Huckleberry Spring Read Free Page A

actually seen stars. Seeing Emma felt much worse.
    What was she doing on Huckleberry Hill? And how would his heart go on beating now that he’d seen her?
    His gut clenched violently. All that time in Florida and nothing had changed. After a glimpse of Emma, he felt less in control of his emotions than ever, as if a tidal wave had swept him off his feet and sucked him into the depths of the sea.
    With her yellow hair and eyes the color of the ocean at sunrise, she had haunted his dreams every night since he’d left Wisconsin. If anything, she was more beautiful than he remembered. With that ten-second look at her, he realized that his absence had made him long for her even more.
    “Oh, dear,” he heard Mammi say, as if from a great distance.
    With his suitcase clutched tightly in his fist, Ben found that his legs would not support him. He stumbled to one of the kitchen chairs, dropped his suitcase with a thud, and buried his face in his hands.
    “Did you have a taxing journey?” Mammi asked, seemingly oblivious to what had passed between him and Emma.
    Emma had blanched white as a sheet when she’d seen him, and she tended to stumble over things when she was embarrassed. Well, not really. She tended to stumble over things no matter what state she was in. Surely she had gotten over him by now. At least that’s what his sister Lizzie had written in her letters. But maybe Lizzie had been mistaken. Ben kneaded his forehead to clear his thoughts. “Is she okay?”
    Mammi patted him on the shoulder and took his hat. “She didn’t come specifically to see you, if that’s what you’re asking. We’re growing pumpkins together.”
    Dear Mammi. She never saw anything amiss with the entire world. “But the way she ran out of here, do you think she was upset?”
    Mammi hung his hat on the hook where Emma’s sweater had been. “She was quite eager to take a look at my dirt.”
    Ben couldn’t be satisfied with that answer. Of course he’d upset Emma. They hadn’t seen or heard from each other since they’d broken their engagement. He had to go out there. No matter how hard it would be to talk to her again, he had to make sure she was okay.
    Ben stood up, put his arms around Mammi, and kissed the top of her head, glad he’d gotten his height from Dawdi. Mammi was a puny little thing. “It’s so good to see you.”
    Mammi hugged him back with the affection of a hundred mammis. “For a year I’ve prayed that you’d come back to us.”
    In spite of his heavy heart, Ben smiled. According to Mammi, she’d been praying for his return before he’d even left. He’d been gone exactly seven months and twenty-seven days. It wasn’t hard keeping track when every hour seemed like a year away from Bonduel. “I need to make sure Emma’s okay,” he said. He took Mammi’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “And then I want to hear all about Dawdi’s surgery. I don’t want you to worry. I will take care of the farm, and we’re going to do everything we can to get Dawdi better.”
    Mammi’s eyes twinkled. At the moment, she didn’t seem all that concerned about Dawdi’s condition, even though her letter had brimmed with anxiety. “You’ll never know what a blessing you are to us.”
    Setting aside his own serious misgivings about coming home, Ben had hopped on a bus the minute he’d received Mammi’s letter. Dawdi needed him. That’s all that mattered. Not even his feelings for Emma or his pain at seeing her again mattered. “I’m going to go check on Emma,” he said, patting Mammi on the arm. “I’ll be right back.”
    “Tell her I made something special for supper.”
    Ben closed the door behind him. If he wanted Emma to stay for supper, he’d better not tell her that Mammi had done the cooking.
     
     
    Emma tripped out to the garden as fast as her trembling legs would take her. Ben looked as straight and sturdy as a maple, and so handsome. The emotions rushed at her like a runaway horse, stronger and