His Amish Sweetheart

Book 3: Petersheim Brothers

by Jennifer Beckstrand

Genres: Amish & Mennonite; Christian Romance

Synopsis

Fondly nicknamed "The Peanut Butter Brothers," Andrew, Abraham, and Austin Petersheim skillfully run one of Wisconsin's most cherished family businesses. But their mischievous younger twin siblings have a talent all their own—for matchmaking . . .



Between work and keeping his little brothers out of trouble, Austin Petersheim barely has time to think, much less court the most popular maidel in town. But if he can establish a local market to direct-sell his family's goods, he'll stand out as a potential husband. He's so grateful for the help of his longtime friend, Hannah Yutzy, who has such practical ideas—and is so easy to talk to . . .



While Austin embarks on his plan, his siblings have a plan of their own: to give Austin and Hannah a little nudge to show them they're made for each other. When their antics wreak havoc with a rival family emporium, Hannah must help Austin set things right. And as she does just that, Austin is stunned to realize his best friend could be his perfect wife. Now he'll just need the courage and faith to find out if she agrees . . .

Release date: June 28, 2022

Publisher: Zebra Books

Print pages: 368

Sample

“It smells like something died down here.”

Austin stood on the bottom step like he was too good or too clean to come clear down into the cellar, as if he might get bitten by a spider or eaten by a moth—fears Alfie and Benji had to face every day. Austin wouldn’t be so high and mighty if he was the one who had to sleep in the cellar.

But Mamm would never make Austin sleep in the cellar. Austin was her favoritest son in the whole world. Austin loved making peanut butter. Austin was Mamm’s best helper. Austin had never set anything on fire, as if that made him better than anyone else.

The cellar was for Alfie and Benji, two nine-year-olds who Mamm didn’t think had any feelings. She didn’t care that Alfie might die of a spider bite or get sick from a worm crawling down his throat while he was sleeping. It didn’t even upset her that the cellar smelled like moldy socks and fermented pinto beans. And most people who knew what fermented pinto beans smelled like cared very much. But Mamm didn’t.

Alfie couldn’t stand the unjustice of it all. “If you think you’re so smart, Austin, you can sleep down here and Benji and I will take your room.”

That didn’t annoy Austin in the least. Austin was hard to annoy, even though Alfie tried real hard. Austin just laughed. “Even if you paid me a hundred dollars, I wouldn’t sleep down here. It stinks.”

Alfie eyed Austin. How much would they have to pay him? It might be worth selling all their worldly possessions to get out of the cellar. The only thing Alfie really cared about was their dog, Tintin, but surely they could get more than a hundred dollars for their other stuff like their clothes and books and bird nest collection. Mamm wouldn’t be too happy if they walked around naked, and they probably wouldn’t be allowed in school with no clothes. Alfie smiled to himself. All the better. He hated school. Except for recess.

Alfie glanced at his twin bruder, Benji. Benji was happily playing with the wooden train their bruder Andrew had made them. They could probably get ten dollars for that train, if Benji would part with it.

Benji didn’t seem to care that Austin had just mocked their cellar, as if they belonged there like two orphan mice that nobody cared about. Benji was a gute bruder, but sometimes he just didn’t care enough.

Austin stepped up to the second step. “Mamm says dinner’s in ten minutes, and you better scrub your fingernails real gute or she won’t let you touch the food.”

What was it about Mamm and fingernails? Alfie and Benji had to keep their fingernails trimmed and clean, and the one time Alfie had put on fingernail polish, Mamm had nearly popped a blood vessel in her neck. Alfie had seen it bulging.

Alfie’s blood boiled as he watched Austin run up the stairs. Austin could escape from the cellar anytime he wanted, but Alfie and Benji were stuck here until Austin moved out of the house. Well, Abraham and Austin both had to move out, but Abraham was getting married next year, so they just had to find a way to get rid of Austin. They needed to find him a wife. But Austin was going to be real hard because Alfie didn’t know of any girl who would take him.

Benji put the train in the bin Mamm had given them for their toys. “Let’s go wash our hands. Mammi bought a special brush.” Benji was a gute bruder, but sometimes he was too obedient and not angry enough.

