“He still shouldn’t judge you.”
Kendra’s voice hardened. “No, he shouldn’t. But here’s where he’s wrong, Naomi. He brought it up to you because he thinks I’m trying to be something I’m not. But that’s not true. I don’t bring it up because I’m not proud of myself, and that’s not the person I am any longer.”
“I was upset because I never knew. You’ve been there for me my whole life, but you’ve kept this big secret. Chris caught me off guard.”
“I can understand that. But maybe there’s a part of you that can appreciate why I never wanted to tell you about something I did back when you were just ten years old.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Exactly. I was alone, I was hurting, but I’m not alone or hurting anymore. And I’m okay if you are never okay with my past. You don’t even have to understand it, but I would hate it if you took a bad part of my life and decided that those two years were more important than the other twenty-two.”
“I don’t feel that way.”
“I am grateful for that.” Kendra stood up and brought over the plate of blondies as well as a couple of napkins. After taking one for herself, she slid the plate Naomi’s way. “Now, moving on, I could have sworn I saw someone standing in our front yard when I peeked out the window before I opened the door. Was that my imagination?”
Naomi hadn’t been planning to tell Kendra about her walk with Kane, but now she was thinking it would feel funny not to share that experience. “It was Kane.”
“Kane, as in the boy who works at Nate’s hardware store and has been picking you up in the mornings?”
“Uh-huh. I guess Nate talked to him about our argument.”
“What? He shouldn’t have done that.”
“Watch it, Kendra. If you protest too much, you might have to eat your words about being open and discussing things.”
She groaned. “I hear you. So, Nate talked to Kane who talked to you?”
“Kind of. Kane told me he didn’t know too much, but he decided to look for me.”
“Where did he find you?”
“At the high school. I was sitting on the bleachers by myself. We talked, then he said he didn’t want me to walk home alone in the dark.”
“That was nice of him.”
“He’s a nice boy.”
Kendra’s eyes warmed. “It sounds like it.” Just as she looked like she was going to say something else, there was a knock at the door.
Kendra started. “I don’t know who that could be. It’s late.”
Naomi stood up. “Let’s go together.” She ran ahead of Kendra and, ignoring her sister’s words of caution, peeked out the front window to see who had arrived. “Uh, Kendra?”
“Who is it?” Not ready for another round of sibling drama, she groaned. “Uh-oh. Please don’t tell me it’s Chris or Jeremiah.”
“It ain’t them.” Turning to Kendra, Naomi’s eyes were wide. “I think all of your friends are here.”
“What?” She threw open the door and then gaped at the crowd on her stoop.
“Hey, Kendra. It’s gut to see that you’re home,” John B. said as he led at least ten people inside.
She stood to one side as her best friends filed in through the door. Most were members of the Eight, but some were part of their larger circle: Harley Lambright’s younger brother, Kyle, and his new wife, Gabby. And Nate. Nate was there, looking like he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.
As Naomi stood at the door, trying to come up with a reason why they all showed up unannounced so late at night, John B. moved to her side. “Hiya, Nanny.”
“Hiya. Uh, what are you all doing here?”
“Let’s go sit in your cozy living room, Kendra,” Elizabeth Anne said. “We have some news we need to share.”
Naomi scanned all of the Eight’s expressions. They looked serious and wary, some even sad. Looking back at her sister, she saw Kendra had paled. Yes, whatever had happened was bad. Really bad.
“I’ll put on some coffee,” Naomi said, more for a reason to escape the tension filling the room than as a desire to be helpful.
“I’ll take care of it instead,” Katie said. “You go sit down with your sister.”
“But—”
“I can help. I’m good at making coffee,” Marie said. “Let’s make a full pot, Katie. I think we’re going to need a lot of it tonight.”
Now Naomi was starting to feel ill. She hoped she would be able to keep it together for Kendra.
THIRTY
“And then it was time for me to go. Andy walked me halfway home.
“And as far as I can tell, no one in my family ever figured out that I didn’t go to school that day. If the receptionist in the attendance office tried to call, no one ever told me.”
FRIDAY NIGHT
Kendra was trying really hard not to bite her nails. These were her best friends in the world, and they’d all shown up after eight at night. This wasn’t only unusual, it had never happened before.
Something was wrong—really wrong—and every guess she had was even worse than the last. At first, all she could think was that one of their friends had gotten hurt, but as she looked at all the members of the Eight, she couldn’t find anyone missing.
To make things worse, not a one of them seemed ready to divulge the real reason they’d shown up. Instead, Marie and Katie were making coffee in the kitchen, and everyone else was attempting to make small talk with Naomi.
The whole situation was excruciating.
Desperate, she walked to Harley. He was not only standing close to her—and therefore couldn’t dodge her concerns—but he wouldn’t brush off a direct question. Harley simply wasn’t that way.
“You’ve got to tell me what is going on,” she said under her breath.
“Kendra—”
“Nee, listen. If whatever you all have come about concerns Naomi, I need to be able to make things easier for her. I can’t do that if I’m in the dark.”
“I think you should go sit down and relax,” he said gently. “Let us worry about your sister for a time.”
