The Amish Potato Farmer's Widow

by Samantha Price

  “You have?”

  He nodded and smiled at her.

  She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. Malachi would’ve wanted you and his mother and brother to have the farm. I was looking at things from a purely selfish viewpoint.”

  She felt guilty for setting out to be nice to him, to soften him. “We can pay you off, a little at a time and when we get a good harvest —”

  “You’ll do no such thing. Anyway, I’ve got bigger things to worry about. I’ll sort things out with the police tomorrow, so I don’t find myself in jail.”

  “They would’ve found out it wasn’t you.” Jeanie would feel better knowing who had paid that man to run into Malachi's buggy.

  “Well, I’d like to make certain they know I didn't have anything to do with it. And, I will talk to Zelda and tell her it’s not a good idea for her brother to stay on the potato farm.”

  “Thank you.” It was a burden off her shoulders that Zelda’s brother wouldn’t be staying with them.

  “I’ll tell her I’m giving it to you.”

  “Really?”

  “Jah.”

  “Denke so much, Amos. I can hardly believe it.”

  “I’ll see the lawyers first thing tomorrow. Wait, I’ll see the police first, and then I'll go to the lawyers. I don’t like seeing you distressed like this.”

  Jeanie giggled. “Are you sure about this?”

  “Of course I am. This is what should’ve happened to start with.”

  “I can’t wait until I tell Magda. She’ll be so pleased. I won’t let her know just yet. I’ll wait until we get home.”

  “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to break the news to Zelda.” He walked away.

  Now she had what she wanted, but she felt bad for the way she’d gone about getting it. Surely God wouldn’t be pleased.

  Chapter 19

  Later that night, she sat with Magda in their kitchen celebrating the good news while waiting for Werner to get home from the singing.

  Their peaceful night was shattered by the crashing, tinkling sounds of breaking glass.

  The two women jumped to their feet. “What was that?” Magda asked.

  “The living room.” Jeanie raced to the living room with Magda close behind her. The room was covered in splinters of glass. They heard a car rev its engine just as they saw the car turn on its headlights and speed away. Jeanie covered her mouth. “We could’ve been in here.”

  “Who would’ve done this?”

  Jeanie didn’t like to say it, but what if it was the same person who had wanted her husband dead? “We know it wasn’t one of Zelda’s brothers. They live too far away.”

  “Unless they paid someone to do it.”

  “I don’t want to think about that.”

  “You sit down, Jeanie. I’ll clear this up.”

  “Nee. We’ll do it together.”

  They started by carefully picking up the largest pieces. Then Jeanie spied a large rock. “Look at this.” She leaned down and picked it up.

  “They threw that?”

  “Seems like it.” It was a large rock; the person who threw it must’ve been strong. “There’s paper wrapped around it.” Jeanie carefully peeled off the paper and saw it was a note. Then she read it out. “No one leaves me.” Fear rippled through her when she recognized the writing. “This is my Englischer ex-boyfriend’s writing. Tony Hansford.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’m positive. He used to leave me notes every day telling me what to do. He was an awful, awful man. I ran away from him and that’s when Malachi found me. When I got that flat tire.”

  “I’ll call the police.”

  “Nee. He might be still out there somewhere.”

  The two women huddled together in the kitchen until Werner came home. When he arrived, Jeanie went out and told him what had happened. He waited with her while she called the police from their phone in the barn, and then they hurried back to the house.

  Detective Graeme and a team of evidence technicians arrived in two white vans within half an hour. By that time, they’d cleaned up all the broken glass.

  He picked up the note with tweezers. “You say your ex-boyfriend wrote this?”

  “That’s right. I know his writing well.”

  He slipped it into a plastic sleeve. “We’ll dust it for his prints.” Then he took down his name and last known address.

  “Do you think he was the one who …?”

  “We’ll find out. We’re taking a cast of the tire tracks.”

  She saw out the window that they’d set up large lights and were leaning over doing things on the ground.

  “I’d like you to come into the station tomorrow. We'll have to get your fingerprints to rule them out when we're checking the rock and the note, and I'd like you to look at the CCTV footage we have.”

  “Good. Because I know it’s not Amos Troyer. I’d really like to see it.”

  “It could be someone you know.”

  She’d never forgive herself if her ex-boyfriend had ordered her husband murdered.

  Werner was busy in the living room, putting wood over the broken window until they could get someone out to fix it.

  When Jeanie arrived at the police station the next morning, she asked to speak with Detective Graeme and was ushered into an empty interview room. She waited alone for a few minutes until he walked in. “Good morning, Mrs. Yoder.”

  “Hello. Has Amos Troyer been in to see you this morning?”

  “Yes. We’ve sorted everything out as far as he's concerned. The man we thought was him wasn’t Amish at all. Troyer pointed out some things out that weren’t authentic for an Amish man to wear. Someone was out to fool us.”

  “How could you ever have thought it was Amos Troyer?”

  “Looked like him to me.”

