His partner started to speak. “Don’t press—”
The first policeman pressed the button. There was a short series of beeps and then a roar as the propane tanks around the house exploded.
*****
Colonel Cowell and his men were thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion. One of the men crawled to the window. “The house is on fire, Colonel, looks like the propane tank exploded.”
“Get everyone out of the house now.”
Colonel Cowell turned to assist Augusta. She was gone.
*****
Augusta ran down the stairs to her office. Behind her, she heard the pounding steps of a state policeman in hot pursuit. She pulled open the door, ran in, and slammed it in the trooper’s face. “Can’t get in, can’t get in, I made a special door.”
The trooper pounded on the door. “Mrs. St. Clair, come out. The house is on fire.”
Augusta ignored him. Her safe door stood open. She ran inside and opened her lockbox. Inside, she found the diary and the pictures. She laid them on the desk and spread out the photos of Robert and her. Outside, the flames roared and the policemen shouted but she took no notice. She reached in her desk and pulled out a brush and some lipstick. She walked to the mirror and began to brush her hair. Then she smeared lipstick on her mouth. “Here I am, Robert. Aren’t I beautiful? More beautiful than her. Why did you choose her, Robert? I loved you; I gave you a son...”
Augusta could hear the troopers trying to break down the door but it was solid steel and she knew they would never get in. She heard someone shouting that the mansion was going up like a torch—that the whole east wing was on fire. She smiled when she heard Colonel Cowell order his men out. Above her, she could hear the house groaning and cracking, but she ignored it. The reflection in the mirror held her spellbound. She was young and beautiful again. She began to sway seductively in front of the mirror, the picture of Robert St. Clair in her hand. “You’re all dead, all the St. Clairs. You should have chosen me, Robert. You never should have left me.”
Above her head, a circle of fire began to eat its way through the ceiling. The chandelier crashed down as the support was eaten away by the flames. Augusta looked up as the ceiling began to fall. She held up the picture and screamed. “Robert St. Clair, I’ll see you in hell.”
As the whole east wing collapsed in a roar of fire right on top of her, the last thing Augusta saw was the face of Robert St. Clair smiling at her.
*****
Bobby and Jonathan drove through the snow, guided by the state police cruisers. The storm had started to blow itself out, and the further east they got, the clearer the weather became. They met an escort of police at the Pennsylvania border and drove on toward Paradise. The snowplows had been out in force and the road was fairly clean, but it still took them four hours to get there. They drove up the Lincoln Highway to Leacock Road and headed toward the farm, followed by the police cruisers. Bobby and Jonathan pulled into the lane. A local police car was parked in front of the house, but they didn’t see anyone on guard. Bobby signaled to Jonathan and they ran up the road. They looked around, and then Bobby saw someone lying off to the side of the house. It was a local policeman and he was groaning and holding his head. Bobby grabbed him. “Where’s Jenny?
The policeman pointed. “She’s in there. Someone came up behind me and knocked me out. I think they must be in there with Mrs. Hershberger.”
Bobby and Jonathan ran into the house. Outside, the wail of sirens proclaimed the arrival of the state police.
Jonathan shouted. “Jenny? Jenny, where are you?”
There was a faint sound from the back bedroom. The two men ran down the hall and burst through the door. There was a man in the room. He was holding Jenny from behind and had a gun at her head. He pointed the gun toward them. “Don’t come any closer or she’s dead.”
Bobby stepped forward. “Do you really want to do that? There are a dozen state policemen outside. You wouldn’t get two feet out the door. And besides, Augusta St. Clair won’t be paying you, she’s been arrested.”
The man smiled. “I already got my money, mac, so that’s not an issue. Now I’m taking the woman and I’m getting out of here. I want everyone to step aside and let me go. As soon as I’m clear, I’ll turn the lady loose.”
Bobby could see the lie in the man’s eyes. As he looked at Jenny, he saw her move her head and then she suddenly grabbed the man’s arm. Bobby and Jonathan jumped him as Jenny pulled the gun down. There was a roar as the gun went off, and Bobby felt a blow to his side, like someone jabbing hot icepicks into his hip. He crumpled in a heap.
