Surprised by Love: An Amish Family Novella
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About this ebook
In a desperate move to evade her match-making mother setting her up with her childhood tormenter, Emily Shwartz announces that she’s already seeing someone: Reuban Coblentz. The trouble is, Reuban is barely even a friend. But seeing how desperate she is, Reuban plays along. But when the past sneaks up on them, will this temporary arrangement turn into everlasting love?
Kathleen Fuller
With over two million copies sold, Kathleen Fuller is the USA TODAY bestselling author of several bestselling novels, including the Hearts of Middlefield novels, the Middlefield Family novels, the Amish of Birch Creek series, and the Amish Letters series as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield. Visit her online at KathleenFuller.com; Instagram: @kf_booksandhooks; Facebook: @WriterKathleenFuller; X: @TheKatJam.
Read more from Kathleen Fuller
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Surprised by Love - Kathleen Fuller
COPYRIGHT
ZONDERVAN
Surprised by Love
Copyright © 2018 by Kathleen Fuller
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
Epub Edition June 2018 9780310352655
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
CIP data is available upon request.
Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America
18 19 20 21 22 / LSC / 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my husband, James. I love you.
CONTENTS
Copyright
Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Discussion Questions
Acknowledgments
About the Author
GLOSSARY
ab im kopp: crazy, crazy in the head
ach: oh
aenti: aunt
Amisch: Amish
appeditlich: delicious
bruder: brother
bu/buwe: boy/boys
daag/daags: day/days
daed: father
danki: thank you
dawdi haus: smaller home, attached to or near the main house
Dietsch: Amish language
dochder: daughter
dumm: dumb
dummkopf: idiot
Englisch: non-Amish
familye: family
frau: woman, Mrs.
garten: garden
geh: go
grossmutter: grandmother
grossvatter: grandfather
gut: good
gute nacht: good night
hallo: hello
haus: house
hungerich: hungry
kaffee: coffee
kapp: white hat worn by Amish women
kinn/kinner: child/children
kumme: come
lieb: love
maedel: girl/young woman
mamm: mom
mann: Amish man
mei: my
morgen: morning
mudder/mutter: mother
nee: no
nix: nothing
onkel: uncle
perfekt: perfect
schee: pretty/handsome
schwesters: sisters
sehr: very
seltsam: weird
sohn: son
vatter: father
ya: yes
yer: your
yerself: yourself
CHAPTER 1
Emily Schwartz looked up at the early morning August sky. The sun hadn’t broken through the darkness yet, and the balmy temperature made it a wonderful time for stargazing. Thousands dotted the inky black sky. She knew there were millions—no, billions—more scattered across the endless expanse. She adjusted her telescope, took off her glasses, and peered into the eyepiece. Not that she could see much. The telescope was a small, inexpensive instrument, better suited to a child than a true student of the stars. Still, it was all she had, and her parents didn’t give her a hard time about using it. One day she hoped she could afford a good one.
She continued gazing at the stars, moving her telescope around to get the best views. She turned on her head lamp, scribbled down a few notes in her small spiral notebook, then tucked her pencil behind her ear and looked in the eyepiece again. When the sun’s morning rays streaked the horizon with soft lilac and peach hues, she folded up her telescope, took it inside, and went up to her bedroom.
Stargazing again?
her mother asked when Emily entered the kitchen to help with breakfast. She was making pecan waffles—a family favorite. Emily reached for her apron so she could make another favorite—bacon.
Tying the apron around her waist, she nodded. I didn’t want to waste a clear morning.
Humph.
Mamm flipped over the iron griddle and put it back on the gas burner. I wish you would apply yourself as diligently to finding a husband.
Emily suppressed a sigh. Her mother was relentless when it came to Emily’s romantic life. Make that her nonexistent romantic life. God will supply a husband for me.
If it’s his will. Emily wasn’t completely sure that it wasn’t.
I wish he would hurry up then,
Mamm muttered.
Emily laid strips of thick bacon on the pan her mother had set out earlier. "You can’t rush the Lord, Mamm."
Of course not.
She gave Emily a sharp look. But I can light a little fire under you.
Emily frowned. Her mother was up to something, she was sure of it. As the youngest of six, Emily was the last one still living at home. Her three brothers and two sisters were married and had started families of their own years ago, which made her parents’ move from Shipshewana to Middlefield difficult. Most of her siblings and all of their children still lived in Shipshewana. But the opportunity to open their own natural food store in a community that wasn’t overpopulated with them was too great to resist. And in the four years since their arrival, no one could deny the shop was a success.
Unlike her parents, Emily had been happy to move. She wanted a fresh start, and she’d gotten one here. She was content with her job at the store, the community, and of course her astronomy hobby. Being unattached gave her extra time to devote to it. She considered her stargazing time a perk of the single life. If only her mother could see things the same way. But Louwanda Schwartz had her own particular, and outspoken, view on life.
By the time the waffles were brown and the bacon crisp, Daed walked into the kitchen. They all sat and, after prayer, dug in to their food. Emily nibbled on a hot slice of bacon while saying an additional silent prayer that her mother would drop Project Find Emily a Husband. Emily’s father wasn’t interested in that kind of talk. Besides, she was only twenty. Just because her siblings had all married by her age didn’t mean she had to.
Fortunately, her mother and father were discussing their visit to Shipshewana coming up in a couple weeks. When they finished eating, Daed pushed away from the table and stood.
I’m planning to spend some time in the greenhouse. Unless you need me at the store.
Mamm shook her head. "We shouldn’t be too busy