Courting Miriam: Amish Connections, #3

By Ruth Price

Must Read for Lovers of Amish Romance Novels: Can Samuel and Miriam build a future together, or will her secret tear them apart?

After a harrowing journey from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Elkhart County, Indiana, it seems there's something special between Samuel Hershberger and Miriam Umble, but when the road is behind them and secrets are revealed, will the couple's fragile relationship survive Miriam's homecoming? And what about Andrew Kauffman, the handsome Amish widower who promises Miriam everything that Samuel can't give?

Find out in Book 3 of Amish Connections.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Global Grafx Press
• Release date: Dec 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502257772

Book preview

Courting Miriam

STOP!

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

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Dedication

For my dear friend Pebbles with whom I’ve shared song, joy and great fellowship. You are a blessing in my life.

Prologue

As the car turned off the main road and into the web of tiny back roads that lead to Miriam’s family farm, the weight of home settled on her like an ill-fitting coat. In the headlights of Samuel’s car, the cornfields on either side of the narrow road were a shadowed court of whispering black, and Miriam shrank from them, just as her spirits drooped at the hulking shadow of the neighbor’s grain silo, and her stomach clenched as she caught sight of the wooden bird her older brother had whittled a dozen years back, now marking the driveway towards her parents’ farm. It stood in regal white atop the family mailbox, wings outstretched, ever preparing to take flight.

Take a right here, Miriam directed Samuel, her finger tracing, their approximate place on the map though it was hardly necessary at this point. Her voice was steady, and she was grateful that it didn’t reveal the churning fear in her gut. How could she tell her mamm and daed about the baby she carried inside? About Michael and all of her mistakes? And then there was Samuel, who had driven her, on a whim, from Lancaster County to her home in Elkhart, Indiana. She’d known this journey would end. As much as she wanted to keep traveling the road together with him, soon he’d be gone, the rumble of his motor fading in the night air as the memory of their laughter together, gathering castaway treasures on the shore of Lake Erie would soon become a loose thread in the chaotic weave of her new life.

Too quickly, they passed the family cows, dozing in the field, to stop just in front of the buggy that her daed had bought ten years back when repairing the old one was declared more expensive than using it for scrap and buying a new one. On the porch, Daisy, their old golden retriever, popped up and started barking furiously as she ran to the car.

Miriam took a breath. Dear God, give me strength.

That your dog? Samuel asked.

Ja. Daisy. My little sister named the dog when she was five-years-old. Sarah would be six now, and starting first grade at the local schoolhouse in autumn. I’m just glad it was spring. In autumn, Daisy’d have been Pumpkin for sure.

The front door to the farmhouse opened, and Miriam’s daed stepped out, squinting against the glare of the headlights. He’d gained a bit of weight around the middle in the year since Miriam had left, and his beard had grown fractionally more white than brown, but aside from that he was the same.

Samuel opened the car door and stepped out. Excuse me, sir, he shouted in Pennsylvania German. My name is Samuel. I’ve brought your daughter Miriam home.

Miriam had grown used to Samuel’s accent and the subtle differences in dialect that separated the High German of Lancaster County from the Elkhart dialect, but her daed’s surprise at the fact that Samuel spoke an Amish language at all was apparent in the narrowing of his gaze.

Samuel, ja? Her daed walked down the porch stairs to the car. You’re an Amish man, driving that Englischer car?

Miriam opened the car door, swinging her legs around to gingerly touch the ground. Daisy ran to her, and jumping up to lean her front paws on Miriam’s lap, licked her chin.

Daisy! Miriam laughed, pushing the dog back. I missed you too!

Samuel was explaining about his Rumspringa, the car and his previous work, and how he’d been driving when he spotted Miriam by the side of the road two nights ago. Your daughter was going to take the bus at night, so I offered her a ride.

Miriam’s daed was hardly appeased by the explanation. From where? he asked, folding his arms over his chest, and Miriam realized she’d better step in before Samuel melted completely away under her daed’s patriarchal ire.

It’s fine, daed! Miriam cut in. Samuel’s been nothing but kind. He’s driven me here all the way from Lancaster.

Lancaster! Miriam’s daed’s brows shot up. That’s in Pennsylvania! he exclaimed as though Samuel had driven her from China or the moon.

