The Amish Bachelor: Amish Romance (Seven Amish Bachelors Book 1) Read online

  The Amish Bachelor

  Seven Amish Bachelors Book 1

  Samantha Price

  Amish Romance

  Copyright © 2017 Samantha Price

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Contact Samantha Price

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  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Isaac Fuller breathed in the fresh air as his horse pulled the buggy toward his family’s kitchen joinery workshop. Even though his six brothers and his father all worked various jobs within the company, Isaac was first to arrive at work every morning and that was just the way he liked it.

  With his father gradually doing less, Isaac had stepped up to take over many of his areas of expertise. With permission from their Amish bishop, in addition to having electricity in their workshop, they were allowed computers. Like the bishops in most of the communities these days, theirs knew the hardships of keeping up with competitors without use of a website or offering online ordering facilities. Isaac had overseen the development of their website two years ago and that had moved the business along greatly. Now Isaac had worked through putting all their accounts and invoices onto the accounting system on the computer. That had been a mammoth task, but now that it was done, it made things like the monthly bookkeeping a lot easier.

  There was nothing Isaac liked better than opening the doors of the workshop, flicking on the coffee machine, filling his mug, and then scrolling through the new emails while sipping his morning coffee. Before his rowdy brothers arrived, yes, that was his best time of day.

  When he put the key into the lock, the door opened without him turning the key. His heart beat fast. His first thought was that they’d been robbed. As he took a step inside, he saw that the lights were on.

  “Hello?” he yelled out. He’d warned his father not to keep cash on the premises, but as with most things, his father had dug his heels in and still refused to make daily visits to the bank. Thankfully, most of their transactions these days were by credit card or direct deposit.

  “Jah?” came a small female voice.

  He stepped in further, his heart rate calming a bit. “Who’s there?”

  “It’s Hazel Bauer.”

  He followed the voice to his office and saw her sitting on his chair behind his desk at his computer. “Can I help you?”

  “Nee, I’m fine.” She stood up and the chair screeched along the floor. She reached out her hand. “I’m Hazel Bauer.”

  He shook her hand. “And what are you doing here?”

  “I’m doing the bookwork. You must be one of the Fuller boys.”

  “Jah, I’m Isaac.” He realized this must’ve been his father’s doing. “How did you get in?”

  “Your vadder gave me a key. I like to start early and he said no one gets here before eight.”

  Isaac pressed his lips together tightly. He always got there before seven, and his father knew that. He stared at the girl. She was now sitting again, looking at the screen while tapping a calculator. She was fair-skinned with a pleasant face and unusual large green eyes.

  Those eyes! He moved closer to get a better look at her. Could she be that same girl? She looked the same, but older. “Where are you from?”

  “I’m from a small community near Allentown.”

  She couldn’t be one and the same, he thought, since she gave no sign that she recognized him. If he didn’t already have a girlfriend he might have been pleased to have a girl such as her in the workplace. But seeing her sitting in his seat and doing his job, he wasn’t so happy. “So, what’s the story? My vadder has employed you, or what?”

  She stopped and looked up at him. “Oh, didn’t he tell you?”

  He shook his head.

  “Jah, I’m working here full-time now, doing the bookwork and all the accounting. I’ve been fully trained in it. I had my last job for two years and they were very happy with my work.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “Why did you leave?”

  She looked away from him. “I … I wanted to move here.”

  “You’ve moved here recently?”

  “I have, just yesterday.”

  “With your husband?”

  She giggled. “Nee, just myself.”

  It was odd for a single girl to move to a different community without an apparent good reason, such as moving there for a man. Young Amish women just didn’t move by themselves for nothing. “Don’t you have a family?”

  “I do, but not here.” She turned back to her computer and kept working.

  The coffee was calling him. He’d talk to his father later in the day and find out what was going on. Wasn’t his father happy with the job he’d been doing? Why did he have to call someone else in? And tell him nothing about it? He turned to leave, and then turned back around. “I usually check the emails every morning at this computer.”

  She pointed to the office next to hers, which was his father’s. “There’s another one in there—a computer, I mean.”

  He did his best to hide his annoyance. She didn’t even stop working to speak with him; every time there had been a lull in the conversation she went right back to working. “If you have trouble figuring out the system, or if you need any help, let me know.”

  He went to walk away, and she said, “The last woman who did the accounting for you made a few errors, but it’s nothing I can’t fix.”

  His mouth fell open. “Errors?” Woman? What makes her think only women do bookwork? he wondered.

  “Jah, she made some little mistakes. I don’t think she fully knew how the software worked. It won’t take me long to fix, hopefully.” She glanced up at him and smiled before she began tapping the keys again.

