“I saw Wayne helping roll up the hoses with the firemen. He should be along soon.”
“There is something more I must tell you. I have invited Debra to stay the night with us.”
“Who would that be? One of the children?”
“The owner of that burned-out car.”
A quick frown creased his brow. “An Englischer? You should not have done that. You know our daed would object. We should not mix with outsiders.”
“She is a person in need. I could not turn my back on her. Besides, you are hardly in a position to lecture me, bruder. I saw you riding in a car with Davey Mast, and he is shunned. What would Daed say to that?”
Jeremiah’s lips pressed into a tight thin line, but he made no further comment. Lillian didn’t expect that he would. “Debra has a badly turned ankle. Her brother will be here first thing tomorrow to take her home. Come and meet her.”
“If I must.” Jeremiah slid off his horse and followed Lillian to the school. Inside, she introduced him to Debra. The poor woman looked deathly pale, and she had dark circles of pain under her eyes.
Sophie, one of Lillian’s first-grade students, was seated at her desk nearby. The petite blonde girl looked up shyly and spoke in Deitsch. “Can I go now? I don’t like this lady.”
Sophie rarely liked anyone other than her father, but she tolerated her teacher. Lillian nodded. “Your father will be here soon. You can wait for him outside.”
The child scampered out the door. Debra gave Jeremiah a weak smile. “Your sister was kind enough to offer to put me up for the night. I hope that’s all right. I can surely find somewhere else to stay if it’s an imposition.”
“Its fine,” Jeremiah managed to say in spite of his clenched jaw. “Can you ride a horse bareback?”
Debra’s smile vanished and her eyes widened. “I’ve never been on a horse. I’m not sure today is the best day for my first lesson.”
Lillian patted Debra’s hand. “Goldie is not a big horse, and she is as tame as they come.”
Debra still looked uncertain. “I’m always saying I like to learn new things. I guess I’d better prove it.”
“That’s the spirit.” Lillian slipped her arm around Debra and helped her to her feet. Between Lillian and Jeremiah, they managed to get her outside and onto the docile mare. Wayne Hochstetler arrived to take Sophie with him, so Lillian was able to leave with Debra and Jeremiah. As she walked beside Debra to steady her on the horse, she couldn’t keep her gaze away from the firemen still working in the distance. Timothy was out there somewhere.
Now that the rush of emotions and fear had passed, she had time to examine her feelings more closely. Something had changed today. She had changed.
In her heart, she knew she would never forget how it felt to be held in Timothy’s arms. And he must never know that.
Chapter Eight
The following morning, Timothy groaned when he realized he’d made another wrong cut in the board on the bench in front of him. It was his third mistake of the day, and it wasn’t even nine o’clock. He wanted to blame his carelessness on being tired after firefighting the previous day, but he knew that wasn’t his problem. His problem was Lillian. The way she had touched his cheek had almost been a caress. What did it mean?
“What’s the matter?” Joshua asked when he finished drilling a hole in the block of wood he was working on.
“Nothing. Everything. Someone else needs to run this table saw, or we’ll be out of good wood by noon.” Timothy tossed aside the ruined piece.
“I can take over for you. It’s not like you to make mistakes. Don’t you feel well?”
Timothy glanced around the shop to see who else might overhear him. None of his other brothers were nearby. “You’re married, Joshua. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, but now you’ve really got me worried.”
“When did you know you wanted to court Mary? Were you worried she might not want to go out with you?”
“If I said I knew I wanted to court her the minute I laid eyes on her, I’d be lying. And of course, I was afraid she’d turn me down. Her father is the sheriff and I was fresh out of prison, remember?”
“For a crime you didn’t commit,” Timothy added quickly. Joshua had been wrongly imprisoned after he and Luke were picked up in a drug raid. Joshua had followed Luke to the city to try and convince their brother to give up drugs and return home. He’d spent six months in prison for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It had been a difficult time for all the family, but in the end, God had shown them mercy. Luke was a reformed man and Joshua had married the love of his life.
Joshua folded his arms over his chest. “Are you planning to court someone?”
Timothy brushed the sawdust from the table. “I’m thinking about it.”
“What’s holding you back?”
“I’m afraid asking her out will ruin our friendship.” It felt good to admit as much to Joshua. If he could talk about his feelings, maybe he could figure out what to do about them.
“Ah, you mean Lillian.”
Timothy sent his brother a sidelong glance. “I reckon I shouldn’t be surprised that her name sprang to mind.”
Joshua laughed. “The two of you have been friends for ages. We all thought you would court her eventually. I’m surprised that you’ve waited this long. It’s easy to see that she cares about you, so what’s the problem?”
“She cares for me as a friend.”
“Friendship is a fine place to start a courtship. It is a blessed man who calls his best friend his wife.”
“It isn’t that simple. If I ask her out and she says no, I’m afraid it will make things awkward between us. I don’t want to lose Lillian’s friendship. If I say nothing, we can stay friends.”
“I understand your dilemma, but...can you remain her friend if you say nothing? Love is a hard emotion to hide. Do you love her?”
