Christmas at Promise Lodge Read online

  THE BISHOP’S RESONANT VOICE HAD RISEN TO FEVER PITCH

  “As we consecrate the union of this young Amish couple, I must insist that the single and widowed men and women among us find mates immediately,” he exhorted. “Before the snow flies, I expect to see you—Matilda Schwartz, Christine Hershberger, Rosetta Bender, Amos Troyer, and Marlin Kurtz—standing before me to take your wedding vows! It’s unnatural for God’s children to live alone, or for women to engage in any business other than making a home for their families. Moreover,” he continued, gesticulating dramatically, “our colony cannot condone the intermarriages of Old Order members with those of more liberal Plain faiths. When we take on the ways of a lesser faith, we weaken the very foundation of our colony—and we risk losing our salvation in our Lord.”

  Amos gripped the edge of the preacher’s bench until his hands hurt. This was not the proper time to challenge folks by name, telling them to find mates. He couldn’t miss the way Truman Wickey, their Mennonite neighbor, had also tensed.

  To Amos’s right, Preacher Eli Peterscheim shifted on the wooden bench as the bishop continued preaching. “That’s just wrong,” he muttered under his breath. “You can’t tell me God instructed Floyd to name names and set a deadline for marrying!”

  Don’t miss any of Charlotte Hubbard’s other Amish romances

  Seasons of the Heart series

  Summer of Secrets

  Autumn Winds

  Winter of Wishes

  An Amish Country Christmas

  Breath of Spring

  Harvest of Blessings

  The Christmas Cradle

  An Amish Christmas Quilt

  Promise Lodge series

  Promise Lodge

  Simple Gifts series

  A Simple Vow

  Christmas At PROMISE LODGE

  Charlotte Hubbard

  ZEBRA BOOKS

  KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

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  Kensington Publishing Corp.

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  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2016 by Charlotte Hubbard

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

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  If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

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  ISBN: 978-1-4201-3943-3

  ISBN-10: 1-4201-3943-6

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4201-3944-0

  eISBN-10: 1-4201-3944-4

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  Table of Contents

  THE BISHOP’S RESONANT VOICE HAD RISEN TO FEVER PITCH

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Luke 2:4–14 (KJV)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  From the Promise Lodge Kitchen

  Beulah’s “Marriage Meat Loaf”

  A Mother’s Love

  About the Author

  For my Aunt Sandra, who celebrates a Christmas birthday!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank You, Lord, for Your guidance as I continue this series!

  Thank you, Neal, for all the wonderful Christmases we’ve shared.

  Continued gratitude to my editor, Alicia Condon, and to Evan Marshall, my agent. I’m thrilled to be working with both of you as we continue this Amish story journey together.

  Special thanks to Vicki Harding, innkeeper of Poosey’s Edge B & B in Jamesport, Missouri. Your assistance and friendship have been invaluable! Thanks and blessings, as well, to Joe Burkholder and his family, proprietors of Oak Ridge Furniture and Sherwood Christian Books in Jamesport.

  Luke 2:4–14 (KJV)

  4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

  5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

  6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

  7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

  8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

  9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

  10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

  11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

  12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

  13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

  14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

  Chapter One

  Mattie Schwartz slipped into her new navy blue dress earlier than she needed to because today—November fifth—was no ordinary Thursday. In about four hours, her younger son, Noah, would be marrying Deborah Peterscheim. It was the first wedding to take place in the Promise Lodge colony she and her sisters had founded last spring, and she’d been awake since three o’clock this morning, too excited to sleep. She left her two-room apartment and went downstairs to join the Kuhn sisters, who were overseeing the preparation of the wedding meal in the lodge’s kitchen.

  Mattie inhaled deeply. The entire building smelled of roasting chickens, vegetables, and perking coffee. The huge kitchen, which had provided meals for kids when Promise Lodge had been a church camp, bustled with the ladies who lived here now. As soon as Mattie stepped through the door, however, seventy-year-old Beulah Kuhn pointed at her with a vegetable peeler.

  “This is the day the Lord has made for your Noah to marry Deborah,” she paraphrased from the stool where she sat peeling potatoes.

  “‘We will rejoice and be glad in it!’” Beulah’s sister, Ruby, added with a wide smile. “The mother of the groom gets time off from cooking and cleaning up. It’s your day to party, Mattie!”

