Their Convenient Amish Marriage. Cheryl Williford

front door and sounds of muffled laughter sent Verity skittering past Leviticus, down the long hall that led to the great room, her bare feet slapping against the wooden slats of the floor as she hurried along. Faith was home, and she needed to tell the little girl about Leviticus’s arrival and the boppli he had brought with him.

      Her gaze sought out Faith. Dribbles of strawberry ice cream marked the skirt of her dochder’s pale pink dress. Verity smiled her welcome to her mamm, but her eyes were drawn back to her Faith. “I see someone got ice cream.”

      In her childish version of Pennsylvania Dutch, Faith exclaimed, “The ice cream was so gut. Grossmammi let me have two scoops.” Verity kneeled, and Faith hugged her mamm round the neck, almost pulling Verity down with her excitement.

      Verity accepted a shower of kisses from Faith while removing her slipping cape and outer kapp. “You must have been a special gut girl to get such a treat.”

      Faith’s head bobbed up and down with enthusiasm, her messy bun at the base of her head bouncing, ready to fall without the support of her everyday kapp to keep it secured. “Grossmammi said I was so gut that we could go see the new puppies at Chicken John’s after Thanksgiving. They’re too little to touch just yet.” Faith’s big brown eyes grew wide with excitement and anticipation. “Can we go see them soon?” Verity’s heart melted with love for her dochder, but she shot her mamm a frustrated glance. When would she have time to care for a small dog underfoot?

      Verity’s mamm laughed at Verity’s serious expression and silent warning. “It’s just to look, Verity. It’s not like I promised Faith she could have one.”

      “Maybe your grossmammi and I should talk about your visit to Chicken Joe’s while you go change your dress.” Verity tucked Faith’s lightweight winter cape and kapp under her arm, searched for and found her dochder’s white everyday kapp hanging from her small fingers. She quickly tidied Faith’s bun but didn’t attempt to replace the head covering. “There. Now, scoot. Change your dress. And mind you don’t run...” Verity’s last words became a whisper of frustration as Faith took off in a flash of pink down the hall, headed, no doubt, to the kitchen to find Albert.

      Verity turned to her mother. “A puppy, Mamm? Seriously? That’s the last thing I need right now. I’ll have to be the one who tells her she can’t have it. Not you.”

      “She doesn’t ask for much, Verity.”

      Verity dropped her head, wishing she could relax her hold on life and enjoy it like she had when Mark was alive. “Leviticus has returned home, much to our surprise. I’d best go catch Faith before she starts giving him the third degree. You know how she is with strangers.” Her trembling hands sought refuge in her apron pocket as she hurried off. Her mother was right. Faith didn’t ask for much. Just love and a small fuzzy puppy.

       Chapter Four

      Waiting for his father to return to the house, Leviticus glanced toward the arch of the kitchen door as a petite, barefoot little girl ran into the room, her hair a cluster of wild ginger curls escaping from her bun, much like her mamm’s hair often did. Her big brown eyes sparkled in the sunlight streaming in through the kitchen window. The kind stopped abruptly and gave him a look of surprise and awe.

      “Are you my new daed?” The child’s gaze penetrated every fiber of his being, into his very soul. A sprinkling of honey-colored freckles disappeared when she scrunched up her nose and grinned impishly, exposing two missing bottom teeth. “I told Gott I wanted a blond-haired daed. He got that part right, but you’ve got blue eyes. I wanted a daed with brown eyes, like me.” Her crinkled brow and piercing gaze suggested disappointment, but her smile returned quick enough.

      Leviticus couldn’t help but laugh out loud as the mixed emotions flashed across her face. He knew an imp when he saw one, and Faith Schrock was that and more. “I apologize. I do have blue eyes, but that’s okay, because I’m sure Gott’s still debating on who’s to be your new daed.”

      “Nee, he sent me you. He just got the eye color wrong.” Bareheaded, the child wore a traditional pink Amish dress and apron, but her miniature kapp hung from her delicate fingertips.

      “Shouldn’t you be wearing that kapp on your head?”

      “Nee, my grossmammi said it could stay off. She got tired of pinning it back on this morning.” Her grin grew into a full-blown smile. “Do you think I’m hopeless?”

      “No, I think you’re adorable.”

      Her grin widened. “Did you bring my boppli with you?” Faith moved forward one step and then another, her hands busy situating a cloth doll under the crook of her arm.

      “I’m assuming you asked Gott for a boppli, too?”

      “Not a baby. A boppli schweschder. One like Beatrice has. She won’t let me hold hers.” Her bottom lip poked out in a pout. “She said I might break her, but I wouldn’t.”

      Verity and a woman he recognized as her mamm, Miriam, came into the room. Verity reached for Faith’s hand and pulled her to her side. Her troubled gaze pierced him. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you. My dochder is a real blabbermaul. She doesn’t understand it’s not okay to speak to strangers.”

      Faith buried her face in her mother’s skirt for a moment and then laughed as she sprang forward, exposing her toothless grin again. “He’s not a stranger, Mamm. Gott sent him to me. He’s my new daed.”

      Verity flushed red. She knelt and spoke quietly, the smile she had for her dochder staying firmly in place. “A week ago you said Gott sent the garbage man to be your new daed. I’m confused. Which is it going to be?”

      “Him,” Faith declared with all the conviction a small child could muster and pointed Leviticus’s way.

      Emotions tore through him. What kind of father would he make if he was this kind’s daed? One day Naomi would be just like Verity’s little girl. Full of life and silly questions. He’d have to step up. Find a way to be all Naomi needed him to be.

      Longing tugged at his heart, and for a moment, he allowed himself to imagine parenting two delightful little girls with Verity. When they were teens, Verity had said she wanted a house full of children. Back then, he’d had everything a young man could want. They could have become a happy familye. But rebellion and grief had pushed him away and left him the shell of the man he was. Verity had been better off with the man she’d married, this Mark she spoke of in such high regard.

      He took in a deep breath, watching the girl. He couldn’t encourage her childish dreams. Gott would have to rebuild him if he was to be all he could be. Gott grant me wisdom. Show me the way.

      * * *

      Verity smiled at her daughter, her thoughts on Leviticus. Some might have missed the momentary flash of alarm that crossed Leviticus’s face, but Verity hadn’t. She had no intention of pursuing him as she had when she was young.

      Kinner had a knack for coming up with the most ridiculous ideas. If he didn’t understand that yet, he would soon, now that he had a dochder of his own to raise. Verity squeezed her eyes shut for several seconds, gathering her thoughts, tempering her annoyance.

      She concentrated on Faith, who was smiling bright and impatiently waiting for her mamm’s response. “Nee, I’m sorry, my lieb. Leviticus can’t be your daed. Not today, or any other day. He already has a familye. He has a precious dochder named Naomi to raise.”

      Faith’s face crumpled, prepared to cry. “But why can’t I be his dochder, too?” She