Harlequin Love Inspired March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Patrice Lewis (i read book txt) 📖

her something fierce. When she left, it took him a while to get over it.”

Perhaps Jane’s sympathies should lie more with Josiah than with Eliza, since she too had been jilted by the person she loved. Well, she could hardly call it jilted if Isaac had never realized she was in love with him. Still, she felt a stirring interest in Eliza’s fate.

“Well, whatever happened, she had a beautiful baby.” Jane touched Mercy, and the infant immediately clasped her finger with a tiny hand. “She’s such a joy to take care of. When she’s not spiking a fever, that is.”

Catherine chuckled. “You always had a gift for babies. Maybe someday…”

For once Jane didn’t feel the familiar stab of pain. “Maybe someday I’ll get married and have some of my own?”

“I’m sorry, child, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Don’t worry. You reminded me what I’d forgotten for a bit, that I should turn my future over to Gott. I’m willing to wait and see what He has in store for me,” Jane said, then added, “And that’s the first time I’ve felt optimistic about it too.”

“Gott works in mysterious ways,” Peter told her. “And who knows, maybe He’ll restore Eliza back to the community, in which case she can raise her own baby.”

Jane thought about the mysterious Eliza as she prepared for bed. She settled Mercy into her portable crib and slid between the sheets, watching the baby, grateful she seemed fully recuperated from her illness.

How would she feel if Eliza suddenly returned and claimed the baby as her own? She had every right to raise her own child, but Jane knew it would be a difficult thing to stop caring for this infant who had come to mean so much to her.

Along with Levy.

Jane rolled over and stared at the dark ceiling. Crickets chirped outside her open window, and she heard the hoot of an owl from a distance. She blasted herself for falling in love with another man like Isaac, who only saw her as “useful.”

What was the matter with her that she could be “useful” but not lovable?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Uncle Peter drove her and Mercy to Levy’s farm the next morning, since Jane couldn’t walk there while carrying the baby equipment and the baby.

“Danke,” she told her uncle as he unloaded the portable crib, diaper bag and bouncy seat on Levy’s front porch. “I’ll be home this afternoon.”

Levy wasn’t in the house. Jane walked through the quiet home, noting dirty dishes in the sink and a small pile of laundry on the floor. She smiled despite herself at his clear lack of domestic skills.

Before doing anything else, though, she carried buckets, a blanket and the baby outside to harvest raspberries before the day got too hot. She settled Mercy in the shade and began picking.

By the time Levy returned from the fields, the sun was high and her buckets were full. Mercy’s diaper needed changing, and the baby began making noises indicating she was about to go into a full-fledged crying jag until her belly was filled.

“Here, I’ll take the berries,” offered Levy. “You take care of Mercy.”

“Ja, danke, she’s hungry and wet.” Jane picked up the baby and returned to the house. She changed her diaper and settled into a rocking chair with a bottle of formula.

“No problems?” Levy settled onto a chair near the rocker as the baby nursed.

“Nein, she slept all night. Whatever caused the fever, it doesn’t seem to be causing any additional problems.”

He sighed with a relief Jane fully understood. “I’m grateful to Gott it wasn’t worse. I don’t know what I’d have said to Eliza if something happened to Mercy.”

“And you have no possible way to get in touch with your sister? No address?”

“No.” He stood up and returned to the kitchen. “I’m going to make myself a sandwich and get back outside. I have a lot to do to get ready for the farmer’s market.”

“I’ll make jam this afternoon.”

“Ja, danke.”

Within a few minutes, he was gone and the house fell silent.

When Mercy fell asleep after her bottle, Jane laid the baby in her crib and commenced a quick housecleaning, ending with hanging laundry on the line. Then she started to make the raspberry jam.

* * *

Levy was grateful Jane arrived a bit earlier than normal on Saturday morning. “I’ve got your jars of raspberry jam already packed,” he told her. “If you can take care of the baby, I’ll finish loading the wagon.”

“Ja, let me have her.” He handed Mercy into her capable arms, and Jane slipped the infant into the sling.

“I’ve got a few more crates to pack, then we can be on our way,” he added.

“What can I do?”

“I don’t have Mercy’s diaper bag or the lunch hamper packed. Can you work on those?”

“Ja, sure.” She disappeared into the kitchen. He paused for a moment to admire her figure in the tidy green dress, then continued loading crates of lettuce and early carrots, flats of raspberries, fresh corn and tomatoes. In plenty of time, he was able to get the wagon on the road.

“Mercy seems fully recuperated.” Levy guided the horse through an intersection. “But the back of the booth is well-shaded, and you might want to keep Mercy there rather than expose her to the crowds.”

“Ja,” agreed Jane. “I don’t want her to pick up any germs.”

“She’s fortunate you’re here to care for her.” Levy kept his eyes on the horse’s ears. The compliment fell clumsily from his lips. He covered the awkward moment by adding, “Still, I think I’m going to ask you to conduct a small experiment whenever Mercy is napping. How would you like to act as a scout?”

“A scout?” She glanced at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean someone who can walk around the market. I’m always so busy at the booth that I seldom get to see what other people are selling.”

“Are you thinking in terms of adding to your booth’s inventory?”

“Ja, something like that.” Finances had been on his mind a lot. “I