by Emma Miller
Second-Chance Match
With four children and a dilapidated farmhouse, Amish widow Honor King asks Seven Poplars’s matchmaker to find her a secure and reliable new husband. Someone the opposite of her first love—who left her at the altar nine years ago, yet whom she’s never been able to forget. Luke’s back in town, and also looking for a new partner. For him, there’s only one candidate to be his wife—the woman he let get away. But when Honor won’t let him into her life, he works his way into her house. Hammer in hand, he’ll fix her home...but it’ll take more than brawn and nails to mend her heart.
Her knees went weak.
It happened whenever she looked at him. “I’m sorry I’ve been angry with you all these years. You were wrong, but...” Her throat constricted as she remembered. But maybe she’d rushed things. They were hardly out of their teens when she’d realized she loved him. And now...
“I think you’d better go,” she managed.
He stood. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“To work on the house?”
“To work on the house. And to court you.”
“That’s why the matchmaker brought you here, isn’t it? That was your plan from the beginning.”
“Ya, I hoped she could help me get my foot in the door,” he admitted. “But this, now, is about you and me. Let me show you I’m not the boy I was nine years ago.”
“And I’m not the girl.”
He grabbed his coat and hat. “We could make a good couple.”
She remained seated. Her legs were too wobbly to stand. “I can’t promise anything, Luke.”
“But you’ll think about it?”
She’d think about it...but she couldn’t guess what her answer would be.
Emma Miller lives quietly in her old farmhouse in rural Delaware. Fortunate enough to be born into a family of strong faith, she grew up on a dairy farm, surrounded by loving parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Emma was educated in local schools and once taught in an Amish schoolhouse. When she’s not caring for her large family, reading and writing are her favorite pastimes.
Books by Emma Miller
Love Inspired
The Amish Matchmaker
A Match for Addy
A Husband for Mari
A Beau for Katie
A Love for Leah
A Groom for Ruby
A Man for Honor
Hannah’s Daughters
Courting Ruth
Miriam’s Heart
Anna’s Gift
Leah’s Choice
Redeeming Grace
Johanna’s Bridegroom
Rebecca’s Christmas Gift
Hannah’s Courtship
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A MAN FOR HONOR
Emma Miller
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord,
how oft shall my brother sin against me,
and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith
unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times:
but, Until seventy times seven.
—Matthew 18:21–22
Contents
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
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Excerpt from A Cowboy for the Twins by Carolyne Aarsen
Chapter One
Luke Weaver lifted the collar of his lined jean jacket to his neck, pulled down his still-wet black hat and made his way toward the exit of the convenience store and the raw December morning.
“That is you, isn’t it?” the college-aged boy behind the register called after Luke. He pointed to the TV screen mounted above the snacks section. “Look!” he proclaimed to several customers. “That guy’s the mystery cowboy they’re looking for! He’s the hero that rescued those people from the bus wreck in Pennsylvania last night!”
Luke kept walking. The last thing he wanted was to be recognized in his hometown of Dover, Delaware. When a tractor trailer had skidded on an icy highway the previous night, causing a multivehicle collision, he’d been in the midst of it. The bus he’d been riding had flipped on its side and slid down an embankment into a deep drainage pond. With icy water fast pouring in and people panicking, he hadn’t considered that his photo might end up being plastered all over the national news.
Luke had acted without thinking. He’d pulled the unconscious driver to safety and then broken a window to assist a mother and several small children out of the sinking bus. He’d gone back into the rapidly submerging vehicle twice to help other trapped passengers before state troopers and paramedics arrived. One of the officers had asked who he was, but not wanting to draw attention to himself, he’d refused to give his name. And that had only made things worse because the news media had made a big thing of it. Now everyone was hunting for the mystery cowboy, calling him a real-life superhero.
“Hey, mister! Are you the super cowboy?” a woman headed toward the doors to the convenience store asked as he stepped out. “You look just like him.”
Luke strode down Lepore Street. He was supposed to meet someone from the Seven Poplars Amish community at the bus stop, but he wasn’t hanging around. He’d find his own way to Sara Yoder’s home.
Beads of freezing sleet stung his face and hands, but he kept walking. Winters in Delaware weren’t as cold as those in Kansas, and he could dry off when he got to the matchmaker’s. He hoped someone had some spare clothes he could change into, because the trousers he was wearing were ripped and stained, and his duffle bag with spare clothes was still in the bus’s luggage compartment, probably resting at the bottom of that drainage pond.
Luke had just crossed the street and turned onto North State when he caught sight of a mule and buggy coming at a sharp pace. Guessing that that must be his ride, he waved the driver to a stop. To his surprise, the only occupant of the buggy was a plump, middle-aged Amish woman with dark curly hair, a nutmeg-colored complexion, and eyes as dark and shiny as ripe blackberries. “Sara?”
