THE BRIDESMAID BY BEVERLY LEWIS

This is the second book in the series " Home To Hickory Hollow". A young Amish girl named Joanna Kurtz is reaching the age where she is soon to be considered an "Old Maid" and has dangerously attended too many weddings as a bridesmaid. She starts to think that she will never know the joy of having a husband and children of her own. Discouraged, she travel to another wedding that takes place in Shipshewana, Indiana where she is attracted to a young man named Eben Troyer. They fall in love after a whirlwind romance where she pledges her heart to Eben and he promises to come to Hickory Hollow to court her and meet her family. Eben banks this future with Joanna on the chance his estranged brother who left the Amish order for the Englisher life will return and take his place beside their father on the family farm. When his brother returns and Eben realizes he has no plans to stay he makes a trip to Hickory Hollow to break the news to Joanna that their dreams of a life together are over. Eben returns home and both he and Joanna try very hard to look to the future by courting others but neither can remove from their hearts the deep bond they have for each other. When they finally realize that their hearts can never belong to another Joanna resigns herself to becoming a spinster and Eben to running his father’s farm. Then something, happens because of a special someone and an wedding ring quilt from long ago that turns everything upside down and brings the worlds of Shipshewana and Hickory Hollow back into balance once again.