An Amish Christmas Promise

“That sounds like the voice of experience.”

Michael sighed. “My parents died when I was young, and both my twin brother and I had to learn not to expect something horrible was going to happen without warning.”

“I’m sorry. I should have asked more about you and the other volunteers. I’ve been wrapped up in my own tragedy.”

“At times like this, nobody expects you to be thinking of anything but getting a roof over your kinder’s heads.”

He didn’t reach out to touch her, but she was aware of every inch of him so close to her. His quiet strength had awed her from the beginning. As she’d come to know him better, his fundamental decency had impressed her more. He was a man she believed she could trust.

She shoved that thought aside. Trusting any man would be the worst thing she could do.

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.

—Galatians 6:2–5

Dear Reader (#u40173b0d-8875-5eb1-8237-d71ebf8caa9b),

Sometimes, the worst events bring out the best in people. We met many of our new neighbors when a hurricane swept through our town, and we were outside cleaning debris. Those who were able stepped up without fanfare to help those who weren’t, and within a week, our neighborhood looked just as it should have. But we had a new camaraderie that lasted far longer than the scars of damage.

The Mennonite Disaster Service was established seventy years ago when a group of young people wanted to help others. MDS volunteers, who are both plain and Englisch, come primarily from the US and Canada and have helped rebuild homes and lives after disasters, usually weather related or due to wildfires.

Visit me at www.joannbrownbooks.com (http://www.joannbrownbooks.com). Look for my next book, again set in Evergreen Corners, Vermont, coming soon.

Wishing you many blessings,

Jo Ann Brown

For Amanda, who keeps us looking good

Contents

Cover (#uf1645d32-03a4-5537-bf9b-e4302a76304a)

Back Cover Text (#u98c0f56d-af9b-5b7d-a725-32646989eb07)

About the Author (#ufa185ea5-f090-5ad3-b585-1c45146dca37)

Booklist (#u2212fae9-1306-51ab-a8bc-f8afce05e5b5)

Title Page (#u0f13d0fe-3d17-5f21-9a8e-e0c32e58ab6e)

Copyright (#ua0025053-542d-5d05-924c-576b01893f33)

Note to Readers

Introduction (#u5be888d5-2b1c-5307-bb28-bef22f11690a)

Bible Verse (#u3c22408f-83c0-53f4-8aec-969042f66ab1)

Dear Reader (#u0eb4debf-3e16-576f-81b0-84872f591efe)

Dedication (#ua5d20f20-8598-59e7-b62c-4fd2093a4db4)

Chapter One (#u8a8a0118-032b-59d7-aeeb-dd7d8007d271)

Chapter Two (#u60e2f30b-963b-56e6-90e6-1467c15a38e3)

Chapter Three (#u63d756da-fbd8-5afd-a2eb-78603f42d2fa)

Chapter Four (#u5ccbc951-bdbf-5922-b134-a32c6a52568a)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#u40173b0d-8875-5eb1-8237-d71ebf8caa9b)

Evergreen Corners, Vermont

The bus slowed with a rumble of its diesel engine.

Michael Miller opened his eyes. A crick in his neck warned him that he’d fallen asleep in a weird position. The last time he’d ridden a bus was when he caught one to the train station in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Then he’d traveled with his twin brother and Gabriel’s bopplin to their new farm in Harmony Creek Hollow in northern New York.