Love Inspired March 2021 Box Set 2 of 2
Amish Baby Lessons
Hiding in Alaska
A Texas Bond
Patrice Lewis
Belle Calhoune
Shannon Taylor Vannatter
Table of Contents
Amish Baby Lessons
By Patrice Lewis
Hiding in Alaska
By Belle Calhoune
A Texas Bond
By Shannon Taylor Vannatter
“This house needs a woman’s touch…”
Jane put Mercy into her bouncy seat. “There, liebling.”
“Was she good this morning?”
“Like gold. She’s such a sweet baby.”
Levy closed his eyes for a silent prayer, then swallowed a spoonful. “It was Gott’s will you got stranded at that train station. Already I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
For just a moment, Jane’s heart gave a thump. Whatever happened, she wouldn’t let herself become attracted to Levy. “I’m grateful for the job.” Her remark was deliberate, to remind Levy she worked for him and nothing else.
“Mercy seems happy, too.” He toyed with the baby’s feet, encased in thin flannel socks. “Maybe she knows she’s no longer subject to a fumbling bachelor’s care.”
“Why…” Jane stopped.
“Why what?”
“Nothing.” She’d almost asked him why he wasn’t married.
It was none of her business. If she didn’t want him prying into her past, she had no right to pry into his…
Living on a remote self-sufficient homestead in North Idaho, Patrice Lewis is a Christian wife, mother, author, blogger, columnist and speaker. She has practiced and written about rural subjects for almost thirty years. When she isn’t writing, Patrice enjoys self-sufficiency projects, such as animal husbandry, small-scale dairy production, gardening, food preservation and canning, and homeschooling. She and her husband have been married since 1990 and have two daughters.
Books by Patrice Lewis
Love Inspired
The Amish Newcomer
Amish Baby Lessons
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
Amish Baby Lessons
Patrice Lewis
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
—Romans 12:6–8
To God, for blessing me with my husband and daughters, the best family anyone could hope for.
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
Epilogue
Tante Catherine’s Macaroni and Cheese
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
A crowd of people swirled around her on the hot train platform in Lafayette, Indiana, but Jane Troyer ignored them. The station was busy, with garbled announcements made over distant loudspeakers and the din of hundreds of passengers. Her head ached from the chaos. She sat alone on a bench next to her suitcase, trying not to give in to despair.
Running away from heartbreak was turning out to be harder than she’d thought. Moving to another town to live with her aunt and uncle had seemed like an easy solution. Until…
“Geht es dir gut? Are you all right?”
She lifted her head and saw a man in Amish suspenders and a straw hat, with a bag slung over one shoulder and a fractious baby in his arms. A streak of sweat ran down one temple and his blue eyes looked weary.
“Nein, I’m not,” she replied. “Someone just stole my bag with all my money in it. I’m stranded here.” She wondered why Gott had deserted her at this strange train station.
He bounced the baby. “Where are you going?”
“To visit my aunt and uncle in Grand Creek. It’s about twenty miles away.”
“I live in Grand Creek. Who are your aunt and uncle?”
“Peter and Catherine Troyer. They run a dry-goods store, a mercantile, in the center of town.”
“They’re practically my neighbors!” The man smiled. “I’d be happy to take you there.” He swayed the baby in his arms.
“Will you?” She jumped up from the bench. “Danke! Danke!”
“You’re welcome. But first I have some things to collect here at the station, some boxes.” The baby gave a wail, and he grimaced. “They’re large boxes too.”
“Why are you picking up large boxes with a boppli in tow? That doesn’t make sense.” He seemed like he didn’t know how to handle a baby. The baby seemed to know it too.
“Because there was no one to watch her. And I need the boxes. They’re part of my business.”
“Would it help if I held the boppli? That would free your hands.”
Despite the infant’s crankiness, the man seemed reluctant to relinquish his burden. “I wouldn’t do that to you. She’s irritable. She hasn’t calmed down all day.” As if to reinforce his words, the baby wailed, tears streaming down her face.
“That’s okay. I don’t mind.” She reached for the child.
“Well, if you’re sure…” He transferred the baby to her. “I hope you don’t regret it. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Jane accepted the warm little bundle and cooed at the child. “Hush, hush…”
As the baby quieted, Jane looked up in time to see the man’s jaw drop. He snapped his mouth shut. “I’ve never seen her calm down that fast,” he said in wonder.
“It’s a gift Gott gave me.” Jane shoved her eyeglasses higher on her nose. “Why don’t I stay here while you get your boxes? That way I can make sure some other Englischer doesn’t run away with my suitcase too.”
“Ja. Here’s her diaper bag.” He removed the strap from his shoulder and dropped the bag on the bench. “I won’t be long.”
Jane sat down. She wondered why the man didn’t have a beard. All Amish men grew their beards once they married, and certainly by the time babies came. And why was he trying to juggle an infant at the same time he was picking up large boxes from a train station? Why wasn’t his wife caring for the child? She shook her head. None of it made sense.
The infant in her arms had large blue eyes, the wrinkled lids showing her to be very young, perhaps no more than a