  “It was a disguise, used in case cameras were on him. I’d say it was Tony who did it. He’s violent and shrewd.”

  He pushed forward a note in a plastic sleeve; she recognized the writing. “That’s Tony’s handwriting for sure.”

  “This is the note we found in Booker’s trailer.”

  Jeanie shook her head. “Was Tony trying to kill me or my husband? There’s no name mentioned here. From what you said before, I thought my husband's name was on the paper. I was the one who normally took that drive into town every Tuesday. We started growing vegetables when we moved to the potato farm. We knew it would supplement our income, and put food on our table. I regularly drove in to the markets to collect payment for the wagonload of vegetables we delivered every Saturday morning.”

  “Who would’ve known that?”

  “Anyone could’ve known.”

  “Hansford might’ve been watching you for some time.”

  “Do you think you can find him?”

  A smile twitched at the corners of his lips. “We’re holding him for questioning right now.”

  “Has he confessed?”

  “Not yet, but it’ll help that you’ve recognized his handwriting. All we have to do is tie him to the footage we’ve got and match his tires to the casts we took last night.”

  Jeanie let out the breath she’d been holding in. “I hope I don’t see him when I leave here.”

  “We’ll hold him for as long as we can. Don’t worry yourself.”

  “I’ll try not to.”

  “From what we know, a long-term girlfriend left him not too long ago, and it seems he wanted to get back at all the women who walked out on him.”

  “By hurting my husband?”

  “People like him are irrational, but he could’ve meant Mitchell Booker to hit the buggy with you driving it. Wait right here. I’ll see how far they've gotten with him.”

  As she waited for the detective to return, she thought back over the whole thing. She felt bad for thinking her husband’s murder might have had something to do with Zelda’s brothers. It’d had nothing to do with the pot
ato farm.

  When he walked back in he was smiling.

  “What’s happening?”

  “Hansford confessed.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. He had a vendetta he was going to carry out. Now he sees he’s beaten. For now, there's no need for you to view the CCTV footage.”

  “Did he hurt anyone else?”

  “Not that we know of at this stage.”

  Jeanie shook her head. “He’s not a stable man. He needs help.”

  “Well, let’s hope he gets it, shall we? First, we’ll charge him and try to keep him off the streets. He could get bail, so I’d advise you to be watchful over the next several months.”

  “I will.”

  “I’ll keep you informed.”

  “Thank you.” She stood up and offered her hand and he stood and shook it.

  “Thank you for your co-operation.”

  As she was at the door, she turned around. “He was trying to kill me?”

  “He didn’t admit to that.”

  “Oh.” She turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind her. When she got to the entranceway, she was joined by Magda who had been waiting for her. She was so glad to see her friendly face.

  “What happened?” Magda asked.

  “I just need to get out into the fresh air and then I’ll tell you everything.” It was hard to tell Malachi’s mother that the man had meant to cause her harm, but she was through with being deceptive. “It was horrible, Magda. Tony was in one of those interview rooms. It was way too close and it made me feel awful.”

  “You didn’t see him?”

  “Nee.” She explained everything to Magda as they walked to the buggy, and then added, “Something went wrong somewhere for the driver of the car to get killed as well.”

  “The man was misguided, most likely trapped in a life of crime and he died for it.”

  Jeanie looked over at Magda and was reminded of the reason she was attracted to God’s people. They were humble and gentle people. “Tony dressed in Amish clothes while he was arranging with that man to kill me, or injure me.” Jeanie shook her head. “That was so weird.”

  “Why would the police think he looked like Amos? Do they look alike?”

  “Nee, not at all. Well, I suppose they have the same build but that’s all.”

  They reached the buggy. “At least, we can relax with the farm with Amos giving it to you.”

  “I must tell him the truth about everything.” Jeanie climbed into the buggy.

  Standing outside the buggy looking in, Magda said, “Truth about what?”

  “I have to tell him I tried to make him like me.”

  Magda got in beside her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “It’s just something I have to do.” She looked behind her and moved her buggy out onto the road. “Please don’t try to talk me out of it. I also need to tell him about the boppli.” Jeanie didn’t like to be a person who was swayed by the opinions of others, but that was what she’d become. Malachi had always told her to listen to her heart, and she was going to, starting from that moment.

  Chapter 20

  When Jeanie had taken her mother-in-law home, she felt she had to head over to Amos’s place to make her confessions about everything. He deserved the truth. In time, she might have married a man such as Amos since she wasn’t the kind of woman who liked to be alone.

  As much as she loved Malachi, he was gone and she was still very much alive with, God willing, a long life ahead of her. Every mile of the journey, she thought how easy it would be to remain silent and not tell Amos of her deceit. It would be the simplest way.

  She sat in the buggy when she arrived at his house, summoning the courage to face him. With a good deal of self-talk, she got out of the buggy and knocked on Amos’s door. When he opened it, a smile spread across his face and then she struggled to find words to begin her confession.

  “What is it?”

  “I need to talk to you about something.” She shook her head.

  “Has something bad happened?”

