Faithful to Laura
A
CCLAIM FOR
K
ATHLEEN
F
ULLER
“A fresh and captivating voice in the Amish genre, Kathleen Fuller weaves a richly patterned story [in
A Man of His Word
] that explores not only the depths of the Amish faith but also the most intimate struggles of the heart.”
—T
AMERA
A
LEXANDER, BEST-SELLING
AUTHOR OF
T
HE
I
NHERITANCE AND
F
ROM A
D
ISTANCE
An Honest Love
held my interest from the first page—a double dose of romance as two couples struggle to put the past behind them and move forward. Fans of Amish fiction will appreciate the descriptive details as they revisit the Old Order Amish community of Middlefield. Kathleen’s given us another heart-gripping tale.”
—B
ETH
W
ISEMAN, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR
OF
S
EEK
M
E
W
ITH
A
LL
Y
OUR
H
EART
“
A Man of His Word
by Kathleen Fuller is a heartwarming story of how faith and commitment can overcome betrayal. Highly recommended!”
—C
OLLEEN
C
OBLE, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF
B
LUE
M
OON
P
ROMISE
“Terrific! I was totally engaged in the characters and the families in this lovely story. With Gabriel as the hero, the title is certainly well chosen. His faith, along with Moriah’s, represents a steady, underlying conviction and peacefulness despite the very real struggles they face within the pages. [
A Man of His Word
] is a story—and characters—I didn’t want to leave.”
—M
AUREEN
L
ANG, AUTHOR
OF
M
Y
S
ISTER
D
ILLY
“Kathleen Fuller has done it again. [
An Honest Love
is a] wonderful tale of love, friendship, and loss that kept me up late just to see how it would end.”
—J
ENNY
B. J
ONES, AUTHOR
OF
S
AVE THE
D
ATE
Faithful to Laura
A
LSO BY
K
ATHLEEN
F
ULLER
The Middlefield Family series
Treasuring Emma
The Hearts of Middlefield series
A Man of His Word
An Honest Love
A Hand to Hold
Novellas included in
An Amish Christmas
An Amish Gathering
An Amish Love
An Amish Wedding
The Mysteries of Middlefield series for young readers
A Summer Secret
The Secrets Beneath
Hide and Secret
Faithful to Laura
A
MIDDLEFIELD
FAMILY
Novel
K
ATHLEEN
F
ULLER
© 2012 by Kathleen Fuller
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible. All rights reserved.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fuller, Kathleen.
Faithful to Laura / Kathleen Fuller.
p. cm. -- (A Middlefield family novel)
ISBN 978-1-59554-776-7 (pbk.)
1. Amish--Fiction. 2. Middlefield (Ohio)--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3606.U553F35 2012
813’.6--dc23
2012014077
Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 17 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
appeditlich
: delicious
bann:
shunned, excommunicated from the church
bu
: boy
buwe
: boys
daed
: dad, father
danki
: thank you
Dietsch
: Pennsylvania Dutch, the language spoken by the Amish
dumm
: dumb
Englisch
: non-Amish
familye
: family
fraa
: wife, woman
g
eh
: go
grossdochter
: granddaughter
grosskinn
: grandchild
grossmammi, grossmudder
: grandmother
grosssohn
: grandson
grossvadder
: grandfather
gut mariye
: good morning
guten nacht
: good night
haus
: house
kaffee
: coffee
kapp
: prayer cap
kinn
: child
kinner
: children
lieb
: love, sweetheart
maedel
: girl
mammi, mamm
: mom, mother
mann
: man
mei
: my
mudder
: mother
nix
: nothing
onkel
: uncle
Ordnung
: the unwritten Amish rule of life
perfekt
: perfect
rumspringa
: the period between ages sixteen and twenty-four, loosely translated as “running around time.” For Amish young adults,
rumspringa
ends when they join the church.
schwester
: sister
sohn
: son
schee
: pretty, beautiful
schwoger
: brother-in-law
vadder
: father
wie gehts
: how are you?
ya
: yes
yung
: young
“Laura . . . you’re so beautiful.”
Laura Stutzman held her breath, her skin tingling as Mark King touched her smooth cheek. She’d known him for such a short time; less than three months ago he had arrived in Tennessee and found his way to Etheridge, to their little community . . . and to her
.