A Heart Made New Read Online Free

seat.
    “Annie, Annie, are you all right?”
    Long legs pumping, David raced across the street, Josiah right behind him. David’s hat flew off, revealing his smooth, bald head. He stopped long enough to retrieve it. A car horn blared and the driver shook a fist. Both men kept going. Annie shot from the bench. They were going to get themselves killed over nothing.
    “Is Mudder all right? They said shots fired. Shots fired!” David ducked under the tape and skidded to a stop so fast Josiah almost ran into him. “Who would shoot at you and Mudder?”
    “ Ach , David, you shouldn’t be running! Sit down.” Annie offered him her spot on the bench. He staggered away from her, put both hands on his knees, and gasped. She followed him. “We’re fine. Your mother’s fine. Miriam’s fine. Nobody was hurt.”
    “Miriam? Miriam was in there?” A look of near panic on his sweaty face, Josiah started to push past Annie. “Is she hurt?”
    “Listen to me.” Annie grabbed his arm. “Everyone is fine. Sadie. Me. Miriam. The mayor. You can’t go in there. The sergeant says it’s a crime scene, and he’s interviewing each one of us—taking statements, he calls it.”
    “The mayor was in there?” His face stony now, Josiah crossed his thick arms over a chest made broad by almost a year of working the anvil. “Police statements? Luke isn’t going to like this. Maybe you should go back to working at home.”
    “It was an accident. The mayor scared him.” A chill ran up Annie’s arms. Surely she wouldn’t be forced to give up her independence and a job she loved because of this. If Luke agreed with Josiah, she wouldn’t be given a choice. “Don’t tell Luke you think I should stay home. I’m fine.”
    Josiah picked up his hat, revealing his wild mop of brown curls, and slapped it back down hard. “I don’t know—”
    “Ach!” David sagged against the wall, his breathing so noisy that Annie started. “I think I…”
    “What is it? What do you need?” Annie took a step closer to him, longing for the freedom to offer him her hand for support. “Didn’t you have your treatment today? Shouldn’t you lie down?”
    “I don’t want to talk about chemo!” Still hunched over, David stared up at her, his dark eyes full of emotion. His flaring anger didn’t surprise Annie. David never wanted to talk about his illness or admit the slightest weakness. He didn’t trust her enough for that. “Where’s Mudder? Something like this could give her another heart attack.”
    Annie understood his fear. He’d already lost his father to a heart attack. Sadie’s first one had been mild, but still scary. “She’s fine—”
    David ducked past her just as Officer Bingham came through the door with Logan McKee. David stopped moving. “Is this him?” He scowled at Logan. “Why would you do this? Shoot at women who never hurt you?”
    Logan hung his head. “I didn’t mean—”
    “You could’ve given my mother a heart attack—”
    “But he didn’t.” Sadie squeezed past Officer Bingham and approached her son. Her arms went up, but she stopped short of giving him a hug. “We’re fine. This poor boy didn’t hurt anything but a window and the door—and that was purely an accident.”
    David’s gaze went from Sadie to Annie and back. “ Gut . That’s gut .”
    He crumpled to the ground.

Chapter 4
    T he darkness enveloped David like a heavy blanket. Hot. He felt hot. He struggled to fling it off him. His arms weighed so much he couldn’t lift them. He managed to open his eyes, and a bright light nearly blinded him. He blinked and tried again. The light sent a jagged pain pinging through his head. “Ach.” He tried to raise his hand to rub his forehead. Tape tore at the hair on his arm. “Ouch. What is this? Where am I?”
    “Good, you’re awake.” The fog lifted and Doctor Corbin came into view. He adjusted the IV tube taped to the inside of David’s arm. It snaked over his head to a bag filled with