HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS EUGENE, OREGON Scripture verses are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved. Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely coincidental. AN AMISH FAMILY REUNION Copyright © 2012 by Mary Ellis Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ellis, Mary, An Amish family reunion / Mary Ellis. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-7369-4487-8 (pbk.) ISBN 978-0-7369-4488-5 (eBook) 1. Amish—Fiction. 2. Family reunions—Fiction. 3. Life change events—Fiction. 4. Partnership—Fiction. 5. Holmes County (Ohio)—Fiction. 6. New York (State)—Fiction. I. Title. PS3626.E36A85 2012 813'.6—dc22 2011030460 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, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 / LB-NI / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments The Miller Family One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty-One Twenty-Two Twenty-Three Twenty-Four Twenty-Five Twenty-Six Twenty-Seven Twenty-Eight Twenty-Nine Thirty Recipes Discussion Questions About the Author Can a Young Amish Widow Find Love? What Happens When an Amish Girl’s Prince Charming Is an Englischer? Can a Loving Amish Woman Be a Refuge for a Wounded Soul? Love Blooms in Unexpected Places How long will true love wait? AmishReader.com About the Publisher We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 1 J 4:16-17 OHN A CKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to Carol Lee Shevlin for welcoming me and providing my home away from home, Simple Pleasures Bed & Breakfast. Thanks to Rosanna Coblentz of the Old Order Amish for her delicious recipes and expert Deutsch translations. Thanks to my agent, Mary Sue Seymour, who had faith in me from the beginning; to my lovely proofreader, Mrs. Joycelyn Sullivan; to my editor, Kim Moore; and to the wonderful staff at Harvest House Publishers. Thanks to my friends Donna, Patty, Peggy, Cheryl, Nilda, Joni, and Carol— exemplary grandmothers, every one of them. And to my own dear Grandma Eles, who loved me with her whole heart, even though she barely spoke a word of English. And thanks be to God—all things in this world are by His hand. THE MILLER FAMILY Cast of Characters Brothers Simon and Seth Miller married the Kline sisters, Julia and Hannah Simon and Julia’s Family Emma, daughter of Simon and Julia —James Davis, husband of Emma —Jamie and Sam, sons of Emma and James Matthew, son of Simon and Julia —Martha (Hostetler), wife of Matthew —Noah and Mary, son and daughter of Matthew and Martha Leah, daughter of Simon and Julia —Jonah Byler, husband of Leah Henry, son of Simon and Julia Seth and Hannah’s Family Phoebe, daughter of Seth, stepdaughter of Hannah Ben, son of Seth and Hannah