Christmas on His Doorstep Read online

  “Miss, are you all right?”

  Danny bent to pick up the puppy and looked the little girl in the eyes. “I want you to know that Holly has a fine warm house now and plenty to eat. She’s going to be very happy, and you may come and visit her whenever you wish.”

  “Truly?” Jane’s niece wiped her eyes on her sleeve and patted the puppy’s head.

  “For sure and certain,” Danny said.

  “Okay. Goodbye, Holly. Don’t forget me.”

  Danny tipped his hat toward Jane and spoke softly, “Danki for my early Christmas gift.”

  “Du bischt wilkumm.”

  He straightened in surprise. “You speak Deitch?”

  “I have to go. There’s work to do.” Jane spun around and hurried toward the house, giving her uncle a sidelong glance while keeping well away from him. Danny grew sick to his stomach. This woman and child had been abused; he was sure of it.

  And there was nothing he could do...

  After thirty-five years as a nurse, Patricia Davids hung up her stethoscope to become a full-time writer. She enjoys spending her free time visiting her grandchildren, doing some long-overdue yard work and traveling to research her story locations. She resides in Wichita, Kansas. Pat always enjoys hearing from her readers. You can visit her online at patriciadavids.com.

  Books by Patricia Davids

  Love Inspired

  North Country Amish

  An Amish Wife for Christmas

  Shelter from the Storm

  The Amish Teacher’s Dilemma

  A Haven for Christmas

  Someone to Trust

  An Amish Mother for His Twins

  Mistaken for His Amish Bride

  Christmas on His Doorstep

  The Amish Bachelors

  An Amish Harvest

  An Amish Noel

  His Amish Teacher

  Their Pretend Amish Courtship

  An Unexpected Amish Romance

  His New Amish Family

  Visit the Author Profile page at LoveInspired.com for more titles.

  CHRISTMAS ON HIS DOORSTEP

  Patricia Davids

  And they brought young children to him,

  that he should touch them: and his disciples

  rebuked those that brought them.

  But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased,

  and said unto them, Suffer the little children

  to come unto me, and forbid them not:

  for of such is the kingdom of God.

  —Mark 10:13–14

  This book is dedicated to my constant companion,

  my mood booster, my jester, my sounding board

  and my giver of endless, unconditional love.

  Dear Sugar, without your wildly wagging tail,

  excited yipping and laugh-out-loud antics,

  my life would be boring beyond words.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  Excerpt from An Amish Christmas Wish by Leigh Bale

  Chapter One

  “I don’t want to leave Holly here, Auntie Jane. She’s scared.”

  Tears filled her eyes, but Jane Christner ignored her five-year-old niece’s pleading and tied the puppy’s rope to the doorknob of a house at the edge of town in New Covenant. She didn’t want to abandon Holly either, but what choice did she have?

  “The man who lives here is the teacher we saw playing with that big yellow dog, remember? He’ll find a wonderful home for Holly.”

  The poor animal deserved someone to care for her the way Jane wanted to but couldn’t. Bridget loved the puppy, but love alone couldn’t provide the food the little dog desperately needed.

  Bridget sniffed as she stroked Holly’s head. The pup knew something was wrong. She pressed close to Bridget and gazed at Jane with worried eyes.

  Bridget glanced at Jane. “Are you sure he’s nice?”

  “I am.”

  It had been the sound of children’s laughter that drew Jane to the edge of the woods near the school last week. Ordinarily, she never went close to the village while foraging for wild edibles. Worried about the puppy Bridget had found by the side of the road and their own lack of food, Jane ventured closer to the village than she intended. When she heard the children’s shouts of joy, she wanted to see what was making them so happy.

  What she saw were Amish schoolchildren out for recess. The sight instantly transported her back to her youth. Fun. Security. That’s what she remembered about growing up in an Amish community.

  Before God took it all away from her.

  That day she caught sight of an Amish man pushing a red-haired, freckled-faced little girl on a swing.

  “Higher, teacher,” the child shouted.

  A man for a teacher? That surprised Jane. Only female schoolteachers had taught in her community.

  As she had watched, a big yellow hound bounded up to the teacher with a ball in her mouth. He’d ruffled the dog’s ears, thrown the ball and gone back to swinging the child until the dog returned. Laughing, he threw the ball again. The sound of his easy, affectionate laugher touched something deep inside Jane. She knew he was a good man.

  “They’re having fun,” Bridget had whispered in awe.

  The dog dashed away with the ball to where the children were getting up a game of softball, then ran to the outfield and waited for the ball to come her way. When it did, she snatched it up before racing after the runner until a laughing student caught her and took back the ball. Everyone praised the dog, including the teacher, who pulled out his kerchief, dried the ball before giving it back to the pitcher.

  “But why can’t Holly stay with us?” Bridget’s tearful voice jerked Jane back to the present.

  “We can’t take care of her, sweetie.”

  Bridget wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve. “’Cause Uncle Albert doesn’t like her.”