That didn’t make any sense at all. “Harley—” she began but saw he’d already stepped away. She tried a couple of other attempts with Tricia and Logan, but they ignored her question and instead relayed a story about Tricia’s latest attempt to drive a buggy.
Just when she was ready to interrupt Logan, Marie appeared with a tray of coffee cups. “The coffee is ready,” she announced. “Kendra, that is one terrific percolator. It brewed a whole pot in no time at all.”
“Danke,” she said weakly as she watched her ten friends surround Marie like they were in the middle of a church social in May. After refusing her own cup, she stood to one side while everyone else helped themselves to mugs of coffee.
By the time Marie sat down, Kendra was done waiting. “As much as I enjoy watching you all enjoy my coffee in my little living room, I know you all didn’t show up here by accident. Would someone please, please tell me what is going on?”
To her surprise, it was Nate who answered. “Kendra, I’m afraid it’s not good news.”
“What has happened?”
Nate looked at everyone, then blurted, “I’ve got a good friend from high school who now works at the hospital over in Millersburg. Brandt knew you and I’ve been seeing each other.”
“Okay…”
Looking like every word was getting painfully pulled from him, Nate said, “Brandt called me an hour ago.”
“Nate, what happened?”
“It’s your father.”
“What about him?” Naomi asked weakly.
“Kendra, Naomi, I’m very sorry, but your father started having trouble breathing a couple of hours ago. Then it seems his heart stopped.”
Kendra swallowed hard. “Stopped?”
“Jah. Unfortunately, they couldn’t revive him. He… he died. Your father died.”
And just like that all the air escaped her lungs.
&
nbsp; * * *
Back in high school when he had torn his rotator cuff after pitching six innings and gotten rushed into surgery, Nate had thought he knew what real pain was.
Now, seeing the devastated look on Kendra’s face, he realized he hadn’t even come close. Real pain wasn’t a physical injury. No, it was seeing someone you loved hurting and not being able to do a single thing to make it better.
Hating the fact that he hadn’t found a way to break the news in a gentler manner, and that he now didn’t know what to do, he looked around the room. Katie and Tricia were looking at the floor. Marie was holding John’s hand and biting her bottom lip. E.A. had wrapped an arm around Naomi and was whispering.
But to his surprise, it was Harley Lambright who knelt in front of Kendra. His expression was as serious as it was set. His eyes full of compassion as he reached out and took hold of both of her hands, he said, “I’m real sorry, Kendra. I know that this is hard news to hear.”
Kendra nodded. “I suppose it is.”
“What are you feeling?” Harley said the words so quietly that if Nate hadn’t been hovering he wouldn’t have heard a word.
“Confused,” she replied. Raising her chin, she shrugged. “I don’t know. Empty?” She looked around the room. “Is that bad?”
“I think you’re entitled to feel any way you want,” Nate said.
“Really? Do you think the Lord is fine with me not crying right now?”
Harley seemed to think about it hard before replying. “I think He knows you well enough to be all right with you being yourself, Kendra.”
“Maybe so.” Smiling softly, she squeezed his hands. “Danke, Harley.”
With a nod, he got back to his feet and returned to Katie’s side.
After casting another look in her sister’s direction, Kendra stood up. “Thank you all for coming over here,” she said. “I am glad you all were the ones to let me and my sister know. That means a lot.”
“It feels right for us all to be here,” Marie said. After darting a glance in Naomi’s direction, she added, “I would never want you to think that you were alone during this time.”
“I appreciate that.” Still looking shaken but determined, Kendra cleared her throat. “Nate, did Brandt give you any other information?”
Nate knew the only way he could handle telling Kendra was to reply honestly and without any emotion. “Brandt said that for the last two days, everyone knew there was nothing to be done for your father. His liver wasn’t working. The poisons in his blood that his liver wasn’t filtering were taking over his body. Plus, his heart wasn’t working too well, either. He got worse every day.”
Kendra nodded. “So it was just a matter of time.”
“I suppose so.”
“I’m really sorry,” Tricia said. “I know hearing such news can be hard.”
“I guess.” Kendra’s eyes widened just before her expression seemed to shatter. “He was such a bad man,” she sputtered, tears filling her eyes. “It’s no wonder the Lord made him die the way he did, with poisons destroying his body. He was toxic in life, too.” As if she’d just realized what she said, she pressed a hand to her mouth and ran out of the room.
While all of them stood there gaping, Naomi started crying harder.
Nate could practically feel everyone’s shock. He felt like a bull in a china shop. Surely there would have been a better way to deliver the news. “I’m sorry,” he said to everyone. “I thought it would be best to not try to keep anything from Kendra and Naomi, but it was obviously the wrong way to go. I seem to have just made things worse.”
“You didn’t, Nate,” Naomi said as she got to her feet. “It’s just… well, see, the problem is that where our father and my sister are concerned—their relationship couldn’t have been worse.”
Releasing a ragged sigh, she turned to E.A. “I’m going to go to my room. Would you please check in on Kendra? I know she’s really hurting. I’d try to comfort her, but… I don’t think I’m who she needs right now.”
