An Amish Christmas With the Bontrager Sisters by Hannah Schrock

Author:Hannah Schrock [Schrock, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0158VQYUA
Goodreads: 26829805
Published: 2015-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Courting Scandal

Martha was lost in the rhythm of her fingers. In the tranquil silence of the shop she sat on the rocking chair and sewed patterns on the midnight blue quilt she was working on. The colors caught her eye immediately and brightened her mood. All alone, far from prying eyes and curious ears, Martha sang an English song she had learned to love in her rumspringa.

She seldom thought of her fiancé now, her dreams now filled with a blonde young man with blue eyes and a winning smile on his lips. Jacob Lapp had made it clear that he wished to court Martha. He waited for her if she got late, the rest of the people in the wagon showing their displeasure through their silence. Jacob would keep up a merry chatter as they drove to the community, dropping every family off till they were alone and then he would lapse into a companionable silence allowing Martha the time to become familiar with him and to initiate a dialogue.

Martha had to admit that it was working. Little by little she was growing more comfortable in his presence and the other day he had produced a bottle of lemonade which they had shared surreptitiously.

The bell above the door jangled and Martha looked up to see Jane King stride into the shop. She looked furious. Martha knew that Jane had been hoping for Jacob to court her and that she would be upset by the new circumstances, but the look of pure venom in Jane’s eyes told Martha she might have underestimated Jane’s bitterness.

“You must stop,” Jane said in clipped tones. Martha saw her fists clenched by the side of her skirts. “He is a sweet innocent man and you need to stop corrupting him with your sinful ways.”

“Jane,” Martha set her quilt aside. “I know you are upset,”

“I am more than upset, Martha Bontrager,” Jane napped, “You have led a wonderful, good man astray with your vile English trappings. Have you no shame? To do this to a gut man after Jeramiah left your sister for an Englischer?”

“That is nonsense!”

“You were gone for years!” Jane went on as if she had been keeping these angry words in for far too long. “How are we to know that you didn’t indulge in every sin there is to indulge in? And now you mean to have the cherry on top of your decadent cake and marry a gut plain man? Do you think Gott does not know of your deviousness and will take your deception at face value? He knows and I know that you are corrupt and bad and you do not belong in our community.”

Martha felt her hands shaking and knew that her face was as white as a sheet. To hear the very words you feared people were thinking thrown in your face was agony beyond compare. Sarah’s diagnosis and her insistence to refuse treatment had left the family crippled with sorrow but this was cutting to the bone.

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