Carrie Lighte - Courting The Amish Nanny

About the Author CARRIE LIGHTE lives in Massachusetts next door to a Mennonite farming family, and she frequently spots deer, foxes, fisher cats, coyotes and turkeys in her backyard. Having enjoyed traveling to several Amish communities in the eastern United States, she looks forward to visiting settlements in the western states and in Canada. When she’s not reading, writing or researching, Carrie likes to hike, kayak, bake and play word games.

Booklist Also By Carrie Lighte Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Note to Readers Introduction Bible Verse Dear Reader Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Epilogue Extract About the Publisher Amish of Serenity Ridge Courting the Amish Nanny Amish Country Courtships Amish Triplets for Christmas Anna’s Forgotten Fiancé An Amish Holiday Wedding Minding the Amish Baby Her New Amish Family Her Amish Holiday Suitor Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk .

Title Page Courting the Amish Nanny Carrie Lighte www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-0-008-90065-6 COURTING THE AMISH NANNY © 2019 Carrie Lighte Published in Great Britain 2019 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

Note to Readers

Introduction “I’d like to ride with you, if I may.” “Jah. Unless there’s a blizzard,” Levi said. Without thinking, he muttered, “Sadly, there’s little hope of that.” Sadie lifted her eyebrows. “You don’t want to go to the wedding, either?” “Either? Does that mean you don’t want to go? Why not?” “You tell me why you don’t want to go first.” Levi stalled. He couldn’t express the real reason to Sadie. “Oh, er, it’s that they last all day and it’s hard on the kinner to miss their naps. They get cranky and then I worry they’ll misbehave. Why don’t you want to go?” “I—I won’t really know anyone there. I haven’t even met the bride or groom yet.” Was that really the reason? “Then we should stick together,” Levi replied. “That way, you can help with the kinner and I’ll introduce you to everyone. How does that sound?” “Not quite as gut as a blizzard, but I like it,” Sadie said. What Levi didn’t know was if it was her smile or the hot chocolate warming his insides like that...

Bible Verse Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:6–7

Dear Reader Dear Reader Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Note to Readers Introduction Bible Verse Dear Reader Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Epilogue Extract About the Publisher , As someone who frequently vacations in Maine, I’m delighted to begin a new series set in the Pine Tree State. For research, my sister and I recently took a trip to the small Amish community in Unity. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, spent time talking to a local farming family and shopped at an Amish market that sold the tallest and sturdiest clothes-drying racks we’ve ever seen (an essential household item if you have a large family but no electric clothes dryer). We can’t wait to go back again this year; we plan to visit on a Wednesday or Saturday, which is when you can buy fresh, homemade doughnuts. As different as Englisch practices and values can be from Amish traditions and beliefs, there are many commonalities, too. As you read Sadie and Levi’s love story, it’s my hope you’ll connect with their struggles and joys, as well as get a glimpse of what it might be like to live as an Amish person in Maine. Blessings, Carrie Lighte

Dedication For my parents, with gratitude for our Maine adventures

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

“If you go to Maine now, you’ll miss hochzich season here,” Sadie Dienner’s stepmother, Cevilla, protested as she mixed water with flour to thicken the juice of a roast into gravy.

Jah , that’s exactly my plan , Sadie thought. “I’m happy for Sarah and Rebekah, but we aren’t exactly close friends,” she said. “It’s not as if I’m a newehocker in either hochzich .”

She hardly expected to be asked to be a wedding attendant; the brides were each four years younger than twenty-five-year-old Sadie and she rarely saw them except at church. Sadie’s closest friends had been married for years and she was painfully aware that once Sarah and Rebekah married their suitors this fall, she’d be the only single woman in Little Springs, Pennsylvania—with the exception of Elva Wyse, a ninety-two-year-old widow. And Elva had been married three times, so it wasn’t as if she was considered a spinster.

“What about Harrison? Won’t he be hurt if you don’t attend his hochzich to Mary?”

Not nearly as hurt as I was when he told me he was marrying her. The news had come as a shock to Sadie, who had long imagined marrying Harrison herself. In fact, he was the primary reason she wanted to flee Little Springs during wedding season. Not because she still entertained any romantic feelings toward him, but because her pride was wounded and the prospect of attending his wedding was too humiliating to bear.

Sadie cringed to remember what a fool she’d made of herself after Harrison and Mary’s wedding was “published,” or announced in church, a few weeks back in mid-October. The Old Order Amish youth in her district fiercely guarded their courtships, keeping them as secret as possible, so Sadie had assumed Harrison was interested in her and no one else. Come to find out, she was wrong on both counts.