A Son's Vow

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  “Not too often.”

  After a small pause, he said, “What does that mean?”

  It was tempting to lie, but she didn’t want to do that any longer. She was so tired of pretending Aaron never hurt her. Keeping silent wasn’t making her feel any better. Worse, her silence wasn’t making Aaron change. “It means he grabs me roughly once or twice a week.”

  He inhaled, obviously attempting to control his reaction. “I don’t like leaving you here. Why don’t you come home with me?”

  If this conversation wasn’t so difficult for her to bear, she would have rolled her eyes. Lukas Kinsinger always, always tried to manage things. Tried to manage her. “And when would you suggest I do that?”

  “Now.”

  The childish part of her was tempted. If she went to Lukas’s house, she could escape Aaron’s abuse and her younger brothers’ and sisters’ needs. She could rise without feeling the awful sense of panic in her chest that told her she wasn’t going to get enough done, that she wasn’t going to be enough for her younger siblings to forget that their father had died and their mother didn’t love them enough to stay.

  But because she was an adult and she’d never been one to run from responsibility, she shook her head. “Lukas, you’re being ridiculous. Of course I canna do that.”

  “Think about it,” he coaxed. “You know we have enough room.”

  “Running off to your house won’t solve anything.”

  “Except keep you from harm.”

  “If I’m not there, I’m afraid Aaron might take out his frustrations on one of my sisters or brothers.”

  “Then we should contact the police.”

  “Absolutely not. This is a family problem. And Aaron isn’t a criminal. He’s just . . .” Her voice drifted off.

  “He’s just bullying and hurting you.” He stopped and faced her. “Darla, you know I care about you.”

  “I know.”

  “Then you know how hard this is for me, too. I hate leaving you here. I hate you thinking you need to be your brother’s victim in order to protect your siblings. That ain’t right.”

  She lifted her chin. “Things aren’t that bad, Lukas. I’m not going anywhere. I’m needed here.”

  “What is going to happen now?” he bit out, frustration evident in every word. “After I turn down the street and you head back inside, will he take his anger out on you?”

  She hoped not. “I’ll be fine. Aaron showers after work. Then he usually goes right over to Hope’s house.”

  “Does Hope know he grips you so hard that you bruise? Does Hope know that he yells at all of you?”

  She doubted it. “Does it matter if she doesn’t?”

  His lips tightened. “If she accepted his proposal, she needs to know. She needs to know the real man she’s planning to marry. Would you like me to talk to her?”

  “Of course not.”

  “But she needs to know what he is capable of.”

  Darla was ashamed that they were speaking of her very own brother. That shame, combined with her frustration with Lukas’s high-handed ways, made her speak a little too bluntly. “You can’t protect everyone, Lukas.”

  “I can try.”

  She inhaled sharply, realizing how sincerely he meant those three words. He was willing to do everything he could to protect and support anyone who needed it. This trait of his was as much a part of him as his gray eyes and the defined muscles of his arms.

  She knew he wasn’t making an empty promise. He would never vow to do anything he didn’t fully intend to actually put into practice.

  They’d come to a stop at the end of the drive. His farm was less than a mile to the left, as the crow flies. In the other direction was the town of Charm.

  They’d stood here together before. Many, many times.

  As if reading her mind, he sighed. Little by little, the tension in his body eased, making him look far more like his usual self. Like the Lukas she’d come to know so well and loved. “This feels familiar. Ain’t so?”

  “Jah.” Letting herself relax enough for the memories to slip into the present, she said, “I remember waiting for you here when Maisie had just been born and Mamm put me in charge of Patsy.”

  He groaned. “Which was a thankless job. She never listened to you.”

  “We were twelve.”

  “Nee. You were twelve, I was fourteen.”

  “Anyway, Patsy, of course, had darted off to play instead of doing her chores.”

  “And you had done them instead.”

  “I did. Then I told on her, too, so she would have to stay around and watch the twins.”

  His lips twitched. “You always did tattle.”

  “I had to. Otherwise I never got a break,” she said with a laugh. “Anyway, I was so happy to get away, I stood out here and waited for you.” She was suddenly struck by how, even at twelve, she’d known that she could depend on him. And even at that young age, she hadn’t been wrong. He had been everything trustworthy.

  He grinned. “When I got here, we walked to the creek and waded in the water.”

  He’d kicked off his boots and rolled up his pants legs. She’d hiked up the skirt of her dress, feeling so daring. They’d walked for over an hour. And the one time she’d slipped, he’d wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close.

  “That was a good day,” she murmured.

  “The best.” His gaze met hers and she felt more than a little giddy.

  Maybe it was because she wasn’t in any hurry to go back to her family or maybe it was because she wanted to reassure him in some odd way—even though she had nothing at her disposal with which to reassure him—but whatever the reason, she didn’t want him to leave.

  “Even though your visit turned out so badly, I can’t regret having you over here again,” she admitted.

  “I can’t regret it, either. Especially now that I know exactly how tough it’s been for you.” Stepping closer, Lukas loosely wrapped his arms around her waist. The weight of his hands felt comforting. Familiar. She relaxed against him, even though they weren’t children any longer.

