May 2022

When Hannah Eicher discovered sweet baby Grace in her barn last spring, the adorable infant seemed like the answer to her prayers. The young Amish baker has always wanted a familye of her own and now that she’s fostered Grace for nearly a year, her adoption application is almost certain to be approved. But an unexpected visitor to Hope’s Haven could change everything . . .

Englischer paramedic Mike Colder is only returning to his childhood hometown to locate and adopt his late sister’s baby. But when the trail leads to Hannah and Grace, Mike’s determination falters. With Hannah, the simple life he left behind suddenly seems appealing. Despite their wildly different worlds, can Mike and Hannah give each other—and Grace—the greatest gift of all: a life together?

Mike turned to Hannah. “What can I do?”

She waved dismissively. “There’s no need for you—”

He raised a brow. “Don’t you think I can be of any use?”

Hannah didn’t answer for a moment, and he wondered if this would be one of her stubborn moments. Then she nodded. “All right.” She retrieved a roll of parchment paper and stack of sheet pans. She set the pans down and handed him the roll of parchment paper. “You can line each of these pans, edge-to-edge, while I prepare the work surface.”

“Starting me off with the hard jobs I see.”

That earned him a grin.

While he worked on lining the cookie sheets, she cleaned and dried the table. Then she grabbed a canister of flour and dusted her work area.

A few minutes later he’d finished his task. “All done. What’s next?”

Hannah tilted her head and met his gaze. “You’re sure you want to keep going?”

“I am.”

She gave him a mock-warning look. “Don’t say I didn’t give you an out.”

Good, she was relaxing.

“If you’ll get two discs of cookie dough from the refrigerator, I’ll get the rolling pins.”

Once that was done, Hannah went into instructor mode. “We need to roll out this dough to a uniform thickness of about a quarter inch.” She demonstrated. “If the dough begins to stick, you can sprinkle on more flour.”

He enjoyed watching her when she was in her element, confident and relaxed. Standing side by side as they worked was nice too. Was she even aware that she hummed softly when she worked?

“How’s this?” he asked when he had it rolled out.

Her mouth scrunched to one side as she focused on his dough. “The center seems a little thicker than the edge. Otherwise I think it’s ready.”

Mike studied his dough critically, then rolled gently from the center out.

This time Hannah nodded and gave him an approving smile. “You’re doing so much better than I did on my first attempt.”

“Why, thank you. I have a good teacher.”

“Of course, I was six my first time.”

That surprised a chuckle out of him, and he saw an answering grin on her face. Promising. “So what’s next?”

She checked her ever-present notebook. “These are for a graduation party and I’ll use three different shapes” She retrieved the appropriate cookie cutters and handed him one. “You can work on the rectangles.”

Did she know she had a smudge of flour on her cheek? Even though he thought she looked absolutely adorable, he couldn’t resist reaching up to brush it away.

As soon as his hand touched her face, sensations jolted through him with the force of a flashover—sudden, overwhelming, undeniable.

She felt it too. He could see it in the way her eyes widened and darkened, in the sound of her breath catching in her throat. For that moment in time everything shifted.

They weren’t rivals any longer.

They weren’t Amish and English.

They weren’t Ohioan and Missourian.

They were just a man and a woman.

And right here in this moment, he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms.