https://www.amazon.com/Firestorm-Amish-Mackinac-County-Hilton/dp/1641230312/
Firestorm
Blurb
Bridget
Behr and her family migrate from the bustling Amish community where she grew up
in Ohio to
the mostly unpopulated Upper Peninsula of Michigan after a stalker breaks into
their home. While her father and brother try to find work in the area, the
family is forced to reside in a borrowed RV until the house and barn are
rebuilt. While Bridget is hoping for a fresh start, she’s afraid to trust
anyone—even Gabriel, the overly-friendly Amish man who lives nearby. Bridget
thinks he’s a flirt who serial dates and doesn’t even remember the girls’
names.
Due
to not enough construction work in his Florida community to keep him out of
trouble, Gabriel Lapp has been sent to Michigan to work. His father is
desperate for his son to settle down. When the family walks into Gabe’s home in
the middle of a thunderstorm and he discovers their circumstances, he offers to
help with construction. For Gabe, the beautiful girl he teasingly calls “the
recluse” once he discovers she doesn’t attend youth events, confuses him like
none other.
As
Gabriel and Bridget grow closer, they realize there is more to a person than
meets the eye. Just as Bridget is finally settling into her new life, and
perhaps finding love, tragedy strikes. Now Bridget and her family must decide
if they should move to another Amish community, or dare to fight for the future
they’d hoped for in Mackinac County.
Excerpt:
Firestorm
By Laura V. Hilton
Chapter
1
Mackinac
County, Michigan
It was a
nightmare.
Lightning flashed
across the black sky. Thunder boomed so close that vibrations shook the ground.
Rain, mixed with pebble-size hail, pelted the van’s windows with enough force
it seemed the glass might not withstand the impact.
Bridget Behr
stared in dismay at the haus Daed had bought sight unseen. In the bright
flashes of lightning along with the beam from the headlamps of the vehicle that
had brought them here, it appeared gray. Rundown. Forsaken. Abandoned.
Maybe it wouldn’t be
so bad during the day.
Or maybe it’d be
worse.
“It’s a nightmare.
A nightmare, I tell you!” She hadn’t meant to blurt those words out loud. Especially
when her parents, older brudder, and the driver jerked around to stare at her.
Still. They had come here for a safe haven and found this. Unbelievable.
Daed grunted. His frown
spoke volumes without saying a word. Don’t
talk in our language in front of Englishers and We’re doing this for you, Bridget.
Maybe she should
be grateful instead of imagining the worst. She probably had read too many cozy
mysteries under the covers via flashlight lately, but this seriously had
creepy, scary, and unnerving written all over it.
A complete
disaster.
But there probably
wasn’t a body hidden halfway behind the bed. Of course, there wasn’t even a
bed, because the truck they’d hired to bring their worldly possessions wouldn’t
arrive until tomorrow. Providing the bridge across the straits of Mackinac was
open. It’d been shut for hours today due to gale-force winds.
The driver cleared
his throat. “I can take you to the house next door, if you wish. Things might
appear more attractive in morning light.”
There didn’t
appear to be a haus next door. Just a thick expanse of ever so many trees.
Maybe home to bears. Wolves. Cougars.
She shivered. The
book she’d read most recently had the hero battling grizzlies in a high-stakes
adventure.
“Jah…Yes. The
neighbors’ would be gut,” Daed said. He looked back at the spotlighted wreckage
and tugged at his beard. “Let this be a lesson to you, kinner. Never buy
property sight unseen.”
Jah. Seemed it
would be a given. Hadn’t Bridget argued that very point when Daed announced his
plans?
Daed had ignored
her. Other than, “We can’t stay here, Bridget. It’s not safe. Not for you, not
for your sisters, and not even for your mamm.”
Indeed.
Still, at least
Daed semi-admitted his mistake in a roundabout way.
Bridget sighed and
leaned back against the seat in the van. Getting as far away as possible from
the atrocity that was to be her new home.
“The next-door
neighbors… are they Amish or Englisch?” Mamm clutched the seat of the van
beside Bridget as if it might launch them out at the forsaken haus.
The driver
chuckled. Not a comforting sound. Instead it almost sounded… evil. “Amish.”
That was gut, jah?
Mamm relaxed.
Bridget tensed.
She glanced over her shoulder into the rear seat of the van. Her two younger
sisters and younger brudder were asleep. In the seat next to her, her older
brudder stared out the window and shook his head. He’d have plenty to say away
from Daed’s hearing, no doubt.
“Off we go then.
It’s about a half-mile down the road.” The driver shifted the gearshift lever
beside the steering wheel and drove off.
Long before
Bridget mentally prepared herself to meet strangers, he parked in front of
another dark haus.
At least this one
seemed in better shape. Glass covered the windows. They didn’t loom empty like
the ones in...
Wait. No windows?
That meant her future home was also home to any number of creatures. And now
thoroughly drenched thanks to the driving rain.
“Daed—”
The driver cleared
his throat. “I’m pretty sure it’s unlocked. No one locks doors around here. The
family is in Mio visiting relatives, but they probably won’t mind you staying
overnight.”
More unease
slithered up Bridget’s spine. A sharp contrast to their home back in Ohio where
houses were locked simply because of all the tourists and the stalker. Would
strangers be welcome to just barge in and camp out overnight?
“Thank you.” Daed
handed the man some money. “Appreciate you picking us up at the bus station.”
“No problem. Welcome
to the area.” He pocketed the cash and laughed. “Of course, you might not like
it so much once the snow starts flying in a week or so. You might want to go
back where you came from.”
There’s a thought.
They may have left one danger, but it seemed they’d jumped from the frying pan
straight into the fire with this move. Bridget waited for Daed to agree.
Daed grunted.
After a few
moments of silence, the driver coughed. “I’ll wait to be sure it is unlocked.”
Bridget climbed
out of the van, then reached to help her youngest sister Roseanna. The heavy
rain soaked through her dress and kapp, turning her into a cold, wet, soggy
mess. Too bad their hand luggage hadn’t made it to the right bus going north.
But they were assured it’d be found and delivered later. Maybe this family
would let them borrow something dry to sleep in.
Daed led the way
up the porch steps and opened the door. He flicked on the small flashlight he always
carried in his pocket.
“Where are we,
Daed? Is this our new home?” Roseanna rubbed her eyes. “I don’t recognize any
of the furniture.”
A door shut somewhere
upstairs. Seconds later, a man appeared at the landing, holding a flashlight
lantern high. He had crazy bed head, wore some psychedelic-lime-green pajama
pants, and was bare-chested.
He stared down at
them and blinked.
Bridget dipped her
head, her cheeks heating. But… She darted a glance up again, fascinated by the
sight.
“Uh. There’s a
lantern on the table,” the man in the lime-green pajamas said. “Go ahead and light
it.” He set the flashlight on the top of the stairs and disappeared into the
room he’d just emerged from.
Seconds later, he
reappeared, tugging on an undershirt
as he ran downstairs.
