Silvia's Rose Read online

  BOOKS BY JERRY S. EICHER

  THE ADAMS COUNTY TRILOGY

  Rebecca’s Promise

  Rebecca’s Return

  Rebecca’s Choice

  THE BEILER SISTERS

  Holding a Tender Heart

  Seeing Your Face Again

  Finding Love at Home

  EMMA RABER’S DAUGHTER

  Katie Opens Her Heart

  Katie’s Journey to Love

  Katie’s Forever Promise

  FIELDS OF HOME

  Missing Your Smile

  Following Your Heart

  Where Love Grows

  HANNAH’S HEART

  A Dream for Hannah

  A Hope for Hannah

  A Baby for Hannah

  LAND OF PROMISE

  Miriam’s Secret

  A Blessing for Miriam

  Miriam and the Stranger

  LITTLE VALLEY

  A Wedding Quilt for Ella

  Ella’s Wish

  Ella Finds Love Again

  THE ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY AMISH

  A Heart Once Broken

  Until I Love Again

  Always Close to Home

  PEACE IN THE VALLEY

  Silvia’s Rose

  Phoebe’s Gift

  Mary’s Home

  STANDALONES

  My Amish Childhood

  The Amish Family Cookbook (with Tina Eicher)

  HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

  EUGENE, OREGON

  All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

  Cover by Garborg Design Works

  Cover Image © Dean Fikar, volgariver, pellinni / Bigstock

  The author is represented by MacGregor Literary, Inc.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  SILVIA’S ROSE

  Copyright © 2017 by Jerry S. Eicher

  Published by Harvest House Publishers

  Eugene, Oregon 97402

  www.harvesthousepublishers.com

  ISBN 978-0-7369-6930-7 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-0-7369-6931-4 (eBook)

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Eicher, Jerry S., author.

  Title: Silvia’s rose / Jerry S. Eicher.

  Description: Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, [2017] | Series: Peace in the valley; 1

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017006752 (print) | LCCN 2017010984 (ebook) | ISBN 9780736969307 (paperback) | ISBN 9780736969314 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Amish—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Christian / Romance. | GSAFD: Christian fiction. | Love stories.

  Classification: LCC PS3605.I34 S55 2017 (print) | LCC PS3605.I34 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017006752

  All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s and publisher’s rights is strictly prohibited.

  CONTENTS

  Books by Jerry S. Eicher

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Discussion Questions

  About the Author

  How to Heal a Broken Heart

  Dreams Never Die When You Believe in Them

  Ready to Discover More?

  About the Publisher

  ONE

  Esther Stoltzfus stepped off the front porch of the small house on Fords Bush Road and looked out over the peaceful valley. A gentle April breeze wafted down from the Adirondack foothills and moved across her face. She reached up to brush a few stray hairs back under her kapp. What a wunderbah home this would make for her and little Diana. They both needed a fresh start, and a place to fully heal after Lonnie’s passing.

  A smile filled Esther’s face. How right she had been in her decision. Months ago she had made the arrangements to purchase this place through the King family, who lived a few hundred yards down Fords Bush Road. Mamm and Daett had traveled up with her from Lancaster County and were now busy unloading the U-Haul with help from most of the Amish community’s adults.

  Esther took another long look across the vista to the north. What a change this place was from the flat farmlands of Lancaster County. For a moment her breath caught. It seemed almost too much change—but surely she could handle it. Had not the Lord forced change on her with Lonnie’s passing two years ago?

  That tragic time had changed her life in ways she hadn’t planned, but she had survived. The Lord’s will was always the best—no matter how hard it seemed in the day of trouble. The Lord used change to teach lessons that were needed. Esther hoped she had thoroughly learned what the Lord sought to teach her through that time of sorrow.

  When the idea for a move occurred to her, she had embraced the possibility willingly. Perhaps here she would find again what she had lost. Her husband had been ordained a minister two years after their wedding, and she had flourished in the role of a minister’s wife for two more years before the Lord took Lonnie. Yah, the Lord gave and the Lord took away, and surely this move was the Lord’s giving again. She was sure of that. She would become part of the Amish community here in the valley, as she had been in Lancaster County—a solid part of a tradition that was more than five hundred years old.

  How she had loved Lonnie and his kind and gentle ways. He had been exactly the husband she had wanted: steady, dependable, and faithful to the Lord. They had been given one daughter, little Diana, before Lonnie passed. Now the time had come to move on.

