An Unexpected Amish Romance Read online

  “As handsome does,” Helen said, glancing back again. He wasn’t bad-looking, but she didn’t think he was particularly good-looking. Okay, maybe he was mildly attractive.

  “As handsome does what, dear?”

  Helen took note of her aunt’s faintly puzzled expression and sighed inwardly. She’d only been at her aunt’s home for two days, but it was already shaping up to be a trial. “Never mind.”

  “You’d do better to try and attract the attention of the younger brother, Paul, although Anna tells me Mark is the more hardworking of the two.”

  “I’m not here to attract a man.” She wouldn’t make that mistake again anytime soon. If ever. And certainly not with a rude, arrogant fellow like Mark Bowman or his brother.

  * * *

  Mark raked a hand through his hair as he stared after the buggy. That had been a close call. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with thoughts of Angela’s letter, he might have seen the horse veering his way sooner. It wasn’t like him to be distracted. He grew angry with himself for allowing it to happen.

  “Are you all right?” His brother, Paul, came up the steep bank, his eyes full of concern. His cousin Noah rushed up behind Paul.

  “I thought you were going to be wearing hoofprints up the front of your shirt. Who was that?” Paul demanded.

  “Charlotte Zook,” Noah said. “I recognized the raccoon on her roof. The woman is a little ab en kopp.”

  Mark shook his head. “Charlotte may be off in the head, but she wasn’t driving. I don’t know the woman’s name, but I saw her get off the bus when I did the other night.” He decided not to share the conversation they’d had.

  “Another mystery woman.” Paul craned his neck to see down the road.

  “What does that mean?” Mark asked.

  Paul grinned. “Haven’t you heard? We’ve got nearly a dozen new single girls visiting folks in the area. They are all unknown to me and waiting to be discovered. Was the girl driving Charlotte’s buggy pretty?”

  His brother was always on the lookout for an attractive girl. He was four years younger than Mark, and he hadn’t yet learned that looks didn’t matter. A man needed a steady, strong, levelheaded woman for a helpmate. He thought he had that with Angela, but he had been wrong. “I didn’t notice. I was trying not to get run down. Let’s get this frolic under way.”

  The frolic, a word the Amish used for almost any kind of work party, had been called by Mark’s uncle Isaac Bowman to clear a logjam from beneath the covered bridge. The recent rains and flooding had wedged an unusual amount of debris there, which was acting like a dam. Although the county was responsible for maintaining the bridge, the public works department was swamped with other repairs and couldn’t bring in their heavy equipment for another two weeks. With the forecast calling for more rain, flooding could threaten farms and homes on both sides of the river.

  Men with chainsaws and teams of horses had been arriving for the past half hour and were now gathering on the roadway. Isaac strode up to Mark and surveyed the men around him.

  “I reckon we have all the help we need to get started. I sure appreciate you coming,” Isaac said, addressing the group. “Samuel and I will oversee the men pulling logs free and getting them up to the roadway. Noah, Paul and Mark will cut and stack the usable wood beside our barn to be divided among our families. The Lord has supplied us with free firewood for the taking. We shouldn’t let it go to waste. My sons Timothy and Luke will flag down vehicles heading for the bridge to warn them we are working here.” Both men he spoke of were wearing their volunteer firefighter jackets and pants with bright fluorescent yellow banding.

  Isaac turned to Mark. “There is more rope in the barn loft. Bring it with you. We may need it.” He turned back to the men. “Are there any questions?”

  Everyone knew what was expected of them. The group split up, and Mark headed with his brother and his cousin toward his uncle’s barn, where the family’s draft horses were hitched to two large hay wagons. Noah looked over at Mark. “Aren’t you going to miss us?”

  Mark knew what he was referring to. “Sure, I’ll miss all of you when I leave. Your whole family has been good to me.”

  “But you won’t miss us enough to stay.”