He saw Jonathan’s dark hair fall over his face as he fought ferociously with the killer. As Bobby watched, the scene changed. He was in a trench on top of a hill on Guadalcanal. He couldn’t move. Above him, a tall, dark-haired Marine was fighting hand-to-hand with a crush of Japanese soldiers. Bobby called out. “Reuben, Reuben...” And then everything went black.
*****
Rachel opened her eyes. She was in a dark room lying on a narrow bed. Everything was blurry and it was hard to see. There were tubes attached to her arms and going up her nose. Next to her on a stand were several pieces of equipment that were either softly beeping or showing jagged green lines on small screens. She had a terrible headache and her stomach felt sore. She turned her head a little. There was someone seated in a chair next to her bed. It was Daniel! She tried to speak, but the tubes were in her way.
Daniel saw Rachel move and took her hand. “Don’t try to speak, Rachel. Just rest. The doctor says we got you here in time, but we have a hard road in front of us. You must save your strength. Close your eyes now and sleep.”
Rachel squeezed Daniel’s hand but when he tried to take it away, she would not let go. She closed her eyes. She knew everything would be well. Daniel was with her, and the Lord was with Daniel.
*****
In another hospital room in Lancaster, an old Marine lay in a bed. Beside him sat Jonathan and Jenny Hershberger. Jenny was crying. The old Marine slowly opened his eyes and smiled. He reached over and patted Jenny’s hand. “Don’t worry about me, kid. This old gyrene is too tough to kill.”
Jenny took Bobby’s hand. “Oh, Bobby, we were so worried.”
“What happened after I passed out?”
Jenny glanced lovingly at Jonathan. “Jonathan grabbed the man and knocked him out. I guess he wasn’t expecting an Amish prize fighter.”
Jonathan reached in his pocket. “Here’s something the doctor gave me for you, Bobby. He dug it out of your hip when he got the bullet out.”
He leaned over and handed Bobby a twisted shard of metal. “This is the shrapnel that’s been in your hip since 1942. He figured you might want it as a souvenir.”
Bobby reached out and took the chunk of metal. “Well, I guess this story has come full circle. I’ve got a special place for this, Jenny, right next to a picture of your father. Now I just need to know how Rachel is doing.”
Jenny patted Bobby’s arm. “She’s alive and slowly getting better. The doctor told Daniel that she and the baby have a fighting chance. Daniel’s with her and that’s the best care she could have right now. We are going down there tomorrow. We are confident that the Lord will keep her.”
“Me, too,” Bobby said. “Me, too.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Home from the Sea
On a cold morning in early January, an ambulance drove slowly up the gravel drive from Leacock Lane and stopped in front of the blue farmhouse. Jonathan and Jenny were standing on the porch along with two other Amish men. Bobby Halverson sat on a bench against the wall of the house, a pair of crutches and his dog, Rufus, lying next to him. The driver and an attendant got out and opened the back of the ambulance. Daniel King climbed down and helped the two men pull a gurney out and extend the legs. The girl on the gurney stirred and a wan smile crossed her pale face. Daniel walked beside the gurney as the attendants rolled it up the path and lifted it onto the porch. T
he girl lifted her hands and Jenny reached down and took them, pulling her girl into a warm embrace. Rachel was home.
After the attendants wheeled Rachel inside, Jonathan and Daniel conversed in low tones with the two elders of their community, Bischopp Hochstetler and Daniel’s father, Jonas King. The Bischopp put his hand on Jonathan’s shoulder “Und so, your dochter has come home? And what of her Englischer husband?”
“Her husband is dead, Bischopp. It was a terrible tragedy.”
“But Rachel is still pregnant with the man’s child?”
Jonathan nodded. “It is a miracle that the baby is still alive, but it is. The doctors don’t know how the poisoning affected the child, but Rachel is a very strong girl. She was in intensive care and then in an intermediate care unit at the hospital in Greenwich for a month. Then we brought her to a managed care facility in Lancaster for another three weeks. She is healing from the effects of the arsenic much quicker than the doctors expected, and we hold great hope that the baby will be born undamaged.”
