Carrie Lighte - Minding The Amish Baby

Title Page Minding the Amish Baby Carrie Lighte www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-1-474-09042-1 MINDING THE AMISH BABY © 2018 Carrie Lighte Published in Great Britain 2018 by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk Version: 2020-03-02

Introduction “What man doesn’t want a heart-shaped cookie cutter?” “I’m sure this will kumme in handy when I host my annual Valentine’s Day party,” Turner joked. “Your annual Valentine’s Day party? Why haven’t I ever been invited to that?” Tessa crossed her arms, pretending to feel slighted. “Because this is the first year I’m having it,” Turner replied without missing a beat. Tessa giggled. “There’s something else I have to confess about my discussion with Rhoda. Because I told her you’d given me a ride to the store, she made the assumption you were courting me.” “That’s all?” Turner asked. “Why would that offend me?” “Because I didn’t deny it. I allowed her to think you wanted to keep our courtship a secret.” “As long as you’re not upset about Rhoda making that assumption, then neither am I.” “I’m not upset,” Tessa confirmed. Why? Because it isn’t true so it doesn’t matter what Rhoda thinks, or because you’d accept me as a suitor? Turner wondered. But even discussing a courtship between them caused warmth to course through every fiber of his being...

Dear Reader Dear Reader Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Introduction Dear Reader Bible Verse Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue Extract About the Publisher , I confess Tessa and I share the same perspective about cooking: If I’m the only one eating, why go through the trouble of preparing a full meal? When I was much younger and single, my cupboards were just as bare as Tessa’s were, too. I’ll never forget the time my parents came to visit and my mother marveled at how spotlessly clean my oven was. Little did she know that was because I hardly ever used it. (Actually, she probably did know; mothers are clever like that.) Also like Tessa, I make appenditlich lemon squares, if I do say so myself. I’d give you my recipe, but it’s a closely guarded secret—although it’s not nearly as big as the secret Tessa and Turner shared. Thank you for reading their story. There are two more books to come in the Amish Country Courtships miniseries and I hope you’ll enjoy them. Blessings, Carrie Lighte

Bible Verse If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9

Dedication For everyone who loves and nurtures the children of others as if they were their own, and with special thanks to my brother.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

“Soup from a can?” Tessa Fisher’s mother, Waneta, asked incredulously. “None for me, denki . I’ll just have bread and cheese.”

If her mother turned her nose up at canned soup, Tessa figured she wasn’t going to have an appetite for store-bought bread, either. She racked her brain for something else to offer her parents, who had arrived unexpectedly for Sunday dinner.

It was an off Sunday, meaning Amish families held worship services in their homes instead of gathering as a community for church. Tessa should have anticipated guests, since Sunday visiting was a cherished Amish tradition. But the truth was, as a woman living alone, Tessa was more likely to be the one dropping in on others than the one receiving visitors in the little daadi haus she rented from Turner King. Still, she hadn’t imagined her parents would travel all the way from Shady Valley, which was two towns over, to Willow Creek, Pennsylvania. Since Tessa returned from worshipping at her sister’s house only a few minutes before they arrived, she was caught unprepared.

“I’m sorry, Mamm ,” Tessa apologized as she set a bagged loaf on the table. “If I had known you were coming, I would have made something ahead of time, like a dessert.”

“From a mix?” her mother half jested, untwisting the tie from the plastic bag.

When Tessa put her mind to it, she could bake and cook as well as any Amish woman, but those weren’t her favorite responsibilities and she didn’t see much point in laboring over large meals when she had only herself to feed. She’d much rather spend her time socializing or working extra shifts at Schrock’s Shop, the store in town where she was employed as a clerk selling Amish-made goods primarily to Englisch tourists. Besides, it was the Sabbath. No one prepared a big dinner on the day of rest.

“Probably,” Tessa admitted. “It’s quicker that way.”

“Since when is quicker better?” Waneta frowned. “It sounds as if the Englisch customers at Schrock’s Shop are influencing our dochder , Henry. I think it’s time she moved back home.”

Tessa’s father grunted noncommittally as he served himself several thick slices of bologna. At least the bologna was homemade, although not in Tessa’s home; she purchased it the day before at Schlabach’s meat market.

Tessa stifled a sigh. A little more than two years ago she and her sister, Katie, who were the youngest children and the only girls in their family, moved from Shady Valley so Katie could serve as a replacement for Willow Creek’s schoolteacher, who resigned to start a family. Although Katie was twenty-three at the time, Henry and Waneta were reluctant to allow her to live alone, something Amish women in their area seldom did. So, they sent Tessa, who was nearing twenty-one, to live with her. Early last November, Katie married Mason Yoder, a farmer, and moved into a small house Mason built on the Yoder family’s property. Ever since then Tessa’s mother had been pressuring Tessa to return home, which Tessa was reluctant to do. Although she loved her parents deeply, Tessa sometimes felt stifled by their overly protective attitude, and she cherished her friends and job in Willow Creek too much to leave. Yet, she also knew the Lord ultimately required her to honor her parents, no matter how old she was or how much she disagreed with their opinion.