  “Staying here isn’t part of my plan.” Mark had learned the business of woodworking and furniture making from the ground up working alongside his uncle and his five cousins, but it was almost time to return home and put his knowledge to use and open his own business. He realized he was more upset about the uncertainty facing him now than he was about Angela’s decision not to marry him.

  “Plans change,” Noah said with a wry smile. Mark knew Noah’s desire to play professional baseball had been changed by the neighbor girl across the road. Fannie and Noah had wed last fall.

  Paul laid a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “My brother’s plans don’t change. He’s been talking about starting his own furniture-making business since he could talk.”

  “I’m guessing it’s the girl back home that has Mark pining to leave us. Fair Angela. Paul, is she fair or is she dark-haired? Mark never talks about her.”

  “I like to keep my personal life private,” Mark said before Paul could comment.

  “I can respect that.” Noah nodded solemnly but couldn’t keep a straight face.

  Paul chuckled. “Don’t let my brother fool you, Noah. He doesn’t have a personal life. With him, it’s all work, work, work.”

  “Hard work and strong faith will supply a man with the best rewards in this life and in the next.” They were words Mark believed in.

  “But will it put a pretty woman in your arms?” Paul asked, wagging his eyebrows.

  Noah chuckled. “Are you ever serious?”

  “Not if I can help it. Mark and Angela are the serious ones. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them laugh.”

  Mark scowled at his brother. “Not everyone is a jokester like you.”

  “Fannie makes me laugh all the time. I love that about her.” Noah’s gaze shifted toward the house where the women were working. A gentle smile curved his lips. It was easy to see the newlyweds were still madly in love.

  Love was okay for some men, but it took more than that frail emotion to build a future. Mark wanted the security of a home and a business where he could support a family. He never wanted his children shuttled from one temporary home to another the way he had been passed from relative to relative when his father was out of work. God willing, Mark’s younger sisters and his children would never know the kind of fear he had known wondering if his father would come back for him each time he left.

  Mark glanced back toward the bridge. The first logs were already on the roadway. “We should get moving. They have started without us. Where is the extra rope?”

  He wouldn’t tell his brother and his cousins about Angela today. He’d wait until he knew exactly where he stood with her father.

  * * *

  A quarter mile past the bridge, Helen and her aunt reached the stop sign on the main road between Berlin and Winesburg. An enormous oak tree stood near the intersection. Dozens of gaily painted gourds hung from its branches. Helen stared at them in amazement. “Look at all the birdhouses. How lovely.”

  Smiling, Charlotte murmured her agreement. “Very pretty. I believe Luke Bowman makes them. Turn here, dear. The Bowman lane is up ahead.”

  A sign proclaiming Amish-made gifts and crafts fronted the highway in front of a low blue building. There were several cars and buggies in the parking lot dotted with mud puddles left over from the recent rain. Helen glanced at her aunt. “Do the Bowmans run a gift shop?”

  “Anna does. Isaac runs the woodworking business in that building up ahead. He employs almost two dozen young men along with his sons. He ships his furniture to Englisch businesses across several states. I understand his work is much in demand. The community is grateful for his effor
ts to keep our young men employed, since not all of them can farm these days.”

  It was a common problem in many Amish communities. Cottage industries were needed where farmland was too expensive, or urban encroachment had gobbled up land that once supported small farms. “Does Isaac hire women in his factory?”

  Helen needed a way to support herself. She’d been serious when she said she wasn’t going home.

  “I believe he has hired one or two for office work.”

  “Full-time jobs?” Helen didn’t know anything about woodworking, but she was willing to learn.

  Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  Helen eyed the gift shop. Maybe she could find employment there. She had worked in a fabric store for a while back home. She had retail experience.

  “Park by the barn, Helen, and try to stay out of the mud. Clyde loves it. I’m delighted you will have a chance to meet so many people at this frolic. I do enjoy them, but sometimes I feel guilty visiting with my friends while we watch the men work.”

  The grounds were dotted with puddles, but Helen saw a dry place to let her aunt get out. She drew the horse to stop. “Aenti, you and I have been up baking since before dawn. We have already done our work. I hope the men know it.”

