Simple Amish Love 3-Book Collection

by Rachel Stoltzfus

  “Jacob, my mamm and I are working together on this. She won’t let me be cheated – I won’t let me cheated! I’m going to work with him and make it clear what I expect to earn . . . I think you’d better leave,” Jenny finished. Walking to the front door, she held the door handle, waiting for Jacob to follow her.

  Jacob stood, jamming his straw hat on his head and pushing his arms forcefully through the sleeves of his coat. Without a promise of another meeting, he left and swung himself into his buggy, leaving quickly.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  After Jacob left, Jenny paced back and forth in the quilting room, wondering how she would repair the rift she had unintentionally caused. She pulled several quilting patters out and looked through them, trying to find inner peace. Her thoughts went to Hannah Lapp and she felt uncomfortable, remembering what Hannah had done to Annie Fisher, her best friend. Oh, girl, you made a bad mistake. Jacob’s only concerned about you. He only wants to protect you. He’s lived with the kind of “me-first” attitude he was accusing Mr. Carey of. His schweschder decided she would act only in her own interests, rather than in the greater interest of the Order. Now, she’s excommunicated, and who knows what’s going to happen with her?

  Seeking her mother out in another part of the house, she sat down next to her, looping her arm through her mother’s arm and resting her head on her mother’s shoulder.

  “Mamm, Jacob just left, angry. I told him about Mr. Carey’s offer and he told me he knows of him – that he’s not an honest businessman and will try to cheat me. I only wanted to give him good news, and he got upset. I told him that you’ve given me permission to make two quilts for Mr. Carey. I realize he’s right, mamm. He’s only looking out for me.”

  “Jenny, I agree with Jacob – I don’t get a good, honest feeling from Mr. Carey. I looked into his eyes. The whole time he was talking to you, his smile never reached his eyes. He’s a hard, cold businessman first, then he’s a man with feelings. Those kinds of men are dangerous to people who are innocent of the world around them – like you. I’m not saying that it’s bad that you’re innocent. I’m only saying that people like Mr. Carey prey on people like you, who trust easily.”

  Jenny realized her mamm was right. She did have a lot to learn about the world outside Peace Landing. She also realized she needed to apologize to Jacob.

  Her mother’s voice broke into her troubled thoughts.

  “Jenny, continue with your plans to work with Mr. Carey, but make it harder for him to cheat you. Write up a simple contract that lays out your responsibilities as well as his. Write up two copies and send them both to him, requesting his signature on both. Then, have him send both copies back so you can sign them and send one copy to him. It doesn’t have to be a difficult contract, just one that makes it clear to him that you know what his responsibilities are as well as yours.”

  Jenny was surprised. Her mother had never before revealed this side of herself.

  “Ya. Okay. It’s a good idea, mamm. I’ll write something up now,” said Jenny. Going to the hutch in one corner of the living room, she pulled out a pad of writing paper and a pen. She sat down and thought for several minutes. When she was done, she read over what she had written.

  “Mamm, is this good?” she asked.

  Rebecca read the contract carefully.

  “Ya, this is good. It’s simple and to the point. He can’t help but understand that you know what you’re doing. Write up a second copy and mail them to him tomorrow, first thing. When you get them back, you’ll know you’re safe to start working on the quilts. Oh, before you send these, have Jacob read them – go see him tomorrow. You can also apologize to him then,” Rebecca said with a gentle smile on her slender face.

  ***

  After breakfast and cleaning the next morning, Jenny hitched the horse to the buggy and drove to the Lapp farm. His mother answered the knock at the door, looking downcast.

  “Mrs. Lapp, what’s wrong? You look so . . . sad,” Jenny said with concern.

  “Hannah left Peace Landing yesterday morning, early. She’s not coming back,” said Mrs. Lapp.

  “Oh, no! You mean she doesn’t want to repent so she can be a full member of our community?”

  “Nee. She made that clear in her goodbye note yesterday. She doesn’t understand that what she did was wrong and violated another member here. I will be all right, Jenny, never fear. I always knew this day would come. I comfort myself, praying for her spiritual and physical safety.”

  Jenny gave the older woman a fierce, heartfelt hug. “Still, I am sorry. I will add my prayers for her to yours.”

  Mrs. Lapp gave Jenny a shaky smile. “Jacob is in the barn. Shall I call him in?”

  “Please. I have something I need to say to him,” Jenny said.

  “Wait here. When he comes in, I will be in the kitchen so you can talk in some privacy,” said Mrs. Lapp.

  Several minutes later, Jacob came in with a solemn look on his face.

  “Jacob, I owe you an apology. You were right. My mamm and I talked. She shares your concerns about Mr. Carey. She suggested that I write up a contract and get his signature so he, at least, finds it harder to cheat me. I wanted to show it to you before I mail it to him,” Jenny said quietly. If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate hearing them.”

  Jacob silently took the proffered contract and began reading it. Knowing that she wasn’t aware of the bad intent of others, he read the contract carefully, nodding in approval.

  “I would only add one thing. Sit down while I write it in,” Jacob said. Sitting near Jenny, he quickly wrote in a clause that specified that Jenny would be paid 50 percent of the proceeds from each quilt sold. “I’m glad your mamm talked to you. She is a very intelligent and wise woman. She knows of the evil outside our communities and she wants to protect you, just as I do.”

  “Ya. I realized that right after you left the other night. That’s why I wanted to apologize. Denki, Jacob. For understanding and forgiving me, and for adding this change to my contract. I’ll be calling Mr. Carey so he can pick this up and sign it. I was going to mail it, but that would take too long,” Jenny said.

  “Jenny? Would you let me be at your farm when he comes to sign and pick up the contract? I know you can handle the situation – I just want him to know you have . . . someone behind you, protecting you,” Jacob said.

  Jenny looked at Jacob seriously. She realized that he cared more than he could say.

  “Ya, that’s fine. I appreciate it,” she said with a beaming smile.

  ***

  Back at her parents’ house, she quickly added Jacob’s change to the second copy of the contract. Walking quickly through the cold, still air to her daed’s shop, she called Ken Carey.

  “Mr. Carey, this is Jenny King. I thought it would be better for both of us if we had a contract that spells everything out. I’ve written something up, and I need to have a day and time when you can come to read and sign it. I have two copies, one for you and one for me.”

  “A . . . contract? Don’t you trust me?” Ken asked.

  “Ya, I do, Mr. Carey. My only aim with this contract is so that we both know what the other is supposed to do. It protects you, just as it protects me.”

  “Oh, well . . . in that case . . . I guess that’s okay. Let’s see here . . . I can’t leave Philly until sometime this Thursday or Friday. Would morning or afternoon work for you? Afternoon’s better for me, frankly,” said Ken.

  “That will be fine for me, as well. So, would Thursday or Friday work better for you?”

  “Friday, say, around mid-afternoon. That gives me time to get back to the city and close up for the day,” Ken decided.

  “Denki. I will see you then,” Jenny said with a smile in her voice. After hanging up, she saw her father gazing at her.

  “You handled that very well, Jenny. I will be here in the barn when he arrives . . .”

  “Denki, daed. Jacob has also asked if he can be here. I’ll tell him tonight when Mr. Car
ey will be here. Mamm will be in the house as well,” Jenny said.

  “Good. The more protection you have behind you, the better,” said John decisively.

  That evening, while Jacob and Jenny were visiting, she told him that Ken would be at the house on Friday afternoon.

  “Good. I’ll be here a little early and, when you take him into the kitchen, I’ll come in as well,” said Jacob. He took Jenny’s hand, saying, “I just want to protect you. You’re becoming . . . very important to me.”

  Jenny blushed, smiling tenderly at her beau. “You’re becoming important to me, too, Jacob.” She wrapped her fingers around his, her heart pounding.

  ***

  On Friday afternoon, Jenny peeked through the sheer curtains in the living room. Seeing a vehicle approaching quickly, she dropped the sheer and walked back to the kitchen, forcing herself to stay calm.

  Jacob, standing behind the pantry door, sent Jenny a silent question.

  “He’s coming. He’ll be knocking at the door any minute,” she told him quietly.

