“I can always adopt her,” he laughed at his brother and picked up the check. It was his turn. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Yeah, do that. And remember, we’re supposed to marry women like our mothers.” It was exactly what Paul had done, to a frightening degree.
“I’ve been trying not to do that for the past thirty-six years,” Bob said in a rare moment of total honesty with his brother. “I don’t think that would work for me.”
“Amish might be a little extreme,” Paul said as they left the restaurant. “Have fun at the dairy farm,” he said with a rueful grin as they parted, and Bob walked back to his office, lost in thought. He could hardly wait to meet Lillibet on Friday. He had a strange feeling it was going to be extraordinary. He already felt as though he knew her. And her voice in the book was so strong. He wondered if you could actually fall in love with someone from reading their work. Maybe it was possible. Stranger things had happened.
Chapter 16
On Friday morning, Markus woke with a bad cold. Lillibet brought him some of the herbal medicine she made, and a cup of tea with honey, and made him stay in bed. She sent Josiah to do the chores and helped him milk the cows, and she noticed with dismay that they were falling behind and it was getting late. Willy had left with their father at the crack of dawn. She helped Josiah put the milk containers in the buggy. And then as though she’d just thought of it, she told him she’d go with him.
“I can go by myself,” he said, looking annoyed to go with his big sister again.
“So can I,” she suggested, “if you’d rather stay here with Markus.” He looked suddenly intrigued by the idea. He got tired of going to the dairy every day. He liked the prospect of a day off, to stay at the house and play. “I don’t mind going. I went alone when you had chicken pox, and I was fine. Papa won’t mind.”
“Okay,” he said, hopping down and grinning at her. He scampered off without looking back, and she silently thanked her mother, for making it all work. She had worn a fresh black dress and clean pale blue apron and her black bonnet. She didn’t dare wear her best Sunday dress for fear someone would notice. She gave the horse the reins and trotted off toward the dairy at nearly eleven, with her heart pounding all the way. She kept the horse at a good pace and was there in fifteen minutes. She saw Joe Lattimer talking to a tall man with dark hair, in a navy jacket and khaki slacks. They both watched her as she reined in the horse, and she hopped down, motioning to the boys at the dairy to take the milk cans out of the back. She walked toward the two men, and she knew it wasn’t possible, but she had the strong sense that she had seen the man in the blue jacket somewhere before, and he was looking at her intently and smiling as she walked toward him. She didn’t even feel shy—when she reached them, she felt like she was meeting a friend.
“Miss Petersen,” he said, holding out a hand to shake hers, and she took it in her own, as their eyes met. Hers were huge and green in her honey-colored face, and her blond hair was peeking out from under her bonnet. “Lillibet,” he said as though he knew her, and she smiled.
“Mr. Bellagio, hello. Thank you for coming. I’m sorry to be late. We had a busy morning.”
“You came alone,” Joe Lattimer said with a look of surprise.
“Markus is sick, and Josiah decided he’d rather stay home and play. I was lucky.” She looked relieved. “And my father is having lunch at my older brother’s farm today. It worked out perfectly.” Joe left them then, and she followed Bob to the bench where she had found the book that had his address in it. And nearly two months later, they were sitting on the bench together. It was like a dream.
He was looking at her, stunned by how young she was, and how lively. She had a determined step in her laced-up black boots, and fire in her eyes. She was different than he had expected. She was younger and prettier and not quite as shy. They talked about her book for a few minutes, and he could see her relax slowly, and she looked mischievous as she peeked at him around her bonnet, and then she untied the ribbons and took it off, and he was struck by how beautiful her hair was.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t do that. But it’s so hot today.” Her hair looked like spun gold, as she smiled into his eyes. She was everything he had hoped she’d be and more, and she seemed fascinated by him too. “I don’t meet many English,” she said softly after a few minutes. “That’s what we call people who aren’t Amish. Except Mr. Lattimer and the police when my mother died. I very seldom leave our farm.”
“Yes, I know.” He was listening to the timbre of her voice and knew he had heard it before. He had no idea where, but he had the same impression he’d had on the phone. That they had met somewhere, although it wasn’t possible. She was an enchanting creature, and the clothes she wore suited her. She looked like a doll from another century. “Would you like to see the contract?” he asked, getting down to business, and she nodded. He explained it to her in detail, and it was very straightforward. They were offering to pay her a twenty-five-thousand-dollar advance, and a fifteen percent royalty, which he said was reasonable for a first book by an unknown author. It sounded like a fortune to her. He had brought the check with him in case she signed. And he held it out to her. She stared at it in amazement.
“What will I do with all that money?” she whispered.
“Put it in the bank, I hope,” he said with a smile. It was touching sharing the moment with her. She had been catapulted into this century, and he was there to lead her through it. He had the same feeling of wanting to protect her that he had had after reading her book. She was so brand new and vulnerable, and yet so strong and wise at the same time. She was an odd combination of gentle and brave, old and new.
“I don’t have a bank account,” she said to him, and he nodded. It didn’t surprise him.