“Benji, how can you think of scrubbing your fingernails at a time like this?”

“A time like what?”

“A time that we’re still sleeping in the cellar.”

“We have to sleep in the cellar. Dawdi had a stroke and now Mammi and Dawdi are living in Mamm and Dat’s room. Mamm and Dat have our room, and Abraham and Austin share a room. There isn’t room for us to sleep anywhere else.”

Alfie growled. “I know that. That’s why we have to get Austin out of the house. When Abraham gets married, Austin will be the only one left.”

“Okay,” said Benji, as if he already knew it all, which he did. They’d talked about getting their bruderen out of the house ever since they were eight.

“Benji, it doesn’t seem like you care if Austin ever moves out.”

Benji scratched his head. “I care. But I really want to eat dinner, and I have dog poop under my fingernails.”

“Dog poop?”

“Jah. I was playing with LaWayne and accidentally put my hand in his poop. I wiped most of it off on my pants, but there’s still some under my fingernails.”

Alfie pinched his lips together. No wonder it smelled so bad down here. “Before you scrub your fingernails, we need to talk about Austin. It’s going to be real hard to find him a wife because he’s cocky and proud and doesn’t care that his little bruderen have to sleep in the cellar. And don’t call our dog LaWayne. His name is Tintin.”

“But Mamm said if we want to keep him, we have to change his name to LaWayne.”

Alfie huffed out a breath. “We only have to call him LaWayne when Mamm is around. His real name is Tintin.”

Benji almost nibbled on his fingernail but probably decided to wait until he scrubbed. “We don’t have to find Austin a wife. I already know. He’s going to marry Hannah Yutzy.”

Alfie rolled his eyes. Benji was a gute partner, but he didn’t know anything about love. “Austin won’t marry Hannah. She’s his best friend since first grade. He needs to fall in love with somebody.”

“He’s already in love with Hannah,” Benji insisted. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“He is not,” Alfie said. “He’s more interested in Priscilla Lambright. She stares at him all the time in gmay.”

“Even during the prayers?”

Alfie shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t open my eyes.”

“I’m going to look next time.”

Alfie frowned. “The bishop will catch you.”

“Nae, he won’t. He never opens his eyes.” Benji shifted his feet. “Probably.”

“Even if Priscilla doesn’t stare at Austin during the prayer, she likes him, and that’s as gute as we’re going to get because she’s the only girl who might be willing to marry him. I have a plan, and we’re going to make them fall in love. They’ll get married, Austin will move out, and we’ll get our room back. If we hurry, Austin and Abraham can have a double wedding. We’ll kill two birds with one stone.”

“We shouldn’t kill birds. Mamm says they are Gotte’s creatures and don’t hurt a soul. Except sometimes they poop on people and eat their apricots.”

Benji was a gute partner, but sometimes he had trouble concentrating on the plan. “We’re going to make Austin fall in love with Priscilla Lambright, and we’ve only got a few weeks to do it if we want a double wedding.”

“What’s a double wedding?”

“It’s when four people get married at the same time.”

Benji squinted at Alfie. “To each other?”

“Jah. Priscilla works at the library. We should tell Austin to go check out some books.”

Benji shook his head. “Austin is going to marry Hannah Yutzy.”

Alfie clenched his teeth. He wasn’t going to let Benji change the plan. “Priscilla is prettier than Hannah.”

“She is not.”

It was no use arguing about that. Hannah was prettier, and she smiled all the time. Priscilla never smiled, but Alfie wasn’t about to admit it. “They are both as pretty as each other, but Priscilla knows how to make cookies.”

“Hannah knows how to make donuts and pretzels.”

“Priscilla is smarter,” Alfie said. He didn’t know if that was true, but it made a gute argument, especially since Priscilla worked at the library.

“Hannah knows how to quilt. And she laughs all the time. She thinks Austin is funny, and she’s nice to the little kids.”

Alfie pinched his lips together. Benji didn’t know anything about girls, and he liked Austin too much. Nobody else liked Austin at all. “Benji, Priscilla is the only girl who might be willing to marry Austin. No one else will have him, especially not Hannah.”

Alfie could usually talk Benji into anything, but Benji folded his arms and lifted his chin. “I want Austin to marry Hannah.”

