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  Praise for

  The Winnowing Season

  “Cindy Woodsmall weaves a page-turning plot in The Winnowing Season, featuring the mysterious Rhoda Byler and a supporting cast of other complex characters. This story grabbed my heart and kept on tugging—long after I’d read the last word. I can’t wait for the third book in the series!”

  —LESLIE GOULD, author of Courting Cate

  “Cindy Woodsmall creates Amish characters in a way no other author does. Her obvious love for and intimate knowledge of the Amish allow the reader into the characters’ lives aside from the religious aspect of the community. They laugh, and I laugh with them. They hurt, and so do I. Add to the characters a compelling plot and a girl with an unusual gift, and the book is impossible to put down.”

  —TRACEY BATEMAN, author of The Widow of Saunders Creek

  Praise for

  A Season for Tending

  “Woodsmall honors the Amish through her well-researched story, with a heartfelt romance and lovable characters.”

  —Romantic Times

  “I have to say that I love this book. The characters in the story are dimensional and interesting. Woodsmall has created families, situations, and places that are believable, geared toward modern-day life with current challenges … It makes both families more endearing. I look forward to the next book in the series.”

  —www.thechristianmanifesto.com

  “Cindy’s well-developed, multidimensioned characters cause readers to care about them, their lives, and their problems. Their choices and decisions that carry the story forward also reveal biblical wisdom without preaching. I’m sure this new series will add many new readers to Cindy’s growing fan base.”

  —www.midwestbookreview.com

  “A Season for Tending is the first in Woodsmall’s new series, Amish Vines and Orchards, and her characters will leave you missing friends when the last page is read. Book 2 can’t come soon enough!”

  —CBA Retailers and Resources

  BOOKS BY CINDY WOODSMALL

  ADA’S HOUSE SERIES

  The Hope of Refuge

  The Bridge of Peace

  The Harvest of Grace

  SISTERS OF THE QUILT SERIES

  When the Heart Cries

  When the Morning Comes

  When the Soul Mends

  AMISH VINES AND ORCHARDS SERIES

  A Season for Tending

  NOVELLAS

  The Sound of Sleigh Bells

  The Christmas Singing

  The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

  NONFICTION

  Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home and the Hearts of Two Women

  THE WINNOWING SEASON

  PUBLISHED BY WATERBROOK PRESS

  12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200

  Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

  All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

  The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-73005-3

  Copyright © 2013 by Cindy Woodsmall

  Cover design by Kelly L. Howard; cover photography: girl by Kelly L. Howard; background by Hans L Bonnevier/Johnér

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

  WATERBROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Woodsmall, Cindy.

  The winnowing season : a novel / Cindy Woodsmall. — First edition.

  pages cm. — (Amish Vines and Orchards; 2)

  1. Amish—Fiction. 2. Christian fiction. I. Title.

  PS3623.O678W56 2013

  813′.6—dc23

  v3.1_r1

  To our precious niece

  Tammy Ann Miller

  While on a date with her uncle, I met this girl in her teens,

  Lovely and warm like a gorgeous Southern spring.

  As the years marched forward, it continued to ring true:

  She was giving and talented with a loyal God-view.

  And in every life she’s encountered, she’s left an indelible mark.

  In all the years since, I’ve never met another with her kind of spark:

  Resilient beyond measure, never one to cower.

  She recently faced a nightmare encounter: a rare and fierce cancer.

  It’s tried to extinguish her fire.

  But she and her Savior walk hand in hand,

  Saying, the enemy can never take over my land.

  She was born to fight in a Southern woman way—

  Where warm smiles and gracious love belie the challenges of the day.

  She’s won against every opponent she’s met, but when the day comes,

  (And we pray it’s not before she’s ninety), she’ll not succumb.

  In the same way she joined us, she’ll rise above

  Wrapped in God’s love.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books By This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Amish Vines and Orchards Series

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Main Characters in The Winnowing Season

  Glossary

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Amish Vines and Orchards series

  The story so far …

  In A Season for Tending, Rhoda Byler, a twenty-two-year-old Amish girl, struggles to suppress the God-given insights she receives. Her people don’t approve of such intuitions. Because of their superstitions and fears, Rhoda spends most of her time alone in her bountiful fruit and herb garden or with her assistant, Landon, canning her produce for her business—Rhode Side Stands. Although she lives with her parents, two married brothers, and their families, Rhoda is isolated and haunted by guilt over the death of her sister two years ago.

