A Time to Love Read Online Free

down onto it and smiled as Phoebe pulled a new quilt over her.
    "Warm enough?"
    Jenny covered her yawn and nodded drowsily. "Wonderful. Thank you. For—for anything." She opened her eyes."Everything."
    Phoebe's smile was grave. "I knew what you meant. Rest, Grossdochder. Rest, dear one."
    Exhaustion weighed down on Jenny like a soft, warm quilt. She slept.
     

     
    Their eyes.
    This was the first thing Jenny noticed on her first visit to the war-torn country. The children were so thin, so listless, their eyes vacant and staring. Mothers held them, their eyes desperate. No words were needed to communicate their fear they'd lose their children before they got them food.
    She could barely keep the tears from her voice as she spoke on camera of the plight of the children, the innocent victims of warfare.
    Then there was a movement, the cameraman catching her eye as he looked past her, over her shoulder. As the camera moved she glanced in the direction he looked and saw the car hurtling toward them.
    Turning back, she screamed a warning and the mothers and children scattered. Then, miraculously, the car stopped just feet from her. A man burst from it and ran.
    Instinct made Jenny spin on her heel and run, but she wasn't fast enough. There was a deafening explosion and she felt herself lifted, thrown, and slammed into the ground.
    Jenny screamed and woke. Terrified, her heart pounding, she sat up and stared around her.
    A man rushed into the room, and she nearly screamed again before she realized it was Matthew.
    "Jenny?"
    Tears rushed out of her eyes as her fingers clutched at the quilt. She was shaking, shaking so hard she felt she'd fall apart at any moment.
    "Bomb!" she whispered.
    Matthew knelt beside the sofa and took her hands in his. "Jenny, you're safe. Look at me, Jenny. You are safe. I promise."
    Her breath hitching on a sob, she stared at him, her eyes wide with fear.
    Her grandmother appeared in the doorway. "Jenny?"
    "She's all right," Matthew told her, not taking his eyes from Jenny. "She must have had a bad dream." He pulled the quilt up around her shoulders. "You're here, at your grossmudder's. You're safe."
    " Daedi? Is the lady allrecht?"
    Jenny turned her head at the sound of the childish voice. Phoebe held the hand of a little girl of about four who wore a simple, long navy dress. Her eyes were the same blue as her father's, full of concern like his. Her pink cheeks were rounded, the picture of health and well-being, her blonde hair carefully brushed and drawn into two pigtails. She looked nothing like the children in Jenny's dream.
    Gradually, Jenny's racing heart settled down and her breathing evened. "Bad—bad dream."
    Her doctors called it post-traumatic stress syndrome. But Jenny doubted either Matthew or Phoebe knew the term or what it meant.
    The child watching her with big eyes didn't look like she even knew what a bad dream was. She put her hands on Jenny's cheeks and frowned. " Fiewer. Lady has a fiewer."
    Phoebe stepped forward and placed the back of her hand on Jenny's forehead. She frowned. "Jenny, you're awfully warm. Maybe I should get the thermometer."
    "I'm just warm from the fire," Jenny said, but she knew it wasn't true. She'd experienced fevers several times since she'd been injured, but they always went away.
    Phoebe looked doubtful, but she didn't insist. She turned to Matthew's little girl and took her hand. "Annie, come with me. I baked cookies today."
    "I hope I didn't scare her," Jenny said as Phoebe left the room with Annie.
    He shook his head and stared at her, his expression sober."Do they come often, these bad dreams?"
    She shrugged. "Less often these days. It must have been because I was so tired from traveling."
    Annie came back into the room, carefully holding a glass of water. She held it out to Jenny. "Wasser."
    Jenny searched for how to say thank you. " Danki," she pronounced carefully and the little girl smiled.
    "Annie? Will you come help me put some cookies in a bag for