LITMIR.BIZ

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state. Clara suspected that she looked the same.

      “Ja, you won. You found the perfect hiding place.” Were these little ones scared of Ethan? Was that why they were hiding?

      Clara brushed them off as best she could and glanced toward the barn. There was no sign of Ethan, but he could reappear at any moment. “Why were you hiding from your onkel?”

      “’Cause we like to play hide-and-seek.”

      “Why didn’t you tell him you were playing with him?”

      “I told him I wanted to play hide-and-seek,” Amos said, but his gaze was on his bare toes.

      “And what did he say?” she prompted.

      “He said to clean our rooms,” he admitted.

      “We did and then we hid,” Lily added with a grin.

      Clara glanced toward the barn again. She had to get going. “Next time, you must make sure he knows he is playing the game before you hide.”

      “We will,” Lily said with a nod.

      Clara smiled at her. “Promise you’ll stay on the porch until your onkel returns?”

      “We promise,” Amos said.

      Lily nodded solemnly. “Will you come and play with us again?”

      “Maybe, but today is our little secret, right? We won’t tell anyone about our hiding place.”

      “We won’t tell,” Amos assured her.

      “Danki.” Clara couldn’t waste any more time. After checking and not seeing Ethan or Micah, she scurried around the corner of the house and ran across the lawn into the cornfield. She pushed through the thick green leaves and between the stalks as she rushed on. Even when she reached the road, she didn’t slow down until she was a good half mile away from the farm.

      A stitch in her side finally brought her to a halt. She looked back as she struggled to catch her breath. There was no sign of Ethan Gingerich. She was safe.

      Grateful to escape from an extremely embarrassing situation of her own making without being discovered, she breathed a silent prayer of thanks. Just the thought of Ethan finding her lurking under his porch made her cringe. She wouldn’t have had to worry about keeping her dignity intact because she would have died of embarrassment on the spot.

      It would have served her right to be found hiding like a mongrel dog. She had doubted the goodness of Ethan Gingerich. To do so was wrong and showed the weakness of her faith. It was something she strived to overcome with prayer, but she had a long way to go.

      Not all men were like her uncle and the ruthless man he tried to make her marry. Ethan wasn’t cruel. He might not know how to handle the children, but he wasn’t unkind to them.

      She glanced over her shoulder once more and began walking quickly toward her grandfather’s sheep farm. She hadn’t told the children her name. She had to pray they wouldn’t figure out who she was and tell Ethan about her actions. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to face him again for a long, long time.

      * * *

      When Ethan came out of the barn after checking every hiding place he could think of he saw Lily and Amos sitting on the front steps of the house. They were safe. He strode toward them, his relief quickly turning to frustration and annoyance. He had wasted a large part of his morning dealing with first one child and then the others.

      He stopped in front of the steps and crossed his arms. “Where have you been? Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

      Lily and Amos exchanged guilty glances. Amos said, “We heard you.”

      “Why didn’t you answer me?”

      “That’s not the way to play the game,” Lily explained.

      Ethan gave her a stern look. “Exactly what game were you playing? Give Onkel Ethan gray hair?”

      Lily shook her head. “I don’t know that game.”

      Ethan drew a hand down his face to wipe away his grin. He struggled to keep a firm tone. “Were you playing hide-and-seek?”

      She smiled brightly. “Ja, and we won.”

      Amos grinned, too. “You never found us.”

      “The next time you decide to play hide-and-seek you must make sure that I know you’re playing.”

      The smile vanished from Lily’s face and she sighed heavily. “That’s what our friend said.”

      Amos elbowed her in the side. “That’s a secret.”

      Her eyes widened and she clapped a hand to her mouth. “I forgot,” she mumbled.

      Ethan glanced around for another child but didn’t see one. “Was there someone else playing with you? Who was it?”

      Amos pressed his lips into a thin line and folded his arms tightly. Lily glanced at him and did the same.

      Baffled by their refusal to answer him, he stared at their set faces. Should he demand they tell him who else was playing with them? Did it matter? It did if a child was hiding somewhere and his or her parents didn’t know where. He would have to try a different tactic.

      He glanced at the position of the sun in the sky. “It’s almost lunchtime. Are you two hungry?”

      “I sure am.” Amos jumped to his feet.

      “Me, too. Can we have macaroni and cheese?” Lily asked.

      “I reckon that’ll be as good a meal as any.” It was something he could fix without much fuss. Thankfully, the children hadn’t tired of it.

      “Yum!” Lily’s big grin sent warmth shooting through his chest. She was an adorable child. She looked so much like her mother. It was up to him to see that she grew into a modest and devout woman, too. The thought filled him with dread. He had no idea how to accomplish that feat.

      “Will your friend want some, too?” he asked, casually glancing around again for another child.

      “She’s gone home,” Lily said, heading toward the door.

      Micah ambled across the yard and stopped beside Ethan. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “I see you found them. Are you going to give them a spanking?”

      Lily spun around looking horrified. She held her hands over her backside. “I don’t want a spanking.”

      Ethan shook his head. “No one is getting spanked. But Micah is going to his room to think about what he did wrong today. After lunch, you little ones can go play on the swings, but I don’t want you to leave the backyard without telling me. Is that understood?”

      They both nodded solemnly, but he had to wonder as he held open the door for them just how long they would remember his instructions.

      * * *

      Clara sat in Faith’s workroom on Saturday morning and spun the final carding of fleece into fine strands of yarn. She glanced out the window, but the branches of the tree overhanging the alpacas’ pen were empty. The animals grazed peacefully beneath it.

      She hadn’t mentioned her meeting with Ethan or her return visit to his farm to her family. She preferred to forget about her foolish behavior and put it behind her, but she constantly found herself wondering how Ethan was doing. Not that it was any of her business. Still, even knowing that didn’t keep thoughts of him at bay. He needed help with those children. She hoped he wasn’t too proud to ask for it.

      Faith came in from the kitchen. “Are you finished already?”

      “That is the last of it.” Clara stopped the wheel and handed a spindle full of white alpaca yarn to Faith.

      Faith took it and added it to an overflowing basket. “I’m glad to be done, but I am truly going to miss your company, Clara. I never

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