A Forbidden Amish Courtship by Jennifer (J.E.B.) Spredemann

A Forbidden Amish Courtship by Jennifer (J.E.B.) Spredemann

Author:Jennifer (J.E.B.) Spredemann [SPREDEMANN, JENNIFER]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jennifer (J.E.B.) Spredemann


Chapter 9

Every time the bell above the door to the feedstore jingled, Sammy hoped against hope that he’d lift his head and see Bertie standing there. But it hadn’t happened. Not today. Not yesterday. Not the entire aching week.

He figured this would be a safe place for them to interact. It was public. His father was present.

She knew he worked there, so why hadn’t she shown up? Had she agreed with her vatter? Was she willing to give up on their courtship before they even had a chance to see it blossom?

Not knowing the answers to his questions was driving him mad.

If only they could speak briefly. He’d contemplated waiting outside Bertie’s house until everyone had retired for the evening, then throwing a pebble at her window. Except, he didn’t know which window belonged to her. What if he threw a stone at her folks’ or bruder’s window? That would not be gut at all. He couldn’t afford to be wrong about something like that.

Somehow, he’d have to find a way to speak privately with her at meeting this week. Since this was the first meeting he’d be attending after a several months’ absence, he didn’t doubt half the sermons would be directed at him.

But he didn’t care about any of that. Truth be told, he was going to church to make his vatter happy and to seek out Bertie.

Jah, he knew those were the wrong reasons, but at least he was honest. He suspected there were many folks who really didn’t want to be there. If the Ordnung didn’t exist or wasn’t strictly enforced, he guessed at least half of the people wouldn’t be attending the monotonous, painfully boring three-hour service every other Sunday.

He’d gone to an Englisch church service once while he was living in the world and had been shocked by it. Not only had the service lasted merely an hour, but everything was faster and more exciting. The singing—which, delightfully, included musical instruments—the plain preaching in English—which he actually understood and had made sense—and the folks in attendance seemed happy for the most part. Like they wanted to be there.

He desired to return, too, but the friend he’d gone with had other ideas. The only part he was disappointed in was the fact that they didn’t serve a common meal or have games or any of that after the meeting. Socializing was nearly non-existent. Everyone just said hello and goodbye and went their separate ways.

Now that he had a chance to ponder it a bit, he supposed there were some positives in the way his Amish G’may kept their centuries-old traditions.

But was it better to get together every other week like the Plain folks or meet with the church members three times every week like the Englisch? He hadn’t learned until after he’d returned home and read through the program he’d received, that the Englisch church met both on Sunday morning and on Sunday night, and in the middle of the week. Not to mention, there were other church-related events that allowed folks to fellowship together.



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