“We could open one for you, here in Lancaster. So you’d have the money at your disposal. I’m sure Mr. Lattimer could tell us where to go.” She nodded. It sounded like a good idea to her. He handed her a pen then, and she signed the contract and handed it back to him. There were two copies, and he gave one to her. It was the simplest deal he’d ever made for the best book he’d ever bought.
“Thank you,” she said softly, as she gave him his pen back and put her copy of the contract in her pocket with the check.
“You’ll have to do a little editing. One of our editors is looking at it now. I can help you with that, if you like. I could come back here, or you could come to New York.” Her eyes flew open wide as he said that.
“How would I do that?”
“Would you like me to speak to your father, Lillibet?”
“No. I’ll have to speak to him first. He’ll be very angry about the book. And he won’t want me to go to New York. I have to find the right time to tell him and explain it to him. I don’t want to be shunned.” She sounded very serious as she said it, and she looked scared.
“Shunned?”
“We have something called the Ordnung, which tells us all the rules. The elders decide what they are. And if you do something very bad, they can send you away, and you can’t come back again. I don’t want that to happen. I want to live here.” And then she looked at him with a twinkle in her eye, and her soft halo of blond hair around her face. “But I would like to see New York. Perhaps Papa would let me one day, if he understands that I have not said anything wrong in the book.”
“You didn’t,” Bob reassured her. “You wrote a beautiful book.” He was certain of that, and he wanted this to go right for her. He couldn’t imagine the elders of her community shunning her or sending her away. And what would become of her if they did? She would be lost in the modern world. “We would handle everything for you in New York if you come up. I can send a car to pick you up here. And I would take care of you in New York myself.” She nodded. She was sure he would, and she could see that he was a nice person and a good man. Explaining it to her father and making him understand would be the hard part.
And as he looked at her, Bob remembered about
the bank.
“Would you like to go now? We could deposit the check today.” That way if anything happened, she would have money to draw on. At least she would have that.
“Do you suppose we could?” She looked intrigued.
They walked to Joe Lattimer’s office, and he suggested they go to a different bank than her father’s. He said there was one two miles away, and he told Bob where it was.
“I could drive you,” Bob offered. “We’d be back here in a few minutes.” She looked at him and nodded and followed him outside. He had left his car parked under a tree, and she looked at it and then at him.
“I’ve never been in a car before,” she said quietly.
“I promise, I’ll bring you back as soon as we deposit the check.” She had no idea why, but she trusted him completely. She nodded, and he opened the car door for her, and she got in. He told her how to fasten the seat belt, and she started to giggle when he turned the key in the ignition and they drove away. Bob glanced at her, and he started to laugh too.
“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” she said, and couldn’t stop laughing, and he was glad she wasn’t afraid. She looked like she was having a good time, and so was he.
They found the bank easily and he parked in front as she looked at everyone with fascination, and he waited for her to open the door and get out, but she didn’t. She just looked at him. “I don’t know what you do now,” she said, mystified by how everything worked. He smiled again and leaned over her to open the door for her. It was like landing on another planet with her.
“Now you get out,” he said simply. “You undo the seat belt first.” He showed her how. Then they walked into the bank together, as though it were perfectly normal. The tall man in the blazer and slacks and the Amish girl. He helped her through the process. And fortunately they were used to Amish customers. With Bob as guarantor, the bank manager signed off on her not having a driver’s license or ID and said they would apply for a Social Security number for her. They opened a simple checking account and said they would change it into a savings account later, if she wished. It took them ten minutes to open the account in her name and deposit the check. They gave her a book of temporary checks and told her they would send the permanent ones in the mail, and she gave them the dairy address.
“My father would have a heart attack if they came to the house,” she explained to Bob in a whisper.
“Yes, I think that’s correct,” he agreed. Five minutes later they were back outside the bank, and she noticed an ice-cream store down the street. She looked at Bob with the same childlike expression she’d had when she first met him. It was confusing being with her. One minute she was a child, and the next a woman.
“Can I write a check for an ice-cream cone?” she asked him seriously. The woman at the bank had explained to her how they worked.
“You could, but it’s not necessary. I would be happy to treat you, as a celebration of our new contract.”
“That would be very nice of you,” she said, and followed him to the ice-cream store, where she ordered a cone with one scoop of chocolate and another of banana ice cream. And he had a double scoop of rocky road. They walked out of the store together, eating their ice cream, and wandered slowly back to the car. She was a woman with a bank account now, twenty-five thousand dollars in it, and a book contract. She had grown up in about five minutes.
“I would get in a lot of trouble for this,” she explained on the way back. But he had figured that out all by himself. “Riding in a car with you. The contract, the book, the money. Maybe even the ice cream.”
“I think they might let you off the hook for the ice cream—the rest I’m not so sure,” he said as he drove her back to the dairy, and he was worried about her. “Will you be all right, Lillibet? I don’t want you to get into trouble.”
“I don’t either,” she said, finishing the last of her ice-cream cone. “I think I can handle it. I’m not going to tell anyone for a while. And my mother will protect me.” She looked at him with sad, serious eyes, and she felt as though they had been friends for a long time, and she sensed that he would protect her too.
