Return to Paradise

by Cameron, Barbara;

  Lavina thought Kate always looked so nice whether she wore her police uniform or civilian clothes.

  Women and children were already assembling in the big dining room. A Christmas tree stood in the corner decorated with ornaments the members of the quilt class had made. Ellie and some of the children were hanging ornaments they’d made: construction paper chains, stars fashioned of Popsicle sticks dusted with glitter, little clear plastic balls with photos inside that someone had taken of them.

  Presents were stacked under the tree, small ones wrapped in fabric or Christmas paper the children had made. Lavina walked over with two shopping bags and began pulling out the presents she and her schweschders had brought. The children immediately wanted to help her so she let them. She saw they were looking for their names on the tag and trying not to show that’s what they were doing. There was nothing breakable in the packages, and she loved the quick smiles she got when they saw their names.

  Mary Elizabeth and Rose Anna opened the plastic containers and began setting out the Christmas cookies and decorated cupcakes, so the children swarmed over and watched their progress with big eyes.

  The three of them and their mudder had spent days baking for the shelter Christmas party and for their own quiet Christmas celebrations at home. The house smelled of sugar and spice and everything nice.

  Lavina joined them and arranged a plate of gingerbread cookies. As she did she found herself wondering if David had talked to his bruders yet about their dat’s test results, the farm, and most important, the invitation to the family party at her haus on Christmas Eve. She knew Waneta hoped so very much that Sam and John would come. Amos hadn’t said anything but she knew he wouldn’t. The two bruders were never discussed.

  Everyone took a seat and listened to the children sing Christmas carols. Pearl and some of the women had made little sandwiches, and potato and macaroni salads, and a platter of raw vegetables with a dip. Everything was devoured, and then the cookies and cupcakes were passed around and were a big hit.

  “You didn’t have to bring presents,” Kate told Lavina quietly, as Ellie was allowed to read the names on the tags and another little girl passed the presents out.

  “I’m so glad you invited me to the class here,” Lavina told her. “They’re just little sewing kits. Leah gave me a wonderful deal. And Mary Elizabeth and Rose Anna found the books for the children on sale. It wasn’t much.”

  “It’s a very big thing for everyone,” Pearl said.

  Lavina glanced around. She hadn’t realized the woman was standing behind her.

  “They have so little right now. But they’ve made presents for each other and everyone’s celebrating like a family.”

  The family celebration the next night was quieter, more spiritual but no less fun.

  The family—Lavina and her schweschders and mudder and dat and David and Waneta and Amos—gathered in the living room around a crackling fire.

  Snow had begun to fall again, but inside it was so warm and secure.

  Evergreens on the mantel scented the air and bayberry, cinnamon, and vanilla candles glowed. Bright red poinsettias were placed around the room. Colorfully wrapped packages were heaped on a table. They’d open them later, not tonight when the celebration was quiet and spiritual.

  A big Bible sat on the small table beside her dat’s chair, waiting for him to read the story of the birth of the Christ child. Lavina found herself wondering why he hadn’t started yet. She went into the kitchen to ask her mudder and found her checking the ham baking in the oven. The table was loaded with the meal they’d eat after the Bible story and prayers. Her mouth watered at the scents of ham, sweet potatoes, baked corn pudding, and all the sweet baked desserts.

  Lavina glanced at the clock. “Shouldn’t we start the prayers and story? Everyone’s here.”

  Linda sighed. “I was so hoping—” she trailed off as Waneta walked into the room.

  “Anything I can do to help?” Waneta asked, trying to look cheerful.

  But Lavina could see her lips trembling. She went to her and put her arm around the woman’s waist.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, blinking back tears. “I’d just hoped . . .”

  She jerked when they heard the knock on the front door. The three of them turned, straining to hear who was at the door.

  “Merry Christmas!” familiar male voices boomed.

  “Sam! John!” Waneta cried and fled the room.

  Lavina followed her and watched David’s two bruders walking into the living room. They carried presents in their arms and shook off the snow dusting their hats and jackets. Their mudder threw her arms around them and wept. Amos stood slowly, his expression shocked.

  David came to stand beside Lavina. “Danki for pushing me to ask them to come. It’s only for one night but—”

  “But it’s a start,” she finished, smiling up at him. “Merry Christmas, Lieb.”

  “Merry Christmas,” he said. “I love you. And I can’t wait for our first Christmas next year.”

  “Next year,” she said, nodding, thinking it’d be their first as a married couple. “It’ll be an even more wunderbaar Christmas!”

  Recipes

  Pennsylvania Dutch Baked Corn Pudding

  A traditional recipe for the Thanksgiving dinner in the Amish or Mennonite home.

