by Beth Wiseman
Esther brought a hand to her chest. “Did you actually see them kissing, Gus?”
“Well, no. But that’s how it starts, romantic sunsets and all that other baloney. And it interferes with my fishing time.” He raised his chin, though his jowls hung low and sad.
Esther was one to keep her cool, even on her weariest of days, but Gus was about to push her over the edge, as he’d been known to do in the past.
“Gus, you rent the cottage. You do not rent the entire property. The pond, the bench, and the sunset are for all to enjoy.”
“You and Lizzie are up to no good encouraging that Amish girl to get involved with that kid.” Gus puffed his chest out as if to make a bigger point. “I know how you two operate.”
“I assure you neither Lizzie nor I are playing matchmaker with Evelyn and Jayce. We foresee it as an explosive situation and are praying that they remain friends.” She turned to leave again, squeezing her eyes closed for a few seconds, fearing Gus would call out to her again.
But all he said was, “Thanks for the pie.”
Esther smiled. In a day consumed by obstacles, a small miracle had occurred. “You’re welcome,” she said without turning around.
Lizzie was in bed reading one of her romance books when Esther returned.
“Don’t say anything,” Esther said as she climbed into bed with her sister. She and Lizzie were good at reading each other’s minds. “Gus deserved the pie.”
“Whatever you say.” Lizzie already had her teeth out, but she pushed her gold-rimmed reading glasses up on her head, her long gray hair flowing well past her waist, the same as Esther’s once she pulled her scarf from her head. “But that old grump would have let me drown.”
“I doubt that.” Esther yawned, fluffed her pillows, then lowered the flame of her lantern, just as Lizzie turned up the flame on her own. “Lizzie, I need sleep,” she mumbled.
“I know, and I’m tired too.” Lizzie sighed. “But what are we going to do about Rose?”
“We show patience and give her time to learn how we do things.” Esther snubbed out her lantern completely and hoped Lizzie would get the idea.
“How much time? She could have burned down the haus today. And she never stops talking. Never. And I’m telling you, there was something in those hens, the stuffing, that shouldn’t have been in there. I couldn’t even identify the ingredient.” Lizzie grumbled. “I’ve been a nervous Nellie all day today. Esther, the girl makes me feel on edge. I think mei blood pressure was off the charts today.”
“The hens were all right.” Esther cringed a bit. The birds were edible, but that was about it. “You think everything makes your blood pressure go up, and every time we’ve checked it, even during stressful situations, it’s fine. Go to sleep. Or go back to reading your nasty book.” Esther settled beneath the covers.
“I don’t read nasty books. They’re love stories. Speaking of . . . is something blossoming between Jayce and Evelyn? They were down at the pond. Alone.”
“Ya, I heard from Gus.” Esther yawned. “We will keep an eye on it. As I said before, we can’t get involved. Those two are not meant for each other. Only heartache would follow.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
Esther heard Lizzie open the book. Finally, she could close her eyes and sleep. After she prayed about the events of the day. Unsure exactly what to ask for, she just prayed that God’s will would be done.
* * *
Evelyn was sitting on her bed brushing her hair when there was a tap on the door.
“Can I come in?” Her mother peeked her head inside the door. “I saw the light shining under the door. I thought we could talk.”
“If this is about Jayce, Mamm, please don’t worry. I know we can only be friends, and I won’t let things escalate to anything more.” Evelyn stowed her brush in the drawer of her nightstand.
Her mother wore the same white robe she’d always worn. Her salt-and-pepper hair was knotted on top of her head, and her tentative smile revealed her worries like a secret code mother and daughter had always shared. She sat on the bed.
“Mei maedel, the heart wants what the heart wants.” She cupped Evelyn’s cheek in her hand. “We can’t control our emotions. Even if you know a situation is dangerous, it can still be difficult to walk away. And you are spending a lot of time with this boy.”
