Plain Proposal
Authors: Beth Wiseman
Plain Proposal
Other novels by Beth Wiseman include
THE
D
AUGHTERS OF THE
P
ROMISE SERIES
Plain Paradise
Plain Promise
Plain Pursuit
Plain Perfect
T
HE
L
AND OF
C
ANAAN SERIES
Seek Me with All Your Heart
N
OVELLAS FOUND IN
:
An Amish Love
An Amish Gathering
An Amish Christmas
Plain Proposal
A Daughters of the Promise Novel
B
ETH
W
ISEMAN
© 2011 by Beth Wiseman
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 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
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.
Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Wiseman, Beth, 1962-
Plain proposal : a Daughters of the promise novel / Beth Wiseman.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-59554-850-4 (pbk.)
1. Amish—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.I83P578 2011
813'.6—dc22
2010051160
Printed in the United States of America
11 12 13 14 15 16 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Eric and Cory
Contents
aamen
—amen
ach
—oh
aenti
—aunt
bruder—
brother
The Budget
—a weekly newspaper serving Amish and Mennonite communities everywhere
daadi
—grandfather
daed
—dad
danki
—thanks
dochder
—daughter
dumm
—dumb
dummkopp
—dummy
Englisch
—a non-Amish person
fraa
—wife
gut
—good
guder mariye
—good morning
hatt
—hard
haus
—house
kapp
—prayer covering or cap
kinner
—children or grandchildren
kumme esse
—come eat
lieb
—love
maedel
—girl
mamm
—mom
mammi
—grandmother
mei
—my
mudder
—mother
nee
—no
onkel
—uncle
Ordnung
—the written and unwritten rules of the Amish; the understood behavior by which the Amish are expected to live, passed down from generation to generation. Most Amish know the rules by heart.
Pennsylvania
Deitsch
—Pennsylvania German, the language most commonly used by the Amish
rumschpringe
—running-around period when a teenager turns sixteen years old
schee beh
—nice legs
sohn
—son
Wie bischt?
—How are you?
ya
—yes
M
IRIAM STEPPPPED BACK AND ADMIRED THE MATCTCHING
quilts lying on the twin beds in her room. Gifts from her grandmother before she died. The pastel circles of yellow, powder blue, and pink were framed by a simple blue border in a traditional double wedding-ring pattern. They were finally making a debut— just in time for company.
“Your room looks nice.”
Mamm
walked in carrying a wicker basket filled with towels to be folded. “Your
mammi
would be pleased that you saved her quilts for a special occasion.” She glanced at the white vase full of pink roses on the nightstand and smiled. “
Ach
, fresh flowers too.”
Her mother unloaded the towels onto Miriam’s bed, and they each reached for one as
Mamm’s
eyes traveled around the room.
When her mother nodded an approval, Miriam grinned. “When will she be here?”
Mamm
placed a folded blue towel on top of Miriam’s green one. “Not for a couple of hours. Your
daed
hired a driver, and they went to go pick her up at the airport.”
Miriam couldn’t wait to hear about her cousin’s travels and life in the
Englisch
world. Shelby was eighteen too, and for Miriam, it would be like having a sister for the summer. A nice change from a house full of brothers. Even though Miriam was enjoying her
rumschpringe
, she’d done little more than travel to Lancaster to see a movie. Her
Englisch
cousin was coming all the way from Texas, a small town called Fayetteville.
“I’m excited about Shelby coming,
Mamm
. I can’t wait to meet her.” Miriam reached for the last towel to be folded as her mother let out a heavy sigh.
“I know you are, and we’re glad to have Shelby come stay. But. . .”
Mamm
edged toward the nightstand, repositioned a box of tissue next to a lantern, then turned to Miriam. “We told you— times have been
hatt
for Shelby. Her parents got a divorce, and Shelby got in some kind of trouble.”
Miriam couldn’t imagine what divorce would be like. It was unheard of in their Old Order Amish district. “What kind of trouble?” Miriam sat down on her bed, crossed her ankles, and leaned back on her palms.