  2½ cups of corn, canned, fresh, or frozen

  1 tablespoon sugar

  1 teaspoon salt

  1⁄ 8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (or white pepper)

  1½ tablespoons all-purpose flour

  2½ tablespoons melted butter

  3 eggs, beaten

  1 cup whole milk

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  Dash of cinnamon

  Pinch of nutmeg

  Directions

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain corn if canned. Thaw corn if frozen. Mix all ingredients in a 1½-quart greased baking dish.

  Bake for 35 minutes. Serves 8.

  Rice Pudding

  2 cups cooked rice (white or brown)

  about 3 cups milk

  ½ cup sugar

  1⁄ 8 teaspoon salt

  1½ teaspoon vanilla

  ½ cup raisins (regular or golden raisins)

  spices to taste . . . like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and so on

  ½ cup nuts (optional)

  Directions

  Combine all ingredients, except spices, and bring to a boil. Cook until most of the milk is absorbed. Add spices. Add nuts if desired.

  Serve hot or cold. Serves 2 to 4.

  Banana Crumb Cake

  2 cups all-purpose flour

  1 tablespoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon salt

  3 ripe bananas

  ½ cup melted butter

  2 cups granulated sugar

  2 eggs

  1 cup sour milk (add 1 tablespoon vinegar to milk and let sit 5 minutes)

  1 tablespoon vanilla extract

  For the streusel:

  ¾ cup melted butter

  1 ½ cups light brown sugar

  1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  For the glaze:

  1 cup powdered sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 tablespoons cream

  Directions

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mash bananas. Mix in butter until combined and then mix in sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer running on low, carefully add flour mixture

  and mix until just combined. Prepare streusel by combining all the ingredients in a medium bowl, except melted butter. Blend in the butter with a pastry blender or fork, until coarse crumbs forms. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Top with 1⁄ 3 of the crumb mixture. Cover the filling with the remaining batter and top with remaining crumb mixture.

  Bake for 50 to 55 minutes until the center is set a
nd a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for at least one hour.

  Mix together the glaze ingredients, and drizzle over the cake before serving.

  Beef Stew

  2 pounds top round steak, cut into bite-size chunks

  4 carrots, peeled and sliced

  4 potatoes, peeled and sliced

  1 package dry onion soup mix

  1 can cream of celery or cream of chicken soup

  1 can ginger ale

  just enough water to cover all ingredients

  Directions

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. You don’t have to brown the meat. Place in an ovenproof casserole dish. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 3 hours. Do not peek!

  Rachel Ann’s Gingerbread Cookies

  3 cups all-purpose flour

  1½ teaspoons baking powder

  ¾ teaspoon baking soda

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  1 tablespoon ground ginger

  1¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon

  ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

  6 tablespoons unsalted butter

  ¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

  1 large egg

  ½ cup molasses

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

  Directions

  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

  Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper, or grease baking sheets with a little shortening.

  In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended. In a large bowl beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended. Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours. (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Return to room temp before using.) Place one portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.

  Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin. Roll dough to a scant ¼-inch thick. Use additional flour to avoid sticking.

  Cut out cookies with gingerbread man cookie cutter. Space cookies 1½ inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies—very good!). Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until they are firm enough to move to a wire rack to cool.

  After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like. Rachel Ann likes to decorate them as a gingerbread man, woman, and children.

  Glossary

  ab im kop—off in the head. Crazy.

  allrecht—all right

  boppli—baby

  bruder—brother

  Daed—Dad

  danki—thank you

  dat—father

  Der hochmut kummt vor dem fall. Pride goeth before the fall.

  dippy eggs—over-easy eggs

  Englischer—what the Amish call us

  fraa—wife

  grossdaadi—grandfather

  grosseldere—grandparents

  grossmudder—grandmother

  Guder mariye—good morning

  Gut-n-Owed—good evening

  haus—house

  hochmut—pride

  kaffe—coffee

  kapp—prayer covering or cap worn by girls and women

  kind, kinner—child, children

  lieb—love

  liebschen—dearest or dear one

  maedels—young single women

  Mamm—Mom

  mann—husband

  mudder—mother

  nee—no

  Ordnung—The rules of the Amish, both written and unwritten. Certain behavior has been expected within the Amish community for many, many years. These rules vary from community to community, but the most common are to have no electricity in the home, to not own or drive an automobile, and to dress a certain way.

  Pennsylvania Deitsch—Pennsylvania German

  roasht—a type of stuffing in chicken, often served at weddings

  Rumschpringe—time period when teenagers are allowed to experience the Englisch world while deciding if they should join the church

  schul—school

  schur—sure

  schweschder—sister

  sohn—son

  verdraue—trust

  wilkumm—welcome

  wunderbaar—wonderful

  ya—yes

  Group Discussion Questions for Return to Paradise

  Spoiler alert! Please don’t read before completing the book as the questions contain spoilers!

