The Amish Nurse's Suitor

by Carrie Lighte

  Englisch dreams in an Amish heart...

  Her career took her into the Englisch world...

  Is love enough to bring her home?

  Temporarily in her Amish community to help with her sick brother’s business, nurse Rachel Blank can’t wait to get back to the Englisch world...and far away from Arden Esh. Her brother’s headstrong carpentry partner challenges her at every turn. But when a family crisis redefines their relationship, will Rachel realize the life she really wants is right here...with Arden?

  “Maybe my coming here was a mistake.”

  Arden was surprised by the plea for reassurance in Rachel’s statement.

  “Neh. It wasn’t a mistake.” Upon seeing the fragile vulnerability in Rachel’s eyes, Arden’s heart ballooned with compassion. “Trust me, the community will kumme to help Ivan.”

  “In that case, I’d better keep dessert and tea on hand,” Rachel said, smiling once again.

  “Does that mean we can’t have a slice of that pie over there?”

  “Of course it doesn’t. And since Ivan has no appetite, you and I might as well have large pieces.”

  Supping with Rachel after a hard day’s work, encouraging her and discussing Ivan’s care as if he were, well, not a child, but like a child, felt... It felt like how Arden always imagined it would feel if he had a family of his own. Which was probably why, half an hour later as he directed his horse toward home, Arden’s stomach was full but he couldn’t shake the aching emptiness he felt inside.

  She is going back, so I’d better not get too accustomed to her company, as pleasant as it’s turning out to be.

  Carrie Lighte lives in Massachusetts next door to a Mennonite farming family, and she frequently spots deer, foxes, fisher cats, coyotes and turkeys in her backyard. Having enjoyed traveling to several Amish communities in the eastern United States, she looks forward to visiting settlements in the western states and in Canada. When she’s not reading, writing or researching, Carrie likes to hike, kayak, bake and play word games.

  Books by Carrie Lighte

  Love Inspired

  Amish of Serenity Ridge

  Courting the Amish Nanny

  The Amish Nurse’s Suitor

  Amish Country Courtships

  Amish Triplets for Christmas

  Anna’s Forgotten Fiancé

  An Amish Holiday Wedding

  Minding the Amish Baby

  Her New Amish Family

  Her Amish Holiday Suitor

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.

  THE AMISH NURSE’S SUITOR

  Carrie Lighte

  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

  —James 3:17

  For the kind Englischers and Amish people of Unity, Maine, who enthusiastically helped me with my research, and with thanks to my brother for “talking shop” about lumber.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  Excerpt from The Cowboy’s Secret by Jill Kemerer

  Chapter One

  “Toby probably didn’t think I was ambitious or smart enough for him,” Rachel Blank told her roommate, Meg.

  It had been nearly two weeks since her boyfriend had broken up with her—the same amount of time Meg had been away on vacation—and by this point Rachel was more angry than sad.

  “Not ambitious or smart enough?” Meg’s voice rose with incredulity. “What else would he call someone who started out with an eighth-grade education but later earned her GED, her BSN, and is going to school to become a nurse practitioner?”

  “He doesn’t know I applied to the MSN program, and I haven’t actually been accepted into it yet, either,” Rachel protested feebly. Meg didn’t seem to hear. She was pacing in front of the sofa, counting on her fingers as she reeled off Rachel’s accomplishments.

  “You’ve learned to drive, you’ve learned to swim and you’ve mastered more technology than many people who’ve grown up surrounded by it. Not to mention you’re fluent in three languages—English, German and Deitsch. If the tables were turned, Dr. Toby Grand wouldn’t last a week living like an Amish person.”

  Rachel appreciated her roommate’s impassioned defense of her, but she was uncomfortable with her praise. When she left her Amish community and family ten years ago, they’d accused Rachel of hochmut. High-mindedness. Pride. They said her pursuit of higher education was, among other things, an attempt to draw attention to herself. The implication stung so deeply that even now at twenty-eight she resisted it when anyone pointed out her accomplishments. Which, fortunately for her, Toby had rarely done. Instead, he’d pushed her to reach more difficult goals, which was one of the reasons Rachel hadn’t told him she’d applied to an MSN program; she didn’t want to disappoint him if she was rejected.

  “Well, those weren’t his exact words. But even if they were, I suppose I understand why he wants to date Brianna. She’s a doctor, too. I’m only a nurse.”

  “Only a nurse?” Meg stopped pacing and thrust her hands on her hips. Meg was also a nurse, although she worked in a hospital, whereas Rachel worked at a clinic in the suburbs.

  “Neh, neh, neh, I’m not saying I think nurses are inferior.” Rachel sometimes accidentally reverted to Deitsch when she was flustered. “That’s what Toby thinks. He says Brianna has more in common with him than I do.”

  “Yeah. They’re both sneaks.”

  Toby had only broken up with Rachel after he’d been on several dates with Brianna, the practice’s newly hired doctor. That’s what vexed Rachel most—the betrayal.

  “They probably thought it would be easy to pull one over on the naive Amish girl. And they were right. I had no idea Toby and Brianna had been seeing each other.”

