Winter Kisses: An Amish Christmas Love Novella

By Beth Wiseman

Three generations of Stoltzfus women are all living under the same roof. At twenty-five, Naomi has never been married, and both her mother, Barbara, and her grandmother, Ruth, have recently been widowed. Each nursing broken or lonely hearts, they also each have potential suitors. When a storm on Christmas Eve forces the three couples to take shelter in the basement of the Stotlzfus homestead, secrets are revealed, hearts are opened, and all three potential grooms drop to their knees for very different reasons—a proposal, a prayer, and an epiphany.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Sep 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9780718027179

Beth Wiseman

Bestselling and award-winning author Beth Wiseman has sold over two million books. She is the recipient of the coveted Holt Medallion, is a two-time Carol Award winner, and has won the Inspirational Reader's Choice Award three times. Her books have been on various bestseller lists, including CBA, ECPA, Christianbook, and Publishers Weekly. Beth and her husband are empty nesters enjoying country life in south-central Texas. Visit her online at BethWiseman.com; Facebook: @AuthorBethWiseman; Twitter: @BethWiseman; Instagram: @bethwisemanauthor

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Copyright

Winter Kisses

© 2017 by Elizabeth Wiseman Mackey

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.® And from the King James Version. Public domain.

Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Epub Edition June 2017 ISBN 9780718027179

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

CIP data available upon request.

Printed in the United States of America

17 18 19 20 21 LSC 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Copyright

Glossary

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Discussion Questions

Acknowledgments

An excerpt from Snow Angels

About the Author

To: All the women who have inspired me throughout my

life, especially my mother—Pat Isley—who continues

to astonish and amaze me with her vitality and love

of life. Happy 84th birthday this year, Mother.

Glossary

ab im kopp: off in the head, crazy

ach: oh

daadi: grandfather

daadi haus: a smaller house on the property, where older relatives might live

daed: dad

danki: thank you

dochder: daughter

Englisch: English, non-Amish

frau: wife

gut: good

haus: house

kapp: prayer cap worn by all Amish women

maedel: girl

mamm: mom, mama

mammi: grandmother

mei: my

mudder: mother

nee: no

Ordnung: the written and unwritten rules of the Amish

rumschpringe: running-around period when a teenager turns sixteen years old

sohn: son

Wie bischt?: How are you?

ya: yes

Chapter 1

Naomi Stoltzfus carried an arrangement of red roses as she crossed the living room. "Mammi, Mr. Cotter will be by later today to pick these up. I’m going to put them on the kitchen counter." The older Englisch man ordered flowers for his wife, Ann, on the first Monday of each month. The gesture was romantic, even by Amish standards, but such extravagance wasn’t in Naomi’s future. She’d seen what an emotional attachment could do to a person.

"Ya, ya. Okay." Naomi’s grandmother didn’t lower her binoculars as she peered out the window toward the daadi haus.

Naomi slowed her stride, stopped in the middle of the room, and studied the older woman. Ruth Stoltzfus was barely five feet tall, walked with a cane, and wore thick black-rimmed glasses. Pride and vanity were frowned upon, but both Naomi and her mother had tried numerous times to convince Ruth to get more delicate gold-rimmed frames that didn’t take over her face. "Mammi, what are you looking at?"

"The renters moving into the daadi haus for the month of December. There are three men carting suitcases inside."

Naomi edged closer to the window until she was looking over her grandmother’s shoulder across the snow-blanketed yard. A layer of white topped the silo like a winter cap, and the pond in between the main house and the daadi haus was partially frozen. "I thought only two people rented the haus," she said as she squinted to see the men.

"Ya. That’s what your mudder said. But three men got out of the taxicab and are carrying suitcases up the porch steps." Mammi’s binoculars clinked against the lenses of her glasses. Ouch, she whispered as she lowered the binoculars, but her scowl was quickly replaced with a twinkle in her eyes. One man looks to be about seventy, another maybe fortyish, and there’s even a young lad that looks about your age.

Naomi shook her head but grinned as she walked across the wood floor to the kitchen. "That’s not appropriate talk, Mammi," she said as she heard her grandmother’s steps behind her.

"You sound like your mudder." Mammi slid into a chair at the kitchen table and reached for a biscuit left over from breakfast. It fears me that the both of you will end up lonely old maids if you don’t make an effort to find a husband.

Naomi was definitely of marrying age at twenty, but every time she saw the pain in her mother’s eyes, it solidified her decision not to marry. We are not in a hurry to find spouses.

"Ach, well, you should be. Almost every single fellow your age is promised for marriage, or you’ve already kicked the poor suitor to the curb." Mammi chewed on the biscuit. "And your mudder isn’t getting any younger either. Your daed died three years ago, and that’s more than enough time to grieve and remarry."

"Everyone’s different, Mammi."

Naomi’s grandmother began the hunt for a husband the day after they’d buried Naomi’s grandfather ten years ago, even checking the obituaries in other districts so she’d know when a man lost his wife. It was a process that irritated and embarrassed Naomi’s mother since Mammi didn’t try to hide her ambitious courting attempts, often sharing her intentions and the results of her efforts with members of the community.

Mammi pushed her chair away from the table and walked to the rack by the kitchen door. She put on her black cape and bonnet and reached for a black scarf and her gloves. I’m going to go welcome our guests.

Naomi’s mother walked into the kitchen with an armful of folded kitchen towels. You’ll do no such thing. Mamm set the stack of towels on the table and put her hands to her hips. Naomi braced herself for the argument that was sure to come.

Barbara reminded herself that Ruth was her elder, even though most days her mother-in-law had the maturity of a teenager. Let our guests get settled. Then we can take them a basket of baked goods and some fresh fruit. She glanced out the kitchen window. "Assuming we can make the trek to the daadi haus without sinking in snow or slipping on ice."

It seems even colder than usual for December, Naomi said as she began putting the kitchen towels in the drawer.

Barbara didn’t respond to her daughter as she kept her eyes on Ruth, who had tied her bonnet and was now putting on her gloves. "Are you still planning to go over there right now? Can’t you wait?"

Ruth lifted her chin, a sour expression filling her features, exaggerating the spidery lines that connected across her face. "You might have been the boss of my sohn, but you are not the boss of me."

"Ach, gut grief, Ruth. You sound like a child. It was just a suggestion that we wait until—"

Ruth walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

Barbara shook her head. That woman is intolerable.

Naomi walked to the kitchen window. Barbara sighed as she walked toward her daughter, stopping next to Naomi at the window. Barbara would watch Ruth all the way to the daadi haus and wouldn’t feel settled until her mother-in-law safely returned.

"Mammi took off her glasses