  Hearing this, Jacob pulled the pantry door nearly closed just as Ken Carey knocked loudly at the front door.

  Jenny moved quickly through the living room and answered the door.

  “Hello, Mr. Carey. I hope your drive was good,” she greeted him.

  “It was fine. Not too much traffic. Say, do you have that contract handy? I’d like to get back before it starts to snow,” Ken said.

  “Right in here. I wrote two copies. One for you and one will be mine. Here you go – they’re identical, but you can check if you’d like.”

  Jacob stepped out quietly from the pantry, giving Ken a level look from under his dark-brown eyebrows.

  Ken’s jaw dropped as he saw the young man dressed in Plain attire. His eyebrows lowered and he frowned heavily, then wiped his expression clean of all emotion. Turning his attention to Jenny’s contract, he read it. He only skimmed through the 50 percent clause. Dropping the first contract, he grabbed the second and verified that it was, indeed identical to the first.

  The entire time, Jacob watched Ken with his arms crossed.

  “Mr. Carey, I have spent time outside my community, when I was on my ‘running-about time.’ I lived and worked among the Englishers. I’ve seen them treat others well . . . and not so well. I’ve seen other Amish being taken advantage of – and that won’t happen with Miss King – or Mrs. King. I hope we understand each other,” said Jacob.

  Ken, listening to Jacob’s low, well-modulated voice, sat back with his own arms crossed. He regarded Jacob through narrowed eyes, realizing he had a formidable adversary. The question of whether Jacob was seeing Jenny romantically entered his head – after all, Jenny was a good-looking young woman, no matter that she wore a white bonnet on her head and a dark blue, long and unadorned dress with a sparkling-white apron.

  Rebecca King entered the kitchen at this point. Her face was solemn, as though she recognized the significance of Ken’s presence in her home.

  Ken looked from Jacob to Rebecca and Jenny. Sighing heavily, because he wanted those quilts he had been promised, he pulled a pen from his shirt pocket. He quickly scrawled his signature and the date on both contracts, then pushed them to Jenny, who neatly signed both copies. Ken grabbed a copy of the contract, folded it and stashed it in his computer bag.

  Jacob watched every one of Ken’s moves. He read the contract and signed it, but that means nothing. I’m taking a trip to Philadelphia and I’m going to drop into his shop. I want to see what his intentions for Jenny really are.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The next day, Jenny started on her first quilt for Ken. Spreading a long piece of paper on the work table, she began working with different designs, some traditional and some more modern. After several hours, she had decided what pattern she wanted to work on. Working from her pattern, she began cutting out different colored pieces of fabric and pinning them together. As she pinned several pieces together, she carefully sewed them together, laying them next to each other on the long table. The whole process, from beginning to sewing on the quilt binding, would take up to four months. Jenny intended to use up as much of that four months as possible, so her work would be of the highest quality possible.

  Because Jenny also had to help her mother with housework, cleaning, laundry and cooking, this took several hours of her day. All of the household chores were done by hand, with no electrical assistance allowed. She and her mother used a carpet sweeper to clean the large rug in the living room and each rug in the bedrooms. Clothing was washed by hand and hung on a large clothesline to dry. After every chore was done, Jenny immediately started work on the quilt for Ken’s shop. Rebecca also made quilts, which she sold to Englisher tourists who passed through Peace Landing. She had no desire to have her work commissioned and displayed in a store in the city – she felt she was more able to control the creating and selling process by selling only to tourists.

  After Jacob left the King home, when Ken signed the contracts, he didn’t tell Jenny of his plan to visit the other man’s shop. He chose a day when he knew he wouldn’t have very much to do in the barn, telling his father what his plan was. After his father nodded his approval, Jacob hired an Englisher driver to take him to Philadelphia.

  “I want to stop in at the shop of the man who is buying the quilts of a . . . special friend. If you would wait for me to bring me back, I’ll pay you extra,” said Jacob.

  “That won’t be necessary. Maybe, just buy me something to eat on the way back, and we’ll just call it even,” said the young college student.

  “That works for me,” Jacob said with a grin.

  In Philadelphia, the driver quickly found the street Jacob needed.

