Abby Finds Her Calling

Praise for

Abby Finds Her Calling

“A fresh new voice enters the world of Amish fiction with Naomi King’s
Abby Finds Her Calling
. King’s lyrical style shines in a tender tale of how love and forgiveness heal broken hearts and restore a family and a community. With its Missouri setting, King offers us a knowing look into a different Amish settlement. Readers will look forward to more Cedar Creek stories.”

—Marta Perry, author of
Katie’s Way

“
Abby Finds Her Calling
is a heartwarming story, beautifully told, of forgiveness, redemption, and the healing power of love in its many forms: love between individuals, family love, love within a community, and God’s love. This story touched my heart.”

—JoAnn Grote, author of “Image of Love”
from
A Prairie Christmas Collection

“Naomi King writes with a heartwarming honesty that will stay with the reader long after the last page.”

—Emma Miller, author of
Leah’s Choice

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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For Rhonda,
who knows a lot about forgiving,
letting go of the past,
and moving on to a new adventure

Thanks once again, Lord, for showing me how, when one door closes, You’ve already opened another one for me. And thanks for leading me through this story these past months when our move from Missouri to Minnesota brought so many distractions.

Many thanks to my agent, Evan Marshall, and to my editor, Ellen Edwards. I so appreciate your enthusiasm and vision as we enter into this Cedar Creek series together!

Special thanks to Jim Smith of Step Back in Time Tours in Jamesport, Missouri—the largest Old Order Amish settlement west of the Mississippi—for your indispensable insights and assistance as I write this series. Blessings on you, Jim! It’s a real pleasure to work with you.

Much love to you, Neal, for keeping me centered and sane while we sold a home, bought and remodeled another one, moved, and meanwhile shared a one-bathroom, one-bedroom apartment where I worked at a tabletop office.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

—MATTHEW 6:12

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

—JAMES 3:17–18

Abby Finds Her Calling

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Epilogue

About The Author

J
ames Graber inhaled the crisp October air and grinned up at the rising sun. It was his wedding day! All his life he’d lived in anticipation of something grand, something beyond the immense satisfaction of his carriage-making trade, and finally, in about an hour, he would achieve that dream when Suzanna Lambright became his wife.

As he gazed across the road, at the lane where horse-drawn carriages were entering in a steady stream, the Lambright place took on a new glow in his eyes. There was the Cedar Creek Mercantile, where Zanna’s elder brother, Sam, sold groceries and dry goods and where her sister, Abby, ran her sewing business. Beside it, Treva Lambright, Zanna’s mamm, had a glass greenhouse where she raised and sold a variety of vegetables and flowers. Down the long drive stood the tall white farmhouse where Treva lived with Sam’s family—his wife, Barbara, and their four children, Matt, Phoebe, Ruth, and Gail. And farther up the lane was the little home Abby had built for herself this past spring. These places, surrounded by sheep sheds, the barn, and acres of rolling green pasture, felt more special to James today, even though he saw them every time he stepped off his own front porch.