Alfie folded his arms too. He could be just as stubborn. “I want Austin to marry Priscilla.”

“I won’t help you spy on Priscilla,” Benji said.

“I won’t help you spy on Hannah,” Alfie countered. “And I call the binoculars.”

Benji squished his face until he looked like a prune. “Then I call the walkie-talkies.”

Alfie didn’t argue. You needed two people to work the walkie-talkies. Benji might as well throw them in the river for all the good it would do him. The binoculars were a much better idea. Besides, Benji wasn’t as good a spy as Alfie. He’d be lost without Alfie’s help. Alfie squared his shoulders. “I guess we’re not partners anymore.”

Benji sniffed and swiped his sleeve across his face. “I guess not.”

It made Alfie kind of sad, the way Benji tried to be brave that they had broken up, but Alfie refused to shed a tear. Benji had made his choice, and he was going to lose for sure and certain. Alfie might as well start sending out invitations for Austin and Priscilla’s wedding. Austin’s bedroom was as good as his. And maybe if Benji asked real nice, Alfie would let Benji share it.

Hannah Yutzy had mastered the art of being cheerful even when she wasn’t. She could sing even when she cleaned toilets, smile when the donut fryer spit grease at her, and laugh when Austin Petersheim treated her like a potted plant instead of his best friend.

Austin had just arrived at the donut stand and was already restocking the table with Petersheim Brothers peanut butter while Hannah helped an Englisch customer.

Austin had smiled at Hannah’s bruder, James, and waved to Hannah’s sister Mary, but had he even acknowledged Hannah’s presence? Of course he hadn’t. He was too busy with his peanut butter.

“I’ll take six glazed and six chocolate and a couple of those pretzels,” the Englisch woman said, smiling so wide Hannah could see all the fillings in her teeth.

How could Hannah not smile back at such a nice lady, even though she was out of sorts with Austin? “The donuts are nice and hot,” Hannah said. “Just out of the fryer.”

“Do you have a box?”

“Jah. Perfect for a dozen.” Hannah snatched a piece of wax paper and started loading donuts into the box. “It looks like you’ve come from far away,” she said. The woman and her husband had pulled up in a small RV with Colorado license plates.

The woman nodded. “Denver, Colorado. We’re making a loop. Mount Rushmore, Wisconsin Amish country, maybe Chicago, but I don’t think we can drive that thing into the big city. I’d love to go up in the Willis Tower, even though I’m afraid of heights.”

Hannah laughed. “I don’t know if I’m afraid of heights. The tallest thing I’ve ever been on is the silo on our farm.”

The woman raised her eyebrows. “That’s high enough. If that doesn’t make you woozy, you’re not afraid of heights.”

“I’ve been up Timms Hill,” Austin said, smiling at the Englisch woman and ignoring Hannah as if he hadn’t seen her. “That’s pretty high.”

“The entire state of Colorado is higher than Timms Hill,” the woman said. “We were at Timms Hill yesterday.”

Austin set a jar of peanut butter on the counter. “If you’re looking for something delicious to go with those pretzels, this is organic, one-hundred-percent-natural peanut butter, made right here in Bienenstock by me and my brothers.”

Austin was a natural salesman. The woman picked up the jar and read the label. “How nice. I’ll take it.”

She tried to hand him some money, but he shook his head. “Just pay the girl in pink.” He turned around to tend to his peanut butter, without even a glance in Hannah’s direction. Didn’t she even get a nod for being the girl in pink?

Why did Hannah let Austin bother her? Sometimes he treated her like a best friend. Other times he ignored her, as if she was a convenience instead of a person. Austin Petersheim was the stupidest boy in the world, except for her bruder James, who listened to rap music on his cell phone and smoked cigarettes behind the barn. James had an excuse for his stupidity because he was eighteen and in rumschpringe. Austin had no excuse at all.

He was the most self-centered, aggravating, lovable boy in the world.

Hannah gave the woman her donuts and smiled as if she was having the best day ever, even though Austin was ignoring her. And aside from Austin being himself, she really was having a pretty gute day. They’d sold a lot of donuts for a Monday, she didn’t have to work at Aendi Linda’s tonight, and an Englisch customer had told her that her dress was pretty. Besides, the sun was shining, and there was no rain in the near future. It was a wonderful gute day. If Austin would acknowledge her existence, it would be almost perfect.

