Praise for
Seasons of Tomorrow
“Woodsmall continues the Amish Vines and Orchards series with a standout Amish heroine in a unique Maine community trying to forge a new path. Fans of Amish fiction will enjoy her detailed descriptions of orchard life, and all readers will be touched and satisfied by the ongoing love story.”
—AMANDA FLOWER, author of A Plain Disappearance
“Cindy Woodsmall is an incredibly gifted author, and her books never fail to engage the mind and touch the heart.”
—MINDY STARNS CLARK, best-selling author of Shadows of Lancaster County, The Amish Midwife, and more
“Cindy Woodsmall is a masterful storyteller. In Seasons of Tomorrow, she uses her extensive knowledge of the Amish to create characters who tug at your heart as they deal with the joys and tribulations of falling in love. This is her best book yet. Readers won’t want to miss it!”
—BARBARA CAMERON, award-winning author of forty books, including the Amish Roads series
BOOKS BY CINDY WOODSMALL
SISTERS OF THE QUILT SERIES
When the Heart Cries
When the Morning Comes
When the Soul Mends
ADA’S HOUSE SERIES
The Hope of Refuge
The Bridge of Peace
The Harvest of Grace
AMISH VINES AND ORCHARDS SERIES
A Season for Tending
The Winnowing Season
For Every Season
Seasons of Tomorrow
NOVELLAS
The Sound of Sleigh Bells
The Christmas Singing
The Dawn of Christmas
The Scent of Cherry Blossoms
NONFICTION
Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home
and the Hearts of Two Women
SEASONS OF TOMORROW
PUBLISHED BY WATERBROOK PRESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-307-72998-9
eBook ISBN 978-0-307-72999-6
Copyright © 2014 by Cindy Woodsmall
Cover design and photography by Kelly L. Howard
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.
WATERBROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodsmall, Cindy.
Seasons of tomorrow / Cindy Woodsmall. — First edition.
pages ; cm. — (Amish vines and orchards ; book 4)
ISBN 978-0-307-72998-9 (trade pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-307-72999-6
1. Amish—Fiction. 2. Christian fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.O678S434 2014
813′.6—dc23
v3.1
To my brother Mark
one of the most exceptional,
steadfast, honorable men
I’ve ever been privileged to know
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Amish Vines and Orchards series
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Epilogue
Main Characters in Seasons of Tomorrow
Glossary
Amish Vines and Orchards series
The story so far …
In A Season for Tending, Rhoda Byler, a twenty-two-year-old Amish girl, struggles to suppress the God-given insights she receives. Her people don’t approve of such intuitions. Because of their superstitions and fears, Rhoda spends most of her time alone in her bountiful fruit and herb garden or with her assistant, Landon, canning her produce for her business—Rhode Side Stands. Although she lives with her parents, two married brothers, and their families, Rhoda is isolated and haunted by guilt over the death of her sister two years ago.
Thirty miles away, in the Amish district of Harvest Mills, three brothers—Samuel, Jacob, and Eli King—are caretakers of their family’s apple orchard. Samuel has been responsible for the success of Kings’ Orchard since he was a young teen, but due to Eli’s negligence, one-third of their orchard has produced apples that are only good for canning. If Samuel doesn’t find a way to turn more profit on those apples, he’ll have to sell part of the orchard, resulting in even smaller harvests in the future.
When Samuel and Rhoda meet, they see eye to eye on very little until she shows him her fruit garden. He soon realizes that her horticultural skills are just what he needs to restore the orchard, and her canning business could provide an established outlet for their apples—if he can convince her to partner with them. Without telling his girlfriend, Catherine, he asks Rhoda to work with Kings’ Orchard.
Rhoda declines … until someone maliciously destroys her garden and her livelihood. She gives her land to her brothers and commits to partnering with Kings’ Orchard. Before long she and Jacob begin courting, and Samuel severs his relationship with Catherine.
Just as they begin to harvest the apples, a tornado destroys most of the orchard and almost costs Samuel his life. In an effort to make a new start, Jacob, Samuel, Rhoda, Landon, and others decide to buy an abandoned apple orchard in Maine that they can restore. As the families commit to establishing an Amish community in Maine, Samuel realizes he’s in love with Rhoda.
As The Winnowing Season opens, a small group is preparing to move to Maine—Rhoda Byler, her brother Steven, his family, her assistant Landon Olson, brothers Samuel and Jacob King, and their sister Leah. Their goal is to establish a new Amish community and to cultivate an abandoned apple orchard to replace the income from the orchard the tornado destroyed.
