The Amish Marriage Bargain (Love Inspired)

by Marie E. Bast

  She stepped forward. “We both wanted the same thing but worried that the other would say nein. You’re an honest man. I wouldn’t want you any other way. Ich liebe dich, I love you, Thad Hochstetler, and always will.”

  May took Leah from his arms and hugged her tight. Leah smiled and giggled. May shifted her to her left hip. She raised her hand to Thad’s cheek and stepped toward him until their lips met for a tender kiss.

  He put his arms around May and pulled her and Leah both into a hug. “Ich liebe dich, May Hochstetler. We are ehemann and frau and always will be. And nothing will ever separate us again, for sure and for certain. That’s a bargain that I will never be sorry for making.”

  She stepped back and held up her Amtrak ticket to Shipshewana. “Shall we tear it up?”

  Thad paused. “Nein, we will give it to the driver, along with his payment.”

  “When I bought the ticket, an overwhelming fear of losing you came over me. Then I knew what April must have felt like losing Alvin. When I thought about her being pregnant and knowing that she and her boppli would be shunned, I realized what she was going through. How desperate her life must have felt like to marry someone whom she didn’t liebe to give her boppli a name. But I’m sure she found some kind of satisfaction in knowing that you, Alvin’s bruder, was going to marry her, and that you would take care of her and Leah, and raise her like Alvin would have wanted.”

  She caught her breath. “You asked me a couple of questions a few days ago that I wasn’t prepared to answer. But I am now. You asked me if I’d forgotten about the past and that April and you were married. Nein, I haven’t forgotten, at least not yet, but in time I believe that it will dissolve into the past and become like ashes. It just won’t matter, because I tried to put myself in April’s situation, and I hope that she would be willing to make the same sacrifice for me. I forgive you, not just because Christ said that if we do not forgive men their sins, our Father in heaven will not forgive our sins, but because we live in community. And I’m glad that you loved your bruder enough to marry April and take care of Leah.”

  He crossed the distance between them and wrapped May in a hug and kissed her tenderly again.

  “Me, too, Daed. Me, too,” Leah called out.

  Thad kissed Leah’s cheek. “Pumpkin, you will always be part of our hugs.”

  May wiped the tears from her eyes. “I will always liebe you both, and we will always be a family.”

  Epilogue

  “Bishop Yoder!”

  May tried to hurry but the bishop could step lively when he had a mind to do it. Perhaps he didn’t hear. “Bishop!”

  She glanced around at the congregants after preaching to make sure no one else could overhear her request.

  She stepped a little faster. “Bishop!”

  He stopped and turned around. “May, did you call?”

  “Bishop, you seem a little hesitant to talk to me.”

  “My dear, you and your ehemann at times like to stretch the authority of the Ordnung. I tell you that you can’t work outside the home in your cheese factory, so you get the whole community involved so I can’t say nein. And you organize it during the common meal on Church Sunday. When I wanted to matchmake you and Thad, you resisted. Then when you decided you’d marry him, you two fight and want a divorce.” He scowled. “No one I have played matchmaker for has ever had a complaint or asked for a divorce. Just the fact that you even asked for one sets a precedent I don’t like. If news of that ever got out, the other bishops would think I have lost control of my community.” The bishop whisked out his handkerchief and blotted his forehead. “Now that I got that off my chest, what can I assist you with?”

  “Bishop, there are six of us in the cheese factory and one cell phone for the business is just not enough. We would like permission for all of us to carry a phone.”

  “Certainly not.” The bishop waved his hand as if to wave the idea away. “There can be one per business. You will need to designate someone to carry the phone.”

  “But we all make different kinds of cheeses and have our own orders. For each of us to have a cell phone would be so convenient.” She laid a hand on her belly. “And since Thad and I are expecting, he worries about me when I’m away from home.”

  “And how is your business? Is it all you hoped it would be?”