“Her mother said that Shelby was spending time with the wrong young people.”
Mamm
sat down on the bed beside her, and Miriam watched her mother’s forehead crinkle as her lips tightened into a frown. She knew her mother was concerned about having a young
Englisch
woman come for such a long visit.
“Was she shunned by her family?”
Mamm
shook her head. “No. The
Englisch
don’t shun the way—” Her mother cocked her head to one side, then met eyes with Miriam. “
Ya
. I guess, in a way, Shelby
is
being shunned. She is being sent away from her family and friends for not following the rules.”
Miriam sat taller and folded her hands in her lap. “I’m going to try my best to make her feel welcome here.”
“I know you will, Miriam.”
Mamm
patted her leg, then cupped Miriam’s cheek in her hand. “Please tell me that I don’t need to worry about you being taken in by Shelby’s worldly ways.”
Miriam looked at her mother and said earnestly, “I won’t,
Mamm
.”
Her mother gently eased her hand from Miriam’s face, then let out another heavy sigh. “I remember when your father’s cousin left here. Abner was no more than your age at the time. He chose not to be baptized. We were shocked.”
Mamm
leaned back on her hands like Miriam.
“Did he go to Indiana?” Miriam knew that her great grandparents relocated here from Indiana. She’d been asked plenty of times what she was doing in Lancaster County with a name like Raber, an Indiana Amish name.
“No. Your
daed
said Abner went to Texas with three hundred dollars in his pocket and even took rides from strangers to get there. Evidently he had been corresponding with a man there about a job for months before he left. A job building Amish furniture.”
Mamm
sat up and folded her arms across her chest.
“Have you seen Abner since he left?”
Mamm
nodded. “Only twice, for each of his parents’ funerals. It’s a shame, too, because your
daed
and Abner were close when they were young.”
“But you said he wasn’t baptized into the community, so he wasn’t shunned, right? He could have come to visit, no?”
“Ya.” Mamm
stood up and smoothed the wrinkles from her black apron. “But Texas is a long way from here, and things between him and his folks weren’t
gut
. They never did accept his choices.”
Mamm
paused for a moment, then looked down at Miriam. “I remember that Abner met Janet not long after he arrived in Texas, and they were wed two years later. Then along came Shelby.” Her mother shook her head. “After that, we heard less and less from your
daed’s
cousin. But evidently his furniture was popular with the
Englisch
there, and he went on to own a big fancy store of his own. We got a letter every now and then, but. . .”
Mamm
picked up the stack of folded towels on the bed, then placed them in the laundry basket. “I met Janet, Shelby’s mother, when they came here for Sarah Mae’s funeral, which is when I met Shelby. But she was only four years old, so I doubt she remembers much.”
Miriam tried to think of what she remembered from when she was four years old. Not much.
“I liked Janet a lot, and we exchanged letters for a while after they were here. But I hadn’t heard from her in years until last month.”
Mamm
bit her lip and was quiet for a few moments. “Anyway, as you know, Shelby doesn’t have any brothers or sisters, and the only life she has known has included electricity and all the modern conveniences the
Englisch
have. Things will be different for her here.” She picked up the basket, then smiled at Miriam. “But God is sending her here for a reason. I think the
maedel
needs time for healing.”
“This is a
gut
place for that, I think.” Miriam gave a final glance around her room. She’d dusted her oak rocking chair and chest of drawers and swept the hardwood floors after putting fresh linens on the bed. She’d even slipped a sprig of lavender in the top drawer of the chest, one of two drawers she had cleaned out for Shelby to use.
She was excited for her cousin to arrive, but her thoughts drifted to Pequea Creek where she knew her girlfriends were gathering. On Saturday afternoons during the summer, the older girls in her district met at the creek to watch the young men show off their skills by swinging on a thick rope from the highest ledge and dropping into the cool water below.
Saul Fisher would be there. He was always there. And just the thought of him made Miriam’s heart flip in her chest.