The Amish Millers Get Married BOXED SET Books 1-3 (Amish Romance Book Bundle: The Way Home, The Way Forward, The Narrow Way) (Boxed Set: Amish Millers Get Married)

by Ruth Hartzler

  Martha looked down the menu. Everything looked so fancy. She'd never been to a restaurant before and had been looking forward to the experience, but now she was a little daunted.

  "You can’t decide?"

  Martha looked up at Gary. "No, it's a bit different from Amish food."

  Gary scratched his head. "Well, do you like chicken?

  Martha nodded.

  "Well, there's the grilled chicken, and it has mozzarella cheese, olives, roasted red peppers, and pesto sauce. If you like chicken, that would be a good choice." He stabbed his finger at the menu. "Oh and you could try the marinated, grilled shrimp. It has some sort of sauce - I don’t know what the Italian word means so it’s anyone's guess what type of sauce - and roasted garlic and Edam cheese. It has roasted red peppers, too. What do you think?"

  Martha wasn't sure. She had intended to be adventurous, but there were so many strange looking choices. "I'll have the chicken, I think."

  Gary nodded his approval. "Wise choice."

  When the meals arrived, Martha shut her eyes and bowed her head for a minute. When she looked up, she saw that Gary was staring at her. "I was giving thanks to Gott for the meal," she said by way of explanation.

  "You could've said it aloud if you’d wanted. There's no one close."

  Martha hurried to explain. "Oh, it’s not that. It's what we always do. We offer up a silent prayer before and after a meal."

  Gary raised his eyebrows. "After too? That's cool. Go ahead then."

  "Um, I've already prayed," Martha said. She found Gary a little strange. However, he appeared to be relaxed about everything, but she wasn't entirely comfortable with him like she was with Moses. It's probably because he's an Englischer, she thought. Gary also often seemed to go off into his own world, staring into the distance with a dreamy expression on his face. Martha supposed it was because he was an artistic type.

  Gary was in one of his moments now, so Martha took the opportunity to study the restaurant again. The walls were painted a golden yellow with some sort of paint effect which made them look like real gold in the reflected light. The tablecloths were white over an underneath dark blue tablecloth. They must be doing laundry every day with these white tablecloths, Martha thought. They'd get awfully messy. The opulent curtains looked expensive and were of shiny olive green, matching the tall, elegant water bottles on each table.

  The chairs were upholstered and remarkably comfortable. I wish the benches at church meetings were as comfortable as this, Martha thought, wondering if she would ever attend an Amish church meeting again.

  "Penny for your thoughts?"

  Martha looked up into Gary's inquisitive face. "I was just thinking how different this all is to my old world."

  "Different bad or different good?"

  Martha shrugged. "I don’t know. Neither, I suppose - just different." She expected Gary to pursue the subject but he just looked off into the distance again. He's nothing like Moses, Martha thought. I can talk to Moses for hours and never run out things to say, but it’s tense and a bit awkward with Gary. Still, I've hardly known Gary long at all. I'll have to get over Moses if I'm going to live in the Englisch world; he'd never leave the Amish. And with that, Martha resolved to give Gary a chance; he was a handsome and thoughtful Englischer, and if she pined after Moses, she'd just end up back with the Amish.

  "Gary, do you believe in God?" she blurted.

  Gary jumped a little. "Yes, I thought I told you."

  "No?"

  "Yes, I said I play in a worship band."

  Martha couldn't see the connection; she had no idea what a worship band was. She didn’t know whether to ask outright or to pretend she knew what he meant, but finally asked, "What's a worship band?"

  "I play at church every Sunday." Gary stared at Martha, and then continued. "At our church, we have a band, for the praise and worship songs."

  "You sing to music? What sort of music?"

  "All sorts. We have slow music, but we have fast and loud music too, with drums. We're happy clappers."

  The waiter returned to take their dessert orders. Martha again decided not to be daring and selected a strawberry sponge cake soaked in sweetened condensed milk and topped with cream, while Gary chose Red Rose Chocolate Layer Cake.

  "Happy clappers, is that what you said?" Martha had never heard the term; the Englisch churches sounded very different indeed and quite complicated.