  He leaned closer. “Darla, I’m going to walk you home every day now.”

  There was only one thing to say. Only one thing she wanted to say, anyway. “All right.”

  “Gut,” he said around a sigh as he tucked her closer against him.

  She let her head rest against his chest, remembering how good it felt to have his arms wrapped around her. She felt protected and cared for. Like she belonged to him. Breathing deeply, she smelled his clean, masculine scent. Allowed herself to linger just a little bit longer.

  And then remembered that it wasn’t proper.

  She needed to regain some distance. She wasn’t his. She was his friend. Moreover, when he got home, he would no doubt realize that, too. Surely then he would have regrets.

  Pulling away, she lifted her chin so she could meet his gaze. “If something comes up and you can’t walk me home tomorrow after all, don’t worry, okay?”

  “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m going to walk you home every afternoon. And then I’m going to sit with you and we’re going to talk like we used to.”

  “And then?”

  “And then, I’m going to win each of your siblings over until they trust me again.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “And then what?”

  “And then we’ll see what happens next.”

  His words sounded like a promise. A vow. Something so deep and emotional and meaningful that she hardly knew whether to ignore it or grab ahold of that promise and beg him never to forget his words.

  Running a finger along her cheekbone, he said softly, “Does that sound like something you could agree to?”

  Before she doubted herself again, she nodded.

  He sighed in relief. “Gut.” Stepping away, he touched the brim of his hat. “See ya tomorrow, Darla.”

  “Yes. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”

  When he turned aro
und and started walking again, his pace far faster than when he’d been by her side, she allowed herself to smile. Lukas Kinsinger was a part of her life again. And this time, it seemed he intended to stay.

  Chapter 10

  It was almost dark when Lukas finally got home. As he trudged the last couple of feet up the driveway, he wanted nothing more than to eat Amelia’s supper, and take some time to sit quietly and pray about what to do next. He didn’t know what to do about Aaron, and was still, frankly, a bit stunned by the new thoughts he was having about Darla. He’d always felt protective about her but now there was something else, too. Was it attraction? Was it love?

  He wasn’t sure. If he’d fallen in love, wasn’t he supposed to feel sure?

  “Hey, you. I wondered when you were going to come home,” Rebecca called out.

  Raising his head, he saw that she was sitting on the front porch in a light blue dress with what looked to be one of Levi’s sweatshirts over it, holding a sleeping bulldog puppy. He almost groaned. She’d been after Simon, Lukas’s best friend, to give her one of his dog’s pups, and it looked like she’d gotten her way today.

  “Looks like we have a new addition to the family.”

  She beamed. “We do. His name is Oscar. Isn’t he cute?”

  Oscar was in a little ball the size of a football on her lap. He was white with brown spots and tiny pink paws. Crouching in front of his sister, Lukas gently rubbed the pup’s head with the back of one of his fingers. “He is, indeed. I didn’t know you were going to get him today.”

  “I hadn’t planned on it. But then when I got to talking to Simon at work, he asked if I had been serious when I’d told him I wanted a pup.”

  Sitting beside her, he chuckled. “Did Simon really imagine you weren’t?”

  “I think he was wondering if you were going to get annoyed with both him and me. You aren’t, are ya?”

  No way was he going to let her put him in charge of the household. “This is your home as much as mine, Becky.”

  “I know, but I don’t want you to be irritated with me.”

  “You should be asking Amelia if she’s irritated. She’s the one who’s home all day.”

  “Amelia ain’t upset. She named him when Simon and I brought him over.”

  “Simon came over?” Simon was a good man. The best. However, of late, Lukas had noticed him gazing at Amelia just a little bit too often. On the one hand, Lukas couldn’t blame him—even he could see how pretty his youngest sister was—but that didn’t mean Simon was ever going to be good enough for her.

  As he should have expected, Rebecca waved off his concern. “Simon gave us some puppy food and a little collar and bed. I couldn’t carry it all home. He didn’t stay long at all.”

  “Gut.”

  “You can’t stop him from liking Amelia, you know.”

  “Sure I can.” Not willing to get into another discussion about Simon and Amelia, he switched subjects. “So, is there any reason you’re sitting out here?”

  “Nee. Well, not really.”

  “Not really?”

  “Well, I guess I wanted to get a good look at you when you got home.”

  “Because?”

  “Because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when you showed up at the Kurtz haus.” After pausing to cuddle the pup when he squirmed and shifted in her lap, she looked Lukas over. “Hmm. You look okay. I half thought you’d come back with a black eye.”

  He waved a hand over himself. “As you can see, I’ve returned unscathed.”

  She looked at him skeptically. “So Aaron didn’t have a problem with you walking Darla home?”

  “Not even a little bit,” he lied. He didn’t want Rebecca to worry about him, and he sure didn’t want to betray just how bad things were at Darla’s house.

  “What about Patsy? What did she say?”

  “Nothing much.”

  Her voice hardened. “Did she flirt with you?”

  “Becky.”

  “You know how she is, Lukas. She’s always wanted to be your girl.”

