The Heart's Journey: Stitches in Time Series #2

by Barbara Cameron

  But her face looked pasty white and perspiration dotted her forehead. She reached out her hands. “Help me up. Please.”

  Naomi and Mary Katherine looked at each other. “Maybe we shouldn’t move you.”

  “I’m fine. The only thing that hurts is my ankle. I probably twisted it a little.”

  They each took one of her arms and lifted her, but when Leah stood she winced and cried out. “Oh, my ankle! I must have sprained it.”

  “You could have broken it,” Mary Katherine told her.

  Slipping their arms around her waist, they guided her slowly back into the shop and set her carefully into a chair. Mary Katherine pulled another chair over and gently lifted Leah’s foot and placed it on the seat cushion.

  Naomi hurried to the shop telephone.

  “Who are you calling?” Leah wanted to know.

  “911.”

  “Don’t you dare!” she said. “You put that phone down now!”

  Shocked at the vehemence in her voice, Naomi did so and nearly said, “Yes, ma’am!”

  “You call Nick. Ask him to come take me to the doctor.”

  Naomi looked at Mary Katherine, who nodded. Resigned, she made the call.

  A few minutes later, he was striding into the shop. He was a handsome Englisch man, tall and dark-haired, with piercing green eyes. Although those eyes lit often with laughter as he drove them around, Naomi felt uncomfortable with the way he always seemed to be observing her—studying her.

  He was a favorite of Leah’s and she often found him visiting her grandmother, clearly enjoying her company as well as the baked goods and coffee she’d fix for him in her kitchen. Naomi often heard him asking questions about the Amish faith in a way that didn’t seem like prying or idle curiosity. The two of them seemed to enjoy discussing a passage or a person from the Bible.

  Leah looked up from supervising the application of ice on her ankle. “Well, that was quick.”

  “I happened to be in town. Aren’t you the one who’s often said there’s no such thing as coincidence?”

  She nodded, looking serious. “Ya. Well, shall we go? Naomi’s already called the doctor and he insisted we go to the hospital and get an X-ray.”

  “Could have just let me call for an ambulance,” Naomi muttered.

  “No need to pay for something like that when our Nick is around.”

  He winked at Naomi. “Let’s get you in the car, Leah.”

  Before she could say anything, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the shop door. Naomi hurried to open it.

  “Now there’s no need—” Leah began.

  “For you to fuss,” Nick finished for her. “Gets you up and out faster than helping you and hurting your ankle more.”

  He gave her one of his intense looks. “Did you hit your head when you fell? Truth, now!”

  “I’d say if I did,” she said with some tartness. Then her face softened. “Just like you to ask such a thing.”

  Naomi felt a stab of guilt. She and Mary Katherine had asked their grandmother if she was hurt anywhere besides her ankle, but neither of them had thought to ask that particular question.

  He paused at the door. “You coming?”

  She nodded. She’d already put her and Leah’s purses on the counter, along with their sweaters.

  “Don’t worry about a thing,” Mary Katherine told her grandmother as she bent to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Anna and I will take care of the shop and make the deposit.”

  “If Anna comes back.” Leah frowned.

  “She’ll be back. She just needs to walk it off,” Naomi assured her. But she couldn’t help scanning the sidewalks as Nick carried Leah to the car.

  “How’d it happen?” he asked when he settled Leah in the backseat and made sure she fastened her seat belt.

  “Just a silly accident,” she said, looking up and down the street.

  Nick turned back to start the car, and as he did, Naomi saw him glance in the rearview mirror at Leah. “Looking for someone?”

  Leah sighed. “Anna. She left the shop a little while ago.”

  “Do you want her to go with us?”

  Naomi looked over her shoulder, then met Nick’s gaze. “I don’t think we should look for her,” she said in a low voice. “Grandmother looks like she’s in a lot of pain.”

  “I heard that,” Leah spoke up from the backseat. “I’m hurt, not deaf.”

  Turning in her seat, Naomi nodded. “Sorry. But I don’t think we should wait. You’re hurting.”