  “It is a blessing, Bishop. It not only pulled us out of debt, but all those who are in it with us have no financial worries. The farm is looking better than ever after all the repairs. And we are thinking about expanding the business and getting on the Iowa Cheese Roundup and getting a star put on the Roundup Map.”

  “And when is your little one due?”

  “In two months.”

  “So.” He rubbed a hand down the breast of his coat. “I have time to think about the additional cell phones.”

  He turned to walk away, then glanced back. “Jah, I think my matchmaking hat has not lost its credibility. Gut day.” He turned, raised his hand in the air and waved.

  The clip-clop of the horse pulled May’s attention to Thad pulling the buggy up next to her and stopping. She stepped up and slid in next to Leah.

  Leah tapped the rein against Tidbit’s back. “Look, Mamm. Get going, Tidbit.”

  “Jah, you are a gut driver.”

  Thad helped Leah sit back in the seat. “Okay, Leah, the horse is trotting so no more tapping. What did the bishop say?”

  “He’ll think about it. But I’ll keep working on him. I think he’ll change his mind. I just have a feeling.”

  “Is that like the feeling you first had about us when we married?”

  “Nein. After I learned what true forgiveness was, I could trust again and that unlocked the door for us. I asked the Lord to guide my steps, and they led right back to you.”

  Thad slipped his arm around her, and she slid closer to him. His dark blue eyes locked with hers and stole her heart once again. “Ich liebe Dich, I love you, May.” He leaned over and gave her a tender kiss.

  “Ich liebe Dich, Thad.”

  “Daed, I want to drive.”

  Thad raised a brow and glanced at May. “She’s taking after you more and more every day.”

  Peace filled May as she glanced toward Thad with a smile. Her dream had come true. She let her gaze wander to the sky. She had a wonderful ehemann and family; who could ask Gott for anything more?

  * * *

  If you loved this story, check out

  The Amish Baker

  by author Marie E. Bast

  And be sure to pick up these other stories

  of Amish romance

  Shelter from the Storm by Patricia Davids

  The Amish Widower’s Twins by Jo Ann Brown

  Finding Her Amish Love by Rebecca Kertz

  Courting the Amish Nanny by Carrie Lighte

  Available now from Love Inspired!

  Find more great reads at

  www.LoveInspired.com

  Keep reading for an excerpt from A Hopeful Harvest by Ruth Logan Herne.

  Dear Reader,

  Like many small farmers in the Midwest, many Amish farmers are feeling the squeeze from their competitors, the large producers out west. Feeling the pinch, many small farmers have sold out and left the farm.

  Thad Hochstetler is a young Amish farmer in Iowa, who banded together with other small Amish farmers to form a cooperative in order to compete and sell their milk to the big chain stores. After losing his wife shortly after childbirth, having a tornado rip through his farm, and the obligation on his mortgage, Thad is overwhelmed with debt.

  May Bender’s dream had been to marry her beau, Thad Hochstetler, until it turns to dust when he jilted her and married her sister April. After April’s death, May helped care for their daughter, Leah, for a year. But with hard feelings still brewing, she decided it was time to move on with her life
and relocate to Indiana. That is, until Thad offered her a marriage bargain. Now May is about to discover “that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).

  I love to hear from readers. Tell me what you enjoyed, what inspired you, or your favorite character. Email me at Bast.Marie@yahoo.com, visit me at mariebast.blogspot.com and facebook.com/marie.bast, or mariebastauthor.com, or follow me on Twitter @mariebast1.

  Blessings,

  Marie E. Bast

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired story.

  You believe hearts can heal. Love Inspired stories show that faith, forgiveness and hope have the power to lift spirits and change lives—always.

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  A Hopeful Harvest

  by Ruth Logan Herne

  Chapter One

  Mortgage. Electric bill. Car payment. Gasoline. Milk. Bread. Eggs.