She nodded. “You must be Luke,” she said in Deitsch and then switched to English. “Jump in before we cause a traffic jam.”
He glanced up and down the street. Not a single vehicle was coming in either direction. He looked back at Sara as he swung up onto the bench seat. The interior of the buggy was plain black, neat and well maintained, pretty much what he’d expected of the woman he only knew from correspondence. “Dover hasn’t grown all that much in the time I’ve been gone,” he said.
“Atch. According to my neighbors, it has grown. They say the traffic has increased,” she replied. “I moved here from a rural area of Wisconsin a few years back, so Kent County still seems busy to me. You’re certain you want to trade the wide-open spaces of the Midwest for our little state?”
He nodded. “Ya, I do.”
“You said in your first letter that you grew
up here.”
“I did, and I’ve always thought of Kent County as home,” he answered. “Kansas can be pretty dry. I miss the green and the rain.”
A line of cars slowed behind them, but Sara didn’t seem to notice. “Rain we have aplenty,” she said after a bit.
“And a strong church community.” He stretched out his long legs and rubbed absently at his aching shoulder. When the collision happened, he’d been thrown violently against the corner of the seat frame across the aisle. Nothing seemed broken, but he guessed he was going to have quite a bruise. “At least, that’s the way I remember it,” he finished.
“It is. And everyone will welcome you. We’re always glad to add to our family. You say you’re a master carpenter?”
“More of a cabinetmaker, but I can do any type of construction.”
Sara looked at him with frank curiosity. “I’m curious as to why you’d need my services. A nice-looking man like you with a good trade? Back in Kansas, mothers must have been parading their daughters in front of you. Girls must have been lining up hoping you’d take them home from a singing.”
But not the woman I want, he thought. To Sara, he said, “I’m ready to marry and start a family, but I thought the whole process would be easier if I used a matchmaker.”
“Mmm.” Sara’s brow arched. “I’ve checked up on you. Wrote a couple of letters. Your bishop tells me that you’re baptized and a solid member of your church.” She pursed her lips. “A matchmaker can certainly make it easier finding the right wife, but why me? Why not someone in Kansas?”
“The nearest Amish matchmaker to where I lived just celebrated her eighty-second birthday, and she doesn’t hear or see well. Besides, I want to move back to Delaware and marry a woman from here.” He glanced at her. “You have a good reputation. People speak of you as one of the best, and you specialize in hard-to-place cases.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you a difficult case, Luke Weaver?” She gave him an appraising look. “I’ll admit you do look a little worse for wear.”
“Ya.” He ran a hand over the three-cornered tear in the knee of his go-to-church trousers. There was a stain on the other leg he suspected might be blood and his wide-brimmed black wool hat had taken a beating. The brim was sagging and it was shrinking as it dried; it wasn’t meant to be submerged in water.
“I suppose I do,” he admitted. He considered whether or not to explain his condition to Sara. His first impressions of her were good, but he didn’t know that he was ready to tell anyone what had happened on the highway the previous night. The idea of talking about it made him uncomfortable; he’d done what any man would have done. End of story.
Sara turned off State Street onto Division. Traffic was still light for the center of town. A few pedestrians stopped and watched as the mule and buggy passed. A little boy in a fire-engine red rain slicker and yellow boots waved from the sidewalk, and Sara waved back.
“A lot of new construction in Dover,” he commented as the grand Victorian houses gave way to commercial buildings and smaller frame homes. “I’m hoping I’ll be able to find steady employment.”
“There’s always work for a carpenter,” she replied. “A good friend of mine has a construction crew. You’ll meet him at church tomorrow.” Her shrewd gaze raked him again. “If you’re planning on joining us for worship. It’s being held at Samuel Mast’s, not far from my place. You know Samuel?”
“I do. Good man. And ya, I do want to attend service. If you can find me something decent to wear. We, um...had some trouble... The bus.” He cleared his throat. “I’m afraid my duffle bag with all my clothes is lost. I don’t want to impose. I know I’ve picked an awkward time to arrive, two days after Christmas, but...it was time I came.”
“Not a problem. I can find clothes, and I’ve got a warm bed for you. All my prospective brides have either married or gone back to their families for the holidays. It’s much too quiet in my house. Even our little schoolteacher has gone visiting relatives. As I told you in my letter, I have a bunkhouse for my hired hand and male clients from out of state. Some stay for the weekend, others a few weeks or longer. It’s far enough from the house for propriety, but close enough so that your meals won’t be cold before you get to the table. Prospective brides stay in the house with me.”
