Grace: A Christmas Sisters of the Heart Novel Read online

Anna lifted her chin. “Well, it feels ancient.”

  Melody watched the interaction among the three women with a great deal of envy. They had a bond she’d only dreamed of having with other women. A bond she’d never come close to experiencing with her own sister. In fact, the only person she felt she could even feel such a connection with was Leah.

  But even that relationship had begun to change, though it was through no fault of Leah’s. No, it had been her doing. Little by little, she’d been pulling away from her co-worker. Leah was pretty, with a vibrant personality and a bright future.

  Melody had none of that. Soon, their lives would be even more dissimilar. She would have a baby and be struggling to make ends meet. Leah, on the other hand, would be leaving their small Kentucky town for good as soon as she received her college degree.

  She would start a career and become friends with other English girls doing the same thing. There would be no cause for her to keep in touch with someone so different.

  But at the moment, as she longingly watched the exchanges between the ladies in the Brennemans’ kitchen, Melody started to reevaluate her feelings. Perhaps she’d shied away from Leah too quickly. Perhaps the right thing to do would have been to let Leah decide whether or not to continue to be her friend? After all, the trio of girls in front of her didn’t seem too much alike.

  And yet these women weren’t sisters at all. Only sisters of their hearts. Daring to enter the conversation, she said, “Tell me how you came to be Amish, then, Anna. That is, if you don’t mind.”

  “It’s a long story,” Anna said as she scooped up a handful of flour and spread it around the wooden butcher block table. Melody knew Anna was making pretzels.

  “I don’t mind a long story, that is, if you want to tell it.”

  “Well, it all started when I was little. My mom took me here for a weekend to learn to quilt and Katie and I hit it off.”

  “We became pen pals,” Katie added.

  Melody tried to imagine the chain of events. “You became such good friends that you decided to become Amish?”

  Anna laughed. “No. I never planned to ever be Amish.” A shadow entered her eyes. “Actually, I planned to marry well and be a housewife. But the man I was dating turned out to be a pretty bad guy.”

  Winnie, who was frying hamburger for a casserole, widened her eyes. “He was a verra bad man, Anna. He beat you.”

  Little Eli frowned as Melody gripped him too hard. “Sorry,” she murmured, cuddling him closer. Once the baby was sleeping contentedly again, she glanced Anna’s way. “You were beaten?”

  A shadow filled Anna’s beautiful green eyes. “I … was. Not all the time, and not at first … but it slowly was getting worse. I was scared.”

  Remembering how it had felt to be helpless, Melody shivered. “I imagine you were.”

  Anna was rolling the dough into long strips with her palms. Quickly, she lifted her head and looked Melody’s way. When their eyes met, Melody felt a new awareness pass between them. They both knew what it felt like to be a victim.

  Then Anna cleared her throat. “Anyway, he was an important guy and I didn’t think anyone would help me. So I came here for help.”

  “She hid here,” Katie said. “She wore my clothes and pretended to be Amish. We practically lived on pins and needles, worried she would be found.”

  “But along the way, Anna fell in love with my Henry,” Mrs. Brenneman said, bustling in the room with a smile. “And then it was just a matter of time before everything worked out.”

  Never had Melody heard such a story. “I have an English friend, but I can’t imagine her ever wanting to become Amish.”

  “I would have loved Anna even if she had stayed in the outside world. But now she’s married to my brother and we are truly sisters, and I’m terribly grateful.”

  Anna looked at Katie fondly. “I feel the same way. I grew up as an only child, so now having Katie and Winnie, it’s a wonderful thing.”

  Winnie looked at Melody and grinned. “I am Jonathan’s sister. Jonathan Lundy is Katie’s husband.”

  “And you are married, too?”

  “I am. I married Samuel Miller. He grew up with us.”

  “Ah, so you’ve known him for some time,” Melody said, enjoying all the other girls’ romances.

  A spark entered Winnie’s gray eyes. “That is mostly true. But Sam was an Englischer for a time—a professor at a college. We only got reacquainted when I was in the hospital.”

