âYouâre Daniel Brown, the hero who saved that boy from the mob?â
âHardly a hero,â Daniel said.
âI didnât knowâ¦â Leah hesitated. âNow I feel foolish. I spent so much time with you tonight and I never asked you about your travels. I really feel foolish.â
âDonât. It was a natural mistake.â He struggled to find the right thing to say. He didnât want her to walk away feeling embarrassed. âIâll be looking for youâat the presentation. I hope you arenât disappointed.â
âNo,â Leah said. âYou couldnât disappoint anyone, Daniel Brown. Least of all, me.â
âIâll see you there, then?â
âLeah?â A woman called from the porch. âAre you ready?â
âYa,â she answered. âComing.â She smiled at him. âIâm glad you were with me tonight.â
âMe, too.â
âWhat you said beforeâ¦â she murmured shyly. âI agree. We made a good team.â
âWe did,â he said. And then, without another word, she turned and hurried off, leaving him standing there, staring after her and wishing she wasnât going.
EMMA MILLER
lives quietly in her old farmhouse in rural Delaware amid fertile fields and lush woodlands. Fortunate enough to be born into a family of strong faith, she grew up on a dairy farm, surrounded by loving parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Emma was educated in local schools, and once taught in an Amish schoolhouse much like the one at Seven Poplars. When sheâs not caring for her large family, reading and writing are her favorite pastimes.
Chapter One
Kent County, Delaware, Spring
More than forty people, Mennonite and Amish, waited in the old Grange building for the speakerâs arrival. A long table covered with photographs and maps stood at the rear of the hall, and volunteers had arranged folding chairs in two sections, one on either side of a central aisle. Leah Yoder, three of her sisters, her brother-in-law, and nine giggling and whispering Amish teenagers from Seven Poplars filled the first two rows on the left.
It was rare for Old Order Amish to attend events hosted by other denominations, but tonight was an exception. Leahâs older sister, Miriam, and her husband, Charley, had volunteered to chaperone the outing for their churchâs youth group, the Gleaners, and the bishop had given them special permission to do so. Leah, at twenty, was too old for the Gleaners, but she had been just as eager as her younger sisters, Rebecca and Susanna, to see the PowerPoint presentation and hear the Mennonite missionary share his experiences in spreading Godâs word outside the United States.
A young man in jeans and a raincoat, carrying a briefcase and a camera, wandered in from the offices in the back, and Leah thought that he might be the speaker, but it was only a reporter from a local newspaper. She hoped that he wouldnât attempt to take photos of the audience. Having pictures taken was against Amish beliefs, and if he tried to snap their picture, Charley and Miriam might decide that it was better to leave. To Leahâs relief, the man found a seat near the front and didnât even look across the aisle at them.
The program had been scheduled to start at seven, but it was already twenty past the hour and Susanna was growing restless. Susanna had been born with Down syndrome, and although she was eighteen, in many ways, she would always be a child. Leah had convinced their mother to allow her to bring Susanna to the presentation this evening, so her sister was her responsibility.
Susanna wasnât the only one losing patience with the long wait. Herman Beachy, who could never sit still for long, was tugging at his sister Vernaâs bonnet strings and, by the expression on her face, she appeared ready to give him a sharp elbow in the ribs. Amish considered themselves nonviolent, but that didnât mean brothers and sisters didnât have their spats. Leah could see that the rest of the Gleaners were keyed up as well. If the youngsters became unruly, it would reflect badly on the entire Amish community, and that would put an end to any future outings of this kind.