The Hearts of Middlefield Collection
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A Man of His Word © 2009 by Kathleen Fuller
An Honest Love © 2010 by Kathleen Fuller
A Hand to Hold © 2010 by Kathleen Fuller
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
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.
A Man of His Word eBook edition ISBN: 978-1-4185-7913-5
An Honest Love eBook edition ISBN: 978-1-4185-5198-8
A Hand to Hold eBook edition ISBN: 978-1-4185-6264-9
eBook Collection ISBN: 978-0-7180-3554-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP data available.
Contents
A Man of His Word
A Note from the Author
Pennsylvania Dutch Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
An Honest Love
Pennsylvania Dutch Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
A Hand to Hold
Pennsylvania Dutch Glossary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Reading Group Guide
Acknowledgments
About the Author
An excerpt from A Faith of Her Own
A Man of His Word
To Maria . . . Danki.
A Note from the Author
A Man of His Wordis set in the lovely village of Middlefield, Ohio, located in Geauga County in northeast Ohio. About forty minutes east of the city of Cleveland, Middlefield is the fourth largest Amish settlement in the world, making up 12 percent of the county’s population. The Amish established themselves here in 1885, when David Miller, in search of cheaper farmland, moved from Holmes County, Ohio, to the Middlefield area.
Middlefield’s slogan, “Where Industry Meets Agriculture,” neatly describes this pleasant town. Amish buggies share the gently sloping roads with “Yankee” cars and motorcycles. Modest white houses and barns dot the landscape amid large businesses like Middlefield Cheese House and Dillen Products. Shops producing handcrafted Amish goods are as easy to find as the local CVS pharmacy and Wal-Mart.
Many of the Middlefield Amish, like the Lancaster County Amish, are Old Order. While both the Middlefield and Lancaster settlements are divided into districts, each with its own Ordnung —an unwritten set of rules members abide by—there are noticeable differences in buggy style, dress, and cultural influence. In Middlefield non-Amish are referred to as Yankees, while in Lancaster they are called Englischers. A Lancaster Amishman might drive a gray-colored buggy, while Middlefield buggies are always black. A Middlefield woman’s prayer kapp at first glance might look the same as a Lancaster kapp, yet upon deeper inspection one realizes they are of differing design. There are also varying guidelines for the use of technology. While these superficial differences are evident among all Amish settlements, they do not detract from the main tenets of the Amish faith—a desire to grow closer to God, the importance of family and community, and living a plain and humble lifestyle.
With the help of some extremely generous Amish and Yankee friends, I have tried to portray the Amish in Middlefield as accurately and respectfully as possible. If there are any mistakes or misconceptions in my story, they are of my own making.
I hope you enjoy A Man of His Word as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you are ever in the northeast Ohio area, I invite you to visit Middlefield and experience everything this wonderful village has to offer.
Kathleen Fuller
Pennsylvania Dutch Glossary
Ausbund: hymnal
bann: excommunication from the Amish
Biewel: Bible
boppli: baby
braut: bride
bruder: brother
daed: father
dawdi haus: a separate dwelling built for aging parents
danki: thank you
dochder: daughter
dummkopf: dummy
Frau: wife, Mrs.
Fraulein: unmarried woman, Miss
fehlerfrei: perfect
geh: go
grossdochder: granddaughter
gude mariye: good morning
gut: good
Herr: Mr.
kapp: an Amish woman’s prayer covering
kind: child
maedel: girl
mei: my
mami: mother
mudder: mother
nee: no
nix: nothing
Ordnung: an unwritten set of rules members abide by
recht: right
reck: coat
rumspringa: the period between ages sixteen and twenty-four, loosely translated as “running around time.” For Amish young adults, rumspringa ends when they join the church
schwei:sister-in-law
schwester: sister
schwoger: brother-in-law
sehr: very
seltsam: weird
sohn: son
Wie geht’s: How are you?
willkum: welcome
wunderbaar: wonderful
ya: yes
Yankee: a non-Amish person
yank over: to leave the Amish faith
He healeth the broken hearted,
and bindeth up their wounds.
Chapter 1
Moriah Byler ran her fingers across the soft fabric of the dress hanging on her closet door. Its powder-blue hue, her favorite color, resembled a clear summer sky. Giddiness course
d through her. In three hours she would don this new dress, and before God and her church, she would become Mrs. Levi Miller.
