“Will she know how to get home?” Annie asked. “I understand you haven’t been here long.”
“Don’t worry about her. You’ll discover soon enough that Leah is a dramatic child. Don’t believe everything she says. I thought she would be better after we moved, but she’s not.” Eva met Annie’s eye for the first time. “I understand you live in town. That’s a strange thing for a baptized Amish woman to do.”
Annie held her lips closed. She was not about to explain her relationship with Rufus to a woman she had just met. Annie hoped her days of living in town were numbered, but she could not say so with certainty. Yet.
The Deitwallers pulled out onto the highway, leaving Annie befuddled in the parking lot. She was not a parent, and she had only had one brief conversation with Leah Deitwaller, but to her analytical mind, the data did not add up to the girl’s parents being so unconcerned about her welfare.
Five
Rufus sat on the wooden chair in the small office at the back of the Amish furniture store in Colorado Springs. Tom would soon be back from visiting his mother, and Rufus was not sure he would be able to hide the disappointment he felt from his friend during the seventy-five miles of highway between the Springs and Westcliffe.
“I’m sorry, Rufus. I wish the news were better.” David, the store owner, rolled his pen between his palms. “I’m going to try some new advertising, but right now sales are slumping. I don’t have any custom orders for you.”
Rufus gave a small shrug. “Usually you like to have some pieces on the floor to stay ahead of demand.”
“I know. But I still have two chests, three end tables, and a bookcase from you.”
“I see.” Rufus’s stomach sank.
“You know I think you do beautiful work,” David said. “I just cannot afford to buy anything right now.”
Rufus stood. “I hope you will let me know if business picks up.”
“You will be the first to know.” David scratched under his nose. “If you wanted to make a few pieces to sell strictly on commission, I could make room on the floor.”
Commission. Meaning David would pay Rufus nothing unless and until a piece sold. If David’s assessment was accurate, that could take months. “I’ll give that some thought.”
Rufus walked through the store and out into the sunlight to wait for Tom. When Tom pulled up a few minutes later and Rufus got in the truck, Tom leaned on the steering wheel and looked expectant.
“What’s wrong?”
Rufus shook his head. “No new orders. He doesn’t know how long it will be.”
“You were selling quite a bit over the summer, weren’t you?” Tom pulled the truck out of the parking lot and onto a major north–south thoroughfare through Colorado Springs heading south.
“David has given me steady work for nearly a year. It could not last forever.”
“Surely it’s not over. Just a lull?”
“I hope so.” Rufus removed his hat and laid his head back against the headrest.
“I’ll keep my eyes open,” Tom said. “Maybe I’ll hear of something.”
“I’d appreciate that. In the meantime, I’ve got to wipe this gloom off my face. If you knew something was wrong, Annalise is certain to.”
Rufus reined in Dolly in front of Annalise’s house. The narrow green house showed its century-old age, but at least Annalise had let him pour her a new sidewalk. He no longer worried about her falling on winter ice every time he saw the walk.
She had not spoken the words aloud, even as he spent an entire Saturday repairing the concrete, but he knew she hoped she would not be in this house for another winter. Annalise wanted to be with Rufus before winter turned fierce. Every time he thought about that truth, pain clenched his chest.
He wanted Annalise. That was not the trouble. But the questions were not so easily answered.
Annalise did not have a proper post for tying up a horse, but Rufus had long ago stopped fretting about leaving Dolly untied in front of the house. She would be content to nuzzle the ground whether or not she found anything to munch on. Besides, Rufus was only going as far as the front door. He was there to pick up Annalise and take her to the Beiler home for supper.
She opened the front door with a vivid smile even before he knocked. That happened often. Her ears were programmed to hear Dolly’s clip-clop half a mile away, Annalise claimed. In Rufus’s vocabulary, program was not a verb. The Amish did not program anything. But Annalise had spent too many years designing software not to think in the vocabulary of her former business success.
“Ready?” Rufus met her gray eyes and drank in the welcome he saw there.
She pulled the front door closed behind her. “I’d like to make a detour if you’re agreeable.”
“Of course. Where to?”
She spread her arms wide. “Anywhere. I want you to teach me to drive a buggy.”
One corner of Rufus’s mouth went up.
“You know I’m ready. I’ve watched you with the bridle and harness a hundred times. I’ve listened to the noises you make and how Dolly responds. I know how it works.”
Rufus’s mother and all of his sisters had learned to drive the buggy. Most Amish women did. Annalise’s request was not outlandish.
“You are suggesting that we begin now?” he said.
“Why not? We have time, don’t we? I won’t ask you to take me on the highway in the first lesson. We can stay on the streets here in town where Dolly won’t be tempted to go too fast. And you’ll be right there.”
Rufus chuckled. “You’ve thought this through.”
“That’s what I do when I face a challenge. I analyze and think it through.”
“Let’s do it, then.”
Annalise scooted ahead of him down the walk to greet Dolly before accepting Rufus’s help up onto the bench. She did not need his help. Learning to accept it anyway had taken her a long time.