  Her instincts were also right about Isaiah Mast. The handsome widower had stopped by a few minutes earlier and given her a brief smile. True, they didn’t have a dating relationship or even an understanding, nor had Isaiah asked her to move to the valley. She had merely followed her heart, sensing that Isaiah might be the right kind of man. The kind of man she could trust. And Isaiah wouldn’t think her bold or o
ut of her place in making this move. He, like she, would see the hand of the Lord at work.

  A smile continued to play on Esther’s face. She shouldn’t linger while the others finished unloading the last of the boxes. The heavy pieces of furniture were already in the house, and most of the men had gone home to do their chores. Daett had walked down the road with John King to help where he could, and later everyone would return for supper. Afterward, the women would make a final check to make sure Esther was settled in and comfortable. In the meantime, she needed a few moments to collect her thoughts.

  The small community had already wrapped warm arms around her and made her feel at home. Esther lifted her head for one last look before she walked around the U-Haul to gather two small boxes into her arms and head back toward the house. As she passed several of the women on their way out, she received tender smiles. Many of the community’s women would think her presumptuous if they knew of her plans, but that was because they didn’t understand yet. Esther was not given to passionate emotions. She was a simple woman, and she knew what she wanted. This move was in the Lord’s will, and so would be her eventual marriage to Isaiah Mast if all went as she hoped.

  Ahead of her, Mamm put her hands on her hips and scolded, “Where have you been, daughter? You vanished into thin air.”

  “I was just catching my breath,” Esther told her. “They’ll understand.”

  Mamm’s face softened. “You’re braver than I am, that’s all I can say. Moving to a new community by yourself and with a small daughter too.”

  “It’s what I want, Mamm. Surely you can see how welcoming everyone is, just as we knew they would be.”

  “On that I agree.” Mamm gave Esther a sharp look. “But you haven’t told me the whole truth, have you? What is the real reason for your move? Is it Isaiah Mast? I noticed he paid you some attention when he was here earlier.”

  Esther hid her grin as another woman passed by on her way for more boxes. “Not here, Mamm. I’ll tell you later.”

  Her mother merely huffed and joined the others in heading for the U-Haul as Esther made her way around the piled boxes in the living room.

  Bishop Willis’s frau, Beth, had just put away some coffee mugs in the kitchen and turned to take the two small boxes from Esther’s arms. She smiled and asked, “How do you think you’ll like it here?”

  Esther returned the smile. “I was just looking around when I was outside. Everything is so beautiful and so different from Lancaster County. I’ll like it a lot. The change will be nice. A fresh start and all.”

  “Yah, a fresh start.” Beth’s face grew sober. “We all mourned with you when we heard of Lonnie’s passing. And now we’ll stand with you as your life begins again.”

  “Thank you,” Esther replied. “Lonnie’s death wasn’t how I expected life to turn out, but the Lord leads us into uncomfortable places in accordance with His will. He makes goot things out of bad. That’s what I’m hoping will happen here in the valley.”

  “We all move on in different ways, I suppose,” Beth allowed. “Your way might be to find what you once had and settle in again. Is that what you’re thinking?”

  Esther nodded. She might as well admit the truth to the bishop’s frau. She should be blushing with such a bold confession, but she was no longer a starry-eyed teenager. “Lonnie was a steady and faithful husband,” Esther whispered. “We would have loved each other all the days of our lives if the Lord had not made other plans.”

  “Yah, I understand.” Beth comforted her with a quick pat on the arm. “The ways of the Lord are hard to understand sometimes, but life moves on and you’re moving on with it. That’s the way of our people.” She paused and leaned closer. “Is there anything I can do to help? You know, we have quite a handsome widower in the community. Minister Isaiah Mast is much in need of a frau. Word has it that he’s one reason you’re settling here.”

  Esther laughed softly. “Isaiah has not said anything to give me such a hope.”

  Beth’s eyebrows went up. “But you do have an interest, then? This is goot.”

  Esther opened a box and didn’t answer.

  Beth gave her a quick glance before she continued. “Did you know of Isaiah from when he lived in Lancaster County?”

  Esther hesitated. “We knew each other from a distance during our rumspringa, but Isaiah lived in another district.”

  The bishop’s wife nodded and seemed satisfied.

  The front door slammed, and Esther turned to see five-year-old Diana enter with two little girls by her side. They were obviously close to the same age, and they had already begun a solid friendship. Esther opened her arms, and Diana flew into her mother’s embrace for a hug.

  “I see you have new friends.” Esther knelt to offer her hand to the other two. They bashfully demurred and dropped their gazes. “You’re not going to shake my hand?” Esther teased. “Who are these pretty little girls?”

  “Betty and Mary,” Diana announced without further explanation, hurrying off with the two in tow.

  Both women laughed.