“Here’s your invoice, Hannah.” Leaning across the counter, Austin handed Hannah a piece of paper and gave her that smile she’d been waiting for all morning.

Austin had very nice teeth, thick, beautiful hair, and the most handsome face Gotte had ever given a boy. And Hannah was completely in love with him. Not that she would ever tell him. If he suspected she had feelings for him besides that of a friend, he’d hightail it out of her life so fast, he’d fan up a stiff wind. Austin didn’t want to be anything but friends, and Hannah would be wise to remember.

“Hannah?” More of that irresistible smiling.

Ach, she’d been daydreaming when she should have been planning how to yank Austin out of her life. “Austin Petersheim. It’s been ages since we’ve seen your family. Ages.”

He chuckled. “Well, yes, if ages means a day ago.”

A ribbon of warmth threaded its way up Hannah’s spine. They had seen each other at church yesterday, and their hands had accidentally touched when she handed him a bowl of peanut butter spread at the fellowship supper. She gave him a teasing grin. “Twenty-four hours is a long time, and I just adore Benji and Alfie.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Would you like to adopt them? You can have them for free.”

She reached across the counter and cuffed him on the shoulder. “Benji and Alfie are the sweetest boys in the world.”

“Then you should definitely adopt them.” Hannah loved the way his eyes danced when he teased her. “Last week, they washed the dog in the house when Mamm wasn’t home. On Saturday, Alfie tried to set a library book on fire with a magnifying glass. He made a little brown spot on one of the pages. Mamm’s making him pay the fine.”

Hannah couldn’t keep from laughing. “Sounds like he has a healthy sense of curiosity.”

“He doesn’t have any sense at all. Mamm makes him clean toilets as punishment, but he’s been in trouble so many times, he’s scheduled to clean toilets until next June.”

“Poor boy. I should adopt him, if only to save him from a future of chappy hands.”

Austin leaned against the counter and took her breath away with his smile. “He doesn’t deserve you.”

And there it was, the thing that kept her hoping. That look of unbridled affection she craved so much. Austin could be so attentive one minute and so thick-headed the next. What was a girl to think? How was a girl to even want to look at another boy?

Deciding she’d done quite enough pining for one day, she pulled her gaze from his face and studied the invoice. “Did we really sell twenty jars last week?”

“Ach, vell. You’ve been carrying Petersheim Brothers peanut butter for three weeks. Word is starting to get around.”

Hannah leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Since Glick’s Amish Market refuses to sell your peanut butter, we’ve gotten more of their business.” She giggled. “But don’t tell. Raymond Glick would be angry if he knew, and then the sin would be on my head.”

Austin laughed. “It’s Raymond’s sin if he gets angry. But I won’t tell. I’d rather not see Raymond turn red. Or green with envy.”

“I’m not sorry Raymond Glick isn’t buying your peanut butter anymore, even if I’m sorry about how it all happened. It’s Raymond’s loss and our gain.”

Several weeks ago, Austin’s bruder Abraham had slugged Perry Glick because Perry had gotten fresh with Abraham’s fiancée, Emma Wengerd. Raymond hadn’t taken kindly to Abraham hitting his son, and he’d quit buying Petersheim Brothers peanut butter that very day.

“Raymond Glick won’t allow any Petersheims in his market, but thanks to you, we’ve sold almost as much peanut butter as ever.”

Hannah nodded. “I’m still allowed in the market, but the Glicks don’t like the Yutzys either. Raymond says we take business away from his market, even though they don’t sell donuts or pretzels.”

“Even if they did, they’d never be as good as Hannah and Mary’s donuts.”

Hannah’s sister Mary finished frosting a batch of donuts and wiped her hands on a towel. “Denki.” She giggled and handed Austin a glazed donut hole. “It’s an old family recipe.”

Hannah scrunched her lips to one side of her face. “Mamm got it out of an old Betty Crocker cookbook.”

