Newbury Acres: An Amish Christian Romance Novel: An Amish Romance Adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (The Amish Classics)

by Sarah Price

  Catherine bit her lower lip and glanced at Henry. She felt a tightening in her chest as she remembered how she had deceived them all by going against Gid Tilman’s wishes. If she had hoped that he might have affections for her, surely she had destroyed that, just as Ida Mae had destroyed her chances with James. Surely James would never take her back now that she had publicly humiliated him! Although, Catherine thought, it was too late for such hope anyway if Ida Mae preferred to marry Freddie.

  Just then the full ramifications of the news settled in. Ida Mae and Freddie: married. Poor Ellie and Henry, to have to live with such a sister-in-law! Quickly Catherine turned from being the consoled to being the consoler, saying, “Perhaps she will be better behaved in your family. She might be more consistent anyway, if she truly loves him.”

  Regardless of Catherine’s kind words, Henry’s mood did not improve. “She’ll be consistent, for certain, unless a wealthier man with a finer business comes along!”

  Catherine gasped. “You think she did this out of greed?”

  “Undoubtedly!” he snapped. He paced the floor, shaking his head. “And she has not only hurt James, but she has hurt you. You thought her a good friend, even with her flaws. Now I’m certain you feel as abandoned as your bruder. While I pity your bruder for his loss, I am equally aware of your own.”

  While touched—and relieved—by his concern, for it showed that he did still care for her, Catherine felt compelled to correct him. “Henry, I’m hurt by her actions, but I’ll not waste a moment more grieving the loss of such a so-called friend.”

  Henry stopped pacing and looked at her for a moment. Something changed in his countenance. Without any warning, he suddenly walked over to the counter and reached for his hat. “I believe I will take my leave sooner,” he said as he slipped the hat on his head. “I’ve lost my appetite and prefer to be on my own for the moment.”

  He walked out the door, Catherine staring after him. Surely, he was reflecting on more than just Ida Mae and Freddie. Undoubtedly, he was thinking about his disappointment from the previous day. Catherine sighed and folded the letter.

  “I think,” she began in a soft voice, “that I’ll take some time in my room, Ellie, if you don’t mind. I’m not very hungry anymore.”

  Ellie patted Catherine’s shoulder. “Of course, I understand. I think we’ve all lost our appetites after such distressing news.”

  Quietly, Catherine climbed the staircase and retreated to her room. She lay down on the bed and let her tears fall. Whether she cried for James’s loss or her own, Catherine wasn’t certain. All she knew was that there was a pain in her chest and that it came from deep within her heart.

  Chapter 24

  After receiving James’s letter, she had been in a sour mood. Her disappointment at Ida Mae was countered only by her sympathies for James’s broken heart. She had appreciated Henry’s kindness to her during her distress, but this morning he had departed for the Woods farm without even saying good-bye. She suspected that he was still upset with her for having gone to the other side of the house, and thinking of the incident still brought a deep pit of guilt to her stomach. Apparently, he had kept the discovery of her invasion of privacy to himself, for Ellie appeared as good-natured and kind as always. That made Catherine feel even more guilty about her decision to break Gid’s rule.

  And her guilt made her realize that she was in no position to judge anyone, even if she wanted to. “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone,” Jesus had said. Well, Catherine certainly did not consider herself as being without sin, that was for sure and certain.

  And then, not even the next day, when a young boy stood at the door with the mail, to Catherine’s surprise, he marched right up to her and held out a small white envelope.

  “Another letter?” Catherine wiped her hands on her apron and reached out to take the envelope from the boy who had fetched the mail and brought it to the house. She forced a smile of appreciation at him, too aware that he was most likely living in one of the Tilmans’ properties and charged, by Gid himself, with the daily task of bringing the mail to the house. The more she learned, the more Catherine was aware that Gid seemed to have his fingers in a lot of pots in Newbury Acres.

