A Heart Made New
Authors: Kelly Irvin
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Verses marked
NIV
are taken from The Holy Bible,
New International Version
®
NIV
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
™
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
www.zondervan.com
Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota
Cover photos
©
Chris Garborg ; Bigstock/lawcain; iStockphoto/JenniferPhotography Imaging; edcorbo
A HEART MADE NEW
Copyright © 2012 by Kelly Irvin
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Irvin, Kelly.
A heart made new / Kelly Irvin.
p. cm.–(The Bliss Creek Amish ; bk. 2)
ISBN 978-0-7369-4383-3 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-4384-0 (eBook)
1. Amish—Fiction. 2. Homeless families—Fiction. 3. Kansas—Fiction. 4. Domestic fiction. I. Title.
PS3609.R82H43 2012
813'.6—dc23
2011048733
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.
To Tim, Erin, and Nicholas
Love always
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
The same village that raises the children helps an author write the book, it seems. My thanks to family and friends for your enthusiastic support of my writing journey. Tim, Erin, and Nicholas, you can’t begin to imagine how much your support of my dreams means to me. Not to sound like a broken record, but I don’t think I can ever say thanks enough to my agent, Mary Sue Seymour, for encouraging me to try something new, and to my editor, Kathleen Kerr, and all the folks at Harvest House Publishers for helping me to do a better job of telling the story. To my writing buddies in Alamo Christian Fiction Writers group, I offer my humble gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful group of writers and prayer warriors. For all this and all of you, I give thanks to the One responsible for all blessings, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 T
HESSALONIANS
5:18 (
NIV
)
This is the day which the L
ORD
hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
P
SALM
118:24
About the Author / About the Publisher
A
nnie Shirack wanted to count her blessings, but she didn’t have time. Customers had been lined up three-deep at the bakery counter when she returned from a quick sack lunch with her friend Miriam. Annie pushed the cash register drawer shut with a quick snap of her wrists. Inhaling the sweet scent of baking cinnamon rolls, she turned to face the last customer of the early afternoon rush.
“At this rate, you’ll have to give me the day-old price. Four dozen snickerdoodles and that carrot cake.” Mrs. Johnson pointed, then glanced at the gold watch on her skinny wrist. She wrinkled her long nose and tilted her shiny, hair-sprayed head. “That should be it for today.”
Ignoring the pique in her customer’s voice, Annie grabbed a sheet of wax paper and began depositing the cookies in a white paper bag. She threw a quick glance at Miriam, who grinned, shrugged, and bit into a brownie—a treat after the cold sandwiches they’d just shared on the bench at the park across the street. Annie grinned back, enjoying the look of bliss on her friend’s face. One of the joys of being a baker. Besides, Miriam was right. Nothing to do but grin and bear difficult customers.
“I’d better get back to the tack shop.” Miriam brushed crumbs from her oval face. “
Daed
will need my help.”
“Wait a minute or two and I’ll get that recipe I told you about for the double fudge cookies.” Miriam had a special soft spot for chocolate. Annie loved that about her friend. “Your daed won’t mind if you’re a few minutes longer.”
“I’ll take him one of your brownies.” Smoothing wisps of brown hair that had escaped her prayer
kapp
, Miriam settled onto a bench along the wall. “That’ll soften him up.”
The bell hanging over the double glass-plated doors tinkled as one of them swung open and closed with a bang. A young man Annie had never seen before slipped into the store. He looked around, saw Annie, ducked his head, and began to peer into the display case that contained a dozen kinds of pie.
Curiosity got the better of Annie. He didn’t look like the typical tourist visiting Bliss Creek for a glimpse of prayer kapps and buggies. She sneaked another glance. His jeans sagged on narrow hips. He had both hands stuck in the pockets of a denim jacket that had to be plenty warm for this late spring day in Kansas.
Definitely not from around here. Not that it mattered. Her boss, Sadie Plank, owner of Plank’s Pastry and Pie Shop, delighted in the brisk business. Many of the local
Englisch
ladies did their grocery shopping on Fridays in preparation for their husbands being home all weekend. That usually included a stop at the bakery.
If only every day could be like this. Otherwise…No, she wouldn’t go down that road. Things would get better. Business would improve. David would get better. To think otherwise would be a lack of faith. Annie had plenty of faith. She’d just like to have some control over her life too.
Stop it.
“That will be forty-eight dollars, Mrs. Johnson.”
Mrs. Johnson scribbled a check with a fancy silver pen and handed it to Annie. “I’ll be in Monday to pick up the cake I ordered for my parents’ anniversary,” she called over her shoulder as she walked to the door in heels that clicked on the wooden floor. “Remember, chocolate buttercream frosting on white cake.”