  Anna smiled at Winnie fondly. “Winnie was injured when Jonathan and Katie’s barn burned down.”

  “My word!”

  “Oh, I ended up all right,” Winnie reassured her as she held up her arm. Melody noticed a faint discoloration marking her forearm. “Now all I have is a few reminders of that event.”

  “And Samuel,” Katie said. “We can’t forget him!”

  Mrs. Brenneman laughed with the girls. Melody couldn’t help but smile as well.

  She was charmed by the other girls, and pleased that they shared so much with her. In Melody’s experience, people didn’t accept newcomers. And people really didn’t accept bad things that came. For most, it was far better to pretend those things didn’t exist. To push them out of their lives, so they didn’t have to see them.

  Didn’t have to deal with them.

  Anna chuckled. “I’m sorry. Did I shock you?”

  “Nee.” Melody struggled to put into words everything she was thinking. “I just never imagined someone could make a change like that.”

  “It wasn’t easy, but I had a lot of help.”

  It took everything she had to keep her voice even and calm. To act like she was merely curious about Anna’s past, not trying to learn from it. “What happened to the man?”

  “The man who beat me?” she asked slowly.

  Melody nodded, afraid to speak.

  “Actually, he kept looking for me. For weeks. And then, when he discovered where I was, he came after me.”

  “He came here. To our house,” Katie supplied. Melody watched her hands grip her rolling pin, the only indication of how scary that visit must have been.

  Anna nodded, all traces of humor gone from her face. “It was really scary. The whole time I was petrified. I didn’t want to get hurt, but most of all, I didn’t want any of the Brennemans to get hurt.”

  Katie folded her arms over her chest. “We weren’t helpless. We were ready to defend her.”

  “I don’t know,” Anna allowed. “It was a difficult time. I was hiding out here, pretending to be something I wasn’t; falling in love with Henry, yet always worried that Rob was going to appear at the door at any minute.”

  “But your parents?”

  “I’m sorry to say I didn’t trust them enough to tell them where I was.” Her voice drifted off for a moment. Then Anna shook her head, like she was trying to shake off her past. “But everything’s okay now. Rob is in jail and he’s not coming out anytime soon. Not only did he threaten me at gunpoint, but he was also running for office and misusing the campaign funds.”

  “It was a terrible day, the day Rob Peterson came,” Katie said. “But it was a proud one for us, too, because we stopped him.”

  “My dad hit him with one of my father-in-law’s canes!” Anna exclaimed.

  Melody could hardly believe the story she was hearing; it sounded so far-fetched—like something out of a storybook or on the movie screen. “And then Henry wanted to marry you?”

  “Something like that.” Anna’s hands stilled as she continued to talk. “It’s hard to explain, but somehow, while I was hiding out, I began to feel more comfortable here than at my own home. Things here mattered more to me. I told my parents I wanted to become Amish and then moved here and started learning as much as I could.”

  “I must say it was a slow process,” Katie murmured as she approached Melody and took her sleeping baby from her arms. From what looked like nowhere, she pulled out a small wicker bassinet and placed Eli in it, securely wrapping the
flannel blankets around him.

  Then, seemingly satisfied, Katie went back to the story. “Anna didn’t adjust all that easily.”

  “In some ways I did; in others, I didn’t. For one thing, I missed watching television.”

  “I think she missed a lot of things,” Katie added dryly. “You should have seen her try to can! She was a terrible Amish cook.”

  “Oh, stop. I wasn’t that bad.” Anna’s eyes twinkled. “I wasn’t that gut, though.”

  Winnie, who’d merely been smiling as Anna and Katie shared their story, chuckled. “She’s still not that good.”

  Melody laughed. She liked these women, the way they worked easily together and the way they talked to each other. Full of teasing and fun. “The way you girls work together is wonderful-gut. It reminds me of how things are at my job.”

  Mrs. Brenneman nodded. “Work and chatter seem to bring out the best of us here. Where do you work?”

  “In a coffeehouse.”