  “How could they? I wouldn’t want a bunch of men watching me at work in my kitchen. It’s much too small. I guess they could stand outside and look in the window.”

  Helen sent up a quick prayer for a job and a place of her own as soon as possible.

  Her aunt took Clyde’s face between her hands. “I’m sorry, dear friend, but you are going to have to stay on your leash until you calm down and mind your manners. I can’t have you jumping on everyone you see. Helen is going to look after you. I’ll take the hamper to the house.”

  Helen got out, keeping a tight hold on the dog’s leash after noting his interest in the puddles. She glanced at the buggy top. “What about Juliet?”

  Charlotte put the hamper down and stepped back to survey the top of the buggy. “Come here, dear one. She doesn’t jump on people, so she has no need for a leash.”

  The plump raccoon scrambled down. A bright pink collar marked her as a pet. Charlotte picked her up and settled her in the crook of her arm, where she began purring loudly. After a moment, she climbed to the top to Charlotte’s shoulder and began patting her face and kapp.

  A trio of women walked past, carrying baskets and boxes. Clyde nearly jerked Helen’s arm out of the socket as he tried to leap at them, woofing in his deep tone. Charlotte greeted the woman and walked off with them.

  Helen bent to pick up the hamper of baked goods her aunt had left on the ground. As she switched Clyde’s leash to her other hand, he spotted a new victim and launched himself at a man stepping out of the barn door, ripping the lead from Helen’s hands. Her shriek wasn’t enough warning. Clyde hit the man in the back of knees and felled him like a scythed weed. Right into a puddle.

  “I’m so sorry.” Helen rushed to snag Clyde’s leash before he could do more damage. Loud guffaws of laughter erupted from the two men who came to help the poor victim to his feet. When he turned around, Helen wanted to sink into the mud herself. It was Mark Bowman, the rude man from the bus. The one she narrowly missed running down ten minutes ago.

  He stood and shook the mud from his hands. His eyes widened when he caught sight of her. “You! I might have known.”

  “I’m sorry. He got away from me. He’s very strong.” She pulled Clyde to her side, where he sat happily with his tongue lolling, looking as innocent as only a dog can.

  The men with Mark were trying to stifle their laughter without much success. He glared at them and then at her. “Has anyone told you that you’re a menace?”

  Helen’s mouth dropped open. It wasn’t like she had planned to humiliate him. She fisted her hands on her hips. “Let me think. Nee, no one has mentioned it, but I’m sure someone has told you that you’re judgmental as well as rude.”

  She spun on her heels and yanked on Clyde’s lead. He ambled happily beside her, occasionally stepping on his own long ears.

  When she rounded the corner of the house and was sure she couldn’t be seen by him, she stopped and stared at Clyde. “This was not how I wanted to start out in a new community. I’m going to have to apologize.”

  She peeked around the corner of the house. Mark was still standing with his friends. She jerked back when he looked her way. She pressed her head against the side of the house. She didn’t have the courage to return and face him.

  “I don’t need to apologize, I just need to avoid him. How hard can that be?”

  Chapter Three

  Mark stared after the woman as she vanished around the corner of the house. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had made him so angry. “I think she did that on purpose. Who is she?”

  Paul continued to chuckle. “What did you say that upset the madel enough to set her hund on you?”

  Mark wasn’t proud of his earlier comment. “Nothing.”

  “The truth now, I heard you shout something at her when the buggy flew past you. What did you say, bruder?”

  “After she almost ran me down, I said if she couldn’t drive any better than that to give the reins to the dog.”

  “Ouch.” Noah grimaced.

  “I know. It was not my best moment.” He could see now that he’d been too harsh. Both times. He rubbed his hands on his pants. They would be dirtier than this before the day was over anyway. Hopefully, she and her mutt would stay out of his way from now on. He’d sure keep an eye out for the pair. Looking toward the house, he wondered how long she would be staying in the area.

