Mistaken for His Amish Bride Read online

  “You mean to cut down this tree?”

  He frowned. “Taking a few of the older trees gives more room for the young ones that get crowded out.”

  “It’s just sad to cut down something so magnificent.”

  “People need wood for houses and businesses.”

  She looked up again. “You may have to move to a new house, Mr. Squirrel.”

  The animal continued to scold them. Mary grinned at Ash. “He doesn’t like that idea. Perhaps you can convince him.”

  Talking to squirrels wasn’t how Ash normally spent his time. “Are you getting tired?”

  “Don’t say we have to go back. Not yet.” There was pleading, but also a hint of panic in her voice.

  “We can go a little farther.”

  “Wunderbar. You are my hero.” Her beaming smile made his heart catch. He closed his hands tightly around his suspenders to keep from reaching for her hand.

  She wasn’t what he expected. From her correspondences, he assumed they would get along well together, but this attraction was different. Confusing. How could she make him giddy with a simple smile?

  After thirty-five years as a nurse, Patricia Davids hung up her stethoscope to become a full-time writer. She enjoys spending her free time visiting her grandchildren, doing some long-overdue yard work and traveling to research her story locations. She resides in Wichita, Kansas. Pat always enjoys hearing from her readers. You can visit her online at patriciadavids.com.

  Books by Patricia Davids

  Love Inspired

  North Country Amish

  An Amish Wife for Christmas

  Shelter from the Storm

  The Amish Teacher’s Dilemma

  A Haven for Christmas

  Someone to Trust

  An Amish Mother for His Twins

  Mistaken for His Amish Bride

  The Amish Bachelors

  An Amish Harvest

  An Amish Noel

  His Amish Teacher

  Their Pretend Amish Courtship

  Amish Christmas Twins

  An Unexpected Amish Romance

  His New Amish Family

  Visit the Author Profile page at LoveInspired.com for more titles.

  MISTAKEN FOR HIS AMISH BRIDE

  Patricia Davids

  Beloved, think it not strange concerning thefiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

  —1 Peter 4:12–13

  This book is lovingly dedicated to my father, Clarence Stroda. Rest in peace, Dad.

  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

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  Excerpt from The Amish Animal Doctor by Patrice Lewis

  Chapter One

  Inside Philadelphia’s noisy bus terminal, Mari Kemp clasped both hands to her chest, overjoyed at this unexpected turn of events in her desperate adventure. “You’re going to Fort Craig, Maine, too? This is wunderbar. Have you been there before? What’s it like? Do you have family there?”

  She leaned forward eager for any information about the place and her traveling companion.

  An Englisch friend had driven Mari from her home in the Amish community of Arthur, Illinois, to Champagne to catch a bus during the wee hours of the morning. Mary Kate Brenneman got on in Columbus, Ohio. Mari didn’t realize they shared the same destination until they were changing buses during a layover in Philadelphia. Now, waiting for their boarding call in the busy terminal, Mari couldn’t have been happier. Mary Kate wasn’t exactly the talkative, friendly type, but that didn’t deter Mari.

  “Tell me everything you can about Fort Craig.”

  “I haven’t been there,” Mary Kate said. “I have only exchanged letters with a young man who lives in the area.”

  “An Amish fellow? What’s his name? What does he say it is like?”

  “His name is Asher Fisher. He wrote about his family farm. Potatoes are the main crop in the area. There are many large farms.”

  Mari struggled to hide her disappointment. “I thought there would be lots of wild forests to explore.”

  Cornfields surrounded her home in Arthur. Nothing for miles and miles except corn and more corn. Potato fields would be different, at least.

  “Mr. Fisher did not mention forests,” Mary Kate said.

  Mari waited for more information, but Mary Kate wasn’t forthcoming. Mari forged ahead. “I’m going to visit my grandmother. Perhaps Mr. Fisher has mentioned Naomi Helmuth. They might belong to the same church district.” Did her grandmother still practice the Amish faith?

  “There is only one Amish congregation near Fort Craig at a place called New Covenant. I don’t recall him mentioning the name Helmuth. I’m getting off the bus near the settlement. It’s about three miles from Fort Craig.”

  It was too much to hope for information about the grandmother Mari had never met. She would simply stick to the plan. She hadn’t written to say she was coming. A letter could be returned unopened, as they had all been in the past, but a long-lost granddaughter standing on Naomi Helmuth’s doorstep couldn’t be ignored. At least that was Mari’s hope.

  It had shocked her to learn that her father had been estranged from his mother since before Mari was born. Mari had assumed her grandparents had both passed away. When her father died recently, she discovered letters he had written to his mother over the years all returned unopened. The last one had been addressed to her in Fort Craig, Maine, a year ago. That was where Mari intended to start her search. She hadn’t heard of New Covenant until now.