  “That’s not because of your Amish background. It’s because you’re an honest person who extended trust to someone you loved.”

  Did I love Toby? Rachel asked herself. During the ten months of their relationship, she’d definitely developed stronger feelings for him than for any man she’d dated, and she’d thought those feelings were reciprocated. In fact, when Toby came over to break up with her, his expression had been so somber she’d suspected he was about to propose. The ironic thing was, she wasn’t sure how she would have answered. Afterward, as devastated as she was by the circumstances of their breakup, a small part of her felt relieved he hadn’t asked her to marry him.

  Meg shook a finger at Rachel. “You’d better not ever take him back.”

  “I doubt he’d ever want to come back, but no, I absolutely wouldn’t go out with him again. He crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed,” Rachel assured her friend. “With God’s grace I’ll forgive him eventually, but right now, it’s hard enough to even look at him at work.”

  Regardless, each day she held her head high and made a point to greet him and Brianna with a big smile, knowing the kind of office rumors that would erupt if she gave any indication of how deceived or miffed she really felt. She wouldn’t give her coworkers the satisfaction. Maybe I have more hochmut than I care to admit, she mused.

  “You should take a vacation. Maybe go to Maine for a few
days...”

  Rachel recognized Meg was hinting she should visit her family. Her roommate was one of the few people Rachel had confided in about how much she missed them sometimes. But missing them and visiting them were two different matters. Rachel hadn’t been baptized into the Amish church before she left for the Englisch world, so she wasn’t in the Bann, but in some ways, she felt like she might as well have been.

  Both of her parents had passed away before she left her Amish community in Serenity Ridge, Maine. Rachel had two older married brothers, Colin and Albert, and one younger brother, Ivan, a bachelor. Initially her family members had been understandably hurt, disappointed and angry when Rachel told them she was moving to Massachusetts to pursue an education in nursing. Colin’s wife, Hadassah, claimed she spoke for the entire family when she told Rachel unless and until she returned to Serenity Ridge and the Amish for good, she shouldn’t bother to return at all.

  Rachel thought in time they’d come to accept her decision even if they disagreed with it. Yet her monthly letters went unanswered, except by her youngest brother, Ivan, who wrote twice a year—at Christmas and Easter. But Easter had passed a week ago without a note from him, either. She was beginning to accept that although she’d never stop praying for or loving her family, the same might not be true for them.

  “I’ve had enough rejection for the time being.”

  “Then you should go somewhere fun.” Meg snapped her fingers. “A Christian singles’ cruise! Wouldn’t Toby and the people at work faint if you came back from the Bahamas with a new boyfriend? That would shatter their assumptions about you.”

  As well as Rachel had adapted to the Englisch lifestyle, she couldn’t picture herself going on a singles’ cruise, even if she were desperate to meet a man, which she most definitely was not. If she’d made it through the heartache of leaving her family behind at eighteen, she’d make it through life without a boyfriend at twenty-eight. Her faith, career and friendships were all she needed to be fulfilled. In fact, the breakup couldn’t have come at a better time, since she’d soon have to devote herself to furthering her education. “No, I’m saving every cent I have for tuition. If I get in to the MSN program, I’ll be too busy studying to have time for a relationship.”

  “First of all, it’s not if you get in to the MSN program, it’s when. Secondly, you’ll be too busy for a relationship? Wow. You sound more Englisch than I do!”

  Rachel chuckled again, but the truth was, she didn’t feel particularly Englisch. Nor did she feel Amish. She felt...alone. No—she felt independent. And that suited her just fine.

  * * *

  Arden Esh had stacked so much mail on the little desk in the workshop the pile slid like an avalanche onto the floor. He stooped to pick up the envelopes. Sooner or later he was going to have to open them. He hoped they were bills and not customer orders; he and his business partner, Ivan Blank, needed all the sales they could get. They’d sunk every spare cent into advertising their shed-building business, and after three years of barely profiting, this spring they hoped to see an increase in revenue.

  Arden couldn’t imagine how, exactly, that was going to happen with him manning the shop alone. Not that money was the most important matter at the moment—Ivan’s recovery was. He’d been sick for almost two weeks, and two days ago he wound up in the hospital.

  Last evening when Arden visited him there, Ivan had barely opened his eyes. Arden had chatted about the shed he’d just finished. He didn’t even know if Ivan was awake until Ivan pulled aside his oxygen mask and rasped, “Would you write to Rachel? Ask her to kumme as soon as she can. She’ll help you in the shop. Don’t...” He was having difficulty breathing. “Don’t tell anyone, though.”

  Initially, Arden had been taken aback by the request. Ivan often spoke fondly of his sister, who’d left the Amish a decade ago to become a nurse. They’d kept in touch, but Ivan had confided that his sister-in-law Hadassah made it clear Rachel wasn’t welcome to visit. Arden felt a pang of guilt, aware that Ivan wouldn’t have subjected his family to the tension of a reunion if he believed Arden could manage the shop—specifically, the paperwork—by himself. Long ago the two men had come to an unspoken understanding about the division of their responsibilities. For lack of a better expression, in many ways Ivan was the brains of the operation and Arden was the brawn.