  “We’ve already sent Alma Peterscheim
out of here,” Mattie’s sister Christine remarked from the stove, where she stood stirring gravy. “Didn’t want Deborah’s mother sitting through church with food on her new dress, after all.”

  “You were here all yesterday afternoon baking pies with us, Mattie,” Frances Lehman, the bishop’s wife, pointed out. “So it’s your day to visit with the family and friends who’ll come to celebrate with you. We’ll allow you a cup of coffee and one of the biscuit sandwiches from the counter, and then you’re to forget all about the kitchen.”

  Mattie chuckled. As one of the three original owners of the property, she’d considered herself more outspoken and independent than most Plain women, but the other ladies who’d made their homes here were proving to be every bit as stubborn and insistent as she and Christine and Rosetta.

  “All right, just this once I’ll do as I’m told,” Mattie teased as she picked up a warm breakfast sandwich. “But we’re not making it a habit, understand.”

  The kitchen filled with laughter, a sound that lifted Mattie’s spirits. When she’d been widowed in Coldstream, and Christine had lost her husband, and Rosetta had been left alone after their parents had passed, they’d each known the lonely silence of roaming around in their separate farmhouses. Living in the lodge together, along with Plain ladies who rented apartments from Rosetta, made for a far more cheerful life. Mattie closed her eyes as she bit into a big, soft biscuit filled with ham, a fried egg, and cheese that dribbled down the sides. Eating food someone else had cooked was a treat that made her son’s wedding day even more special.

  “We’ve told Rosetta and my girls to stay in the dining hall, setting tables,” Christine remarked, pouring more flour and milk mixture into her gravy. “Phoebe and Laura are so excited to be serving as Deborah’s side-sitters, I didn’t want them getting their dresses dirty, either.”

  “Jah, what with Noah being sweet on Deborah all through school, your girls have waited a long while to sit up front with her,” Mattie said before taking another gratifying bite of her breakfast.

  “And what a blessing that Noah and Deborah can hold the wedding in their new home,” Frances put in with a big smile. “It’s truly amazing, how many houses have gone up since Floyd and I moved here with the girls this past summer.”

  “Jah, what with Preacher Amos’s being a carpenter and Floyd and his brother Lester running a siding and window business, we’ve got one of the nicest-looking Plain communities I’ve ever seen.” Beulah rose from her stool to carry a big pot of peeled potatoes to the stove. “Ruby and I never dreamed we’d have our cheese factory up and running so fast, either, but the fellows here can build anything. And we couldn’t ask for richer milk than we’re getting from Christine’s cows.”

  “My bees love the orchard, too,” Ruby said happily. “Every morning when I get up and look out the window, I see their white hives amongst the apple trees and tell myself we’ve found the Garden of Eden.”

  “The produce stand’s open later in the season than I’d figured on, too,” Mattie said with a nod. “Local folks are snapping up the last of our pumpkins and squash now, and I suspect they’d continue coming all winter if Deborah kept selling her baked goodies there.”

  “Maybe she could sell them from the cheese factory,” Beulah mused aloud. She turned on the gas burner and put the potatoes on to boil. “Truth be told, Ruby and I could use her help running the counter out front while we stir up batches of cheese. But she might change her mind about working now that she’s getting married.”

  “Last I heard, Deborah was excited about having a new kitchen to bake in, especially while Noah’s out on his welding jobs,” Mattie said. “At least until she’s got wee ones to watch after.”

  “I’d be happy to have Deborah’s goodies in my gift shop, too,” Rosetta called from the large dining room. “I figure to open it one of these days to sell my homemade soaps, and anything else the rest of you ladies might want to offer for sale.”

  “Deborah was amazed at how well her breads and bars sold over the summer,” Christine said. She smiled at Mattie. “I suspect she sees the three of us Bender sisters running businesses and understands what an advantage it is for a woman to have some income. For us unattached gals it’s our living, but for a wife it means a little more leverage when things around the house wear out or need fixing.”

  Frances was listening to this thread of conversation as though Mattie, Christine, and the Kuhn sisters were speaking a dialect she didn’t understand. “Where I come from, the menfolk have always brought home the bacon and the women have cooked it up,” she said softly. “Married women are homemakers without any businesses, and widows and maidels depend upon the men in their families to support them.”