  Her father had been a kind and loving man, raising Mari alone after her mother died when she was barely four. She had been incredibly close to her father. Only God had been more important than family to Raymond Kemp. Finding out his mother was alive, a fact he’d never mentioned, was unfathomable to Mari. Something terrible must have happened for him to keep such a secret from her. She wouldn’t rest until she learned what had driven a wedge between mother and son and why he hid the truth. The hope of a joyful reception with her grandmother was slim, but Naomi Helmuth was the only family Mari had left in the world. She was the one person who had answers. Mari wouldn’t leave Maine without them. Her father used to say she was stubborn to a fault. She could be when something was important.

  “Mary Kate? Is that you?”

  “Sarah?” Mary Kate’s voice trembled with disbelief as she surged to her feet.

  “Gott be praised, it is you.” A woman squealed with delight and threw her arms around Mary Kate. She wore a modest blue print dress with a small black prayer covering pinned to her hair. Mari assumed she was Old Order Mennonite, not Amish.

  “Sarah, dear, dear, Sarah.” The two women clung to each other, overcome with emotion. After several long moments, Mary Kate recovered her composure and sat down beside Mari again, still holding on to Sarah’s hand. “What are you doing here?”

  Sarah sank to her knees in front of Mary Kate. “My husband and I are returning from his uncle’s funeral. What are you doing here?”

>   Mary Kate gave a nervous laugh. “I’m on my way to Maine.”

  “Maine? Whatever for? Don’t tell me Edmond is taking you on vacation.”

  Looking down, Mary Kate shook her head. “Edmond passed away two years ago.”

  “Dearest, cousin. I’m so sorry.”

  “Gott allowed it,” Mary Kate whispered.

  “We cannot comprehend His ways,” Sarah said.

  Mary Kate looked up. “We can’t, but He has brought you and I together again. Oh, you don’t know how glad I am to see you. It’s been what? Ten years.”

  “Eleven. I can’t believe I’ve run into you here, of all places. You must come meet my children. I have a son and two daughters. They’ve gone out to the van that is taking us back to Bird-in-Hand. I stopped to get something to drink for on the way. If I hadn’t, I would have missed seeing you. Gott ist goot. Who is this with you?”

  Mari held out her hand. “A complete stranger who happens to be going to Maine on the same bus. I’m Mari Kemp.” She prayed her meeting with her grandmother was half as joy filled as the reunion of these two women.

  “I’m pleased to meet you. My wits are scattered to the wind. Oh, Mary Kate, we should never have lost touch. I should have tried harder. We were closer than sisters once.”

  “It wasn’t your fault. Edmond forbade it, and he was set in his ways.”

  “It’s not right to speak ill of him, but he caused us both so much pain. I wasn’t baptized into the Amish faith when I jumped the fence to marry. Edmond should have allowed us to remain friends. Tell me, why are you going to Maine of all places?”

  “To get married.”

  “You have met someone new and fallen in love. Oh, Mary Kate, I’m so happy for you.” Sarah hugged her again.

  Mary Kate pulled away from her cousin. “Not exactly. Mr. Fisher and I haven’t actually met.”

  Mari frowned. “I thought you said you were getting married.”

  “That is my plan. We’ve been corresponding.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sarah said. “You’re planning to marry someone you haven’t met?”

  “I am.”

  Sarah looked stunned. “Why?”

  Mary Kate gripped her hands together. “Things have become too difficult to remain at home. I couldn’t stay there any longer. I took a chance and answered an ad placed by a bishop looking for Amish individuals willing to join a new community in northern Maine. He put me in touch with Asher Fisher, a very kind man. We, how do I say it, we connected in our letters. This is my only chance of getting my son back, Sarah.”

  “What on earth do you mean?”

  “I’m ashamed to say after Ed died, I fell to pieces. I could barely function. Our son was only three. Ed’s sister and her husband took him in until I could get back on my feet. I saw him often, but the business was in trouble, and it took so much of my time. Ed dreamed our son would run it one day. I thought I needed to save it, but the cost was too high. I was horribly unhappy. I missed Matthew, but I truly thought for a time that he was better off with Ed’s sister. To make a long story short, I eventually sold the business. There was a terrible family row over it, and my in-laws refused to relinquish my son. They said the boy needed a father.”

  “How unfair to you and your child,” Sarah declared. “Surely your bishop intervened?”

  “He agreed with them. But he said if I married again that would change things.”

  Sarah clasped Mary Kate’s hands. “You poor dear, but is marrying a stranger halfway across the country the answer? Isn’t there a man in your community you could turn to?”

  Mary Kate looked away. “That wasn’t possible.”

  Mari’s heart ached for the young mother. How awful to be kept from her child.

  Sighing deeply, Mary Kate gazed at her cousin. “Now that I’m on my way, I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing. Even if it’s for the right reason.”

  The PA system came on to announce Mari’s bus was boarding now. She picked up her suitcase. “That’s us.”

  Sarah gripped Mary Kate’s hand. “I can’t be parted from you so soon.”

  “We’ll write. Give me your address.”

  “Nee. You must come and stay with me. You need time to consider this decision. Mr. Fisher can wait a week or two. I’ll buy you another ticket to Maine when you’re tired of my company. Please, dear cousin, say you’ll stay with me for a little while. I’ll help you sort this out.”