  “Hey, man, I need to go buy some things for school. About how long do you think you’ll be?”

  “Certainly no more than an hour,” Jacob estimated.

  “I’ll be back a little before then, just in case. We can talk about where to eat on the way back to Lancaster County.”

  “Denki, thank you.”

  In the Amish crafting shop, Jacob looked around, recognizing the work of many Amish artisans. Looking at Ken Carey, he crossed his arms.

  “Hey, I intend to honor the contract Miss King wrote up. You’re not gonna have any problems with me,” said the older, overweight man.

  Jacob didn’t speak. Instead, he made a long, slow circuit through the showroom, taking mental notes of the artisans whose work was on display. He intended to get in touch with each person to find out what their experiences with Ken had been, to date. He turned and gave Ken a silent, level look.

  “You had better be honest with Miss King.” Not wanting to say much more or cause a scene, Jacob turned on his heel and left the shop. He willed his pounding heart to slow down, reminding himself that God would also deal with the merchant if he attempted to cheat Jenny out of what she was supposed to be paid. Entering a coffee shop, he ordered a cup of steaming coffee and jotted down the names of the artisans whose work he’d recognized in the shop – he would contact them over the next few weeks, as he found free moments.

  The Englisher driver picked Jacob up, as promised. On their way to Peace Landing, they stopped in a well-known chain restaurant and ordered a late lunch. Back at the farm, Jacob stepped out of the car and paid the driver what he owed him.

  “Denki. I appreciate your help!”

  “Not a problem! Any time you need a lift, just call.” Giving him a friendly wave, the driver was gone.

  ***

  “Daed, I’m still concerned about Jenny’s agreement with Ken Carey. I saw the work of several Amish artisans and I intend to speak to each one to see what their experience has been like.”

  “What did you tell Mr. Carey?”

  “That he’d better be honest in his dealings with Jenny. That’s all I dared to say. Once I’d said that, I just turned and left his shop,” Jacob said.

  “Does the shop look like it’s doing well?”

  “Just from
the few minutes I was in there, ya. He had a lot of different crafts – wood work, quilts, needlepoint . . . daed, if he messes with Jenny . . .”

  “What feeling do you get from the man?”

  “Not good. I think he’s going to try and cheat her, contract or no contract.”

  “You have a good feeling for people, Jacob. Keep an eye on this situation – and tell Jenny where you went and why. Your relationship with her needs to be based on respect and honesty.”

  “Ya, daed, I promise, I will tell her. I think she knows that I care and that I only want to protect her from a man who may be dishonest and planning to cheat her.”

  ***

  The next evening, Jacob visited with Jenny. Knowing he needed to be up-front with her, he sat down with her in the warm, cozy living room and took her hand with a serious look on his face.

  “Jenny, I need to tell you something. I went to Philadelphia the other day and stopped in at Ken Carey’s shop. He told he he’s going to honor your contract. I told him that I would be keeping an eye on your situation, and that I’d be telling you of my trip. I don’t trust him – he reminds me of too many dishonest Englishers.”

  Jenny released Jacob’s hand and stood so she could start pacing restlessly.

  “Jacob! I can take care of myself!”

  “Jenny, wait, please! Hear me out. I don’t have a good feeling about him – he reminds me very much of . . . someone I knew a few years ago,” Jacob said quickly.

  Jenny stopped pacing so she could look at Jacob. She seemed to be measuring what he was saying. Sighing in frustration, she returned to the couch, where she settled next to him.

  “Okay. Tell me why you don’t trust him,” she said quietly.

  “When I was on my ‘running-about time,” I spent it in Philadelphia. I worked for a while with a construction company, building a school and cafeteria. My construction foreman was very much like Mr. Carey. Well, I had been there for a couple months and it came time for the foreman to pay us. He gave me my paycheck and, when I looked at it, I had been shorted several hundred dollars. When I asked him about it, he claimed that he had taken out several fines for things I had done or not done. I knew that was an outright lie – they’re supposed to tell their workers when they’re being fined and for what. So, I went to the general contractor who was overseeing the entire project. The foreman was made to pay me everything that I was owed. I quit that job shortly afterward and found work with another construction crew.”