Maybe it was because of this bond—or because of all I had seen and heard today, or because I just really liked him as a person—but the closer we got to his house, the heavier my heart began to grow. It sounded odd, but now that I had found him, I wasn’t ready to let him go.
The driver must have sensed my reluctance, because just before he turned onto the road that would lead us to Clayton’s house, he gestured toward the ice-cream stand, which was still open, and asked if we’d like to make a stop first.
“Can I buy you a scoop of rocky road, Clayton?” I asked.
“Actually, pistachio is my favorite,” he replied, a bit wearily but with a tiny grin.
I bought one for the driver as well, and the three of us sat at one of several picnic tables under a nearby tree. The birds were singing, the sun was shining and the cold, sweet treat was refreshing on this hot summer day.
Once we were finished, I helped Clayton back to the car. As I was holding the door open for him, easing him inside, it struck me how much he reminded me of my grandfather. Somehow, being with Clayton Raber made me miss Grossdaadi just a little bit less. And that was a good thing.
When we arrived at the house, I told the driver I wouldn’t be long. As I walked Clayton down the path to the door, I thanked him again for what he had done for me in signing over the property. He assured me that what I had done for him was worth infinitely more. Seeing the deep look of peace in his eyes, I knew that must be true.
Despite my satisfaction over all that had taken place during our time together today, as the older man unlocked the door and fumbled for the light, I found myself feeling overwhelmed with a sense of loss and despair.
Something in me did not want to go. The thought of leaving him here in a house that was slowly coming apart, to live out his days all alone, so far from where he had begun, cut me to the core. I wouldn’t be able to pop in and visit him anytime I wanted. To the Englisch, eighty miles was a perfectly reasonable distance to travel, but to the Amish, it was logistically a world way.
Clayton finally found the light and flipped it on, and then he turned and stood in the doorway facing me, the two of us in the exact same spots where we’d met just a few hours before. We shared a smile, one that went far beyond words, and then I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what God would have me do for Clayton Raber.
In a flash I understood why I had been so desperate in my search for him—a desperation that went beyond the scope of a critical property issue. I also knew why I’d been destined to expand the tack shop, so that I would find the old clock and Miriam’s letter now, and not five or ten years from now when it might have been too late. I knew with complete certainty that God had led me to Clayton so that the man could be restored to his Amish faith, and so that he could have what every devoted husband desired and deserved—to be buried next to the wife he loved in life. I had arrived at just the right time. And if there was anything that a clockmaker could be made to understand, it was time.
He thanked me again for coming, adding, “I know why the good Lord led you here, Matthew. So you could bring peace to an old man in his final days.”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but grin. “This may sound strange, but I think there’s another reason God sent me here.”
His eyes met mine and he smiled with curiosity. “Oh? And what might that be?”
My smile grew even wider as I pictured Clayton and his sister reuniting at last, Clayton going before the deacons and hearing them welcome him back and asking for his forgiveness. And if there was no place for him at the Helmuths or among other family members, I could easily see him with us instead. I imagined sharing him with Amanda and my parents, building him a daadi haus out behind the cottage, taking him to worship and watching him meet his dozens of nieces and nephews, and hearing him sing the old hymns in German. I pictured placing my newborn child in his arms, and, Lord willing, in a year or two another one. Then watching—as the years might roll on—my children climbing onto his lap for a bedtime story. And then on some future day, laying his body next to Miriam’s, in the cemetery over the rise from the place where he grew up.
I held his gaze tight on mine. “He sent me to bring you home.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. This book features two related story lines, one set in the present day and one set back in the 1950s. By seeing what really happened through Clayton’s eyes rather than secondhand, through Matthew only, did the story come more alive for you?
2. Why do you think Matthew always felt such a bond of kinship with the infamous clockmaker? What elements of the story end up strengthening that bond?
3. Do you think Clayton would have become a different person had he not been in the buggy accident when he was young? How much are people shaped by what they experience as children?
4. As a clockmaker, Clayton tends to view many things in his life in terms of clocks and how they function. Did any of his various clock-related metaphors resonate with you personally? Which was your favorite?
5. How would you describe Clayton’s love for his wife? Did she deserve that love? Was Clayton’s love blind or did he see the reality of the situation but somehow love her anyway? Have you known love like that, or have you seen it in practice?
6. Clayton’s community was ready to believe he had murdered his wife. Why do you think that was so? Why do old legends regarding someone’s downfall or supposed crime tend to linger?
7. Do you think Clayton and his wife would have ended up having a happy, fulfilling marriage had circumstances played out differently? Why or why not?
8. Soon after leaving Lancaster County, Clayton encounters a kind pastor who is aware of the man’s alleged crime but chooses to believe in his innocence anyway. Was this a reflection of the pastor’s faith, or was it simply because he was a good judge of character? How much did his gift of discernment play into his decision to take Clayton in? Would you have acted similarly in such a situation?
9. Matthew struggles to trust his heavenly Father because he has learned the hard way that he cannot always trust his earthly father. How much of our relationship with our fathers plays into how we feel about and approach God? How would you compare your relationship with your dad to your relationship with the Lord?
10. Near the end of the story, Matthew imagines Clayton moving back to Lancaster County, getting reconnected with his community, cuddling Matthew’s soon-to-be-born child, and later, being laid to rest next to the woman he loved. Do you think this would be a possible scenario for Clayton’s life? Why or why not?
Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
The Men of Lancaster County Series
By Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner
The Amish Groom
The Amish Blacksmith
The Women of Lancaster County Series
By Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould
The Amish Midwife
The Amish Nanny
The Amish Bride
The Amish Seamstress
Other Fiction by Mindy Starns Clark
THE MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERIES
A Penny for Your Thoughts
Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
A Dime a Dozen
A Quarter for a Kiss
The Buck Stops Here
A SMART CHICK MYSTERY
The Trouble with Tulip
Blind Dates Can Be Murder
Elementary, My Dear Watkins
STANDALONE MYSTERIES
Whispers of the Bayou
Shadows of Lancaster County
Under the Cajun Moon
Secrets of Harmony Grove
Echoes of Titanic (with John Campbell Clark)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Mindy Starns Clark is the bestselling author of numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction, including The Amish Midwife (cowritten with Leslie Gould), The Amish Groom and The Amish Blacksmith (cowritten with Susan Meissner), Whispers of the Bayou, Under the Cajun Moon, and Shadows of Lancaster County, as well as th
e popular Million Dollar Mysteries. An RT Book Club Magazine’s 2011 Career Achievement Award winner, Mindy’s numerous honors also include a Christy Award and an Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award. She lives with her husband, John, and two daughters near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. You can connect with Mindy at her website: www.mindystarnsclark.com.
Susan Meissner is a multipublished author, speaker, and writing workshop leader with a background in community journalism. Her novels include The Shape of Mercy, named by Publishers Weekly as one of the 100 Best Novels of 2008 and a Carol Award winner. She is a pastor’s wife and the mother of four young adults. When she’s not writing novels, Susan writes small group curriculum for her San Diego church. Visit Susan at her website: www.susanmeissner.com, on Twitter at @SusanMeissner, or at www.facebook.com/susan.meissner.
The Amish Groom
The time for wondering is over.
The time for commitment is now.
And yet…
Tyler Anderson is torn between two worlds—Amish and Englisch. Born to an ex-Amish mother and an Englisch father, he is raised as a military kid until his mom passes away and his dad places him in the care of his Amish grandparents. Now 23, Tyler knows it’s time to commit to the Amish church for good. Still he hesitates, unsure if he’ll ever truly belong.
Rachel Hoeck has been patient as she waits for Tyler to make up his mind and become her husband. But as much as Tyler adores Rachel, he can’t be certain this is God’s plan for his life. Conflicted, he prays for direction and peace—only to find himself being pulled to the outside world yet again. During a stay with his father’s second family in Southern California, Tyler meets a free-spirited young woman named Lark, putting his future with Rachel even more in question.
As pressure mounts on both sides, will Tyler choose to stay with Lark and remain an Englischer? Or will he find his way back to Rachel and become her Amish groom at last?
A poignant novel of the search for identity and lifetime love, nestled between a beloved Amish community and an exciting modern world.
The Amish Blacksmith
Does time really heal all wounds?
Six years ago, Priscilla Kinsinger’s mother died in a tragic accident, plunging the teenager into a grief so intense she was finally sent to live with relatives elsewhere. Now an adult, Priscilla has returned to Lancaster County hoping to find peace at last with her mamm’s death, for which she has always felt responsible.
Talented horse-gentler Jake Miller, an apprentice blacksmith for the Kinsingers, is soon at odds with the beautiful but emotionally complex Priscilla. He much prefers the lighthearted, easy-going ways of Amanda Shetler, the local young woman he’s been courting. But his boss is Priscilla’s uncle, so when the man asks Jake and Amanda to help his niece reconnect with community life, they have no choice but to do just that.
Surprisingly, as Jake spends time with Priscilla, he finds himself drawn to her. Just as he fixes troubled horses, he wants to “fix” her too by convincing her she was not to blame for her mother’s death. What he discovers instead will challenge everything he believes about the depth of emotion, the breadth of forgiveness—and the true nature of love.
A tender novel of friendship, love, and the power of trusting God to change hearts and lives, set in the close-knit Amish community of Lancaster County.
Lilies on Daybreak Pond
Consider the lilies…
This free short story prequel by bestselling author Mindy Starns Clark offers an exclusive bonus to The Men of Lancaster County series by Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner. Fans of the series will enjoy this brief opportunity to revisit a family they have grown to love, and new readers will be introduced to a life-altering act that ends up reverberating throughout the three full novels of the series, The Amish Groom, The Amish Blacksmith, and The Amish Clockmaker.
It’s coming on spring, and Joel Miller is beginning to understand that his daughter is never coming home again. Three months ago, 18-year-old Sadie snuck away in the dead of night, breaking from the Amish faith to live the life of an Englischer. The family she left behind has been dealing with the loss ever since—especially her father, who is still struggling to comprehend how God could have allowed this to happen. Now the family dog has gone missing as well, and Joel is determined to find him and bring him back home no matter what it takes. As he searches for the missing pet, he wonders how find the strength to let his daughter go and move on with his life. How can he help his family do so as well?
Ready to Discover More?
Do you love reading Amish fiction?
Are you drawn to the simplicity of the Amish culture?
VISIT AMISHREADER.COM TODAY AND DISCOVER:
• Free Short Stories by Your Favorite Authors
• Authentic Amish Recipes
• Exclusive Book Previews and Giveaways
Click here to visit
www.AmishReader.com
Other ways to connect:
www.facebook.com/AmishReadercom
www.twitter.com/AmishReader
Click here to sign up for email updates!
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
* * *
To learn more about Harvest House books and to read sample chapters, visit our website:
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
* * *
The Amish Clockmaker Page 35