Her Amish Suitor's Secret (Amish 0f Serenity Ridge Book 3)

by Carrie Lighte

  “Let’s give thanks for that,” Abram suggested, and everyone bowed their heads in prayer.

  The next thing Rose knew, Jaala was gently nudging her arm. Rose sat upright with a start. Had the men seen her sleeping? She was utterly humiliated by the possibility. As it was, she couldn’t imagine what Jaala thought about her.

  But when it came time for Jaala and Abram to leave, the older woman embraced Rose. There was no condemnation in her voice as she whispered, “You must get more rest, dear.”

  The four of them walked out to the porch, where Abram asked Caleb, “Have there been any problems here this week?”

  Rose didn’t want news of the vandalism getting back to Nancy and the twins, but if Caleb told the deacon no, he’d be lying. She held her breath, waiting for his reply.

  “Nothing we can’t manage.” Caleb’s answer was evasive but true, and Rose could have hugged him for it.

  “I’ll bring lunch out here,” she said after Jaala and Abram left. She ducked into the bathroom to wash her hands and caught her reflection in the mirror. Her prayer kapp was askew and there were dark semicircles beneath her eyes. I do look fatigued, she thought. A nap would do her good—but so would spending the afternoon outdoors with Caleb. She went to suggest they pack a picnic and go canoeing instead of eating lunch on the porch.

  “That sounds wunderbaar. I was going to suggest it myself, but you seemed tired.”

  “Why? Because I fell asleep during prayer?”

  “Did you? I didn’t notice—not until you started snoring anyway.”

  “I did not!” Rose protested as a tall, stocky Englisch man and a skinny Englisch teenage boy suddenly came around the corner. She didn’t remember them checking in on Saturday.

  “Hello,” the man said as they climbed the stairs. “Are you the property owners?”

  * * *

  The stranger addressed both Caleb and Rose but he was looking straight at Caleb. “Jah,” he answered. Then he clarified, “We’re managing the camp.”

  “My name’s Leland Perry. I understand your family experienced something upsetting recently.” As the man spoke, the scrawny teenager slouched behind him, picking his thumbnail.

  “What?” Caleb was confused. How did an Englischer hear about Sol?

  “Your produce stand was vandalized, wasn’t it?”

  Caleb’s mind spun. Had the man seen the damage in passing? Or was it possible he was an FBI agent or a detective who’d been staking out the property? Then who was the kid?

  “Yes,” Rose answered succinctly. The Englisch word sounded peculiar coming from her.

  The man nudged the teenager forward. “Oliver has something to tell you.”

  The boy’s brown hair flopped over his eyes and his hands were jammed into his pockets. Without looking up, he mumbled, “I ruined your pies and knocked the shelves over. Sorry.”

  That was when it dawned on Caleb that this kid was Oliver Graham. The boy who’d been harassing Hope and Charity. Caleb briefly considered telling the little punk if he ever bothered the twins or touched Rose’s property again, Caleb would knock him over. Instead, he prayed, Please, Gott, help me to show mercy.

  “If you tell us what the ruined items cost, my nephew will compensate you,” Leland said.

  Your nephew? The man standing before him was Oliver Graham’s uncle—the detective. With every fiber of his being, Caleb wanted to pull him aside and grill him about whether anything Oliver had told the girls was true. I gave Rose my word I wouldn’t go to the police—I didn’t say I wouldn’t talk to them if they came to me. But Caleb knew that was a weak argument and he couldn’t arouse Leland’s suspicion by asking questions an Amish man wouldn’t ask.

  Rose stepped closer to Oliver. “I appreciate your apology and I forgive you. I need to review my bookkeeping. Would you and your uncle like a piece of pie while you’re waiting?”

  Oliver drew his chin back in surprise, but Leland answered, “Thank you, but we’re having lunch soon.” He turned to Caleb as Rose went into the house. “Oliver said he didn’t break any shelves, but you and your wife must have had to clean up a big mess.”

  Caleb nodded; there was no point telling the detective he wasn’t married to Rose.