  That was as far as Liberty Creighton’s budget would stretch until the apple crop came in. She measured ingredients for the tank sprayer, added water and got ready to drive the aging tractor along the expanse of trees in Golden Grove, Washington. Recent rains meant additional spraying to guard against worms and disease.

  Was she foolish to take this on to fulfill her late grandmother’s wishes to keep Gramps on the farm? Or was it an act of kindness?

  She wasn’t sure, but she was on the cusp of her first solo harvest. Their winter budget depended on these final weeks and she and her five-year-old daughter had spent the last year in a town that used to scorn her. Maybe still did. That was their problem. Not hers. Except it still hurt, so maybe it was her problem after all.

  She’d completed the Fujis and Galas when the calendar app on her phone buzzed a reminder. She stared at it, dismayed. Lunch with your best girl, twelve o’clock, Golden Grove Elementary!

  She was a mess. She hadn’t bothered to shower or get dressed in regular clothes because somehow she’d marked her kitchen calendar for lunch with CeeCee tomorrow. Not today.

  Maybe the app was wrong.

  She knew better as she raced for the house. If she skipped the much-needed shower, threw on clean clothes and hurried to the school...

  The clock said 12:05 p.m. when Libby flew back down the stairs. Gramps was snoring in his recliner. She wanted to tell him she was leaving, but she’d have to wake him and deal with his growing disorientation and there was no time for that.

  She scribbled a quick note instead. “Lunch at school with CeeCee. Back soon.” She put it on his little side table. The table used to be cluttered with pills and random items. She’d reorganized it when she moved in and the order seemed to help Gramps’s cognition. He didn’t seem as confused with her there, managing things.

  She dashed out the door, got in the farm truck and turned the ignition key. It started on the first try.

  Thank You, sweet Lord!

  She breathed the prayer as she headed for school, trying to ignore the dashboard clock. By the time she pulled into the parking lot, it was 12:19 p.m. She hurried to the door and hit the call button.

  No one answered.

  She pressed it again as precious seconds drained away.

  The door buzzed. She went inside.

  “Sign in here, please.” An elderly woman stood alongside the security desk inside the door. “And state your business.”

  “Lunch with my daughter.” She spoke brightly as she scribbled her name in the log. When she spun to go, the old woman frowned and stuck out a hand. “Time in, please.”

  Libby wrote the numbers 12:21 as quickly as she could, then rushed to the cafeteria. She homed in on the clatter of children and lunch trays. She darted through the first set of double doors and scanned the room.

  Kids of all sizes were milling around. Adults were overseeing groups of tables, and while she knew CeeCee’s teacher, Libby had no idea who the lunch monitor was for her class. She moved to the right, toward the smallest children, and spotted CeeCee as the monitor called them to attention. “Mrs. Reynolds’s kindergarteners, time to take care of your garbage and recyclables and line up.”

  She got to CeeCee’s side as her little girl stood up to clean her area. “Hey, girlfriend!”

  “Mommy!” Pure joy lit CeeCee’s face. She threw her arms out and half jumped into Libby’s arms. “I knew you’d come! I knew it! I told everyone that my mom would never forget about me.” She turned back toward the gathering children. “Here she is! This is my mommy!”

  The lunch monitor didn’t try to hide her frown or sound all that sincere. “That’s wonderful, darling. She can walk us back to the classroom. Won’t that be special?”

  Her tone said it wasn’t all that special, and her sour expression indicated that Libby fell short in this woman’s estimation. Don’t let her push your buttons. Keep your chin in the air and own the moment.

  Libby longed to take the woman down a peg. Clasp CeeCee’s hand and sign her out for the afternoon and make the whole day special to make up for her mistake. She couldn’t, though. She had work waiting, work that had been put off for too long already. On top of that, Gramps couldn’t be left on his own for long periods of time, so that meant she’d walk CeeCee to her class, kiss her goodbye and go back to her orchard chores.

