The Wedding Quilt Bride. Marta Perry

She struggled to hold on to her emotions. “When I came back, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t lean on anyone else.” The way she’d leaned on James. “I would stand on my own two feet.”

      “Nothing wrong with that,” he said, “except that it’s not the Amish way. We help one another, as you know very well. You wouldn’t hesitate to help me if I needed it. Like Sam, over here every day to help do our milking, as well as his own, when Caleb was laid up. That’s what we do.”

      Her arguments were being cut from under her, and she struggled to find a solution they both could accept.

      Daniel crossed the distance between them and stood, smiling at her. “What’s wrong? Can’t find anything else to say?” His voice teased her gently.

      “Nothing that wouldn’t necessitate another apology,” she said tartly. “Suppose we do this. You let me help. Surely there are things I can do. And you don’t turn down other jobs to work for me.”

      “Deal,” Daniel said. He grinned at her. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

      She’d tell him it was, but he wouldn’t understand. None of them would, because they didn’t know what her life had been like with James.

      It hadn’t been his fault, she told herself once again. The injury was to blame.

      Whether that was true or not, she had to walk away from the past. She had to accept Daniel’s help to do so. He held the door open to her new life, but she had to pass through, and she would.