Surprised by Love

by Kathleen Fuller

  COPYRIGHT

  ZONDERVAN

  Surprised by Love

  Copyright © 2018 by Kathleen Fuller

  Requests for information should be addressed to:

  Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

  Epub Edition June 2018 9780310352655

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

  CIP data is available upon request.

  Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  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.

  Printed in the United States of America

  18 19 20 21 22 / LSC / 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  To my husband, James. I love you.

  CONTENTS

  Copyright

  Glossary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Discussion Questions

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  GLOSSARY

  ab im kopp: crazy, crazy in the head

  ach: oh

  aenti: aunt

  Amisch: Amish

  appeditlich: delicious

  bruder: brother

  bu/buwe: boy/boys

  daag/daags: day/days

  daed: father

  danki: thank you

  dawdi haus: smaller home, attached to or near the main house

  Dietsch: Amish language

  dochder: daughter

  dumm: dumb

  dummkopf: idiot

  Englisch: non-Amish

  familye: family

  frau: woman, Mrs.

  garten: garden

  geh: go

  grossmutter: grandmother

  grossvatter: grandfather

  gut: good

  gute nacht: good night

  hallo: hello

  haus: house

  hungerich: hungry

  kaffee: coffee

  kapp: white hat worn by Amish women

  kinn/kinner: child/children

  kumme: come

  lieb: love

  maedel: girl/young woman

  mamm: mom

  mann: Amish man

  mei: my

  morgen: morning

  mudder/mutter: mother

  nee: no

  nix: nothing

  onkel: uncle

  perfekt: perfect

  schee: pretty/handsome

  schwesters: sisters

  sehr: very

  seltsam: weird

  sohn: son

  vatter: father

  ya: yes

  yer: your

  yerself: yourself

  CHAPTER 1

  Emily Schwartz looked up at the early morning August sky. The sun hadn’t broken through the darkness yet, and the balmy temperature made it a wonderful time for stargazing. Thousands dotted the inky black sky. She knew there were millions—no, billions—more scattered across the endless expanse. She adjusted her telescope, took off her glasses, and peered into the eyepiece. Not that she could see much. The telescope was a small, inexpensive instrument, better suited to a child than a true student of the stars. Still, it was all she had, and her parents didn’t give her a hard time about using it. One day she hoped she could afford a good one.

  She continued gazing at the stars, moving her telescope around to get the best views. She turned on her head lamp, scribbled down a few notes in her small spiral notebook, then tucked her pencil behind her ear and looked in the eyepiece again. When the sun’s morning rays streaked the horizon with soft lilac and peach hues, she folded up her telescope, took it inside, and went up to her bedroom.

  “Stargazing again?” her mother asked when Emily entered the kitchen to help with breakfast. She was making pecan waffles—a family favorite. Emily reached for her apron so she could make another favorite—bacon.

  Tying the apron around her waist, she nodded. “I didn’t want to waste a clear morning.”

  “Humph.” Mamm flipped over the iron griddle and put it back on the gas burner. “I wish you would apply yourself as diligently to finding a husband.”

  Emily suppressed a sigh. Her mother was relentless when it came to Emily’s romantic life. Make that her nonexistent romantic life. “God will supply a husband for me.” If it’s his will. Emily wasn’t completely sure that it wasn’t.

  “I wish he would hurry up then,” Mamm muttered.

  Emily laid strips of thick bacon on the pan her mother had set out earlier. “You can’t rush the Lord, Mamm.”

  “Of course not.” She gave Emily a sharp look. “But I can light a little fire under you.”

  Emily frowned. Her mother was up to something, she was sure of it. As the youngest of six, Emily was the last one still living at home. Her three brothers and two sisters were married and had started families of their own years ago, which made her parents’ move from Shipshewana to Middlefield difficult. Most of her siblings and all of their children still lived in Shipshewana. But the opportunity to open their own natural food store in a community that wasn’t overpopulated with them was too great to resist. And in the four years since their arrival, no one could deny the shop was a success.

  Unlike her parents, Emily had been happy to move. She wanted a fresh start, and she’d gotten one here. She was content with her job at the store, the community, and of course her astronomy hobby. Being unattached gave her extra time to devote to it. She considered her stargazing time a perk of the single life. If only her mother could see things the same way. But Louwanda Schwartz had her own particular, and outspoken, view on life.

  By the time the waffles were brown and the bacon crisp, Daed walked into the kitchen. They all sat and, after prayer, dug in to their food. Emily nibbled on a hot slice of bacon while saying an additional silent prayer that her mother would drop Project Find Emily a Husband. Emily’s father wasn’t interested in that kind of talk. Besides, she was only twenty. Just because her siblings had all married by her age didn’t mean she had to.

  Fortunately, her mother and father were discussing their visit to Shipshewana coming up in a couple weeks. When they finished eating, Daed pushed away from the table and stood.

  “I’m planning to spend some time in the greenhouse. Unless you need me at the store.”