  Gary laughed. "That's what some other churches call us. We're Pentecostal; I go to an Assemblies of God church."

  "Oh. So it’s not a Catholic or Baptist church?"

  "No." Gary chuckled. "Would you like to come along one day and see for yourself?"

  "Oh yes, I’d love to. Thanks."

  Perhaps I will like Gary's church, Martha thought. I will have to find a church to attend if I'm going to be an Englischer. Her thoughts turned to Gary. It's gut that he believes in Gott and goes to church, she thought, but he's so different from Moses. I need to find an Englisch mann who is just like Moses.

  John 10:10.

  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

  Chapter 5 .

  Martha had never been so nervous preparing a meal for other people. Sheryl of course was coming, and she had invited Gary, as well as a waitress from work, Laura. Laura had been friendly to Martha ever since she started working there, and lived nearby. She had confided to Martha that she was lonely, so Martha thought that Laura would enjoy coming for dinner.

  The six layer dinner was coming along nicely, but Martha was having trouble with the desserts. She had made an Applesauce Cake and a Chocolate Pie. Yet, when she started making the Applesauce Cake, the sugar and the shortening did not cream well at all. Likewise, with the Chocolate Pie, the cream cheese and the sugar seemed to be a funny texture. Martha just couldn't figure out the problem; she had never had a cooking problem before, but then again, her mudder and her schweschders were always there to help. Now she was on her own. Martha fought back the urge to cry. You're being silly, she silently scolded herself. Pull yourself together.

  The Chocolate Pie was in the refrigerator, and the Applesauce Cake was prepared ahead, also in the refrigerator, as Martha intended to take it out and bake it just as she was about to serve the six layer dinner.

  Martha hurried around with the vacuum cleaner. She was used to a small battery-operated vacuum cleaner for her parents' sofas, but Sheryl had a big vacuum cleaner which Martha found far more effective than a straw broom on the polished wooden floors. Sheryl wasn't the tidiest person either, so Martha worked hard making the apartment look spic and span for her guests.

  When Martha turned off the vacuum cleaner, she heard her cell phone, but she had no idea where she'd left it. She finally found it in the kitchen but it had stopped by then. She picked it up and saw that she had a missed call from Sheryl. Just then Sheryl called again, the ring tone startling Martha. "Sheryl!" Martha's voice came out like a screech.

  Sheryl came straight to the point. "Look, Martha, you know how I said to feel free to use my flour and sugar and stuff for dinner tonight?"

  Martha nodded and then realized that Sheryl could not see her. "Yes."

  "Okay, well I forgot to tell you something. I have sugar in the container marked Salt and salt in the one marked Sugar. Hello, Martha, are you there, hello? But the flour is in the Flour container, so don’t worry about that. I keep meaning to change them over but I keep forgetting. Anyway, I'll be home soon." Sheryl hung up without another word.

  Martha was speechless. She hurried to the refrigerator and carefully took out the two pies. She took a teaspoon and scooped out a little piece of the Chocolate Pie. It tasted like salt. She tried the Applesauce Cake; it tasted like salt too. For a moment Martha was annoyed with Sheryl, but after all, Sheryl had no idea how to bake and probably had no idea how long food took to prepare.

  What was she to do? There was no time to prepare anything else, and just the six
layer dinner by itself would hardly be satisfying. I wanted to be an Englischer, Martha thought, and my first attempt at having people for dinner, and look what's happened. She threw the pies in the trash, and then tried to figure out what to do next. There was barely any sugar left; in fact, there wouldn’t have even been enough for the two pies she'd already made.

  She sighed aloud as her cell phone rang again. "What is it, Sheryl?"

  "Martha, it’s me."

  "Moses! Oh sorry, I forgot you call me once a week." Martha immediately felt bad for saying that, so tried to cover up. "Sorry, that came out wrongly," she said quickly, her words tumbling one over the other. "I'm just a bit stressed; I made two pies for dessert but Sheryl just called and said that she had the salt in the sugar container, so I just had to throw the pies out. My guests will be here soon and I don’t have any dessert."

  "Just wait a moment, can you, Martha?"

