“Hannah, come on.” Mary held out her hand.
“Can we help them look for their cat, Mamm? It ran away in the storm.”
“We’ll worry about Socks later,” the father said to his children.
“There is an animal collection station being set up at the vet clinic north of town. Your cat may be there. If it is, someone will look after it until you claim it,” Mary said.
The father gave her a tired smile. “Thanks. That’s one less worry.”
Mary returned to the cart and lifted Hannah onto the seat. Bella jumped in and lay down on the floorboards again. Ada kept the reins and clicked her tongue to get Fred moving.
They made their way toward the Wadler Inn, leaving the street in a few locations and traveling over people’s lawns to get past downed trees. When they arrived at their destination, they witnessed a beehive of activity. Buggies and carts were lined up along the street next to pickups and cars. Amish and English worked side by side carrying in supplies and donations. A large Red Cross tent was being set up down the street at the town’s small park. From here, it was easy to see most of the town remained intact, but the tornado had cut a path through the southwest end with merciless ferocity.
An Amish boy about ten years old ran up to the cart. “I’ll take care of your pony if you’re staying a spell.” He pointed toward the outskirts of town. “We’re putting them in Daniel Hershberger’s corral.”
“Danki. How did your family fare?”
“We didn’t have much damage. Just a few trees down, nothing like here. God was good to us.”
“Something good will come from all of this, too,” Ada said, stepping down and handing him the reins. “Troubles are God’s way of getting our attention. They remind us that this world is not our eternal home and our time here is not our eternal life. Tie the pony to the hitching rail, but leave him harnessed to our cart for now. We’ll need him to bring another family here.”
“Okay.” The boy did as she instructed, then crossed the street to where another Amish buggy had pulled up in front of the hardware store.
Inside the lobby of the inn, Mary and Ada found Emma Yoder and her mother, Naomi Shetler, directing the placement of supplies and sending tired first responders and volunteers up to the guest rooms for a few hours of rest. Both women looked exhausted. Emma owned and operated the inn with her husband, Adam. Naomi had worked at the inn for years until her marriage to Wooly Joe Shetler, a reclusive sheep farmer and Betsy Barkman’s grandfather.
Ada greeted each of them and said, “What can we do to help? We’ve brought water, sandwiches, cakes and extra bedding. Who needs to be fed?”
Emma swept a few stray hairs back from her forehead. “Bless you. Take the food around to the café entrance. Betsy and Lizzie are preparing lunches there. Give the bedding to Katie and Nettie. They’re upstairs. We had forty souls sleeping on the floor in here last night. There won’t be that many tonight. A lot of folks have relatives who are taking them in, but we will still have some with nowhere to go.”
“Have you room for a family of five?” Mary asked. “We passed them on our way here.”
Emma gave her a tired smile. “We’ll make room.”
“They have a newborn baby.”
“I’ll have Adam bring our son’s cradle down from the attic. Where is that man?” She turned and went in search of him.
Mary caught sight of Betsy coming in from the café. When Betsy saw her, she raced across the room and threw her arms around Mary. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You can’t know how worried I was when I heard your empty buggy had been found. I didn’t know you were safe until late last night when Ethan brought us word.”
“It was quite an adventure. I’ll have to tell you about it when we have the time.”
Betsy nodded. “That may be a while.”
She turned toward Naomi behind the front desk. “I’ve got six dozen cookies and sandwiches made along with three gallons of tea and lemonade. Shall I take it to the Red Cross tent or will we be serving people here?”
“Go check with the Red Cross and see what they want us to do. We’ll be happy to serve people here if they need us to. Hannah, I know you’d like to see your friends. The Sutter kinder are upstairs with their mother helping fold linens and sorting donations. Would you like to join them?”
Hannah looked to Mary. “May I?”
“Ja, but I don’t want you going outside. There is too much going on and too many things you could get hurt on.”
“Okay.” She darted up the stairs as fast as she could.
Ada and Mary went outside and brought in their contributions. After giving them to Naomi, Mary turned to Ada. “I’m going to go back and pick up that family.”
Ada nodded. “Goot. I will see what I can do here.”
Mary returned to the cart and retraced her way to the family without a home. They were still sitting on the steps, but the baby wasn’t crying. She stopped the pony on their lawn. “There is room for you at the inn. I can take you there now.”
The husband shook his head. “We can’t take your charity. We will manage.”
“How?” his wife asked.
He scowled at her. “I can take care of this family.”
“Please,” Mary said. “We have a place for you to stay, but we are in need of many hands to help. It will not be charity. We will put you to work.”
“This is very kind of you,” the young mother said as she got up from the stoop. She handed the baby to Mary, got in and took the baby back. The father sighed and followed. He loaded the two older children in the rear of the cart and climbed up beside his wife.
When they arrived back at the inn, Mary turned the young family over to Emma’s capable hands and went to the kitchen. Betsy was back from the Red Cross tent. She was packing sandwiches into a large box. “We are going to take half of these to the other end of the park and set up there. I’ll take this basket. You grab a box and come with me. I can’t wait another minute to hear about your adventure.”