But the day before they leave, Rhoda’s church leaders insist she attend a meeting, because Samuel has reported Rueben Glick for vandalizing her garden. She’s upset with Samuel and dreads going, but to make matters worse, Jacob, her boyfriend, is called away at the last minute. Samuel goes with her and is outraged at the
hostility and suspicion they express toward Rhoda. Although the meeting does not go well, Rhoda is given permission to move to Maine in good standing with the church.
The following day the Bylers and Kings leave, except for Jacob, who never returned. Rhoda feels alone in her new surroundings as she continues to see her late sister and begins to hear music and a new voice calling her to meet an isolated couple, Camilla and Bob Cranford. She tries to confide in Samuel, but he pushes her away for fear she’ll discover he’s in love with her.
When Jacob arrives, Rhoda begins to learn about his past and his connection to a non-Amish woman named Sandra. Jacob and Rhonda’s love and loyalty to each other are unshaken, and everyone at the farm soon settles in to revitalizing the orchard. Whenever Jacob’s past calls him away, the others work extra to make up for his absence.
Although most of their neighbors welcome the Amish, Rhoda finds herself in legal trouble as three teenagers from powerful families accuse her of giving them drugs. That forces Jacob into hiding to protect Rhoda from negative scrutiny because of his past. As pressures mount, Samuel helps her find strength.
Months pass with Jacob gone, and Samuel continues to withhold his feelings from Rhoda. After she is finally cleared of charges, Samuel is alone with her in the barn, and the conversation turns personal. His emotions get the best of him, and he kisses her. Rhoda is swept up in the moment before pushing him away. Almost immediately Jacob arrives home and discovers what has happened. He breaks up with her and is furious with his brother. Without explanation, Samuel withdraws from her. Rhoda realizes she has lost both men, so she moves in with Bob and Camilla, hoping Jacob will eventually forgive her.
As For Every Season opens, Rhoda is still living with Camilla and Bob while she sorts out the difficult situation with Jacob, Samuel, and her. Her intuition tells her that Camilla has a son, and Rhoda tries to find out what happened to the family. At the farm Leah sees the work piling up and takes the initiative to hire a new worker, a young Amish woman named Iva.
The need for the Maine orchard to survive forces Rhoda, Jacob, and Samuel to confront their complicated relationships, and Rhoda tells Jacob that she wants to give their courtship another chance and that even though she and Samuel share a deep bond, she doesn’t have any romantic interest in him. Leah and Landon decide they are officially dating, but he doesn’t want to influence her decision on whether to leave the Amish faith.
Jacob confronts Sandra about lying to him and convinces her to go with him to see his lawyer. They learn they are not legally responsible for the incident that led to the deaths of two women, but because Sandra witnessed an unrelated violent crime, she must remain in hiding. In order to clear his name, Jacob agrees to go to Virginia to give a deposition and to testify at the upcoming trials involving Jones’ Construction. Once Jacob and Sandra are back at the farmhouse, the group decides that the best way to keep Sandra and Casey safe is to move them to a new, secure place to live.
As Rhoda and Samuel’s friendship slowly heals, she shares with him her visions concerning Camilla’s son and possible grandchild. Samuel encourages her to see that the intuitions must come from God. When Camilla is in a car accident, Rhoda and Samuel work together to keep her calm until help arrives. Steven tells Rhoda that Samuel is the better match for her. Phoebe, Steven’s wife, shares that she lost the baby she was carrying.
Iva helps Sandra move while Jacob goes to Virginia to testify, and Samuel and Rhoda grow closer as they work to keep the budding orchard from frost damage. After Jacob testifies, he realizes three things: his desire to work construction has been revived, his brother is in love with Rhoda, and Rhoda may have hidden feelings for Samuel. Jacob resolves to get Rhoda off the farm as quickly as possible.
When Jacob returns to Maine, he tries to persuade her that they need to leave the farm. Even though the farm is home and she’s needed here, she recognizes that her feelings for Samuel have developed into romantic love. So she agrees to go with Jacob. When he realizes she loves Samuel, he frees her from their engagement and leaves. Rhoda is broken over the pain she’s caused Jacob, but she knows that Samuel is the one who holds her heart, and she feels a measure of peace for their future.
For a list of main characters in the Amish Vines and Orchards series, see this page.
ONE
Rhoda stood over the forty-gallon copper kettle filled with apple butter, slowly pushing and pulling the paddle. Bubbles gently broke the silky, dark-brown surface into soft craters as steam carried the heady scents of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cool mid-October air rushed in through the open doors and windows, dispersing the heat of canning.
At one of the long worktables, Leah rapidly prepared apples for another kettle. Apple peelers, which also cored and sliced the apples, were bolted to the table. In another part of the kitchen, Iva used a long-handled scoop to pour cooked apple butter into canning jars, while a newly hired helper, Mary Yoder, cleaned any drips from the jars, put the metal sealing lids on, and screwed on the band.
