A Wedding for Julia Read Online Free

was holding.
    “Your mamm sent this. She thought you might be thirsty.”
    Julia sighed and turned toward him to accept it. When she turned her brown eyes up at him, Caleb had the sensation he was falling. That made no sense at all as he was firmly seated on the ground. Maybe he was the one who needed to drink the water.
    What was more unsettling was that she had plainly been crying. Her eyes were red and a little puffy.
    Caleb had no idea what he was supposed to do, so he pushed the glass into her hands and said, “Um…maybe it will make you…um…feel better.”
    Julia laughed, but it wasn’t a real laugh. It was a sad laugh, like when you wanted to pretend something was funny, like when you wanted to cover up your true feelings. “I doubt it will, but I’ll drink it since you were so kind to bring it out to me.”
    She sipped some of the water, and then they fell back into a comfortable silence. From where he was sitting, Caleb could see Red eating a bare spot into the front yard where he’d left him. The gelding could not be hungry, but he was a creature of habit.
    After the silence had stretched on for another moment, Caleb decided he should say something. But what?

    Julia was miserable. She was heartsick and she was hot. Worse, she couldn’t find a solution to her problems. Now her mother had sent out Caleb Zook. The poor man looked completely lost.
    He cleared his throat and said, “Problem with the garden?”
    Julia set the glass down between them, put her forehead against her crossed arms, and started laughing in earnest. Unfortunately, the laughter turned to tears.
    “It was a bad joke.” Caleb patted her on the back. “I can see that your garden is fine. My mouth trips me up when I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry.”
    “ Nein . It’s not your fault.” Julia rubbed at her eyes. They already felt as if they had dirt sprinkled in them, and rubbing made the sensation worse. “I’m acting like a child, and I’m making you feel bad about it.”
    When he didn’t speak, Julia peeked over at him.
    “You’re honestly worried about how I feel?” Caleb gave her a lopsided grin. His dark hair needed cutting, but his face was open and honest. He’d always been kind to both her and her mother.
    Her mother!
    “I don’t know what I’m worried about,” Julia admitted. “I had a fight with my mother. Not a fight, actually. More a disagreement. She issued a decree, and now—well, now I don’t know what to think or what to do. So I came out to the garden.”
    “You have a lovely garden.”
    “ Danki .” She smiled again, this time one that came from her heart and caused a pain all the way down to her stomach. “I’ve always loved working out here. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy cooking.”
    “The stew inside smelled gut .”
    Julia shook her head. “That’s what I mean. Take a single man like you, Caleb. How do you eat?”
    “I’m not following. You had a fight with Ada about how I eat?”
    “Not exactly, but how do you eat?”
    “I eat well enough.” He patted his stomach, though Julia noticed he didn’t carry much extra weight. “You can tell I’m not starving.”
    “Would you stay for dinner if we offered?”
    Caleb squinted at her. “Are you offering?”
    “I’m saying this badly. Describe to me what you eat in a normal week.”
    “Probably not what you’d consider gut meals,” he admitted. “A lot of meat, since I hunt and fish. Less well as far as vegetables, unless Aaron and Lydia have me over. I try not to impose on them too often.”
    Julia nodded. “That’s why a café would be perfect for Amish and Englisch .”
    “A café?”
    “Yes! But mamm wouldn’t even listen. Instead she told me about this ridiculous decision she and dat had made more than a year ago, apparently. Had anyone told me? Nein . Not until now. Not until the day I finally had the courage to tell her about my dream.”
    She closed her eyes and fought back the tears that threatened to spill