The two women walked side by side down the street and across the park. Mary gave Betsy a carefully edited version of her time with Joshua. Although she thought she had done a good job of downplaying the incident, Betsy wasn’t satisfied.
“Tell me more about this young man. Wasn’t it scary to be alone with a stranger?”
“I wasn’t alone. I had Hannah with me. I was thinking about her, and about how to make things less frightening for her. He was, too. I wasn’t thinking about myself.”
Betsy peeked at Mary through lowered lashes. “Was he nice-looking?”
“I suppose he was. He was kind. That matters more than looks.” He had been kind. And funny. And good with Hannah. All the things she dreamed a man should be. He had appeared in time to save them and now he was gone. She’d likely never see him again. She knew it was probably for the best, but it didn’t feel that way.
“It’s too bad that he left before I had the chance to thank him for taking care of my very best friend and her daughter.”
Just then, Mary caught sight of Nick and Miriam. They were speaking to the woman in the red dress who had tried to interview her. Betsy said, “I heard that we made the national news.”
“What a sad way for our town to become famous. They tried to interview Ada and me on our way into town.”
“Did they? We’ll have to find somewhere to watch the news. Maybe you’ll be on it.”
“We can’t watch TV even if we wanted to.”
“No one from the church will object if we happened to see it at an Englisch friend’s home. Who has a television? The hardware store has one they keep on in the back.”
“No one in town has electricity, Betsy. The power is out.”
Betsey giggled. “That’s right. I forgot. We’re just used to being without it, so I didn’t not
ice. I’m sure they’ll have generators running soon. The Englisch can’t do much without electricity.”
Mary saw several members from her church setting up benches and tables. “I think that’s where we’re supposed to be.”
She put her box on the nearest table. Betsy opened her basket and began setting out plates and a platter of cookies. Mary began unpacking the sandwiches and piling them on a plastic tray.
“I didn’t think we would meet again so soon.”
Mary looked up in astonishment. Joshua stood in front of her with a plate in his hand. “Joshua! What are you still doing here? I thought you were going home?” Her heart began fluttering like a wild bird in her chest.
“Delbert took me to Samson Carter’s place, but his van is out of commission. It had a rather large tree on top of it. When I saw how much work needed to be done here, I thought I might as well stay for a few days longer. I dropped a note to my family in the mail so they won’t worry about me. Happily, the post office is in one piece.”
Flushing with pleasure at seeing him again, Mary continued setting out the sandwiches. “That’s very kind of you to stay.”
“Are you Mary’s mystery man?” Betsy regarded him across the table.
“I’m not much of a mystery.” He reached for a sandwich and a couple of cookies.
“Betsy, this is Joshua Bowman. Joshua, this is my friend Betsy Barkman.” It was silly, but it felt odd introducing him to her friend as if he were an old acquaintance. They barely knew each other.
“I’m grateful you were able to rescue Mary and Hannah. I’m so glad I have a chance to tell you that. Oh, I see Alvin over there. I need to find out how his mother is doing. She was knocked down when a tree branch slid off the roof of a house and hit her this morning.”
Betsy hurried away, but looked back with a wink for Mary before catching up with Alvin. The two of them had been dating for several years, although Betsy said she wasn’t sure he was the one.
“This must be hard for you,” Joshua said.
Mary ducked her head. How could he possibly know how confused and excited she felt when he was near? “Why would seeing you again be hard for me?”
“I meant it must be hard for you to see your community in ruins.”
She felt like a fool. “It is sad, but look how everyone is working together. Friends are helping friends. Strangers are helping strangers. It will take a lot of work, but we’ll get through this.”
“I was wondering if your grandmother’s offer of a place to stay was still open? If not, I’m sure I can find another family to put me up.”
“Ada and Hannah will be happy to have you stay.”
“And you, Mary? Will you be happy if I do?” His voice was low enough that only she could hear him.
She quickly looked down. She was excited at the prospect, but it also gave her pause. She already liked him too much. Her track record with liking and trusting the wrong men made her leery of repeating those mistakes. She chanced a glance in his direction. He was watching her with a small grin on his face that set butterflies loose in her midsection. She was trying to think how she should answer him when a group of volunteers arrived and began helping themselves to the food. Joshua moved aside. Maybe she should pretend she hadn’t heard his question.
Someone called his name. Mary saw Ethan Gingerich gesturing to him from the back of a wagon. Joshua waved to acknowledge him.
Looking at Mary, he tipped his head toward Ethan. “I need to get back to work.”
“But you haven’t finished your lunch.”
“I’ll take it with me.”
She tried for an offhand tone to make it seem as if she didn’t care where he stayed. “Our cart is at the Wadler Inn. You can find us there when you’re ready to call it a day. Unless you find someplace else you’d rather stay.”
* * *
Joshua tempered his disappointment. He could hardly expect Mary to be overjoyed about spending more time with him. He was little more than a stranger, but at least she hadn’t rescinded the invitation. That was something.
