A Cousin's Prayer Read Online Free Page A

happy, blessed day, and you have every right to smile.” Ella squeezed Loraine’s arm. “Seeing two people I care so much about come together as husband and wife brought tears to my eyes.”
    “It brought a few tears to my eyes as well,” Loraine said.
    “Same here.” Wayne leaned closer to Loraine. “When the bishop asked if I’d accept you as my wife and never leave until death separates us, I got so choked up I wasn’t sure I could answer his question.”
    Loraine reached under the table and clasped Wayne’s hand. “When I think of how close I came to losing you, I get choked up, too.”
    He squeezed her fingers in response. “I hope we never take each other for granted. I want us to teach our
kinner
to appreciate their family and live each day to the fullest.”
    “I agree with that.” Loraine glanced over at Katie. She still seemed sad and nervous. She hadn’t said more than a few words to anyone since they’d sat down at the table. Was she missing Timothy? Was she thinking about the wedding they’d never have?
    As they bowed their heads for silent prayer before the meal began, Loraine thanked God for her new husband and asked Him to bless all of her family—especially Katie.
    ***
    “With all this food being served here, I hate to think of how full we’ll be by the end of the day,” Freeman said to Andrew.
    Andrew chuckled and reached for the bowl of fruit salad one of the waiters had just put on the table. “Think maybe I’ll run around awhile between each of the meals that will be served throughout the day. When I get tired of that, I might make some animal balloons for some of the kinner.”
    Freeman’s interest was piqued. “I didn’t know you could do that. Is it hard to learn?”
    “Some of the basic balloon animals are fairly easy, but a few of them are pretty difficult to make.” Andrew shoveled a heaping spoonful of fruit salad onto his plate. “The hardest part of making balloon animals is blowing ’em up.”
    “Does it take a lot of air?”
    “Sure does, which is why I usually use the hand pump when I’ve got a lot of balloons to blow up.”
    “Making balloon animals sounds like fun,” Freeman said as Andrew passed him the salad bowl.
    “It is, and so are balloons I make look like flowers. The beagle on a bike is my favorite one, though.”
    “Beagle on a bike, huh? Now that sounds like the kind of balloon I should to learn to make.”
    “I’d be glad to show you sometime,” Andrew offered.
    Freeman shrugged. “Guess we’ll have to see how it goes. Between my job at the bike shop and your job at the harness shop in Topeka, neither one of us has a lot of free time.”
    “That’s true, but I’ll make the time if you’re interested.”
    “I’m definitely interested, so I’ll let you know when we can.” Freeman glanced at the tables where some of the young women sat and caught Eunice looking at him. He smiled and gave her a nod. She returned his smile with one of her own. Her shiny blond hair and vivid blue eyes made her stand out in the crowd. He figured it wouldn’t take her long to find a boyfriend. Next year at this time, she could even be the one getting married.
    He looked past the bridal couple and noticed Katie. There wasn’t much food on her plate, and what was there looked like it had hardly been touched.
I wonder if she’s on a diet.
    Freeman shook his head. Katie Miller didn’t need to lose any weight. If anything, she needed to gain a few pounds. He had a feeling something was going on with Katie. She’d been acting kind of strange all day. The way she’d run out during the wedding made him wonder if she might be sick.
    “Here you go,” Andrew said, handing Freeman a platter of fried chicken.
    “Danki.” Freeman forked a piece onto his plate and handed the platter to Wayne. Then he turned his attention back to Katie again. She fidgeted in her chair, and her hand shook as she reached for her glass of water and took a drink.
    She’s either