Plopping into a chair, Emma said, “I’m sorry if I worried you. I couldn’t let them die without trying to save them. They were so helpless.”
“If you can put that much effort into saving four kittens, can’t you put it into saving yourself?”
Emma frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think you know. You were seventeen when William was killed. I know you loved him but he is gone. You are still here. You used William and that inn as an excuse to avoid being with people your own age. You have built a wall around your heart higher than the fireplace. When your father died I felt the same way. Perhaps that’s why I let you wallow in your grief. After a while, I didn’t know how to make you see you’d shut yourself off from life.”
“I’ve made the best life I can with what God gave me. I’m not pretty, I’m not witty. I’m dull and plain.”
She thought she had accepted her lot, but Adam had her thinking about all the things she’d never had—a home of her own and a man to hold her and love her.
Naomi shook her head sadly. “This is not what God wants for you. It would not be what William wanted for you. Life is passing you by, Emma. When I saw those kittens, I knew you felt it, too.”
Tears blurred Emma’s vision. “I don’t want to feel that pain again, Mamm.”
“God will help you bear any pain that comes your way. Trust in Him. Please stop passing up all the joy life has to offer out of fear. Do you like Adam Troyer?”
“I do. I do like him.”
“I can see that he likes you. All you have to do is smile at him and he will do the rest. Give him some encouragement, or sit in that chair and grow old without a husband and children and nothing but cats to love.”
Emma bit her lip as she listened to her mother’s harsh but true words. Could she take the chance? What if it didn’t work out? Would she be worse off than she was now?
Naomi drew a deep breath and blew it out in a huff. Rising to her feet, she said, “I believe I want to go to the auction now.”
Emma gathered her courage and stood. “I will go with you.”
Chapter Seventeen
David Troyer clapped Adam on the back when he sat down beside his cousin. “I thought I was seeing things this morning. There was my cousin, escorting the homeliest old maid in the county around this auction.”
Lydia giggled. “When I thought of all the pretty English girls Adam used to chase I could barely keep a straight face.”
“Me, too,” Susan added. The girls, eighteen and nineteen, were always laughing at something. Or someone.
Seated on the wooden risers at one end of the cattle pens, Adam listened to his cousins’ remarks with growing unhappiness. Finally, he said, “Emma Wadler is not homely. She is a devout, hardworking woman with a kind heart. You don’t know her the way I do. I’m thinking of courting her.”
Lydia and Susan flashed a scowl at each other. Then Susan asked, “Are you serious?”
“Jah, I am.” He hadn’t known Emma very long, but that was what courtship was for. To talk and make plans, to discover if they were right for each other. In his heart, he knew she was the only woman for him.
David nodded toward Adam’s father seated a few rows away. “Are you sure you aren’t rushing into this for another reason?”
Adam clenched his jaw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
David shook his head. “You think if you quickly settle down and start planning a family your father will welcome you back with open arms. That isn’t fair to a woman.”
“If that happens I will be overjoyed,” Adam admitted. Like David, he thought it would take more than an Amish girlfriend to convince his father he had mended his life. None of that had to do with the way he felt about Emma.
After the cattle were auctioned off, the gas-powered tools were brought out. David and the girls left. Adam made his way up to the tools to look them over. From the corner of his eye he saw his father talking to the auctioneer beside the gas skill saw Adam intended to bid on. To his surprise, his father beckoned him over.
His dat said to the auctioneer, “This is my son. He has a gift for fixing things.”
Adam glanced sideways at his father. “What seems to be the problem?”
The auctioneer said, “We are trying to make the most money we can for this family. A working machine brings more money than a broken one.”
“I will see what I can do.” Removing the cover, Adam got to work. Within a few minutes he had the gas motor chugging away and the saw buzzing.
Delighted, the auctioneer asked, “How much do I owe you for the repair?”
Adam shook his head. “Nothing. It is my gift to the family. I was hoping to buy this, but now it may bring more than I can afford.”
He started to turn away, but his father stopped him by grasping his arm. “You did a good thing for this family.”
Adam smiled at his father. “From the time I was little I was taught to think of others first. I wasn’t a very good student, but I had a good teacher.”
His father smiled. “Maybe you weren’t as bad a pupil as I thought.”
Chapter Eighteen
Emma stepped eagerly out of the buggy when she arrived back at the Yoder farm. The auction was still in full swing. She looked about for Adam, but didn’t see him in the crowds of Amish and English bargain hunters. The sunshine was warm enough to start turning the snow to slush, but no one seemed to mind.
She looked at her mother. “What would you like to see first?”
Adjusting her bonnet, Naomi said, “It should be time for the quilt auction. I will go and see what my quilt fetches. I might have to bid up the price if it goes low.”
“Careful, or you’ll be stuck buying back your own work.”
“What are you going to do?”
Emma glanced around. “I think I’ll go look at some of the tools.”
Naomi patted her daughter’s cheek. “I pray you find the perfect thing to mend your heart there.”
Emma smiled broadly. “I believe I may.”
The women parted and Emma set out to find Adam. There was much she wanted to say to him, but mostly, she wanted to be near him. To hear his deep voice and happy laughter. He had brought sunshine into her life after a long, dark winter.
Suddenly, she caught sight of his cousins. Susan and Lydia walked ahead of her into the large barn. Perhaps they knew where Adam had gone. Hurrying to catch up with them, she paused inside to let her eyes adjust to the dimmer light, then spotted them looking at a collection of lanterns.
Walking that way, she had almost reached them when she heard Susan say, “Look. There is Onkel Daniel and he’s talking to Adam.”