Evelyn could only remember telling her mother one lie in her life. She once watched television at an English friend’s house even though her mother had asked her not to. Evelyn had denied watching the movie. She was about to tell her second lie.
“We are just friends, Mamm, and there is nothing to worry about.” She knew she was in over her head—she had an enormous crush on Jayce. The night had ended with a hug and no attempt at a kiss good night. But she’d longed for Jayce to kiss her.
Her mother’s expression grew tight with strain. “There is everything to worry about.” She kissed Evelyn on the cheek, rose from the bed, and shuffled toward the door, turning around before she left. “You can talk to me about anything. You know that, right?”
“Ya, I know, Mamm. I’m fine. I really am.”
Her mother blew her a kiss and closed the door. Evelyn had always been close to her mother. Maybe it was because she was her only daughter. There was a part of Evelyn that wanted to tell her mother how much she liked Jayce, and not just because of his looks. There was something real and unpretentious about him. He spoke what was on his mind and didn’t filter anything out.
Evelyn had never been one to discuss her personal business with her girlfriends. Montgomery’s Amish community was small, and no matter the good intentions of confidants, word always seemed to get out. Like it had about Jayce. It seemed that everywhere she went, someone questioned her about the English man she’d been seen with at the Bargain Center. Perhaps Widow Byler was partly to blame. But a lot of people saw Jayce leaving that day and telling her he’d see her later.
She pulled her damp hair to the top of her head and bobby-pinned it in place so it wouldn’t soak her pillowcase. After lying down she left the lantern’s flame on low and watched the shadows dancing on the ceiling the way she’d done for as long as she could remember. It was her form of cloud watching, as images came and went, depending on which way the flame flickered. Tonight the movement reminded her of the twinkling stars overhead when she’d said good night to Jayce.
Her mother was right to be concerned and correct about not always being able to control your feelings. As Evelyn tossed the thoughts around in her mind, she reminded herself Jayce would be leaving in a few weeks. Would they remain friends? Would they write letters? Or would he return to his world with only fond memories of an Amish woman he met in Montgomery, Indiana?
A crash against the window caused her to jump. A bat. It had happened before. One of the winged creatures had flown into her upstairs window. Lucas had found the dead bat on the ground the next day. She squeezed her eyes closed. As much as she disliked anything that flew, she didn’t like to think about any of God’s creatures dying.
Then it happened again—another crack against the window. Two bats hitting the glass pane in one night would be too much of a coincidence, so she tiptoed to the window, which she’d closed earlier when the wind picked up.
Her chest felt like it might explode when she saw Jayce on the front lawn, shining a flashlight at his face. A thrill of frightened anticipation wound its way up her spine as she lifted the window.
“What are you doing here?” He’d obviously thrown rocks at her window. She said a quick prayer that her parents and brothers wouldn’t see or hear him.
“Can you lower your ladder and come down?” He spoke in a loud whisper.
“Mei what?” Evelyn’s heart fluttered and pounded against her chest.
“You said you had a ladder you could drop down out of your window.” He still had the flashlight shining so she could see his eager expression. “Can you come down?”
Evelyn’s jaw dropped as she leaned closer
to the screen. “I was teasing. I don’t have a ladder.” She was a bit floored he’d truly thought she did. It was an easy walk from the inn, but she never would have expected this.
He shined the flashlight at her window, and she blocked the bright light with her hand. Turning the light back on himself, he winked. “I didn’t think nice Amish girls lied.”
“It wasn’t a lie. I was teasing, and I thought you knew that.” Fear he’d get caught twisted her insides into knots. “You have to go before mei parents or bruders catch you out there.”
He hung his head, the light at his feet.
“Is everything okay?”
As he lifted his head and grinned, Evelyn practically swooned in her bedroom, then realized she didn’t have her head covered, not even with a scarf. At least her hair was pinned up.
“Is everything okay?” she asked again.
“Yeah. I just found myself thinking about that kiss again.” He shrugged. “Next thing I knew, I was here.” He scratched his head, the light back where she could see his face. “I’m disappointed about that ladder story.”