  “Oliver’s parents own cottages on Black Bear Lake so he knows how busy the summer season is. Since you spent your valuable time cleaning up after him, he can spend his vacation time helping you with a project here at the camp.”

  Great! He can clean the stable, harvest potatoes and then mow the lawn by the barn—with a manual push mower. Maybe then he’ll have more respect for the Amish. “Repaying Rose will be compensation enough,” Caleb answered, as Rose came outside and handed Oliver a slip of paper. He pulled a fistful of money from his pocket and paid her.

  “Denki,” she said, the only word she’d spoken to him in Deitsch.

  “It won’t happen again, will it, Oliver?” Leland prompted his nephew.

  “Uh-uh,” Oliver muttered.

  “Sure is tranquil around here,” his uncle said, surveying the lake before the pair tramped down the steps. “Enjoy your afternoon.”

  As Caleb watched them disappear around the house, it occurred to him that Leland hadn’t said how he’d discovered Oliver was the vandal. With a detective for an uncle, he probably doesn’t get away with much. Although, someone else might have seen him and told his parents... Then it occurred to Caleb that Rose might think he’d reported the vandalism to the police after all.

  Before she had a chance to question him about it, Caleb defended himself. “I don’t know who told the detective about the produce stand, but it wasn’t me.”

  Rose looked startled. “I know it wasn’t. You said you wouldn’t go to the police and I believe you.”

  There it was again. Rose’s trust made Caleb feel a hundred feet tall and yet like a complete phony at the same time.

  “I don’t know how Oliver’s onkel figured out he was the vandal, but I’m glad he did,” Rose told him. “Now I won’t have to cover the loss for the ruined produce, and you can rest assured that this has nothing to do with any stolen coins.”

  But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to be vigilant. The coin thief might still be out there. Caleb didn’t want to argue the point, so he said nothing.

  “The best part of this is now Oliver can have a clear conscience,” Rose added cheerfully. “Baker told me it was terrible knowing he’d done something wrong and could be found out at any minute. He said he wouldn’t wish that kind of guilt on anyone.”

  I know what he meant, Caleb thought. But sometimes, it’s a necessary burden to bear.

  * * *

  “I’ll go change my clothes and stick lunch in the cooler. Meet you by the water, okay?” Rose suggested.

  “Are you sure you won’t be too tired?”

  “Not if you do all the paddling.” Rose was teasing, but when they reached the beach, one of the canoes was gone and two guests were setting out in the other one, which meant Rose and Caleb had to use a rowboat. Caleb ended up rowing after all.

  “Where to?” he asked. “Paradise Point?”

  “That’s where that young couple is headed. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to go somewhere away from guests. Someplace quiet.”

  “That leaves the islands or Relaxation Rock.”

  Or Kissing Cove. The unbidden thought caused Rose to blush. “Relaxation Rock, please.”

  They were quiet until they reached the other shore, where they climbed the rock and chatted as they enjoyed their picnic. Afterward, Rose reclined on the quilt they’d spread on the flat surface as Caleb devoured a second piece of pie. The sun on her face and the sound of the lake splashing against the sand had a lulling effect and Rose didn’t think about her uncle’s illness, the guests or earning extra income. Her worries floated away effortlessly, like a leaf on water...

  When Ros
e woke, she bolted upright, embarrassed that Caleb had seen her fall asleep twice in the same day. But he wasn’t beside her. She shielded her eyes and scanned the shoreline—he was clambering over the rocks a hundred yards from her. When he noticed her waving, he cupped his hands to his mouth and called, “I’ll be right back!”

  Rose scooted down the rock on her bottom and waded into the lake up to her shins. “Hunting for a buried treasure?” she asked when Caleb came up beside her. For some reason, the question made him stutter.

  “N-neh. You were sleeping and, and—”

  “Was I snoring again?” she asked teasingly.

  “Neh. But you were drooling.”

  Rose nudged him hard enough that he stumbled sideways in the water, catching his balance only by grabbing on to her forearm.

  “If I take a dunk, you’re going to take one, too!” He tugged her arm playfully, drawing her into deeper water, but she was utterly serious as she pleaded with him.

  “Neh, please don’t pull me out any farther. I don’t know how to swim.”

