LITMIR.BIZ

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of summer, so the windows were all open to catch the slightest breeze. She heard the sound of voices coming from the window near the north corner of the building. Ducking low, she passed beneath one window and stopped under the next. Two more steps would put her beside the front porch. She thought the kitchen must be on the other side of the wall where she crouched.

      “I’m asking for an explanation, Micah. Now’s your chance to set the record straight.”

      Only silence followed Ethan’s words. She strained to hear Micah’s reply.

      “What were you thinking?”

      Clara nearly jumped out of her skin. Ethan had moved to stand beside the window where she was hunkering. He was directly above her. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to breathe.

      Please, Lord, don’t let him see me.

      Finally, she heard heavy footsteps moving away, followed by the scrape of a chair across the floor. She took a badly needed breath. Ethan said, “Micah, what am I to do with you?”

      “Are you going to send me away?”

      It was the first she had heard from the boy. He didn’t sound as if he was in pain, but she heard the worry under his words.

      “Nee.”

      “Because no one wants me?”

      “Why do you say that?”

      “I overheard Great Aenti May say that she would take Lily if Great Aenti Carol would take Amos. Neither of them wanted to take me.”

      Clara pressed a hand to her lips. The poor child. To know he wasn’t wanted had to hurt deeply.

      Ethan cleared his throat. “I’m not sending any of you away. Your papa wanted all of you to stay together. Your actions today show your disrespect for his memory more clearly than words. How would he feel if Mrs. Lapp came to him to complain you injured one of her animals? Your papa loved animals.”

      Why didn’t Ethan tell the boy he wanted him? It was what the child needed to hear. Clara knew how it felt to be unwanted and unloved. Her heart broke for Micah.

      “I reckon I’d get a spanking for what I did.”

      “I reckon you would if he was here. Go to your room and think on how disappointed he would be with you. Send your brother and your sister down. You will sit and reflect alone and in silence.”

      “They aren’t upstairs.”

      “Are you sure?”

      “I checked before you came in.”

      “Where are they?” Ethan demanded.

      “I don’t know.”

      A chair scraped again. “Lily! Amos! Where are you?” There was an edge of panic in Ethan’s voice. She heard his boots pounding up the stairs inside.

      He wasn’t going to beat Micah. She’d put herself in this foolish position for nothing. Now was her chance to leave, but what if he looked out one of the upstairs windows and saw her running across the lawn? Should she risk it? Could she make the cornfield before she was spotted?

      Suddenly, she heard a childish giggle that was quickly smothered. It came from under the porch. Clara noticed a small opening in the latticework where the porch met the house. Looking through the gap, she saw a little girl of about four sitting cross-legged in the dirt with her hands clasped over her mouth. A boy a little older was seated behind her.

      Taking her hands away from her mouth, the little girl pouted. “Oh, you found us.”

      “What are you doing under there?” Clara whispered. She could hear Ethan calling for them from the upstairs.

      “We’re playing hide-and-seek. We’re hiding from Onkel Ethan.”

      That was exactly what Clara wanted to do. She heard his footsteps pound down the stairs. Now was her chance to run. “Micah, check out back,” he yelled.

      No! If Micah was out back, she couldn’t pass him without being seen, and he was certain to recognize her.

      In a few seconds, Ethan would be on the front porch. He was sure to check along this side of the house. He would find her snooping like a thief outside his home. How would she explain herself?

      She couldn’t. There was only one choice.

      She smiled at the two children and pleaded, “May I join your game?”

      They nodded. She quickly wiggled into the opening and held her breath as the front door banged open above her.

Chapter Two

      Ethan came out onto his front porch and stood with his hands on his hips as he scanned the yard for the missing children. How could they disappear so quickly? He couldn’t keep an eye on them every minute. How did mothers manage when they had half a dozen or more to keep track of every day?

      He’d seen both Amos and Lily less than an hour ago. They had been playing on the swing set in the backyard until he sent them inside to clean their rooms. In the meanwhile, he’d gone out to care for his horses. Then he had been sidetracked by Faith Lapp and her pretty, shy friend Clara.

      He called for Amos and Lily again but got no answer. Where should he search first? The barn? The henhouse? The creek? Where would a five-year-old and a four-year-old decide to go without telling him?

      “Do you see them?” Micah asked as he came jogging around from the back of the house.

      “Nee. Do you have any idea where they might be? Did they go with you to the Lapp farm?” He would send Micah back to the neighbors and enlist their aid if he couldn’t find the children soon.

      Please, Lord, don’t let anything have happened to them.

      “I went by myself. I didn’t want them tagging along,” Micah said.

      “Are you sure they didn’t follow you?”

      The boy shrugged. “I guess they could have, but I didn’t see them.”

      “You go check the henhouse and the other outbuildings. I’ll check the barn. Maybe they’re playing up in the hayloft and can’t hear me calling.”

      “I thought you wanted me to go to my room.”

      Ethan scowled at his nephew in renewed annoyance. “After we find your brother and sister.”

      “They’re probably just hiding from you.”

      That took Ethan aback. “Why would they hide from me?”

      “Because they like to play hide-and-seek.”

      “Since when?”

      “Since always. You just never pay attention to them.” Micah jumped off the porch and strode toward the henhouse.

      Ethan raked a hand through his hair. The boy was right. He paid attention to his horses and to his work. He loved his brother’s children, but he didn’t know them. He headed toward the barn and prayed the two little ones hadn’t gone to the Lapp farm. He really did not want to face Faith and Clara again with more of his wayward children in tow.

      * * *

      Through the white painted latticework that bordered the porch, Clara watched Ethan enter the large red barn that stood fifty yards east of the house. The moment he was out of sight, she wiggled backward from beneath the porch. She motioned to the two children to come out, as well. “The game is over now. Your onkel is worried because he can’t find you. I want you both to wait for him on the porch steps.”

      The little boy frowned and shook his head. “He didn’t say alle alle achts und frei.”

      How could he call for everyone to come in because they were free? The poor man wasn’t aware that the game was on. How long would the pair have remained hidden?

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