“The bunkhouse sounds great. I appreciate it,” he said. “And I appreciate you coming to get me. It’s a miserable day for you to be on the road.”
Sara reined the mule to a stop as the light ahead turned from yellow to red. “I could have sent Hiram for you. He’s my hired man. But his judgment’s not the best. He might have decided to take the buggy down the DuPont Highway to stop at the mall. And the madhouse of a highway is no place for a mule, even a sensible one.” She glanced at Luke. “And the truth is, I was looking for an excuse to get out of the house.”
They rode in comfortable silence for a few minutes and then Luke spoke up again. He wasn’t one to keep quiet on things. Sometimes he was criticized for speaking too easily from his heart, with his feelings. It wasn’t something necessarily encouraged in Amish men, but he was who he was. “I hope you’re going to be able to help me make a match,” he said. If she couldn’t, he didn’t know what he’d do.
“No reason why I shouldn’t, is there?” She glanced at him again. “I’ll admit, Luke, you are something of a mystery to me. You do make me curious.”
He winced at the word mystery but said nothing.
“You know, young women seeking husbands are plentiful, but eligible bachelors with a solid trade seeking brides aren’t as easy to find. From what I see with my eyes, and from what I’ve learned from your letters and my own inquiries, you’re almost too good to be true.”
“I don’t know about that. I’m as flawed as any man. But I assure you, I’ve not told you any untruths.”
“I didn’t say you had,” Sara said. “My first thought would be that I can think of a good dozen young women who would jump at the opportunity to meet you. But something tells me that there’s more to you, that you’ve not told me everything I need to know if I’m going to make the right match for you.”
He grimaced. “There is something I haven’t said.”
“And that is?”
“There’s a particular someone I’ve set my mind on, someone special I used to know.” He stopped and started again. “Someone I haven’t been able to forget.”
Sara reined the mule off the street and into a parking place in a car dealership lot. She looped the leathers over a hook on the dash, folded her arms and turned to face him. “I take it that this someone is of legal age, Amish and free to marry?”
“She is.”
“But you didn’t think that I should have that information before you arrived?”
He tugged on the sagging brim of his hat. It was a shame it was ruined because he’d bought it new before he left Kansas. “I thought it would be easier if I could explain in person.” He looked away and then back at the matchmaker. “Her name is Honor. Honor King.”
Sara didn’t hide her surprise. “I know Honor. A widow. She doesn’t belong to our church community, but I have introduced her to several prospects. Honor’s husband passed a year and a half ago.”
“Nineteen months.”
Sara frowned. “And you know that Honor has children. Four of them.”
“Ya, I do. That doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, it should,” she harrumphed. “It takes a special kind of a man to be a father to another man’s children. Especially as they get up in age.”
He felt himself flush. “I know that. What I said about the children, that didn’t come out right. Her children are part of her. I want to be a good father to them. And a good husband to her.”
Sara raised a dark eyebrow. “You’re familiar with Honor’s children? You’ve met them?”
There was something in her tone that made h
im hesitate. “Ne...but I hope to have many children.”
She sniffed. “Easily said by a man who has none. As the preachers tell us, children are blessings from God. That said, they can be a handful. Some more than others.” She pursed her lips. “Any other revelations you’d like to share with me?”
He hesitated. “Well...”
“Like this, perhaps?” She reached under the seat and came up with a copy of the Delaware State News. The photo snapped by one of the bus passengers stared back at him. It was clearly his face, with a fire truck and a Pennsylvania State Police car in the background. In his arms was a screaming child. Under the photo, a bold headline proclaimed Mystery Cowboy Rides to the Rescue!
“You saw it,” he said.
“Ya, saw it and read it. What I didn’t know was that I would be welcoming the mystery cowboy into my home. You know our community takes a dim view of photographs. They are forbidden.”
“In my church, as well,” he agreed. “But I didn’t give anyone permission to take a picture. And I didn’t ask for people to talk about what happened. There was an accident. I did what seemed right.”
“But it will make talk.” She allowed herself the hint of a smile. “A lot of talk.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“That the hat you were wearing?” She frowned, looking up at him. “Doesn’t look much like a gunslinger’s hat. Or a rodeo rider’s.”
“Ne.”
She had a sense of humor, this perky little matchmaker. He liked her. Better yet, he had the strongest feeling that he could trust her in what might be the biggest step of his life.
Sara chuckled. “Englishers. Mistook your church hat for a cowboy hat, I suppose, and thought you were a cowboy.”
“Ya. Someone who isn’t familiar with our people.”
She nodded. “I can see that. Better for you that it doesn’t say Amish. Better for us.”
“Maybe so,” he said.
“I know so.” Her eyes lit with mischief. “But good of you to save the Englishers from the accident. They are God’s children, too.”