  He worked to keep his voice light because they’d been over this a dozen times during the last two years. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

  “It is, because she ain’t in love with you, Lukas. She simply wants to be a Kinsinger frau.”

  He knew what she meant. He didn’t think of it often, but his family had a lot of status in the town. For a woman like Patsy, that would trump even the suspicion that it was his family’s fault her father died on the job.

  But did he want to talk about that? Definitely not.

  “Patsy was fine. Maisie was fine, too. I didn’t see the twins.”

  “But you did see Aaron.”

  “I did, for sure.” Hoping to end the mini interrogation, he said, “We had words and then he quit.” Again, he wished he felt more comfortable sharing the complete truth with his sister, but if he told Becky that he’d fired Aaron she was going to want the whole story and he couldn’t do that to Darla. Until she was ready to be more open about her brother’s treatment of her, Lukas was going to do his best to guard her secrets. For now.

  “What?” Her reaction startled Oscar. Popping his eyes open, he whined.

  Unable to help himself, Lukas pulled the pup from Rebecca and settled him on his lap. As he gently ran two fingers along the soft white fur, Oscar yawned and stretched. Soon, he was cuddled on his side snoring softly. “He really is cute, Beck.”

  “I love him already. I know you didn’t particularly want me getting a pup right now. And while I agree that there are a hundred reasons why you were right, this little guy has claimed my heart. I’ve needed him, I think.”

  “I know.”

  “So, are you going to tell me about why Aaron up and quit?”

  “He was planning to quit anyway,” he hedged. “Remember? You told me Hope’s family wants him to farm their land.”

  “I see.” Of course, the look in her eyes said the opposite. She knew he was evading and she was going to let him. For now.

  Lukas debated the consequences of telling her the rest. Not only would she push and nag and cajole to get the rest of the story, he now realized that he had to tell somebody. The situation was too serious not to. “Becky, something’s happened with Aaron,” he said at last. “His temper seemed out of control.”

  She relaxed. “It’s probably just because you were there, Lukas. You can’t have imagined that he’d take your appearance at his house in stride.”

  He knew she had a point. But he also knew what he’d witnessed—and that he hadn’t gotten it wrong. “Nee, there was more. He yelled at Darla.”

  “She brought you to their house, Luke. I’m not surprised he yelled at her.” Looking faintly amused, Rebecca added, “You would’ve yelled at me, too. Or Levi.”

  “Darla has dark fingerprint bruises on her shoulder and the nape of her neck.”

  Rebecca stilled. “And you think they are from Aaron?”

  “I know they are. Aaron grabbed Darla two days ago.”

  Her eyes widened. “That is bad, for sure. But—”

  “I’m not wrong about this.” He swallowed and then shared the rest. “Maisie said that he takes his anger out on Darla. A lot. This wasn’t a case of him simply not knowing his strength, Rebecca. He tried to hurt her.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “Do I even want to know how you know about those bruises?” she asked quietly.

  “Probably not.”

  After seeming to weigh his response for a moment, she said, “Since I’m likely to hear about it eventually, you might as well tell me now.”

  “I made her show them to me.”

  “Lukas, you shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I didn’t have a choice. I wanted to see what they looked like.” When he noticed that she was looking scandalized, he waved a hand. “Settle down. We all used to go swimming together, remember? I didn’t undress the girl, I just asked to see her shoulder.”

  “But still
. What would Daed have said?”

  Lukas both hated and loved that Rebecca brought up their father. He had been steadfast and true. The guiding light in all their lives, especially for Rebecca. For her to bring him up made it seem like they weren’t quite so alone.

  “Daed would have said that I should have known that Darla was getting manhandled by her jerk of a brother and done something about it earlier.”

  “Daed wouldn’t have expected you to save Darla from Aaron.”

  “If Daed was around, then John Kurtz would be, too. And if John was still alive, this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Point taken.”

  “I think Daed would have been just as shocked by Aaron’s treatment of Darla as I was.”

  “You’re right.”

  Feeling the crushing weight of responsibility, along with the overwhelming desire to be the kind of man who lived up to their father’s expectations, he added, “It was all I could do to not go back and give Aaron a couple of bruises.”

  “I’m glad you did not do that.”

  “I think Darla was, too. She already wasn’t too thrilled about me witnessing his abuse.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Lukas liked that Rebecca assumed he would do something. “I’m going to start walking her home every day.”

  “Do you think that will help?”

  He shrugged. “I hope so. Now her family knows I’m back in her life. Maybe it will remind Aaron that she’s not alone and that he can’t bully her anymore. I tell you what, Becky. Darla Kurtz is done taking care of that needy family of hers and being abused and taken advantage of. Now, if they want something, they’re going to have to go through me first.”

  Amusement lit Rebecca’s eyes. “Watch out, Lukas. If you ain’t careful you’re going to reinforce everyone’s belief that there is something between you two.”

  He stopped himself before contradicting her.

  Just in case she wasn’t wrong.

  Chapter 11

  March 29

  Though only a few days had passed since he’d been fired, Aaron was coming to realize that spending the majority of each day in his own company hadn’t improved his state of mind. It was also painfully obvious that having too much time on his hands wasn’t doing him any favors.