  “Looks like the men are coming back,” Beth observed, glancing through the kitchen window. “There’s Joseph Zook walking up from his greenhouse. Have you met him yet? He lives down the road a bit, so I suppose you’ll be seeing a lot of each other. He mourns his own sorrow. He too needs a frau.”

  “No, I haven’t met him,” Esther demurred. Surely Beth didn’t expect her to consider another choice besides Isaiah. “What was his loss?”

  “His frau, Silvia. She was an Englisha girl who dropped in out of nowhere and ended up marrying Joseph. We never knew her, though. He moved here from Southern Lancaster County after her death. He won’t talk much about her, and none of us knows the circumstances well.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. That kind of loss is never easy.”

  After a moment when neither woman spoke, Esther told her, “Well, I’d best go out for more boxes.”

  “Where do you want these dishes?” Beth called after her.

  “Just put them on the top shelf.” Esther waved her hand in the general direction of the upper cupboards.

  “I can do that.” Beth gave her a smile. “When you see Joseph, be sure and speak a few words to him. Help us draw him out of his shell.”

  Esther nodded and continued on. Was Beth expecting Esther to resume the duties of a minister’s frau even before she wed Isaiah? Showing kindness to a hurting man was something she could do. The ease with which Beth accepted Esther’s place in the community took her breath away. She hadn’t even had a date with Isaiah yet. What further sign did she need that the Lord’s hand was in this move?

  Her steady and ordinary ways had been rewarded. She did not need fancy notions about love at first sight, pounding hearts, and all of those other Englisha ideas to be happy with another husband.

  After she stepped through the front door, she greeted the women who were clustered at the bottom of the porch steps. “Thank you all for helping. I so appreciate it!”

  One of them was Dorrine King, who lived just down the road. As Esther passed by, Dorrine turned to give her a smile and a quick squeeze on her arm. “You’re welcome.”

  When Esther approached the U-Haul, she saw it was empty except for one large box. The man Beth had referred to as Joseph Zook was bent over, his back turned to her, as he lifted the box. His arm muscles rippled as he heaved it upward. His beard came well down his chest, and his eyes above the box were a blaze of blue. He wasn’t handsome like Isaiah, but he wasn’t bad to look at either. Esther noticed as he turned to face her that his left leg was twisted. He stopped short, apparently startled by her appearance in front of him.

  “You must be Joseph,” she said with a warm smile. “Beth just told me you are my neighbor. Shall I take that?” She held out her arms.

  He gazed at her for a moment. “It’s okay. I can manage.” His look shifted down to his leg, and pain flashed across his face. Esther’s eyes were drawn there too.

  He shrugged. �
�My leg got caught in a pulley when I was small. It’s never been the same, but I get around.”

  “I didn’t mean to stare…” she began. Was that the right thing to say? “I’m sorry. I just thought…”

  He tried to smile. “Think nothing of it.” He lifted the heavy box even higher, as if to emphasize the point. He moved past her, his limp not as pronounced as she had expected it to be.

  “Hello, Joseph,” the women by the porch steps said as he passed.

  Joseph nodded but didn’t pause. One of the women held the front door open for him.

  Esther pulled herself up into the truck and began to gather up the debris.

  Dorrine and another woman hoisted themselves up into the truck as well. “I’ll do this,” Dorrine said. “There’s plenty for you to do inside.”

  Esther didn’t attempt a protest. As she turned to leave them, Dorrine told her, “Esther, you remember my cousin Arlene, don’t you? She has been staying with us this winter.”

  “Hi, Arlene,” Esther offered in greeting, and Arlene nodded in return.

  “It was nice of you to say a few words to Joseph. He lives right across the road from us, and we’ve all been trying to draw him out of the dream world he lives in,” Dorrine said. “And Arlene has taken a fancy to the man. So far she hasn’t been successful in drawing his interest, but we keep hoping.”

  “I’m trying. I really am.” Arlene declared. “I’ve been working for him in his greenhouse, but he is so strange! He thinks about nothing but his roses. He even talks to them. The poor man has to be brought back to the real world. With the Lord’s help, I hope to accomplish the task. He has so many needs, and I know he’s lonely living down there with his son, Ben. He moved here to escape his sorrow when his frau, Silvia, died.”

  “Well, I hope you succeed,” Esther told her. “Joseph seems like a nice enough man.”

  “So you will help?” Dorrine asked.

  “I don’t know how I could.” Esther forced a laugh. “The heart of a man is the Lord’s territory, but if there’s anything I can do, I surely will.”

  Dorrine smiled at her. “That’s kind of you to say. But I guess you are a minister’s frau.”

  “I was,” Esther corrected.