His Perfect Bride
Jacob Lapp has loved Annie Zook since childhood. But she’s never seen him that way. Once courted—then rejected—by his older brother, Annie’s wary of the Lapp men. But now that Jacob is working at her dat’s blacksmith shop, he feels he’s been given a second chance. It’s no secret Annie wants a husband. Yet she’s intent on marrying someone older, more established—someone the opposite of Jacob. Can he ever break down the walls she’s forged around her fragile heart and prove to her that he’s the perfect man for her?
Lancaster County Weddings: Binding two hearts as one in Amish country
“Why do ya want only an older man?” Jacob asked.
“Don’t ya want someone who’ll cherish you?”
She flashed him a look, startled by the intensity of his golden gaze. Cherish? She was hoping for someone who would be happy to have her to wife. She would feel blessed to be cherished by her husband, but she doubted that would ever happen.
“Younger men don’t want me.” Annie felt her face heat. “I can trust an older man.”
“What about me?” Jacob asked.
“You? What about you?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
Annie grew flustered as she felt his gaze. “I trust you,” she hedged, wondering where the conversation was leading. “We are friends—” He shifted in his seat, and Annie saw him wince. “I’m sorry. Your hand is hurting you.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted, but his pale features said otherwise.
Was Jacob actually suggesting that she consider him as someone who could be more than a friend? Had he been serious? Testing her? Teasing her? Now that he had put the idea in her mind, she had trouble dismissing it. They were friends, she reminded herself.
REBECCA KERTZ was first introduced to the Amish when her husband took a job with an Amish construction crew. She enjoyed watching the Amish foreman’s children at play and swapping recipes with his wife. Rebecca resides in Delaware with her husband and dog. She has a strong faith in God and feels blessed to have family nearby. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, doing crafts and visiting Lancaster County.
A Wife for Jacob
Rebecca Kertz
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
—1 John 4:7
For my dearest husband,
whom I love with all of my heart…
I feel blessed that I met and married you.
Table of Contents
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
The windows were open, allowing the warm breeze of early autumn to flow throughout the two-story farmhouse. Anna Zook sat in the family gathering room, folding laundry from a basket of line-dried clothes. She pulled out her youngest brother Peter’s light blue shirt, held it up for inspection and then laid it across the back of the sofa.
It was quiet. Her mother, Peter and her sister Barbara had taken her grandparents up north to see her grossmudder’s sister, Evie, in New Wilmington, an Amish community north of Pittsburgh. Her older brother Josiah had left early this morning to visit the Amos Kings, most particularly his new sweetheart, Nancy. Dat was making some repairs to the grosseldre’s house while her grandparents were away.
As she reached into the basket for another garment, Annie glanced at Millie, sleeping on the floor not far from her feet. Every day she thanked the Lord that Dat allowed her to keep her dog inside the house instead of out in the barn where the other animals were kept. In her community, most pets were excluded from homes, but Millie was special, at least to Annie. And her father was kind to understand what Millie meant to her.
She spread an apron on the cushion beside