The promise, p.1
The Promise, page 1
Sometimes love is where you least expect it…
Sarah Yoder has always dreamed of having a family of her own. But with no eligible prospects, she’s beginning to worry—until the Raber brothers return to Cedar Grove. Sarah and Isaac Raber walked out together the summer they were sixteen, so perhaps he’s the one. If only she had a little help catching his eye…
Levi Raber has no interest in marriage. When his mother reveals her plans to deed the family farm to the first son who marries, Levi has a plan to ensure that it isn’t him: a pretend courtship with Sarah to nudge his competitive brother in her direction. Then Levi can leave town to train racehorses—just as he wanted. So why does Sarah—with her vision of a peaceful, happy life on the land—make his heart gallop? Perhaps the answer lies in the promise of how sweetly surprising love can be.
Also available from
Patricia Davids
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The Amish of Cedar Grove
The Wish
The Hope
The Promise
PATRICIA DAVIDS
The Promise
This book is dedicated to my charming sister-in-law Theresa Stroda. We need another girls’ day out. I’m game if you are. Let’s go explore a new Kansas Amish community.
Contents
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 ONE
“I KNOW YOU don’t want to hear this, but I’m going to say it anyway. I’m tired of waiting for the two of you to settle down. I want grandbabies.”
Levi Raber choked on a sip of his strong black coffee and set his mug down hard enough to splash hot liquid on his fingers. He shook his hand as his gaze flashed to his mother’s face.
Henrietta Raber’s eyes were narrowed with determination, her lips set in a tight line. She might look like a meek Amish woman with her white kapp pinned to her brown-and-silver–streaked hair, but when Henrietta took the bit between her teeth there was no stopping her.
“Grandbabies require a mother, and that means a wife for one of us,” his brother, Isaac, quipped, wagging his eyebrows at Levi. “I’m not baptized, so it looks like it will be you, brudder. That’s one game I’d be happy to let you win.”
Levi gave him a sour glance. “I don’t know why you feel the need to top me at everything except how much work I put into the stables.”
“That’s because I don’t care for horses. I’d rather drive a car.”
Their mother glared at Isaac. “Your rumspringa has gone on long enough. You are twenty-two. You will make up your mind to join the faithful this summer, or you will move out of my home.”
“You don’t mean that,” Isaac sputtered.
“She means it.” Levi leaned back in his chair. “What is this all about, Mamm?”
“Exactly what I said. I want you to find wives. Isaac goes from girl to girl like a hummingbird from feeder to feeder and wastes his time with those rowdy Englisch friends. You only pay attention to those ridiculous horses.”
Since he was running the family’s broodmare farm almost single-handedly, Levi wasn’t sure how he was supposed to ignore the animals that were their livelihood.
She sniffled and closed her eyes. “I expected to have the company of your father long into our old age, but Gott had other plans for my Walter. He’s been gone a year next month.” Her voice trailed away as her lower lip quivered.
She glanced between her sons and settled her gaze on Levi. “Now I look to you to provide me with grandchildren to care for me in my declining years.”
Fifty-two didn’t qualify as declining years to Levi, but it was evident that his father’s death had taken a toll on his mother’s health and certainly her happiness. She had lost weight and rarely left the house anymore. It was exactly what his father had feared would happen.
The memory of his last moments with his father flashed into Levi’s mind. The young horse limping away from the shattered remains of the practice cart that Levi had to toss aside to reach his father. His daed’s pale face twisted with pain, his eyes wide as he tried to breathe through the blood frothing at his lips.
“Look after...your brother...and your mother. She’ll fall apart...without me. Keep the...farm going,” he managed to say in a ragged whisper.
“You don’t need to ask, Daed. I will. I promise.”
“Wing’s gonna...be...our...champ...”
Levi stared into his coffee cup. He had asked his father to exercise the skittish new gelding while he finished cooling down Wing and a Prayer. He’d seen the new horse panic, watched in horror as the racing cart flipped, throwing his father into the railing. He had rushed to his father’s side shouting for help, but it came too late. All he had been able to do was hold his father’s hand and promise to care for the people and the things he loved.
Levi pushed the sad memory aside. It had been God’s will. If he told himself that often enough he might someday believe it. “I don’t have time to look for a wife. I have a stable to run.”
Wife hunting wasn’t on the list of things he needed to make Raber Stables profitable again. His father had poured his blood, sweat and heart into the place. Levi owed it to his father to continue his legacy.
“You’ll never find time as long as you pay more attention to those dangerous animals than you do people.”
She wiped her eyes. “That is going to change. I have sold this farm. We’re moving to Cedar Grove, Kansas, to my childhood home. My parents left the property to me years ago. I wanted us to move there, but your father would never consider leaving this place. He tried to get me to sell my farm so he could buy more of those worthless horses, but I knew to keep it. I rented the farm to a fellow, but now he is ready to retire.”
