A Match For Addy (The Amish Matchmaker Book 1) by Emma Miller Page B

exchanged vows three times, each with a match who owned better livestock and broader fields than the one before.”
    “How can you say that, when boys flock around the pretty girls like bees to honey?”
    Sara shook her head again. “A man may be attracted by a pretty face or a shapely figure, but he doesn’t choose a wife for those things. A man chooses a woman who makes him feel better about himself. Who can help him be a better person. At least, it has been my experience with Amish men, who seem to me to be most sensible when it comes to marriage. A woman’s challenge is to present herself as an appropriate candidate. Not a scold or a wet blanket that will hang around a man’s neck and drip cold water down the back of his shirt on a winter day. I lost two suitors that I greatly favored until I learned that lesson.” She shook her head. “I fear, Addy Coblentz, that I have always been a slow learner.”
    “And you think that if I am more careful about the way I speak to men, you might find someone for me?”
    “It is my job to make strong matches, matches where both husband and wife are happy together. I’ve always prided myself on taking on the most difficult cases, but I’ve never failed yet. And I have no intention of allowing you to be the first. What would it do for my reputation if I couldn’t find someone worthy for my own cousin’s daughter?”
    “I had an offer of marriage once...at least, almost an offer,” Addy said. “But I rejected him, and he married someone else. What if I don’t like the man you find for me? What then?”
    “Then I’ll find another. And another, until you are satisfied. Have a little faith in me and listen to what I try to teach you. You’ll make some man a fine wife. All you have to do is bend a little.” She held up a bean seedling. “See how they uncurl as they break through the surface of the ground? Then they stretch toward the sun, stretch their arms toward heaven and accept His blessings.”

Chapter Seven
    T uesday morning, Gideon threw open Sara’s back door and stood aside to let in a very wet Addy Coblentz. Beyond the porch, in the farmyard, a horse and buggy moved slowly away through the pouring rain.
    “I know I’m late.” Addy shrugged off her wet jacket and removed her black bonnet. “
Dat
insisted on driving me over, and he was working on a sermon.” She spread her hands helplessly. “I guess the time got away from him. Sara will think I’m a slugabed—”
    Ellie entered the utility room to take Addy’s soggy coat.
    “I should hang that outside on the porch,” Addy protested. “It’ll drip all over the floor in here.”
    Ellie frowned. “But will it dry out there? I think not.” She gave Gideon an amused glance. “This one insisted on firing up the woodstove this morning. I’ll hang your jacket on the hook behind the stove, and it will be dry by this afternoon.”
    “The woodstove in June?” Addy remarked.
    “Gas is handy, but a woodstove gives food the best flavor,” he said.
    Addy stood in the center of the utility room with her bonnet in her hand and a puzzled expression on her face. Gideon noticed that she was wearing her prayer
kapp
this morning instead of her usual workday headscarf. She had on a green dress, the skirt streaked with rain.
    “Is Sara here?” Addy asked, glancing around.
    “Gone out.” Ellie headed for the kitchen.
    “On a day like this? Surely, she didn’t take the buggy?”
    “Ne,”
Gideon explained. “She’s hired a driver and gone off to Wilmington to the train station.”
    “She’s to pick up a new boarder,” Ellie explained, stopping in the doorway. “Her word for her
candidates
. This one’s name is Joseph. Sara invited him to come, but didn’t know he was arriving so soon. That Irwin Beachy that lives with your Aunt Hannah came over with a message yesterday. Joseph called the chair shop where Irwin works, and Irwin passed on the message. Sara must have given Joseph that number.” Ellie