Harvest of Blessings Read Online Free Page A

but then her breath caught in her throat. The house up the hill, which had once belonged to Hiram Knepp, was buzzing with activity. “Looks like your new neighbor’s movin’ in. That’s a mighty big van.”
    “It’s a big house to fill with furniture.” Ira, too, gawked at the men who were wheeling tables and couches out of the truck. “Can’t help but wonder what sort of folks bought it, because I doubt any Amish or Mennonites would’ve coughed up the bucks for that custom horse barn and the land that mansion’s sittin’ on. My oh my, would ya look at those wheels!”
    Millie frowned, not seeing any vehicle other than the moving van. There was, however, a woman wearing tiny jean shorts and a clingy lime T-shirt, with a sparkly blue ball cap and big sunglasses. As her auburn ponytail swung with each step she took, Millie’s heart sank lower.
    Ira was spellbound, and he’d not even spoken to this stranger. He was so far gone, he probably wasn’t aware that he’d stopped the buggy in the middle of the road to gape at this woman.
    “Wonder what her husband does?” Millie speculated in a purposeful tone. “It’s not like Willow Ridge has a lot of high-dollar occupations for him to—”
    “Who cares?” Ira spouted. “That red BMW convertible parked around the side pretty much says it all.”
    Once again Ira’s conversation left Millie feeling clueless and inept. “Careful, Ira. She’s another one of those redheads , ya know.”
    “Yeah, but rich chicks go to salons to get their hair colored. That shade of red comes from a bottle, most likely. Not that I mind.”
    Millie frowned. Ira was already adrift in his imaginings, to the point he’d forgotten all about her . How did he know that lady got her hair colored? Her bouncy ponytail was the same shade as Millie’s own hair—but of course, Plain girls wore buns with kapps covering most of their heads, so hair color wasn’t a big deal. Millie smoothed her white apron over the royal-blue dress that fell mid-calf, over black stockings that ended in simple black shoes. Even dressed in her very best, she felt mousy compared to the woman Ira was ogling.
    “Maybe ya should take me back now,” she murmured.
    Ira blinked as though coming out of a trance. “Oh. Yeah, if that’s what ya want,” he said as he got the horse going again.
    Millie pressed her mouth into a tight line. She’d hoped to stay out all afternoon and then return to Annie Mae’s wedding celebration for cake and ice cream, but she’d lost her appetite. If Ira dropped her off at her grandparents’ place, it seemed likely that Mamm—and maybe Dat—would still be there. And once Mamm asked why Millie had returned so soon, her father would resume his tirade about the company she was keeping.
    Past tense. Ira’s history now. I’m invisible to him.

Chapter Three
    As Miriam stacked takeout boxes and foil-wrapped packets of wedding food in the Glicks’ old refrigerator, the conversation from the front room made her stiffen.
    “I’m telling ya, sure as you’re starin’ at me, Gabe, Nora was here !” Wilma Glick rasped. “She was standin’ over my bed, lookin’ right at me.”
    “That’s crazy talk and you know it!” Preacher Gabe replied gruffly. “And I’ll remind you that in this house, we don’t speak that name. I have no daughter named Nora. She’s been dead to me for more than sixteen years.”
    Miriam gripped the top of the refrigerator door, her heart thudding. When she and Ben had driven Gabe, Lizzie, and the baby over here with food for Wilma, she’d had no idea what they were walking into. Poor Wilma had been at death’s door for months, barely existing and bedridden, yet they’d found her sitting in the front room, wildly excited. What if Wilma had gone over the edge, mentally?
    But what if she hasn’t? What if Nora was peering at her—and where in the world did she come from ? And why? Oh, but this is a big can of worms to be opening—
    “Are you sure ,