Christmas at Promise Lodge by Charlotte Hubbard Page B

financially?”
    â€œHaven’t thought much about such things,” Noah replied with a shrug. “But I’m grateful to Amos for seeing to Mamm’s needs so we no longer have to, in ways we’re not able to. He makes her happy—and their marriage will free up our time and energy so we can focus on our own families. Our futures.”
    Easy for you to say .
    Roman wondered where this unspoken retort had come from, because he wished Noah and Deborah every blessing as they began their life together. He was feeling like the odd man out, however, the last single man remaining—except for Truman Wickey, who had also come into the dining room with Marlin Kurtz and his kids to congratulate the engaged couple.
    Preacher Amos flashed Roman a thumbs-up from the center of the crowd that had gathered around him and Mamm. It seemed to Roman that romantic matters must come easier for folks the second time around, because they’d gotten past the bumpy roads of adolescence and dating, finding mates, and setting up households. Older folks had their priorities and preferences figured out and they were established in their occupations. They knew their places in life, and the paths God intended for them to follow—didn’t they?
    Preacher Amos made love look as easy as casting a line and catching a big fish from Rainbow Lake. Roman couldn’t imagine himself looking so happy if he were standing beside Gloria Lehman—not that he’d ever ask her out, much less ask her to marry him.
    When he glanced toward the doorway, he saw Mary Kate’s unmistakably pregnant profile as she paused to look into the kitchen. Her hand moved slowly over her belly, as though comforting her baby was already second nature to her.
    Can she feel it shifting, kicking? Does it respond to her touch? Roman wondered. Curiosity made his fingers tingle—although he would never ask Mary Kate if he could place his hand on her roundness to get the answers to his questions.
    As though she sensed his presence, Mary Kate surveyed the dining hall until her gaze met his. Her smile lit her face slowly, much as a sunrise painted the morning sky with strokes of peach and pink and shimmering light. When she entered the kitchen, Roman felt compelled to follow her.
    Not while Gloria’s there.
    He sighed. The gray-haired Kuhn sisters were rolling a cart loaded with heaping plates of chicken, potatoes and gravy, and dressing toward the table nearest his mother and Preacher Amos. “You folks sit down and enjoy your meal together,” Beulah urged them as Ruby began setting plates in front of the chairs. “Oh, but this has been a big day! A happy day for one and all!”
    Amos pulled out a chair for Mamm, and then he let his hand linger on her shoulder after he seated her. Mamm beamed up at him so confidently, so joyfully, that Roman almost couldn’t stand to watch. Once again he wondered if love came a lot easier to men who’d been around the block before.
    Wouldn’t it be nice to see Mary Kate smiling at you that way?

Chapter Five
    Sunday at last! And no church today.
    Amos rolled out of bed with a burst of energy, even though the sun wasn’t due up for another hour. Ever since Noah and Deborah’s wedding, his head had been in the clouds and his heart had been on his sleeve. Mattie was all he could think about while he’d been working on houses the past couple of days, as well as when he’d gone to the lodge for dinner in the evenings. This morning he was picking her up in the rig and they were going for a long drive and having a picnic to enjoy the end-of-fall weather, and to discuss important details about their marriage without other interested parties listening in.
    As Amos chose clean pants and suspenders along with one of his better shirts, he smiled. Someday soon he wouldn’t have to do his own laundry, or rely upon lunchmeat and easy-to-heat dinners from the grocery store, or clean