Read Lifted Up by Angels for Free Online Page A

Amish, are you?”
    Leah shook her head.
    “Me either.” Kathy rolled her eyes.
    “What’s wrong with being Amish?”
    “Nothing … if you like being ignored. I went to school with some of them and they sure keep in their own little circles. Tight as gum stuck to your shoe.”
    “Do you know the Longacres? I’m kind of a friend of theirs.” Leah wanted Kathy to know that she didn’t want to hear her trash the Amish.
    “Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Kathy said. “I like a lot of the Amish kids, but no matter what you do, you’ll always be an outsider to them. They don’t really have much use for us English.”
    Kathy’s words felt like a splash of cold water to Leah. Was she fooling herself about Ethan?The night before, he had kissed her in the moonlight until her blood fairly sizzled and her knees went weak. And he’d told her he would see her every chance he got. Now Kathy’s remarks were making her wonder.
    Kathy tipped her head and puckered her mouth in thought. “Longacre … Let me think.”
    “Ethan and Charity,” Leah supplied.
    “I sort of remember Ethan. He was in eighth grade when I started in seventh. He was really cute. But the Amish kids hardly ever stay in school beyond eighth grade, so once they’re out of middle school, we don’t see much of them. You interested in Ethan?”
    “Sort of,” Leah said.
    “Well, good luck, if you have a thing for him. Really strict Amish parents never let their kids mingle with the likes of us.”
    Leah felt an enormous letdown. She didn’t have time to dwell on it, however, because Mrs. Stoltz dashed out of the kitchen and started issuing orders about the day’s work. Soon Leah was up to her elbows in soapy water. She and Kathy changed bed linens, scrubbed bathrooms and washed windows the entire morning. Mrs. Stoltzclucked her tongue over every streak they left behind and every piece of brass that didn’t sparkle. She told them that the next day they would have to work faster. When Leah went to her car, she felt ready to collapse from exhaustion.
    “The first day’s always the hardest,” Kathy told her as they stood in the small parking lot adjoining the inn. “And Mrs. Stoltz is pretty nice once she sees that you’re trying to do a good job and not goofing off.”
    Leah rubbed the back of her neck. “Who had time to goof off?”
    Kathy laughed. “See you tomorrow. Oh. Here’s my phone number if you ever want to do anything on weekends.”
    Leah took the piece of paper Kathy handed her and got into her car.
Weekends.
She remembered Ethan’s promise to spend as much time as he could with her, but after what Kathy had said, Leah wondered if it was going to be possible. Absently she rubbed her knee. It felt sore. Fear jolted her. The soreness was in the same knee where bone cancer had been discovered.
It’s nothing,
she told herself.
I just overworked it today.
She threw the car into gear and screeched out of the parking lot.
    ———
    Because Charity and Ethan had no phone, Leah couldn’t call. She had no way of knowing if they missed her or even thought about her. On Friday, she drove to the farm. She had hardly shut off the engine when Rebekah came racing to the car, her long skirt flapping behind her. “Leah! Come quick! I have something to show you.”
    Leah jogged behind the little girl all the way to the henhouse. Inside the low wooden building, the warm air smelled like chickens and chicken feed. “Wow, this place needs some air freshener,” Leah joked. “What’s so important?”
    Rebekah took her over to a small, wooden, bowl-shaped trough. “Look.” The trough was an incubator, and in it eggs were in various stages of hatching. Rebekah scooped up a fuzzy baby chick and handed it to Leah. “Are they not wonderful?”
    “He’s cute, all right.” Leah cradled the soft yellow creature against her cheek. The downy feathers tickled. Below, the others peeped noisily. “So now you have even more chickens to look