He wasn’t sure what it was about Mary, but he was drawn to her in a way he had never been drawn to another woman. Maybe it was the circumstances of their first meeting. Maybe when their lives weren’t hanging in the balance and the world wasn’t smashed beyond recognition he would be able to see her in an ordinary light and this strange attraction would fade.
Or maybe she would always be special in his eyes.
For now, he was happy he hadn’t been able to return home today. Seeing her again made the whole day brighter.
He glanced toward the command tent and found Sheriff Bradley watching him. A chill settled between Joshua’s shoulder blades. If her father learned of his record, Joshua could kiss his chances of spending time with Mary goodbye. And maybe even his freedom.
Was he being a fool to risk it?
Chapter Seven
Joshua caught sight of Mary several times during the day while he avoided being anyplace near where the sheriff happened to be working. Like many of the women, Mary manned the food stations and helped wherever she was needed. More than once, he saw her loading smashed lumber, chunks of insulation and broken Sheetrock into the waiting trucks lined up along Main Street. Late in the afternoon, he saw her with her arms full of dirty toys as she carried them toward the lost-and-found area. She worked tirelessly, as did most of the residents and volunteers who had flooded in to help the devastated town.
After a long, hard day of sorting books, cutting up trees and clearing the streets of debris so that vehicles could get through, Joshua was bone tired when he arrived at the inn for a ride to Mary’s house. He found her sorting through papers and photographs that had been brought in by the volunteers. She looked up and caught sight of him. A smile brightened her face before it quickly became blank. She looked down and resumed her work.
Every time he thought she was glad to see him, she retreated just as quickly.
He crossed the lobby, stepping around people rolled up in blankets and sleeping bags. He spied Ada sitting in a large wing-back chair by the fireplace. She was asleep. Bella lay quietly beside her. He didn’t see Hannah. When he reached Mary, he spoke quietly so as not to disturb the people trying to rest. “They told us to go home. The National Guard is locking down the town for the night soon. No one’s going to be allowed in after curfew. They are asking only residents to stay.”
“All right.” Mary brushed the back of her hand across her forehead. “The rest of this can wait. I’m sure there will be more by morning. A woman from New Philadelphia brought in a photo album and a checkbook. She said she found them in her rosebushes. That’s thirty miles from here. The checkbook belongs to Bishop Zook, but no one here knows who the photograph album belongs to.”
“There are so many people trying to protect what is left of their homes that they haven’t had time to search for missing items. We must have covered fifteen damaged houses with tarps this afternoon alone. Have you heard any more about your bishop’s condition?”
“He’s in intensive care, but he’s improving. One of his ribs punctured his spleen.”
“I’m sorry. Let us hope God speeds his healing. If you want to keep working, I’ll find a place to wait until the Guard makes us leave.”
She shook her head. “Let me tell Emma and Miriam that we’re going.”
He looked around. “Where is Hannah?”
“She is out back with Katie and her little ones. I’ll go get her and then wake Ada.”
“Does she know I’m coming home with you?”
“I told her you might. I wish we could let her nap a little while longer. I’m afraid she did too much today.”
“Maybe you can convince her to stay home with Hannah tomorrow.”
“I’ll try. Sometimes convincing Ada to do somethin
g that’s for her own good can require delicate maneuvering.”
He chuckled. “It must run in the family.”
She rolled her eyes. “If you want to be helpful, go outside and find the boy who stabled our pony.”
“Consider it done.”
Joshua found a pair of boys sitting on the curb. One of them knew which pony belonged to Ada. He left at a run and returned a few minutes later with Fred. Joshua had the pony harnessed to the cart by the time Mary came out. He helped Ada up onto the seat. She was almost too tired to make it.
“Danki, Joshua. These old bones don’t work as well as they used to. I’m glad you chose to stay with us.”
He helped Mary up next, lifted Hannah up to her and then climbed in himself. Bella wanted on the floorboard but he made her get in back. It was a tight squeeze with all of them on the bench seat, but he didn’t mind being pressed close to Mary. There was something comforting about her presence.
As he drove out of town, he was forced to stop as a police officer directed some heavy equipment across the road. A news van sat beside them on the shoulder of the road. The reporter, a man with gray hair, was speaking to the camera. “As you can see behind me, Amish families like this one have poured in to help this community in horse-drawn wagons, buggies and carts. Although very few Amish live in this town of two thousand people, it hasn’t made any difference to them. Helping their neighbor goes far beyond the confines of religion and town limits.”
Joshua ignored the camera that swung to include them. Mary and Ada turned their faces away. Hannah looked around him and waved. A woman behind the cameraman waved back. When the heavy equipment was safely over the road, they were allowed to go.
Something the reporter said stuck in Joshua’s mind as he urged Fred into a trot down the highway. Joshua glanced at Mary and Hannah sitting beside him. The man had thought they looked like a family.
* * *
It was growing dark by the time they finally reached home. Hannah had fallen asleep in Mary’s arms several miles back. Now her arm was numb from holding her daughter. Ada got down and headed for the house with lagging steps. Bella hopped out and loped toward the barn. Joshua noticed that Mary was having trouble.
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