A
MATCH MADE AT CHRISTMAS
Author:
Patricia Davids
ISBN:
9781335453471
Publication
Date: October 4, 2022
Publisher:
HQN
Book Summary:
USA
Today bestselling author
Patricia Davids continues her Amish romance series set in Harts, Haven, Kansas,
with this emotional story about a cancer survivor and a grieving widower who
are brought together at Christmas by the matchmakers of Harts Haven who have a little
help from the hero's daughters.
With
Christmas just around the corner, an Amish cancer survivor moves to Harts Haven
for a fresh start as the new schoolteacher. She wants to escape the pity that
she felt from the people back home and throw herself into her new job. She's
worried her illness might return at any moment and isn't looking for love.
Neither is a local widower with two daughters. The loss of his wife devastated
him, and he never wants to feel that kind of pain again. The matchmakers of Harts
Haven set their sights on the pair, by having them work together on a living
Nativity for the school Christmas program. With three elderly matchmakers, a
school full of rambunctious children, a handsome widower, rowdy sheep and one
cantankerous donkey, Harts Haven is about to witness an unforgettable Christmas
Eve where two unlikely people discover healing love is the true Christmas gift.
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Links:
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Author Bio:
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|
USA Today
best-selling author Patricia Davids
was born in Kansas. After forty years as an NICU nurse, Pat switched careers
to become an inspirational writer. She now enjoys laid back life on a Kansas
farm, spending time with her family and playing with her dog Sugar, who
thinks fetch should be a twenty-four hour a day game. When not throwing a
ball, Pat is happily dreaming up new stories where love and faith conquer
all. |
Author
Website: https://patriciadavids.com/index.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatriciaDavidsAuthor
Twitter: n/a
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/175873.Patricia_Davids?from_search=true&from_srp=true
One
“Oh, Karl. Yoo-hoo!”
Karl Graber cringed at the sound of Rose Yoder calling his
name. He was in no mood to deal with her this morning.
After burning the oatmeal at breakfast, he discovered his
renter had moved out in the night without giving notice or paying his back
rent. Now Karl was going to be late getting to the store because his buggy
horse was limping.
He pretended he hadn’t heard Rose. Maybe the elderly Amish
woman who claimed to be the most successful matchmaker in Harts Haven would go
pester some other poor fellow.
Bent over Checker’s front foot, Karl noticed that a stone
lodged between the horse’s steel shoe and his hoof was the gelding’s problem.
“Hallo, Karl! I must speak with you.”
The tenacity of the eighty-four-year-old romance peddler was
another difficulty Karl had to face this morning.
“I’m not interested in meeting your latest hopeful,” he
muttered under his breath.
If the stubborn stone would come out, he could be on his way
before the elderly woman reached the end of the block and crossed the wide
street.
“Daed, Granny Rose is calling you.” His six-year-old
daughter, Rachel, stood up and waved. Rose wasn’t related to Karl, but due to
her advanced age most of the children in Harts Haven called her Granny.
“She’s coming this way,” Clara informed him from the front
seat of the open buggy. His ten-year-old daughter wasn’t any more excited to
see Rose than Karl was. She suspected the same thing he did. Rose was on a
matchmaking mission.
“Hallo, Granny Rose,” Rachel shouted happily. “We’re taking
our puppies to the store so someone can buy them. Would you like to see them?”
The offending stone popped loose. Karl dropped Checker’s
hoof. “Got to get the store open, Rose. Can’t take time to visit.”
When he spun around, it was already too late. She had
reached the buggy ahead of him. How did someone her age move so fast? She
didn’t even look winded.
“Guder mariye, Karl. I’m so glad I caught you. There is a
chill in the air this morning, isn’t there?”
It was the second week of November. Of course the air was
cool. Rose hadn’t intercepted him for idle chitchat. He moved to step around
her since she was blocking the buggy door. “Customers will be waiting for me.”
Rose didn’t budge. Other than picking her up and setting her
aside, he had no hope of leaving until she finished having her say. He resigned
himself to hearing who she thought would be perfect for him this time. As if
any woman could take the place of his Nora.
“Did you find us a new mother?” Rachel’s hopeful tone
stabbed his heart. Rachel was too young to remember much about the mother who
died when she was three. She only knew other children had both mothers and
fathers, and she wanted the same thing.
Clara scowled at her sister. “We don’t need a new mother.
Ours is in Heaven. No one can replace her.”
Clara understood. She was old enough to remember what Nora
had been like. A sweet, gentle, bright and loving woman. The world was a darker
place without her.
Rose’s cheerful expression softened with sympathy. “I’m
still looking for someone special to join your family. Clara is right. She
won’t be your mother. Instead, she will be your stepmother, but she will love
you and take care of you as if you were her own.”
Rachel sighed. “I hope you find her soon.”
“That’s enough, Rachel,” Karl said. “What do you want,
Rose?”
“I’m here to tell you about the new teacher. She arrived
yesterday. She and her sister are staying at the inn for the time being. They
are Grace Sutter’s nieces from the Amish side of her family.”