She picked up the reins. “I hold them this way, right?”
He covered her hands with his to adjust her position slightly and felt only confidence in the way her fingers curved and gripped.
“Look for traffic,” he said.
Annalise laughed. “I drove a car for twelve years, remember? I have not completely lost my instincts.”
“Then let’s try a turn at the corner so we can stay off Main Street.”
He watched as Annalise sucked in both lips and kept one hand beside her wrist in case he should have to take over the reins. Perhaps they should have begun with a horse-riding lesson so Annalise could feel in her body how the horse would move. He had to admit, though, that she negotiated the first turn surprisingly well.
He chided himself. It should not have surprised him. Annalise excelled at everything she put her hand to. Why should driving a buggy be any different?
She made several right turns to take them in a large square around town, bisecting Main Street twice without turning onto it. Satisfaction took on a glow in her face when she announced she was ready to try some left turns.
“Have they discovered anything more about the fire?” Annalise asked.
Though she was doing well, Rufus remained vigilant. “About what started it, no. I get the feeling they suspect arson.”
“But why?”
He shook his head. “There is no clear motive, as the English like to say.”
“And the cabinets?”
He hesitated to answer. “Well, it turns out they belonged to me after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because the contractor had not done the final inspection and approval, he had not yet assumed the risk. In the legal sense. That is what they tell me, anyway.”
“But that’s not fair. The Amish do not carry insurance. Will Karl really be that unfair to you?”
“It’s not Karl.” He guided her wrist again, even though she did not need the help. “It’s a legal point, and an insurance coverage issue.”
“So you won’t be paid the final portion?”
&n
bsp; He shook his head, not wanting to speak his thoughts. It had been a big job, with cabinets in the kitchen, family room, and master bedroom. He had been counting on the final one-third of his fee, due upon final approval.
His family expected him to propose. The Amish way was to quietly have the banns read one Sunday. Even the bishop was expecting to hear from Rufus any day now.
It would all have to wait. Gottes wille. God’s will.
“Watch out!” Rufus pulled on the reins.
Annie wrenched the reins, her hands entangled with Rufus’s. Adrenaline pumped as Dolly halted on swift command and the buggy lurched forward in a moment’s delay.
Leah Deitwaller had stepped into the street, her head down, something folded in her apron, oblivious to the danger.
“Something is not right with that girl.” Annie made sure Rufus had a tight hold on the reins and slid off the bench. “Leah?”
The girl looked up.
“Are you all right?”
“Of course.”
“I hope you made it home safely yesterday.” Even as Annie spoke, she doubted. Though Leah’s kapp was in place, the smudge on the left side was obvious. Dirt crusted the hem of her skirt.
“If you mean that farm where my parents live, no, I have not been there since yesterday morning.” Leah cocked her head in an I-dare-you position, chin forward.
Whatever the dare was, Annie was not going to accept it. “We could take you.”
“If I wanted to go there, I would.”
“I see.” Annie had not been a particularly rebellious teenager, but she had had her moments when she preferred that her parents not know where she was.
The bundle in Leah’s apron moved, causing Annie to start.
“It’s a kitten,” Leah said. “I found him yesterday, and I’m going to keep him.”
“He’ll probably be helpful if your parents get mice in the barn.” Annie stepped forward. The kitten looked awfully young.
“He’s not a barn cat. He’s going to be my cat.”
More than twenty-four hours had passed since Annie encountered the Deitwallers at the edge of the grocery store parking lot.
“Where did you sleep last night?” Annie asked.
Leah raised her head with a sigh and stared at Annie. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“I’m concerned.”
“You only joined the church two days ago. I was there. This is not really your business.”
“You were the one asking me questions on Sunday. Maybe you need a friend.”
“I don’t need a friend who believes my parents understand anything about me.”
Annie felt Rufus beside her now, his light touch on her back. “I don’t really know your parents,” Annie said.
“I would not bother, if I were you.”
“Then maybe you and I could talk, just the two of us.”
“I tried talking to you on Sunday.”
“Maybe we should try again.”
“Maybe. But not now.”
Leah brought the kitten to her cheek, pivoted, and strode toward Main Street. Annie started to go after her, but Rufus grabbed her hand.
“Let her go.”
“She’s in trouble,” Annalise said.
“Clearly.” Rufus gripped her hand. “I know you want to help, to fix whatever is wrong, but you might make things worse.”
“How could they be worse?” Annalise pulled her hand out of his. “Have you spoken with her parents? I ran into them yesterday. They were not the least bit concerned about the fact that she was missing. Obviously she has not been home.”
“She is not a child.”
“I beg to differ.”
“She looks to me to be at least sixteen.”
“Seventeen. She told me yesterday over lunch.”
“Same age as Joel, and we consider him grown.”
“There’s seventeen, and then there’s seventeen. I don’t think you can compare Leah to Joel.”
“She doesn’t want your help.” Rufus held her hand again, squeezing enough to make sure she knew he had no intention of letting go.