  Holding the envelope, she moved to the table. “This one is from Banthe,” Catherine said as she sat down. “I imagine it’s from Ida Mae.” Her voice was flat and emotionless. Unlike when she had received the letter from James on Monday, she was not excited as she held the unopened letter in her hand. She already suspected what it would say, and therefore, she dreaded opening it.

  Ellie joined her at the table. “You should read it before making judgments over the contents, Catherine,” she said in a compassionate tone. “It might not be as bad as you believe.”

  Somehow, in the mood that Catherine was in, she highly doubted that.

  Now, with a heavy heart, Catherine slid her finger under the back flap and opened the envelope, slipping out several sheets of folded pink paper covered in small handwriting. “Oh, dear,” she mumbled at the length of the missive. She turned over several sheets, disheartened to realize that Ida Mae had written on the front and back of each sheet. When she finished scanning it, she looked at Ellie and raised her eyebrows. “Four pages? Both sides?”

  “Seems she has a lot to say,” Ellie commented dryly.

  Taking a deep breath, Catherine began to read the letter. Her eyes studied the first few lines and then she squinted, pausing to reread them. Dear Catherine, it began. Banthe has become such a bore without you here. The tourist season has ended and we have once again returned to the quiet seasonal town that is largely forgotten throughout the remainder of the year. But the children must return to school, and Banthe becomes nothing more than a pleasant memory for those who visit, leaving the year-round residents to wonder at their folly while vacationing here.

  Catherine paused and shook her head. Had Ida Mae truly begun her letter in such a way as if nothing out of the ordinary—or extraordinary!—had happened? Had she actually referred to the actions of others as folly when she, herself, was guilty of so much more? She returned her attention to the letter. I fear that there has been a misunderstanding between me and James. I am writing to beg of you to speak to him on my behalf. You know that he is the only man I have ever, and will ever, love. The more Catherine continued reading, the deeper the frown became on her face. By the time she turned over the first page, she began to read faster, skipping entire lines as she merely glanced through each of the remaining pages. Disgusted, she let the letter fall to the table and leaned back in the chair.

  “What did she write?” Ellie asked.

  “It’s off!” she declared. “Everything! Her engagement with James, her relationship with Freddie—done!”

  Ellie gasped. “Are you sure?”

  “She starts off the letter as if nothing has happened at all!” Catherine shook her head in disbelief. “She talks of the summer season ending with the vacationers returning to their homes as school starts soon.” She looked up. “School! She talks of children and school!”

  Ellie clicked her tongue in disapproval.

  “She speaks of the folly of the tourists!”

  “Their folly? Oh dear …” Ellie’s voice trailed off and she shook her head. “Perhaps she is in denial of her own foolishness?”

  “I don’t think so. She has asked me to speak to James about a ‘misunderstanding’ between them.” Catherine scowled. “She actually called it that. A ‘misunderstanding.’ Can you imagine? She broke off her engagement to my bruder for another man! I fail to see any ‘misunderstanding’ about that.”

  “Will you?”

  Catherine tilted her head. “Will I what?”

  “Speak to James for her?”

  The idea horrified Catherine. “Absolutely not! While I will forgive her for what she has done, that does not mean I will forget! And I would not want to have my bruder suffer any more under her idea of what a ‘misunderstanding’ truly i
s! If she were baptized, she’d most certainly be shunned for what she did with …” Her voice trailed off as she remembered that the other person who gave such offense was none other than Ellie’s older brother.

  “Well, at least Freddie is safe from Ida Mae Troyer,” Ellie said in a tone that dripped with sarcasm. “I’m not surprised.”

  “I am!” Catherine exclaimed. “She claims that James is the only man that she loved. Yet she threw it away for your bruder.” She reached forward and pushed the letter farther away from her. “I wish I had never met that Ida Mae Troyer!”

  Ellie remained silent as she stood up and gave Catherine some space to deal with the emotional upheaval.

  Her anger subsided as she reached for the letter and read it once more, this time with a calmer countenance. She remembered all of their talks about reputations and Ida Mae waving off Catherine’s concerns. Now Ida Mae was reaping what she had sown. She had lost more than her reputation and her fiancé; she had also lost a friend.

