Barbara turned and climbed the ladder to the loft without looking back.
Jakob blew out the candle but lay wakeful for long hours.
It was no surprise when Barbara disappeared with Lisbetli for a long time after breakfast. It was no surprise when Hans Zimmerman’s horse maneuvered between black oak stumps and came to a stop where Jakob and Christian worked.
Jakob pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead. “Christian, go to the creek and bring us a jar of water.”
“But we still have—”
“Just go, Christian.”
The boy dropped his hoe, picked up the half-full water jar, and reluctantly turned his feet toward the creek.
When his son was out of hearing distance, Jakob spoke. “So Barbara has confided in your wife, and she is duly appalled at my behavior.”
Hans slid off his horse. “We just want to understand, Jakob. Barbara believes you have intentions.”
“How can I have intentions? I barely know Miss Kallen.”
“You know we are meant to live apart, Jakob. ‘Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.’ Second Corinthians, the sixth chapter and verse seventeen.”
“Separate from what, Hans? Am I to live separate from affection? Separate from a mother for a two-year-old who doesn’t understand? Separate from someone who might free Barbara to consider her own future?”
“You know the community will care for your family,” Hans said. “That is our way.”
“You have a wife, and your children have their mother,” Jakob countered. “The question has become far more complicated for me.”
“You cannot go against Ordnung.” Hans’s jaw set firmly. “If you marry this woman, your life will change. Think of your children.”
“I am thinking of them.”
“Has the community failed you? Have we failed to encourage you in God’s will? If we have, we will repent and help you to do the same.”
“Elizabeth Kallen has the heart of God in her. I can see it in her eyes. Lisbetli knows this, too.”
Hans scoffed. “Lisbetli is hardly more than a babe. But you have been baptized into the church. You cannot consider this step frivolously.”
“I assure you that I do not,” Jakob said. “But the fact remains that the number of our people is small. I am unlikely to find a wife among the Amish settlers here. Am I to grow still older while I hope that the next ship brings me a desperate woman widowed on the journey? Miss Kallen is a capable woman who would appreciate the challenges of homesteading and care for my children as her own.”
“But would she join the church?” Hans challenged.
Jakob leveraged his shovel under a large stone, hefted it, and moved toward a pile of stones. “The stones here are smooth and well shaped. They will make a beautiful fireplace someday.”
“Jakob, this is a serious question. Would she join the church?”
Jakob scraped at dirt. “I don’t know.”
“Would you ask her to?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t think you’ve thought this through, my friend.”
“I quite agree,” Jakob answered. “Perhaps that is what I was trying to do last night when I wrote a private letter.”
“She must join the church, Jakob.”
Jakob plunged his shovel into the dirt until it stood upright. He turned to look his friend in the eye. “Must she? If I were to wed a woman like Elizabeth Kallen and give my children a mother in the middle of the wilderness, might I be answering a higher calling than the call to join the church?”
Christian returned with the jar of water. Jakob took a deep, cool draft. And Hans mounted his horse.
“Mr. Sieber is leaving tomorrow for Philadelphia to get supplies,” Christian said a few days later over lunch. “We should give him a list.”
Jakob nodded. “Gut. Make a list. I will take it to him this afternoon.”
Barbara popped off the crate she sat on. “But we are supposed to go to the Stehleys’ to welcome the latest families. Mr. Zimmerman offered to pick us up in his wagon since he comes right through our land.”
“You take the children and go with him. I will meet you later.”
Anna spoke up. “Is it true that you are going to marry the lady from Philadelphia?”
Jakob stiffened and glanced at Barbara.
“I’m sorry, Daed,” Barbara said. “I thought Christian and Anna should know. They are old enough. They are not boppli.”
He turned both hands palms up. “There is nothing to know.”
“There might be.” His eldest daughter clearly had her mother’s stubbornness.
“I’m not going to give up the true faith.” Anna was resolute.
“I would never ask you to,” Jakob told her. “Your mother and I taught you to do the right thing. You must make the decisions of your own conscience.”
Hans Sieber looked dubious when he saw how Jakob’s letter was addressed.
“She is at the stationer’s shop off High Street,” Jakob said firmly.
“Should not the letter be addressed to the owner of the shop?”
“I do not wish to correspond with the owner.”
Sieber raised his eyebrows.
“If you don’t wish to take the letter,” Jakob said, “I will ask someone else.”
“We have been friends a long time, Jakob.”
“This is why I trust you.” Jakob met his friend’s gaze.
Sieber nodded and added the letter to his satchel, along with Jakob’s supply list.
Riding to the Stehleys’ land, Jakob pondered how many days he should give Elizabeth to consider his carefully crafted words and planned his own departure for Philadelphia accordingly. The children could stay with the Zimmermans.
Twenty-Six
I’ve got to get to the bank,” Annie told Jamie. “They’re expecting me promptly at ten.”
“You can go just as soon as you sign this letter.” Jamie laid a single sheet of paper in front of her.
Annie scanned the page. “This should do it. We’re officially severing the company’s relationship with Richard D. Stebbins, attorney at law.”