“She reached out to me on Sunday. She’s unhappy about her family’s move.”
“That was her parents’ decision. She’ll have to sort it out with them.”
“They don’t care. They just drove off without her yesterday. She needs someone to care about her.”
Rufus led Annalise back toward the buggy. “It did not sound as if she is ready for that.”
“Maybe because she does not expect it,” Annalise countered. “Can’t you see that?”
He nodded. “I see plenty. I see your beautiful heart. And I see her resistance.”
“Where do you suppose she’s been?” Annalise relented and climbed up to the bench.
Rufus released the brake. “My guess is she was used to the run of the farm in Pennsylvania.”
“She’s miles away from her family’s farm now. Where was she? Where did she get that kitten, for instance?”
“Stray cats have kittens all the time, and there are any number of empty structures outlying Westcliffe.” He paused. “Or in Westcliffe. I wonder where she was yesterday morning when the fire broke out?”
“In church. I talked to her myself.”
“No.” Rufus slowly picked up the reins as he watched Leah turn out of sight. “You talked to her over a crowded, lengthy meal. Can you be certain she was there during the service?”
Annalise turned sideways in the bench and stared, her jaw going slack. “What are you saying, Rufus?”
“I am not saying anything. I am asking questions. It is one of your favorite activities, is it not?”
“This isn’t a game.” Annalise crossed her arms. “What possible reason would an Amish teenage girl have for starting a fire in an English house?”
“I did not say I had all the answers.”
Ruth turned up as well for supper on Tuesday night. Annie spotted her as she walked down the long Beiler driveway. She must have parked the Prius up near the road, under the trees, where she would not flaunt it in her mother’s face. With eight-year-old Jacob trailing at her side, Annie moseyed up the drive to meet her friend.
“I didn’t know you were coming!” Jacob threw himself against his sister’s form.
Annie knew what that little boy hug felt like. She loved it.
“Mamm asked me on Sunday to come.” Ruth picked up the boy under his shoulders and spun him around. “I came straight from work, after I changed my clothes.”
“I love it when the whole family is here.” Jacob dashed off to the chicken coop.
“We all feel that way, you know,” Ruth said to Annie. “You’re one of the family.”
Annie flicked her eyes in Ruth’s direction. “You know I love your family. Every single one of you.”
“But not in exactly the same way.” Ruth stuck her tongue in one cheek.
Annie kicked a stone. “No, I suppose not.”
“So when will the wedding be?”
“I don’t know.”
“Haven’t you and Rufus talked about it?”
“Not since the summer. We agreed I needed to be baptized before we could be serious. It seemed better to just leave the topic alone for a while.”
“And now you’re baptized.”
“Two whole days.” They progressed toward the house.
“And he hasn’t said a word?”
Annie shook her head. “It’s okay if he needs some time.”
“Time? Why would he need time? It’s not as if he did not see this coming.”
“It’s all right, Ruth.”
“You could ask him. Couples talk about these things together.”
“I don’t think so. It’s better if I wait.”
Ruth reached out with an arm to squeeze Annie’s shoulder. “You know you’re my sister, whatever happens.”
Annie nodded.
“I never thought I would be living with you before Rufus was. He doesn’t know what he’s mi
ssing.”
The front door opened, and Sophie stepped out. “Dinner’s almost on the table.”
Ruth leaned her head in toward Annie’s. “Maybe tonight will be the night.”
Six
May 1892
Joseph Beiler ran his thumb and forefinger along the brim of his black felt hat on the right side.
“You’ve been doing that since you were nine years old.” Zeke Berkey leaned forward, his jaw thrust toward Joseph and his eyes wide green circles.
Joseph dropped his hand. If anyone knew his old habits, it would be the man who had been his friend for all of his twenty-five years. “I do not know why the bishop sent me on this expedition. He should have let your brother come with you.”
“He is too young, and the bishop knows he’s a wanderer.”
“So are you.” Joseph met Zeke’s gaze.
Zeke nodded. “That is why you’re here. And because you communicate exceptionally well in English.”
Joseph looked down the main street of Gassville, Arkansas, then glanced at his and Zeke’s horses tied to a post twenty feet away. “Maybe we should not have stopped here. We need land for a new settlement, not a town.”
“A town helps.” Zeke stood with shoulders back and chest high. “A new settlement needs something to attract settlers. If they know they can get on a train to visit their families in Pennsylvania or Ohio, that will make it easier to settle in Arkansas.”
Joseph turned his head both directions to survey the town. “I do not see a depot.”
“Must you always be so serious?” Zeke elbowed him. “We will investigate. It may even be fun.”
“The bishop gave us a serious mission.”
“He did not say we should never smile while we carry out his instructions.”
Joseph flashed Zeke a half smirk.
“Now that’s better,” Zeke said. “We at least need to see what this town has to offer in the way of supplies. And the horses could do with a day or two of rest.”
Joseph mightily resisted the urge to finger his hat. After journeying from central Tennessee to north central Arkansas, he could do with a day or two of rest himself.
Taken for English Page 4