  Still, Catherine couldn’t wrap her head around Ida Mae having left James in the first place. While Henry suspected that Ida Mae’s actions stemmed from greed and wanting to further herself, Catherine had a hard time accepting that. There was only one other person she had ever met who thought like that: Gid Tilman. And that made her wonder about Freddie’s personality. What little she had known about him prior to this situation had not impressed her. Now he had fallen even further than she had thought possible.

  She would have to work extra hard at forgiving him for what he had done. And it would surely take time.

  “One thing I don’t understand,” Catherine said at last, “is why your bruder would have made such a fuss over Ida Mae and even led her to believe they were to marry. What they may or may not have done in privacy is their own business, but publicly he all but acknowledged her as his girl. And then he simply withdrew his affections? What is to be gained from that?”

  Ellie took a deep breath. “Freddie’s always had his vanities, just like Ida Mae. He is very similar in character to our daed, Catherine, and they are both very accustomed to having their way. It doesn’t matter who might get hurt in the process.”

  Catherine remembered her conversation with Henry on the first evening she was at Newbury Acres. Hadn’t he said as much regarding his father and how he wished him to marry well in order to contribute to expanding the farm?

  “Although usually he doesn’t make his conquests so public,” Ellie quipped.

  Conquest? Although she had already learned that this was not the first time Freddie had toyed with the affections of a young woman, Catherine caught her breath as she realized the full extent of Ida Mae’s humiliation. “Oh, dear! Perhaps I will lighten my bitterness toward Ida Mae.”

  Ellie gave her a sad smile. “She will recover from this, I’m sure. And be all the more wiser with her future choices. Surely, she was looking for a way to a better life and thought she would become Freddie’s wife, living here at Newbury Acres. Even if Freddie had wished to settle down—and he does not—Daed would never have allowed such a connection.”

  Catherine felt the color drain from her cheeks. If Gid Tilman would not permit Freddie to marry just anyone, certainly he would not permit Henry to consider marrying her!

  Ellie seemed to notice Catherine’s silence. “But, Catherine,” Ellie said as she leaned forward and covered Catherine’s hand with her own. “Please don’t think that any of Freddie’s moral flaws are exhibited in our other bruder, Henry. He is as different as could be from Freddie.”

  “I … I know that,” she managed to say, still feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach.

  Ellie patted her hand. “Good. And, with any luck, our dear Henry will return to us by supper time tomorrow!” She stood up and returned to the kitchen counter to continue her work. “The days are so long when he goes to the other farm.” She glanced over her shoulder at Catherine. “And that is why I’m so fortunate you came to stay here, Catherine. How lonely I would’ve been with no company to keep!”

  Catherine took a moment to refold the letter and stick it back in the envelope. She knew that she should write a response to Ida Mae, but she wouldn’t. Not yet anyway. She couldn’t bring herself to let Ida Mae know in words how she really felt. Her silence would speak loud enough, she suspected.

  Chapter 25

  Her room was completely dark when she awoke to the sound of a man yelling for Ellie. At first, she thought she was dreaming, but by the third time the voice called out her friend’s name, Catherine sat up in bed and waited. She couldn’t tell what time it was, certainly after midnight. With a yawn, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, pausing to rub at her eyes. She shuffled over to the window and peered outside. To her surprise, she saw a car waiting near the barn, the headlights pointed away from the house and toward the road.

  What on earth! She reached for her robe. Wrapping it around herself, she walked to her nightstand and searched for matches to light the kerosene lantern. Surely something was wrong. No one came calling in the middle of the night when things were going well. She only hoped that nothing had happened to Henry. Even though their relationship had seemed strained after she was discovered in his mother’s room, Catherine still held her feelings for him close to her heart and prayed for his forgiveness.

  “Ellie!” It was Gid! He bellowed one more time before Catherine heard the bedroom door from down the hall open. The soft bare footsteps on the hardwood floor were certainly Ellie’s. “Get down here right now!”

