The Amish Bride (Lancaster Courtships Book 1) by Emma Miller

Author:Emma Miller [Miller, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Fiction, Amish, Christian, Mennonite, Religious, Faith, Inspirational, Courtship, Trilogy, Devoted, Wife, Brothers, Father, Arranged, Amish Country, Decision, Heartbreak, Past, Bride
ISBN: 9781460388624
Google: FDT3BgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Love Inspired
Published: 2015-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

At six o’clock that evening, after she’d finished the milking and seen that her parents were sitting down to a light supper, Ellen started down a lane that led from her father’s property to the Shetlers’. It was an old logging road: narrow, dirt and wooded on both sides. She’d taken care to use mosquito repellent liberally before she began the walk. She carried a wicker basket with cinnamon-raisin sticky buns and her birding binoculars.

Evening was the best time to sight unusual species. She’d heard warblers in the orchard, but the little birds had been fluttering from one heavily leafed branch to another, making it difficult to identify them. She’d seen a magnolia warbler on Saturday and wanted to log it before they took on autumn coloring and became what birders referred to as confusing fall warblers, because they looked so much alike. Like many other birds, warblers migrated from north to south, and birds that had spent the summer in Pennsylvania would soon be leaving for warmer climates. Lancaster County was a good place for birding, but not as good as the coastal areas farther east. Someday, Ellen hoped to be able to travel to Chincoteague, Virginia or the Delaware Bay during fall or springtime migrations.

As she walked, Ellen thought about the girl who had been sleeping on her porch. It pained Ellen to think that the girl might spend another night in a barn. Should she have done more for her than just given her a meal and let her take a shower? Had she failed in charity by merely giving her food and a place to bathe and then sending her off with nothing more than a prayer? Where was the line between helping a stranger in need and putting one’s self and family in danger?

Ellen had never hesitated when it had come time for her to join the church, but for Amish young adults, it was a personal decision. Naturally, families wanted their children to accept baptism in the faith, but no one could make that decision for them. In the Honeysuckle community many families had a child who’d chosen the English world, and so long as they hadn’t joined the church when they left, they were usually welcomed home with open arms. If she knew Gail better, there wouldn’t be a question about helping her—unless Gail had accepted the faith and then run away. Then Gail would have been under a ban. No one in the community would be able to eat with her. They weren’t even supposed to speak to her. It wasn’t meant as punishment but as a way to bring the lost sheep back to the fold; anyone who returned to the faith was welcomed with open arms. Gail hadn’t said if she had been baptized or not, and Ellen hadn’t asked. Should she have?

Perhaps, after a year or two away, Gail would decide to return to the faith. Staying away was difficult because church was the heart of Old Order Amish lives.

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