A Husband For Mari (The Amish Matchmaker 2) by Emma Miller

his way out onto the back porch.
    From the porch, Mari stepped outside into a brisk and bitter night. Since there were no artificial lights on the house or barn and there was no moon, the flashing battery lights on the buggy seemed startlingly bright. There was no heat inside the vehicle, but Mari knew the exterior would cut the wind. It had been a long time since she’d ridden in a buggy, and she wasn’t sure whether it would bring back welcome or unwelcome memories from her childhood.
    James walked around to the back and opened the door for the boys. ’Kota, J.J., Jonas and Zachary all piled in to sit on the facing backseats. James untied his horse from the hitching rail, wrapped the lines around a knob on the dash and followed Mari around to the far side of the buggy.
    Mari quickened her step. The ground was frozen under her feet, and the cold seemed to leach up through the soles of her sneakers. She took hold of the buggy and started to climb up into the front seat, but she was in too much of a hurry. Her foot missed the metal bar that served as a step. She slipped and fell back, stumbling as she attempted to keep her balance.
    James’s strong hands closed around her waist and steadied her. “Sorry,” he said. “I should have helped you up.”
    She looked over her shoulder at him, and he held her gaze for a split second. She remembered what Rebecca had said earlier in the day about him being interestedin her. Surely Rebecca was mistaken.
    “No, it was my fault,” she said. His touch made her feel more off balance than her awkward attempt to climb into the buggy. Her hand tightened on the grab bar, and he boosted her up. She scrambled up into the seat. “Got it,” she said. “Thanks.”
    He circled the front of the horse and buggy and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Night!” he called to Albert and Hannah and the boys who were watching from the porch.
    “This is cool,” Zachary said from the darkness in the back of the buggy. One of the other kids said something in Deitsch , and they all giggled, including her son. Mari wondered if he’d understood what had been said or if he was just pretending he did.
    A whip stood by James’s left hand, but he never touched it. He made a low clicking sound, and the horse started off, first at a walk and then at a trot. The wheels made a familiar sound on the frozen ground, and the leather creaked. Mari closed her eyes and her mind returned to earlier times. Luckily, it was only good memories that came to her: memories of being cozy in the back of the family buggy with her cousins, memories of a feeling of belonging and safety.
    They were halfway down the lane when James spoke. “Here. Put this over your lap. You boys warm enough back there?” he asked as he passed her a heavy woolen blanket. “Blankets under the seat.”
    “Wait!” Mari said, suddenly remembering how many boys had climbed into the back. “Did you forget Roman?”
    James laughed. “ Ne , Grace drove him home earlier. Mattie likes to have the boys in bed early. Grace had stopped to see if ’Kota was behaving himself. She was on the way to help her husband, John, with a late check on a horse. She’s going to pick her boy up from Johanna’s when they’re finished.”
    Mari thought about how many times she’d struggled to find good child care for Zachary and the jobs and overtime she’d had to refuse because there was no one. “Must be nice to have so many willing babysitters,” she said wistfully.
    “Isn’t that what family and friends are for?”
    She glanced at James as they pulled out onto the road, surprised by how comfortable she felt with him. How at ease she’d felt all day, really. She was glad she’d come today.
    “Glad you came today,” James said.
    She laughed out loud at the fact that the both of them had thought the same thing at the same time.
    “What?” he asked, looking at her. “What’s so funny?”
    She shook her head and glanced away, feeling a blush creep