  Catherine pressed her ear against the door, too afraid to open the door but too curious to retreat. She could hear nothing but the muffled sound of voices from the bottom of the staircase. Ellie’s voice seemed to plead with her father while Gid’s loud, boisterous voice came and went in waves. All that Catherine could catch was “driver,” “away,” and “deceit.”

  Oh, help, Catherine thought and turned her back to the door so that she could lean against it. Certainly, Gid had learned about Freddie and Ida Mae. Perhaps they had reconciled after Ida Mae had written that letter. Perhaps they had run off, simply hired a driver and disappeared from Banthe. Such a scandal would infuriate any parent, although most Amish families would not react as vocally as Gid Tilman was reacting right now. But Catherine could understand that he would be angry: he had such high hopes for Freddie running the woodshop business. And she could only imagine that anyone who went against Gid’s wishes would encounter his wrath.

  Whatever! She thought bitterly as she remembered how Ida Mae had used her and deceived James. It might serve Ida Mae right to get a taste of her own medicine.

  There was a soft knock at her door. Catherine startled and pushed herself away from the door. She took a moment to compose herself and opened the door slowly, not surprised to see Ellie standing there. Her hair hung over her shoulder in a long braid, and she wore a simple white nightgown.

  “Ellie! What is going on? Is everything all right?” she asked her friend. From the pale look on Ellie’s cheeks, Catherine suddenly wondered if she had been mistaken about Freddie and Ida Mae being the source of Gid’s late-night outburst. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Please, Ellie! Tell me now that it has nothing to do with Henry, right?”

  Ellie avoided looking at Catherine.

  “Oh!” Catherine sank down onto a chair and began to tremble.

  Ellie noticed and quickly stepped forward and knelt before her. She reached for Catherine’s hands and held them tightly in her own. “Nee, Catherine. I’m sorry. Henry is fine, if that’s what you mean.”

  Shutting her eyes, Catherine looked up toward the ceiling and said a quick prayer of gratitude to God. If anything happened to Henry, especially with him still feeling so disappointed in her behavior the previous weekend, she wouldn’t be able to handle her emotions.

  When she opened her eyes, she noticed that Ellie was still staring at her, an expression of sorrow engraved on her face. “Then what is it, Ellie? What’s wrong?” />
  “Nothing is wrong, Catherine,” she answered slowly. “But my daed has returned from Banthe with instruction that you are to return home.”

  Inwardly, Catherine groaned while on the outside, her shoulders slumped and she sank farther into the hard ladderback chair. Gid had learned that she disobeyed his wishes about no one going to the other side of the house. Since Henry was the only one who knew about it, he must have confided in his father. “He knows,” she whispered.

  Upon hearing Catherine’s words, Ellie blinked, but she did not speak.

  “I will pack first thing in the morning.”

  But Ellie placed a hand over hers and shook her head. “Nee, Catherine. Not in the morning.”

  “Then when?”

  Pressing her lips together, Ellie hesitated before she said, “Now.”

  “Now? It’s the middle of the night!”

  Ellie did not respond but held Catherine’s gaze.

  Now the waiting car made sense. Gid must have learned about what happened and, in his rage, hired a driver to bring him back from Banthe and then take Catherine on to Fullerton.

  “Have … have I offended your daed?” Catherine asked in a soft, frightened voice. Certainly, she understood that he might be upset with her, but to send her packing in the middle of the night? What kind of man would do such a thing?

  “I’m so sorry, Catherine,” Ellie whispered, standing up and backing away from her. “I … I want you to know that I don’t agree with Daed, but he will hear no argument otherwise. He’s … enraged.”

  “I … I deserve to be sent away,” she whispered. “I knew Henry was upset with me. Surely he spoke to your father.”

  Ellie remained silent.

  Catherine fought the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks. “Henry must have told him what I did.” She couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “Nee, Catherine,” Ellie said. “I know my daed’s reasons and … and I’m embarrassed for him. I feel shame for my daed, turning you out in the middle of the night.”