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Courting Her Amish Heart
Mary Davis
A doctor or an Amish wife?She can choose to be only one…In this first book of the Prodigal Daughters series, Kathleen Yoder comes home after fourteen years in the Englisher world. Practicing medicine means sacrifice—no Amish man will want a doctor for a wife. Widowed Noah Lambright offers a cottage as her new clinic, seeing how much Kathleen’s skills can help their community. But as their friendship deepens, could love and family become more than a forbidden dream?
A doctor or an Amish wife?
She can choose to be only one...
In this first book of the Prodigal Daughters series, Kathleen Yoder comes home after fourteen years in the Englisher world. Practicing medicine means sacrifice—no Amish man will want a doctor for a wife. Widowed Noah Lambright offers a cottage as her new clinic, seeing how much Kathleen’s skills can help their community. But as their friendship deepens, could love and family become more than a forbidden dream?
MARY DAVIS is an award-winning author of more than a dozen novels. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and is active in two critique groups. Mary lives in the Colorado Rocky Mountains with her husband of thirty years and three cats. She has three adult children and one grandchild. Her hobbies are quilting, porcelain doll making, sewing, crafts, crocheting and knitting. Please visit her website, marydavisbooks.com (http://www.marydavisbooks.com).
Also By Mary Davis (#u1c888003-8add-5727-8177-f57cd49f26e4)
Love Inspired
Prodigal Daughters
Courting Her Amish Heart
Love Inspired Heartsong Presents
Her Honorable Enemy
Romancing the Schoolteacher
Winning Olivia’s Heart
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Courting Her Amish Heart
Mary Davis
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk) (#u1c888003-8add-5727-8177-f57cd49f26e4)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08240-2
COURTING HER AMISH HEART
© 2018 Mary Davis
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
—Galatians 1:10
“I already spoke to your father.”
Kathleen cocked her head to one side. “About what?”
As he’d told her, he should just say it. “Courting you. And he gave his permission.”
Her sweet expression turned to confusion. “You what? Why would you do that?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t expect this?”
With her feet, she pushed the swing back away from Noah until she stood with the seat at her back. “You had no right to ask him.” She untangled herself from the ropes.
“But he already gave his permission. What will I tell him?”
“I don’t know. Don’t you understand? I can’t court you.”
“Why not? Is there someone else?” The thought of someone else courting her twisted his insides.
“I can’t court anyone because I’m never going to get married.”
“Never? Why not? You’re still young.”
“Because God called me to be a doctor. If I marry, I won’t be able to be a doctor. It’s a sacrifice I made a long time ago.”
Dear Reader (#u1c888003-8add-5727-8177-f57cd49f26e4),
Ahhhh, romance! I love romance. If there is a specific gene connected to romance, I must have it.
I hope you enjoyed the first of the Prodigal Daughters. Before starting to write an Amish romance, I had to get to know them a little. Like a lot of people, I had preconceived notions of who the Amish were. The more I researched, the more I fell in love with the Amish. I learned things I never imagined and discovered a vibrant people.
I had so much fun coming up with Amish women who didn’t follow the traditional path for an Amish woman. So I thought, What’s something Amish almost never do? Go to school beyond eighth grade. So what would propel an Amish girl to defy her culture, religion and way of life. I discovered it was because of those things she went against the rules. She loved her people so much, she was willing to sacrifice and endure ridicule to serve them.
I loved getting to know Kathleen and Noah. Though Kathleen might not have thought of herself as strong, she was strong indeed. She gave up her dream of her own family to go against hundreds of years of tradition and rules to provide her fellow Amish with medical care. Kathleen’s prodigality was for a noble cause and not a selfish act.
Kathleen is dear to my heart not only because I admire her strength, but because I named her after my wonderful oldest sister.
Until next time, happy reading!
Blessings,
Mary
Dedicated to my awesome sister Kathleen Shogren.
Aller Anfang ist schwer. “All beginnings are hard.”