  Caleb immediately released his grip. “You don’t know how to swim?” He sounded astonished.

  Rose figured fewer Amish people could swim than couldn’t. “Don’t make fun.”

  “I’m not making fun. I’m just amazed that you can’t swim, yet you have no fear of drown—of being out on the lake.”

  Rose shrugged. “I never said I have no fear of falling in. But I wear a life vest and I trust Gott to keep me safe.”

  * * *

  Once again, Caleb was surprised by how Rose demonstrated her faith. He used to think she was reckless—foolish, even—for not being more cautious. But more and more he appreciated how she blended good sense, courage and trust in God’s sovereignty. He was still going to watch out for her—that was why he made sure he could see her from where he’d been combing the shoreline—but he realized he might enjoy the rest of his summer more if he worried less.

  Rose suggested it was time to go. Apparently, a few of this week’s guests had special dietary needs and were preparing their own meals. Rose wanted to be available if they had questions about where to find things in the kitchen. Reluctantly Caleb brought the quilt and cooler down from the rock and loaded them into the rowboat. “Can we circle back the opposite way?”

  “You’re the captain,” she said, giving him a sharp salute.

  They took seats facing each other, their knees almost touching. As Caleb rowed, Rose dipped her fingers in the lake and then flicked them dry. Caleb had never noticed the freckles across her nose—or maybe they’d only come out today. When she glanced up and caught him studying her, Caleb smiled and fixed his eyes on a distant hill behind her.

  “Two more weeks until the fish fry and canoe race,” she reminded him as they approached Kissing Cove.

  “And three more weeks until the end of the summer.”

  “Are you eager to get back to the kinner?”

  “What kinner?”

  “The scholars. The kinner you teach, remember them?”

  “Oh!” Caleb pulled so hard on the oars he slipped forward and his knees tapped against Rose’s. He stopped rowing but didn’t slide back in the seat. His voice was husky when he said, “To be honest, I’m not looking forward to going back to schul yet. I don’t want summer to end.” I don’t want this moment to end.

  Rose’s golden eyes held his gaze as she leaned slightly—almost imperceptibly—closer to him and nodded as if to show she understood. Or to show she felt the same way. One kiss. Would it be so wrong for us to share a single kiss? Caleb knew he couldn’t cross that line, but neither could he pull away. He couldn’t look away. He couldn’t even blink. Help me, Lord, he desperately prayed. I don’t want to do anything to hurt Rose, but—

  At that second, two people emerged from the woods about fifty feet from where Caleb and Rose drifted in the rowboat. Caleb gestured toward them with his chin. “Looks like we have company.”

  Rose bounced abruptly backward in her seat and raised her hand, calling out a greeting. The man and woman looked right at Caleb and Rose, but instead of returning the greeting, they spun around, practically diving back into the woods.

  “Was that Eleanor?”

  “She looked tall enough to be,” Caleb replied, hoping he was wrong. He could only imagine the rumors she’d spread about him and Rose sitting so close in the rowboat.

  “I wonder why she didn’t wave back to me.”

  “Maybe she was embarrassed to be caught in Kissing Cove with a man.” The words were out of Caleb’s mouth before he realized how hypocritical they sounded.

  The irony apparently flustered Rose, too, because after slapping a mosquito on her shoulder, she said, “I really ought to get back to prepare supper for the guests. Can we cut across the lake instead of circling back in a loop?”

  “Sure,” Caleb agreed without pointing out today was the Sabbath and the guests had to fix their meals themselves.

  * * *

  Those two catnaps she’d stolen during the day must have refreshed Rose because on Sunday evening she lay awake until almost midnight without so much as yawning. She couldn’t stop thinking about how Caleb had almost kissed her—again!—that afternoon in the rowboat. This time, she was as sure of it as she was of her own name.

  Of course, in the end he hadn’t acted on his desire, and Rose sensed it wasn’t merely because they weren’t courting. She even doubted it was the interruption by the couple coming out of the woods. Something else was holding him back from openly expressing his romantic feelings for her, and Rose figured it had to be he thought a long-distance courtship was too impractical. Considering I’m about to make a long-term business investment and we live almost a thousand miles from each other, he’s probably right, Rose tried to convince herself.