  “Don’t need to tell me what I know,” Leah said tartly.

  Naomi touched Nick’s hand. “Wait just a minute, okay?”

  She scrambled out of the car and heard Leah protesting, “Now where is she going? She was the one in a big hurry to get to the hospital.”

  Mary Katherine glanced up, surprised, when Naomi ran into the shop. “What—?”

  Snatching up the ice bag that lay on the chair Leah had vacated and grabbing a set of kitchen towels that lay on a nearby display table, Naomi turned and ran back out of the shop. She opened the back door of Nick’s car and after quickly wrapping the ice bag in a towel, placed it gently on her grandmother’s injured ankle.

  She climbed back into the front seat and shut the door. “Okay,” she said to Nick. “We’re ready.”

  His mouth quirked into a grin. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Naomi surreptitiously studied him as he drove. He was so different from John. Nick was easygoing and pleasant. Well, maybe not pleasant. Not that he was unpleasant. But pleasant sounded dull—and he wasn’t dull. He had a whole bundle of stories that he’d pull out and entertain them with if prompted.

  While Nick was easygoing, he didn’t have that same charm that John possessed, which had been one of the reasons she’d fallen in love with him … and which now worried her. It hadn’t taken long for her to realize that instead of being charmed, she’d started to feel manipulated.

  On the seat, she felt a hand on hers—and realized that Nick was patting it. “Stop worrying. She’s going to be okay. We’ll be there soon.”

  He’d mistaken her silence—and no doubt, her frown—for anxiety. She nodded, not knowing what to say. He wasn’t a person in whom she should be confiding her growing doubt about her engagement.

  She knew he wasn’t married. Her grandmother had mentioned that once in passing. He never talked about a girlfriend, and she wondered about that because he talked so easily about other areas of his life: his travels, the books he’d read, all sorts of things. Lately he’d taken up running, and it was a change from the relatively sedentary driving he did for the Amish and tourists each day.

  The hospital came into view. He pulled up at the emergency room entrance. While Naomi went to get a wheelchair, he helped Leah out.

  When Naomi returned, he helped Leah into the chair. But when Naomi started to reach into her purse for money, he held his hands up. “No charge,” he said. “Listen, I’ll go park the van and sit with you while Leah’s seen.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” he said. “Besides, I don’t have any other jobs this afternoon so I might as well wait for you. I’m sure they’ll send Leah home after they X-ray her ankle and wrap it or cast it or whatever.”

  A car horn honked. A driver was motioning for him to move his vehicle so he could pull closer and let someone out.

  “Let me help you with her chair.”

  “No, go, go!” she said, waving her hands. “Those people could have an emergency.”

  She pushed the wheelchair toward the magic doors—she always called them that because they were the kind that opened on some mysterious signal. She always thought a person didn’t need such, but today she was grateful she didn’t have to try to open the doors and maneuver the chair inside at the same time.

  The waiting room was filled. Naomi sighed. They were in for a long wait. She sat filling out paperwork, thankful that she’d remembered the ice pack, as her grandmother sa
t there, her face etched with pain.

  Finally finished with the paperwork, Naomi carried it over to the clerk.

  “I need your driver’s license and one other form of identification,” the woman said, not looking up.

  Naomi stood there, waiting, and the clerk looked up, frowning, until she saw who was standing before her.

  “Here’s my grandmother’s identification. No driver’s license,” she said with a slight smile.

  She handed it over and watched as the clerk photocopied it before handing it back.

  When she returned to her grandmother, Nick was sitting there, saying something that made her smile.

  It was an unusual friendship, she thought, watching them as the clerk looked over her grandmother’s paperwork—an Englisch driver and an older Amish woman.

  When it came time for Leah to be seen, she refused Naomi’s offer to accompany her. So Naomi moved to take a seat beside Nick.

  But it was empty. She shrugged. Maybe he’d decided to leave after all. It wasn’t as if she and her grandmother hadn’t insisted. Vaguely disappointed, she took a seat and waited.

