Promise Lodge Read Online Free Page A

out as they hurried past a massive stone fireplace. They entered a dining area filled with long wooden tables and chairs—enough to seat nearly a hundred people, Deborah estimated. The lingering aromas of fresh bread and fried chicken reminded her that she’d missed dinner while she’d been on the road. When Rosetta Bender peered out from the kitchen, however, Deborah forgot how hungry she was.
    â€œOh, but you’re a sight for sore eyes!” Rosetta cried as she rushed toward Deborah with a dish towel flapping in her hand. “Mattie and I were just saying that we should write to you and your mamm —”
    â€œBut hearing the news from you in person is so much better,” Mattie Schwartz joined in from the kitchen doorway. “Did you eat along the way? We’ve got chicken and some rhubarb cake left—which is a miracle, considering how my boys and Amos are packing away the food these days.”
    Once again Deborah gloried in the warm hugs and smiles from friends she’d missed. Both women’s aprons were smudged with flour and their cape dresses of brown and gold felt damp from spending time in a hot kitchen, yet their smiles were as refreshing as lemonade on a summer day. Deborah was grateful that Noah’s mamm and aunt had never seemed to hold their broken engagement against her.
    â€œA piece of chicken would hit the spot,” she replied. She smiled at Laura and Phoebe, who were already fetching her a plate and pulling out the chair at the worktable. “Wow, this must be three times the size of our kitchens back home. I’ve never seen such big stoves and refrigerators.”
    â€œThey’re perfect for feeding the families coming to our new colony, and for the apartments I hope to open this fall,” Rosetta replied. She plucked bread from a covered basket and placed it on Deborah’s plate. “You’ll hear the fellows talk about how decrepit the buildings are, but all these appliances are gas and they work just fine.”
    â€œWe’re lucky because the church that owned this place left all the utensils, furnishings, and linens, too,” Mattie said. “With time and hard work, we can salvage most of those items and save a lot of money, which we can spend for the repairs and new buildings we’ll need.”
    Deborah closed her eyes over a crispy chicken thigh that was still warm. Her heart swelled with Mattie and Rosetta’s can-do attitudes, the firm belief that they’d made the right decision when they’d sold their farms to start a new life. “Have you had any response to your ad in The Budget ?” she asked as she buttered her bread. “Some of the folks in Coldstream are still surprised at how quickly you left, saying maybe you leaped before you looked.”
    Mattie and Rosetta exchanged a smile that suggested they’d heard this sentiment before. “We Bender sisters have stuck together through thick and thin by the grace of Jesus,” Mattie replied without a moment’s hesitation. “He wouldn’t steer us wrong.”
    â€œAnd with Mattie and Christine losing their men, and our parents passing on to their reward last winter,” Rosetta took up the thread, “we all thought it best to look forward rather than letting our losses hold us back. ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions,’ the Bible tells us. Our lodge and cabins aren’t as grand as God’s dwelling place, but with His help we’ll create a little section of Heaven in this old campground for folks who need to set down new roots.”
    That would be me, Deborah mused as she bit into her chicken again. She was happy to let the two women keep talking so she didn’t have to reveal her predicament yet.
    â€œThe letters are coming in, from folks interested in buying plots of our land,” Mattie replied as she checked a pan of something in the oven. “Amos has called a few of them, and we