Love Inspired November 2013 #2 by Emma Miller, Virginia Carmichael, Renee Andrews

tossed another apple peel in the bucket. She was definitely too worldly and not humble enough to be a preacher’s wife. Besides, Caleb didn’t think of her as a candidate for courtship. Eventually, she knew that he would seek out a wife, but it would be some older woman, probably a widow with children. Someone Johanna’s age. Johanna would have been a good match for Caleb if she and Roland hadn’t fallen in love all over again and wed.
    I could end up meeting some young man from Ohio or Oregon or Virginia and going to make a new life among his family and friends, Rebecca thought.
    â€œMore apples,” Susanna said as she dumped a dozen washed Jonathans into Rebecca’s bowl.
    As Ruth had said, Susanna had gotten over her huff and come downstairs as cheerful as always. She’d taken her turn at watching the children and rocking babies and changing diapers as the rest of them had. Susanna had said nothing more about peeling apples and no one had mentioned it to her. Rebecca hoped that she’d forgotten all about it.
    â€œSo how are you and Caleb getting on?” Miriam asked Rebecca.
    â€œFine. I like him,” Rebecca answered.
    Miriam glanced at Ruth. “What we were wondering is, how much does he like you? ”
    Rebecca glanced around to be certain Amelia, Mae and Katy hadn’t crept into the room to listen to the adults as she and Leah used to do when they were that age. “It’s not like that,” she said quietly. Suddenly she felt anxious. “Caleb’s my employer, not my beau.”
    â€œStill, he’s a good-looking man,” Anna pronounced, turning from the stove where she was stirring a pot of cooking apples. “And single.”
    â€œ Very single,” Johanna agreed. She placed Luke back in the cradle beside a sleeping Adam. “You have to be careful, Rebecca. Make certain that you never give people a chance to gossip about you.”
    â€œYa,” Anna agreed. She took a long-handled wooden spoon and dipped out a spoonful of cooked apples to taste. “Samuel and I were always chaperoned when we were alone together.”
    â€œCaleb is my employer .” Rebecca frowned. “He’s our preacher. He’s the last person I’d be interested in. And he certainly hasn’t shown any—”
    â€œNe?” Miriam raised her eyebrows. “I saw him watching you at service. He didn’t look all that uninterested to me.”
    Flustered, Rebecca stood up, dropping apples onto the floor. “That’s silly.” She stooped to pick up the fallen fruit. “Caleb’s too old for me.” One apple rolled under the table and she had to get down on her hands and knees to retrieve it.
    â€œNow who’s talking foolishness?” Anna said. “You’re twenty-one, and Caleb can’t be much past thirty-one or thirty-two. There’s a bigger age difference between me and Samuel.” She chuckled. “And look how that turned out.”
    â€œNo one would blame you if you set your kapp for him,” Miriam chimed in. “Caleb Wittner is a good catch.”
    â€œIs that what people are saying?” Rebecca rose to her feet. She tried but couldn’t keep the indignation out of her voice. “That I’ve set my kapp for him? Because that isn’t true. He’s the last man I’d want to marry.”
    Ruth and Johanna exchanged meaningful looks. “That’s what I said about Roland Byler,” her oldest sister remarked. “Sometimes a smart woman is the last to see what’s plain as day to everyone around her.”

Chapter Eight
    T hat afternoon, Rebecca was attempting to open the outside cellar door of her mother’s house while balancing a box of quart jars full of applesauce, when Caleb came around the corner of the back porch.
    â€œYou’re here early.” She hadn’t expected him until four or so. What surprised her more was the warm pleasure she