'The Quieting' Excerpt - Suzanne Woods Fisher

The Stoltzfus family faces serious problems, both in the church and at home. Everyone in the community expects minister David Stoltzfus to fix things–fast. But David doesn’t work fast. He prefers to wait for God to work in individual hearts. However, even he is left wondering if the solution to their most pressing problem might be a Quieting.

When David’s mother arrives, uninvited, more upheaval is in store. She has matchmaking plans for everyone in the family, including David and her eligible granddaughters–and especially for David’s niece Abigail. When Abigail stumbles onto a curious connection during her genealogical research, it could help David solve one problem–but will it create another?

**Keep reading for an excerpt of The Quieting. Plus, stop by Amish Wisdom to enter to win a copy!**

P.S. Congratulations to the winner of last week’s Author Spotlight giveaway and a copy of Every Bride Has Her Day, PAM KELLOGG. Please email info {at} suzannewoodsfisher {dot} com to claim your prize.

“Men, I believe I have just met my future bride!”

David Stoltzfus hurried out of his storeroom office to see who had just burst into the store to deliver such a bold announcement. Dane Glick stood at the open door with a delighted look on his face. The handful of graybeards, settled into rockers that circled the woodstove in the front of the Bent N’ Dent store, turned from an endless discussion of the weather to consider Dane.

“BOY,” Hank Lapp called out. “Matrimony is nothing you should rush into. Trust me on that. You know what my wife Edith has to say on the topic.”

“What does Edith have to say?” one of the men asked.

“Wer heiert dutt gut; wer leddich bleibt, dutt so viel besser.” He who marrieth doth well, but he who marrieth not, better.

“Hank,” David said in the warning tone usually reserved for his children.

“It’s high time I marry,” Dane said. “I can’t stand my own cooking and my own company for one more day. I’m starting to talk to my buggy horse.”

Dane had left the door open behind him, and cold air came into the store on a gust of wind. David walked around him to shut the door. “Lots of folks talk to their horses.”

Dane turned to him with frustration. “Today she answered back.”

“THEN, SON, YOU’VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE,”

Hank Lapp boomed. “Sit down and let’s hear all about your future missus. Es is ken Heffel so grumm as net en Deckel druffbast.” No pot is so crooked that you can’t find a lid for it.

The graybeards all shued over to make room for Dane as he plunked down in the rocker next to Hank.

Community, David realized. He was all about building and strengthening community—and that was happening, right here, right now, in the Bent N’ Dent store. A woodstove community, and it pleased him to his core.

Until this moment, watching the men surround Dane, David hadn’t been convinced that his son Jesse’s improvements to the store were all that beneficial—at least to the bottom line. Even more concerning was that Hank Lapp was a part of the improvement project. Hank Lapp and Jesse had started to sell premade sandwiches, made by his daughter Molly, who was just learning to cook. Happily, the graybeards weren’t particularly fussy about the quality of the sandwiches, especially with the frequent-sandwich punch cards that Jesse had implemented.

Jesse and Hank also added rocking chairs by the woodstove in the store, and had plans for picnic benches out front, come springtime. The outcome was such that quite a few retired men gathered around the stove during the afternoons. In a good way, the store was filled with customers, and that was a change from a few months back. In a bad way, these particular customers rarely bought much other than Molly’s dry sandwiches.

Hank Lapp was there every day. Newly married, his wife Edith shooed him out the door each morning, with orders not to return until sunset.

David shook his head. Never would he have thought he’d see the day when anyone would go to Hank Lapp for matchmaking advice. It was like asking an elephant to tie your shoe, but if Dane Glick wanted to put his fate in the hands of Hank Lapp and his cronies, then who was he to interfere? Besides, David had enough troubles on his plate. The church of Stoney Ridge, for one.

Maybe helping Dane find a wife would be a good thing. David did worry about the young man, fairly new to Stoney Ridge and all alone on that neglected hillside property. But who could handle a fellow like Dane Glick?