Amish Sanctuary

by Katy Lee

  “No, I just want to know where Sawyer is. Did he come in?”

  “As far as I know, you were brought in alone. I can make a call to the sheriff’s office to find out for you. Right after I examine you.” He left no room for negotiating and Naomi endured his prodding for a little while longer. “I don’t feel any skull fractures, but you will have a big contusion for a few days. A few stiches should seal you up good too. I think you’ll be out of here by morning. You’re one of my easiest patients tonight. Good thing you were wearing your seat belt.”

  He grabbed the clipboard again and wrote some information down on it. He hung it back on the bottom of the bed.

  “Are you going to call about Sawyer? His name is Sawyer Zook.”

  “I’ll look into it right now. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be right back.”

  Naomi closed her eyes again as the men left her. The pain was too intense to keep them open and all she wanted to do was sleep. When she felt her bed moving again, she jolted awake, realizing she had fallen asleep again.

  “Sawyer?” she called out. “Is he all right? Where am I going?”

  No response came from the person pushing her from behind.

  “Am I being discharged?” A set of doors neared in front of her. “Hello?” The end of her bed hit the doors and pushed them wide, her speed picking up once she went through. Something didn’t feel right. She suddenly didn’t feel safe. “Please, stop,” she said and when the bed sped up more, she tried to sit up. She took the next corner so fast, the bed tipped on its side.

  Naomi screamed and grabbed the sheet beneath her with both hands. She felt it slipping from the mattress and held on to the frame. The bed straightened out, and she craned her neck to see behind her.

  “Stop right there! Police!” A voice from behind shouted down the corridor. Before Naomi could twist around further, the bed tilted again, but this time, there was no holding on.

  It crashed down on its side, Naomi hitting the tile hard. She let out a shout on impact as the pain jostled throughout her body and head. She tried to push herself up on one arm and caught sight of the back of the man who had been pushing her. He wore a hospital gown over his clothes, so all she saw was a pair of tan dress pants and brown leather shoes. He had a surgical cap over dark brown hair, but with his back to her as he ran to the stairwell, she couldn’t see his face.

  Sheriff Shaw chased after him at full speed, then suddenly, Sawyer came into view and he was all she wanted to see.

  “You’re alive!” she cried out, reaching for him.

  He fell to his knees and scooped her up to cradle her in his lap. “So are you.” He smiled brightly and held her face. He leaned down and kissed her cheek quickly. Then the other. His lips found hers next, and his quick kisses paused there. He lifted his head and suddenly looked nervous. Then he grew serious and scanned her head and down her body. “Are you hurt?”

  “A gash on my head that needs to be closed, but the doctor says I can leave in the morning. That man was taking me somewhere, but I don’t know where. I’m so glad you and Cassie showed up when you did.”

  “Do you know who it was? Was it someone you know?”

  “I only saw his legs.”

  “Let me guess, business pants.”

  “Ya, tan.”

  “He’s for certain sure the man who shot at you in the car.”

  “A man shot at me in the car?”

  Sawyer pulled her close to him and hugged her tight. “I’m so glad he missed, but how much more can we face? We have to figure out who these men are and why they are after you. Are they connected to both of the women from your support group’s deaths?”

  Naomi stiffened in his arms. Slowly, he leaned back to search her face. “The only person who is responsible for Brie’s death is me,” she said. “I caused her to run out of the clinic that day. She ran out into the road, and a car hit her and took off. By the time I caught up to her, the car was gone, and she was dead. It was my fault that she ran out. I couldn’t help her.”

  Sawyer pressed his lips. “The police need to know these details just in case Brie’s death is related. But first they need to find these two gunmen who are after you. I’m sad to say my friend Jim might be one of them.”

  Naomi pushed up quickly. “Jim? Jim wouldn’t try to kill me.”

  “How do you know?”

  She averted her gaze from Sawyer’s inquiring eyes. To share that answer would mean sharing about the night Jim helped her escape Rogues Ridge. “I just know.” Her lame answer spoke volumes. The loudest message being she still didn’t trust Sawyer.

  A sad expression covered his face. Eyes full of disappointment, he looked to the doors. Then he stood and helped her to her feet. “We should get back in the emergency room so the doctor can help you. Hopefully, Cassie will catch this guy and figure out why he thinks you need to stop talking. I can’t imagine what he thinks you need to be kept quiet about. You’re the most tight-lipped person I know.”

  * * *

  “I’m sorry to say he got away,” Cassie said as she entered Naomi’s cubicle an hour later. Naomi was just finished being stitched up but was still hooked to the IV. Cassie continued in her authoritative demeanor to relay the current status. “He obviously had a car ready and waiting where he planned to take you. He was gone before I got down the stairs and outside.” She dropped into the chair beside the bed, her face full of remorse. “Did you get a good look at him?”

  Sawyer glanced Naomi’s way and at her frown, he said, “I could be all wrong about this, but there may be a connection to the support group.”

  Cassie straightened up in her chair. “Please, enlighten me.”

  Sawyer explained what he heard the man say before he pulled the trigger. “There have been two suspicious deaths in Naomi’s support group. Maybe they are connected to her because of something she said in the group. Something she was supposed to keep quiet about.”