  1. What does home mean to you? Is it the place you live? Your family or friends?

  2. Where was your favorite place to live? Why? What would be the perfect place to live? What is your dream home? Dream job?

  3. What was your relationship with your parents when you were growing up? Good? Troubled with conflicts? How do you get along with them now as an adult?

  4. Have you ever had to walk away from a relationship with a family member or a good friend who felt like family? Why? What happened? How did you handle it?

  5. Sometimes family is made up of our mother, father, and siblings. Sometimes it’s made of friends who become family. Do you have friends who are family to you? How did this happen?

  6. David’s friend Bill says you can’t go home again. Unlike the story of the prodigal son in the Bible, David’s return to his family is not embraced by his father. Why do you think these two men find it so difficult to get along? Did David’s mother help or hurt this struggle?

  7. Many Amish believe God has set aside a marriage partner for them. Do you believe this? Do you believe in love at first sight?

  8. David asks Lavina for a second chance after leaving her and his home in Paradise. Did you think she was too hard on him and should have given him the opportunity to help bring healing to their relationship sooner in the book? Why or why not?

  9. Lavina and her sisters are in their twenties and are unmarried. They still live with their parents. Do you think this is a good idea? Would you want your grown child to live with you?

  10. When a valuable quilt is stolen Lavina and her sister, Mary Elizabeth, refuse to prosecute the thief. The Amish seldom prosecute those who harm them or steal from them. Do you think they are right or wrong?

  11. David returned home to help his mother when his father was diagnosed with cancer. David’s brothers refuse to do so. What would you say to his brothers?

  12. Sometimes it takes a crisis to make people change. Nearly everyone has had some life-changing event that causes them to reevaluate and change. What were those events for you? How did you change? Were you happy with the change? Why or why not?

  The Coming Home Series

  Three brothers left the Amish community of Paradise, Pennsylvania two years ago, and became part of the Englisch community. Now three sisters will try to persuade them to come home, to where they belong . . .

  David, Samuel, and John Stoltzfus—three brothers—left the Amish community a year ago to live in the Englisch world for a variety of reasons—some known, some a mystery. Lavina, Mary Elizabeth, and Rose Anna Zook—three sisters—loved them and have never forgotten them. These couples will meet up again and forge a new relationship. Each woman is determined to bring her man back into the Amish fold. Each man thinks that his break with his faith—with his God—and his community is too great. Each woman is convinced that this is not true, that with her love—and God’s—faith, love, and happiness will prevail.

  In Book 2 of the series, Seasons in Paradise, Samuel follows his older brother into the Englisch world when he clashes with his father. But there’s more to his leaving than what he says. And Mary Elizabeth, the woman he was starting to love before he left the community, is determined to find out the reason so they can be together again.

  Here’s a sample.

  1

  Mary Elizabeth
always thought there was nothing lovelier than spring in Paradise, Pennsylvania.

  Today the sky was a rich blue, not the gray it had been too long this past winter. The clouds that scudded overhead were soft clumps and a pure white, not heavy and dark and spitting snow or rain.

  A warm breeze carried the scents of flowers and plants and . . .

  Manure and fertilizer.

  Her nose wrinkled as she stood on the back porch of her schweschder Lavina’s big old farmhouse and watched David, Lavina’s mann, working with his bruders, Samuel and John, fertilizing the fields.

  Well, to be honest, she watched Samuel, not the other men. Samuel and John came nearly every weekend now that spring planting was taking place in Lancaster County. It took all three of the bruders as well as occasional help from their dat, Amos, to do the planting, as it would the eventual nurturing of the crop. It would take the four of them and some of the men from the community to harvest come November.

  She’d begun to think Amos would never turn the farm over to David. He’d finally despaired at their fighting. Amos had been so difficult he’d driven David, then Samuel and John away.

  David had returned to Paradise to help his mudder take care of his dat when he got the cancer. No one had been more surprised than David and Lavina when Amos had a change of heart after recovering and decided to turn the farm over to his sohn.

  Mary Elizabeth knew she would never forget this Christmas past, when Samuel and John walked into her haus and surprised both families after an absence of almost a year. But that return was brief and temporary.

  Both Samuel and John said it was wunderbaar that their dat had recovered, and they were thrilled that David, the eldest, would take over the family farm. But they refused to return home or to the Amish community the bruders had grown up in.

  It was a miracle, she’d thought, when they came to celebrate the birth of the Christ child that night. But her hopes that Samuel would stay had been dashed just hours later. The two bruders went back to their apartment in town that night.

  Mary Elizabeth had thought her heart was broken when Samuel followed David out of the community, but that Christmas night she’d found it was possible for her heart to be broken a second time.