Marta Perry - Second Chance Amish Bride

An Amish Nanny

Caring for her late cousin’s young kinder is Jessie Miller’s duty—even if it means seeing their father again. Years ago, she thought Caleb King might be her husband—until he met her cousin and Jessie’s dream was cut short. Laid up with a broken leg and a demanding dairy farm, Caleb needs her. But Caleb wants no woman around...and no reminder of the wife who abandoned her family before her death. Especially since he fears Jessie will throw a wrench in his plan to remain a single dad. She’s gentle and kind, and if Caleb isn’t careful, she may be just what his little Amish family needs.

There was a clatter at the back door as the kinder came in.

Jessie folded the mending. “I’ll go up and get things ready for bed.”

When she came downstairs afterward, Timothy was on the floor, showing his daadi something about his farm animal set, while Becky cuddled on Caleb’s lap.

He smoothed back the strands of hair that had slipped out of Becky’s braids, and the tender look on his face told Jessie everything was all right between them now.

Even as she thought it, Caleb’s gaze moved to her face with a smiling acknowledgment that her words had helped. Her heart swelled. Perhaps they could be friends one day.

Caleb glanced at the clock. “Time you young ones were in bed.”

When she bent over to reach for Timothy, Caleb caught her wrist. She raised startled eyes to his, wondering if he could feel her pulse pounding.

“Denke,” he said.

He let go, looked away, and Jessie hurried after the kinder who were already scrambling up the stairs. She couldn’t let Caleb imagine she had any feelings for him. She just couldn’t.

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for deciding to read my latest story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did creating it!

I have always been touched by the importance with which the Amish view forgiveness. Their firm belief that they will be forgiven in the same measure they forgive others is at the bedrock of faith.

That doesn’t mean it is easier for the Amish than it is for any other Christian. All of us must surely struggle with forgiving the wrongs that have been done to us and to our loved ones. Sometimes I think I must forgive the same things over and over again, every day, until at last I realize that the forgiveness sticks!

Caleb and Jessie struggle with this concept of forgiveness in my story, and it doesn’t come easy for either of them. I hope you were moved by their struggles, and you feel they’d earned their happy ending when they finally succeeded.

I’d love to hear what you think of my story. You can contact me at my website, www.martaperry.com, find me on Facebook, www.facebook.com/MartaPerryBooks, or write to me at marta@martaperry.comor in care of Love Inspired Books, 195 Broadway, 24th Fl, New York, NY 10007. I’ll be happy to send you a signed bookmark and my brochure of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes.

Blessings,

Marta Perry

A lifetime spent in rural Pennsylvania and her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage led MARTA PERRYto write about the Plain People who add so much richness to her home state. Marta has seen nearly sixty of her books published, with over six million books in print. She and her husband live in a centuries-old farmhouse in a central Pennsylvania valley. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, traveling, baking or enjoying her six beautiful grandchildren.

Second Chance Amish Bride

Marta Perry

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

—Luke 6:37

This story is dedicated to my husband, Brian, with much love.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

The hospital van bounced over a rut in the farm lane, and Caleb King leaned forward to catch the first glimpse of his home. At last—those four weeks in the rehab hospital after his leg surgery had seemed endless, but finally he was coming back to his central Pennsylvania farm. If only he could jump down from the van, hug his kinder and plunge back into the life of being a dairy farmer.

But he couldn’t. His hands tightened on the arms of the wheelchair, and he glared at the cast on his leg. How much longer would he have to count on the kindness of his family and neighbors to keep the farm going?

Caleb glanced toward the Fisher farm across the fields. The spot where the barn had been before the fire was cleared now, and stacks of fresh lumber showed a new barn would soon rise in its place. For an instant he was back in the burning structure with Sam Fisher, struggling to get the last of the stock out before the place was consumed. He heard again Sam’s shout, saw the fiery timber falling toward him, tried to dive out of the way...

He should have thought himself blessed it had been only his leg that suffered. And doubly blessed that Sam had hauled him out of there at the risk of his own life.

The van stopped at the back porch. Caleb reached for the door handle and then realized he couldn’t get it open. He’d have to wait for the driver to lower the wheelchair to the ground. How long until he’d be able to do the simplest thing for himself? He gritted his teeth. He was tired of being patient. He had to get back to normal.

By the time Caleb reached the ground, Onkel Zeb was waiting with Caleb’s two little ones, and his heart leaped at the sight of them. Six-year-old Becky raced toward him, blond braids coming loose from under her kapp, which probably meant Onkel Zeb had fixed her hair.

“Daadi, Daadi, you’re home!” She threw herself at him, and he bent forward to catch her and pull her onto his lap, loving the feel of her small arms around him.

“Home to stay,” he said, and it was a promise. He hugged her tight. His young ones had lost too much with their mother’s desertion and death. They had to know that he was always here for them.

Reminding himself that whatever Alice’s sins, he must forgive her, he held out his hand to Timothy, who clung to Onkel Zeb’s pant leg. “Komm, Timothy. You know Daadi, ain’t so?”

Little Timothy was almost four, and his blue eyes had grown huge at the sight of the lift and the wheelchair. But at the sound of Caleb’s voice, he seemed to overcome his shyness. He scrambled into Caleb’s lap, managing to kick the heavy cast in the process.

Onkel Zeb winced at the sight. “Careful, Timmy. Daadi’s leg...”

Caleb stopped him with a shake of his head. “It’s worth it for a big hug from my boy.”

Nodding, Onkel Zeb grasped Caleb’s shoulder, his faded blue eyes misting over. His lean, weathered face seemed older than it had been before the accident, most likely from worry. “Ach, it’s wonderful gut to have you home again.”