Timothy pondered his answer before he spoke. “I don’t know. Maybe. I want to spend time with her. We have so much in common. I like to make her smile. I like the way I feel when she is near me. Is that love?”
“If you have to ask me that, then you aren’t in love. Yet. What you have can grow into true love if that is God’s will for the two of you, but many times a young man is simply infatuated with a woman. In love with the idea of being in love. Do you know what I mean?”
“How did you know when it was love?”
“I just did. I couldn’t bear to be away from her. Look, why don’t you ask Emma or Mary to broach the subject with Lillian? Lillian doesn’t have to know the inquiry is coming from you.”
But she would know. Timothy shook his head. “Forget I said anything. I’m happy being Lillian’s friend, and I don’t want to ruin that. It’s foolish of me to think she might see me as anything else. I’m going to get another board.”
“It doesn’t sound to me like you’re being completely honest with yourself. I still say send another woman to speak to her and see how she feels. Rebecca would do it.”
“My wife will do what?” Samuel asked as he carried in a hand-carved headboard ready for sanding and propped it against the wall.
Timothy wasn’t ready to share his feelings with his older brother. Joshua had no such reservations. “He wants to court Lillian, but he’s afraid she’ll say no and then they won’t be friends anymore.”
“And you want my wife to be your go-between? I don’t see why not. It’s a good idea.”
“What is a good idea?” Noah asked from the open doorway of the workshop. Luke stood beside him.
Timothy stifled a groan. The last thing he wanted was to have all his brothers involved in this conversation.
Samuel slipped his thumbs under his suspenders. “Timothy is going to ask Rebecca to be his go-between with Lillian.”
>
“I wondered when you two bookworms would get together,” Luke said with a wink.
“We’re not getting together in that way. I was considering the idea, but I’m sorry I brought it up. It wouldn’t work. She loves teaching. She has often said she’ll never give it up.”
Samuel said, “She might feel that way now, but most women want families of their own eventually.”
Was Samuel right? Timothy turned the idea over in his mind. Maybe all he needed to do was wait until she was ready to give up teaching. Then he wouldn’t be asking her to choose between him and the job she loved. He could be patient.
But what if some other fellow caught her eye before he got up the nerve to ask her out? “Lillian isn’t most women. Honestly, can we just forget I said anything?”
“Sure.” Joshua exchanged a pointed look with Samuel. Timothy knew his brothers well enough to know they wouldn’t let the subject rest. He shouldn’t have said anything. He had been shaken up after fearing he’d lost her yesterday. A few days away from her would put everything back into perspective.
The sound of a car pulling to a stop in front of the workshop drew everyone’s attention. “Who is it?” Samuel asked.
“It’s our fire chief and the sheriff,” Noah said from the doorway. “I think the state fire marshal is with them.”
Timothy moved to look over Noah’s shoulder. “That’s him. I met him once at a training exercise.”
Their father came out of the house and stood talking to the visitors beside their vehicle. After a few minutes, he turned to his sons and gestured for them to join him. When they reached his side, he spoke in Deitsch. “These men are investigating the fire at the Hanson Farm yesterday. They have evidence it was deliberately set. They would like to interview Lillian, her brother and the Englisch nurse. The sheriff would like one of us to go along.”
“Why talk to Jeremiah? He wasn’t at the school.” Noah spoke quietly in Deitsch, too.
Isaac tipped his head toward the men. “They won’t say.”
Timothy exchanged a puzzled look with Noah, then spoke in English. “I’ll go with you. Lillian’s family won’t readily speak to outsiders. They may be more comfortable talking to me.”
Isaac nodded. “I will send your mother over, too. She is making up some things for the nurse.”
As Timothy got in the car with the men, he realized he was thankful for any excuse to see Lillian again, even this one.
* * *
Lillian helped Debra hobble to the blue sofa in the living room. “Would you like a pillow to put your leg up on?”
“That would be great.”
Lillian turned to Amanda. “Fetch the pillows from my bed and bring them here.”
Amanda nodded and hurried away.
Debra sat down with a sigh. “You’ve taken wonderful care of me. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“Repayment isn’t necessary. We must do what we can for those in need.”
“I’m grateful, I hope you know that. My brother should be here soon. He called when he left our apartment. I noticed that your brother wasn’t at breakfast. Was that because of me?”
Amanda returned with a pillow, gave it to Lillian and rushed to the window. “There’s a car coming.”
“Perhaps that is your brother now.” Lillian placed the pillows on the sofa and helped Debra get her foot settled comfortably, but she didn’t answer Debra’s question. Lillian didn’t know where her brother was. He had been gone before she got up.
Amanda rushed to the screen door, eager to greet their visitors. “It’s Timothy, sister. He is riding in an Englisch car.”
“Then I had better go see what he wants. Amanda, stay with Debra, please.”
Lillian struggled to hide the happy leap of her heart as Timothy approached the house. She schooled her features into what she hoped looked like mild curiosity. There were three men with him. She recognized his fire chief and Sheriff Bradley but not the other man.
“What brings you out this way, Timothy?” she asked, hoping her voice sounded normal.
