The Amish Christmas Kitchen Read Free Page B

folks upstairs, but he wanted desperately to keep talking with his grandfather. Yet in moments, his da was snoring and Daniel stood with his fists clenched in the dark room, unbidden tears in his eyes. I’m going crazy, he decided . Truly crazy . . . Maybe I should go back to bed and pray....
    But in his heart, he wondered if Gott would hear the prayers of a man who did not keep a promise that even the angels knew....

C HAPTER 3
    T he following morning dawned bright and cold while Clara stared, vexed, into the recesses of a cabinet. She’d woken early in the hopes of banishing the vestiges of her dream and tried to focus solely on baking.
    â€œWe need pecans,” she cried in sudden dismay to Blinks.
    The goat lived up to her name and blinked in solemn acknowledgment.
    â€œWe have to go down to the store!” And I might see Daniel again. . . . The intensity of his forest-green eyes was fresh enough in her mind to make her distinctly uncomfortable, but she squared her shoulders. She could not allow the possibility of him outbaking her.
    She rushed into the bedroom with Blinks at her heels and began to layer on clothing. “Sarah is right,” Clara grumbled aloud. “I should keep a horse and sleigh for emergencies.” She struggled to add a third skirt atop her normal dress and almost fell over. Then she straightened and gave her normally trim hips a ruthless pat. “Okay . . . so I look like a snowman. Who cares?” But she could not deny the little voice inside her head that mocked her words . You care . . . because you’d like to look your best in front of . . . him.
    â€œBah!” she exclaimed as she tugged on her bonnet and tied the strings with a jerk. Blinks echoed her sentiment. Baaaa . . . Clara rolled her eyes heavenward, grabbed her pocketbook, and opened the door with the goat following. She took one determined step off the front porch and fell flat on her face. She floundered and got to her feet, realizing that she had underestimated the depth of the snow that had fallen overnight. Even when she let Blinks out to see to the animal’s needs or to her milking, the powdery white was not usually so deep. She sighed, knowing she’d end up sodden and dripping by the time she got to Kauffman’s store, but the thought of the necessary pecans kept her moving at a slow but determined pace.
    * * *
    Daniel normally cut timber or worked in Joseph King’s furniture shop doing fine crafting of wood. But today he’d promised to help his daed for a few hours, decorating the store for Christmas. It wasn’t the tradition of his people to do much more than greenery and a tree with homemade ornaments, but Daniel knew his daed believed that the tang of pine and cedar was an aromatic balm to the senses and made for a better shopping atmosphere.
    â€œDaniel Kauffman, you smell like Christmas.”
    He turned, suppressing a faint sigh, his arms full of greenery, when he recognized the feminine whisper of Ruby Zook.
    â€œHello, Ruby.” He nodded, intent on getting to work, when she stepped closer, her long skirt touching his legs. Will the girl pursue me even in the middle of my fater ’s store? But he knew the answer to his own internal question. Ruby was pretty and dead focused—that was being seventeen. He didn’t want to be rude, but he’d become weary of late when she approached him at every gathering.
    â€œDo you need some help placing the greens?” she asked.
    â€œNee, danki, I—”
    â€œNow, that’s a fine offer, Dan,” his daed boomed from behind him. “Especially coming from so pretty a customer.”
    Daniel wanted to run. The dual implications of the customer always being of primary significance and his fater ’s thinking that he should have long since been a grandfather could be heard in the expectant tone, not to mention the accompanying nudge to his shoulder.
    Daniel forced a smile. How am I supposed