  Nick appeared before her a few minutes later, holding a cup of coffee for each of them.

  She blinked and took the cup from him. “I thought you’d gone.”

  “I told you that I’m not leaving until we can take Leah home.”

  Naomi bit her lip and glanced at the door where Leah had disappeared with a nurse.

  “She’ll be okay,” he told her quietly. “She didn’t seem to have any injuries other than the ankle. But even if she had, she’s a strong woman.”

  She found herself lapsing into thought again. Leah was strong, like Nick said.

  A lot stronger than she was. Her grandmother wouldn’t be acting weak like she was right now, staying with someone she knew wasn’t right for her. Leah wouldn’t have fallen for someone like that in the first place. She was too smart. Too confident. Even when she’d lost her husband and the years passed, she never let anyone know she was lonely—even when it was easy to see the loneliness, the sadness in her eyes when she thought no one was watching. She’d never fallen in love with someone who charmed her.

  And Leah would surely never let anyone pressure her into thinking she needed to have another mann to be a complete woman.

  No one had pressured Naomi into becoming engaged. But so many of her friends from school had already married and had children by now. They’d given up their jobs while they took care of their young children and appeared so content they—

  “Look who’s here,” Nick muttered, interrupting her thoughts.

  Naomi glanced up and saw John striding toward her.

  “When did you call him?”

  “I didn’t,” she muttered. “He just … finds me.”

  Nick stood, but John barely acknowledged him.

  “What’s taking so long?” John asked, taking off his hat and impatiently tapping it against his knee.

  Not, Is she okay? Are you okay? Naomi noted, then chided herself for being critical. After all, she was sitting here wishing they’d hurry up.

  But that was because she was nervous having someone she loved behind a closed door. She needed to see that her grandmother was okay.

  Just at that moment, a nurse stuck her head out the door and gestured to Naomi. She got up and hurried over.

  “The doctor wants to talk to you.” She looked up, over Naomi’s shoulder. “You’ll have to wait here.”

  Naomi glanced at John and saw that he was frowning at the woman. “But—”

  “Sorry, sir,” the nurse said briskly, already turning away. “Miss, come with me.”

  Leah was sitting on a gurney, listening intently to the young doctor pointing out something on her X-ray.

  “How do you do,” he said, holding out his hand and pumping Naomi’s enthusiastically. “I was just explaining to Mrs. —”

  “Leah,” she inserted.

  “Leah,” he said, returning his attention to the X-ray. “I was just pointing out to Leah here that it doesn’t look like anything’s broken, but she’s got a nasty sprain.”

  He looked at Naomi. “I have a question for you. I understand you’re Leah’s granddaughter. Tell me, how is she about listening to what a doctor asks her to do? How is she about bed rest?”

  Naomi’s mouth quirked. “Well, I don’t remember her ever being hurt like this. And she’s never sick. But she can’t sit still for two minutes.”

  Leah sniffed. The doctor laughed.

  “I suspected so. My mother doesn’t sit still, either. I don’t think any of them do.”

  “Well, I’m a grandmother, but thank you, young man,” Leah told him.

  The doctor raised his eyebrows, then turned to the X-ray. “I think it’s a bad sprain. I don’t see any fracture.” He handed her a printout. “Follow these directions and call your own doctor for a follow-up appointment.”

  Naomi helped her into the wheelchair and wheeled her to the checkout window.

  “This is ridiculous,” Leah muttered as she read the sheet in her hands. “I can’t stay off my feet this long. I have a shop to run, a house to take care of.”

  “We can take care of everything,” Naomi told her. “Let’s just get you home.”

  “Nick! You stayed!” Leah exclaimed.

  He walked toward them. “I told you I would. I’ll go get the van and pick the two of you up at the door.”

  “I can take them home,” John told them.

  “Hello, John,” Leah said quietly. “I didn’t know you were here.”

  “Mary Katherine told me where she was when I went by the shop.”