  Mamm shook her head. “We shouldn’t be too busy this morning.”

  “Gut. I’ll order some more of those organic candles this afternoon. We ran out faster than I thought we would.”

  “You should probably double the order.”

  Daed nodded, then left. Emily ate the last bite of her waffle and started clearing the table. “I’ll get the kitchen.”

  “Danki. I’ve got some paperwork in the office that needs mei attention.” She removed her apron and hung it on the hook in the adjacent mudroom, then left for the office, which was in the back of the store, across the driveway from the house. Her mother took care of the books while her father managed the ordering and gr
ew specialty herbs, vegetables, and plants in their garden and greenhouse. They sold nearly as well as the candles.

  It didn’t take long to finish the dishes. Emily hung her apron next to Mamm’s, then walked over to the store. The front door was already unlocked, and she turned the Closed sign to Open. Time for another workday to begin.

  She straightened the baking goods shelves, which were the most popular and usually the messiest. She’d pulled forward a small bag of gluten-free flour when Reuben Coblentz walked through the door. In addition to natural foods, they also sold fresh organic produce from local farms. The Coblentzes were one of their best sources. The food they brought in was always delicious.

  “Hi, Emily,” Reuben said, flashing a smile that some girls in the community thought was handsome. And she supposed it was. At least to the girls who were interested in that sort of thing. “Got a delivery in the back.” He angled his thumb toward the back of the store. He wasn’t wearing his usual straw hat. “Yer daed ordered a lot of rhubarb for some reason.”

  “I’m sure he’ll put it to gut use.” She pushed up her glasses and walked toward him. “I’ll meet you around back—” Her toe caught the edge of the rug in front of the door and she tripped into Reuben’s arms.

  Not again. On instinct Reuben reached out and kept Emily from landing on the ground. This wasn’t the first time she’d tripped on the rug. More like the third, at least when he was around. They should get rid of it before Emily did some real damage to herself.

  He looked down at her. She was a petite girl, several inches shorter than he was. She also wore glasses with the thickest lenses he’d ever seen. Maybe that was the reason she kept tripping. “You okay?”

  “Ya.” She straightened, pushed her glasses back up, and smoothed her kapp. “Danki. I’ll meet you around back.”

  He noticed the slight rosy hue of her cheeks and smiled to himself as he walked around the building to the horse and wagon he’d brought. In addition to rhubarb, there were tomatoes, corn, and other vegetables, plus a few plants his sister Sarah had started to grow in a new greenhouse last year. Their father and Reuben’s brother-in-law, Judah, who was married to Reuben’s other sister, Esther, had partnered and expanded the farm, which increased business. Schwartz Natural Herbs and Foods wasn’t the only place Reuben delivered to, but it was one of his favorite stops. Emily never failed to do something that made him smile, or even outright laugh. She was unique, for sure.

  He climbed up into the wagon and handed her the lightest box of rhubarb. He always packed a couple of them extra light for her, since the time she insisted on carrying a heavy case of tomatoes, only to drop them on her foot, splattering the vegetables on the ground. They were able to salvage some, but he wasn’t so sure about her dress, which was stained with tomato juice and pulp when she stepped on one of the tomatoes and fell on the ground. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen her in that light-green dress since.

  “Everything looks so gut. I can smell the green beans from here.”

  “Really?” He put several crates on the open end of the wagon, then jumped down. He stacked two crates of apples on top of each other and lifted them. “You can smell green beans?”

  “Of course. Can’t you? And the apples smell amazing.” Emily smiled, revealing two slightly crooked front teeth, then turned and went inside.

  She must have a supernatural sniffer or something. He breathed in but all he could smell was dirt. Shaking his head, he followed her through the back door after he propped it open with a nearby rock. “Where do you want these?”

  “Against that wall.” There was a small storage area to the right, and he set the crates on the ground. She placed the rhubarb next to the apples.

  He looked at her again. Despite the goggle-like glasses, she was kind of cute in her own peculiar way. But he thought a lot of girls were cute. And pretty. He wasn’t blind, and he’d been on more than his fair share of dates, something those cute girls didn’t appreciate. But he wasn’t ready for commitment. It had taken him long enough to figure out he wanted to join the Amish church, which he’d done a few months ago. He wasn’t about to take the plunge and get married, not anytime soon. And not until he’d considered it thoroughly.

  Pushing the thoughts away, he said, “I’ll get the rest.”

  She rubbed her nose, which displaced her glasses again. “I can help.”

  “It’s mei job, remember? What would mei daed say if he found out I was slacking off work?”

  Emily giggled and two dimples appeared near the corners of her mouth. “You say that every time. I know you never slack at work.”

  “That wasn’t always the case.”

  She tilted her head at him. “And that was the past.” She smiled again and walked out the door, giving him no choice but to follow her. Fortunately he’d packed three light boxes today.

