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the box and lifted a tiny ball of fur. The puppy mewed at having its sleep cut short. Trixie rose to her feet and stood close as Leah handed the pup to Joy, showing her how to hold it properly.
    Joy raised the puppy to her face. “Oh, it’s so soft. It this Pickles?”
    “Let me see.” Caleb took the puppy from her and checked the gender. “Yup, this is Pickles.” He handed her back to his daughter.
    Joy pressed her close. “I love you, Pickles.”
    The puppy started crying, making Trixie whine with concern. Leah said, “We should put Pickles back with her mother now. She needs lots of rest so she can grow up to be a wonderful helper on someone’s farm.”
    Joy handed her back to Leah. Trixie nosed her pup and licked her as Leah replaced her with her littermates. Joy looked at Leah. “Pickles’s mommy will take good care of her. She won’t run away and leave her to be scared.”
    Leah exchanged a poignant look with Caleb. They were both thinking the same thing. Joy was referring to her own mother’s actions. Caleb put an arm around her. “No, Trixie is going to take good care of all her puppies.”
    Joy pushed his arm away and looked around the kitchen. “Where is their daddy?”
    Leah knelt beside her. “His name is Duncan. He lives on a sheep farm not far from here with his master.”
    Joy frowned. “Does he ever come to visit his kids?”
    Leah smothered a smile. “They were only born today. I’m sure he’ll be by when he hears the news.”
    “He better come. He shouldn’t be a deadbeat dad. My friends Jenny and Kala have deadbeat dads.”
    Puzzled, Leah said, “What does that mean?”
    Caleb rose to his feet. His demeanor changed as he squared off, almost as if he expected a fight. “A deadbeat dad is a man who doesn’t take responsibility for his children, doesn’t visit them or help support them.”
    She rose, too, as the past came rushing in to spoil the moment. “Your Englisch world must be a sad place if such a thing is common there.”
    Caleb took Joy’s hand. “It can be sad. It can be wonderful, too, just like here. Say goodbye to the puppies and thank Leah for letting you see them. We have to get going.”
    “Thank you. Take good care of Pickles. I like her the best.”
    Leah spoke before he made it out the door. “The school board is meeting next Thursday evening at Eli Imhoff’s home. You are welcome to come and speak with them.”
    “All right.” He didn’t say anything else.
    Leah closed the door as the pair left, and watched through the kitchen window as they got into Caleb’s truck. Rarely had she been so torn about what her course should be.
    If she aided his daughter to become Amish, was she helping him avoid responsibilities to a child for a second time?
    He genuinely cared about Joy. She saw it in the way he touched his daughter and in the way he spoke to her. He was trying hard to do the right thing.
    Why hadn’t he given that kind of care and attention to her sister and their unborn child?
    Could a man change that much?
    With God, anything was possible. If Caleb had changed, why continue to deny he was David’s father? He no longer had an obligation to marry her sister or take care of David. Admitting the truth wouldn’t change anything except to free his soul from the burden of his lie. It didn’t make sense.
    Perhaps he was too prideful to admit the truth. That she could believe, yet it was too simple an answer. There had to be more. Something was holding Caleb apart from the Amish community and from his family. Something painful. What was it?

Chapter Four
     
    C aleb turned his truck onto the narrow dirt lane leading to his childhood home and stopped. It was almost dark. A crimson band of clouds in the west marked the end of the day and a new start to Joy’s life.
    Up ahead, a large two-story white farmhouse stood nestled into the slope of a hill. It was backed by a thick stand of trees. Their branches were bare now, a mat of dark lines scratching against