Valerie's Lost Love — Marsha Hubler

Valerie Friesen, Louellen and Eli's beautiful daughter and teacher at the Mennonite school, is engaged to Jeremy Zook, her boyfriend since childhood. But Valerie's parents are concerned that the couple's platonic relationship will never become something more and won't stand the test of time. To complicate matters, Lamar Hornberger, a handsome widower with a mysterious past, comes to town and sweeps Valerie off her feet. For the first time in her life, Valerie feels the “pangs of true love” and wrestles with her decision to marry Jeremy. Nonetheless, she goes through with the wedding.

Shortly after, Jeremy is killed in a farm accident, and pregnant Valerie is left with a farm she can't manage. Tobias Schmidt, a handsome Mennonite man, tells her that he's always loved her but has never pursued her because of Jeremy. Should Valerie accept Tobias in marriage and allow him to take care of her and her child?

But what about Lamar, whose secretive past comes to a focal point when the elders of the church confront him about being a pow-wower like his grandmother and father? Lamar still has deep feelings for Valerie, but can she marry a man whom her church and community watch with a suspicious eye?