One corner of his mouth quirked up. “I think we’ve done enough work. Let’s take off.”
Her eyes widened, and she broke out into a full grin and covered his hands with hers. Her eyes absolutely sparkled. “You’re right. We’ve done most of the work so far, and now it’s time for us both to learn to say no once in awhile. Let’s let everyone else finish, while we go somewhere and talk. I’ve wasted too much precious time. I don’t want a long engagement—how about you?”
Rick thought he must be dreaming. He would have pinched himself to make sure he was awake, but Lynette was holding his hands steady. Instead he rubbed two fingers together. Since he could still feel some apple-pie slime residue between them, he knew this was really happening. “That sounds like a great idea. I need to clean up first, though. Where would you like to go?”
Lynette gave his hands a gentle squeeze. “Let’s go to the coffee shop on the corner. But if they offer me apple pie for dessert, I’m going to say—”
Rick waited for her reply
Lynette grinned. “Yes!”
LYNETTE’S GRANNY’S APPLE PIE
PASTRY (makes 3 pies)
51⁄2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pound lard
1 egg
2 teaspoons vinegar
Enough cold water to make 1 cup with the egg and vinegar
Mix all dry ingredients with your hands. Cut in lard with a pastry cutter. Make a well and pour in the liquid—mix with your hands—do not overmix. Roll out on a lightly floured surface.
FILLING (for each pie)
4 to 5 apples, peeled and sliced thin
2 tablespoons flour
¾ cup sugar
Cinnamon to taste (about 1 tablespoon)
Add sliced apples to uncooked pie crust. Combine flour and sugar and sprinkle over top of the apples. Add cinnamon to taste. Top with pastry; press edges with a fork; make slits to vent. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees and continue baking for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
About the Authors
Kristin Billerbeck makes her home in the Silicon Valley with her engineering director husband and their four children. In addition to writing, Kristin enjoys painting, reading, and conversing online.
Birdie L. Etchison lives in Washington State and knows much about the Willamette Valley, the setting for the majority of her books. She loves to research the colorful history of the United States and uses her research along with family stories to create wonderful novels.
New York Times bestselling author, Wanda E. Brunstetter has written nearly 70 books, many with Amish characters and settings. Wanda and her husband, Richard, live in Washington State but travel often as she researches her books. When Wanda isn’t writing, she enjoys performing with her ventriloquist puppets, gardening, photography, and looking for unusual shells on the beach.
Pamela Griffin lives in Texas with her family. She fully gave her life to Christ in 1988 after a rebellious young adulthood and owes the fact that she’s still alive today to an all-loving and forgiving God and to a mother who steadfastly prayed and had faith that God could bring her wayward daughter “home.” Pamela’s main goal in writing Christian romance is to help and encourage those who do know the Lord and to plant a seed of hope in those who don’t.
Tamela Hancock Murray lives in Northern Virginia with her two daughters and her husband of over twenty years. She keeps busy with church and school activities, but in her spare time she’s written seven Bible trivia books and twenty Christian romance novels and novellas.
Joyce Livingston has done many things in her life (in addition to being a wife, mother of six, and grandmother to oodles of grandkids). From being a television broadcaster for eighteen years, to lecturing and teaching on quilting and sewing, to writing magazine articles on a variety of subjects. When she isn’t off traveling to wonderful and exotic places as a part-time tour escort, her days are spent sitting in front of her computer, creating stories. Joyce became a widow in 2004. In 2008, she married her Sunday school teacher, Pastor Dale Lewis (who had also lost his spouse), and became a pastor’s wife, serving daily with him in his ministry. Joyce feels her writing is a ministry and a calling from God, and hopes readers will be touched and uplifted by what she writes.
Kristy Dykes—wife to Rev. Milton Dykes, mother to two beautiful young women, grandmother, and native Floridian—was author of hundreds of articles, a weekly cooking column, short stories, and novels. She was also a public speaker whose favorite topic was on “How to Love Your Husband.” Her goal in writing was to “make them laugh, make them cry, and make them wait” (a Charles Dickens’s quote). She passed away from this life in 2008.
Aisha Ford is a writer and book enthusiast who lives in the Midwest. She remembers falling in love with a good story as a kid, and reading about interesting characters who had exciting adventures became one of her favorite hobbies. Eventually, reading developed into an interest in writing, and she began creating her own characters and stories. She is grateful, humbled, and excited to have the opportunity to share these characters and their stories with others and deeply appreciates each letter and note and encouraging word she’s received from her readers.
Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver, BC, where you don’t have to shovel rain, with her husband, three sons, two dogs, and a lizard who is quite cuddly for a reptile. When she’s not writing, Gail is making music, playing electric bass for a local jazz band, and acoustic bass for a community orchestra. When she’s not writing or making music, Gail likes to sit back with a hot coffee and a good book.
Coming Soon from Barbour Books…
8 WEDDINGS and a Miracle
Romance Collection
Weather the storms of life alongside nine modern couples who hope to make it to the altar, though they may need a miracle to intervene.
Sweet Surprise: Romance Collection Page 59