  He walked away, heading to the lunchroom. He’d put all the new systems in, and to hear that he’d made mistakes didn’t make him happy. But had he made mistakes, or was that her way of justifying her job there? He was too embarrassed to admit that he was that ‘woman’ who’d made the mistakes.

  After he had made his coffee, he headed to his father’s office to read the emails while trying to put the annoyance out of his head. “Hazel, would you like a cup of kaffe?”

  She smiled and lifted up a cup. “I already got myself one, denke.”

  He nodded at her annoying efficiency and continued into the office. Once he'd sat down behind his father’s desk, he flicked on the computer and waited for it to boot up. It was an old computer and nee
ded upgrading. They’d bought it second hand before they knew how computers worked and how rapidly the technology changed.

  When the emails finally loaded, Isaac scrolled through them. Over the weekend, they’d gotten six emails requesting estimates for jobs. It was Isaac’s job to get back to them, make appointments, and work out the estimates for the potential customers. They didn’t get all the jobs they quoted on, but they got most of them. The small jobs were their bread and butter, but it was with the total kitchen renovations that they brought in the most money per job.

  Hazel kept her head down and kept working. She badly needed this job, and she was well aware that all of the Fuller boys were virtually her bosses. If she upset any one of them that could mean her job might be in jeopardy. From how Mr. Fuller had talked about his boys, she had thought they would be younger. Isaac seemed to be in his late twenties and he was still unmarried—she knew that from his clean-shaven face. From the moment he’d walked in, she knew he was the eldest son, too. He'd held that sense of authority in every mannerism.

  She glanced over at Isaac through the glass wall between the offices. He had seemed grumpy and not very friendly, but at least he’d offered her coffee. He couldn’t be that bad.

  The way his dark hair kicked up and curved over at the middle of his forehead made her smile. It stood up at the front naturally. She knew he, like all the other Amish men, wouldn’t have used any products in his hair. Isaac must’ve been blessed with bouncy hair that naturally grew in a perfect direction. His blue eyes contrasted nicely against his dark skin.

  Anyway, she wasn’t there to make friends or look at men; she was there to make money for her mother. Mr. Fuller had told her he had seven sons, all of whom worked in his joinery business. From the look and the size of the workshop, she thought the business was doing well. She’d thanked God, and been so grateful to her own bishop for finding Mr. Fuller and this bookkeeping job. There had been no jobs whatsoever where she was from, but the Fullers’ community was much larger. Her bishop in Allentown had talked to the Fullers' bishop, John Byler, who had kindly offered her a room in their home. The bishop’s wife, Ruth, was a tender-hearted lady who’d made her feel at home right away.

  After all the devastation she and her mother had been through, Hazel deeply appreciated the kindness both Amish communities had shown her.

  It was nearly two hours later when she heard rumbling coming from outside. Then she heard the main door swing open and a group of young men walked in talking loudly and laughing. They all stopped when they saw her.

  “Hello, I’m Hazel.”

  “This is our new bookkeeper Dat hired without informing anyone,” Isaac said.

  She turned around and looked at Isaac, who’d seemingly come out of nowhere. He was clearly still annoyed she was there.

  “That’s because it’s my company and I’m entitled to run it the way I see fit.”

  Hazel was pleased that Mr. Fuller had come at the same time as the rest of his boys. He’d saved her from an awkward moment. “I’m sorry, Hazel. I had planned to get here before any of them this morning, but I’m not that good at waking early these days. That’s why I gave you the key.”

  Hazel smiled at him and just gave him a little nod, too intimidated by all the boys staring at her.

  “Since my boys seem to have lost their tongues, and one of them his manners, I’ll introduce them to you. My eldest is Isaac.”

  “We’ve already met.” Isaac’s tone was gruff.

  “The next is Levi, and then Joshua, Jacob, Samuel, and Timothy.” Mr. Fuller had motioned to each son as he named him. The boys had each smiled and nodded, and some had tipped their hats. “And the youngest is Benjamin.”

  “Last but not least.” Benjamin stepped forward with an outstretched hand.

  She giggled at Benjamin. With his good looks and charming manner, he was bound to win many hearts when he grew older. She took Benjamin’s hand and shook it and then he stepped back.

  “I’m pleased to meet you all. I’ll try hard to remember your names.”

  “Don’t worry about theirs,’” Benjamin said as he placed his hand over his heart. “You only need remember mine.”

  The other brothers chuckled and two of them rolled their eyes.

  “Don’t take notice of him,” one of them said.