  She shook her head. “Well, maybe.”

  He led her into the house and sat her down on the couch. He sat beside her and took her hand. “Tell me what it is.”

  She gently took her hand away from his, not feeling worthy of his touch. “Did you go to the police today?”

  She knew he’d been there.

  “I did and told them all the reasons it couldn’t have been me on that footage they had. For a start, I had guests staying here on that day.”

  “I went there shortly after you’d been there and they got the man who paid that man to kill Malachi. He was really after me, it seems.”

  “Your ex-boyfriend was the one who did it?”

  “Jah.” She felt so bad that she was the indirect cause of her husband’s death.

  “Werner was telling me some things about it.”

  Now she was worried about what else Werner might have told him. “I need to come clean with you about a few things.”

  His eyebrows pinched together. “What?”

  “I’ve deceived you.”

  His brow furrowed. “In what way?”

  She wanted to tell him that she deliberately set out to make him fall in love with her but she couldn't, she just couldn't hurt him that badly. “You see, I must. I'm having a baby.” Both hands instinctively flew to her belly.

  His eyebrows rose. “Really?”

  “Jah. And it's a tragic thing that Malachi will never see his child. I guess this means the end for us.”

  “This is just the beginning. Marry me, Jeanie, so your child can have a vadder.”

  She shook her head. “Denke, but it wouldn't be right to marry just for the sake of the child.”

  “Marry me, then, because I love you.”

  She swallowed hard. “You … you what?”

  He chuckled. “I was deciding when to ask you and it might as well be now. I don’t know what I’ve been waiting for.”

  She couldn’t agree without another confession. All she wanted to do was run away. When she rose to her feet, she felt strange and had to sit back down.

  “Be careful.”

  She took a moment, and then said, “I just told you I'm pregnant and I know that’s something you wouldn't want. You told me so once.”

  He drew back. “I don't believe I said any such thing.”

  “You did. You said that I would be attractive to men and would have no trouble marrying again because I didn't have kinner.”

  “I might've said something like that to give you encouragement. It had nothing to do with me because I didn't have strong feelings for you then, not like I do now. If you agree to marry me, I’ll be the happiest man in the world that we can have a child.”

  She was relieved to hear that, but she still had more to say and she was leading into it. “It just wouldn't work between us.”

  “I don't know why you say that. We get along well.”

  She shook her head. “It just wouldn't.”

  “I love you, Jeanie, and I was under the impression you might have similar feelings for me.”

  Jeanie nodded. “I do, but things are complicated now.”

  He chuckled. “Where there is life, there will always be complications.”

  “That's true, but there are things you don't know about me.”

  He chuckled. “There's one hundred and one things we don't know about each other, but we can learn as we go.”

  She was still too scared to tell of her deception, so she simply said, “It’s too soon after Malachi's death.”

  He looked down and slowly nodded. “I can understand that. I'll be here for you whenever you're ready.”

  Now she felt bad and guilty. “Don't wait for me.” She shook her head.

  “I will. You’re the woman I want to share my life with. I’ve never felt like this about any other woman.” He looked earnestly into her eyes.

  “But, I don't want to stop you if you can fi
nd happiness with someone else.”

  “There is no happiness elsewhere. I liked you way back when you first came to the community. When I saw you at the very first meeting in your Englischer clothes and your worried face and wide eyes. I said to myself, that’s the woman I'm going to marry.” He chuckled. “At that time, I had no idea it was Malachi who’d brought you to that meeting. I had no chance, then — I couldn't try to take you from my friend. But now God has given me a second chance with you. I won’t lose you again. I’ll wait until you’re ready.”

  “And, if I'm never ready?”

  “I will have to content myself with admiring you from afar and dreaming of the day we’ll be as one.”

  She looked down at the floor. If only she hadn’t listened to Magda. Then again, she had to take responsibility for her actions. She learned a valuable lesson out of this, but it had come at a great price. “Why does life have to be so wretched?”

  “That's our lot in life, I guess, but we make the best of it. We make the most of our happy times and turn to Gott in times of trouble.”

  “I won’t hold you up anymore today. I just wanted to tell you why I can't see so much of you anymore.” She slowly rose to her feet and he jumped up.

  “Careful.”

  “I'm okay.”

  He took hold of her hand and walked with her to the door.

  Chapter 21

  When Jeanie moved through the doorway, Amos brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. Her heart felt like it would break. All she wanted was to be held in his arms, but he wouldn’t be acting like this if he knew of her deception. She pulled her hand back and hated herself for being such a coward. “Goodbye, Amos.”

  “I’ll walk you to the buggy.” He helped her into the buggy and then she clicked her horse forward.

  When she got to the bottom of the driveway, tears threatened. They couldn’t take the potato farm now. She’d have to tell Magda and Werner they’d have to leave. There was too much sadness associated with it now.

  Once the baby arrived, she’d get a job somewhere or she could even do freelance bookwork from home. Magda would look after the boppli while she worked. Werner could get a job somewhere and they’d all live together.