gracie won’t be petting Star for a while, that’s certain-sure.” He glanced from the baby’s face to her mother’s. “Are things going all right for you, Anna?”
    “Fine,” she said, clipping off the word. “Don’t I look all right?”
    “You’re looking more Amish every day.” He leaned back against the fence to study her. “I could say you still look a little nervous, but if I did, you might bite my head off.”
    Her lips pressed together for an instant. “Again, you mean. I should apologize for what I said the other day. I was rude. I know you were just trying to help.”
    “It’s not a problem.”
    “You’re kind to say so.” She disentangled Gracie’s fingers from her kapp strings, patting the chubby hand. “Maybe I am a little nervous. Bishop Mose is coming by to talk to me tonight.”
    So. Anna would face the bishop, and it bothered her. “Well, that’s not so bad, is it? You’ve known him since you were born.”
    She nodded, but her gaze slipped away from his. “I guess that’s so.” She was silent for a moment, but her forehead was knotted. “When you came back, what did he say to you?”
    He didn’t especially want to remember that time, but he would, if it helped Anna.
    “We talked. About why I’d left, and what it had been like out there.” He jerked his head, but Anna would know he wasn’t meaning the distant line of trees, but what lay beyond. “He talked about what it meant to come back. Asked me to be sure I was ready before I made the commitment to be baptized.”
    Anna nodded. She didn’t look as if she relished that prospect. “You went before the congregation then.”
    “Ja. Bishop Mose said I could wait for a bit if I wanted, but my mamm was sick, so it was important to do it right away.” His throat thickened. His mother had been dying; they’d all known that. But she’d seen her son restored to the fellowship before she passed.
    “Myra told me about her death. I’m sorry.”
    He nodded, not able to say more. Anna was pushing him down some roads he’d just as soon not take.
    “You’ve seen the rest of it with others. I knelt before the congregation, confessed, was forgiven. And everything was like it had been before.”
    “Like it had been before.” She repeated the words, but they didn’t seem to give her much comfort.
    “Don’t look that way, Anna.” Impulsively he reached out to her, wanting to wipe away that expression. “I came back because I had to, you see. Because of my mamm. It will be easier for you. I’m sure of it. After all, you came back because you wanted to.”
    For a long moment she stared at him, her blue eyes wide with some emotion he couldn’t name. And then her lashes swept down, hiding it from him.
    “Ja,” she said, her voice flat. “I’m sure you’re right.”
     
     
    “After supper” could mean most anytime, Anna decided as she and Myra washed up the dishes. Bishop Mose could show up soon, and she had to be ready.
    Unfortunately, her mind was a blank.
    Samuel had reminded her that she’d known Bishop Mose from her earliest memories, which was certainly true. She’d loved going to his harness shop with Daadi, and he’d always had a gentle word and a twinkle in his eyes for her. But that had been long ago, and this was now.
    Myra,