  “That’s how it was for Beulah and me before we ran away from home,” Ruby said. “Once we maidel schoolteachers retired, our brother Delbert took us in—”

  “But we felt he and his wife, Carol, should be raising their five kids without having to support us, as well,” Beulah continued. “Delbert was against us living here—”

  “Jah, he came in his truck and hauled us back home,” Ruby recounted.

  “—but when his mother-in-law had to move in after Carol’s dat died, we decided that was just too many folks in a one-bathroom house. So here we are,” Beulah said, raising her arms victoriously. “We’re making our own way with our cheese and our bees, living in Rosetta’s lodge. Life is fun again!”

  “We’re too young to get old anytime soon,” Ruby chimed in matter-of-factly. “God is gut, and so’s the life He’s led us to here.”

  Frances smiled despite her misgivings. “It’s invigorating to come to this new colony where everyone’s starting fresh—and I’m grateful to everyone for being so accepting of my Mary Kate,” she said in a voice that quivered a bit. “With Floyd’s being the bishop in our previous settlement, and Mary Kate’s being in the family way after that English fellow took advantage of her, we prayed that Promise Lodge would be a safe haven for her and the baby.”

  “I think she’s very brave, wanting to raise the baby rather than give it up for adoption,” Mattie remarked. She placed three biscuit sandwiches on a paper plate and covered them with a napkin. “If I don’t take these to Preacher Amos and my two boys, they might not eat anything before church and the wedding. Denki to you ladies for cooking on our special day, and for seeing to our breakfast, too.”

  As Mattie passed through the large dining room, she smiled at the way white tablecloths had transformed the old, careworn wooden tables into the perfect setting for their celebration. Her younger sister, Rosetta, was setting a glass to the right of each plate. Christine’s girls, Laura and Phoebe, were going down the sides of the tables with forks and knives while Mary Kate Lehman followed them with the spoons.

  “Looks like you’ve got a gut system going, girls,” Mattie said brightly. “How many folks can we seat at once? Today will be the first time we’ve filled this room.”

  “A hundred and fifty—which includes the wedding party up on the eck,” Rosetta replied, gesturing toward the raised table in the far corner. “We figure most of the guests will fill up the first sitting, and then we worker bees can eat during the second sitting.”

  “It’ll be gut to see our friends from Coldstream, along with our cousins, aunts, and uncles who’re scattered around Missouri,” Phoebe said. She turned toward Mary Kate with a smile. “We used to live about three hours from here, but the bishop’s son Isaac was causing so much trouble—”

  “Setting barns afire and drinking with his English friends,” Laura put in with a shake of her head.

  “—that our mamm and aunts decided to move away,” Phoebe continued. “And as if that weren’t enough, Isaac came here with one of his buddies, thinking to get back at Deborah for calling the sheriff on him.”

  “But we sent him packing!” Rosetta recalled with a chuckle. “I doubt the Chupps will come today, not after all three of our households plus Preacher Amos and the Peterscheims moved here to g
et away from them.”

  Mary Kate stopped placing spoons on the tables. Her hand slid over the swell of her belly as her eyes widened. “You—you’re sure Isaac won’t be coming?” she murmured fearfully. “After that English fellow pulled off the road and—and tackled me in the ditch, I don’t ever want a man getting that close to me again, or even looking at me.”

  Mattie hurried over to the bishop’s daughter. “Mary Kate, don’t you worry about a thing,” she murmured as she slung her arm around the girl’s slender shoulders. “If my boys or Preacher Amos spot Isaac Chupp, they’ll be swarming around him like Ruby’s bees. Here at Promise Lodge we don’t tolerate men who bully women.”

  Mary Kate was breathing rapidly, sucking in air to settle her nerves. “Maybe when we’re finished setting up here, I should go home instead of attending the wedding. Dat says that in my condition, I shouldn’t be showing myself in public anyway.”

  Mattie chose her words carefully, not wanting to contradict the bishop—yet hoping Mary Kate would feel comfortable enough to enjoy today’s wedding festivities. At eight months along she was obviously pregnant, but her guilt and shame bothered Mattie more than Mary Kate’s appearance. It wasn’t as if this shy eighteen-year-old girl had gone looking for trouble the day she’d been raped while walking home from a neighbor’s.