The Amish Cowboy's Homecoming Read online

  “Gracie,” Hannah said, “you and I made friendship bread all the time when we were in school. You don’t remember?”

  Grace tried to think. So much of her life now revolved around horses that she sometimes had little memory of anything else. Moments like right now, she halfway wondered if her life should’ve been more diversified. “I guess not,” she finally admitted.

  Hannah lifted a kindhearted smile. “Each batch we make can be split, so a little bit of the original batch is part of every new batch. You see?”

  Grace scratched her cheek. “Oh! You mean like keeping the pure bloodline of a thoroughbred?”

  Both women stared at her. “Um, sure,” Mary uttered, then covered her smiling mouth with the back of a hand.

  “You still haven’t told me,” Hannah broke in. “What does this new fellow look like? You said he’s tall.”

  “I didn’t say that,” Grace pointed out, enthusiastically kneading the dough. She might’ve been frustrated by the subject jump but, since it was about the handsome stranger, she didn’t mind picturing him.

  “Aye, but when I asked you earlier, I could tell by the look in your eyes that he is.”

  “What look?”

  “I don’t know, your gaze just kind of went all soft.”

  She felt the strangest impulse to hide her telltale eyes behind her floury hands. “They did not.”

  “So he’s young?”

  Grace turned away and sniffed. “Think so.”

  “Good-looking?”

  Grace pushed out a breath. “I don’t know. I suppose.”

  Why did any of this matter? Did they not understand that this…this outsider would be standing in the way of her future?

  “Wait.” Hannah grabbed her arm. “You’re saying a young, tall, good-looking, single man is moving to Honey Brook?”

  “I have no idea if he’s single.” She shut her eyes tight, trying, unsuccessfully, to not envision him. “He had a beard—well, a short one.”

  “Where is he from?”

  “Daed said Silver Springs.”

  Hannah pressed her lips into a line, then began rubbing them together. “They have a different bishop and different Ordnung, and I’m pretty sure they’re New Order.”

  “So?” Grace asked, wishing for another subject change.

  “Jah, but the beard might not mean anything. Some communities in Ohio, boys start growing beards at sixteen before they’re even close to marriage.”

  “Okay,” Grace said. “For all I know, he could be single, but it doesn’t matter to me. This is the man who’s taking away my dream.”

  Mary turned to her sister. “Training this one horse is your dream?”

  “Aye!” Grace had to slow her breathing. Would Mary or Hannah ever understand? “I’ve been Papa’s right hand on the farm since I was a girl. I know just as much as he does now…maybe even more,” she couldn’t help adding. “After all, he can’t break a horse as fast as I can these days, and doesn’t Abraham Lambright always ask especially for me when he brings over a new pony?”

  “I don’t know how you can spend so many hours a day covered in dirt,” Hannah said, washing her hands at the sink.

  Grace sighed again. She often wondered the same thing, why she was so different from the other women in the village. “It’s where I feel the most at home. And I’m awful good at it. It comes almost…easy.”

  “But how much longer can you keep it up?” Mary asked.

  Hannah placed her hands on her hips. “All I know is—married or not—having another strong young man in Honey Brook is a benefit,” she said. “And maybe he has a single brother who’ll come for a visit.”

  Grace and Mary both looked at Hannah. “You’ve always been boy crazy,” Grace said, leaning her hip against the kitchen counter. “You still haven’t told us why you stopped writing to Noah from Ohio.”

  Hannah dropped her chin. “It…fizzled out.”

  “He stopped writing to her weeks ago,” Mary interjected.

  Grace turned to her. “How do you know?” Then she glanced at Hannah, whose cheeks were red. “You told Mary before you told me?”

  Hannah shrugged then looked down at her feet. “You’ve been busy, I suppose. And Mary, you know, lives here.”

  Mary lifted an innocent grin. “Factual, sister,” she said. “Location is everything.”

  Grace felt a knot form in her stomach as she shook her head, taking it all in. Had she become so wrapped up in the horses that she’d forgotten her best friend and sister?