  “What do you do?”

  “Wait on customers. I make baked goods, too. Cinnamon rolls, donuts, scones.”

  Mrs. Brenneman looked interested. “Scones? I’ve never made one of those.”

  “They’re like biscuits. Most times, I put fruit in them. Any kind will do. Cranberries … blueberries.”

  “They sound delicious. If you weren’t our guest, I’d ask you to make some.”

  “I’d love to, if you don’t mind a guest puttering in your kitchen.” Melody started to stand, eager to be of use. Eager to be invited into the women’s close circle of friendship, if only for a little while …

  “I wouldn’t feel good about that, dear,” Mrs. Brenneman said abruptly. “But I thank you just the same.”

  The refusal was kindly given. But the results were the same. And Melody still felt the sting. “Oh, of course,” she said quickly, trying not to sound as awkward as she felt. “I mean, it was just an idea.”

  “And it was a good one,” Katie agreed. “It’s just that it’s best if we don’t let paying guests use the kitchen. You know how that goes. We’d never want something to happen to you.”

  Obviously, she was trying to take some of the sting out of her mother’s refusal. And she did have a point. There were laws about keeping a kitchen clean and such. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

  “Besides, you had a long day of traveling. And you fainted! I don’t know how you feel, but seeing you on the ground very well scared me half to death.”

  “I’m fine now, though.”

  “Perhaps, but it would be good for you to sit and relax,” Mrs. Brenneman said. “We certainly don’t want you to overdo things.”

  “The baby isn’t due for three more weeks.”

  “Jah, but bopplis have a way of coming when they’re ready,” the older lady said sagely.

  Katie looked over at her son, who was sleeping contentedly in his bassinet. “That’s true. My Eli came on his own schedule.”

  “Was he early?”

  Katie wrinkled her nose. “I wasn’t that lucky. No, our boy came four days late.”

  “As most babies are,” Mrs. Brenneman supplied. “Though my daughter here didn’t want to hear about that.”

  “Not even a little bit.” Anna chuckled. “Actually, Katie complained just about every hour of the day.”

  Katie arched a brow. “Just you wait until you are the one expecting, Anna. Then we’ll see how patient you are.”

  “If I’m only half as impatient as you that will be saying a lot!”

  Just hearing the women joke about labor and delivery made Melody’s shoulders relax. Though she’d been too caught up with so much else, she had worried a bit about when the big day would come. It was a relief to know that it wasn’t likely she would deliver anytime soon. “Well, chances are very good that I’ll be back in Kentucky, bored and restless when it’s my babe’s time.”

  Katie looked at her more closely. “How is it you came to be here, Melody?”

  “I took the bus.”

  “No, I mean, even coming here three weeks from your due date is awfully close to your time. Actually, I’m surprised your family let you leave. How did you choose this inn, anyway?”

  “My boss … she gave me a gift certificate.”

  “I’m thankful for that. But why did you decide now?”

  Starting to feel uncomfortable, Melody stumbled over more words. “Well, after I deliver, I’ll have a baby to watch over. I wouldn’t be able to come here, then …”

  “But for Christmas? Why don’t you want to be home?”

  “I … well …” Melody felt as if her throat was closing up.

  Anna cleared her throat. “Melody, please forget Katie asked that.” Turning to her sister-in-law, the blonde glared. “None of that is any of our business.”

  “I’m sorry. Am I being rude? I’m merely just curious. All I know is that my doctor said I needed to stay put when I was so close to my time. What did yours say? Do you have a doctor or are you going to use a midwife?”

  “I have a doctor.”

  “Well, what did he say?”

  “It’s a woman …”

  Katie put a hand on her hip and waited.

  And waited.

  Actually, all of them stared at her, wanting answers. And Melody couldn’t really blame their curiosity, after all. Here Anna had just shared how she’d been held at gunpoint!

  But Melody wasn’t used to sharing. Nor was she used to talking about anything to do with the baby. As she struggled to tell them something, anything that wouldn’t reduce her to tears, she could feel the blood leave her face. “I didn’t ask my doctor’s permission.”