Austin laughed. “Why change a gute thing?” He popped the donut hole into his mouth. “Appeditlich. There’s nothing like a Yutzy donut.”

“It’s one of the reasons the Glicks don’t like us,” Mary said.

Austin brushed the sugar off his hands. “The Glicks have a long list of people they don’t like. They avoid the Petersheim family, don’t speak to the Kanagys, despise all the Honeybee Sisters, and walk the other way when they see Bitsy Weaver coming.”

“Ach, I know,” Hannah said. “It must be exhausting to carry so many grudges.”

Austin motioned for Hannah to follow him. “Have you got a minute? I want to talk to you about something.”

The donut stand was enclosed by chest-high counters on four sides with a short swinging door on the back side. Hannah tapped the door with her knee and pushed it open, then followed Austin to his open-air buggy and flat wagon.

“I need some advice,” Austin said. “And I always thought you were kind of smart.”

“Only kind of smart?”

He grinned. “Ach, vell. Okay. Very smart. Maybe as smart as me.”

“You were better at math. I was better at spelling. You’re kind of smart too.”

His lips twitched wryly. “Okay. Whatever.” He leaned against the buggy. “I need your help.”

“What help?”

“I need to sell more peanut butter. My dat and Andrew just finished expanding our peanut butter factory, but the grocer in Milwaukee has stopped selling our peanut butter because Skippy is cheaper.”

Austin was very dedicated to the peanut butter, and if he wanted to call that room where they made peanut butter a factory, Hannah wouldn’t begrudge him.

“So you need more places to sell it.”

“Either that or we need to sell more of it. I can’t figure out why we don’t sell five hundred jars a week,” he said. “It’s the most delicious spread in the whole world.”

Hannah smiled to herself. Austin was very dedicated to the peanut butter. “It wonders me if we could sell more here if we put up a sign.”

“Andrew thinks I should advertise on the Internet.”

“That might work, but I don’t know anything about the Internet.”

“Neither do I,” Austin said. “But I guess we could learn.”

That was another endearing and aggravating thing Austin did. When he said, I guess we could learn, he was automatically including her in the details of his life, as if she naturally belonged there. Like a fraa.

Or a best friend.

She didn’t want to be the best friend anymore.

“Yoo-hoo, Austin.”

Austin and Hannah turned at the same time. Priscilla Lambright stood not five feet away, waving at Austin as if trying to get him to notice her from a hundred yards. Priscilla had to get close like that to get anyone’s attention.

To Hannah’s irritation, Austin lit up like a candle. “Hallo, Scilla. Vie gehts?” He had the nerve—or maybe the gute sense—to take a step away from Hannah. Lately he’d been determined to let everyone know that he and Hannah were just friends, not dating, not sweethearts, just friends. And he seemed the most eager around Priscilla. “Hannah and I were just talking about peanut butter. Nothing special.”

Scilla almost smiled, which was about as close as she ever got to looking happy. “For sure and certain, Petersheim Brothers peanut butter is the only kind I eat.”

Austin looked at Priscilla as if she was a bucket full of peanuts already shelled. “Denki. We use organic peanuts yet.”

Priscilla nodded her approval. “Of course. If everybody went organic, all our diseases would disappear. In your own small way, you’re saving the world.”

Austin’s smile was sickly sweet, like a bowl of maple syrup sprinkled with sugar. “I do what I can.”

If Hannah stuck out her tongue and made gagging noises, would he stop smiling like that? What did he see in Priscilla that he couldn’t see in Hannah?

Plenty.

Priscilla was a petite girl with soft chestnut curls that nobody ever got to see because she had to keep them under her kapp. At least that’s what she told any of her friends who would listen, when they could hear her at all. Scilla was soft-spoken, so much so that even people who weren’t hard of hearing had to ask her to repeat herself when she said anything.

Priscilla might have been soft-spoken, but she wasn’t shy. Her favorite activity was pulling one or two friends aside at gatherings and gossiping mercilessly about everyone else. Hannah and Scilla used to be better friends, but whenever they were in a group of three, Scilla had the habit of whispering to one friend and leaving the other one out. It was better to be with Scilla one-on-one if you didn’t want to feel like you were being excluded from her conversation.

