Noah's Sweetheart Read Free Page B

her cousin Nancy, who rewarded her with a little smile.
    “Rachel?” Noah’s voice brought her attention back to him.
    “I can’t thank you enough for coming to my rescue.”
    “It was my pleasure.” Noah smiled. Rachel looked well and content…and extremely appealing with flour on her nose and a dusting across the front of her apron. It was good to see that she suffered no lasting effects of her frightening experience the previous day.
    “Noah!” Aunt Mae exclaimed as she came in from outside. “I thought I saw you from across the yard.”
    He reluctantly drew his attention away from Rachel to grin at her aunt. “ Gut morning, Aunt Mae. I thought to take Rachel over to see the new schuulhaus. ”
    “That is a wonderful idea, Noah.” Aunt Mae appeared delighted.
    “What do you think, Rachel?” Noah asked. “Would you like to see your new schuul? ”
    “Noah and his brothers have worked hard to fix it up for you,” Charlotte said.
    “That was nice of you, Noah,” Rachel said. “ Ja, I would like to see the schuulhaus. ”
    “It is not far,” Nancy said. “It’s just off our property and down the road a little ways between our land and the farm belonging to Noah’s family.”
    “Charlotte,” Aunt Mae said, “you can go with them. Nancy can finish these pies on her own.”
    “Are you sure you do not want us to stay and finish?” Rachel asked.
    Aunt Mae smiled. “We will be fine. Go and see where you’ll be spending a lot of your time soon.”
    Rachel grinned. “I will enjoy this.” To Noah, she said, “I will be with you in a minute. Just let me get cleaned up.”
    The relief he felt when she agreed to come made Noah realize just how eager he was to show her the schuul.
    Charlotte and Rachel went upstairs to change their aprons and wash their hands and faces of baking dust. Rachel was the first one downstairs and out the door.
    When she stepped outside, she noticed the buggy parked in the yard. It was an enclosed family buggy with a gray roof. Seeing it, she sighed with relief. Two mishaps in small open buggies had made her leery of riding in one again. She and Noah were alone, waiting for Charlotte to join them.
    She grinned at Noah. “Nice carriage.”
    Noah grinned back, pleased by her response. “I thought after that little accident yesterday that you’d prefer riding in this.” Her smile made him feel good inside.
    “Danki,” she said.
    Charlotte soon appeared, and she climbed into the front seat next to Noah, while Rachel climbed into the back.
    “And I hitched old Janey. She’s twenty-five years old and you couldn’t get her out of a trot if you tried.” Noah clicked his tongue, slapped the reins, and the carriage took off down the dirt lane toward the main road.
    Rachel sat behind Noah, aware of his straw-brimmed hat, his sandy-brown hair cut in the bowl-cap style that all the Old Order Amish men wore.
    Charlotte turned around to smile at her. “I think you will like the schoolhouse. Samuel Lapp and his sons built a new one, large enough for all of the school-aged children in our church district. The Lapp men are good carpenters. Noah is the best, after his vadder. ”
    “How many brothers do you have, Noah?” Rachel asked.
    “Six,” he said with his eyes still on the road. They had come to the end of the lane and he steered the buggy left onto the paved street. “Jedidiah is the eldest, then I am next.” He turned his head to flash her a quick smile before his gaze returned to the road.
    “The Samuel Lapps include Samuel’s seven sons and one daughter,” Charlotte said. “Hannah is only six months old.”
    “You will meet them all on Sunday,” Noah said. “It’s visiting Sunday, and some of our friends will meet at our family farm.”
    The clip-clop of the horse’s hooves was the only sound in the buggy for a time, allowing Rachel to digest what she had learned. Noah pulled the carriage off the blacktop and onto a dirt drive that ran next to a white building