Emma Miller - Redeeming Grace

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The Secret Sister

With nowhere to turn, penniless widow Grace Yoder travels with her young son to the Amish community of Seven Poplars. She hopes to reunite with the Plain father she never knew—and become part of the community. Though her father is deceased, his new family still welcomes her. Grace is overcome with gratitude. But when handsome family friend and Mennonite John Hartman offers her a job in his veterinarian office, Grace discovers a beautiful bridge between the two worlds. And prays John will ask her to stay by his side.

“Grace, this is our friend John Hartman.”

She waved toward a brown-haired man in a blue chambray shirt and jeans sitting at the head of the table.

Grace nodded. He didn’t look Amish to her. His hair was cropped short, almost in a military cut, and he had no beard. Definitely not a cowboy type, but nice-looking in an old-fashioned, country way.

John rose to his feet, nodded and smiled at her. “Pleased to meet you, Grace. I stopped by to check on one of the ewes that got caught in a fence.”

Grace wanted to ask if he was a farmer since it sounded as though he knew something about animals. She liked animals, especially dogs, and she’d always felt more at ease around them than people. But she didn’t want to complicate a sticky situation with Hannah and her family, so she thought that the less she said to a strange man, the better.

For now, anyway.

About the Author

EMMA MILLERlives quietly in her old farmhouse in rural Delaware amid fertile fields and lush woodlands. Fortunate enough to be born into a family of strong faith, she grew up on a dairy farm, surrounded by loving parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Emma was educated in local schools, and once taught in an Amish schoolhouse much like the one at Seven Poplars. When she’s not caring for her large family, reading and writing are her favorite pastimes.

Redeeming Grace

Emma Miller

www.millsandboon.co.uk

But by the Grace of God, I am what I am.

—1 Corinthians 15:10

Contents

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

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Teaser Chapter

Chapter One

Kent County, Delaware...October

The storm beat against the windows of the house and rattled the glass panes. Since the early hours of morning, the nor’easter had hovered over the state, bringing high gusts of wind that ripped loose shingles on the outbuildings, sent leaves and branches whirling from the big shade trees and dumped torrents of rain over the Yoder farm. It was almost 10:00 p.m., nearly an hour past Hannah’s usual bedtime, but she’d lingered in the kitchen, reading from her Bible and listening to Aunt Jezzy sing old German hymns while she knitted by lamplight.

Neither Irwin, Hannah’s foster son, nor her two youngest daughters, Susanna and Rebecca, had retired for the night. The young people seemed content to remain in the kitchen, warm and snug, sipping hot cocoa, eating buttered popcorn and playing Dutch Blitz.

Today had been a visiting Sunday, rather than a day of worship, and so it had been a relaxing day. Usually, on visiting Sundays, Hannah’s household would have company over or share the midday meal with one of her married daughters or friends. But the nor’easter had kept everyone home. Simply getting to the barn and chicken house to care for the livestock and poultry had been a struggle.

Footsteps in the hall signaled Johanna’s return to the kitchen. Hannah’s oldest daughter had taken her two children up to bed earlier and stayed with them, reading aloud and hearing their evening prayers, until they dropped off to sleep. Katie, two, had adjusted easily to the move to her grandmother’s house, but Jonah, now five, was still difficult to get in bed, and once there, he was prone to nightmares. Since Johanna and the children had returned to live with Hannah, almost a year and a half ago, the boy often woke the entire house in the middle of the night screaming, and nothing would satisfy him but his mother’s arms around him.

“Did you get them down all right?” Hannah asked as Johanna appeared. Hannah thought her daughter looked tired tonight. The strain of her husband’s illness and suicide and the need to return to her mother’s home had been hard on her; now she was learning the struggles of being a single mother. Even with the support of her family and friends, it was a difficult time in Johanna’s life. Hannah knew that Johanna worried about her son, and prayed that God would ease Johanna’s mind.

“Katie was fine, but there’s a loose shutter on the bedroom window, and Jonah was afraid that a monster was trying to get in.”

Hannah glanced at Irwin suspiciously. Even though he was almost fifteen, he still behaved young for his age, probably as a result of his parents’ death and his being shuffled around. “Have you been telling him stories about trolls again?”

Irwin’s face reddened and he feigned innocence. “Trolls? Me?”

“Under the corncrib,” Susanna supplied, looking up from her cards. She nodded firmly. “Ya. You said there was trolls with scabby knees, fleas in their ears and buck teeth.”

“Did not,” Irwin protested. “Moles. I might have said there was moles under the corncrib.”

“Were moles,” Hannah corrected.

Johanna frowned. “Find someone your own age to tease.”

“But I didn’t,” Irwin insisted, hunching his shoulders. “Must have been one of Samuel’s twins who told Jonah that.”

“We’ll discuss it tomorrow. With Jonah,” Hannah said, marking her place in John with a red ribbon. She closed the big Bible. “Past time you were in bed, anyway. You’ll have to leave early to get to school in time to start a fire in the woodstove. After all this rain, the schoolhouse will be damp.”

“Maybe the storm will get worse,” Irwin suggested. “Maybe there will be so much rain the school will wash away.”

“I doubt that,” Johanna said. “It’s built on high ground, with a brick foundation.”

Reluctantly, Irwin stood up, unfolding his long, gangly legs. He’d grown so much in the past three months that the trousers Hannah had sewn for him in June were already high waters, short even for an Amish teenager. She’d have to see about new clothes for him. Irwin was shooting up faster than a jimson weed.

She’d never regretted taking him in after his parents died in that terrible fire, but an Amish teacher’s salary went only so far. Like everyone else, she had to watch her pennies, especially now that Johanna and the children had come back home to live. Not that Johanna was a burden; she contributed as much as she could. She had her sheep, her turkeys and her quilting, as well as the sale of honey from her beehives.

Johanna picked up the empty popcorn bowl and Irwin’s mug. “I think I’ll turn in now, Mam. I have to finish that quilt for that English lady tomorrow.”

“You think you can?” Aunt Jezzy asked. “If it’s still raining, Jonah will be stuck inside again all day, and—”

“I know,” Johanna agreed. “He has so much energy, he’ll be a handful.”

“I can take him with me to Anna’s,” Rebecca offered. “He can play with Mae. The two of them are less trouble when they’re together.”