Love Comes to Paradise by Mary Ellis

Author:Mary Ellis
Language: eng, eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736943000
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

Nora loved Fridays at Grain of Life for several reasons. First, she got to sleep late because the bakery didn’t unlock the doors until one o’clock. They stayed open until seven p.m. to accommodate local Englischers running afternoon errands and those on their way home from work. Second, Emily, Violet, and Nora usually shared packed lunches before starting work. A grove of trees behind the shop provided cool shade for their picnic. They would swap news or tidbits of gossip they forgot to share the previous day. Emily always had district updates, while Violet’s tales frequently centered on news from one of her sisters or something she’d read in an English newspaper. Unbeknownst to Solomon, his elder daughter subscribed to the Columbia paper and passed the issues along. Violet loved stories of any kind, even if she didn’t know the people. The third reason? Friday evening was the usual night for Amish social gatherings. If there was to be a cookout, bonfire, or hayride, someone would stop by the bakery and extend the invitation to Violet and her.

Then maybe, just maybe, Lewis would take them. The past ten days since their romantic dinner in Sturgeon had been a roller coaster of highs and lows. Despite both of them having the next day off, she’d spent hers in a hot kitchen while Lewis helped Jonas’s brothers attempt to salvage the wheat field. Usually she saw him only at supper each night with the Gingerichs. During meals Lewis behaved with the upmost reserve and decorum. Occasionally, he referred to her as Miss King, even though she had sat with him in the porch swing three different evenings after supper. She felt like marking notches on the doorjamb. Considering the turtle pace of the courtship, it was a good thing he planned to stay until fall.

The bizarre act by Mother Nature had dashed their plans to go fishing from the dock. When the skies filled first with swarms of locusts and then flocks of crows, everyone in Randolph County canceled their outings. While she and Emily baked on Wednesday, Lewis and Jonas assessed crop damage on the Gingerich family farm. Then they drove around the district, viewing the destruction to the other farmers’ oat, rye, barley, and wheat crops.

Who could imagine cute little grasshoppers would eat so much?

And who could have predicted hungry crows would devour enough locusts to prevent a complete loss of the grain harvest?

It was all Violet and Emily wanted to discuss while they ate their sandwiches, chips, and fruit. Of course, Violet’s daed was fraught with anxiety over the implications. Nora had to admit that only in Bible stories had she ever heard of such catastrophes.

Emily wrung her hands. “I don’t know what to think,” she moaned. “Jonas tells me not to worry, but when I witness an honest-to-goodness plague, how can I not?”

Nora ate her bologna sandwich stoically. Didn’t Jesus teach us not to be afraid? Despite crop losses, she doubted anyone in Randolph County would starve due to locusts.

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