  Thirty miles away, in the Amish district of Harvest Mills, three brothers—Samuel, Jacob, and Eli King—are caretakers of their family’s apple orchard. Samuel has been responsible for the success of Kings
’ Orchard since he was a young teen, but due to Eli’s negligence, one-third of their orchard has produced apples that are only good for canning. If Samuel doesn’t find a way to turn more profit on those apples, he’ll have to sell part of the orchard, resulting in even smaller harvests in the future.

  When Samuel and Rhoda meet, they see eye to eye on very little until she shows him her fruit garden. He soon realizes that her horticultural skills are just what he needs to restore the orchard, and her canning business could provide an established outlet for their apples—if he can convince her to partner with them. Without telling his girlfriend, Catherine, he asks Rhoda to work with Kings’ Orchard.

  Rhoda declines … until someone maliciously destroys her garden and her livelihood. She gives her land to her brothers and commits to partnering with Kings’ Orchard. Before long she and Jacob begin courting, and Samuel severs his relationship with Catherine.

  Just as they begin to harvest the apples, a tornado destroys most of the orchard and almost costs Samuel his life. In an effort to make a new start, Jacob, Samuel, Rhoda, Landon, and others decide to buy an abandoned apple orchard in Maine that they can restore. As the families commit to establishing an Amish community in Maine, Samuel realizes he’s in love with Rhoda.

  For a list of main characters in the Amish Vines and Orchards series, see this page.

  ONE

  Rhoda shoved her to-do list into the hidden pocket of her apron and slipped out of the summer kitchen. A brief glance assured her no one was around to see her. She needed a few minutes, however fleeting, without anyone tugging at her. Her shoulders and arms ached as she walked into the orchard.

  She breathed in, and the heady scents of fall and ripe apples helped soothe her frayed nerves. After nearly two months of nurturing the tornado-ravaged orchard, she found the view both uplifting and disheartening. Despite their long, hard days of cleaning up felled trees and mending broken ones, the once-vibrant orchard looked like a battlefield strewn with injured, defeated soldiers. Would all of her and Samuel’s tending restore the wounded trees? Or simply prolong their dying?

  How strange that she found comfort in walking among these wounded trees. Much of the orchard lay dormant, waiting for late winter, when new trees would be planted.

  But she wouldn’t be here for that.

  A ladder rested against a tree where she and Samuel had grafted tree limbs from storm-damaged trees into healthy ones, hoping their grafts would take. It wasn’t the right time of year for such work, but they were giving this orchard their all before leaving it behind tomorrow.

  A wavering, misty image stepped out from behind an apple tree.

  Emma.

  The vision appeared real enough, but it wasn’t actually her little sister. Emma had been with God since the day she was murdered, since the day Rhoda all but sent her teary-eyed sister to that convenience store by herself at exactly the wrong time. Emma often formed in a visible way, as if Rhoda’s guilt over her death was burned so deeply into Rhoda’s soul that she would see her sister the rest of her days.

  And maybe she would, but Rhoda dared to hope the move to Maine would end the haunting reminders.

  Emma held out her arms, and Rhoda wished her little sister were truly here to embrace, but all Rhoda could do was watch. And pray.

  Not long after she met Samuel King of Kings’ Orchard last summer, he asked if she’d partner her canning business with his family’s apple farming business. When she finally agreed, she did so hoping for several things to come from the agreement. One desire was for the aberrations to remain at home in Morgansville, some thirty miles away—and where all memories of Emma had been made.

  But whether Rhoda was here at Kings’ Orchard or at home with her family, she had yet to be freed of Emma’s constant reminders that Rhoda had failed her.

  Would Maine be an escape?

  Emma stretched a hand toward her. “Don’t let me go. Don’t be afraid to hold on.”

  Rhoda’s heart rate increased. Did it do any good to speak her sorrow out loud? “I have to move on. Can’t you see that?”

  Emma’s eyes filled with tears, and Rhoda made herself turn away without responding. She walked to the top of a knoll. This orchard would be majestic again in a few years. Still, was Samuel doing the right thing by leaving its future in Eli’s hands?

  They would move to Maine tomorrow, to Orchard Bend specifically. Until Samuel went to close on the house a month ago, they had thought the land was in Unity, Maine. But at the closing, Samuel discovered that the farm bordered Unity.

  Once they arrived there tomorrow, they would begin the challenge of restoring an abandoned apple orchard twice the size of this one. The aim was rock solid: reestablish the abandoned orchard in Maine so Kings’ Orchard and her Rhode Side Stands canning business could bring in the needed profits while this orchard was restored and returned to production.