Evelyn laughed, then quickly put a hand over her mouth. “Go back to the inn before you get us both in trouble.”
Smiling broadly, he saluted. “See you soon.”
As he turned and walked away, Evelyn was sure her mother was wrong. She hadn’t just dipped a toe into a dangerous situation. She was drowning in it, totally smitten with Jayce Clarkson, a man from the big city, from a world she knew nothing about.
And he’d leave here in a few weeks.
* * *
Esther awoke from a deep sleep, looked at the clock that read 2:00 a.m., then nudged Lizzie. “Wake up.” She turned an ear toward the noise she’d heard, which sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. “Do you hear that?”
Lizzie didn’t even lift her head. “It’s one of those Hollywooders.” Lizzie had taken to calling their guests by the nickname even though none of them were from Hollywood. “They eat at all hours of the night.”
“I know. But I never hear them.” Esther was on her feet. “It sounds like someone is singing.”
“Maybe they’re practicing for the movie.” Lizzie pulled the covers over her head.
“It’s getting louder. Whoever it is, they are going to wake up the entire household.” She nudged Lizzie’s arm. “Get up. We need to go see what’s going on for the safety of all our guests.”
Lizzie groaned but rolled out of bed. They hustled into their robes and threw scarves over their heads before they tiptoed out of the bedroom, then crossed through the living room. Esther saw movement coming from the dark kitchen, lit only slightly by the propane light in the yard beaming in through the window. The singing grew louder, so they picked up the pace.
Esther reached for the flashlight on a shelf in the living room and hurried to follow Lizzie.
“Hush!” Lizzie yelled in a loud whisper.
Esther shined the flashlight in Rose’s face, but the girl didn’t seem to notice. She only sang louder as she wiggled her hips from side to side, her fingers pointed at the floor as her arms bounced up and down to her rhythm.
“This maedel is crazy as a loon.” Lizzie stomped her foot. “Rose, what in the world are you doing?”
“Lizzie, stop.” Esther pointed the flashlight at the ceiling, lighting the space around them. “She’s sleepwalking.”
“And singing?” Lizzie’s eyebrows shot up. “We don’t sing. And that sounds like that loud music Mr. Philips used to play after he bought that car without the top on it.”
Esther stood next to Lizzie, equally stumped. “Where do you think she learned to dance like that?” Esther cringed. Rose’s dance moves were inappropriate at best.
Lizzie shook her head. “Should we lock her in the basement?”
Esther gasped. “Of course not. I once read that you are supposed to just walk a sleepwalker back to bed, that it can be bad to wake them up, make them feel confused and frightened.”
Lizzie’s eyes widened. “If anyone should feel frightened, it’s us.”
Esther walked toward Rose, and when she touched her arms, the girl stopped dancing. “Time for bed,” Esther said softly as she studied the girl’s dazed expression. Esther waved a hand in front of her eyes, but Rose didn’t even blink.
She allowed Esther and Lizzie to walk her back to Lizzie’s bedroom. After she was tucked in, the sisters tiptoed back to Esther’s room.
“We fire her first thing tomorrow,” Lizzie said as soon as they were back in bed.
“We will do no such thing.” Esther set the flashlight on the nightstand, lay down, and put a hand across her forehead.
“It’s no wonder that girl doesn’t have a husband and her family shipped her to Big Roy and Katie Marie. Thinking back, Katie Marie practically pushed Rose out the door when I picked her up. We return her in the morning.”
“She’s not a package to be returned.” Esther wondered if she would ever have a good night’s sleep again, but firing Rose and shipping her back would leave her with sleepless nights as well. “Let’s talk about this in the morning.”
“It is morning,” Lizzie snapped. But within a few minutes, she was snoring.
Esther stared at the ceiling, thinking what a peculiar day it had been. Gus had risked his life to save another. Rose almost burnt down the house. Evelyn Schrock and Jayce seemed too smitten for comfort, going out to the bench by the pond together. Esther’s father used to call it the courting bench. It had been repaired and restained more times than Esther could recall.
