Beth Wiseman - Plain Perfect

Plain Perfect

2008 by Beth Wiseman

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Scriptures taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Publishers Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wiseman, Beth, 1962

Plain perfect : a Daughters of the promise novel / Beth Wiseman.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-59554-630-2 (softcover)

I. Title.

PS3623.I83P57 2008

813'.6dc22

2008028801

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

To Rene Bissmeyer,
my best friend.

achoh

AemenAmen

appeditlichdelicious

baremlichterrible

bopplibaby or babies

daadigrandfather

daeddad

dankithanks

Deitschi wegeDutch ways

Die Botschafta weekly newspaper serving Old Order Amish communities everywhere

dippy eggseggs cooked over easy

eckspecial place for bride and groom at the corner of the wedding table

Englisch or Englischera non-Amish person

fraawife

guder mariyegood morning

gutgood

haushouse

hochmutpride

in liebin love

Kappprayer covering or cap

kinnerchildren or grandchildren

kinskindgrandchild

mammmom

mammigrandmother

meimy

naerfichnervous

Ordnungthe written and unwritten rules of the Amish; the understood behavior by which the Amish are expected to live, passed down from generation to generation. Most Amish know the rules by heart.

Pennsylvania DeitschPennsylvania German, the language most commonly used by the Amish

redd-upclean up

riewered beets

roashttraditional main dish at an Amish wedding, consisting of cut-up chicken and stuffing

rumschpringerunning-around period when a teenager turns sixteen years old

rutschichsquirming

schnitzboisnitz pie

schnuppichsnoopy

verhuddeltconfused

wedding nothingsdessert reserved for weddings; fried pastries sprinkled with confectioners sugar

wunderbaarwonderful

yayes

yummasettia traditional Pennsylvania German casserole

LILLIAN PEELED BACK THE DRAPES AT THE FRONT WINDOW and squinted against the suns glare. Shed called the taxi almost an hour ago. If her ride didnt show up soon, she would have to forego her plan and spend another night with Rickie. Biting her lip, she worried if she had enough cash to change her flight if she didnt make it to the airport on time.

She lowered the drape and paced the living room in Rickies house, silently blasting herself for ever moving in with him in the first place. Her stomach writhed at the thought of one more day under the same roof with him. And yet her window of time for her departure was closing, she realized, glancing at her watch.

She tugged at the drapes again. Relief fell over her when she saw the yellow cab pull into the driveway. Snatching her red suitcase and purse, she bolted for the door, shuffling toward the driver as he opened the trunk.

Please hurry, she said to the driver, handing him her suitcase.

The driver stowed her luggage without comment and was climbing into the drivers seat when she saw Rickies black Lexus rounding the corner and heading up the street. Her heart sank.

Where to? the driver asked.

Bush Intercontinental Airport, she answered. Hurry, please.

As the driver made his way down Harper Avenue to make the long drive to the northwest side of Houston, Lillian watched out the rearview window. Rickies car slowly neared the house.

The cab driver turned at the corner. Shed made it. A clean getaway.

Irma Rose Miller couldnt help but notice the bounce in her husbands steps. The cancer kept him down and out on most days, but not today. Today Lilly was coming, and his anticipation and joy were evident.

Danki, Jonas said as Irma Rose poured him another cup of coffee.

Youre welcome.

Her tall husband, once muscular and strong as an ox, sat hunched over the wooden table between them. His healthy load of gray locks and full beard were now thinning and brittle. Dark circles under his eyes and sunken features revealed the many sleepless nights of pain he had endured over the past few months. God had given her husband of forty-eight years a challenging road to travel, and he was making the trip with dignity and grace.

Our Lilly will be here this afternoon. Jonas smiled and raised the cup to his mouth. His hands trembled, but his eyes twinkled with a merriment Irma Rose hadnt seen since the first mention of their granddaughter coming to stay with them. She hoped he wouldnt be disappointed. They hadnt seen the girl in seventeen years, since she was ten years old.

Irma Rose stood to retrieve some doughnuts from a pan atop the wooden stove.

It will be wunderbaar gut to have her here.

Irma Rose placed two doughnuts on her husbands plate. Ya, that it will. But, Jonas, you must keep in mind how different our ways are. We will seem like foreigners to our Englisch granddaughter.

These doughnuts are appeditlich, Jonas said.

Danki. But, Jonas, you need to prepare yourself. Sarah Jane raised Lilly in the outside world. We dont know her. As a matter of fact, we dont know exactly how Sarah Jane raised her.

The thought twisted Irma Roses stomach in familiar knots. It had been hard enough when her daughter chose to leave the Old Order Amish community at the age of eighteen, but even more difficult when she wrote to tell them she was in a family way soon thereafter... with no husband.

She was a glorious child, Jonas said. Remember how quickly Lilly learned to ice-skate? What a joy she was. What a gut Christmas holiday we all had.

Irma Rose shook her head at her husbands ignorance of the obvious. Lilly wasnt a child anymore. She was a grown woman. Jonas had talked about that last Christmas together until the next season came and went. When Sarah Jane and Lilly didnt show up the following year, he merely shrugged and said, Maybe they will visit next year. And each Christmas thereafter Jonas anticipated a visit that never happened.

Jonas never uttered a negative word about Sarah Janes choices. But shed seen the sadness in his eyes when their daughter left home, and she knew the pain dwelled in his heart over the years. But he only said it was impossible to always understand Gods direction for His childrentheir child. Their only child. The good Lord had only seen fit to bless them with one. A beautiful daughter who had chosen a life rife with hardship.