And Hannah didn’t especially like listening to Scilla’s gossip. Scilla was quite harsh when she thought someone wasn’t strictly following the Ordnung. Scilla gossiped about everybody, which always made Hannah wonder what Scilla was saying about her when she wasn’t around. Scilla was nice enough, but Hannah wanted to include everybody in her circle of friends and never liked it when someone got left out.

“I saw you from the library window,” Scilla said, sidling closer to Austin and speaking to him as if Hannah was standing in another state. It was wonderful annoying, but Hannah couldn’t take offense. It was how Scilla usually behaved. “Marva said I could come out and say hello, but only for a minute because I have to shelve the books.”

It was unfortunate that their donut stand was just a few hundred feet from the library and equally unfortunate that Scilla worked there.

Austin propped his foot on the spoke of his wheel and leaned his hand awkwardly against the buggy. Well, not awkwardly, exactly. Nothing Austin did was awkward. He was broad-shouldered with strong arms and a trim waist. Every movement he made was athletic, as if motion was his natural state. Hannah was rarely able to pull her eyes from him.

Much to her aggravation.

“I’m froh I was here,” Austin said. “And I’m froh you saw me. I was having a very bad day, but it’s so much better now I’ve seen you.”

Really?

Hannah wanted to smack Austin upside the head. He’d been perfectly cheerful with Hannah and Mary before Scilla had shown up. Hannah didn’t know whether to feel offended, insulted, or depressed.

She was so annoyed with Austin that she had to be extra nice to Scilla to make up for it. “Would you like a donut, Scilla? Fresh from the fryer. You can have it for free for working so hard at the library.”

Scilla drew her brows together. “Do you have whole wheat ones?”

“Nae,” Hannah said, doing a very gute job of keeping the aggravation out of her voice. “No whole wheat.”

Austin gazed at Scilla as if very concerned for her health. “They’re smothered with sugar. And they’re not organic.”

“Ach, vell, I already knew that,” Priscilla said. “Most people don’t believe in organic like you and I do.” She and Austin looked at Hannah as if she was an Englischer who didn’t follow the true gospel and wouldn’t be allowed into Heaven.

Hannah gritted her teeth.

Austin’s face lit up with a wonderful gute idea. “I’ll buy you a jar of my peanut butter. You can take it home and put it on your whole wheat bread.”

Scilla seemed to like the idea as much as Austin did. She actually smiled. “How thoughtful of you.”

Austin turned to Hannah as if remembering she was standing there. “My peanut butter is organic and made with sea salt.”

As if Hannah didn’t know that already. That bragger. Why in the world did she even give Austin the time of day?

“Cum,” Austin said, motioning for Scilla to follow him. “Pick any jar you want, and I’ll pay Mary.” He and Scilla walked away without another word to Hannah, as if she was a mailbox with no letters in it.

Hannah was usually a cheerful person, who laughed too loud and genuinely liked just about everybody, but Austin had pulled her out of her good nature today. He was dumm and insensitive, and she was determined not to like him one little bit ever again, even if he was too handsome to resist.

Hannah may not have been petite or soft-spoken or organic, but Austin wasn’t any kind of friend, and she wasn’t going to let him upset her. There was a quilting frolic tonight at Gingerich’s, and she was going to spend the rest of the day looking forward to that. Scilla could go home and eat her organic peanut butter and develop a peanut allergy, all in the pursuit of Austin Petersheim.

It didn’t make Hannah upset in the least.

“Ach, du lieva! ” Mammi said, in that voice she used when she saw a mouse in the house or when one of her grandsons stunk really, really bad. “What kind of a book is that, Alfie Petersheim?”

Austin was so used to that voice, he barely got concerned anymore. Poor Grandma Martha was anxious and worried and appalled at just about everything that went on in the Petersheim household. And she was kind of driving Mamm crazy.

Grandma and Grandpa or Mammi and Dawdi had moved in over a year ago after Dawdi had a stroke. Mammi tried to run the household as if it was hers, and Mamm was torn between being kind and loving to her mother-in-law or moving out of the house to live with the squirrels in the forest. The only thing that saved Mamm from a life in the forest was the fact that Mammi Martha loved to shop, and she spent a wonderful amount . . .