  "Sure."

  Moses returned to the phone. "I'm in my mudder's store, not far away at all, and Mamm has a Shoo-fly pie here. She said you can have it."

  Martha made to protest but Moses was still speaking. "I'll be right there. We're just leaving."

  Martha thanked Moses but he'd hung up. "Thank you, Gott," she said aloud, looking up at the ceiling. Martha hurried to the bathroom to apply make up the way Sheryl had shown her. Sheryl continually encouraged Martha to use her make up, and Martha had started to wear a little make up to work. Now she applied a mineral face primer, followed by a light, foam foundation. She sucked in her cheeks and brushed on the bronzer, but put too much on so had to scrub most of it off.

  Sheryl had tried to encourage Martha to wear mascara, but her lashes were already long and dark, and the mascara made Martha's eyes sore. She put the tube of mascara back in the box but took out some dark brown eye shadow, and applied it to fill in her eyebrows. Then she brushed her long hair. Sheryl would have wanted her to use the curling iron, but Martha wasn't quite ready to try that just yet.

  She carefully put on the dress that Sheryl had laid out for her to wear. Sheryl had described it as a Valentino, fit-and-flare, double-knit dress, but all Martha could see was that it was red, bright red. The brightest color Martha had ever worn in her life was purple, a subdued purple at that, and even the sky blue dress she had worn to dinner with Gary could be called muted by comparison.

  Oh well, I'm an Englischer now, Martha told herself, as she slipped the dress over her head. Nevertheless, when she looked at her reflection in the full length mirror, she felt somewhat guilty. The dress fell to her knees, but the material a few inches above her knees was lace, so her legs were still able to be seen. At least the crew neck line was modest, despite there being a lace panel on the neckline. The sleeves were short. The rib-knit banding at intervals down the dress ensured that the dress clung to her figure, and while it was not too tight, it was certainly far more figure hugging than an Amish girl was used to.

  Martha jumped when she heard a knock on the door, so hurried over to open it. Moses was standing in the doorway, and his jaw dropped open at the sight of her. "Martha! You look, um, great."

  "Thank you, Moses." Martha was a little embarrassed and so spoke formally. Her community was not in the habit of complimenting anyone, but she realized that Moses would be quite surprised to see her in Englischer clothes for the first time. "Come in."

  Moses was still standing in the doorway. "I've never seen you in a dress before."

  Martha had no idea what he was talking about. "But I've always worn dresses," she protested.

  "Not like that." Moses walked in and Martha looked behind him.

  "Where’s your mudder?"

  "She kept going. I'll get a taxi home." He handed the pie to Martha.

  "Denki, denki so much." Martha smiled. "That was so good of you to come to my rescue."

  "I'll always come to your rescue, Martha." Moses smiled at her, and her heart leaped in response.

  "Stay for dinner," she said on impulse.

  Moses looked embarrassed; little red patches formed on his tanned cheeks. "Nee, I couldn't really."

  "Oh please, Moses. There's only my house mate, Sheryl, and two other people. It would be great if you stayed. I’d like you to meet Sheryl. She's been so kind to me; she's always lending me stuff and she's very nice."

  Moses looked doubtful, so Martha added, "Please, Moses, and you're catching a taxi home anyway. It's not as if your mudder's out there waiting for you."

  Moses agreed, reluctantly, or so it seemed to Martha. She felt a little hurt.

  2 Timothy 3:16-17.

  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

  Chapter 6 .

  Gary was the first guest to arrive. Martha showed him into the living room where she and Moses had been sitting, chatting. "Gary, this is Moses, Moses Hostetler."

  Gary walked over and held out his hand. "Mr. Hostetler."

  Martha had no idea that Gary was being formal as his idea of a little joke, so decided she should follow suit and introduce Gary in the same way. "And Moses, I’d like you to meet Mr. Wright."

  Moses looked horrified. "What? Oh, I mean congratulations. Isn't this very sudden though?" His face flushed beet red.

  Martha had no idea what he was talking about, but Gary burst out laughing. "No, my name is Gary Wright, Wright with a W. Martha doesn't mean Mr. Right with an R." Gary fell onto the sofa and collapsed into helpless peals of laughter, while both Moses and Martha stood by, embarrassed.