  Mary Kate’s eyes filled with tears. “I wish I could, but Asher is meeting this bus.”

  Mari wanted to help. “I’m going to the same destination. I can deliver a message to Mr. Fisher in person and explain you’ve been delayed by family matters.”

  Hope filled Mary Kate’s eyes, then quickly faded. “I can’t do that to Asher. It wouldn’t be fair to stand him up.”

  Sarah gripped Mary Kate’s shoulders. “Mari will make him understand. Gott brought us together after all these years for a reason.”

  Mary Kate bit her lower lip. “I don’t know what to do.”

  The final boarding call for their bus came over the PA system. Mari hooked her black purse over her shoulder and smiled at Mary Kate. “I find it is always best to do what your heart tells you.”

  * * *

  Ash Fisher clenched and opened his icy fingers repeatedly as his three brothers inspected him from all angles, smoothed his vest across his chest and brushed imaginary lint from his shoulder. He wasn’t exactly sure how he’d gotten himself into this situation.

  That wasn’t true. One impulsive moment and a stamp had sealed his fate.

  Gabe, the oldest, took a step back. “You’ll do.”

  Moses, the youngest Fisher brother, lifted Ash’s black hat from the pegs by the door. “You’re not nervous, are you?”

  “Of course he is,” Seth declared. “He’s about to meet the woman he intends to marry for the first time. Who wouldn’t be nervous?”

  Ash snatched his hat from his little brother’s hands. “I’m not nervous. I’m on my way to meet a woman who has been kind enough to correspond with me for the past three months and has simply agreed to visit for a few weeks.”

  He jammed his hat on his head. “That’s it. She’s coming for a visit and nothing else.”

  If only that were the whole truth.

  Those around him smothered their chuckles. He glanced up at his brim and turned his hat the right way around.

  Gabe and Seth exchanged knowing looks as they leaned against each other. They were identical tall blond men who took after their father. Ash and Moses had inherited their mother’s dark hair and eyes. Most people assumed Gabe and Seth were twins, but they were actually two parts of the Fisher triplets. Ash was the third.

  “He’s lying,” Seth said.

  Gabe nodded. “He’s scared to death.”

  “Being the most sensible of this lot entitles me to a little more respect,” Ash said between gritted teeth. His brothers laughed.

  “You mean most stodgy,” Gabe said. He was the jokester. Seth was the tenderhearted fellow. Moses was the baby brother who liked to mimic Gabe. That left Ash as the practical and meticulous one. Something his brothers seldom appreciated.

  “He’s the dull one.” Seth shook his head sadly. He was normally sympathetic, but he enjoyed teasing Ash as much as the others did.

  “Dull as ditchwater,” Moses added, making a long face. The others laughed again.

  Ash wasn’t amused by his brothers’ humor this a.m. He stared at the yawning front door standing open to a beautiful spring morning and took a deep breath. There was no going back now. He had to meet the bus.

  Only, what if Mary Kate wasn’t like he had imagined from her letters? What if they weren’t compatible? She could hate Maine. Maybe she would turn around and head home as soon as he opened his mouth to speak and nothing witty came o
ut. Talking to women made him nervous. They all seemed to want things he didn’t understand. Would she be the same?

  No. He chided himself for his lack of faith in her. Mary Kate was a practical woman. She would see his fine qualities, his head for business, his faith and his steady character. She wasn’t expecting a love match. She believed mutual affection could grow over time. Her purpose for this trip was to get to know him.

  That certainly had been his original plan. Nothing good ever came of impulsive actions. Why had he posted that last letter?

  He glanced at his brothers. Because he was lonely, and he wanted what they had. This was a sensible way to accomplish that.

  Seth and Gabe were married. Happily so. The evenings spent with his brothers and their new, loving wives made Ash feel like an outsider, separated from the brothers he had done everything with since the day they were born. He’d never felt that way before. He and his brothers had always been close. Now, inside his family’s boisterous home, he was lonely.

  At twenty-five, he was ready to start a family. He ran a finger underneath his tight collar. It was expected. An Amish fellow wasn’t complete without a wife and family. He believed that. What he hated was the idea of wasting time looking for the right woman. The local maidens Moses wanted to impress didn’t interest Ash. They were young and immature. They had nothing in common with him. Trying to talk to them made his words stick in his throat.

  It hadn’t been that way when he was writing to Mary Kate. Pouring out his thoughts on paper was easy. She understood. She wasn’t happy in her current situation. Neither was he. It seemed fated that they should get together.

  He squared his shoulders. This was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t let a few minor worries stop him from following through with his plan.

  Gabe straightened. “We should stop gabbing, or Ash is going to be late meeting the bride. Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you? We can help break the ice.”

  “I would rather have all my teeth yanked out by a team of horses.” Ash forced himself to walk out the door to the waiting black buggy he had carefully washed from top to bottom. The ebony paint and brass fittings gleamed in the early May sunshine. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Frisky harnessed to it.