  “How did the other woman die again?” Cassie asked Naomi.

  “She was hit by a car, but I don’t see the connection. Brie was crossing the street leaving the support group. She had been very upset and crying when she ran out. I went after her, but when I got there, a crowd was already surrounding her. She was dead on impact. It has nothing to do with me.”

  “And the driver?” Cassie asked.

  “Never found. It was a hit-and-run. She died before she ever found healing and ran out believing her attacker would never let her go. Maybe he didn’t. I’ve had my suspicions that he found her that day.”

  Cassie sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. Her eyes closed in what seemed to be true despair and disappointment. Sawyer saw an officer of the law caring about people she didn’t even know. He looked to Naomi’s crestfallen face and realized she was also in a profession that expected the same.

  Expected? Or did Naomi go above and beyond her duty?

  And why?

  “The people who come into your lives come with little to no hope,” Sawyer said to them both. “The Amish way of charity is our way of life, but we still separate ourselves from the world and its problems to protect our lives. How do you do your jobs of public service and still protect yours?”

  Cassie lifted her head and tilted it at the question. “I suppose it’s something we are called to do, and that’s part of the deal. We know going in it won’t be easy. And it will be dangerous.” She looked to Naomi and shrugged. “But to help someone, even just one, feels like we’re doing God’s work, wouldn’t you say, Naomi?”

  Naomi frowned but nodded. “I confess I cut Him out of my work, but I know what you mean. I care so much for each woman who walks through my door. We share our stories in the most confidential manner. We trust each other that no word goes beyond that room, and because of that we bond in the most unguarded way. I train them to be stronger and give them all the tools to protect themselves
, both mentally and physically. I care about each one of them and help them get their life back.”

  As Sawyer listened, he became more convinced Naomi suffered something horrible. “Our?” he asked.

  “Pardon?” Naomi said.

  “You said, ‘we share our stories.’ What did you mean?”

  A red hue spread up from Naomi’s neck. He could see she struggled with a response. Her flitted glance toward Cassie told him the sheriff had been privy to Naomi’s past, but he was not.

  “Do you not see that what you give to these women is what you withhold from yourself? Don’t you also want your life back?”

  * * *

  “More than anything,” Naomi whispered with downcast eyes. “But if everyone knew the truth, it would not be the life I wanted.”

  “Or people would see how strong you are. Don’t you think that would really help these women get their lives back? To see you get back up and retake what someone stole from you?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “You don’t know what you’re asking. Tell him, Cassie. Tell him how there are bad people out there who thrive on hurting people. Not everyone gets to stand back up again. Some lives are ruined forever.”

  “Only Brie’s and Debby’s,” Sawyer said. “They won’t get another chance at reclaiming their lives. But you can.”

  Cassie stood up. “The two of you need to have a talk. Sawyer, be gentle. And, Naomi, open your eyes to what he is offering you. It’s a risk, I know, but remember the only people who matter are the ones who believe in you. I need to step out and make a call. I’ll be back in a little while.”

  “Wait!” Naomi sat up straight. Her face drained of color.

  Sawyer jumped to his feet, ready to hit the call button. “Is something wrong? You match your white sheet.”

  Naomi pushed the sheet off her and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. When she reached for the IV in her arm, he grabbed her hand to stop her.

  “The women! I have to get out of here,” she cried. “There are five other women in the group. If it’s true that someone’s targeting the whole group, then the others are not safe. I have to warn them.”

  Cassie passed over a pad and pen. “Write their names and contact info. I will take care of contacting them and getting their local PDs to protect them. That’s my job. I’ll also have an unmarked car bring you back to the farm. Then have him stake out there from now on. No more taking chances, got it?”

  Naomi shook her head. “That’s impossible.”

  “Your safety is all that matters. You need to stay there.”

  “No, I mean I can’t share the women’s information. It’s confidential. It puts them at risk.”

  “I think it’s too late for that, Naomi,” Sawyer cut in and hunched low in front of her to meet her at eye level. Taking her hands into his, he drew her attention and implored her to listen to him. To trust him this time and what he had to say. For her own safety. “You have to let the police protect them now. Don’t you see? If someone is after them, he already has the names.” Sawyer shook her hands when she looked over his shoulder. “He has the list already, Naomi. And you’re on it too. Let Cassie do what she does best. Protect people. Give her the names.”

  He saw the debate in her eyes. But when they darkened, he knew his words were not penetrating her resolve to protect these women’s names and stories. He knew she would take them to her grave. Even if that grave was just around the corner.

  “I admire your loyalty,” he said. “Those women are blessed to have you in their lives. You are a true friend to them, but I have to believe they would want to know if someone was coming after them. I know they will forgive you for breaking confidence in this instance.”

  “You don’t understand. Everyone will know the truth,” she whispered, and her hands trembled in his. She visibly shook, as if her temperature plummeted in a second.

  Sawyer peered out the corner of his eye at Cassie. Her expression wasn’t the sympathetic officer he expected to see. Instead, she raised her eyebrows at him as though she was waiting for him to come clean.