A thrill danced through Emma at the sound of Adam’s name. She tried to see where the women were looking.
Lydia said with a smirk, “I can’t believe it. All he had to do was tell his dat he’s dating Emma Wadler and that smoothed things over?”
Susan crossed her arms. “Guess it was a goot plan. Onkel Daniel wants him to marry and settle down.”
“Do you think he will actually marry her? Can you see them together for a lifetime? He’s so handsome and she’s so plain.”
Susan picked up a lantern to study it. “She does own her own business, and Adam doesn’t have two cents to rub together. No…you’re right. Why would he settle for her?”
As the women walked on, Emma stayed rooted to the spot. The question echoed through Emma’s shocked mind. Why would Adam, a man who could have any woman, settle for her? Why would he?
The answer was as clear as the sky outside. He wouldn’t.
Chapter Nineteen
Adam was so happy he was humming as he climbed up to Emma’s loft. She was there bef
ore him, holding the kittens piled in her lap. “Guder mariye, Emma. How are the little ones?”
“The smallest one won’t eat. I think he is sick. The vet told me they would likely die. I should have listened to him and let him put them to sleep without suffering.”
Her tone was so sad it almost broke his heart. She wouldn’t even look at him. He sat down beside her. “Nee, do not say that. You have given them days of love and care. Do not give up now. We will take him to the vet and see if there is medicine to make him better.”
She looked at him then, her eyes empty and red-rimmed as if she’d been crying. “Some things can’t be fixed, Adam. Don’t you have work to do?”
“I thought I would help you with the kittens first.”
“I don’t need help.”
He took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. “Emma, what’s wrong?”
She pulled away and replaced the kittens in the box. “Nothing is wrong. I got my hopes up and that was my fault. I’m a foolish old maid, but not so foolish that I can’t learn from my mistakes.”
Something wasn’t right. She wasn’t talking about the kittens. “It isn’t foolish to hope, Emma. I have hopes and dreams, too. I dream about finding a woman to share my life, about raising a family together and making a home filled with love and faith.”
Would she understand what he was trying to tell her?
“Good luck with that, Adam.” She scrambled to her feet, put the box under her arm and descended the ladder.
Confused and worried, he watched her leave the barn. What did he do now? Maybe he was rushing her.
Rising to his feet, he dusted the straw off his trousers. Patience was what he needed. He would show her how important she had become to him in little ways and wait for her affection to grow.
Leaving the barn, he walked through the garden gate to the inn. The morning sun gleamed off the snow on the roof and the long icicles decorating the edges. They were pretty, but they were proof that the gutters were blocked. The unusual weather was the culprit. The heavy snow followed by warmer days and freezing nights was causing the problem. When the sunshine began to melt the snow, the water that couldn’t run off could seep under the shingles and might damage the walls inside. Emma couldn’t afford any more trouble.
It was an easy fix. He knew exactly what to do. All he had to do was climb a ladder to the roof.
He would, as soon as his hands stopped shaking.
Chapter Twenty
Empty box in hand, Emma sighed as she walked home. In spite of all that had happened, she refused to go back into the darkness where she had lived for so long. Life held hardship and disappointment, but it held joy, too.
Like the joy of finding out the vet’s daughter was eager to take over the care of the kittens, and the sick one needed only a dose of antibiotics to make him better. Knowing they would be well taken care of lightened Emma’s heart. Yes, from now on she would look each day for the unexpected joys God granted everyone.
It would be hard, because she had believed Adam was one of those joys.
After putting her box in the barn, she walked toward the gate. When she pulled it open the first thing she saw was Adam high on a ladder against the side of the inn. He leaned out to lay something near the downspout and the ladder slipped.
Emma’s heart jumped into her throat as he clawed at the frozen shingles. Terrified that he would plummet to the ground and be killed, she raced toward him screaming, “Hang on, Adam!”
Grasping the heavy ladder, she stabilized it and leaned against it to hold it still. “I’ve got you. Come down.”
Breathless, he descended the rungs. “Danki. You saved me from a nasty fall.”
Her racing heartbeat slowed from its wild gallop. He was safe. “You need someone out here to keep you from breaking your neck.”
When his boots touched the snow-covered grass, he let out a sigh and smiled at her in spite of her scolding. “God put you here to keep me from harm.”
“This time. What about next time?”
“That is up to God. Are you busy? I could use your help for another fifty or sixty years.”
She gaped at him.
Stepping closer, he pulled off his gloves and cupped her face in his hands. “I wanted to take it slow, make you see how much you mean to me, but I can’t. I must tell you now that I’ve fallen in love with you, Emma Wadler.”
“Why would you settle for a woman like me?”
“You mean someone who is smart, someone with compassion and a deep faith who has beautiful eyes? A woman who is full of grace and can cook better than my grandmother? I don’t know, Emma, why would I settle for someone like that?”
“Because it will help you mend things with your father.” She waited to see his reaction.
He gave her a puzzled look. “My father and I have already mended things between us. That has nothing to do with why I love you. I want to marry you, Emma, but I will settle for courting until we know each other better. May I court you?”
Her heart tumbled over and poured out the love she had been hoarding for years. She smiled broadly at him. “Yes, Adam Troyer, you may court me.”
Before she knew what was happening, he kissed her. It was a kiss full of warmth, hope and the promise of many joys to come. As his arms encircled her, she knew it was a kiss that would mend her broken heart at last.
* * * * *
Originally Published for Harlequin.com
ISBN: 9781459221215
HOMETOWN CINDERELLA
Copyright © 2012 by Ruth Axtell Morren
THE INN AT HOPE SPRINGS
Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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