  Noah combed his short beard with the fingers of one hand. “She’s a good judge of character.”

  Mark picked up the rope he had dropped. “What makes you say that?”

  “I know that you can be judgmental and rude, but I’ve worked beside you for two years. She’s only just met you.”

  “I’m not judgmental.” He looked at his cousin and his brother. “Am I?”

  They both nodded. Mark tossed his rope in the wagon. “I like to see things done the right way. Stop laughing like jackals and get to work.”

  Paul climbed to the wagon seat still chuckling. “I wonder if she will rent out her dog. I’d love to have a way to take you down a peg or two when you get short with me.”

  “If you did your work, I wouldn’t get short with you, and if I never see that mutt again, it will be too soon.” Mark hauled himself up beside his brother.

  “I like him. He’s a cute dog. Fannie adores him.” Noah boarded the other wagon and picked up the reins.

  “He’s a ridiculous animal. His legs are too short, his ears are too big and he smells bad.”

  Paul unwound the reins from the brake handle. “Careful, your rude and judgmental character is showing.”

  “Go soak your head.” Mark glanced toward the house again, but she was staying out of sight. Who was she?

  * * *

  Helen found Anna Bowman directing the placement of tables and benches that would be used when the noonday meal was served. Charlotte was standing beside her. She caught sight of Helen and motioned her over.

  Clyde tried jumping on Anna when she came within range, but Helen was prepared and held on tightly.

  Charlotte swept a hand toward Helen. “I’ve brought my niece along. Helen is visiting me for the summer. That’s the only reason she is here, and I’m not going to say another word about it.”

  Anna chuckled. “And a very good reason it is. It’s nice to meet you, Helen. I’m Anna Bowman.” She turned and beckoned to a young woman at one of the tables. “Fannie, will you show Helen where we are setting up the food? Fannie is married to my youngest son, Noah. She’ll introduce you to everyone and make you feel welcome.”

  “Oh, I see Grace and Silas Yod
er. Let’s go say hello, Juliet.” Charlotte and Anna walked away to visit with an older woman in a wheelchair and the man standing behind her. The couple called a greeting to Clyde, who barked and wagged his tail.

  Her aunt was quickly surrounded by a group of children who wanted a closer look at Juliet. The raccoon seemed delighted with the attention, moving from shoulder to shoulder and patting each child’s face in turn.

  “Your aunt is quite a character,” Fannie said.

  Helen judged Fannie to be near her own age. Twenty-two or twenty-three perhaps. She had a contagious smile, red hair and more than her fair share of freckles. She turned aside to avoid Clyde’s leap and said, “Bad dog. Sit.”

  To Helen’s amazement, he did. “I don’t believe it.”

  Fannie laughed. “I’ve had a lot of experience training animals. My husband and I train horses. Let me take the hamper. Where are you from, and how long will you be staying with us?”

  “I’m from Nappanee, Indiana, and I’ll be staying with Aenti Charlotte until I can find a job and get a place of my own.” Helen walked beside Fannie toward the house. Clyde trotted happily at Fannie’s side, sending her adoring glances.

  “You’re planning to settle here permanently?” Fannie walked beneath the branches of a large tree near the door at the rear of the house. She held the door open.

  “That will depend on what kind of job I can find. Any suggestions?”

  “My husband mentioned something about his father’s business needing help the other day, but I don’t know any details. What kind of work are you looking for?”

  “One that pays a salary. I’m not picky.”

  “We don’t have many businesses in this area. Besides the woodworking shop, there is only Anna’s gift shop and a hardware store up the road that’s run by Luke Bowman and his wife. I’ll introduce you to Emma after we put this food out, but I’m sure they aren’t looking for help. Emma has two younger brothers.”

  Helen followed Fannie to the kitchen and started to unpack her hamper. Clyde raised his nose to sniff the food already laid out on the counters. Fannie put a foot on the leash as he tried to jump up, foiling his effort to snatch a tidbit.