Levi couldn’t believe what he was hearing. When had she done this? How could she sell what his father had spent a lifetime building?
She nodded to him. “You and Isaac will farm it together. I intend to deed it outright to the one who marries first.”
Isaac’s mouth dropped open. “We can’t leave Lancaster. What about our friends?”
“The moving van will be here the day after tomorrow. You’ll have time to say goodbye to your Englisch so-called friends. You’ll be well rid of them. Besides, you made friends in Kansas the summer you stayed with my folks. That girl Sarah still writes to you.”
“She’s just a kid, but that’s not the point. I don’t want to leave.”
“You’ve failed to keep a steady job. You have no means of support. You will come with me and that is the end of it.”
Isaac’s brows drew together in a frown. “We’ll see about that!” He pushed away from the table and stormed out.
Levi gaped at his mother. “Our family has raised standardbred horses on these eighty acres for a hundred years. Daed loved this place. How could you sell it?”
“He loved it, and it killed him.”
“It was an accident, Mamm,” he muttered, swallowing his guilt.
“It was a crazed racehorse. I lost my husband, but I won’t lose my sons to this business. I have sold the mares along with the property.”
Levi’s breath caught in his throat. The mares and their foals were the foundation of the farm’s future. Without them it was little more than eighty acres of grass with a barn and a practice track. He leaned forward. “What about Wing and a Prayer? You can’t have sold her. She’s mine.”
The horse had been a gift from his father. Their Amish church district was one of the few in Lancaster that allowed members to own and breed racehorses. Raising and training trotters and pacers along with keeping the winnings a good horse earned was acceptable, but no gambling was permitted. A man could quickly find himself shunned for placing wagers.
Levi had high hopes for Wing and a Prayer. She was a promising filly. It had been more than ten years since Raber Stables had produced a major money winner, but Levi believed that Wing would be the next one.
His mother leaned back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. “We will need a buggy horse in Kansas. You can bring her along.”
“She’s a racehorse, not a buggy horse. Who bought the place?”
“Arnold Diehl. He will take good care of it.”
Arnold was an Englisch neighbor with his own stables. Levi had trained several of his horses who went on to win big at major racetracks. He couldn’t believe the man had purchased the place without talking to him first. He got up from the table. “I must speak to Arnold.”
“It won’t change anything,” she said behind him as he walked out the door.
Once he was outside, the sick feeling growing in his stomach made him brace his hands on his knees and take slow, deep breaths. How could she do this? From the time he was old enough to walk, Levi had loved everything about raising and training st
He would never love anything as much as he loved this farm.
He stood up straight. His mother was going to be bitterly disappointed if she thought plowing a Kansas wheat field would be a satisfying life for him. He would find a way to get back what she had sold.
As he neared the stable, he was surprised to see Arnold’s pickup parked beside it. Arnold appeared in the open doorway. He was a big man with silver-white hair under his red ball cap. “I see she told you.”
Levi walked over to lean against the white board fence. “She told me. Why didn’t you?”
Arnold came to stand beside him. “I promised Henrietta I’d let her break the news. I know it’s tough, but you’ve been hanging on to this place by a thread for the past three years. Your pa made some bad business decisions.”
“I could have turned it around. In another three months Wing and a Prayer will be ready to compete.”
Arnold clapped a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “She’s a beautiful filly, but we both know there’s a big difference between owning a promising two-year-old and a winning one.”
“She’s a champion. Daed said she was the horse he’d waited a lifetime to see born here.”
Several of the mares with foals at their sides walked up to greet Levi. He rubbed the face of each one in turn. He couldn’t imagine his life without these magnificent animals.
Arnold stroked the nose of a curious foal. “Your dad knew horses, but he wasn’t so good at business. He put too much heart into his decisions instead of using his brain. If you want to stay on, I’ll give you a job right now. You’re one of the best trainers I know.”
Levi lifted his straw hat and raked his fingers through his dark curls as he realized he had no choice but to turn down Arnold’s offer. “I appreciate that, but I promised Daed I’d look after Mamm. She’s set on moving to Kansas. I can’t let her and Isaac go by themselves.”
“Maybe once Henrietta is settled, she won’t object to you coming back.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “She wants to see Isaac and me saddled with wives.”
Arnold laughed. “My mother was that same way, but once my kid brother got hitched, she stopped nagging me. Which was a good thing. A wife that doesn’t understand and love racing the way you and I do can put a damper on a man’s career and his business decisions. Your father was a prime example. Before he married he was as good a trainer as you are. Afterward, he gave it up because your mother hated the risks that came with the job.”
“He told me.” It was the main reason Levi had avoided serious relationships.