  “Mommy, thank you for coming!” CeeCee hugged her again, as if popping in for five minutes was enough.

  It wasn’t, but she thanked God for her daughter’s understanding heart. “You’re welcome, darling. I’ll see you when you get home, okay?”

  “’Cept you don’t have a home.” One of CeeCee’s classmates spoke up, a little girl. “CeeCee said you don’t have a home so she lives with her grandpa. Right?”

  “No home, for real?” An adorable boy shot dark eyebrows up in surprise. “Then you can come and stay with us, CeeCee, with me and my dad. And my big sister! I would like that a lot!” Excitement widened his smile and Libby fell in love with him instantly.

  “Except we do have a home.” She squatted low and made eye contact with the kids, including the girl who called CeeCee out. “With my grandpa on the apple farm. We moved here to raise apples and pears and plums and to help CeeCee’s great-grandpa get around.”

  “But we didn’t have a home before, did we, Mommy? When we were in that other place and they made us move. Right?” There was no denying CeeCee’s earnest request for honesty.

  An old ache hit Libby’s heart.

  Should she admit they’d been homeless? Or gloss over it? Nowhere in the parenting books did the experts explain what to do when your abusive ex-husband bleeds money from your accounts and leaves you bruised and penniless without a roof over your head.

  She wanted to brush it off.

  She didn’t. She faced CeeCee and nodded. “We did have to move, didn’t we? And then Ms. Mortie called me to say Gramps and Grandma needed help. We headed up here the very next day. It’s cool how God worked things out, isn’t it?” She smiled at the class as the teacher came forward to direct them into the kindergarten room. “Just when they needed us, we needed them right back.”

  “’Xactly!” CeeCee kissed her goodbye and skipped into the room, totally happy. She didn’t understand the scourge of homelessness.

  Libby did.

  But she would never again fall victim to a man’s deceit. She’d been foolish once. She would never be foolish again.

  * * *

  The wind came out of nowhere. One minute former army captain Jax McClaren was heading toward his solitary cabin in the hills, and the next, his pickup truck was broadsided by a gust of wind so stron
g that it thrust the heavy-duty 4x4 sideways.

  He gripped the wheel, then fought to maintain his forward progress.

  The wind had other ideas.

  Military training clicked in. He reduced his speed, eased on the brakes and kept the wheel straight. The brakes created instant friction to help keep the tires under his control. Not the wind’s.

  He edged his way back to the proper side of the road as another car approached, heading west. When the wind slammed again, he narrowly missed sideswiping the smaller car.

  His phone chose that moment to indicate a weather warning. “Approaching low front,” advised the digitized voice. “Expect dangerously high winds.”

  He could have used the warning ninety seconds earlier.

  The wind played tug-of-war for control of the truck. He was between towns. He’d left Golden Grove after finishing a job for a kindhearted widow who liked to bake him cookies. He had every intention of heading back to his solitary cabin to soak up some peace and quiet. Away from people. Away from gratitude he didn’t deserve. Away from life.

  But when the wind slammed him again, he wasn’t sure he was going to make it. As that took hold, he realized two things more. An old man, wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a T-shirt, was walking down the road, trying to block the raging wind with an inside-out umbrella. Behind him, not far from a bungalow-style house in need of attention, a wooden barn literally blew apart.

  Jax didn’t blink. Didn’t think. He just pulled to the side of the road and jumped out of the truck, directly in the old man’s path.

  His actions startled the man. White hair flying in the gale-force winds, the old fellow stepped back in alarm.

  Jax had lost a grandmother to Alzheimer’s nearly a dozen years before. He’d watched the disease drain her mind. Her joy. Her attitude. And her caring. But while others grew impatient with Grandma Molly’s changeable faces, he wouldn’t. Couldn’t. Through the long years of decline, he’d focused on one thing: that she was the same grandmother who helped raise three little boys when they lost their mother. He knew she loved them to the very end. She just didn’t remember it.