EXCERPT TOUR: PROMISE LODGE by CHARLOTTE HUBBARD

SUMMARY

Energetic widow Mattie Bender Schwartz is working day and night to get Promise Lodge going. She’s also hoping the change will help her son Noah’s heart to heal after his broken engagement. But his former fiancée, Deborah, is looking for a fresh start too. Filled with regret, and cast out by her dat for a reason she can’t yet reveal, Deborah can only pray Noah will forgive her foolishness.

Deborah is the last person Noah expected to show up at Promise Lodge. But with her cruel words still ringing in his head, he’s reluctant to accept her apology—even if the Old Order ways demand he try. If only he could obey Christ’s most important commandment: love one another. But one thing is certain—his mother and aunts, and their beloved Preacher Amos, will do their best to help him get there.

EXCERPT

Noah led the horse into the corral and topped off the water trough. The steady pounding coming from the barn told him that either his brother or Preacher Amos was inside. Until new families arrived, they were the only three men at Promise Lodge, and he felt more like talking with one of them than subjecting himself to the hens in the lodge—not to mention facing Deborah again so soon.

As Noah entered the shadowy structure, where cracks in the weathered lumber allowed some daylight through, his older brother Roman looked up from the stanchion he was constructing. When this property had been a church camp, riding horses, tack, and hay had been stored here, so he and Amos were renovating it into a dairy barn for Aunt Christine’s Holstein herd. After her husband died last fall, Roman had taken over the milking and the care of the cows.

“Problem?” Roman asked. “By the look on your face, your mouth was open when a bird flew over.”

Noah grimaced. “Deborah’s here. Begging for my forgiveness.”

His brother’s eyebrows shot up. “And you said—?”

He thrust the canister at Roman and then walked around, checking out the progress on the remodeling. “I told her I wanted no part of courting her again.”

“Gut answer! Amos brought five more letters from the post office this morning, from families wanting to come to Promise Lodge,” his brother said in a rising voice. “Three of those families have daughters. They’re looking for affordable land and fresh bloodlines to marry into. So here we are, brother. The answer to their prayers, right?” Roman pried off the canister lid, inhaled deeply, and then stuffed a brownie into his mouth.

Noah sighed, allowing the thrum of the agitator in the bulk milk tank to fill the silence. Before fall, they needed to construct a separate stable for their horses, and within the next week or two they’d have to build a roadside stand where the girls could sell their produce. So much work, so little time.

“Still can’t argue that Deborah’s brownies are the best, though,” Roman remarked. “Looks like you’ve eaten a few.”

“Jah, they were a peace offering. But once the sugar wears off, you’re only hungrier for something more substantial.”

Roman chortled. “That’s where these new girls might be just the ticket. But if Deborah has asked you to forgive her, you know Mamm and the aunts will side with her,” he pointed out. “And Preacher Amos’ll be reminding you about that seventy-times-seven thing, when it comes to letting go of old grudges. Even if you don’t want to marry her anymore, he’ll tell you to forgive and forget.”

It was true. Preacher Amos was an admirable man, even if he’d come to Promise Lodge mostly because he had his eye on Mamm. He was more laid back than Preacher Eli or Bishop Obadiah Chupp, but he insisted on following the rules Jesus had taught. There would be no wiggling out of forgiving Deborah, no crying foul just because she’d jilted him. Forgiveness was the cornerstone of the Old Order faith. They had both joined the church last year, so he couldn’t ignore Christ’s most important commandment: love one another.

But he couldn’t forgive Deborah. Couldn’t let go of the pain that gave him a reason to get up in the morning. If he was hurting this badly, he was still alive, right? It was proof he hadn’t curled up in a ball and rolled into a hole.

He intended to move on. To love again and marry someday.

But Deborah no longer figured into his plans.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Many moons ago—like, in 1983 while she was still a school librarian—Charlotte Hubbard sold her first story to True Story. This launched her into writing around seventy of those “true confessions” stories over the years, and she’s been a slave to her overactive imagination ever since. Over the course of her writing career, she has sold nearly 50 books—most recently, Amish romance series she’s written as Charlotte Hubbard or Naomi King.

Charlotte lived in Missouri for most of her life, so her Amish stories are set in imaginary Missouri towns. These days she lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband of 40 years and their Border collie, Ramona.

GET THE BOOK

Promise Lodge, Book 1

Zebra (February 26, 2016)

ISBN-13: 9781420139419 •• ISBN-10: 142013941X

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 Ebook:

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WEBSITE   www.CharlotteHubbard.com

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Click Here! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Charlotte will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.