  After they brought everything in, Emily said, “We’ve got some fresh apple cider on the counter. Would you like a cup?”

  “Sounds great.”

  They went to the front of the store. A couple of English customers had arrived, and he nodded to them. They smiled and went back to perusing shelves filled with organic food, herbs, supplements, and vitamins. The Schwartzes’ store was popular with Amish and English alike and was gaining a reputation for its quality items and fair pricing.

  Emily went to the end of the counter and picked up a paper cup from a small stack near a jug of cider. A small handwritten sign said, “One sample per customer, please.” She poured cider into the cup, then handed it to Reuben. The bell above the door rang, and Deborah Yoder walked in. Reuben gave her a polite nod, which she returned with a glare as she walked past. He flinched and glanced at Emily to see if she noticed. If she did, she didn’t let on as she poured herself a half cup of the cider.

  He fought the urge to look at Deborah again. They’d gone out twice a few months ago, but there was nothing between them. Apparently Deborah felt differently, and he heard through the always lively grapevine that she was upset with him. Maybe he should have explained that he wasn’t interested instead of ignoring her. But that meant more entanglement than he wanted. She’d get over it. Yet from the sharp look, she still wasn’t too happy with him.

  The bell sounded again, and Emily’s mother, Louwanda, came in. He flinched again, this time for a different reason. Louwanda was a nice woman, but a little more forceful than most of the women he knew. In contrast, her husband, Andy, was a quiet, mellow man.

  “Hello, Reuben,” Louwanda said, a bright smile on her face. She glanced at the cup in his hand. “Andy’s cider is delicious, isn’t it?”

  “Ya. It always is.”

  “The mann has a God-given gift for gardening and food, that’s for sure.” She held a letter-size envelope in her hand and turned to Emily. “I’m happy to say that plans are coming together quite nicely for our family reunion.”

  “That’s gut.” Emily straightened a stack of flyers on the counter, and Reuben noticed she wasn’t looking at her mother. He also noticed she didn’t seem excited by the news.

  He finished the last of the cider and was about to hand the cup back to Emily when Louwanda said, “Guess who’s also going to be there?” Before Emily could answer, she said, “Wayne Jantzi.”

  “What?” Emily’s face turned gray.

  “I just got the confirmation today.” She held up the letter, her smile stretching from one plump cheek to the other. “Well, actually yesterday. Our neighbor brought it over this morning. Apparently there is a new mailman and he misdelivered a bunch—”

  “Wayne will be there?”

  Reuben looked at Emily. There was no mistaking her complexion now—she was nearly the color of his mother’s freshly washed white sheets. He’d seen Emily flustered plenty of times. Not just here at the store, but also at church, a couple singings they’d both attended, and once when they were at a barn raising. Emily had been serving the food, and she accidentally flipped a huge spoonful of macaroni salad on the front of Judah’
s shirt. Reuben still wasn’t sure how she accomplished that.

  But he’d never seen her this pale. She almost seemed to be in shock.

  “Ya.” Louwanda’s grin grew even wider, which Reuben hadn’t thought possible. Unlike Emily, she didn’t wear glasses, and her gray eyes shone with delight. “In fact, he was very interested to know you were coming this year.”

  “He . . . was?”

  Reuben thought Emily would wilt right there. Without thinking, he moved to stand a little closer, in case he had to break her fall again.

  “Oh, I guess I’ll just tell you.” She lowered her voice. “Wayne’s mother and I have been corresponding. We have so much in common, especially two children who are unmarried and available.”

  Emily leaned against the counter. “You told his mamm I was available?”

  A little of the delight faded from Louwanda’s face. “Goodness, Emily. Is that all you have to say? I thought you’d be excited about this opportunity.”

  “Excited?”

  Reuben knew he should leave. This was none of his business. But his feet stayed put. He didn’t like how vulnerable Emily seemed right now. And he could sympathize with her. Now that he’d joined the church, his own mother kept dropping some notso-subtle hints about his future and how it should include a wife and kinner. He hadn’t realized Emily’s mother was pressuring her too. And whoever this Wayne guy was, it was clear Emily had no idea he was interested in her.

  “Do I have to spell this out for you?” Louwanda shot Reuben a furtive glance. “In front of Reuben and all our customers?” she whispered through pressed lips.

  Normally Reuben would have chuckled at her dramatics. Louwanda couldn’t be more different from Emily. But right now he didn’t see anything funny about the situation.

  When Emily didn’t respond, Louwanda shrugged. “Since you don’t mind people knowing yer personal business, I guess it won’t bother you if I say that Wayne is already planning your first date.”

  Emily gasped. “Th-that’s not possible.”

  “It is possible.” Louwanda grinned and held up the letter. “I have it in writing. You should make a new dress. It’s not like you can’t afford one. You’re very miserly with yer money, Emily. Maybe something in a pretty lavender shade. That will bring out yer eyes.” She looked her daughter up and down and sighed. “Too bad we can’t do anything about your glasses.”