“I can send it by courier, and he’ll have it inside twenty minutes.” Jamie tapped the paper on the desk with a triumphant index finger.
“Handy having a courier service across the street, eh?”
“Then sign the stinkin’ page and make it official.”
Annie picked up a black pen, with the thin rolling point she favored, and signed her name with flourish.
“Careful there.” Jamie wagged a finger in warning. “The signature has to look right enough to be legal.”
Annie laughed. “We’re done with Mr. Stebbins. After I sign the documents to buy Barrett out, we can focus on moving forward.”
Jamie picked up the signed letter and creased it in neat thirds before sliding it into an envelope. “I miss Barrett. It’s not like him to just up and leave this way.”
“I miss him, too,” Annie said. And she did. Annie had withheld most of the story from her staff. Let them remember Barrett with fondness, she figured, even if they thought he lost his marbles for leaving. “I don’t think I’ll be long at the bank. The new attorney assures me he has arranged for the papers to be ready for signature when I get there.”
“When you get back, I’ll get Liam-Ryder Industries on the line.”
Annie nodded. Liam-Ryder Industries had been patient for two weeks. She couldn’t keep ignoring a prospective client with the deep pockets this company seemed to have.
“I’m calling the courier right now.” Jamie stepped out of Annie’s office to her own desk and picked up the phone.
Annie checked the list on her phone to see what else she had to do before she could go to Westcliffe sometime in the next few days. Eli’s brown book was already on the front seat of her car.
Tom steered the red truck into the parking lot, pulled up in front of the building, and shifted into PARK. “Are y
ou sure about this?”
Beside him, Rufus nodded. “It seems the most peaceable thing to do.”
“It’s a lot of nuisance for you to bank all the way over here. People would come to your aid if they knew Karl somehow got his fingers into the bank decisions. Give them a chance to help.”
Rufus shook his head. “I am not trying to cause harm to Karl Kramer. I simply want to earn a living.”
“I could come in with you.”
Rufus smiled. “You’re a good friend even if you are English. But I will be fine. I have my tax returns showing my business history and value. I can put up my share of the family land if I have to.”
“Okay, then.” Tom straightened behind the steering wheel. “I figure it will take about two hours to go see my mother. If you need a place to wait, there’s a little garden area behind the bank. I’ll look for you and honk.”
Holding a soft, deerskin satchel, Rufus got out of the car and watched Tom’s truck merge into the unforgiving traffic of Powers Boulevard, eight lanes across. He could not imagine driving a buggy in this town. All Rufus needed in Colorado Springs was a bank manager with a fair-minded sense of business practices. He stepped onto the sidewalk and paced over to the front door.
It was not far to the bank. Still, ever since Rick beat her to the restaurant where she was supposed to meet Barrett, Annie scanned the road whenever she drove. Rick could still try to interfere with signing papers. His grill could show up in her rearview mirror any moment.
But nothing was there. A bedraggled soccer mom in a white minivan. Businessmen with Bluetooth headsets in their ears and miniature offices spread across the front seats of the vehicles. Teens in aging hand-me-down cars heading for the movies. No bronze Jeep. No Rick.
Rufus entered the bank and asked to speak to a loan officer. He ignored the strange looks he always garnered when he came to town. Black suspenders pressed tracks into his white cotton shirt. Today he wore a black felt hat instead of his usual straw hat. Everybody who saw him did a double take and then politely acted as if it were perfectly normal to see an Amish man standing in the bank waiting patiently to apply for a business line of credit in Colorado Springs. Rufus was used to it.
“Mr. Endicott will see you now.” Rufus was glad to duck into one of the offices and out of sight of the customers traipsing in and out of the lobby.
Barrett opted to sign the agreement in advance, so Annie knew she would not see him. She was just as relieved as he was to avoid a face-to-face meeting at this point. What would he do now? she wondered. He would have money, at least. But knowing Barrett, money was not the real question. He loved the frenzied din of a challenge. Lee Solano insisted on a thorough noncompete clause in the documents that dissolved the partnership, but Barrett could take off with his own ideas and build another company.
The branch manager was waiting for her when Annie entered the bank, and led her past a row of small offices with closed doors flanked by tall, narrow windows. The manager’s office was larger and less cell-like. He slid a packet of papers across a smooth, uncluttered, glass-topped desk.
“Three copies of everything,” he said. “Please sign all three, and I’ll assemble one set for you.”
Knowing she would sign in his absence, Lee had prepared Annie well for what the papers would be. Annie scanned each one to make sure it corresponded to what Lee directed and signed all three sets. In a matter of minutes, she had a manila envelope of documents in her hand and watched while the bank manager transferred funds as Barrett had previously directed. The company account showed considerably fewer assets, but Annie now held 100 percent of the company and anything it might create. She stood and shook hands with the bank manager, tucked her manila envelope under one arm, and left the bank.
He was waiting for her when she turned the corner on the sidewalk.
Rick Stebbins backed her up against the brick and crunched a piece of paper in her face. “How quaint. Sending a letter by courier. This means nothing.”
