Patchwork Dreams Read Free Page A

wider than a newborn calf’s. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. I’m here to help you out with the farm work.” He reared back in the chair, his jaw tightening. “At least, that’s what Daed told me.”
    Daniel frowned and glanced away, and then his gaze returned to Jacob. “So, you have someone at home, jah?”
    “Jah. Plan to marry during wedding season.”
    “You are here to help out.” Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
    “Jah.” Something wasn’t right. Jacob’s stomach cramped.
    Daniel leaned forward. “Our bishop put out a request for young men to be sent to our area to marry and settle down. Your name is on that list. Your daed told us that you were coming out early to get a start looking for property. To get first pick of the women.”
    That made Jacob sound selfish. Prideful. Both sins.
    Jacob’s stomach churned. He wanted to rake his hand through his hair or, even better, get up and expel his anger through some sort of physical labor. But sensing that all the eyes in the room centered on him, and not knowing where or how to escape, he bowed his head to hide his emotions. Daed had sent him down here to marry him off? And he’d lied about it? What else had he lied about?
    Jacob rubbed his sweaty hands across the rough material of his pant legs.
    Would Daed be telling lies to Susie, too?
    ***
    All the color had faded from Jacob’s face. Becky’s hands tightened around a potholder. She’d never figured that this distant cousin would pick her to be his bride, although she had harbored some faint hopes of being chosen by one of the incoming men. Whisper-thin hopes. Mostly, she’d decided she’d keep her distance from him. From all of them. After all, the local men didn’t want her for a frau. Why should she expect anyone else to?
    She shouldn’t.
    Couldn’t.
    Wouldn’t.
    Still, she certainly hadn’t expected Jacob to be taken already.
    And she hadn’t expected that his daed would lie to Jacob about why he was being sent here. What was so wrong with the woman he planned to marry that his family would go to such lengths to separate them? Could it be that she wasn’t Amish? Was a family feud to blame?
    The silence stretched awkwardly as Jacob stared down at his hands, a muscle working in his jaw. And Daed, after sending Becky a confused glance, gazed into his cup of coffee, as if expecting answers to this dilemma to float to the surface.
    She was fairly positive they wouldn’t.
    How many full cups of coffee had he studied when she’d entered her rumschpringe? Hundreds, for sure.
    Daed’s hand landed on the table with a loud slap, and Becky jumped. Jacob glanced up, but the muscle still worked in his jaw.
    “Well then, Jacob. We’ll make the best of this situation. You are here. You will help me. And if you happen to have your eye caught by one of our local girls, you’ll stay. But if not, then I’ll make sure you catch a bus back to Pennsylvania whenever you want to go.”
    “Danki, sir. Appreciate that.” Jacob poured some cream into his coffee. His gaze locked on Becky. “The cookies smell gut.”
    Becky blinked. The cookies! She spun around and opened the oven. Heat billowed out of the open door. She gripped the pan with the potholder and lifted it out before sliding the next pan in. Thankfully, the chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies weren’t burned.
    “As soon as you finish that coffee, Jacob, I’ll take you on a tour of the farm and show you where you’ll be sleeping,” Daed said. “You want a cookie first, though, ain’t so?” Daed’s gaze swung from Jacob to her. “Becky, as soon as the cookies cool, Jacob and I would both like one or two.”
    “Of course.” Becky turned back around and picked up a spatula. “Just a minute, Daed.” She lifted a cookie off the tray and laid it on a cooling rack. But as she slid the spatula under the next cookie, a wail filled the room, and the cradle in the corner began to rock.
    Daed stood, going quickly over to the cradle and lifting the