  “Do you have your buggy outside?” Nick asked him.

  “No, a friend dropped me off. I can call a driver.”

  “One’s already here,” Leah said quietly but firmly. “Nick stayed to take us home, so I’d like him to do so.”

  She turned to Naomi. “Let’s go. I can’t wait to get my ankle up.”

  “When will I see you?” John asked, putting his hand on Naomi’s arm as she began pushing the wheelchair toward the door.

  She stiffened and glanced down at his hand, then into his eyes. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to take care of Grandmother tonight so it’ll have to be another time.”

  “But—” He sighed and dropped his hand. “Of course.”

  “If you need a ride home, I can drop you off on the way,” Nick told him as they started walking toward the exit.

  “Danki,” John said.

  But Naomi noticed he didn’t look very happy about it. Nick pulled the van up to the ER entrance and they piled in—Naomi and Leah in the back, John riding shotgun with Nick.

  Leah allowed herself to be persuaded to turn sideways on the backseat and rest her ankle on Naomi’s lap. A nurse had filled a plastic bag with ice, wrapped it in a towel, and sent it with them for the ride. Naomi held it in place as they rode.

  “How’s the pain?”

  “I’ll live,” Leah said, managing a smile.

  But Naomi saw the pain in her eyes and squeezed her hand to comfort her.

  When she glanced up, she saw Nick give her a brief glance in the rearview mirror. Just as she met his gaze, John looked back at her and saw her looking at Nick, and something in his eyes flashed, an expression she recognized: anger.

  Nothing was said, but it didn’t have to be. Naomi was sure the look lasted only a moment. It felt like minutes. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding when he turned back in his seat.

  She felt her hand being squeezed and realized that her grandmother was sending her a silent message.

  Nick slowed the car, flicked on the turn signal, and pulled into the parking lot of a drugstore. After he stopped the car, he turned in his seat. “Give me the prescription and I’ll run in and get it filled.”

  “There’s no need,” Leah told him.

  He held out his hand. “Trust me, you’re going to need it later. These things always feel worse in the middle
of the night. I ran track in college and had my share of injuries. Now hand it over.”

  With a sigh, Leah pulled the prescription from her purse and handed it to him with a twenty.

  He got out, ran through a drizzle that had begun to fall, and disappeared into the drugstore.

  Naomi watched John stare in the direction Nick had gone. It was so quiet in the car you could hear a pin drop.

  “An ice bag,” Leah said suddenly. “And some Epsom salts to soak my ankle tomorrow.”

  She winced as she moved her foot from Naomi’s lap and rested it on the floorboard of the car. Reaching into her purse, she withdrew another twenty and pressed it into Naomi’s hand.

  “Will you go get that for me?”

  John turned in the front seat. “I can go.”

  “No, danki, young man,” Leah told him. “Naomi knows what I need.” She made a shooing motion with her hands at Naomi.

  Then she turned to John and smiled a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Besides, you and I haven’t had much opportunity to talk and get to know each other, have we, young man?”

  Naomi glanced back as she got out of the van. John gave her a beseeching look. Biting back a smile, she closed the van door and started toward the drugstore entrance.

  “She looks depressed.”

  “I know.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  Naomi motioned with her hand for Mary Katherine and Anna to move back so she could close the door to the cozy little back room of the shop.

  “She’s been that way ever since she got the postcard this morning,” Naomi said as she filled the teakettle and set it on the stove to boil.

  “Postcard?” Anna asked as she dug into the cookie jar.

  “From Florida,” Mary Katherine told her, taking the cookie jar away. “Save some of these for other people.”

  “But you’re not eating them,” Anna protested.

  “Some of us have self-restraint.”

  Anna made a face at Mary Katherine as she got out mugs and set them on the table.

  “She won’t stay home and when she’s here all she does is stare out the window. We have to do something.” She sighed. “She wouldn’t have had her accident if she hadn’t been rushing after me that day. All this because I needed to get away for a few minutes and calm down.” She sighed again.