Free A Simple Autumn: A Seasons of Lancaster Novel by Rosalind Lauer Page A

have to fall for a boy from a family that was causing the ministers
     so much worry?
    She didn’t like to think about it; she had been friends with Sadie, and it was not
     her place to judge another. But she knew Bishop Samuel was talking about taking measures
     against Sadie for leaving the community a second time to live among the Englishers.
    And then there was Adam King about to marry the Englisher girl. Adam and Remy had
     gotten approval from the church leaders. From what Emma had heard, if Remy was truly
     committed to becoming a baptized member and living the Amish life, the church would
     let Adam marry her.
    Church approval was a very good thing. But the situation was unusual. Most Seekers,
     English who wanted to try living Amish, didn’t last more than a few weeks, and very
     few took the time to learn the language and the laws of the community.
    Remy McCallister was a special girl. But the fact that an Englisherwas marrying into the King family was an odd thing that would make them stand out
     for generations to come.
    A three-horned sheep.
    As much as people pretended that the three-horned sheep was no different, when you
     looked out to the pasture, there it was with three horns. And as Emma often told her
     young students, three did not equal two.

PART TWO

When Your Heart Aches

    A man’s heart deviseth his way:

But the Lord directeth his steps
.
    —PROVERBS 16:9

ELEVEN
    I ’ll take mine sunny-side up, just like the day,” Dat said the next morning when Annie
     asked him how he wanted his eggs.
    “It’s good to see the sunshine,” Lovina said. She handed a piece of biscuit to little
     Mark, who sat content in the high chair. “Will you be able to make hay today?”
    Dat nodded. “We need to do as much as we can this week, before Perry has to go.”
    Annie tousled one of the golden ringlets of Mark’s hair. She had missed tucking him
     in last night because of the singing. Normally it wouldn’t matter, but now Mark’s
     nights in the house were running out. There were but a handful of days until the departure
     on Friday.
    She leaned forward and pressed her cheek to his. “I’m going to miss you, little one.”
    She was rewarded by an applesauce hand on her nose. “Hey, that’s my nose!”
    The little boy grinned as she swung around to face him.
    “Where’s your nose?” she asked, and he pressed a finger to his button nose.
    “You’re delicious.” She planted a kiss on his forehead, then turned away toward the
     stove, feeling weepy. She still could not believe that the Fishers would be leaving
     on Friday. She cracked two eggs on the edge of the skillet and tended the sizzling
     edges.

    The morning air was chilly, but the sun was strong, and Annie seized the chance to
     get some clothes washed and hung. The family’s collie trotted over and stared suspiciously
     when she saw Annie fussing with the machine. The gas-powered washer made a clamor
     that frightened the dog.
    “I know it’s not wash day,” Annie told the dog, “but with all the rain we’ve been
     having, we’re falling behind.”
    Seeing that Annie meant business, Sunny nosed the screen door open and scuttled away.
    The clatter of the washing machine on the porch matched the noise of the men hammering
     on the roof. Dat said they were almost finished with the repairs. The beat reminded
     Annie of a tune they had sung at the singing last night. She sang aloud as she swept
     the porch, knowing no one would hear her over the din.
    The late-morning sun warmed through her prayer kapp as she shook out a dress and hung
     it with two clothespins. At the end of the line she paused to move her basket and
     glance up at the sky. Still no clouds. Wonderful good.
    Her gaze skimmed the roof of the farmhouse. A tall, handsome man hammering into the
     roof came into view.
    Adam …
    Her heart sank in regret. When was she going to stop pining for a man who was about
     to marry someone else?
    But her annoyance faded quickly when