  But he hadn’t done anything wrong.

  Had he?

  It appeared he had his own decision to make.

  “I’ll leave you two alone, so you can...talk. I think you have some things to rectify. Don’t be long. Lives are at stake.” Cassie swept the curtain closed after she exited, but the lack of her footsteps told him she didn’t go far.

  “What does she mean by ‘things to rectify’?” Naomi asked. Her timid voice reminded him of her eighteen-year-old self.

  “She means... She means I have a lot to apologize for. I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” She eyed him cautiously.

  Everything was so clear now. He could see all the times he had the opportunity to be just as loyal to her as she was to the women in her support group.

  “I should have gone after you,” he whispered as the guilt swamped him. “If I could go back, I would do it differently. I would tell everyone they were wrong. That you weren’t the wild child they thought you were. I should have vouched for you. I shouldn’t have accepted your leaving and searched for you. I would have been the man worthy of you. I would have stood alone if I had to. Because the truth is worth it. How can I expect you to tell me the truth if I’ve never earned the right to know?”

  Tears pooled in her eyes, and for the first time since she returned he could see her pain of bearing this trauma all alone.

  He did this. He did this to her.

  “How different your life might have been if I had stood by you and believed in you. If I searched for you and went after you.”

  Naomi’s mouth opened to the sound of the most heart-wrenching anguish he had ever heard. He reached for her and wrapped her tightly up in his arms, lifting her from the bed and supporting her trembling body. Her cries pressed deep into his neck. It was what should have happened eight years ago, but now it wouldn’t fix anything. The damage was already done. Their trust was forever broken, because when she needed him most, he wasn’t there.

  “James Clark knew,” she whispered against him when her wails had subsided.

  Sawyer sputtered at this information. “Jim? My Jim?”

  She sniffed and nodded against him. “I always prayed he would break his word to me and tell you I’d been attacked. That I didn’t leave the Amish on my own. So you would come and get me. He knew where I was. He brought me there. He found me by the dumpster and brought me to Edna’s boarding house.”

  Sawyer’s mind couldn’t comprehend any of these details. He remembered Jim’s remark in the barn about keeping her secret. This was the secret? That he had whisked an abused Amish girl off into the night? Why? It was unfathomable that the man came to work every day for all these years, sat beside him and never thought he might want to know.

  Anger like Sawyer had never known stirred within him. His Amish ways would be tested with this one. Jim had even tried to convince him to marry, when Sawyer had avoided the very idea for three years. Why would he do that?

  “He never said a word,” he mumbled his thoughts aloud and felt his head flare with an unfamiliar rage. “All this time...and he was the one who took you away from me?” Sawyer stepped back and grabbed at his head. “How could he?”

  “Don’t be mad at him. I asked him not to tell. I couldn’t face you. Not after what happened in that house. You had told me not to go to the party. You had warned Liza and me, but I went anyway. I just wanted to run away and never look back.”

  Sawyer froze with his hands in his hair. Slowly, he brought them down as a sickening feeling rolled through him. “Naomi, I have to know. Is Jim the one who hurt you?”

  Her gaze fell in an instant to her clenched hands in front of her. She shook her head. “But I don’t know who did... I don’t know who he is. I have a first name, but I don’t even know if it’s real. I had been knock
ed unconscious and my memory is skewed. Jim’s the one who found me outside by the dumpster.”

  Sawyer closed his eyes at the horrid image she portrayed. How could anyone treat another human being with such disrespect? It was beyond him. He let out a deep breath and pulled in more slow and steady breaths. He pushed the image aside for another time. Right now Naomi’s safety was all that mattered. That and the safety of the women at risk.

  “I’m sorry if I shared too much,” she said.

  “Excuse me? Why would you apologize for that?”

  “I know the details make people uncomfortable. I can’t fault them. It’s nothing anyone wants to imagine, and it’s nothing they can. Nor should. It’s why we have support groups. It’s a place we can share freely and safely with those who understand. We trust each other with our deepest fears and even the details. That’s why our meetings are confidential. Sometimes we share things like names and places that we don’t want getting out.”

  “You tell me whatever you need to, and I will keep things between us. I promise. You’ve carried it alone for far too long. I wish you had told someone here. Anyone. Even if not me.”

  “I told Jim. He helped me get to Edna’s after we stopped at a motel to get cleaned up. He helped me. The best he could, I guess.”

  “Helped you,” Sawyer repeated her words that made no sense to him. “Did you ever question his reasons?”

  “Not until I went to school to train to be a counselor. I learned the correct protocol and realized I did everything wrong that night.”

  “No, Jim did everything wrong that night. Jim should have brought you right to the hospital. Jim didn’t help you. Letting more harm come to someone isn’t helping them. And that’s exactly what he did. He sent you out into the world, an Amish girl with no English world experience, to fend for yourself. And didn’t tell anyone. You tell me not to be mad, but I’m struggling to understand such cruelty.”

  Sawyer thought of the license plate being so close to what he saw the night of the shooting on his sister’s farm. Before, he wouldn’t have believed his friend was involved in something so evil, but in this light, that thought wavered to a great possibility. But why?