LITMIR.BIZ

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Henry said with a smile. “As long as they are healthy.”

      He laughed. “That will take time.”

      Henry shook his head. “Nay. We’re having twins.”

      “Twins!” Daniel grinned. “You’re in for it as a parent. You do know I have twin brothers, ja? I remember all the trouble they got into.”

      “We’ll handle them,” the other man said with confidence. “You forget who their mother is.”

      Daniel laughed. “I’m sure you’re right. Leah is one determined woman.”

      “Praise be to Gott,” Henry breathed. “They’re back,” he said as if Daniel hadn’t heard a door open and shut in the back of the store.

      He waited for Leah and Jess to appear.

      Leah entered first. “I’d like you to meet someone. Her name is Emma.” She looked back. “Emma? Come in and meet my husband, Henry, and my cousin Daniel.”

      Daniel frowned. What had happened to Jess? Had she left as he’d expected? Then Emma entered the room and he stared. It was Jess but not. The young woman standing before him was clean and wore a blue Amish dress, white cape and apron. Leah had rolled and pinned Jess’s hair in the Amish way. On her head, she wore a prayer kapp. Her hair was brown with golden streaks.

      “Jess?”

      “Emma,” the girl who now looked like a woman said. “My name is Emma.” She glanced at Leah, saw his cousin’s nod. “Emma Stoltzfus.”

      “What?” Daniel looked to his cousin.

      “Emma, my cousin from New Wilmington, has consented to be our new employee. She will be staying with my parents and helping them with chores.”

      Henry locked gazes with his wife, then looked at “Emma.” “Welcome, Emma. We can use the help around here. Once you get settled in with my in-laws, we can discuss your work hours.”

      Leah gazed at her husband approvingly before she captured Daniel’s attention with a look that pleaded to trust her. Daniel gave a little nod. “Will you take her to my eldre?” she asked him.

      “Ja.” He turned to “Emma.” The girl looked different enough for him to almost believe that she was Emma, a totally different person from the one he’d found in the barn. Emma Stoltzfus was a young woman while Jess Morgan had been a bedraggled girl. “Are you ready to go?”

      She nodded shyly. “Ja,” she replied.

      Leah grinned. “Gut!”

      Emma’s lips curved into a smile that stole his breath. “Danki.”

      Daniel chuckled. “I’ll bring her back tomorrow morning. What time?”

      “You don’t have to bring me,” Jess, alias Emma, said. “I can walk.”

      “I’ll bring you.” Daniel kept his tone gentle. “’Tis too far for you to walk.” He turned to Leah. “Will you please reassure Emma that she can trust me?”

      Leah appeared as if she were struggling. He saw Emma studying his cousin with concern until Leah laughed. “I wouldn’t send you with him if I didn’t trust him. He’s family.” She refocused her gaze on him. “Nine? Dat will be able to show her what to do for morning chores.”

      Daniel nodded. “Nine o’clock, then.” He gestured for Emma to precede him, then followed her to his buggy. He hoped his cousin knew what she was doing. Emma looked like an Amish woman, but the fact remained that she was still an Englisher—a homeless Englisher who, up until a short time ago, looked as if she’d been on her own for a long while. He’d be keeping his eye on her. Leah might have good instincts, as Henry had suggested, but Leah was pregnant, and her outlook on life had softened with her impending motherhood.

      He couldn’t let the strange feelings of protectiveness he started to feel for Emma stop him from observing her closely. Until she proved trustworthy, he’d be watching her like a hawk.

       Chapter Three

      Emma was silent as Daniel steered his buggy toward his uncle’s house. The way she’d worked her way so easily into his cousin’s life bothered him. He glanced at her numerous times, but she wouldn’t look at him. She kept her gaze toward the side window. The fact that she didn’t interact with him only increased his suspicion of her.

      “Emma,” he said, drawing her attention. “If you hurt Leah, her parents or anyone else within this community, I’ll see that you’re tossed out of it. Do you understand?” Expression serious, although he thought he’d detected a brief flash of fear, she nodded. “And I’ll call the authorities.”

      She gasped and paled, her face so white that he feared she would faint. He hadn’t expected that reaction. Startled, he pulled his buggy off the road and parked, then faced her.

      “Emma,” he said gently, “what’s going on? Why are you afraid?”

      “The police can’t know where I am.”

      He stiffened. “Why not?”

      “Because I can’t go back. I won’t go back. They’ll hurt me, and I’ll just run away again.”

      Daniel instinctively reached out to touch her arm. She flinched and shifted away from him. Something was seriously wrong. He eyed her with compassion. “Go back where, Emma?” he asked, purposely using her new name. “Who will hurt you?”

      “My foster family.”

      He felt chilled. “They hurt you?”

      She nodded.

      “How?”

      “It doesn’t matter.”

      He frowned. Something was fishy.

      “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be.”

      “How did they hurt you, Emma?”

      She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

      Daniel felt anger, even though he knew it was wrong. How could he not when clearly someone had hurt her? She wouldn’t tell him, and that was fine. But someday he’d learn the truth. He couldn’t stop his protective instincts from roaring up in full force.

      “I won’t press you,” he said. He could only hope that she wasn’t lying.

      To his surprise, she smiled, a small, shy smile that lit up her face and made him startlingly aware of how pretty she was. “Danki.”

      “How old are you?” he asked, curious. “Sixteen?”

      She shook her head.

      He experienced warmth as he studied her. “Seventeen then.”

      She stared at him with surprise. “How did you know?”

      “You’re seventeen. You’ve taken a job at my cousin’s store and you’ll be living with my aunt and uncle. You obviously have no family, and Leah is clearly protective of you. You don’t want the police to find out that you’re here. That could mean one of two things. Either you’re in trouble with the law or you need a place to stay until you turn eighteen when you’ll be free of the foster care system.” He held her gaze. “I’m inclined to believe you haven’t committed a crime.” He turned his attention back to the road before him. “Am I right?”

      She blinked rapidly, clearly disturbed by his deduction. “Ja, you’re not wrong.”

      He smiled. “Gut accent.”

       “Danki.”

      His amusement died as she carefully

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