“You have my phone numbers. I want you to call me if anything happens. Just go to the dairy and have someone call me. I can drive down here anytime if you need me. You didn’t do anything wrong today. You did something wonderful. You wrote a very, very good book. And it’s going to be published.”
“I wish I could tell my mother about it. But she knows. She helped me find you, and made all of this happen,” Lillibet said seriously as they pulled up at the dairy, and he turned off the car. “I wanted you to publish my book. That’s why I sent it to you.”
“And I was meant to find you. I know that too. Things happen the way they’re supposed to.” She nodded and got out of the car herself this time. She was looking seriously at him, as he stood next to her.
“Thank you for everything,” she said, and he walked her back to her buggy.
“I’ll let you know when we’re ready to do the editing.” Her book was coming out in a year, so there was time. He wished he could call her directly, but he knew he couldn’t. “I’ll send you an e-mail at Lattimer’s. Call me if you need me,” he said again, and she nodded and got into her buggy and picked up the reins. And then she leaned over gently and kissed his cheek, like a child.
“Thank you. I had a very good time.” She smiled at him. She had put her bonnet back on by then, and he could see her big green eyes peeking at him, and her fuzz of pale blond hair. He thought his heart would break as she drove away, and he wanted to run after her. But she was disappearing back into her world, to another century where he couldn’t follow her. She looked over her shoulder at him and waved as the buggy turned, and then she vanished from view, and he went to thank Joe Lattimer and tell him he was leaving.
“She’s a nice girl,” Lattimer said, looking at him wistfully. “I knew a girl who looked like her a long time ago. Lillibet is courageous to do this. It won’t be easy for her with her father.” They both knew that, but sometimes things turned out right, and this had. Joe was glad for her. Bob looked like an honest man to him. “The Amish are very decent people.” Bob nodded, still too overwhelmed by her to know what to say. And he knew he had just bought the best book of his career. It would be a blessing for them both.
“How tough is her father?” Bob asked him, looking worried.
“Very. But fair. But they all live by the Ordnung, the rules they follow, even the elders. He won’t be happy about a book. I don’t think that’s part of their culture. And they keep their women close to home. She’s brave to have done this with you. I hope it works out for both of you,” Joe said sincerely. “I won’t say anything.” And Bob knew he wouldn’t, for Lilli’s sake. The two men shook hands then, and Bob wondered if Joe had been in love with the girl who looked like her. A few minutes later Bob got back in his car and drove away. It had been the strangest, best, and most moving day of his life. And all he could think of, as he drove home, was Lilli back on the farm with her father and brothers. He wondered what she was doing, but it would have been hard for him to imagine. She came from another world. He thought of her eating her ice cream, and he smiled. Meeting her had been the best gift in his life. And so was her book.
Chapter 17
Everything went smoothly when Lilli got back to the farm that afternoon. And in all, she had only been gone for two hours, but her whole life had changed when she signed the contract and put the money in the bank. She put the checkbook, papers from the bank, and contract under her mattress and went to take care of Markus and brought him some soup. And as she went about her chores, she thought about what a nice man Bob was.
She did some sewing for her father, Willy had gone off with friends from the neighboring farm to fish in a nearby stream, and Margarethe dropped by to see her that afternoon. And when her father came home, he was in a good mood. Everything seemed normal until Sunday afternoon, when they got back from their Sunday servic
e at one of their neighbors’ homes.
Lillibet was setting the table for dinner, when her father asked to speak to her and sent the boys outside.
“You went to the dairy twice this week, Lillibet,” he said quietly, and she felt panic rise in her throat, wondering if someone had seen her with Bob, or getting into his car, which would be impossible to explain.
“Yes, I did, Papa. I kept the boys company one day, because I had finished my work in the house. And Josiah wanted some time to play when Markus was sick, so I went by myself. I did it when they had the chicken pox too.”
“Are you meeting an English boy at the dairy, Lilli? One of Lattimer’s boys? You’ve been old enough to court for a long time. I never pressed you about it after your mother died, because I needed your help here with the boys. But if you are ready now, I will find you a husband. Many men have asked about you, and you never looked kindly at them, so I thought you wanted to stay here. Some women don’t want to marry, and you can stay at home with me if you wish.” And in fact he hoped she would. “But I will not have you courting with an English, Lilli, if that’s what you’re doing. You know what the Ordnung says. You must marry in our community. You can’t go outside.”
“I wasn’t trying to go outside, Papa,” she said, looking nervous, thinking of the money she had in the bank. “I wasn’t courting with anyone at the dairy. I just wanted to go for a ride in the buggy.”
“I think it’s time you had a husband and children of your own. The boys are growing up. The twins will be finished with school in another year.”
“I don’t want to start taking care of children all over again,” she said honestly. “I’ve done that for seven years, since Mama died.”
“You need your own,” he said firmly. He had never said that to her before.
“I don’t want any, Papa. Or a husband. I’m happy as I am.”
Until the End of Time: A Novel Page 20