  She glanced at the glowing hands of the little clock on her nightstand. It was ten past twelve; one more day of her summer with Caleb was over. She closed her eyes—not to sleep, but to keep herself from crying.

  * * *

  On Monday when Helen arrived to pick up the pies, she surprised Rose by saying, “I heard you were very gracious when Oliver confessed he’d vandalized your produce stand.”

  Rose squinted at the woman. “How did you know about that? Were you the one who—”

  Helen shrugged. “Those of us in Serenity Ridge’s hospitality biz are pretty tight. We look out for each other. I might have mentioned what happened to your produce stand to Carol Graham, Oliver’s mother. Seems Oliver tracked in raspberries on his shoes and stained their carpet twice this summer. Carol’s husband is out of town, so she asked for her brother’s help in handling the situation.”

  Rose giggled. “My mamm could always tell where my brothers had been by what they tracked into the house, too.”

  Helen tapped the side of her nose. “They call it woman’s intuition, but a little observation can go a long way.”

  “Well, I appreciate your observation and your help. If there’s something I can do to return the favor, please let me know.”

  “Can you stay here year-round and bake dessert for the inn?” Helen asked, causing Rose to chuckle. “Don’t laugh—I’m serious. Several people posted comments about your pies online and now the guests ask what’s for dessert the moment they arrive. I know you have family and work commitments in Pennsylvania, but I wish you could stay here permanently.”

  Rose wished it, too. In fact, it was almost all she thought about as the days slipped away. The closer the end of the week drew, the more Rose resented having to work to meet her financial goal. On Friday, as she began measuring ingredients for the next day’s baking projects, Rose thought she’d gladly forfeit the café lease for an evening of canoeing or relaxing on the porch with Caleb, instead of having to wait until Suundaag.

  The cell phone rang, interrupting Rose’s moping. Does someone honestly think we’ll have a va
cancy this late in the season? But when she glanced at the display screen, she recognized the Ohio area code. Nancy and the twins wouldn’t call on the business phone unless there was an emergency. Her hand shaking, Rose picked up the phone. “Ant Nancy?”

  “Jah. It’s me, Rose. I had to call right away to tell you—” A single sob cut Nancy’s sentence short.

  “It’s about Onkel Sol, isn’t it?” Rose didn’t want either of them to have to say the word died.

  “Jah.” Now it sounded as if Nancy was coughing—or laughing. Was she hysterical? Rose hoped the twins were with her. “The dokder said he’s turned a corner! My Sol is going to be okay.”

  Rose gasped. “Praise Gott! Oh, praise Gott!” she declared, laughing and crying at once, just as Nancy had been doing.

  Her aunt gave her more details about Sol’s recovery, saying he still had a long way to go and they wouldn’t make it back to Serenity Ridge until after Labor Day. Then Rose briefly chatted with Hope and Charity. Afterward, she put away the flour and measuring cups and raced down the path to Caleb’s cabin to tell him the good news and invite him up to the porch to celebrate with another piece of pie.

  * * *

  “I like the drawing Liam made for me,” Caleb told Ryan when he called him on Saturday evening. He was looking at it as they spoke. It was a picture of two people in an SUV with camping gear and a canoe fastened to the roof rack. Liam had written “Uncle Caleb” and drawn an arrow to the man in the driver’s seat, and had labeled the passenger Me.

  “Tell him I can’t wait to see him.”

  “Won’t be long now. So, any news to report this week?”

  “I’m afraid not.” When he wasn’t taking care of the grounds, cabins and gardens or helping Rose harvest berries and produce, Caleb had been re-searching the woods near the camp in an attempt to uncover something he’d missed earlier in the summer. On Thursday, since it was raining anyway, he’d even broken the staff rules and set out in the canoe after supper to hike the trails near Paradise Point, the one parcel of land he hadn’t thoroughly explored yet. But the side trails were poorly marked and he’d spent as much time trying to get his bearings as he did looking for the coins. “I’m sorry I don’t have more to show for my efforts, Ryan.”