They had a house full of English people, and more outside in big buses, who were as foreign as aliens. And now Rose was a sleepwalker. And she sang. And danced. Esther set herself to praying for all kinds of things, anxious about what the next day might bring. A body could only take so much.
Thirteen
It started raining before daybreak on Tuesday and hadn’t let up by Friday afternoon. If the forecast was correct, the storms would continue off and on through the weekend. Esther’s achy knees usually weren’t wrong, but she hadn’t anticipated this kind of weather. Or chaos.
“Giovanni went to Veronica’s motor home to see if he could get the generator going again.” Jayce held an armful of wet towels as he walked into the kitchen. “The roof is still leaking in my room, but I’ve got a pot catching the water now. What do you want me to do with these towels?”
“Can you please put them in the basement?” Esther took a deep breath. The inn had housed three generations, and it had certainly weathered some storms, but Esther didn’t remember anything like this. Places throughout town that didn’t usually hold water were flooded. The mail carrier said the East Fork of the White River was so far out of its banks near Williams that folks hadn’t been able to get out most of the week.
“We’re gonna need an ark.” Lizzie shuffled into the kitchen looking as worn out as Esther felt. Lizzie had dark circles under her eyes and was wearing a wrinkled dark-green dress she’d fallen asleep in the night before. And she’d misplaced her dentures. “How are we holding up on food?” she asked with a lisp.
Esther usually made a run to the market on Thursdays, but the roads had been too bad to get out. “We’ll have to make some adjustments to the menu, but I think we will get by.”
Jayce stepped up from the last step of the basement into the kitchen, closing the door behind him. “Wow. There’s a lot of stuff down there.”
“Ya, someday we will get things cleaned out. We only go down there to bring up more food we’ve canned and to run clothes through the wringer.” They’d also actually locked two young couples down there in hopes of solidifying a union. The first time was a failed attempt with Naomi and a man who was not right for her, but the second time she’d been with Amos, and that resulted in a patched-up argument, which eventually led to marriage. Esther wasn’t about to share that with Jayce. She tried to offer the boy a smile, but all she wanted to do was go to bed and collapse.
Lizzie grumbled when
someone knocked at the front door.
“I’ll see who it is,” Jayce said, his white T-shirt wet from the towels he’d carried. “Bound to be one of our crowd.”
“Where is Rose?” Lizzie asked after Jayce left the room. “I’m surprised no one has complained about breakfast this morning. What was it anyway?”
Esther rubbed one of her temples, willing it to stop throbbing. “Some type of egg casserole—her mudder’s recipe, she said.”
“I hope her mudder prepares it better than she did.” Lizzie rolled her eyes.
“Ya, well, no one complained, and it got eaten. We will just need to see what she’s gut at and maybe adjust the way we do things. If cooking isn’t her strong suit, perhaps something else will be.”
“Well, I checked the upstairs bathrooms earlier, and they’re spotless.” Lizzie paused. “Did you clean them today?”
Esther shook her head. “Nee, I didn’t. Rose must have.”
“She must have cleaned them and vanished. I’ll go see if she’s in her room.” Lizzie nodded toward the dining room. “Those movie people must have no personal lives. All they do is meet in there and talk about that movie they’re making. Don’t they have families? I haven’t heard a one of them on the phone, checking in with anyone, nothing.”
“I’m sure they do that in private, Lizzie.” Esther’s lips thinned with irritation. “Have you thought about where your teeth might be?”
Amos came into the kitchen with Jayce behind him. “Naomi sent over these pies and two casseroles.” He piled everything on the kitchen table. “She knows you shop on Thursdays and said you might need some extra food for all your guests. She would have come herself, but her feet are swollen, and I told her to rest.”
“She needn’t be getting out in this weather anyway.” Esther eyed the gifts. “Please tell her we send our thanks. This will help a lot.”