Surprised by Love: An Amish Family Novella

By Kathleen Fuller

In a desperate move to evade her match-making mother setting her up with her childhood tormenter, Emily Shwartz announces that she’s already seeing someone: Reuban Coblentz. The trouble is, Reuban is barely even a friend. But seeing how desperate she is, Reuban plays along. But when the past sneaks up on them, will this temporary arrangement turn into everlasting love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jun 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9780310352655

Kathleen Fuller

With over two million copies sold, Kathleen Fuller is the USA TODAY bestselling author of several bestselling novels, including the Hearts of Middlefield novels, the Middlefield Family novels, the Amish of Birch Creek series, and the Amish Letters series as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield. Visit her online at KathleenFuller.com; Instagram: @kf_booksandhooks; Facebook: @WriterKathleenFuller; Twitter: @TheKatJam.

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COPYRIGHT

ZONDERVAN

Surprised by Love

Copyright © 2018 by Kathleen Fuller

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Epub Edition June 2018 9780310352655

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

CIP data is available upon request.

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

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

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.

Printed in the United States of America

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To my husband, James. I love you.

CONTENTS

Copyright

Glossary

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Discussion Questions

Acknowledgments

About the Author

GLOSSARY

ab im kopp: crazy, crazy in the head

ach: oh

aenti: aunt

Amisch: Amish

appeditlich: delicious

bruder: brother

bu/buwe: boy/boys

daag/daags: day/days

daed: father

danki: thank you

dawdi haus: smaller home, attached to or near the main house

Dietsch: Amish language

dochder: daughter

dumm: dumb

dummkopf: idiot

Englisch: non-Amish

familye: family

frau: woman, Mrs.

garten: garden

geh: go

grossmutter: grandmother

grossvatter: grandfather

gut: good

gute nacht: good night

hallo: hello

haus: house

hungerich: hungry

kaffee: coffee

kapp: white hat worn by Amish women

kinn/kinner: child/children

kumme: come

lieb: love

maedel: girl/young woman

mamm: mom

mann: Amish man

mei: my

morgen: morning

mudder/mutter: mother

nee: no

nix: nothing

onkel: uncle

perfekt: perfect

schee: pretty/handsome

schwesters: sisters

sehr: very

seltsam: weird

sohn: son

vatter: father

ya: yes

yer: your

yerself: yourself

CHAPTER 1

Emily Schwartz looked up at the early morning August sky. The sun hadn’t broken through the darkness yet, and the balmy temperature made it a wonderful time for stargazing. Thousands dotted the inky black sky. She knew there were millions—no, billions—more scattered across the endless expanse. She adjusted her telescope, took off her glasses, and peered into the eyepiece. Not that she could see much. The telescope was a small, inexpensive instrument, better suited to a child than a true student of the stars. Still, it was all she had, and her parents didn’t give her a hard time about using it. One day she hoped she could afford a good one.

She continued gazing at the stars, moving her telescope around to get the best views. She turned on her head lamp, scribbled down a few notes in her small spiral notebook, then tucked her pencil behind her ear and looked in the eyepiece again. When the sun’s morning rays streaked the horizon with soft lilac and peach hues, she folded up her telescope, took it inside, and went up to her bedroom.

Stargazing again? her mother asked when Emily entered the kitchen to help with breakfast. She was making pecan waffles—a family favorite. Emily reached for her apron so she could make another favorite—bacon.

Tying the apron around her waist, she nodded. I didn’t want to waste a clear morning.

Humph. Mamm flipped over the iron griddle and put it back on the gas burner. I wish you would apply yourself as diligently to finding a husband.

Emily suppressed a sigh. Her mother was relentless when it came to Emily’s romantic life. Make that her nonexistent romantic life. God will supply a husband for me. If it’s his will. Emily wasn’t completely sure that it wasn’t.

I wish he would hurry up then, Mamm muttered.

Emily laid strips of thick bacon on the pan her mother had set out earlier. "You can’t rush the Lord, Mamm."

Of course not. She gave Emily a sharp look. But I can light a little fire under you.

Emily frowned. Her mother was up to something, she was sure of it. As the youngest of six, Emily was the last one still living at home. Her three brothers and two sisters were married and had started families of their own years ago, which made her parents’ move from Shipshewana to Middlefield difficult. Most of her siblings and all of their children still lived in Shipshewana. But the opportunity to open their own natural food store in a community that wasn’t overpopulated with them was too great to resist. And in the four years since their arrival, no one could deny the shop was a success.

Unlike her parents, Emily had been happy to move. She wanted a fresh start, and she’d gotten one here. She was content with her job at the store, the community, and of course her astronomy hobby. Being unattached gave her extra time to devote to it. She considered her stargazing time a perk of the single life. If only her mother could see things the same way. But Louwanda Schwartz had her own particular, and outspoken, view on life.

By the time the waffles were brown and the bacon crisp, Daed walked into the kitchen. They all sat and, after prayer, dug in to their food. Emily nibbled on a hot slice of bacon while saying an additional silent prayer that her mother would drop Project Find Emily a Husband. Emily’s father wasn’t interested in that kind of talk. Besides, she was only twenty. Just because her siblings had all married by her age didn’t mean she had to.

Fortunately, her mother and father were discussing their visit to Shipshewana coming up in a couple weeks. When they finished eating, Daed pushed away from the table and stood.

I’m planning to spend some time in the greenhouse. Unless you need me at the store.

Mamm shook her head. "We shouldn’t be too busy