  But the reality of this venture was terrifying … and exhausting.

  Hoofs rumbled against the earth, and she turned to see Samuel riding the chestnut Morgan toward her. He had the reins in one hand and a five-gallon bucket in the other. The bucket housed what they called their first-aid kit for the trees.

  “Hey.” His lack of a smile as he dismounted didn’t surprise her. For every ounce of energy she gave working, he seemed determined to give double. “I thought I’d find you here where we worked last.” He gazed into her eyes for a brief moment. “I know you’re tired, and you aren’t going to like what I have to say, but could you do me a favor and try to take it well?” Without waiting for her to answer, he walked the horse to a nearby tree and tethered it.

  He had her pegged on both counts: bone tired and edgy. They’d had more spats in the last few weeks than two alpha dogs sharing a food bowl. Who knew that accomplishing everything on her to-do list would be so draining?

  Actually, now that she thought about it, the answer to that was Samuel and Jacob. Both had tried to get her to take numerous things off her list, like the experiments of growing herbs and developing mulch under horticultural lights. And both had tried for weeks to stop her from harvesting and canning the apples left by the tornado.

  But she couldn’t let apples rot. And she couldn’t move to Maine without understanding how commercial greenhouse lights affected herbs and rotting leaves.

  He dusted off his hands and returned to where she stood. “Well?”

  A Bible verse echoed inside her—Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. “I’ll do my best.”

  His jaw clenched. “You have to appear before your church leaders tonight.”

  The orchard around her turned hazy as she stared into Samuel’s eyes, trying to make sense of what he’d said.

  With the message delivered, he turned and walked away.

  She took off after him and grabbed his arm. “What do you mean?”

  He barely glanced at her before shifting his attention to the horizon. “You know what it means.”

  Her heart skipped a beat and felt as if it might stop altogether. “But why?”

  He pulled a letter from his pocket. “This arrived in today’s mail.”

  “Addressed to you?”

  Without the slightest response he headed for the ladder and handsaw a few trees away.

  She unfolded the plain white paper to find a short message in perfect handwriting.

  Subject: Rueben Glick and his possible involvement in the destruction of Rhoda Byler’s crops.

  Her hands trembled. How did they know what had happened to her fruit garden? She clutched the letter and shook it at him as he headed back her way. “Did you take that incident to my bishop and deacon?”

  Her family wouldn’t. They knew it would stir up trouble for her. Landon wouldn’t. He was too loyal a friend. The only other person she’d told who was responsible for destroying her fruit garden was Samuel.

  Samuel’s jaw set. “It needed to be done.”

  “But … but you gave me your word.” Compelled to read the rest, she r
eturned her attention to the letter.

  Dear Samuel, after much consideration we have prayerfully agreed that the matter you brought to our attention must be addressed. The charges are of such a serious nature that we cannot allow Rhoda Byler to go to Maine as a member in good standing unless this matter is settled first.

  Since this matter needs to be settled before Rhoda leaves for Maine, and since your concern is that Rueben Glick is not only guilty of this incident but may be causing problems with others as well, we feel we have no choice but to allow this meeting to be open to anyone in the district who chooses to come.

  Her blood ran hot as realization continued to dawn. Anger began to mingle with fear, but she couldn’t stop staring at the letter. Why had the ministers waited until the day before the move to call a meeting? But more important … why would Samuel do this to her?

  Wasn’t it bad enough that Rueben Glick and his small band of nitwits had destroyed her fruit garden last August? She had been devastated when she’d arrived home with Samuel, Jacob, and Leah to discover what had been done. The garden meant the world to Rhoda. Her Daed had given her the first blueberry bush when she was just seven. Every year since then he gave her more plants and land to plant them on. The garden grew and became her sanctuary, especially after her sister was murdered.

  Rhoda had worked year after year to make the garden beautiful and yield a healthy crop. All the naysayers who didn’t like her and her odd ways had wanted her out of that garden. Some were jealous, but others were truly concerned that she was overstepping her place as a single Amish woman with too much independence and too much success. The number of stores that carried her canned products only increased. If she were married, those against her would probably feel different. Then again, if she were married, she wouldn’t have the time to devote to her business, and it wouldn’t be so successful.

  For more reasons than she could explain, it meant everything to her to conceal from her community and neighbors that Rueben had uprooted her beloved vines and bushes. So she had called her friend Landon and asked him to bring over his Bobcat. By morning the land looked as if she had deliberately cleared her garden.