  “Let’s get back to the basics, though,” Mary said, stepping in gracefully before things might get tense. “You are going to be working side by side with a handsome stranger from out of town? You’ll be shoulder to shoulder, sweating together, sometimes holding the same rope, sometimes touching by accident—or maybe on purpose—your skin hot and—”

  “Mary!” Grace cut her off before she started to blush. “You mustn’t…”

  “I’m just pointing out the obvious.” Mary kissed the top of Rose’s sweet head.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been so jealous of you, Grace Zook,” Hannah said, her voice sounding pouty but jokey.

  “You just said I spend too much time in the dirt.”

  “Well, maybe this…this professional will be someone special to you.” She clasped her fingers together under her chin and stared into space. “Maybe your future husband!”

  Grace blew out a long breath, closed her eyes, and shook her head, remembering the way he’d spoken to her, his exact words, calling her cruel. “Not in this lifetime,” she muttered.

  Chapter Four

  Isaac felt more comfortable in his brother’s home than just about anywhere. Simply being with his family gave him peace.

  “When do you start?” asked his brother Daniel. He had more gray in his hair than the last time Isaac had seen him—which was less than a month ago. Still, Daniel was bigger and stronger than anyone he knew, even though he was fifteen years older than Isaac. Practically a father figure, since their own father had gone to live with the Lord nearly ten years ago.

  “Three days,” Isaac said, buttering a piece of bread. “Thank you, Fern,” he added to his niece. She had to be close to sixteen years old now. Almost ready to attend youth group activities and game nights.

  “Will you be ready?” asked Daniel as he helped his daughter carry a large pot to their stove top.

  “I’ll have to be.” Isaac ran a hand over his face and exhaled, mentally running through his to-do list. “There’s a lot to prepare. And a lot to plan for, in case this turns into something more long-term.”

  “Uncle Isaac,” said Fern, “I thought you were hired to train just one horse.”

  “True enough,” Isaac replied. “But there might be a lot of publicity with training just this one horse. Do you know what publicity means?”

  His niece pressed a hand to her forehead and frowned in thought. “Is that like when Miss Annie Sutter puts a sign up in her store window about candy tarts being half price?”

  “Exactly,” Isaac said, then grinned over at his brother. With only a few years of formal education, his children—all seven of them—were right smart. “The horse John Zook has hired me to train in Honey Brook is owned by a very important Englisher.”

  Fern frowned again then humphed under her breath. “Englishers think they’re so important.”

  “Fern,” Daniel said in a low, though patient, fatherly voice. “We talked about this just last week when we caught you kicking dirt at the nice man’s car.”

  Fern folded her arms. “How do you know he was nice?”

  “How do you know he wasn’t?”

  When Fern didn’t reply to her father, Daniel turned to Isaac and shook his head. “Teenagers.”

  The two brothers laughed. Isaac didn’t listen to the horror stori
es; he couldn’t wait to have a teenager.

  “Don’t act so smug,” Daniel said, pointing at him. “Happens to the best of us. Fern, go help your mother with the washing; your uncle Isaac and I will finish cleaning up.”

  When Isaac formed his brows into a curious arch, Daniel shrugged. “I’m not such an ogre; things have changed. We’re trying to be more enlightened, and isn’t that an important part of being New Order? It’s not like when we were kids and Daed never spent time with us. Catherine and I talk to the kids—we’re in their lives.” He paused to sigh. “Well, unless they’re about to turn sixteen and believe they know everything about life already.”

  “Is she thinking about Rumspringa?”

  Daniel turned his gaze toward the doorway where his daughter had just disappeared. “Solomon really enjoyed his out in Florida with the Sweitzer cousins. I reckon Fern will want to go there, too. Well, there’s the man of the hour,” Daniel added, clasping a hand over the shoulder of his oldest child. “What do you think, son? Will your sister take Rumspringa?”

  “Ack, I don’t know, Pa. Fern only talks to her friends. I try not to pay attention.”

