For Every Season
Authors: Cindy Woodsmall
Praise for
For Every Season
“With her gift of storytelling and excellent characterization, Cindy Woodsmall sets the standard for Amish romance. I’m a fan!”
—S
HELLEY
S
HEPARD
G
RAY
,
New York Times
and
USA Today
best-selling author
“It’s supposed to be a time of new beginnings for Rhoda Byler and brothers Samuel and Jacob King as they leave Pennsylvania to restore an old apple orchard in Maine. But the past, Rhoda discovers, has a way of tagging along. She is caught in a love triangle between Samuel and Jacob that threatens their hopes for a fresh start. Torn between the two brothers, Rhoda must choose. Will she follow her sense of duty? or her heart?
For Every Season
is Cindy Woodsmall at her finest. Readers will enjoy this satisfying third installment in the Amish Vines and Orchards series.”
—S
UZANNE
W
OODS
F
ISHER
, best-selling author of Stoney Ridge Seasons
“
For Every Season
is a tantalizing story about moving forward and following God’s plan for our lives … even when that plan takes us places we never imagined.”
—V
ANNETTA
C
HAPMAN
, author of the Pebble Creek Amish series
“Resettled far from home, a small enclave of Amish orchardists strive to keep their new venture safe from Englisch ways while facing worse threats from within.
For Every Season
is a thoughtful story of conflicting loyalties, heartbreaking choices, and a visionary’s God-given abilities that sometimes reveal more than her loved ones want to know. Once again Cindy Woodsmall writes from a compassionate understanding of the human heart.”
—M
EG
M
OSELEY
, author of
Gone South
B
OOKS BY
C
INDY
W
OODSMALL
S
ISTERS OF THE
Q
UILT SERIES
When the Heart Cries
When the Morning Comes
When the Soul Mends
A
DA’S
H
OUSE SERIES
The Hope of Refuge
The Bridge of Peace
The Harvest of Grace
A
MISH
V
INES AND
O
RCHARDS SERIES
A Season for Tending
The Winnowing Season
For Every Season
Seasons of Tomorrow
(spring 2014)
N
OVELLAS
The Sound of Sleigh Bells
The Christmas Singing
The Dawn of Christmas
The Scent of Cherry Blossoms
N
ONFICTION
Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home and the Hearts of Two Women
FOR EVERY SEASON
PUBLISHED BY WATERBROOK PRESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
eISBN: 978-0-307-73007-7
Copyright © 2013 by Cindy Woodsmall
Cover design by Kelly L. Howard
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
WATERBROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodsmall, Cindy.
For every season / Cindy Woodsmall. — First edition.
pages cm — (Amish vines and orchards; book 3)
1. Amish—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.O678F67 2013
813′.6—dc23
2013021866
v3.1
To Alan and Carla Weatherly
Thank you for being such wonderful friends, great encouragers, gentle yet strong spiritual teachers, and all-around remarkable people
.
As a pastor and pastor’s wife, you’ve each faced many challenges while fulfilling your God-given roles
.
The constant needs of others are as rhythmic as the beating hearts of the many you’ve helped
.
You are to those in need who you were to us thirty-something years ago: a godsend who nourished and strengthened us so we could go forward and do so for others
.
But, Carla, hopefully you won’t need to shelter all the others as often as you have us of late
.
Otherwise, to whom would we go when we sojourn to your area? Much love to both of you!
I look forward to our years ahead and a few trips to Amish auctions!
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Amish Vines and Orchards Series
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
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Main Characters in
For Every Season
Glossary
Amish Vines and Orchards series
The story so far …
In
A Season for Tending
, Rhoda Byler, a twenty-two-year-old Amish girl, struggles to suppress the God-given insights she receives. Her people don’t approve of such intuitions. Because of their superstitions and fears, Rhoda spends most of her time alone in her bountiful fruit and herb garden or with her assistant, Landon, canning her produce for her business—Rhode Side Stands. Although she lives with her parents, two married brothers, and their families, Rhoda is isolated and haunted by guilt over the death of her sister two years ago.
Thirty miles away, in the Amish district of Harvest Mills, three brothers—Samuel, Jacob, and Eli King—are caretakers of their family’s apple orchard. Samuel has been responsible for the success of Kings’ Orchard since he was a young teen, but due to Eli’s negligence, one-third of their orchard has produced apples that are only good for canning. If Samuel doesn’t find a way to turn more profit on those apples, he’ll have to sell part of the orchard, resulting in even smaller harvests in the future.
When Samuel and Rhoda meet, they see eye to eye on very little until she shows him her fruit garden. He soon realizes that her horticultural skills are just what he needs to restore the orchard, and her canning business could provide an established outlet for their apples—if he can convince her to partner with them. Without telling his girlfriend, Catherine, he asks Rhoda to work with Kings’ Orchard.
Rhoda declines … until someone maliciously destroys her garden and her livelihood. She gives her land to her brothers and commits to partnering with Kings’ Orchard. Before long she and Jacob begin courting, and Samuel severs his relationship with Catherine.
Just as they begin to harvest the apples, a tornado destroys most of the orchard and almost costs Samuel his life. In an effort to make a new start, Jacob, Samuel, Rhoda, Landon, and others decide to buy an abandoned apple
orchard in Maine that they can restore. As the families commit to establishing an Amish community in Maine, Samuel realizes he’s in love with Rhoda.
As
The Winnowing Season
opens, a small group is preparing to move to Maine—Rhoda Byler, her brother Steven, his family, her assistant Landon Olson, brothers Samuel and Jacob King, and their sister Leah. Their goal is to establish a new Amish community and to cultivate an abandoned apple orchard to replace the income from the orchard the tornado destroyed.
But the day before they leave, Rhoda’s church leaders insist she attend a meeting, because Samuel has reported Rueben Glick for vandalizing her garden. She’s upset with Samuel and dreads going, but to make matters worse, Jacob, her boyfriend, is called away at the last minute. Samuel goes with her and is outraged at the hostility and suspicion they express toward Rhoda. Although the meeting does not go well, Rhoda is given permission to move to Maine in good standing with the church.
