Free A Simple Winter: A Seasons of Lancaster Novel by Rosalind Lauer

sight, but then it was the mudroom. He lathered some shampoo onto his arms and chest, resolving to make some improvements in the stone farmhouse. Nothing that would violate the Ordnung, of course, but there were many acceptable changes that would make their lives easier. They could install a gas water-heater with a gasoline engine to keep up the water pressure. Then he and Jonah could work with one of the Amish plumbers from the community to build a bathroom upstairs. Hot and cold running water. No more chamber pots upstairs. No more public baths in the mudroom.
    Adam’s lips puffed as he let out a long breath, sending steam scurrying along the surface of the water. Could they afford to build a bathroom upstairs? He didn’t know what it would cost, but he would find out. And he would talk to Mammi Nell, who took care of all the family bookkeeping.
    And if they had the money to change the house, did he dare do it? Change was a hard row to hoe. So far he hadn’t even foundthe nerve to move into Mamm and Dat’s bedroom. That room … it just didn’t feel right to take it over. With just one double bed, it was meant for a couple, man and wife, and Adam had no plans to marry any time in the near future.
    Instead, he slept upstairs in a small bedroom under the eaves, which Gabe had been eyeing since he began his rumspringa. Amish teens were usually allowed to move from the bedrooms shared with siblings to their own rooms, but with five of the Kings now older, there was a shortage of single rooms. That left Sadie bunking with the younger girls and Gabe with Simon. But that empty room downstairs weighed on Adam.
    The
clip-clop
of a horse’s hooves beyond the mudroom windows alerted him to someone’s arrival. Most likely Jonah, as Mary would probably stay out later with Five. Adam knew the Amish courting practices well. Years ago he had spent some time with Lizzy Mast, an Amish girl who was now married. That chunk of time was very much a part of his boyhood; before the fall.
    Before he had skipped off to court an Englisher woman.
    Memories clenched, a fist in his belly, and he worried that his interest in Remy was part of a pattern, a flaw in his character. Was he a man who could not fall in love with his own kind?
    He had once thought he was in love. He had left home for Jane, an exotic, striking woman he still likened to one of the rare orchids sold at the Reading Terminal Market, where they’d met. He’d been selling family-made quilts; she’d been peddling jewelry that she made from polished rocks and melted metals. He had followed her to Rhode Island, where it became clear that their relationship was not going to work out.
    Although he’d been swept away by her at first, by the time she broke it off he’d felt only relief. In his heart, he knew Jane wasn’t the one for him.
    The one …
    Adam had always believed God had a strong hand in bringing people together. For every man of faith, there was a special woman out there, a woman who would be his partner, his wife. Adam’s faith was strong, but he was beginning to wonder if marrying was part of the Lord’s plan for him. There weren’t enough hours in the day for proper courtship, and now the Amish girls in Halfway seemed like children. He was a lot older than most of the young girls starting their rumspringa. Looking for a bride in the traditional Amish way just did not feel right these days.
    Still, he prayed for a good woman. He wanted that close bond he’d witnessed between his parents. And he’d felt that solid connection today, with Remy. Another Englisher girl.
Dear God, please don’t let me stray down that path again
. Something about her earnestness, her goodness, appealed to him, but he had to remind himself that there were plenty of good people in the world.
    His task was to find a good Amish woman, a partner, a friend. Although he was always surrounded by people here at the farm, loneliness sometimes clung to him like a panicked cat, its claws