The Only Way (The Amish Millers Get Married Book 4)
Read The Only Way (The Amish Millers Get Married Book 4) Online
Authors: Ruth Hartzler
Tags: #christian romance, #amish, #amish romance, #amish fiction, #amish denomination, #amish romance fiction
The Only Way
(The Amish Millers Get Married Book 4)
Ruth Hartzler
Copyright © 2015 Ruth Hartzler
All Rights Reserved
Smashwords Edition.
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* * *
Scripture quotations are
from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
®
(ESV
®
), copyright © 2001 by
Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
* * *
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to
any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The personal
names have been invented by the author, and any likeness to the
name of any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
* * * * * * * * *
1 Corinthians 11:24-26.
And when he had given thanks, he broke it,
and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance
of me.”
In the same way also he took the cup, after
supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this,
as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink
the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
* * * * * * * * *
John 3:16.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life.
* * * * * * * * *
Matthew 5:45-48.
For if you love those who love you, what
reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And
if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than
others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Table of Contents.
Matthew 22:4.
Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell
those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and
my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come
to the wedding feast.”‘
Chapter
1
One afternoon late in the fall, Rebecca
Miller, clothed in a simple dress and prayer
kapp
, stepped
out of a taxi on the corner of Penny and Western Avenue. The
sunlight, twinkling on the windows of the cafes and restaurants and
the automobiles, fell in beams through the trees strung along the
sidewalk, dappling the young woman in a playful, yellow light. She
was followed out of the taxi by Elijah Hostetler, a tall young man
with skin browned by the sun. He paid the driver, before stretching
his limbs toward the heavens and yawning.
“Where is the cake store then?” he said,
yawning once more.
Rebecca glanced down at the slip of paper
where she had penciled the address. “It should be only a block
away. We should have asked the taxi to wait for us, but I suppose
we can call another one after we pick up the cake.”
Rebecca and Elijah were both the youngest of
four siblings: Rebecca had three older
schweschders
, and
Elijah had three older
bruders
. Through a series of curious
and delightful circumstances, Rebecca’s oldest
schweschder
had married Elijah’s oldest
bruder
; her second oldest
schweschder
had married Elijah’s second oldest
bruder
; and, yes, the third oldest
schweschder
had
married Elijah’s third oldest
bruder
, or she was about to,
and that is why Rebecca and Elijah were on an errand to collect the
chocolate cake. The other members of their respective families were
busy with the wedding preparations, with preparing the food their
community would enjoy on the day. Martha, who was to marry Moses,
ran a chocolate business, and so a specially made chocolate cake
was the obvious choice for one of their wedding cakes.
“Come on,” said Rebecca, moving through the
crowds of people toward the store where the chocolate wedding cake
awaited them. “We need to get back shortly. There’s still a lot to
do.”
Elijah yawned for a third time. “I hope the
cake isn’t too big. I don’t know how we will get it back in one
piece. Do you suppose I can make sure it doesn’t topple over? I
hope we get a driver who’s a little more careful around the
corners.”
“I wouldn’t want to be the person who
destroyed Martha’s main wedding cake,” Rebecca said, with a
grimace.
“Nonsense,” replied Elijah, scooting around a
young boy who had stopped walking all of a sudden in front of him.
“She is lovely. I don’t think she would be mad at anyone for
anything.”
“You didn’t have to grow up with her,”
grumbled Rebecca, who was not feeling very charitable this morning.
Each person in their community over the past couple of weeks had
stopped to congratulate her on the marriage of Martha and Moses,
and then each person who stopped her remarked how she would be
marrying Elijah next. She knew it was not Elijah’s fault that these
comments were being made, but she felt irrationally annoyed with
him all the same. The fact their
familyes
had sent them on
an errand to pick up a chocolate cake together would only set more
tongues wagging.
“Why are you in a bad mood?” asked
Elijah.
“Stop being so perceptive.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied, clearly injured by
her bad mood. “I’ll stop worrying about your feelings, if it would
make you feel better?”
Rebecca sighed. “I’m sorry.” She took a deep
breath in and let it out slowly, watching the sun playing on the
buildings and trying to calm herself. “Can I be honest with
you?”
“Sure.”
“I’m a bit annoyed that everyone believes you
and I will be married next.”
“The idea of marrying me annoys you?”
“Yes,” said Rebecca at once. “No. Wait.
Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”
Elijah was laughing. “I would be an amazing
husband. What are you even talking about?”
“Sorry!” Rebecca replied. “We shouldn’t even
be having this conversation.”
“It’s a great conversation,” Elijah chuckled.