“It means you have nothing to do with me,” Annie answered evenly.
Rick pulled the envelope out from under her arm. “Is this what I think it is?”
“It’s no business of yours.” She smelled onion on his breath and knew where he had eaten his morning omelet.
Rick lifted the envelope flap and pulled the papers up a few inches. “So it’s done, then. You and Barrett are no more.”
Annie said nothing. His breath hovered over her face. She fought to keep her own breathing from turning ragged.
“You can’t think it would be over that easily.” Rick’s brooding eyes held Annie’s in a vise now. “Barrett was never the goal.”
Annie felt his breath. He had never leaned in so close except to kiss her.
Rufus left the bank encouraged. He would have to wait for a letter confirming the line of credit, but the loan officer saw no reason not to think it would be approved. It was too early to expect Tom would be waiting. Rufus opted to wander behind the bank.
He stopped in his tracks. A man in a dark suit leaned against the brick with one arm, his face close to a woman’s. At first Rufus thought he would disturb a romantic moment if he kept walking. English would kiss anywhere, after all. It did not matter who was watching.
The man’s arm blocked the woman’s face, but the color of her hair made Rufus suck his breath in. His eyes moved from her hair to assess her height and form.
Annalise. In trouble.
Rufus said nothing, just stepped right up to the pair and stared into the man’s eyes.
The man jerked away from the brick. “What are you looking at?”
Rufus turned his eyes to Annalise. “Is everything all right, Annalise?”
“You know this guy?” Rick asked.
“None of your business,” Annalise answered.
“Perhaps you should be on your way.” Rufus spoke calmly and firmly to the man.
The man slapped an envelope against Annalise’s chest. “I’m very good at what I do.”
“So am I.” Annalise pushed on the man’s chest with one hand and gripped the envelope with the other.
The man glared at Rufus and got into a bronze vehicle and roared away.
Annalise was trembling now. Rufus wished he could gather her into his arms the way he had when she fell at the motel.
“What in the world are you doing here?” she said.
“It’s good I came, ya?”
“Ya,” she answered then laughed at herself. “He wouldn’t have done anything. He just tries to throw me off balance.”
“He does a good job.” Rufus glanced in the direction the man had driven. “I assume he is what you mean when you say, ‘It’s complicated.’”
She nodded. “Part of it. Most of it.”
Rufus tipped his hat toward the garden behind the bank. “Let’s sit down and watch something grow.”
Annie let Rufus steer her to a bench positioned for admiring a bed of irises and daylilies. The irises had finished blooming weeks ago, but strong stalks almost as tall as Annie still foisted deep orange daylily blossoms upward. Annie thought absently that the flowers were the same kind her mother cultivated.
She sat next to Rufus on the bench, and though he kept a careful distance, his nearness overwhelmed her. If he held his arms open to her, she would fall into them gladly, hear his heart beating, savor the pressure of his embrace.
“Annalise, you’re in trouble.” Rufus planted his hands on his knees and leaned forward.
Annie shook her head. “No. Most of it is sorted out already. I have a lawyer. I just signed papers. That man is angry that he did not get his way.” Annie tried to restore order to the documents still sprouting from the envelope in several directions. She put the tidied papers on the bench between them. “How do you do it, Rufus? How do you keep from striking back? I’m not trying to take advantage of anyone. I’m just fighting to protect what’s mine.”
“What does fighting solve?” Rufus leaned back. “Is what you call your own
any safer now?”
Annie sighed. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It is far from simple. But it is a choice to trust God’s will.”
He stretched one arm across the back of the bench, his fingertips now a mere inch from her shoulder. She ached for his hand to rest on there.
“I saved my company—for now—but I lost a friend in the process.” Annie picked up the envelope, put the prongs through the hole, and fastened it shut. “I really tried to be peaceable, but he left me no choice.”
“You always have a choice. The trouble comes when you judge the consequences and find some of them too high a price to pay.”
His fingertips found their way to her shoulder, brushing up and down once and settling. She shivered in the heat.
“You don’t even know what I chose, what I did.” How could she expect Rufus to understand?
“I can see that what you chose did not make you happy. Or safe.”
“Maybe you’re right.” The space between them called for closing. Annie inched over, laying the envelope on the other side of her. His hand rested firmly on her shoulder now. If he kissed her, she would let him. Even encourage him. “You know, in the English world, this is where you would kiss me.”
“But that is not my world.” Despite his words, he held his position.
He wasn’t going to. She would have to do it.
Annie leaned into Rufus, one hand on his chest, and still he did not move. She found his mouth, and he did not move. She pressed into the softness, and he did not move, except to press back against her lips. Or was that her imagination? Warmth oozed through her as she waited for him to break the kiss. But he did not.
Her phone rang, and she jumped back to snatch it out of her pocket. Lee Solano.
“Hi.” Intuitively, she strayed from the bench and turned her back to Rufus.
“Everything go okay?”
She ran her tongue over her lips, still tasting Rufus. “The papers are signed. It’s done.”
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