  “What about your husband?”

  Melody reached out to the counter for support as her world tilted. Oh, but she was afraid she was going to pass out again. “I don’t have one.”

  All four women’s eyes widened. Just as quickly, Katie closed them again. “Oh,” she mumbled.

  Just like her extended family in Kentucky, they were shocked.

  Of course they were—her situation was shocking.

  But carrying the burden alone for nine months was taking its toll. Melody’s knees felt locked. She shook a foot slightly, hoping to regain some circulation. Anything to enable her to slink out of the room.

  How had this happened? She’d gone from feeling happy to embarrassed in seconds. Now the room felt claustrophobic. Too hot. A wave of dizziness intensified, making her head spin.

  As she gripped the counter, Melody chided herself again. Oh, but she should have known better. She should have made up a story. Told them her husband left her. Or he died. Something. Anything.

  Anything other than her truth.

  But she’d known that those lies wouldn’t make her feel any better, and she would just be letting herself open to more prying questions. “I think I’ll go lie down now.”

  Winnie trotted over and reached for her arm. “Wait, Melody. Please, don’t go—”

  “I—I must.”

  “Then I will walk you.”

  But just as Winnie was about to wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders, the situation became too much to bear. With a jerk, she avoided Winnie’s hand and turned to the right. Quickly she raced down the hall. If she was quick enough, she could be in her room before the tears came. If she kept her mind on her steps, she would be in her room before she did something really stupid. Before she turned back around and told the women about getting attacked one evening on the way home from work.

  Before she told them about how scared she’d been when the elderly couple found her, and then called the police.

  How foreign the hospital had felt. How bruised and battered her body had been. How shamed she’d felt. For months.

  As she climbed into the soft bed, the icy sheets caused her teeth to chatter. Soon enough she knew her body’s heat combined with the down would warm her well and good. But at the moment she felt as cold as if she’d been exiled to the farthest reaches of the arctic.

  Only
far, far more alone.

  The moment Melody disappeared, Anna glared at her. “Wow, Katie. Way to go.”

  “What?”

  “You know what, daughter. Fact is, I am ashamed of you,” her mother whispered. “Your prying questions were terribly rude. That girl’s business is none of our concern.”

  Katie flinched. Oh, but she hated being admonished by her mother. “Mother, you know very well I didn’t mean to make her cry. All I was doing was asking questions.”

  Winnie cleared her throat. “A whole lot of questions.”

  “I wasn’t that bad.”

  Anna and Winnie exchanged glances. “Oh, I think you were,” Winnie said.

  But even as she tried to defend herself, Katie knew she wasn’t quite being honest. She had grown up with guests in the house—Amish and English. They’d all come from different walks of life, too.

  Some of the couples who came weren’t married, and hadn’t even pretended to be. Others did things she thought strange.

  But early on, her parents had taught her not to judge. To maintain a comfortable camaraderie with everyone, yet to maintain an invisible wall between them and herself, especially with new guests. People who visited the be-and-breakfast didn’t necessarily come to make friends with the Brennemans. They came to relax.

  And their inn was an inn, not a place to try to change people. Customers paid money to stay there. Money that was hard earned. They didn’t deserve to be interrogated about their private lives … just as the Brennemans didn’t care to be asked too many personal questions, either.

  She knew that.

  She also knew it wasn’t her business how Melody had gotten in her condition, or if she was married or not. It certainly wasn’t her place to judge. She should know that, too. Not too long ago, she’d been chased by regrets from her past, and had done an awful lot to keep those regrets from meeting the light of day.

  But instead of holding true to those learnings, she’d acted on her own selfish desires. Every time she looked at Melody a little part of her brain informed her that it was time to face the truth—her erratic mood swings and tiredness had nothing to do with the busyness of the season.

  It had far more to do with something else. The fact that she was pregnant again. The fact that she was trying to keep it a secret. The fact that she still hadn’t told Jonathan and felt guilty about that.