He stopped at the front steps. “I came to check on you. You had quite a fright yesterday. Are you all right?”
She chuckled. “We all had quite a fright. I’m fine.”
He nodded. “I should have known it would take more than a little smoke to rattle you.”
“Don’t let my calm teacher face fool you. I was scared out of my wits.”
“I have to disagree. You kept your wits about you.”
It pleased her that he thought well of her. “I’m sure you didn’t come here to heap praise on my head. What can I do for you?”
His smile faded. He turned to the men who stood behind him. “Lillian, this is my fire chief, Eric Swanson. You know Sheriff Bradley, and this gentleman is Rodney George. Rodney is the state fire marshal. He’d like to speak to you. The fire yesterday wasn’t an accident. It was deliberately set.”
She stared at Mr. George in shock. “Who would do such a thing?”
Tall with a touch of gray at his temples, Rodney George seemed to be a man used to commanding others. “That is what I hope to find out. Is Miss Merrick still here?”
“Ja, Debra is inside.”
“I’d like to ask the two of you some questions about yesterday?”
“I don’t know what help we can be, but do come in.” Lillian was curious to hear more details.
After everyone was seated in the living room, Mr. George took a notebook and pen from his pocket. “Did you see anything unusual yesterday? Anything you thought was out of the ordinary?”
Debra held her hands wide. “I was doing hearing assessments all morning. I didn’t see anything.”
Lillian folded her hands in her lap. “I was inside the school most of the morning. I stepped outside briefly at morning recess to watch the children and again when I smelled smoke. The children didn’t mention seeing anything unusual. I certainly didn’t.”
But she had. She’d seen a car speeding past. Davey Mast’s car. Should she mention that? She didn’t want to get anyone in trouble.
“What about the car you saw?” Timothy asked, taking away her option to stay silent.
“When I smelled smoke and went outside, I could see smoke rising from the Hanson farmstead. I heard the explosion and saw flames shooting into the sky. It couldn’t have been more than a minute later that I saw Davey Mast drive past.”
Sheriff Bradley leaned forward with his elbows propped on his knees. “Are you positive the driver was Davey Mast?”
“I can’t say for certain that Davey was driving, but I’m pretty sure it was his car. We saw it the day before. Abe Mast is one of my scholars, one of my students. He said the car belonged to his brother Davey. Has anyone talked to Davey? Perhaps he saw something.”
“I have plans to interview him later today.” Mr. George tapped his pen against the side of his notebook. “You said we. Who else was with you when you saw Davey’s car?”
“All of my students and Timothy the first time I saw it.”
“I was giving a fire safety talk at the school,” Timothy explained.
Mr. George’s sharp gaze came back to Lillian. “And the day of the fire?”
“Susan Yoder was with me. She may have seen the car.”
Mr. George nodded, took a few notes and then looked up. “Do you know anyone with a grudge against Mr. Hanson?”
Lillian shook her head. “He isn’t a friendly fellow. He and his wife keep to themselves. It’s said they don’t care much for the Amish.”
Mr. George leaned back in his chair. “Why is that?”
Lillian looked at Timothy. “I don’t know. Do you?”
“My father said it was something about a land dispute years ago. That’s all I know.”
“His wife mentioned that he had an argument with an Amish fellow a few days ago. Any idea who that might have been?” the sheriff asked.
Surely he didn’t mean her brother. Lillian tried to remember exactly what Jeremiah had said about his conversation with Mr. Hanson. She was certain he hadn’t mentioned having an argument, but he did say the man yelled at him. Even if her brother had been arguing with Mr. Hanson, Jeremiah would never retaliate in such a manner. It was unthinkable.
She raised her chin as she met Mr. George’s steady gaze. “We Amish go to great lengths to avoid confrontations of any kind. We forgive whoever did this and pray for his soul.”
“It’s my job to ask questions. I meant no disrespect. Is your brother about?”
“I’m not sure where he is right now. Our parents are away, and Jeremiah is taking care of my father’s business.”
“Have you noticed any strangers in the area? Anyone acting suspiciously?” the sheriff asked.
Lillian looked toward her guest. “Miss Merrick is the only stranger I’ve seen recently.”
“There are very few people stranger than I am,” Debra said glibly.
Mr. George’s face remained stern. “Did you set fire to Mr. Hanson’s tractor shed?”
Debra’s grin faded. “No. I don’t even know the man. My cooking has set off the smoke alarm in my apartment a few times, but that’s as close as I’ve come to being a firebug.”
Captain Swanson’s cell phone rang. As he answered it, Sheriff Bradley’s rang, too. Both men had short, terse conversations and hung up. The captain rose to his feet. “Mr. George, we need to get back to the station house. We have another fire.”
Chapter Nine
Timothy shot to his feet when he realized he might be needed with his crew. “Luke has the pager today, but I can come with you.”
His captain shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. It’s a hayfield. No structures involved. One crew should be able to handle it. Thankfully, we don’t have the wind today that we had yesterday. I’ll drop you off at your place on my way back to the station.”
His Amish Teacher Page 7