  “Yeah, most of the time we ignore him,” another said.

  Their father stepped in between the boys and Hazel, and then he scowled at his sons. “Off to work now.”

  The boys all walked away except for Isaac. “Can I have a word with you, Dat?”

  “Right now?”

  “Jah.”

  Hazel noticed Mr. Fuller sigh, and a pained expression appeared on his face as though he didn’t want to have this talk with Isaac. “Excuse me, Hazel. I’ll be back in one minute.”

  “Make it a few,” Isaac said to Hazel, as he placed a hand on his father’s shoulder and moved him away from her. “Let’s talk in your office, Dat, since I no longer appear to have one.”

  Hazel gulped and looked at father and son walking away. She hadn’t known she was sitting in Isaac’s place—he’d never said a thing. And, if she was sitting in his office, had she just taken over his job? She placed a hand to her head when she realized what she’d said about their former bookkeeper. Had that been him? If so, that explained why he’d been less than pleased with her being there. She always seemed to say the wrong thing in the wrong time and place. Next time, she’d think before she spoke. Or, maybe better, not say anything.

  She went back to her computer screen and focused on the numbers before her. After a couple of minutes, she glanced over at father and son, who seem to be having cross words. Mr. Fuller was still wearing that pained expression and his eyes had glazed over, while Isaac’s arms were flailing about in the air. It appeared Isaac was trying his best to explain something to his father, and his father wasn't getting Isaac's point.

  She’d been told that Mr. Fuller had a job for her as a bookkeeper. Now she was starting to suspect that he’d created the job especially for her, or more correctly, taken some duties from Isaac and given them to her. Was that it? Had Mr. Fuller been informed of her situation and kind-heartedly created this job?

  She didn’t mind if Mr. Fuller knew of her situation because that meant either her bishop or Mr. Fuller’s bishop had told him. Mr. Fuller would know to keep such things quiet.

  Chapter 2

  Isaac had closed the door of his father’s office before their heated exchange. Now he took a deep breath and waited until his father was seated before he, too, sat down. He tried a calmer approach. “What are you really doing, Dat? We agreed we’d keep costs down and that’s why I was doing the books. We were keeping expenses down by not employing a bookkeeper.” Isaac stared at his father, waiting for him to respond. His father just looked at him blankly. “Aren’t you happy with the work I’ve been doing?”

  “I’m more than pleased with your efforts, Isaac, and you should know that.”

  “Jah, I thought I knew that, but then I come here today and find someone sitting in my chair, at my desk, and using my computer. And doing what I understood to be my job. You could, at the very least, have told me, so I wouldn’t have gotten a shock when I walked in this morning. When the door was unlocked, my heart about leapt out of my chest. I thought we’d been robbed.”

  “You’re not as easy to talk to since you moved out of home.”

  “Dat, you saw me at the meeting yesterday, and besides that, I only live half a mile away. When did you make the decision to give that girl my job?”

  “Here’s the thing, Isaac: one day you’ll run the business, but right now you don’t. This is the business I built from the ground up. It’s put food on the table and now it has the capability of providing for all of you boys. Gott willing, it will provide for all your brothers’ families, and yours, if He keeps blessing us.”

  This is what his father always did to him. Isaac was already in charge of the day-to-day ope
rations of the business and whenever they were doing well everything was okay, but the minute they had a slight downturn, Isaac knew his father blamed him. The big speech his father was now giving him was designed to pull him back into line and remind him who was boss. He had to respect his father as his elder. Besides, his father was right—it wasn’t his business yet.

  “I know what you’re saying, Dat, but the last two years we’ve grown into the pattern of talking about things before we do anything. And since we’ve been doing that, things have been going well. You have an idea, or I have an idea, and then we talk about it, we think about it, and then we make a decision. Is there a particular reason why you bypassed discussing something with me this time?”

  Mr. Fuller looked over at the young woman and then looked back at Isaac. “She’s a bookkeeper and we need one of those. It will free you up to do other things. You’re always looking so worried, and even now you’ve got deep lines in your forehead.” Mr. Fuller tapped his own forehead.

  “I don’t mind the long hours.”

  “But you’re not a trained bookkeeper. We’re a growing business, and you can’t keep doing all the work you’re doing by yourself forever.”

  “I’ve read the manual of the software. You just enter the numbers where they tell you to enter them, press a button, and the computer does the rest.”

  “Hazel can enter the numbers into the software and you can get around to do more quotes and do more quality testing on the boys’ work.”

  “Levi oversees their work.”

  “You can teach the rest of them what you know. Take one of them to do the quotes with you.”