Contents
Cover (#u828df270-1464-5b9f-8c27-1f3e3154f0d6)
Back Cover Text (#u63b2e443-1806-50c8-b756-ae43f6610016)
About the Author (#ucf1441da-6022-5462-91ab-74c2e8e52c89)
Booklist (#u96b58776-376c-5fae-94ff-4bc933addb76)
Title Page (#uac7a5894-9c92-555b-9de9-93dd478fb220)
Copyright (#uf38903b8-7cdb-57a1-bcea-3de7960563bf)
Bible Verse (#u118fb3c7-a852-563a-8832-67e560a05496)
Introduction (#ubc8b785d-8157-500f-96b4-cb33640ade49)
Dear Reader (#u3984455a-47f6-5397-8136-e30234cedc9b)
Dedication (#u7aa5efdb-53ec-5c3b-8b11-5b7f3fe6dc0a)
Chapter One (#u3352f3b7-f58d-596d-9d02-f2610411cde8)
Chapter Two (#u776e26fd-b114-5f5f-9468-44d12ee8651a)
Chapter Three (#uf2cb037c-7841-5e6b-860d-d7285c0e2f67)
Chapter Four (#u1eec6779-075f-5931-a33c-d3ceb59c0646)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u1c888003-8add-5727-8177-f57cd49f26e4)
Kathleen Yoder stood in front of the motel room mirror, fussing with her hair. She had to look just right. She needed to be viewed as a proper Amish woman if her community was going to welcome her home. She pulled the pins from her hair and started over. What did the English say? Third time’s a charm.
Even though all through her medical training she had continued to dress Amish and put her hair up, she hadn’t had another Amish woman to measure her ability against. It wasn’t gut to compare oneself to others, but she could gauge if she had been getting her clothes and hair put right. Iron sharpens iron. Had the fourteen years in the English world whittled away at her Amish standards? Probably. However, she would quickly fall back into Amish life.
She snugged her kapp on her head and smoothed her hands down her blue Plain dress. At this point, no more amount of labor would make her appearance any more appropriate. She would need to trust Gott to pave her way.
She zipped her suitcase closed, lowered it to the floor and extended the roller handle, holding it tight. With her other hand, she slung one strap of her backpack of medical supplies over her shoulder and draped her coat over her arm.
Rolling her suitcase behind her, she opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight. The only things that stood between her and home now were the bus ride to Goshen and the walk to the farm. If she could convince the bus driver to let her off outside of town, she would have only eight miles to trek.
She traipsed to the bus station three blocks away, purchased her ticket and sat in the seat behind the driver. “Could you let me off outside of Goshen?” She gave him the country road names of the intersection.
“Sorry. I’m not authorized to make a stop there.” He tipped his head up and glanced at her in his rearview mirror. “Is someone meeting you at the station?”
“No.” She hadn’t had the courage to contact anyone to come get her. It would be harder to turn her away if she were at the door.
“How you getting from town out to the country?”
“I’ll walk.”
“That’s a long ways. Well over ten miles.”
Thirteen point two from the city limits and another two or three from the bus station. “I’ll be fine.” She needed to get used to traversing these stretches. No time like the present.
“I’m sure one of your people would gladly come into town to get you. Or you could take a taxi.”
If someone knew she was returning today. But she hadn’t told anyone. “The walk will do me gut.” It would help transition her back into the slower pace of life. As well as giving her something to occupy herself with instead of dealing with idle chatter. Giving her a chance to prepare herself for the meeting of her people. She hoped they still were her people.
She stared out the window at her home state’s terrain sweeping by. As the Indiana countryside grew increasingly more familiar, snippets of her past surged through her. Places she’d been. People she’d seen. Homes she’d visited. Her life among the English fell away with each passing mile.
The bus slowed, and the driver pulled onto the shoulder of the highway and stopped under an overpass. The one she’d hoped he could have taken to shorten her walk. The driver stood and faced the passengers. “I need to check something on the bus outside. Won’t be but a minute.” The driver gazed directly at Kathleen. “Could you accompany me?”
Kathleen stood. “All right.” She didn’t know what help she could be.
With a broad smile, he motioned for her to precede him down the steps.
