Wanted Read Free Page B

family.
    He’d been much mistaken.
    Winnie’s presence was helping, though lately he’d seen a shadow in her expression. Jonathan knew what the shadow was for. At twenty-two, his sister was yearning for a future of her own. A family and home of her own.
    Being his lifeline wasn’t giving her the satisfaction he’d hoped it would. If he were honest with himself, he knew he should be happy for his sister. The Lord asked everyone to find a life partner and raise a family. It would be a terrible shame if Winnie did not yearn for those things, too. But oh, he wished she would have chosen to wait a bit longer for his sake.
    Outside the window, a pair of cardinals flew by, the male so proud and bright, his mate’s colors far more subdued. Yet together they made a mighty fine pair. Could he fault his sister for wanting what all creatures had?
    He could not. But what still remained was his needs. Heneeded someone to watch his girls while Winnie went to meet her beau.
    â€œI still canna believe that the Brennemans refused you,” Winnie stated over her half-drunk tea. “Your idea was most reasonable.”
    He’d thought so, too. Carefully, he flipped the eggs in the pan, grimacing as yet again one of the yolks broke and ran across the griddle’s surface, hardening in seconds. “Not everyone wants to care for another person’s children, I suppose.”
    â€œNo, that’s not it.” She drummed her fingers on the oak table he’d inherited from their parents. “What did they say again?”
    Even though they’d discussed the conversation over and over during the past week, Jonathan dutifully recounted the encounter again. “John and Irene said they did not want their daughter living with me. Alone.”
    â€œBut you would be with the girls, and in the daadi haus, too.” Winnie frowned. “And what is with that nonsense, anyway? Don’t they realize that your heart has already been taken?”
    It had been, indeed. He had loved. Once. And then, to his shame, he’d felt that love fade into something far different. Something that only in the privacy of his thoughts could he admit was disappointment.
    Now he only felt guilt for how Sarah died. That guilt weighed heavy on him. Now that it was almost two years since the accident, Jonathan figured he’d be carrying that burden for the rest of his life.
    Yes, his heart was locked up somewhere else and wasn’tgoing to escape any time in the near future. Most likely, ever. Katie Brenneman had nothing to be afraid of.
    â€œBetween work and the girls I am busy indeed, but I’ve a feeling that they don’t see it that way.”
    Winnie joined him at the counter. With easy movements, she wiped off the crumbs of her toast as he pulled his own bread from the confines of the oven. “I should go talk to Katie. I’m sure she could talk her parents into changing their decision if she just put her mind to it.”
    â€œWinnie, you mustn’t. John and Irene have already made their decision.” After shaking a healthy amount of pepper on his eggs and placing the toast on top, Jonathan carried his plate to the table. “Maybe, you could put off your trip for a while.”
    Her hand tightened on the rag. “Don’t ask me to do that. I must go to Indiana. I need to go. Malcolm has been so wonderful gut in his letters, there might be something between us.” More quietly, she added, “I hope there might be.”
    He said the obvious. “Indiana is far away.” And because he wasn’t as good a brother as he wished he were, he added quite peevishly, “They may be quite different there, too.”
    â€œLike how?”
    â€œI don’t know. But different is different.”
    She shook her head slightly. “Oh, bruder . Sometimes different is good. Sometimes change is what the Lord wants.”
    â€œSometimes not.”
    â€œJonathan, once you