Amish Protector

by Marta Perry

  But Jamison didn’t wait for her. “Do you remember what brought you to River Haven?”

  She frowned. “Well, I...I probably drove, didn’t I? I usually do, unless it’s someplace where I have to fly.”

  “What about the trip to the hospital?” he asked, maybe deciding hopping from one subject to another was less leading.

  “I...” she began, but then stopped and shook her head. “I don’t. The doctor said I’d had a fall and I’d hurt my head.”

  “Yah, we know.” She shook her head at Jamison, afraid his questions would do more harm than good. “It’s natural there are things you can’t remember right away. That will all come back to you as you heal, I’m sure.”

  But Jamison wasn’t ready to quit yet. He frowned at Joanna before turning back to Meredith. “Joanna has something to show you. We hoped it might help you remember.”

  Joanna reached hesitantly to take out the necklace, not really convinced this was a good idea. But time was running out. They wouldn’t be able to keep Meredith here and safe much longer.

  She unwrapped the tiny necklace from its tissue paper and held it out to Meredith. “Have you ever seen this before? Or one like it?”

  Meredith glanced at it, at first not seeming to know what she was looking at. Then her gaze sharpened, and she reached out to take it.

  “It...it’s a baby necklace, isn’t it?” She moved her fingers over it as if memorizing the curves. She frowned, seeming to try to remember something. “Where did you get it? The Amish don’t wear jewelry, do they?”

  “No, we don’t.” Joanna kept her voice even with an effort. “I was adopted, you see. My birth mother left this with me for my parents. Does it... Is it familiar to you?”

  Meredith looked up from the necklace, and quite suddenly her eyes filled with tears. “I have one just like it. My grandfather said it was a tradition in my grandmother’s family. My father wore it for his baptism, but then it was put away because Grandpa didn’t think a boy should wear a necklace. And then it came to me.” She paused. “I don’t understand. Why would you have one just like it?”

  There was the question, and Joanna wasn’t sure she should or could answer it. “I guess it could be a coincidence...” she began.

  Jamison looked about to blurt out something, but Meredith spoke first. “Not a coincidence. See this tiny letter engraved on the heart? It’s a P, for Prentice. That was my grandmother’s maiden name. She insisted on it. For both of them.”

  “Both?” Jamison looked gratified and surprised, as well.

  Meredith nodded. She looked at Joanna. “It belonged to my aunt Katherine, my father’s sister. I never knew her. She’d run away before I was born, but my grandmother told me she had a heart, too. Was it this one?”

  “I think it must have been.” Now Joanna teared up. “You see, the chief had DNA tests done to help identify you. He had the idea of having me tested as well, since we didn’t know who my mother was.”

  She came to a stop, trying to assess how Meredith was taking it. She might not be pleased at having an unknown relative thrust on her.

  But Meredith’s expression was like the sun coming out on a dark day. “We are related, aren’t we? I knew it, even before you said so. I felt it.” She reached out to clasp Joanna’s hands in both of hers. “If Aunt Katherine was your mother, then we’re first cousins.”

  “I guess we are.” Joanna blinked away the tears and managed a tremulous smile.

  So that, at least, was explained. She knew there was more to come, but that could wait, as far as she was concerned. There’d be time for more explanations, even more questions, but it was enough for now.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  FOR A FEW minutes they just sat, smiling at each other. Meredith seemed to feel the way she did. Questions and explanations could wait.

  Meredith closed her eyes briefly, and Joanna was stricken with guilt. She’d been afraid this would be too much for Meredith. After all, she was barely on her feet again.

  “Why don’t you scoot back on the bed and rest against the pillows for a bit? This has been a lot to take in.” She stood, moving to help her if needed.

  Meredith let Joanna help her, smiling as Joanna lifted her feet onto the bed. “It’s funny to have a big cousin worrying about me. But nice,” she added quickly. She reached out for Joanna’s hand again, and Joanna pulled the chair up close enough to the bed to make that possible.

  “Nice,” Meredith said again. “But I suppose you have a lot of girl cousins, don’t you?”

  “A few,” Joanna admitted. “But none like you.”

  “I’m glad.” She leaned back against the pillows, seeming content to enjoy this new relationship.

  Naturally, Jamison wasn’t at all content. Grasping the back of Joanna’s chair, he leaned forward, intent on Meredith’s face.

  “Now, the important thing is this—you say you already felt you and Joanna were related. Are you sure you didn’t already know it, even before you came here?”

  She blinked, clearly surprised. “I... How would I know that? What makes you think so?”

  “You’re here,” he said simply. “What would you be doing in River Haven, even more at Joanna’s door, if you didn’t have some suspicion?”

  “I don’t know.” Meredith’s smooth forehead wrinkled, her eyebrows drawing down. She was clearly trying to remember something. After several moments of tense silence, she shook her head.

  “I really don’t know. It makes sense, I guess, but all I can see when I think about coming here is a blank.”

  “Try harder.” Jamison ground out the words. Joanna could feel the tension in him, so taut he was like a string about to snap. “You must remember—”

  Joanna grasped his arm and shook it slightly. “Don’t. That’s not going to help. She won’t remember just because you try to force it to happen. Leave it alone, and maybe it will come back.”

  He glared at her and then let out a long, exasperated breath. “Yeah, all right. Let’s try something else.”

  Joanna looked at him with apprehension, even while knowing she couldn’t stop him.

  “Tell me this, if you can.” He seemed to be trying for a softer approach. “Do you know who would benefit if something happened to you?”

  Meredith seemed blank at that, and she glanced helplessly at Joanna.

  “He means, have you made out a will?” She sent a warning glance toward Jamison, but she had a feeling he’d ignore it.