Grace was another elderly widow, Old Order Mennonite, and
co-owner of the Harts Haven Inn along with Rose and Rose’s widowed daughter,
Susanna King. The trio were all fond of meddling. A single man stood little
chance of remaining unattached in this Amish community unless he avoided the
widows. Rose’s knowing smile put Karl on his guard.
Rachel clapped her hands. “Yay, the new teacher is here. Now
I can go back to school and be in the Christmas program. I hope I get to be an
angel like Thea and Miriam Bachman last year. Their mother made the most
beautiful wings for them.”
Rose grinned. “Your teacher’s name is Sophie Eicher. Her
sister is Joanna. They are lovely young women.”
“Also single and hoping to find husbands in Harts Haven. I
know what you’re doing, Rose. Not interested!” If his cutting tone didn’t drive
his point home, maybe his scowl would.
Rose puffed up like an angry little hen. “Don’t take that
tone with me, Karl Graber. For shame.”
He was thirty-two years old, but she made him feel like an
errant toddler. “I’m sorry.”
She inclined her head. “You are forgiven. I stopped to tell
you we are hosting a welcome party at the inn on Saturday so folks can meet
Sophie and her sister. Would you kindly spread the word?”
He eyed her suspiciously. Where was the catch? “Sure. What
time?”
“We’ll start at noon, but folks can come and go as they
please.” She turned to his daughters. “I know you girls must be excited to go
back to school.”
“Teacher Becky had to leave to take care of her mother
because she got sick,” Rachel said. “I only went to school for one week. I
don’t think I learned much.”
“I taught you letters and numbers,” Karl said.
Rachel’s lower lip jutted out. “Only so I could help at the
store. Not to read a book.”
There weren’t enough hours in the day to run the hardware
store, manage the farm work, cook, keep house and still find time to instruct
his daughters. Most days, he struggled just to get out of bed. He was doing the
best he could.
“How soon will school resume?” he asked Rose.
“The bishop and the school board haven’t decided.” She
leveled her gaze at him. “I know you’ll be at the welcome party.”
That was the catch. Grimacing, he shook his head. “Social
gatherings aren’t something I enjoy.”
Her eyes narrowed. “It is common courtesy to introduce
yourself and your kinder to the new teacher. You remember what courtesy is,
don’t you, Karl?” Rose turned on her heels and strode away.
His conscience smote him. It wasn’t right to be rude to
anyone, yet alone an elder. He caught up with her in a few steps. “Rose, wait.
I’m sorry.”
Glancing over his shoulder to make sure the girls couldn’t
overhear; he lowered his voice. “It hasn’t been easy for me. Nora was the one
who loved company. It doesn’t feel right to do things without her. It just
makes me miss her more.”
Instantly, he was sorry he had shared that much.
Rose’s expression softened. “You have your daughters to
consider. Nora wouldn’t want them shut up in the store all day. Nor would she
approve of you taking them home straight after church services instead of
letting them play with their friends so you can avoid talking to people. I
understand grief, Karl. I buried my husband and a son-in-law who was dear to
me. We all cope with loss differently, but don’t let your grief rob your kinder
of their childhood.”
He focused on his feet. Maybe Rose was right. In his
struggle to get through each day, he hadn’t always put his children’s welfare
first. “I reckon I could close early for once. I’ll bring the girls to meet
their new teacher.”
He looked up with a hard stare. “But don’t get the idea that
I’ll go along with any of your matchmaking schemes.”
She shook her head. “Sophie needs someone special. You are
completely wrong for her. I’m afraid the two of you would be at each other’s
throats within a week.”
He drew back. “If she’s hard to get along with, should she
be teaching?”
Rose poked her finger into his chest. “You are the problem,
not Sophie.”
“Me? What’s wrong with me?”
“Plenty. You figure it out. Relax. You aren’t on my list of
potential suitors.”
That made him smile. “You have a list already? I thought she
only arrived yesterday.”
Rose grinned and winked. “There aren’t that many single
Amish fellows in this area.”
Karl watched her walk away with a sense of relief that was
quickly followed by an unsettling question. What did Rose think was wrong with
him?
He kept to himself, but who could blame him? Losing his
wife, his childhood sweetheart, had nearly broken him. Standing by helplessly
as cancer sucked the life from her despite everything the doctors tried had
devastated him.
His beautiful Nora had endured terrible pain. In her last
days, he had stopped praying for her to be healed and only asked that God end
her suffering and take her home. The guilt from those anguished thoughts never
left him. He couldn’t love another woman. He was better off alone. He had his
daughters. That was enough.
“Daed, we’re going to be late,” Clara called out.
Clara was trying hard to be his helper at home and in the
business the way her mother had been. She worked hard. Perhaps too hard for a
child her age. He returned to the buggy and got in. At least he didn’t have to
worry about Rose trying to set him up with the new teacher. He wasn’t on her list.
Excerpted
from A Match Made at Christmas by Patricia Davids. Copyright © 2022 by Patricia
Davids. Published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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