“And has Rachel repented of leaving the church?”
“We have not yet had that conversation with her. We only want to see her get well.”
The Bischopp stroked his beard. He turned to Daniel. “Und Sie, junger Mann? You violated the Meidung when you left against the wishes of your papa to follow Rachel after the church shunned her. That put you under the Bann also. What do you have to say for yourself?”
Daniel looked at his papa and then took a deep breath. “I do not regret following Rachel. I believe the Lord spoke to my heart that she was in great danger, and she needed someone to look after her. I am very sorry that I violated the Ordnung, but if I had to do it again, I would. I have always loved the Amish life and never want to live any other way, but Gott bringt Rachel in meinem Weg. He gave her to me to love, and there is nothing I can do about that. If she stays under the shunning, then so be it, I will be shunned also, because I am going to look after her.”
Jonas King put his arm around his son’s shoulder. “I was sehr böse, very angry, when Daniel ignored my counsel and left to follow Rachel. But because of Daniel, Rachel is alive. If he had not listened to the Lord, she would be dead. I am very proud of my son and will support him in whatever he does.”
The Bischopp looked back at Jonathan. “And you, Jonathan? Rachel is still under the Bann until she repents and returns to the church. If she stays here you are violating the Meidung also. Would you and your wife risk being excommunicated from the church for that?”
Jonathan nodded. “Bischopp Hochstetler, I know this is difficult for you, but, although I love the ways of the Amish and I trust that the Ordnung protect us from the evil out in the world, in this case, I believe that grace will trump all. In the last few days, I have found myself again. I have been touched by du leiber Gott and the old wounds and fears have fallen away. I am Jonathan Hershberger again. Not the foolish hippie, or the Englischer, Richard Sandbridge, but the Jonathan Hershberger who came to love Jenny Springer and the Amish way with all my heart. And out of that love came my girl, Rachel. Her well-being is the most important thing now, and I will risk all to make sure she lives and is restored, no matter what her decision about the church. To that end, in spite of the fact that she is under the Bann, she will stay here with those who love her until she is well enough to decide about her life. If we are excommunicated for that, well, so be it.”
There was a cough from behind them. They all turned to see Bobby Halverson leaning on a crutch and smiling. He hesitated a moment and then spoke. “Gentlemen, I am not Amish and I don’t mean to intrude in matters of your church, but I have something to say here. I live on this farm because I have no other family except the Hershbergers and they have opened their home to me. I have been a friend of this family for over forty years. During that time I have always called myself an agnostic because I was never really sure if there was a God. I should have known better, because as I look back over my relationship with this family, with Reuben and Jerusha, with Jenny and Jonathan and now Rachel and Daniel, I realize that I have seen the hand of God at work through them many times in my life.”
Bobby put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “I have seen God working in this young man’s life to save a girl who is more than precious to me.”
Bobby looked at Jonathan. “When we were out on the ocean and Jonathan became the captain of the ship, I saw God reach out of heaven and heal a man that has been lost for many years.”
Bobby looked straight at the Bischopp and Jonas King. “So, while you are considering what to do, you might factor in that a man who has never really believed has, through this incredible journey, come to realize that I was a fool. At last, in the lives of these two men, I have come to know that God is real and that He indeed sent His son for me, too. And I’m a better man for it.”
Jonathan smiled and then walked over and embraced his old friend. He whispered in Bobby’s ear. “Welcome, you old prodigal. Tonight we kill the fatted calf.”
Bischopp Hochstetler looked around and smiled as he shook his head. “Ja, das ist ein Rätsel. It seems I have a small rebellion on my hands. And yet I, too, see the hand of Gott in all these things.” He pulled Jonas King aside and spoke to him for a moment. Jonas nodded in agreement and then the Bischopp turned back to the men. “We will put any decision on hold. While not setting aside our Ordnung, I believe, as Jonathan says, we must allow for the grace of God to work its healing now. Rachel may stay at home until she is well enough to decide what she will do with her life. Daniel, you are on probation, under your father’s watchful eye. You may come and care for Rachel, as you are needed, for who are we to deny a calling that God has made so plain in your life. We will talk of these matters more when Rachel is well.”