Closing her eyes, she pictured her handsome husband-to-be, his sandy-brown hair falling across his forehead, his chestnut-colored eyes filled with mischief when he was up to something —which was often. She smiled broadly. Was he experiencing the same excitement she felt? Since he had proposed to her a few months ago, she had dreamed about this day, the day she would marry the man she loved, the man God had set apart especially for her. Memories of his proposal flashed through her mind. He had taken her by surprise that day in the barn, first by asking her to marry him, then by boldly kissing her.
Opening her eyes, she touched her cheeks, flushing at the memory. She had always thought she would experience her first kiss after she married. Then again, Levi had always been unpredictable. Although he had tried to kiss her again, she had stopped him. Kissing led to other things—things that should occur after marriage, as their faith taught. She had seen the disappointment in his eyes, but he had agreed to her wishes. Since then he had also been on his best behavior.
She took one last look at the dress she and her mother had finished a week ago, then frowned. Was that a hole in the sleeve? She removed the dress from the hanger. Sure enough, a part of the shoulder seam had separated. She retrieved a needle and thread and quickly stitched it up. After knotting the thread, she snipped it close to the stitches with a small pair of scissors. There. Now it’s perfect. The dress and her wedding day would be fehlerfrei.
Moriah hung up the dress and walked to her second-story window, peering into her family’s backyard. She gave thanks for their two-acre spread, which included a large clapboard barn and storage shed, both painted in the same shade of white as the house. She spied her father and two of her younger brothers, Lukas and Stephen, bringing inside a long wooden table the family had borrowed several days ago. Behind them followed Gabriel, Levi’s identical twin brother, carrying a couple of wooden chairs.
As she watched Gabriel, she recalled the close friendship the three of them had shared as children. Some of her favorite memories revolved around watching Levi and Gabriel try to outdo each other in everything. Gabriel always had the better grades and was physically stronger, as he had proved in third grade when he and Levi had taken turns to see who could lift her up. Gabriel had carried her across the yard as if she weighed no more than a kitten while Levi had carried her only a few feet. But Levi soon proved he could best Gabriel in games of speed and agility, and she smiled as she remembered his determination to climb trees faster and higher than anyone in their school.
She and Levi had begun courting at age sixteen, just after Frau Miller had passed away. Gabriel quickly distanced himself, as if they had never been friends at all. At first, she thought Gabriel was grieving the loss of his mother, but he continued to treat her coolly, more so with each passing year. She hoped that would change once she was a part of his family. She missed his friendship.
Moriah started to turn away when she heard a plinking sound against the windowpane. Then another. She gazed at the ground to see Levi standing below. Sans hat and coat, he had on a long-sleeved, white shirt with black suspenders attached to his dark trousers. Oh, how handsome he looked! He was bending down to pick up another pebble when she shoved open the window. The chilly November air rushed into the warm bedroom.
“Levi! What are you doing?”
Levi’s boyishly wicked smile spread across his face. “Looking at mei braut.”
She couldn’t help but smile when he called her his bride. “You’ll see enough of me at the wedding.”
“I can’t wait that long.” The sunlight glinted off his hair.
Giggling, she said, “You’ll have to. I shouldn’t even be talking to you.”
His shoulders slumped slightly. “Don’t you wish we could just run away and get married? Forget all this”—he spread his arms out and gestured to the house and backyard—“and do something different?”
His words shocked the smile from her face. Run away? She knew Yankees sometimes eloped, but she would never consider getting married anywhere but among her family and friends, receiving the full blessing of the church and the Lord. “Levi, why would you even say something like that?”
“I was only kidding,” he said, the tone of his voice dropping. Then he straightened his shoulders and grinned again, calming the twinge that had suddenly pinched her heart. He reached for a ladder that had been propped against the house. Her father and several other men from the church had finished reroofing the house last week, and the ladder had been in heavy use. Levi moved the ladder until it clattered against the house, right next to her window.
When he placed his foot on the bottom rung, her jaw dropped. “Levi, you can’t come up here.”
“Why not?” His hands gripped the side of the ladder and he took a step up. “I have every right to see my bride.”
“But not this way.” She put her hand to her head. She didn’t even have her kapp on, nor was her hair brushed and pinned up. He couldn’t see her like this, and he definitely couldn’t be alone in her bedroom. He knew that. “Levi, if Daed sees you—”
He glanced up but kept climbing. “Everyone is inside, Moriah. Don’t worry, he won’t catch me.”
