A Man of His Word by Kathleen Fuller

Author:Kathleen Fuller [Fuller, Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2009-09-01T06:00:00+00:00

As they made their way home from church, Rachel and her mother rode in silence. Sarah stared straight ahead as she guided the horse and buggy down the road. Her black bonnet obscured her face, keeping Rachel from discerning her thoughts, although she suspected she already knew what Sarah was thinking about. She was thinking about it too.

The entire community had been abuzz this morning at church. Soon everyone knew that Levi Miller had left his wife and the Amish. Rachel could barely believe it. She didn’t know Levi well, but she had thought he and Moriah had a good marriage. They were still newlyweds—how could there be trouble in the relationship already? Yet having marriage problems was one thing. Leaving the church was an entirely different story.

She’d known a few people who had “yanked over” by leaving their faith, mostly rebellious teens and young adults who had gotten a taste of the Yankee world and started to chafe underneath the Ordnung. Usually those who left hadn’t been baptized and were allowed to come back to the community and socialize with their family and friends. She knew of only one woman who had moved away after she had joined the church. Rachel had heard she had fallen in love with a Yankee, but she didn’t know if that was a rumor or not, because the woman had never returned. When she left, she was immediately put in the bann. Maybe the shunning had kept her away, not an outlander. Rachel could only guess at the true reasons.

Leaving the church had never been an option in Rachel’s mind. She had always known she would become Amish when she was old enough to make the decision about baptism. The trappings of the world had never appealed to her, and she had never had the desire to break the Ordnung. Why would anyone want to, when their faith offered them so much?

Back at home, Rachel and her mother prepared a cold lunch. Aaron hadn’t attended church that morning—he had still been in his room when they’d arrived home. Again, her father, Emmanuel, along with her mother didn’t say anything when he came downstairs without a word. Rachel couldn’t figure out why he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do.

“I’m going to visit Emma,” Sarah had announced when they finished with dinner. “She needs our support. Rachel, please wash the dishes. I’d like you to come with me.”

Rachel had just popped the last bit of her ham and Swiss cheese sandwich in her mouth and she froze midchew. Alarm shot through her at the thought of going to the Bylers. She had managed to avoid Tobias at the service that morning, only seeing him briefly before church had started. Thank goodness they hadn’t crossed paths. That would have been embarrassing. Either he hadn’t seen her in the service or he was ignoring her, and she would bet a week’s tips he’d disregarded her on purpose. The last thing she wanted to do was run into him again, especially after what had happened between them two nights ago.

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