The Bischopp turned and walked out to his buggy. He climbed in, waved to the group on the porch, and then drove away. Above them, the ragged clouds opened, and for the first time in days, the sun shone through to warm the land and the hearts bound to it.
*****
And so the days passed. January was a cold, snowless month, and Rachel was still so weak that she was most often confined to her room. She would sit in her rocking chair with her mama’s shawl wrapped around her. Outside her window, the bleak fields were locked in the grip of winter’s death, and as she watched the unchanging landscape, her mind lay in a strange dormancy, with only the promise of the baby growing within her, bringing a small sense of life to the cheerless days.
Daniel would come as often as he could to sit with her and talk, mostly of his work on the farm and the new foals born to his father’s mares. Rachel would sit quietly and listen, but for the most part, she did not enter into the conversation. A deep darkness lay on her soul, as though she was floating far down under the sea where only a few rays of some wandering sun could penetrate to the depths.
One day she looked up at Daniel and spoke quietly. “I am ruined, Daniel. Because of my stubbornness and unforgiveness, I have destroyed my life. I am not worth your love and the care you give me. You should go home and stay away. Leave me to my fate.”
Daniel patted Rachel’s hand and smiled. “I am your truest friend, Rachel. I will never leave you or forsake you, no matter what you have done or what you say.”
Rachel looked at Daniel’s face. It was a strong and handsome face—the face of a true and noble man, and Rachel could see that he was telling her the truth. And in that moment, she had a glimpse that perhaps...perhaps something might be made of the disaster she had brought upon herself.
*****
Early in April, on a still, dark night, Rachel awoke. Something was happening in her body, and she knew what it was. She called out in the darkness. “Mama! Mama!”
She heard the sound of her mama’s feet coming down the hall and then the door opened and Jenny came in holding a lamp. “What is it, dochter?”
“It’s my time, Mama. I feel the contractions and my water broke.”
Jenny went to the door and called to Jonathan. “G
et up, Papa, you are about to have a grandchild.”
Jonathan came into the room. He was buttoning his shirt. “I need to get the nurse from the birth center. I will go now. It shouldn’t take long. I’ll ask Bobby to drive me.”
Jonathan left and Jenny turned to Rachel. Rachel turned her face toward the wall. Jenny came and sat by her daughter’s side. “What is it, Rachel?”
Rachel sobbed. “I am so ashamed, Mama. I am having the baby of a man that I did not love. I gave myself away for money. I feel cheap and degraded, and I feel so sorry for this baby because I will have to leave here and my baby will not have a father.”
“Why will you have to leave, my darling?”
Rachel turned back to Jenny. “I am not worthy to stay with you. I have disgraced myself, and you, and I am not worthy to be loved by anyone. So I will go and live alone with the bitter fruit of my own making.”
Before Jenny could answer, Rachel gasped. Jenny held her hand. “A contraction?”
“Yes, Mama.”
“Well, let’s get ready for this baby. It’s coming soon.”
*****
Daniel stood with Jonathan and Bobby on the porch. The sun was just coming up over the eastern hills, and the sweet fragrance of apple blossoms from the orchard filled the air. Out in the fields of the Hershberger farm a light mist clung to the trees and rose from the ground like gentle fingers reaching toward the awakening sun. Above their heads in the plum trees by the porch, tiny pink flowers were alive with brilliant color as they painted the day with God’s palette. A single wren twittered its call and stillness lay on the land. From within the house, they heard Rachel give a great cry. Then the silence of the dawn was broken by the lusty cry of a newborn baby. Daniel looked at Jonathan in apprehension.
Then the screen door flew open and Jenny stood there, breathless. “It is a boy, Jonathan, strong and big. He is fine and handsome and the nurse says he will live and not die.”
Daniel looked at Jenny. She smiled. “Rachel is very tired, but she is well.”
Daniel took his hat off and held it in his hands, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. “May we, I mean, can I...”
The Amish Heiress (The Paradise Chronicles Book 1) Page 30