  Considering Ivan’s family hadn’t supported his business venture from the beginning, Arden understood why Ivan was reluctant to ask one of his brothers for help with administrative tasks during his illness. Ivan said Rachel was a very intelligent, capable woman who’d often expressed her desire to see him again. But her presence would undoubtedly create controversy. Regardless, Ivan was the one who had founded the business, so even though Arden had eventually become an equal partner in it, he deferred to Ivan’s judgment in the matter.

  Now, as Arden searched the desk for Ivan’s address book, a disturbing possibility occurred to him: Ivan wanted Rachel to visit because he believed he was dying and wanted to say goodbye. The very thought stopped Arden cold. He immediately dropped to his knees. Dear Gott, if it’s Your will, please heal Ivan. Give those caring for him wisdom and fill him with a sense of Your loving presence. Amen. Then, knowing no request was too small or too big for the Lord, he added, And please help me find that address book.

  He stood, brushed the knees of his trousers and lifted a stack of catalogs. Beneath them was a blank piece of paper with the salutation Dear Rachel scrawled at the top, and beneath the stationery was an addressed, stamped envelope. Ivan must have begun writing his annual Easter letter to his sister—he was nothing if not conscientious—but he had been too sick to finish it. Silently thanking the Lord for the unexpected way He’d answered his prayer, Arden cleared a space at the desk, sat down and picked up a pen.

  As he stared at the blank page, his hairline beaded with perspiration and his tongue tasted sour. This was why Ivan handled virtually all of the paperwork while Arden compensated by doing whatever heavy lifting Ivan’s slighter frame couldn’t handle. It wasn’t that Arden couldn’t read or write—it was that it took him so painfully long because the letters often seemed to jump around and didn’t make any sense. It had been that way for as long as he could remember, and although his schoolteacher had thought he’d outgrow it if he practiced more or tried harder, he never did. The only thing more daunting to Arden than a page filled with text was a completely blank sheet of paper. He threw down the pen and strode to the other side of the workshop to pick up a hammer. Now this was a tool he could use as deftly as if it were an extension of his own arm.

  How could Ivan ask me to write to his sister, of all people? When Ivan spoke of Rachel, there was nothing except admiration and affection in his voice. But there were others in Serenity Ridge whose opinions of Rachel weren’t as high; they indicated she thought herself a tad superior to those in her family and community. If their assessment of her character was correct, Arden expected she’d have a good laugh about the “ignorant” Amish man’s spelling.

  No, Arden couldn’t write to her. As he drove a nail into a floor joist, he thought, If I can find that address book, I’ll look up her phone number and call her instead. But by the end of the day, he’d turned the desk upside down and inside out and come up empty-handed. He was going to have to face the page. Maybe his mother or his younger sister, Grace, would proofread the letter. No, I can’t show it to them. Ivan said not to tell anyone else he wants Rachel to kumme.

  He took a deep breath and stared at the stationery. What should he say? “Your brother is in the hospital with pneumonia”? He doubted he could get the spelling right for the word hospital, much less pneumonia. One thing he’d learned over the years—when it came to writing, reading and speaking, shorter was better. With his hand shaking as much as if he’d just downed four cups of coffee, Arden positioned his pen under the words Dear Rachel and inscribed:

  Your brother is very ill. Please come s
oon if you can.

  Signed,

  Arden Esh

  Arden chewed the end of the pen. Had he spelled signed correctly? Words that were spelled differently than they sounded gave him the most trouble. But if he crossed it out, it would look too messy and he’d have to start over with a new sheet. The prospect made him shudder. He folded the paper in quarters, slid it into the envelope and carried it to the mailbox at the end of the long driveway.

  Even though he was doing exactly what Ivan had asked him to do, Arden couldn’t escape the feeling he was letting him down. If only Arden didn’t have such difficulty with words, he could take care of the paperwork himself. Of course, if Arden didn’t have such trouble with words, he never would have moved to Maine, because he would have been able to get through an interview and secure a factory job in Indiana. I’d probably be married with two or three kinner by now, too.

  Arden was glad Serenity Ridge’s Amish community was small with very few single women; it gave him a plausible excuse for not courting anyone. The couple of times he’d walked out with anyone in Indiana had been utterly discouraging. His verbal difficulties had made him more nervous than usual, rendering him speechless. The women must have construed his silence as disinterest or else thought he was stupid, because none of them walked out with him for long.

  It’s just as well, he consoled himself, remembering. Courting is intended to lead to marriage, and marriage leads to bobblin. Arden’s father had suffered the same problem as Arden, but to a lesser degree. Assuming the issue was hereditary, Arden couldn’t knowingly subject his offspring to a lifetime of the kind of shame, frustration and struggles he’d faced. He’d decided years ago not to torment himself—or disappoint a woman—by engaging in courtship when he knew it wouldn’t progress to marriage.

  Just because I can’t be a husband or a daed doesn’t mean I’m not responsible for making the most of the opportunities Gott has given me, including supporting my schweschder and mamm, he thought. So I’ve got to do whatever it takes to keep the business afloat during Ivan’s illness. Even if that meant working side by side with Ivan’s condescending Englisch sister.