Billionaire Flawed 1(169)

“I know you will,” said Sarah. She hugged him. They embraced for what felt like a long time. Then Sarah remembered the second question she wanted to ask him. “Can I court Ezekiel?”

Her father looked surprised. “You want to court Ezekiel?” he exclaimed.

“is that a question...or what,” asked Sarah.

“It is shock and an answer to prayer. What father wouldn’t want their daughter to end up with someone like Ezekiel.”

“So is that a yes?”

 “It is indeed,” said her father. Sarah hugged him again. Then she rushed to tell Ezekiel the good news.









Sarah knew that she would be courting Ezekiel that night. Isaiah had approved it and her father had approved it. But she still didn’t know what it meant. After dinner Rebekah lead Sarah and Ezekiel into a special room. “This is the courting room. The bed has a bundling board in the middle of it. That is there to make sure that you do not touch each other. You may stay up all night talking. But you must keep your clothes on and not touch,” explained Rebekah.

Sarah jumped into the right side of the bed and quickly got under the covers. She was too excited to contain herself. She noticed that she felt light, not burdened with guilt. Forgiving her father had liberated her. And so did Ezekiel’s interest in her. The idea of staying up all night and talking to him was too much for her to handle. He got into bed. The bundling board was only about a food high. They couldn’t see over it, but they could easily communicate.

“Are you comfortable,” asked Ezekiel.

“Yes, I am comfortable,” replied Sarah. “And I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh now you are coming up with surprises.” Ezekiel sounded excited. “I can’t wait.”

“Well, unlike you, I won’t make you wait.” Sarah passed one of the earbuds over the bundling board. “Here, you listen with on ear, and I can listen to the other one. It is almost out of battery. I told myself that I would only use it for special occasions. I used it on the first night, because that was the worst night of my life. And now I am using it tonight, the best night of my life. Funny how that worked out”

Ezekiel knew how to put an earbud in from his rumspringa days. “What are we going to listen to?” He asked.

“You will see.” Sarah turned on the music and the hymn began to play. It was “Amazing Grace.” They listened until the song was over. Then they talked more about life and the farm and about God and what they hoped for the future. After they were tired and done talking they each put an earbud back in and listened to the hymn, on repeat, until they fell asleep.





THE END





A Hard Choice – An Amish Romance

Mary had just finished her chores for the evening and walked back to her house. Her sister, Ruth, was playing in the front yard, running around and chasing butterflies. Mary admired her carefree nature, without a thought for tomorrow, unfettered by the concerns of the world. That was how it used to be for Mary as a child, for everyone really. But growing up is a necessary part of life, and with it comes responsibilities. Not that Mary’s life was altogether horrible. But when she watched her sister, she definitely knew she missed the days of blithe unconcern about the world, where the only responsibility is to have as much fun as possible.

In truth, Mary’s life had only become encumbered by responsibility recently. Her father had died of a heart attack not long ago, leaving her and her mother in charge of the house, the farm, and the rest of the children. It meant that she had to grow up fast. Mary had faith in God, but the struggles that she had gone through made her feel distant from Him at times. It was hard for her to talk about it with anybody. She especially didn’t want to talk about it with Samuel, the love of her life.

He was as respectful and as good as a boy could be. He was only a few years older than her, and the way Mary saw, likely to propose soon. She had known him her whole life. And this to this day he kept gifts that she had given him when they were children. Such a romantic. But she feared talking to him about her pain and responsibility would be too much to put on him, for he had fallen in love with the happy carefree girl that she once was, the one she pretended to still be.

“Help me with supper, Mary,” yelled her mama, Deborah. “Don’t worry we are making something simple. I know how hard you are working now. How hard we all have to work.” Her mother looked wistfully out the window and onto the farmland, as if wondering how it would be possible to reap the fields before the harvest. She shook her head.

“Mama, you don’t have to worry about me, I will always be here to work hard for our family,” said Mary. She meant it with all her heart.