  Isaac so loved the healthy banter that always went on in his brother’s home. He hoped to have the same someday.

  “Sit down.” Isaac pushed out a chair with his foot for his nephew to join them. “Your father told you I’m moving away for a while?”

  Solomon nodded. “Training some fancy Englisher’s horse, jah?”

  Isaac definitely heard the same tone in his voice as had been in his niece’s. “Something happen between your kids and someone from town?” he couldn’t help asking his brother.

  “Heaven knows,” Daniel said. “But my eldest was taught that we are to be kind to every living creature. Even if they ain’t like us. Especially if they ain’t.”

  “Aren’t,” Sol corrected, elbowing his father. “You’re the one made me learn grammar when I wanted to be manning a plow.”

  Daniel laughed, sounding exactly like their father. Rest his soul.

  “To answer your question, Sol,” Isaac said, “yes, it’s for a man from Harrisburg who owns a horse breeding business.”

  Sol’s hazel eyes brightened. “You’re going all the way to Harrisburg?” Then he turned to his father. “That’s the capitol of Pennsylvania, Papa.”

  “Very funny.” Daniel reached out to pretend to choke his son.

  “Nay.” Isaac answered, feeling that excited flutter in his stomach return. This really could be his big chance to start over. “Only as far as Honey Brook. That’s where I’ll be doing the training.”

  “Honey Brook.” Sol sat up straight and tossed the front of his hair out of his eyes. “They have the prettiest girls there.” He shrugged, keeping his shoulder raised. “I mean, so Moses Shetler says—he’s got ten cousins out that way, been to visit every summer.” He blew out a breath and crossed his arms. “But how would I know? Daed never lets me go.”

  The prettiest girls, huh? Isaac couldn’t help thinking. Well, he hadn’t seen all the girls in the village, but one sure did stick out to him, and Sol was right—one of the prettiest girls he’d ever seen. Though so far off-limits that I shouldn’t even be thinking about her.

  “Anyway,” Isaac said, “that’s where I’ll be living.”

  “With the folks you’ll be working for?”

  Isaac shook his head. “Nay. A family a few farms over had a sign in the front yard for a lodger—Amish only.” He paused to grin good-naturedly. “I already made the arrangements.”

  “Place you’re working,” Daniel said. “Does a family live there?”

  Isaac bit the inside of his cheek, stalling while he, again, saw the woman with the dark, flyaway hair in his mind’s eye. “I met the husband—my boss—and one of his sons, though I reckon there’s more. Fella said his wife was upstairs and I’d meet her later. I didn’t know it at first, but he’s also got a…” Isaac couldn’t help trailing off when he visualized her face close up. The dimple and blue eyes.

  “A what?” Daniel asked, shaking him awake.

  “A…” He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. “A daughter.”

  “She pretty?” asked Sol.

  “I…” Isaac didn’t know how to reply.

  “Lord sakes, Sol,” Daniel said to his son.

  “What? I bet she is. Moses is always right about that kinda thing.”

  “Solomon.” Daniel stood up. “Don’t those chickens need feeding?”

  “Probably, but that’s for the girls.”

  “Okay, the pigs then.”

  Solomon stood. “Jah, Pa. Good luck, Uncle Isaac, with the new job, if I don’t see you before you leave.”

  “Danke, Sol.” They shook hands. “You’re a good man. Be easy on your father, jah?”

  Daniel chuckled as Solomon stomped out of the room. “So…?” his brother began again, his voice low. “Is she?”

  Isaac looked up. “Is who what?”

  Daniel sighed. “Is she pretty? The daughter.”

  Isaac didn’t mean to, but suddenly he saw her perfectly, head to toe. First from afar when he’d been watching her with the horse, how her body moved gracefully yet with confidence. You had to have confidence when training an animal that powerful. And then when he neared her…the color of her eyes, how they brightened as she laughed and teased him about his bad joke. And that dimple. Isaac felt himself smile; it was complete impulse.

