Hannah's Joy Read Free Page A

settled as he did since Katie came into his life.
    “W-women are always busy,” William said, taking the top off his foam cup and blowing gently on the steaming coffee.
    Funny, how easy it was to talk with Caleb—far easier than talking to his own brother. But Isaac wasn’t much of a listener, not like Caleb was.
    Besides, working with wood just seemed to calm a person. As if he knew what William was thinking, Caleb ran a hand along the curved back of the bench that was William’s latest project, his touch seeming as affectionate as if the wood were alive.
    “Ja, women are,” Caleb said. “Katie especially.” His face warmed as it always did when he spoke of her.
    “Katie especially what?” Quick, light footsteps accompanied the words, and Katie came through the archway that linked the two shops, smiling at Caleb in a way that suggested he was the only man in the world.
    “Katie especially is busy, ain’t so?” Caleb said, reaching out to link his fingers with hers. “If I’d known you’d be back this soon, Will could have brought you a cruller.”
    “I’ll just have a bite of yours.” She broke off a small piece, turning her smile on William. “You’ve been down to Paula’s bakery already, I see. Was her niece there?”
    “J-ja.” Hannah’s soft brown curls seemed to frame her heart-shaped face in his mind.
    Katie nodded. “It’s been a gut thing for Paula, having Hannah komm to stay. Paula was telling me yesterday how busy she’s been.”
    “We’ve all been busy,” Caleb reminded her. “You and the other merchants worked so hard this summer to bring more people to town—now you have to work harder to keep up with them.”
    “That’s better than having no customers at all,” Katie said, her tone teasing. “Where would you be without me?”
    “All alone,” William said. “A g-grumpy old b-bachelor.”
    Caleb grinned. “You’re right about that, for sure. Still, I have to wonder sometimes if Katie won’t be too busy even to marry me, come November.”
    “Just you try and get away.” Katie raised their linked hands. “I won’t let you go. William would help me hog-tie you, ain’t so?”
    William nodded, responding with a smile to their teasing. He liked seeing the two of them so happy. And he’d like to believe that someday he’d find what Caleb had with Katie.
    But the years seemed to be slipping away, and it almost felt as if life was passing him by. As if he were intended always to be on the fringe of things, watching other people’s lives.
    That image of Hannah Conroy slid back into his mind. With her Englisch dress and manner, Hannah seemed out of place behind the counter at the Plain Good Bakery, as if she didn’t quite belong, either.
    “About Hannah,” Katie said, almost as if she were reading his thoughts. “I heard something today that surprised me.”
    “J-ja?” He couldn’t help the spark of interest he felt.
    “Of course we knew that Hannah was a widow.” Sympathy filled Katie’s face. “Poor thing, so young and with a baby to care for, besides. But I’d never heard until today how her husband died.” She hesitated, her forehead wrinkling. “He was a soldier, did you know that? Killed in combat, they say.”
    William absorbed that, trying to understand. A Mennonite woman married to a soldier? Mennonites and Amish shared a fundamental devotion to nonviolence, governing their lives by it. He understood the perplexity that underlay Katie’s words. It just didn’t seem possible.
    “I d-d-didn’t know.” He saw again the strain written in the lines around Hannah’s brown eyes. Maybe that explained, at least a little, the isolation he sensed in her.
    “Hannah’s parents left the valley when she was a child,” Caleb said. “I suppose they might have left the church, as well. I do remember hearing Mamm talk about how sorry she was for Paula, losing the sister she was so close to.”
    “It’s gut that she has Hannah back, I guess,” Katie said.