Grace: A Christmas Sisters of the Heart Novel Read Free

the suitcase and carried it out of the van. The driver helped her down the step and took her payment easily, not even counting it before slipping it into his black wool coat.
    “Merry Christmas,” he murmured before closing his door and pulling out of the driveway.
    Leaving her alone. Staring at the wide front steps. At the garland that was roped around the porch railing. Suddenly, everything seemed to be too much. The trip, the traveling, the stress. The cold. A wave of dizziness fell over her.
    The front door opened. A pretty woman just about her age stepped out and stared. “May I help you?”
    The world was tilting. Threatening to go black. “I’m Melody Gingerich.”
    Blue eyes narrowed. “And?”
    “I … I came to stay for Christmas,” she murmured. In a haze, she did her best to concentrate, but the woman’s reaction was truly puzzling.
    “You came to do what?” the girl asked, her voice sounding high pitched. Almost angry.
    “I have a certificate.”
    “For what?”
    As the girl’s eyes continued to stare her down, Melody fumbled for a better explanation. But truly, all ideas fled her mind. She didn’t know what to say. How to explain about everything she’d been through. Everything she’d done.
    Then it didn’t matter. Because her knees gave away, her world spun, and her suitcase fell to the ground with a thud.
    Seconds later, she felt the cold icy snow cradle her cheek … as her world went black.

Chapter 2
     
    December 20, 4:00 P.M.
    The girl had fallen.
    Heedless of the open door behind her, Katie ran out to the patch where the girl lay crumbled. A light amount of snow coated the ground, and moisture filtered through the heavy wool of her dress as she sank to her knees. “Miss?” she whispered. “Miss? Can you hear me?”
    Unfortunately, no fluttering of eyelashes or gasp of surprise greeted her. Instead, the girl remained motionless, her gray dress and black apron in disarray around her ankles. Katie lifted the girl’s hand and felt for a pulse along her wrist. She sighed in relief as a steady rhythm of blood coursed through the veins. “Oh, thank goodness,” she breathed. For a moment, there, Katie had feared the worst.
    Without regard for the damp ground, Katie sat down and resituated the girl’s head. With an anxious heart, she slipped off her black traveling bonnet and carefully set her
kapp
to rights.
    But still she lay there, quiet.
    “What to do?” Katie murmured. Spying the white dishcloth that had fallen from her hand, Katie picked it up and folded it several times. Finally, she rested the girl’s head on it. “At least your
kapp
might stay dry this way.”
    And still, the girl was unresponsive. “What could be wrong?” Katie murmured. Puzzled, she pressed her fingers to the girl’s forehead. Perhaps she was feverish? No. Her skin was cool to the touch.
    Though her brain told her the newcomer had simply passed out, Katie’s heart began to pound. She’d never witnessed anyone being so unresponsive for so long.
    And so she tried for a reaction yet again. “Miss? Can you hear me? Miss? Are you all right?”
    Close up, she noticed that the girl’s hair was a striking auburn, the color of a fox’s coat in winter. The strands that had fallen out of the
kapp
and bonnet looked rich and lush against the her fair skin. By force of habit, she carefully smoothed back the hair, like she did with her stepdaughters.
    That touch led to more methodical ones. Perhaps the girl had hit her head and was bleeding? As Katie examined the girl’s scalp, looking for evidence of a serious injury, her own pulse raced. What were they going to do if this girl did indeed need emergency medical assistance?
    Oh, she hoped not. They were far enough away fromthe main roads that any ambulance would take at least ten or fifteen minutes. And that might be too late.
    Oh, she needed this girl to rouse!
    And once more Katie thought, perhaps it was all her fault she’d even fallen! No one needed to tell