  “You old fox.” Daniel laughed out loud. The sound shook Isaac awake. “She’s beautiful, I take it from that sloppy look on your face.”

  “Okay,” Isaac admitted. “She’s…attractive. Nothing special, I mean, but you know how some people just look a certain way. It’s a gift from Gott.”

  “Sounds like it’s a gift to you, brother,” Daniel said.

  Isaac looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  Daniel leaned forward, crossing his arms and putting them on the table. “It’s okay, you know,” he said, tenderness in his voice. “It’s okay to feel that way. Whenever you’re ready.”

  Isaac could’ve played along, not wanting to address the subject, but what was the use? “No, I know. I know it is.” He stared forward, fighting back the feeling that used to cripple him at times. He thought he was over that.

  “Especially ain’t no sin thinking a woman is attractive, even beautiful.”

  “You’re the one who said beautiful, not me.”

  “What does she look like, then?”

  Isaac laughed under his breath—he couldn’t help it. “I said she was attractive, but that wasn’t what…interested me.” It was difficult to utter that word aloud, though Isaac knew there was nothing improper about it. “There she was, out in the middle of the pasture, working a horse in a circle.” He chuckled softly. “I thought she was a boy at first, her form was so good. But then I got closer and… Jah, she’s beautiful.”

  “Well, okay, then.” Daniel punched his brother’s arm. “Things are looking up.”

  Isaac sighed, that crippling feeling sweeping over him again. He had to take a few deep breaths to push it out. “You know I’d never do anything about it, Daniel. What about Sadie?”

  His brother scratched his beard. “She’s going with you?”

  Isaac straightened his posture. “Of course. You know I can’t leave her with those…” Again, he had to force himself to take in a few deep breaths to calm down. “Our living situation isn’t the best for either of us,” he finally replied. Though he did have a lot more he could have said, such as he didn’t want to be living with his in-laws anymore. Their home was stifling, and they could be overbearing, even for plain folk. And that was another thing. They could sometimes be…disobedient. He didn’t want to live in that atmosphere any longer than he had to.

  Which is why this chance to move to Honey Brook, if even for a while, is
a special gift from Gott. One that he would not squander.

  “Things have gotten worse over there?” Daniel asked.

  Isaac stood, not wanting to speak ill of anyone, even privately to his brother. “This is a good opportunity for me…for us.” He smiled, pulling forward his natural optimism. “It’ll all work out.”

  And it better, he couldn’t help adding to himself. He didn’t like to admit it, but he desperately needed a lucky break—for things to turn his way. He couldn’t go on how he was going; he would be miserable. If this doesn’t work out—no, he couldn’t even think that way.

  Success was much too important. To him and his family.

  Chapter Five

  For the last two days, Grace had been busy outside from sunup to sundown. With all her regular chores plus the six horses she was working with, she also had to prepare for the Morgan’s arrival. She wasn’t about to leave anything out or leave anything to chance, not if she wanted to show her father that she didn’t need any help.

  The new horse would be arriving late this afternoon. As well as Silver Springs’ so-called “Amish Cowboy.”

  Yes, Grace had done some research on Isaac King. Even though she and her father worked mostly with horses owned by plain folk, they did receive colts and geldings from Englisher neighbors—which really helped supplement their income. Not to mention the retired racers who needed to be trained to pull a buggy. Therefore, a few years ago, her father deemed it necessary to be “connected.” A cell phone sat in a drawer in his office just inside the stables. Grace had had no reason to touch it…until now.

  Two days ago, when Hannah had been over, she’d shown Grace how to do an online name search. Seemed as though Isaac King did have quite a reputation as a competent horse trainer in Lancaster County. He even had his own website and business phone number. Which must mean he had his own personal phone.

  Grace tried to force that fact to bother her. But since so many of the dairy farmers in Honey Brook were allowed to use power generators to keep the milk refrigerated—not to mention her own father’s technology—she couldn’t really begrudge Isaac King a phone.