Copyright Page

      Home to Paradise

      Copyright © 2017 Barbara Cameron

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P.O. Box 280988, Nashville, TN, 37228-0988 or e-mailed to [email protected].

      The persons and events portrayed in this work of fiction are the creations of the author, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

      Published in association with Books & Such Literary Management.

      Macro Editor: Teri Wilhelms

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Cameron, Barbara, 1949- author. | Cameron, Barbara, 1949- Coming home series.

      Title: Home to Paradise / Barbara Cameron.

      Description: Nashville : Abingdon Press, [2017] | Series: The coming home series

      Identifiers: LCCN 2016037700 (print) | LCCN 2016044550 (ebook) | ISBN 9781426769931 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781501837630 (e-book)

      Subjects: LCSH: Amish—Fiction. | Paradise (Lancaster County, Pa.)—Fiction.

      Classification: LCC PS3603.A4473 H66 2017 (print) | LCC PS3603.A4473 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037700

      Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

      Dedication

      For Barbara Scott and Ramona Richards

      and for women who share their love

      of quilting with others

      A Note to the Reader

      A Note to the Reader

      Many readers who are familiar with the Amish allowing their children to join the church in their adulthood ask me how many actually decide to stay in the community.

      The number is surprisingly high—statistics say as high as 90 percent. I believe this is because Amish families form very strong bonds because of their commitment to their faith, to each other, to extended family, and to their community.

      Remaining apart from the outside influences of those they call the Englisch means the family and community can influence values important to them.

      But to make sure that their children have free will to join, the Amish allow their teenagers to explore the nearby Englisch community. It’s a period they call rumschpringe or “running around.”

      The idea came to me to write a series about three brothers who leave the Amish community and the three sisters who love them and want them to return. The sisters love the brothers—have for years—and want them to return to their family, their friends, and their church.

      The series made me think about what home, family, and the place we live mean to us. The loss of those people and places also interested me and found their way into the series.

      Lavina Zook loved David Stoltzfus and brought him back to the Amish community in Return to Paradise, Book 1, and Mary Elizabeth, Lavina’s sister, convinced Sam, David’s brother, to return as well in Book 2, Seasons in Paradise. Now, in Home to Paradise, Book 3, Rose Anna has a real challenge bringing John, the third Stoltzfus brother, back to the Amish community.

      Someone once said, “Home is where your story begins.” Abingdon Press has been my writing home since 2009, helping me bring my stories of hope and faith and love to readers. I will never be able to thank all the wonderful people for their hard work bringing my words to readers in beautiful editions. Few writers get an opportunity to work with such dedicated and caring staff. Thank you to all of you.

      I also want to thank Tom Vickers and Monica Peters for their tireless encouragement.

      And, as always, thank you to God for giving me life and the inspiration to share His faith and belief in us.

      Chapter 1

      1

      Snow fell quietly, cold and white. Inside the big old farmhouse where Rose Anna had lived all her life it was warm. A fire crackled in the hearth, the only sound in the room.

      Rose Anna glanced around the sewing room. Usually she and her three schweschders sat chatting and sewing with their mudder, sometimes singing a hymn as they worked. Today it was just her and her mudder.

      She sighed. “So here you sit with your old maedel dochder, Mamm.”

      Linda laughed. “I hardly think you’re an old maedel at twenty-three, Rose Anna.”

      She knotted a thread, clipped it with scissors, and squinted as she rethreaded her needle. “I feel like one,” she said, pouting a little. “Both of my schweschders are married, and so are lots of my friends. I have been a newehocker at so many weddings!” She made a face as she began stitching on her quilt again.

      “Guder mariye!”

      Rose Anna glanced up. “Ach, here comes my newly married schweschder.”

      The three Zook schweschders were often confused for each other because they looked so much alike with oval faces, big blue eyes, and hair a honey blonde. They’d been born just a year apart, so they’d grown up close. Rose Anna was the youngest—something her two older schweschders never let her forget.

      “Mary Elizabeth, it’s gut to see you. Kumm, sit by the fire and get warm. You look cold.”

      She leaned down and kissed her mudder’s cheek. “Lavina’s on her way up.”

      Linda brightened and turned to look in the direction of the door. When Lavina walked in a moment later, her face fell. “Where’s Mark?”

      Lavina laughed and shook her head. “You mean you’re not glad to see me?”

      “Well, schur,” Linda said quickly. “But I thought you were bringing my grosssohn.”

      “He was fussy and stayed up most of the night, so now he’s sleeping.” Lavina sank into a chair. “Waneta said she’d mind him so I could get out for a bit. She told