Alarm rose within her. She couldn’t be alone with Levi, especially not in her room while both their families were downstairs. Other than a few buggy rides together, they hadn’t been by themselves since he had proposed to her, and she had been fine with that. They would spend plenty of time together once they were married. “Levi, nee!”
He climbed one more step, then stopped. He was halfway up the ladder now, and it would only take him a few more seconds to reach her bedroom. She froze, wondering what he would do. Meeting his gaze, she saw something in his eyes she had never seen before. Frustration? “You don’t want to see me?” he asked, sounding hurt.
She shook her head. “Not right now.”
After a fleeting hesitation, he gave her his trademark cocky smirk, and she thought he would respect her wishes. Instead, he continued to climb.
“Levi!” Gabriel’s voiced startled her. She stepped back from the window, far enough so she wouldn’t be seen from the outside, but still within hearing distance of the two brothers.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked, his tone hard.
She listened as Levi shimmied back down the ladder, straining to hear his words. “Just having some fun, bruder.”
“By sneaking into Moriah’s bedroom?”
Although she couldn’t see Gabriel, she could imagine him standing in front of Levi, his arms crossed, his facial expression set in stone as it often was when he and Levi argued.
“She’s mei braut, Gabe. Lighten up.”
“I’d think you’d have better things to do than goof around on your wedding day.”
“That’s right,” Levi retorted. “My wedding day.”
Moriah’s brow furrowed. What did he mean by that? She leaned forward as much as she dared, but the men’s voices grew faint. Peeking outside, she saw them heading toward the barn, still arguing with each other.
Moriah closed the window, wrapping her arms around her body. The cold air had pierced through her cotton nightgown, icing her fingers and toes. What had gotten into Levi? They would be married in such a short time, why would he risk getting both of them into trouble by doing something so reckless? Certainly he wouldn’t entertain something that would put not only him, but also her, in the bann? While she often found his spontaneity attractive, he had unnerved her this time. Fortunately only Gabriel had spotted him. It would have been much worse if their parents had.
Taking a deep breath, she relaxed and started to dress, putting Levi’s antics out of her mind. He’d done no harm, and she somehow knew Gabriel wouldn’t say anything to anyone. A tiny smile played on her lips. One thing she did know, life with Levi would never be boring.
She brushed out her waist-length, blonde hair and wrapp
ed it tightly in a bun before fastening her white prayer kapp with two bobby pins. She would later cover the kapp with her black bonnet, which would conceal her hair completely. In three hours, the ceremony would begin, and after slipping on her shoes, she went downstairs to the kitchen to help with the preparations.
The thick scent of stuffed roast chicken baking in the oven mingled with the tangy aroma of coleslaw and potato salad. As she entered the kitchen, she also caught a whiff of spicy cinnamon from the apple pies that had been set on the countertop to cool.
Argumentative voices reached her ears—the deep bass of one of her younger brothers, Tobias, mingled with the melodic yet irritated soprano of Rachel Detweiler, one of his former classmates from school and the daughter of one of her mother’s dearest friends.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rachel snapped. The two had turned the kitchen into a battle zone. The petite nineteen-year-old cast a glance toward Moriah, irritation splashed across her delicate features. “Tell your dummkopf brother to stay out of the kitchen. He keeps adding more spices to my cauliflower casserole. Unnecessary spices.”
“That’s because it tastes like wet cardboard smeared with moldy cheese.” Tobias, who at five feet ten was a good six inches taller than Rachel, reached around her slim body and shook some salt on the steaming casserole.
“You’re going to ruin it!” She swirled around until she faced him, then grappled at the salt shaker he held over her head.
“Too late for that.” He put the shaker behind his back and taunted her with a mocking look.
Moriah watched the two of them with amusement. Tobias and Rachel had grown up together, just as Moriah had grown up with Levi and Gabriel. But unlike the easy friendship she’d had with the Miller brothers, Tobias and Rachel could barely abide each other’s company. Though Moriah thought that lately it seemed her brother enjoyed teasing Rachel a little too much and that Rachel didn’t seem as put out by him as she had in the past.
“Are you two at it again?” Emma Byler, Tobias and Moriah’s mother, entered the kitchen. She readjusted her apron around her trim waist and scowled at Rachel and her son. “We still have much to do, and I can’t have you two bickering the whole time. Behave yourselves.”