Miriam's Quilt Read Free Page B

bother smoothing things over. I already know how you feel about me.”
    “Stop right there,” she said, raising her voice to a level she seldom used except to call her brothers from the pasture for supper.
    Still frowning, he squared his broad shoulders and faced her. He stood tall, considerably taller than Ephraim, so he towered over Miriam like a sycamore.
    His height did not impress her. “Tell me what I have done to deserve your dislike.”
    “Why do you care?”
    “Because…I’m a person who… I try to be nice to everybody.” She blurted out exactly what she thought. “Everybody likes me.”
    “And you are astounded that I don’t.”
    She knit her brows together. “I—I suppose so.”
    “It is unfair to blame you for my own weakness. I know I shouldn’t, but I get riled up when you look down your nose at me.”
    Miriam lifted her chin. “Maybe you are bitter because everybody else has it so much better than you do.”
    He shook his head. “That is exactly what I mean. I do not think everybody has it better than I do. You are the one who thinks everyone has it better than I do.”
    “I didn’t mean—”
    “Yes, you did.” He folded his arms across his chest. “You watch my family from a distance, feeling sorry for our misfortunes but staying far enough away that our bad influence does not rub off on you. You don’t even dare sit by my sister at gmay. It is primary school all over again.”
    Miriam pursed her lips. “I have never shown anything but compassion for your family.”
    “Oh, jah, you look down from your high-and-mighty perch—as if you are doing me the biggest favor in the world just by acknowledging me.”
    Miriam remembered her conversation with Ephraim and felt her face get hot. “It sounds like you do not need my compassion. You have plenty of self-pity.”
    “I hope I am past my own pity, but I cannot abide yours.”
    Again he tried to escape, and she darted into his path, determined to talk him out of his dislike. “When your mamm felt poorly, our family brought supper to your house every Wednesday night for two months.”
    “Then why did you never set foot in our house?”
    Miriam clenched her fists. “I came every Wednesday.”
    “You stood at the front door and handed food to my sister.”
    Miriam wanted to deny it, but she stopped short, unable to recall ever seeing the inside of the Lambrights’ home.
    “Why didn’t you come into our house?”
    “I don’t remember.” Miriam stepped closer and narrowed her eyes. “You are holding bad feelings for something that happened five years ago?”
    “Last month your cousin Rebecca had you and me coupled up for her wedding.”
    Miriam’s heart thumped in embarrassment. “How did you know that?”
    “Levi let me look at the list the day before. But then you must have seen the list too, because the next day we weren’t coupled up anymore.”
    “I asked her to put me with Adam Yoder because he is so shy. I wanted to help him out of his shell a bit.”
    “Your brother Yost and my sister Laura were coupled on Rebecca’s list. But that changed by the time of the wedding too. It seems you don’t want any of the Lambrights associating with your family.”
    Embarrassment rendered Miriam speechless. There was no way to defend herself. She had asked Rebecca to change the couples for the wedding. And she hadn’t done it because of Adam Yoder’s shyness. She’d worried what people would think of her if she were coupled with Seth. And Yost? She had wanted him to be coupled with JoAnn Kiem, the deacon’s daughter.
    She had to go on the offensive before he saw the truth of his words in her eyes. “If all you want to do is insult me, don’t come here again.”
    Seth studied her face and slumped his shoulders in surrender. “I am sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “You are right. I have held this grudge when I should have forgiven. I can’t control your actions. I can only control my own, and I should know better.