Although Orchard Bend Farms had been established only a year ago, everyone rolled through the day with the kind of expertise one would expect after several seasons of hard work tending to the orchard and canning—Samuel; his sister Leah; Rhoda; her brother Steven; his wife, Phoebe; Rhoda’s longtime Englisch assistant, Landon; and hired, live-in helper Iva. All of them were really good at doing whatever task faced them.
The newer helpers from the Amish families who had moved to Maine only a couple of months ago, like Crist and Mary, weren’t as useful yet, but they were eager to learn and were very pleasant to be around.
Migrant workers filled the orchard, picking the trees clean, and they had another month of work to do.
But a huge part of what made the canning season such a success was this kitchen. The longer Rhoda worked in it, the more she realized that Jacob had thought of every possible canning need—like the gas-powered eyes that were sunk into the floors and surrounded with bricks. The sunken eyes worked much like in-ground firepits, and her kettles fit right over the heat sources. He’d also built massive worktables, oversize sinks, and numerous storage shelves, pantries, and spice racks.
A dull ache mixed with guilt throbbed inside her chest.
Jacob. How was he faring?
In the three months since he’d left, she and Samuel had talked about him and prayed for him often. If only he would contact them. He had a cell phone. His uncle Mervin, the man Jacob had gone to work for after the breakup, had given Jacob’s number to Samuel. But Jacob hadn’t responded to a single call they’d made or so much as sent a postcard.
Although she longed to hear from him, she didn’t blame him for ignoring her. She’d said some really harsh things as they’d hurtled toward the breakup. If she could go back, she’d be kinder. Oh, so very much gentler. They still would have broken up, and he’d have left hurt and angry. But she wouldn’t be carrying the guilt of having dumped on him her anger and mounting disappointments. And she wouldn’t be continually rehashing the unkind words she’d spoken.
Only a few people knew where Jacob was working these days, and no one at Orchard Bend Farms was privy to his whereabouts. What had she and Samuel done to the man?
“Rhoda.” Crist stepped into the harvest kitchen, holding up a clipboard.
She shooed the heartache and remorse back into their hiding place. “Ya?”
“I ran the inventory like Samuel said, and we’re missing fifty cases of jars. He said that’s not possible. But I’ve checked everything three times.”
Samuel strode into the kitchen, and her heart turned a flip at the sight of him. Despite their grief and guilt over Jacob, they navigated it together, and the rare and genuine honesty they shared was helping their hearts to mend. The distraction of this busy harvest season helped too. Samuel’s brown eyes moved to hers, making her heart race even more.
“He’s right.” She held Samuel’s gaze. “It’s not possible.”
In the evenings after she and all the others ret
ired to their rooms, her thoughts of Samuel and her hopes for their future lingered long into the night. When she did finally go to sleep, she saw him in her dreams. When would he ask her out? Would she have to wait until Jacob had forgiven them?
But the truth was, Samuel didn’t have to use words to say all she needed to hear. Staring into his eyes like this, she could forget the world and every problem that faced them.
Crist tapped the clipboard against the palm of his hand. “Then do you have any idea where the missing jars are?”
She couldn’t manage to break eye contact. Was that what caused a slight blush to cross Samuel’s cheeks before he lowered his head, smiling?
Some semblance of thinking returned to her, and she focused on Crist. “Did you check my loft like I said to?”
“Ya. The barn has no crates of jars left.”
“Crist,”—Iva pointed to the ceiling—“she meant her sleeping loft.”
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t check that one.” He shrugged. “You actually want me to go into your bedroom?”
“It’s not really a bedroom.” It was a small space where Rhoda slept some nights. Samuel’s uncle Mervin had come for a visit a few weeks after the harvest began. When he realized Rhoda was climbing a ladder and sleeping on the floor of the attic some nights, he built her a set of stairs and turned the attic into sleeping quarters with what might be the smallest half bathroom ever. Although a man couldn’t stand up straight there, she managed just fine. But she would sleep there only during the busiest canning times, like now, when she started her day before sunrise and worked late into the night. In the slower seasons she returned to her bedroom in the farmhouse she shared with her brother, his family, Samuel, Leah, and Iva.
“Kumm, Crist.” Iva rinsed her hands. “I’ll count boxes. You take notes.”
Crist glanced at Leah before nodding. “Sure.”
Did Leah realize Crist liked her? Rhoda doubted it. Crist was a broad-shouldered, good-looking man who was even tempered and had a lot of energy, but Leah seemed as taken with Landon as Rhoda was with Samuel. Unfortunately, if Leah chose an Englisch man over an Amish one, Rhoda would be blamed because she’d kept an outsider as a worker even after partnering with the King family business—as if Samuel’s Daed needed another reason to dislike her.
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