A Match For Addy (The Amish Matchmaker Book 1) by Emma Miller Page B

aren’t you?”
    She pretended to concentrate on attaching the strip of tape. She didn’t know what to say. Of course, she loved get-togethers with singing, good companionship, prayer and laughter. All her unmarried friends would be there. But for several years, she’d been one of the older girls, and it got harder and harder to watch other young women ride or walk home with the boys while she caught a ride with a group or walked home alone. The last time she’d attended a gathering, a taffy-pull two weeks earlier, her
dat
had let her take the horse and cart. That had been just as bad because, once again, she’d driven home alone while all the other girls seem to have paired up with young men.
    Addy was beginning to feel as if she were one of the chaperones rather than one of the girls. And maybe that was what it would come to. Her last birthday was months ago, but it would come again soon enough, and when it did, she’d be thirty. The thought made her stomach turn over. Most girls married by twenty-five, and as her mother was quick to remind her, time to make a good marriage was fast running out.
    “What is it with you two?” Gideon demanded. He assumed a solid stance, legs slightly apart, arms folded over his broad chest, and scowled at them. “Yes or no? Am I the only one of the three of us who wants to have some fun?”
    Ellie threw up her small hands in surrender. “All right, all right,” she said. “I’ll go.”
    “Addy?” He turned those beautiful gray eyes on her, and her heart skipped a beat.
    “Maybe,” she managed.
    He spun around to look back at Ellie. “How far away is the Beachy farm?”
    “A mile and a half, maybe,” she answered.
    “Good, we’ll walk.” He swung back around. “So, it’s decided. We’re all going. Addy, we’ll swing by your house and pick you up on our way. I may not convince any of the pretty girls to let me walk them home, but at least I’ll arrive with two.”
    Thrilled, Addy grabbed ahold of the ladder with one hand to steady herself. Gideon wanted her to go to the singing! He’d asked—no—he’d
insisted
that she walk to the frolic with him. Happiness bubbled up in her chest, and she felt a little lightheaded. No boy had ever insisted she go to a youth gathering before. And none had ever promised to come by and get her. She felt that she should say something, but she was struck speechless with excitement. All she could do was nod.
    “It’s settled, then.” Gideon clapped his hands together and turned to the sagging closet door. “We’re going, and we’ll have a wonderful time. And I’ll prove to you—” he indicated a chuckling Ellie with a raise of his chin “—that Half Pint here doesn’t recognize a fine voice when she hears it.”
    * * *
    Elmer Beachy had passed the word that the singing at his father’s home would start at seven, but by the time Gideon, Ellie and Addy got there, a spirited volleyball game was already in play. The walk from Addy’s farm hadn’t been that far. Instead of taking the road, they had followed the path that led through her Aunt Hannah’s farm to the Seven Poplars schoolhouse, where Ellie would be teaching in the fall. Once they reached the schoolyard, it had only been a short distance to the Beachys’ lane.
    More than a dozen buggies and a few wagons had passed them, but Addy had refused the offered rides, giving the excuse that she wanted to stretch her legs. What she’d really wanted was to prolong the time she and Ellie spent with Gideon, talking and laughing. Addy had never felt excluded from the life of the community, and she had certainly always had friends. But her place had always been on the outside of a circle, never the center. Being with Ellie and Gideon made her feel special, even if she suspected he’d asked her to walk with them just to be kind. They did all work for Sara, and it would have been rude not to invite her.
    But this evening, the tables were turned. It was Addy who knew everyone