Her Amish Holiday Suitor. Carrie Lighte

Nick isn’t shy at all.”

      “Neh, not usually. But maybe he likes one of us so much he’s afraid we’ll reject him. Maybe that’s why it’s taken him so long to propose courtship—he hasn’t been able to work up the courage. So instead of asking us straight out, he’s taking the safe approach.”

      Lucy would have been inflamed, but instead she pushed her quilt against her mouth to suppress a giggle. Her stepsisters might have lacked self-awareness, but they sure didn’t lack self-esteem.

      “I should get him. I’m the oldest,” Katura demanded, as if she were competing for a prize.

      “You can’t claim him. He’ll decide for himself which one of us he wants to court.”

      As her stepsisters bickered about who was more worthy to have Nick as her suitor, Lucy rolled to her side and curled the pillow over her ear to block them out. They may have been right to think Nick didn’t want to court Lucy, but they were just as wrong to imagine he wanted to court either of them. Once again, she stifled a guffaw. She couldn’t wait for her cousin Bridget to visit at Christmastime so they could share a laugh over the hilarious irony of it all.