Her Amish Christmas Gift

“I finished the back acreage where you left off and a little more.”

“Don’t,” Nate warned Jacob. “Don’t encourage her. You know what can happen when an accident occurs with the mower. She could have been hurt or worse.”

His expression sobering, Jacob gazed at her. “He’s right.”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “Maybe.”

Nate stared at his brother. “Jake, you need to lie down before you fall.”

To Charlie’s surprise, Jacob agreed. She moved to help him into the other room, but Nate reached him first. As if he didn’t trust her to help Jacob. Hurt, she stayed in the kitchen while the brothers disappeared into the other room. While she waited for Nate to return, she felt the strongest urge to flee. But she didn’t. She might have made a huge mistake with the mower, but she was just trying to help. Charlie still thought he’d overacted, and she wouldn’t run as if she’d done something wrong.

But she didn’t want him to think her unreliable and immature. She wanted the teaching job and needed to show him that she was a dependable, no-nonsense young woman who would make the best teacher ever hired for their Happiness School. A wrong word from Nate or anyone else within the community would end her chances to teach. As much as it upset her to change, she understood she needed to be on her best behavior. Even if it killed her to change into someone other than herself.

* * *

After making sure Jacob was comfortable on the sofa, Nate returned to the kitchen. He paused in the doorway, his gaze immediately homing in on Charlie. She stared out the window over the sink. There was a defeated slump to her shoulders, and he could feel her dejection like pain in his belly. But as much as it hurt him to see her this way, he knew he was right to be hard on her.

He stepped into the room. “Charlie.”

She spun as if taken by surprise. A look of vulnerability settled on her pretty features. He scowled. He didn’t want to notice how lovely she was or to recall her misguided intentions to help. If she didn’t rein in her tendency to jump into potentially dangerous situations, she could get seriously injured. Or die.

Her breath shuddered out. “Jacob oll recht?”

“Ja. He’s asleep.”

Her mouth softened into a slight smile. “The pain medication.”

He nodded, unable to take his gaze off her. He’d been more than a little alarmed when he’d realized that she’d used the mower. If something had happened to her...

A memory came to him sharp and painful of another young girl who’d been reckless and wild like Charlie. He’d loved Emma with all of the love in a young boy’s heart, but it hadn’t been enough. Despite his repeated warnings, Emma had continued to take risks in her quest for excitement. She’d claimed that she loved him, but in the end, he wasn’t enough to keep her happy. He’d warned her to avoid the young Englishers in town, but she hadn’t listened.

Instead, she’d called him a spoilsport for ruining her fun. Then one night she’d slipped out of the house during her rumspringa to spend time with her new English friends. The teenage driver had crashed his car, the accident seriously wounding his passengers, three English girls, and killing Emma immediately.

Nate hadn’t known of Emma’s plans that night. Later in his grief, he’d realized that Emma would have hated being married to an Amish farmer. Never content to be a wife and a mother, she would have always craved—and gone looking for—excitement.

Charlie shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and he looked away. Charlie needed a husband, he thought. A man to ground her. Someone closer to her age with enough sense to help her reach her potential as a responsible wife and mother.

“Charlie—”

“I only wanted to help, Nathaniel,” she said.

He stifled a smile at the use of his formal given name. She tended to use it whenever she was upset with him. “I know.”

“But I didn’t, did I? I made you worry and I didn’t mean to.”

He sighed. “Next time you need to listen when I tell you something.”

“I guess that will depend on what you say,” she said cheekily.

“Charlie,” he warned.

“I’m not a child, and I can only be me.”

“I need to get back to work,” he said abruptly. He had to maintain his distance. He mustn’t think of her as anything other than a child.

“Will you be back for lunch?”

He hesitated. “I’m not sure. If I am, most likely I’ll be late. If the two of you get hungry, eat.” He grabbed his hat from the table where he’d tossed it earlier. “I need to stay out and cut as much hay as possible before it rains.”

An odd sound made him spin around. Charlie looked as if she was going to say something but she didn’t.

Nate studied her face and had to stifle amusement at the aggrieved look in her green eyes. “Stay in the haus, Charlie. Jacob needs you.”

She sniffed as if he’d found fault with her. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

He didn’t release her gaze. “Gut.” Jamming his hat on his head, he opened the back door and took one last look to find her reaching for the broom. “Charlie.”

She spun as if startled. “Ja?”

“Behave.”

She glared at him. “Go mow your hay, vadder,” she mocked.

Nate chuckled under his breath as he left, pulling the door shut behind him. He was overly conscious that Charlie was in his home, doing her best to help out in a bad situation. He didn’t know what he would have done if she hadn’t been there yesterday.

He gauged the sky, noting the gathering dark clouds in the far distance. The last thing he needed was for it to rain before he was done.

He couldn’t dawdle. Time was passing too quickly, and he’d already spent too much of it at the house when he should have been in the fields. But after realizing what Charlie had done, he hadn’t been able to stay away.

Nate scowled. Lately, Charlie was taking up way too many of his thoughts. She wanted to be a teacher. Maybe that was just what she needed—a job to keep her busy and that would make her take responsibility more seriously. His mam frequently sang Charlie’s praises for the way she handled his younger siblings. Mam obviously felt Charlie responsible enough to watch her children while she did other things.

He had a ton of work to do, Nate reminded himself. He forced Charlie from his mind to focus on the task at hand.

Four hours later he was pleased to realize that he’d cut more acreage than expected. He hated to admit it, but Charlie’s work in the back fields the previous morning had helped him. As he stabled his Belgian team, he felt the first of the rain. He closed the barn door then headed to the house, his thoughts immediately returning to Charlie and the lunch she’d promised him.

Nate was overwhelmed with a sudden chill as the rain began to fall in earnest, soaking him. As he reached the house, the door opened and Charlie stood, studying him with a worried look. “’Tis raining,” she said, eyeing him carefully, noting his soaked clothes.

Nate nodded. “I know.” Water dripped from his straw hat onto the porch decking. He tugged off his hat, and his hair underneath was sopping. The hat had done nothing to keep out the rain. She held out her hand for the hat then stepped back so he could enter the house. He followed her with his gaze. “You were worried.”

She looked away, apparently unwilling to admit concern. “I made soup,” she said.

He let it go. “Sounds gut.” He shivered. “And hot.” He smiled. “I need warming up.”

“You should change into dry garments,” she suggested.

He spun toward her. “Is that an order?”

“It would help.” She blinked. “And it was just an idea.”