“Come now. List all the reasons why you don’t want to marry me. I
can think of a few why I don’t want to marry you. You’re clearly
not a morning person, and you find errands to pick up chocolate
cakes tedious. Chocolate cakes! They’re one of the happiest things
in the world.”
“You’re too smart for your own good,” said
Rebecca. “That is one reason. And you are a morning person. That is
another reason.”
“We both have two reasons not to marry each
other,” said Elijah. The pair now stood pressed up against a
building, to avoid the crowd of people bustling by, while they
searched the numbers on the buildings for the chocolate store. “Are
we even?”
“I am sure there are other reasons. I know:
you’re too good looking. Half the girls I know want to marry you.
You are, after all, the last unwed Hostetler
bruder
.”
“You would think my charm and good looks were
a reason for marrying me, not a reason against.”
Rebecca snorted. “You are arrogant.”
“
Nee
, confident,” replied Elijah.
“That’s another reason for marrying me. I’m beginning to think you
should marry me, after all.”
“And we never agree on anything. That is
another reason. We should write a list and hand it out to everyone
who comes up to me, suggesting you and I should marry.”
“That sounds very time consuming. We wouldn’t
have time to help out with Martha and Moses’ wedding if we were to
do that.” Elijah stroked his chin. “But it’s not a bad idea now
that you mention it.”
Rebecca smiled. All of Elijah’s teasing had
shifted her bad mood, and now she was appreciating the rare fall
sunlight, the happiness of her older
schweschders
, and the
feeling of extraordinary things on the horizon.
“All right,” she announced. “You can stop
teasing me now. I’m in a better mood.
Denki
for cheering me
up.”
“Anytime,” said Elijah. “Look.” He pointed to
a small store wedged between two taller buildings. “That’s where we
need to pick up the chocolate cake from.”
“Good spotting.” Rebecca moved toward the
small building, pausing in front of it for a moment. “Just so we
are clear: you would make a great husband, but I don’t think you
would make a great husband for me.”
“We should make each other a deal,” said
Elijah, “to stop our
familyes
trying to push us into
something we both do not want.”
“So we’re agreed,” Rebecca said, her hand
hovering above the door handle. “We shall not marry each other, no
matter how much our
familyes
might wish it, and no matter
how many people come up to us, telling us we’re next.”
“Agreed,” Elijah said, firmly.
Proverbs 18:22.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the Lord.
Chapter
2
Rebecca and her older
schweschders,
Hannah, Esther, and Martha, sat in front of the fire, happily
sewing dresses for Martha’s upcoming wedding to Moses. There was a
new addition to the
familye
, the young lady Sarah Beachy,
whom Martha had met in jail when she, Martha, had been falsely
arrested for theft. It was to this matter that the conversation now
turned.
“It was so kind of your parents to take me
in,” Sarah said to the Miller
schweschders
, “with me being a
stranger and from a community in another state.”
“Yes, it’s weird that
Mamm
likes you,”
Rebecca said.
Hannah gasped. “Rebecca, that’s rude;
apologize at once.”
Rebecca chuckled. “I didn’t mean anything by
it, Sarah; it’s just that
Mamm
doesn’t usually like anyone,
but she really likes you. That is what’s weird; it’s out of
character for her.”
Surprise was stamped all over Sarah’s face.
“I can’t imagine your
mudder
not liking anyone.”
All the girls chuckled at that. Mrs. Miller
was not the warmest personality, and tended to hold a grudge, yet
she had welcomed Sarah with open arms. Rebecca found this quite
strange, and wondered if her
mudder
had known Sarah’s
familye
at some point. It was just not the way her
mudder
usually acted.
Her
schweschders
would not comment in
front of Sarah, so Rebecca turned her attention back to the sewing.
“Why are we making purple dresses, Martha?”
“It’s for my wedding of course, Rebecca.”
Rebecca groaned dramatically. “Obviously!
What I mean is, why is it purple? Hannah had purple dresses for her
wedding, and Esther had purple dresses for her wedding.”
“I like purple,” all three
schweschders
said at once, and then burst out laughing.
“So do I,” Rebecca said, “but if I ever get
married, I will wear a blue dress, just to be different. Hey, I saw
that,” she added, when Hannah, Esther, and Martha exchanged
glances.
Martha raised her eyebrows. “And I suppose
you’re not going to marry Elijah Hostetler, just to be
different?”
Before Rebecca could answer, Sarah spoke up.
“It is quite unusual that all three of you
schweschders
married three
bruders
.”
“It will be four soon,” Martha said, clearly
intent upon teasing Rebecca.