An Amish Christmas Promise - Jo Ann Brown Mills & Boon Love Inspired

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from Leland. He’d fought to keep them. Not because he wanted them. They would have been in the way of his rough life of drinking and drugs. He’d fought because he hadn’t wanted his wife to have a single moment of joy. It hadn’t been enough he’d left Regina with bruises and broken bones each time he bothered to come home. At last, her sister had agreed to let Carolyn help her escape the abuse. Regina had been free of her abusive husband for almost three months before she became ill and died two days later from what the doktors had said was a vicious strain of pneumonia.

      “Wow,” murmured one of the men behind her as they reached the main intersection where a concrete bridge’s pilings were lost in a jungle of debris and branches. “Is there another bridge into town?”

      “Not now. There was a covered bridge.”

      “Was it destroyed?” Michael asked.

      “Half of it was except for a couple of deck boards. The other half’s wobbly. From what I’ve heard, engineers will come next week to see what, if anything, can be salvaged.”

      “So the road we traveled in on the bus is the only way in or out?”

      “For now.” She didn’t add it might be several months or longer before the lost and damaged bridges were repaired.

      She led the men to higher ground. She listened as they spoke in hushed Deitsch about how difficult it would be to get supplies in for rebuilding. It was hard not to smile with relief while she listened to their practical suggestions. How splendid it was to have these down-to-earth men in Evergreen Corners! Instead of talking about paperwork and bureaucracy, they planned to get to work.

      Hurrying up the street, Carolyn saw two of her chickens perched in a nearby tree. She was glad neither child noticed. Both were too busy asking the newcomers a barrage of questions.

      The parking lot in front of the high school held news vans with their satellite dishes, so she cut across the lawn to avoid the curiosity of reporters looking for a few more stories before they headed to the next crisis. She nodded her thanks to Michael when he opened the door for her and the children but didn’t slow while she strode along the hall that should have been filled with teenagers.

      The temporary town hall was in the school’s gym. She’d already heard grumbling from the students that the school had survived when so many other buildings hadn’t. By the end of next week when school was scheduled to restart, she guessed most of them would be glad to be done with the drudgery of digging in the mud and get back to their books. Kevin and Rose Anne were growing more restless each day, and only the hunt for their chickens kept them from whining about it.

      Voices reached out past the gym’s open doors, and Carolyn said, “This is where volunteers are supposed to sign in. They’ll get you a place to stay and your assignments.” She flushed, realizing what she should have said from the beginning. “Thank you for coming to help us.”

      “More volunteers?” A man wearing a loosened tie and a cheerful smile came out of the gym, carrying a clipboard. Tony Whittaker was the mayor’s husband. Asking their names, he pulled out a pen to check their names off. “Michael Miller, did you say?”

      “Ja,” Michael replied.

      Tony’s smile became more genuine. “I’m glad you and Carolyn have met already.”

      “Really?” she inquired at the same time Michael asked, “Why?”

      “You, Michael, have been assigned to the team building Carolyn and her children a new home.” He chuckled. “Hope you’ve made a good impression on each other, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time together for the next three months.”

       Chapter Two

      Carolyn woke to the cramped space in what once had been—and would again be—stables. The barn, along a ridge overlooking the village, was owned by Merritt Aiken, who had moved to Evergreen Corners after retiring from some fancy job in California.

      The stables had become a temporary home for five families who’d been left homeless in the flood. Her cot, along with the two smaller ones the children used, left little room for any possessions in their cramped space in two stalls. They had only a few changes of clothing, donated by kind members of the Mennonite congregation.

      Carolyn had been able to rescue Hopper, the toy rabbit Rose Anne had slept with since she was born. Somehow in the craziness of escaping the flood, she’d grabbed the wrong thing from Kevin’s bed. Instead of his beloved Tippy, a battered dog who’d lost most of his stuffing years ago, she’d taken an afghan. Kevin had told her it was okay.

      “I’m too big for a stuffed toy anyhow,” he’d said.

      She’d guessed he was trying to spare her feelings. That had been confirmed when the children were offered new stuffed toys. Kevin had thanked the volunteers and taken a bear, but it had been left on the floor by his cot. She’d caught sight of the stains of tears on his face after he’d fallen asleep and known he ached for his special toy.

      It was too great a burden for a little boy to bear. The weight of everything they’d lost pressed down on her. It was difficult to act as if everything could be made right again. All she had from a week ago was the heart-shaped locket that had belonged to her sister and contained baby pictures of the children. It had taken her almost a month to get accustomed to wearing the necklace without feeling she was doing something wrong. A proper plain woman didn’t wear jewelry, but she hoped God would understand she was fulfilling her sister’s dying wish to keep the children close to her heart.

      She clenched the gold locket as she savored the familiar scents of the barn. The dried hay and oats that had been a treat for the horses consigned to a meadow out back were a wonderful break from the odors closer to the brook. She let herself pretend she was a child again and had fallen asleep in her family’s barn on a hot summer afternoon.

      But she wasn’t in that innocent time. She and the children were homeless, and she feared Leland would care enough about Kevin and Rose Anne to come to Vermont.

      Assuming they’d been on the news, and he’d seen the report. Maybe he’d missed it.

      Help me keep these children safe, she prayed.

      The image of Michael Miller flashed through her mind, startling her. Why had she thought of him when she imagined being safe? It must be, she reassured herself, that he represented the Amish life she’d given up. Or maybe it was because he was going to be rebuilding their house. She shouldn’t be envisioning his strong shoulders and easy smile, which had made her feel that everything was going to be okay simply because he was there.

      She pushed herself up to sit. Was she out of her mind? Her sister and mamm had been enticed by good looks and charming talk, and both had suffered for it. Though Daed had never struck Mamm, at least as far as Carolyn knew, he’d berated her whenever something went wrong. Even if it’d been his fault. That abuse had continued until his death and had worn her mother down until she died the year before Carolyn left Indiana.

      Carolyn heard the children shifting as they woke. She dressed and hushed Kevin as she helped him and his sister get ready for the day care center at the Mennonite meetinghouse’s community center. The children had been going there while she helped prepare breakfast for the displaced and the volunteers.

      After they’d made their beds and folded their nightclothes on top of the blankets, she held her finger to her lips as she led the way out of the barn.

      Some of the people in the large barn were still asleep. With worries about when they’d have a home or a job to return to, many found it impossible to sleep through the night. She’d woken often during the long nights and heard people pacing or talking in anxious whispers. But, just as she did, the resilient Vermonters kept on their cheerful faces during the day.

      Kissing the children and getting kisses in return, Carolyn watched as they joined

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