Ja, Miriam said. Less than a minute home, and she remembered why she had been so eager to leave. She loved her family, of course, but her daed and mamm both were so often suspicious of outsiders. Not that Samuel was even an outsider, beyond having had the misfortune to be born in a different state and driven a car on his Rumspringa. She was grateful Samuel at least looked younger than his almost twenty-two years. She could imagine her daed’s reaction to a boy so old still on his Rumspringa.

Samuel murmured, I’ll get your crutches, looking distinctly uncomfortable as he leaned the front seat forward to pull Miriam’s stuff from the back.

The door to the house opened again, and Miriam’s mamm Rebecca ran out, followed by her brother fourteen-year-old David and twelve-year-old sister Tamar.

John? Miriam’s mamm asked, Who is it at this... Rebecca’s gaze settled on the car, and with an expression of shocked joy, shouted, Miriam! Lifting her skirts, she dashed down the porch stairs, her prayer kapp falling back with the violence of her movement. Thank you, God! Let’s get you out of here! I prayed for...what happened to your foot?

I had an accident, Miriam said. And it wasn’t Samuel’s fault, she added, before they got even more upset. So you can stop looking at him with such severity, daed! I broke my ankle, that’s all.

From above, there was a scraping sound as Miriam’s crutches were slid over the roof into her mamm’s grip.

Samuel had pulled the crutches out of the back seat of the car and slid them over the top towards Miriam’s mamm.

Danki, Rebecca said, taking them and holding them out to her daughter. Miriam’s mamm was a slight woman, and she and her daughter had similar bone structure, their noses slight and turned up at the tip, though Miriam’s jaw at the strength of her daed’s rather than coming to a gentle point like her mamm’s. Can you stand, Miri?

Ja. I’ve gotten used to it. Miriam leaned her weight on her right leg, and balancing one palm on the seat, the other on her mamm’s arm, she stood and took the crutches.

Perhaps recognizing Samuel’s kindness, or recognizing the ease Miriam felt in his presence, her daed’s expression warmed some as he offered Samuel payment for bringing his daughter home.

Samuel refused, and while it seemed a foolish decision - Samuel had lost his job, his home, and had traveled across three states to bring Miriam here - the gesture warmed Miriam. She’d fallen in love with Samuel for his kindness, his humor, and the fact that he too had his own struggles, which he approached with grace.

I suppose you tried calling the Wagner’s, Rebecca said, But they’ve had some issues in their dairy I think, and haven’t been near their phone. But I’m so happy to see you, and only a little broken, she glanced down at Miriam’s ankle, smiling in a way that invited Miriam to share the joke. I prayed every night for your safety, and the letters you sent have been our treasures. I had your daed read them out for the kinner, so they could keep up with how you were navigating this large world.

Her mamm’s joy was so palpable, Miriam couldn’t help but return the smile. What would happen to that shared joy when she told her mamm about the baby? This, she looked down at her broken ankle, Really set us back a lot. I’ll have to have it checked with a specialist tomorrow or Tuesday as this cast is only temporary.

Heavens!

It’s fine, mamm. Not a bad break. They said I shouldn’t need surgery, but it’s up to the specialist in the end.

Excuse me, Miriam’s daed’s strong voice cut over her and her mamm’s conversation, and they both turned to him, now standing beside Samuel. Your driver has a question for you.

Miriam nodded. Samuel looked bit nervous, rubbing his palms against his hips, his cheeks a bit red in the car’s headlights.

Excuse me, Samuel said to Miriam’s daed, and walked around the front of the car so that he was standing in front of Miriam. I... He reached into his pocket and gripped the smooth rock that he had found hours and a seeming eternity ago at Lake Erie’s shore and ran his thumb around the edge to where it was chipped. I would like, very much, if you would court with me.

Miriam could only stare. It was like a flock of birds fluttered in her chest, blocking her throat and making her full and ticklish inside.

Samuel kept speaking, his words coming faster and faster. I’ve never met anyone like you in my life. He sounded so unsure, as if she might say no, as if she hadn’t fallen in love with him hours and days ago. "You are the most amazing woman, strong, beautiful, and you’ve given me my faith back in God. I’ll settle here, sell the car, it doesn’t matter, it never