Fearless Hope: A Novel by Serena B. Miller Page B

steps. The short visit had done her a world of good. She felt sorry for anyone who lived in a place where they had no family.

chapter T WELVE
    H ope was appalled to see Abimelech Yoder drive into Logan’s yard while she and Carrie were sweeping the porch.
    “What a gut mother!” the widower said, climbing down out of his buggy.
    “Abimelech!” she said. “What are you doing here?”
    “You are not glad to see me?” He sounded hurt. “I was driving past. I saw your buggy and wished to speak with you.”
    “But why here?” she said. “I saw you at church only this past Sunday.”
    “It is difficult to talk with you privately when you are surrounded by others.” He nervously tugged at his beard, a habit which she’d noticed was getting worse lately.
    “I apologize, but I have much work to do.” She busily resumed sweeping the dead leaves that had fallen onto the porch, hoping he would take the hint and go away.
    The fact that he had come to her employer’s house uninvited was a little frightening. She trusted the men of her church, but Abimelech had been staring at her so openly during their last fellowship meal that she felt quite nervous having him near her while she was alone.
    Abimelech scowled. “I hear that some rich Englisch man bought your father’s farm and hired you to . . . keep house for him.”
    She blushed. The term “keeping house” was a borderline term. It could mean that she was simply doing the man’s housework, or it could mean the unthinkable—that she had moved in and was living with him.
    “I am employed to clean and cook,” she said. “He is rarely here.”
    “And he pays you well for this . . . cooking and cleaning?”
    Again—Abimelech’s voice sounded as though he was saying one thing and meaning another.
    “Well enough that I have not had to take alms from Bishop Schrock in over a month.”
    “If you married me, you would not have to take alms at all, nor would you have to work for this Englisch man in a house that should still belong to your family.”
    She gasped at his blunt mention of marriage, then decided to ignore it. “My father allowed the sin of gambling into his life and lost the farm. It was for sale. The Englischer had a right to purchase it.”
    She could not believe she was defending Logan to one of her own, but her employer had treated her kindly. He was innocent of her father’s failure. That was on her father’s shoulders.
    There had even been a very nice bonus in the envelope Logan had left on the kitchen table last week!
    “I am a good, steady worker with a large house and a roof that does not leak. My farm is productive. My children are under my control and not problem children. I am of your faith. I can help you raise your small children. You should quit this job and marry me.”
    “I do not love you,” Hope said. “I will not marry you. It is that simple.”
    Abimelech then did something that she would never have believed could happen back when he was simply her father’s friend who came to visit with his wife and children from time to time. Back when she was not much more than a child herself and paid little attention to the grown-ups. He allowed his eyes to look at her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet and then back up again. The look in his eyes was not love, it was something else, and the realization that he was not a good man made her flinch. The air around them seemed to become thick with an emotion that closed her throat and made her want to cover herself.
    Thank goodness Carrie was with her. Had there not been an innocent witness in that little girl’s eyes, she wasn’t sure what Abimelech might have done or suggested.
    The little girl was too young to understand what was going on, but Carrie’s sturdy little heart made her come take her mother’s hand and stand protectively beside her. Hope held tight to her broom with her other hand, wondering if she would have reason to use it as a weapon.
    When her