“Take my advice. Find a nice gal for Isaac, and then you can make your escape.”
Levi rubbed a hand down the silky neck of the nearest mare. Arnold might be on to something. Maybe one wedding would satisfy his mother.
Isaac was always sure he was in love with each new girlfriend who came along. Until he met the next one. He did his best to entice any woman who gave Levi a second look to go out with him instead. They usually did. Isaac’s blond good looks paired with his smooth-talking ways had captured the hearts of many young women, whereas Levi’s stoic personality kept them at bay. It was amazing Isaac wasn’t married already.
Maybe he simply needed a push in that direction from his big brother. Would the prospect of owning his own farm be enough to convince Isaac to settle down? Was that their mother’s reason for saying she’d give the land to the first one who married?
Levi turned to Arnold. “If Wing and a Prayer is as good as I believe she is, will you sell this place back to me?”
Arnold met Levi’s gaze without flinching. “Talk to me after her first race.”
Levi looked out over the green pasture dotted with mares and foals. I’ll get it back, Daed. I promise.
* * *
SARAH YODER STOPPED hoeing at the persistent weeds in the vegetable garden and straightened to stretch her back. The spring sunshine was warm on her shoulders. The moist soil under her bare feet was cool and soft. A few puffy clouds drifted across a bright blue Kansas sky. The brisk breeze that cooled her cheeks and fluttered the ribbons of her Amish kapp against her neck carried the sweet scent of the lavender fields to her. Summer would be here soon with hot days and sticky nights, but for now she would enjoy every nice day that early May had to offer.
Her brother-in-law, Joshua, and her sister, Laura Beth, were each working their way down adjoining rows. They stopped, too. Joshua leaned over and gave Laura Beth a quick kiss. It was easy to see they were in love.
Both had been married before and lost their spouses. Sarah wondered if that was why they seemed to treasure every moment together. Stolen kisses throughout the day were the norm for those two on the farm. So were lingering glances and holding hands. They had been married for two years, but their romance showed no sign of fading.
Sarah wanted a love like that.
She closed her eyes. To have a husband who loved her and to raise a family of her own in Cedar Grove, Kansas, was all she wanted out of life. A simple, plain life among the people she knew and cared about. It wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
Sarah sighed. The shortage of marriageable men in her Amish community was the real problem. Unless the Lord did something about that, she might remain a spinster.
Two and a half years ago Laura Beth had made plans for the sisters to move to Ohio for that very reason. Sarah had resisted the notion with tooth and nail. She hadn’t been ready to settle down. At nineteen she couldn’t imagine moving away from her dear friends. Sarah, Angela, Ella and Melody had often been referred to as the Four Peas. As alike as peas in a pod, their teacher used to say. The girls had done everything together through elementary school and beyond. But two years ago things started to change.
Joshua arrived in Cedar Grove with his infant son, Caleb, and Laura Beth fell in love with them both. Melody met an Amish boy from Haven, Kansas, and married him. She was expecting her first baby soon. Ella had gone to visit her grandparents in Missouri, where she met Zack Hostetler. The two had been married last year and returned to Jamesport, Missouri, to live with Zack’s family. Angela and Sarah were the only two peas left, and Angela was walking out with Bishop Weaver’s grandson Thaddeus. They were quietly planning a fall wedding. Unless the Lord had a surprise up His sleeve, Sarah would soon be the last lone pea in the pod.
Maybe she should have taken Isaac Raber up on his offer to marry her. The thought made her smile.
Handsome Isaac, the young man from Pennsylvania who had stolen her heart the summer she turned sixteen. Isaac had spent a few brief months in Cedar Grove working on his grandfather’s farm, but he’d spent every free minute courting Sarah. She had some wonderful memories of their time together. On his last day she had gone with him to the bus station where he proposed to her. She had laughingly refused him because she knew he wasn’t serious. Isaac had seldom been serious. Their summer romance ended once he returned to his family’s home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They had both been too young and immature to make a long-distance courtship work, but they had remained friends, occasionally exchanging letters.
“Is something wrong, Sarah?” her sister asked.
Sarah opened her eyes to see Laura Beth staring at her. She smiled. “Nee. I was just thinking about a friend I haven’t heard from lately.”
“Who would that be?”
“Isaac.”
Laura Beth looked puzzled. “Do I know him?”
“He’s the boy from Pennsylvania that I had such a wild crush on a few years ago.”
Laura Beth smiled. “Now I remember. You still write to each other?”
Sarah nodded and resumed hoeing around the young beet plants. Isaac hadn’t answered her last letter yet. He was such a poor correspondent. Often she mailed him four or five letters before he got around to writing back. His missives were short and all about his life in Pennsylvania, his annoying older brother or the fun he and his friends were having during their rumspringa. He never wrote about settling down.