“Of course,” E.A. replied.
All of them sat in silence as they watched Naomi walk down the short hallway and close the door to her bedroom.
“I’m not sure what to do right now,” Marie said. “Kendra’s the best at comforting everybody.”
Katie smiled at her. “You know what? You’re right. We’ve all leaned on her at one time or another. She’s always been there for us, making things better.”
“I can do that for her now,” E.A. said. “And then I’ll just camp out here in the living room until she needs me.”
“I’ll stay here in case they need something, too,” Nate volunteered. “I’m not a great cook, but I can heat up a can of soup or something.”
“Are you two really that close now?” Will asked.
“I want to be.” The moment he said the words he wanted to take them back. What did such a thing even mean?
Marie grinned at him. “Even though this is such a tough time, you made me happy.”
“Do you think wanting to be there for someone counts?”
“I think it’s half the battle.”
Harley stood up. “Katie, we need to get home. You need your rest.”
“We’ll go ahead, too,” Logan said as he and Tricia, and Kyle and Gabby, headed to the door. “In this case, I think less people here is more.”
Soon John B. and Will left as well, leaving just Nate, Marie, E.A., and a stack of coffee cups.
“Want to wash some dishes?” Nate asked, yearning to go check on Kendra but knowing that being alone with her in her bedroom was inappropriate.
“Sure,” said Marie. “E.A., what do you think?”
“I’ll help, but first I think I’d better check on Kendra. Even if she doesn’t want us in her room, I want to make sure she knows we didn’t all abandon her.”
When the door closed again, Nate walked to the sink and started running the water. “I wish there was something I could do that would help Kendra. Unfortunately, I’m at a loss.”
Marie helped him place all the cups in the sink. “I am, too, but I’m glad we’re going to stay here tonight. Even if Kendra never comes out of that room, I agree with E.A. I want her to know we didn’t leave.”
“I want that, too. I think a lot of people have left her over the years.”
“That’s how life is, though, right? We drift apart, we come back together. Sometimes things are good, and then they aren’t. I don’t think it matters if things aren’t the same. What matters is that we have friends who help us get through the changes.”
“Well said.” He scrubbed a couple of cups with a soapy sponge, rinsed them, and then handed them to Marie. “I think you’ve gotten wiser since marrying John.”
She smiled. “Maybe I have. Love makes everything better.”
“I think I love Kendra,” he confided.
“I know you do.”
“Really? How can you be so sure?” He’d barely realized it himself.
“Nate, anyone who saw you telling her the bad news would know you loved her,” she said as she dried a mug with a dog on it and put it on a shelf. “It was written all over your face when you looked at her. And what we couldn’t see was embedded in your voice.”
Was that really the case? Part of him hoped so. He didn’t want to play games, but he just wasn’t sure how Kendra would take a confession of his love. “I don’t know if she feels the same way. I continually seem to do the wrong thing where she’s concerned.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Marie said. “You know, I don’t think there’s one right way to go about having a relationship, Nate.”
“You don’t think that’s oversimplifying things?”
“Maybe, or maybe not. I’ve recently learned that we don’t always need the same things all the time. Sometimes John wants me to sit with him and talk things through, and other times, he would rather I leave him alone so he can go take a long walk. I’ve had to learn that I need to respect that.”
&n
bsp; “That’s good advice. I need to remember that.”
“You will… or Kendra will probably let you know,” she said with a smile. “Women have a way of making sure their guys know what’s right.”
THIRTY–ONE
“I never knew about that, either,” E.A. said. “That’s so strange, because Andy knew you and I were friends.”
FRIDAY NIGHT
“I decided not to knock because you need me,” E.A. said as she walked into Kendra’s room. “So don’t even think about asking me to turn back around.”
Blue, who’d been sleeping in Kendra’s bed the whole time, gave a little bark of alarm. Immediately, E.A. reached down to pet the dog.
Sitting in her beautiful maple rocking chair next to her bed, Kendra muttered, “Do you ever get tired of always being right?”
“Of course I do, but someone has to be right all the time. Ain’t so?” E.A. chuckled softly before continuing. “I figured if that’s the case, that person might as well be me.”
“Oh, E.A. You are a piece of work.”
“I know, but I’m your piece of work.” Her voice softened. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.” So far, the only thing she’d been feeling was numb. She hadn’t been able to do much of anything besides listen to the quiet murmur of her friends in the living room.
She’d relaxed when she’d heard the eventual sounds of her front door opening and shutting. “I thought everyone had gone,” she admitted.
“Most everyone did, but I decided to stay. So did Marie.” She smiled faintly. “And so did Nate.”
That surprised her. “Nate’s still here?”
“Oh, jah.” She smiled softly. “I think if Nate wasn’t so afraid of you kicking him out, he’d be in here with you right now instead of me.”
“I wouldn’t have kicked him out. But I don’t know what I would’ve said to him.” She curved her arms around her middle, hugging herself tight.
“That’s the thing, Kendra. None of us are expecting you to say anything.”
The Trustworthy One Page 19