  It was true. “Albert doesn’t want to feed her anymore. You don’t want her to be hungry. This man will take care of her.”

  Albert Newcomb had no use for things that couldn’t earn their keep. Things like a stray puppy or his niece, Jane. His great-niece Bridget, however, brought in a monthly stipend from the state. Free money, he claimed. Funds he seldom spent on the child’s care.

  The stipend had arrived today. Albert would be in town stocking up on liquor and, hopefully, food, if he was in a generous mood. Jane had seized the chance while he was out to bring the puppy here.

  “Uncle is mean,” Bridget whispered.

  “Never let him hear you say that.” His temper needed little provocation to explode.

  Jane glanced at her niece’s gaunt face. Bridget looked so much like her mother, with her sleek red hair, freckles and green eyes, only Lois’s cheeks had been plump and rosy. Guilt stabbed Jane’s heart at the way she’d failed her sister.

  I’m doing the best I can for your daughter, Lois, but I know it’s not enough. Forgive me. I love her like she’s my child, Lois. Sometimes I forget she isn’t.

  Lois had been gone four years already. Four hard years. Life wasn’t fair. Why did a merciful God allow it?

  Bitterness pushed aside Jane’s guilt. God took her parents, then her only sister, leaving her and Bridget to suffer at the hands of Albert’s drunken rages. Her faith had died a long time ago. Trapped with no job, nowhere to go in an isolated part of northern Maine, Jane did what she could to eke out an existence and protect Bridget.

  At least she could give this little dog a chance at a better life.

  Biting cold made her fingers fumble with the rope. Fat snowflakes drifted down.

  “Holly can have some of my food.” Bridget’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.

  There was never enough food because Albert withheld it to punish Jane. Bridget had missed too many meals because of his claims the child was clumsy or stupid.

  Jane focused on tying the rope, repressing her anger. Bridget wouldn’t go to bed hungry tonight if she hurried. Jane had seen a large wild rosebush loaded with rose hips close to the school. She’d gather some on the way back to make a filling rose hip soup.

  The puppy whined, a pitiful sound that tore at Jane’s heart. The Amish schoolteacher seemed like a good man. Jane hoped a child from the school would adopt the sweet little dog and love her.

  Finally, Jane secured the knot. Tucking a note of explanation under the rope around the puppy’s neck, she stroked the English setter’s soft, white speckled head one last time. “You be good for this fellow, Holly.”

  School would let out soon. Jane didn’t want to be seen in the village. Albert would be furious if he found out. He’d forbidden them to have any contact with the Amish.

  The door in front of her opened unexpectedly. The man s
he’d seen with the children looked down. Astonishment filled his dark brown eyes. “Hello. Can I help you?”

  Jane’s heart jumped to her throat. Why was he here? He should be in the school. She stumbled backward. Now that he’d seen her, Albert might find out where she’d gone. She grabbed Bridget’s hand and ran toward the woods as fast as she could.

  * * *

  “Hey, wait!” Danny Coblentz stared at the fleeing pair. What was going on? He glanced down and saw a rope tied to his doorknob. At the other end, a scrawny puppy crept toward his feet.

  “Wait! What about your dog?” The fleeing pair didn’t stop.

  He tried to follow, but the puppy tangled the rope around his feet.

  Was this some kind of joke?

  By the time he freed himself, the woman and child had vanished into the woods. His brother-in-law Willis Gingrich came around from behind the school. “Were you hollering for me, Danny?”

  “Nee, I wanted to stop that woman.”

  Willis gazed toward the woods. “Why was she running?”

  “I don’t know.” He’d had only a brief glimpse of the pair, but he didn’t know them.

  Willis looked at the puppy. “When did you get a dog?”

  Danny pointed toward the trees. “That woman tied this puppy to my door and ran off.”

  “That’s odd. The poor thing looks like it’s starving.” Willis kneeled to stroke the pup. “She’s not very old. Three or four months at most. Hey, there’s a note under the collar.”

  Willis handed it to Danny. “My reading is improving, but I’m slow.”

  Willis, along with his younger brother Otto, suffered from dyslexia. Ashamed of his inability to read, Willis had hidden the fact until Danny’s sister Eva, who had been the teacher in New Covenant before Danny, discovered Willis’s secret and showed him it was nothing to be ashamed of. The two fell in love and married two years ago.

  Danny scanned the note then read it aloud. “‘This is Holly. Please find her a home.’”

  “That’s all it says?”

  Danny kneeled beside the dog. “Hello, Holly. Did they name you that because of your red speckles? Who is the woman who left you? Why leave you with me?” She licked his hand.

  “Maybe they heard you’re a soft touch.” Willis chuckled. “What are you going to do with her?”

  Danny looked up hopefully. “Would you like a dog?”

  “Nee.”

  “I guess I’ll take her inside, then try to locate the mystery woman. She wore Englisch clothing. The child had on pink boots. Her face was thin, Willis. Much too thin for a healthy child.” The woman’s face had been gaunt, too. Her large dark eyes full of fear.

  “Do you think the child is sick?”

  “Maybe malnourished.”

  “Perhaps they gave up the dog because they don’t have enough to eat themselves.”

  “That’s possible.” Danny’s determination to discover the truth grew.

  As a teacher, he kept a close eye on all the kinder under his care. No child in his community would go hungry if he could help it, even if she wasn’t his student. Or Amish.

  The puppy whined pitifully. First things first. Holly needed his attention. The late November cold made it impossible to leave her outside.

  The school doors opened across the way. The children poured out. Maddie, a fourth-grade student, waved at Willis, racing for home behind her fourteen-year-old brother Otto. They were Willis’s half-siblings. Along with seventeen-year-old Harley who worked with Willis in his blacksmith shop, the children came to live with him when they were orphaned a few years ago.

  Willis jerked his thumb toward his house across the road. “I’d better get home. I left Harley in charge of baby Ruth. Do you have dog food?”

  Danny shook his head. “Nee, but I’ll find something.”

  “Don’t feed her too much. Might make her sick.”

  “Danki. Tell Eva I appreciate her covering for me this afternoon.”

  “Your sister loves to substitute teach, so ask her anytime. Between you and me, I think she was glad to get out of the house for a couple of hours. Ruth is a goot bobbli, but Eva needed the break.”

  After Willis left, Danny picked up the pup. She tried to lick his face. He pulled away. “No kisses. Let’s get you in out of the cold. Then I’m going to find your mistress. She has some explaining to do.”

  He found an old towel, lined a cardboard box with it, set it near the stove in his kitchen and placed the pup inside. She stood with her paws on the rim whining.

  “Nope, you’ve got to stay in there for now.”

  Opening the refrigerator, he stared at the contents. What would the dog like that would be good for her? Leftovers were sparse because he took most of his meals with Eva and her family. At the back, he located a plate with leftover baked chicken that Eva had sent home with him two days before. After shredding it, he added some canned peas and carrots. Mashing it all together, he warmed it on the stove, then put a cupful in a bowl.

  He lifted Holly from the box and put her down beside the food. She snarfed it up so quickly he considered giving her more but decided against it. Licking her chops, she gazed at him hopefully. Poor little thing.

  “Sorry. That’s all for now, but there will be more later.”

  He took a knife and cut away one side of the box so she could get in and out easily. After making sure she had water within reach, he shut her in the kitchen, put on his overcoat and went outside.

  It was snowing heavily now. He found the path the pair had taken into the forest. The Zook children regularly used it when they walked to school. The path ended at a narrow dirt road leading farther back into the woods. He passed the Zook farm but several hundred yards farther on, he had to admit defeat. Whatever footprints might have remained were quickly being covered with fresh snow.

  He walked back and saw Jedidiah Zook coming out of the barn. He hailed the farmer. “Jed, have you got a minute?”

  “Sure. What brings you out this way?” Jed frowned suddenly. “Have my kinder been misbehaving at school?”

  In the past year, Jed had gained two daughters when his orphaned nieces Polly and Lydia arrived to stay with him. Then he’d gained a stepson last fall when he married the boy’s widowed mother. Parenting was new to him.

  “Nothing like that,” Danny assured him. “Matthew is shy, but he and the girls are goot scholars. This is going to sound strange, but a woman with a little girl left a puppy at my place. They came this way about twenty minutes ago. Did you see them or know who they are? They’re not Amish. The woman looked to be in her early twenties. Dark hair, dark eyes. The girl is four or five with red hair. She had on pink boots.”

  “Doesn’t sound like anyone I know. Let’s ask the missus.” He nodded toward the house.

  Mary Beth Zook couldn’t help. “We’re the last Amish farm in this direction. There are a couple of Englisch farms on the other side of the creek, but I don’t know any of those folks. I’m sorry, Danny.”

  He swallowed his disappointment. “Danki, anyway.”

  “Polly and Lydia are getting excited about their Christmas program. I’m eager to see it myself.” She smiled at her husband. “It will be our first Christmas together as a family.”

  “I’ll try to make it memorable.” Danny tamped down a twinge of envy. Mary Beth and Jedidiah were clearly in love. Something Danny hadn’t been able to find. The Lord had seen fit to fashion a happy family out of their heartaches, but Danny wondered if his turn to find love would ever come.

  When he entered his kitchen a short time later, the puppy greeted him like a long-lost friend but went to the door as if expecting someone else. She whined, scratching at the wood.

  Danny ruffled her silky ears. “It’s only me. Tomorrow is Saturday. We’ll go farther into the woods together. Maybe you can show me the way home.”

  * * *

  Jane ran until her burning lungs and a painful stitch in her side forced her to stop. She lowered Bridget to the ground and leaned against a tree trunk until she caught her breath. The heavy snow made it difficult going.

  “Is that bad man chasing us?” Bridget asked fearfully.

  Jane shook her head. “He’s not a bad man. I’m in a hurry to get home and finish the chores before Uncle gets back from town. You know how upset he gets if things aren’t to his liking.”