  Martha was mortified, but was saved by another knock at the door. This time it was Laura, and she had brought with her a box of chocolates. "Hi Martha, here's a box of chocolates; I feel silly bringing you chocolates with you being a chocolate expert and all, but I know you don’t drink wine."

  Martha was overcome by Laura's thoughtfulness. "Come in. I don't have any chocolates left, apart from the samples I need this week, so this is perfect, denki, um, thank you." This time she introduced the two men as Moses and Gary, and Gary caught her eye and chuckled. Martha didn’t find it at all amusing, so looked away. Gary's face lighted up at the sight of Laura, and so did Moses' face, Martha thought. She wondered if this dinner party was such a good idea after all. Besides, how would Moses, an Amish man, relate to the Englischers? Well, she herself was Amish although had one foot firmly in the Englisch world now. Martha hoped that the night would not prove to be a disaster.

  Martha was in the kitchen checking the six layer dinner when she heard Sheryl arrive and introduce herself. Martha was pleased; she'd had enough of introductions for one day. Her face felt hot as she remembered that Moses had thought that she was introducing Gary as Mr. Right. Anyway, whatever was she thinking having both men to dinner? She had feelings for Moses, and she had kind of been dating Gary. She hoped Gary wouldn’t mention their dinner date to Moses.

  Sheryl popped her head into the kitchen. "Need any help?"

  "No thanks; it’s under control. Oh Sheryl, you don't mind me serving food in this dress, do you? I couldn't find an apron."

  Sheryl waved her concerns away. "That’s just a cheap dress. Don’t worry about spilling anything on it; there's more dresses where that came from. It looks good on you. You should've worn some make up though."

  I am wearing make up, Martha thought with dismay. Perhaps I didn’t put enough on.

  When Martha brought out the food, the four were talking happily. She was relieved that Moses didn't seem to feel out of place with three Englischers. In fact, he was talking and Laura was hanging on his every word. That fact caused Martha a pang of anxiety. She knew she had feelings for Moses, and knew he would not leave the Amish, and somehow she had reconciled herself to that, or at least she thought so. However, it had not occurred to her until now that if she didn't marry Moses, he would one day marry another. She caught her breath at the thought, but then had to turn her attention to serving the foo
d.

  "Is this Amish food?" Gary asked.

  "Jah, yes, it is."

  Gary beamed at Martha and she noticed that Moses was watching closely. I wonder if Moses is jealous? she thought. I'm a little jealous that Moses is speaking to Laura.

  Laura was seated next to Moses and he was telling her all about Amish food. "It’s amazing you can cook so much without electricity," she said, touching his arm and smiling at him.

  "We have gas or wood stoves," Moses said, but Martha interrupted with a laugh.

  "The women do all the cooking. Moses has never baked anything in his life; isn't that right, Moses?"

  Moses chuckled. "That's true, but I do know that we have a gas stove as well as a wood stove."

  "Laura, Martha said you work with her?" Gary appeared to be trying to take Laura's attention away from Moses, and Martha didn't know whether to be pleased or irritated. Laura was turning out to be quite the flirt. Still, Martha had to admit that Laura had no idea that Martha had been to dinner with Gary or that she harbored feelings for Moses.

  "Wow, this dinner is so good, Martha." Gary winked at her.

  It was obvious to Martha that Moses saw Gary wink and didn’t like it. Surely Moses knows there's no hope of anything between us, Martha thought. I told him I wouldn’t go back to the Amish. Perhaps I shouldn't have invited him for dinner; it might've made things more complicated. Then Martha realized that she would have to stop calling on Moses every time she needed help, and she wasn't quite prepared to do that - not yet. How could she reconcile her feelings for Moses with the fact that she wanted to remain in the Englisch world? She had never heard of a married couple where one person was Amish and the other an Englischer with both living of them in their own worlds. Was that even possible?

  After the six layer dinner, Martha cleared the plates with Laura's help. When the two of them were alone in the kitchen, Martha explained how Sheryl had the salt in the sugar container, much to Laura's amusement.