Under The Amish Trees

By Terri Downes

Matthew knows that his rambunctious cousin Thomas has a thing for Lovina. He and Lovina were once good friends and even though they have drifted apart he still cares for her...and doesn't want her to get involved with Thomas. 
But Lovina has other ideas. She still has feelings for Matthew but cannot forgive him for his past hurts. She seeks the will of God in her prayers and what happens is beyond both of their wildest dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201673727

Book preview

UNDER THE AMISH TREES

TERRI DOWNES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

UNDER THE AMISH TREES

LOVINA

ADA

It had been a while since the last barn raising, and Matthew had almost forgotten how much he enjoyed them. The social element was fun, but it was working together, building something, that felt so good, that uplifted his soul and left it singing.

It had been hot today, and he felt sticky with sweat and tired all the way through, in a way that hinted at some stiffness tomorrow. Not much, as Matthew had plenty of heavy lifting to do every day at the farm, and he would be in a poor state if a barn raising set him back too much.

Still, he would sleep very well tonight... and he needed something cold.

The table that had been used to serve lunch had been cleared earlier, but there were jugs of water and iced tea set up at one end, being poured out by the expansively beaming Mrs. Annie Simon, who seemed thrilled at her family's new barn. As Matthew approached the table, however, he heard a baby start crying somewhere in the house. Annie stepped away from the table with a worried expression and beckoned to another of the women to take over from her.

Matthew's insides gave a jump as he saw who now stood at the table; his mouth, already dry, felt as though it were full of sand.

Water – his voice came out as a croak and he coughed hastily. Um, water, please – no better.

Lovina smiled politely at him.

You sound like you've been wandering in the desert, she commented, placing an invitingly condensed glass of water before him.

Matthew drank half of it before he answered.

Not quite that dire, he said.

He did not tell her that he had, in fact, once spent time in a desert, and had felt the dry, searing heat envelop him as though he had just opened the world's largest oven door, and that he had slept under the stars, which had been far more beautiful than he had been able to appreciate at the time.

Such things were not to be spoken of between them.

Tiring work, Lovina added, nodding towards the almost-finished barn.

Matthew nodded. And then, unbidden, her words recalled a memory long buried. He grinned.

Yes, he said recklessly, "but it's the most best kind of tired."

Lovina paused for a moment – then laughed, her face lighting with recognition. But then she looked over Matthew's shoulder, and her face fell. She frowned. Turning, Matthew followed her gaze, and saw his cousin.

Thomas was leaning back against a gatepost across the yard. His posture was languid and rakish, his smile almost a smirk, as he talked to the girl standing beside him. The girl who Matthew recognized now as Lovina's sister Tessa.

He watched the pair for a moment, wondering... he could not see anything obviously untoward. He turned back to Lovina, but she had already started busying herself with putting the dirty glasses in a tub to be washed, and he knew that the small moment they had shared, an echo of so many others, was over.

***

Whoompf.

Bright, copper-colored shapes flew up above Matthew's head as he landed backwards in the pile of leaves, his short legs kicking up over his head in delight.

He turned and saw that Lovina had vanished, but a rustling in another pile gave away her position. A small giggle floated up.

Lovina? he called, pretending he did not know where she was.

Another giggle. Matthew decided that he could not be too hard on her. She was only five; he, on the other hand, was six, old enough to know that you are not supposed to giggle when you hide from people.

He walked forward quietly, placing each foot down heel-first to muffle his steps. As he reached the giggling pile, he reached down, scooped up a handful of leaves, and then jumped in front of the pile, showering them over Lovina.

Got you! he yelled.

She pouted, and tried to fight off the leaves as they landed on her. Matthew thought she should leave them. The orange looked nice with her pink cheeks, yellow hair and blue dress. She looked like a rainbow. He offered her a hand to help her out of the pile.

How do you find me so fast? she demanded.

You have to stop laughing, explained Matthew as they walked on, Lovina occasionally darting forward to catch a leaf before it reached the ground.

It was fall, and the small beech wood that stretched along the land between their parents' farms had slowly been turning yellow and orange, brighter and brighter –  until the leaves, grown heavy with color, began to fall to the ground below. Matthew and Lovina had both begged to be allowed to go play today, as the forest was exactly at that perfect moment when there was brightness both above and below, as though the forest were a golden hall in Heaven, and the leaves were still piled in big, crunchy drifts, before the rain came and washed them into mush.

Matthew had had a harder time getting permission than Lovina. She said his parents were strict - he was not sure what that meant, but he knew that he was not allowed to do as many things as the other children his age. Even when he had finished all his chores, he was not always allowed out, but had to sit quietly at home. Today, though, he had caught his mother in a good mood, and she had agreed.

Are you tired? he asked Lovina, aware that they had been playing for a while now.

A bit, she said, pausing to step again on an especially crunchy leaf. "But it's the most best kind of tired."

He stopped himself from correcting her grammar, reminding himself again of her youth and ignorance.

It is, he agreed. And Lovina, he thought, might be the most best person he knew.

***

Dusk was beginning to fall, the sky deepening into a creamy purple, by the time Matthew