  “Oh, I see. Well, yes, my grandfather’s attorney insisted on it. It seemed like a lot of nonsense to me, but I did it.”

  Joanna could see that Jamison didn’t consider making a will nonsense, but he pushed on.

  “And who would benefit under your will if...for instance...your accident had been fatal?”

  “The Red Cross,” she said promptly. “And I left a few mementos to different friends. But anyway, it doesn’t amount to much.”

  “Not much?” Jamison didn’t bother to hide his disbelief. “According to the Philadelphia police who looked into it, you’re a wealthy young woman.”

  “But that’s the company.” She said it as if they should understand. “Grandfather controlled all that. I was provided for when I was growing up, and then I have a trust, so I guess you’d say the money comes to me on my next birthday. I never really consider it mine. If I die without children, the rest is tied up in various trusts and in the company.”

  “So you mean you can’t dispose of it by willing it to someone else?”

  “That’s right.” Meredith didn’t sound as if she cared, one way or the other. Maybe that was a sensible reaction, not to worry about what she might or might not have.

  Joanna didn’t particularly care. She was just glad that Meredith was provided for.

  “If something happened to you, who would gain control of everything?” Jamison was
still hanging on to his patience.

  Meredith shook her head, looking increasingly tired. “I don’t think I remember. Does it matter?”

  Jamison looked ready to explode, but he seemed to make a huge effort to calm himself. “There’s been at least two, maybe more, attempts to kill you since you came to River Haven. So yes, I’d say it matters.”

  Meredith paled. “Tried to... You mean, when I fell it wasn’t an accident?”

  “Chief Jamison...” Joanna murmured, cautioning. She hadn’t realized that Meredith didn’t know or apparently understand the suspicions that everyone else had. She patted Meredith’s hand, wishing she knew how to help her cope with this unwelcome news.

  The chief took a couple of minutes to breathe deeply, letting the maroon color of his face fade to a brick red. Maybe he was regretting having pushed for answers. She hoped so.

  “It looks as if it wasn’t an accident.” His voice was gentle when he spoke again. “But you don’t need to worry,” he added quickly. “We have an officer on your door all the time to keep you safe.”

  Meredith didn’t look all that reassured, and her grip on Joanna’s hand tightened. “I don’t understand. Why would anyone want to hurt me?”

  “We don’t know, either,” Joanna said gently. “That’s why the chief hoped you would remember and maybe come up with a reason why.”

  “I can’t. I don’t.” Her voice rose, and she yanked her hand away from Joanna as if she was responsible. “Why are you telling me this? What’s—”

  “What’s all this excitement?” The door swung open, and Mary Ellen appeared, looking straight at Chief Jamison as if convinced he was responsible.

  Without waiting for an answer, she went to Meredith and eased her back against the pillows, putting her fingers on Meredith’s wrist. “Now, let’s get that pulse down a bit. There’s no need to get excited—it’s not good for you.”

  “He said—” Meredith began, but Mary Ellen cut her off by putting a thermometer in her mouth.

  “Sounds like he hasn’t been a very good visitor. I think he’d better leave now.”

  Jamison glared at her, but Mary Ellen, secure in her professional ability, met his look with a steely composure Joanna hadn’t seen in her before.

  “Out,” she said.

  The chief gave in, recognizing he’d gone too far. “Sorry,” he muttered to Mary Ellen. Then he turned to Meredith. “Don’t you worry now. We’re going to keep you safe.”

  He headed for the door. Joanna paused long enough to pat Meredith’s hand, sure she needed some time alone just now. “It’ll be all right.”

  Meredith managed to smile around the thermometer, and she squeezed Joanna’s hand. Reassured, Joanna followed Jamison out of the room.

  * * *

  AS FAR AS Noah was concerned, Thursday had been dragging on forever. It had turned cloudy in the afternoon, and now it was constantly threatening but only spitting rain intermittently. They’d been reasonably busy, but it wasn’t doing the job of distracting him.

  He was grateful once again for Caleb. The boy was doing a fine job, and he stayed cheerful no matter how cranky a customer might be.

  He’d been relieved, he told himself, to leave Joanna in safe hands with Jamison at the hospital. True, that batch of relatives was there, but they couldn’t do any harm with Jamison around. He still didn’t like the way the chief had involved Joanna, but she had been in the midst of it from the beginning. Once she’d learned that Meredith was related to her, there had been no stopping her.

  Not that he blamed her. Family was family, even one like his. And Joanna couldn’t help being the person she was...conscientious and caring, and easily hurt by causing pain to someone else, no matter what the cause.

  That reminded him of Joanna’s assessment of their situation, but there was no point in going back over it. He’d never forget what he felt for her, but he’d made his decision and he’d stick to it.

  He’d seen Joanna return to the quilt shop an hour or so after he’d gotten in. He’d studied her face as she walked to the shop but hadn’t been able to make much from her expression. The temptation to ask her what had happened with Meredith was strong, but he’d managed to push it down. He shouldn’t be seeking out reasons to talk with her, not now.

  The bell over the front door jangled. Noah glanced that way and put down the box of nails he’d been sorting. Had he thought about cranky customers? Well, here was one for sure.

  Bernie Crawford had stuck with him despite the temptation of the chain hardware store out on the highway; he had to give him that, at least. But Noah guessed it was more a matter of not wanting to drive out there, wasting gas, when he could walk down Main Street easily.

  He went forward, arranging a smile on his face. Bernie wasn’t one to look around for himself. He expected to be waited on.

  “Mr. Crawford. Nice to see you. Can I help you find something?”

  “I need a couple of three-inch screws. And none of those cheap things that fall apart when you try to install them, either.”

  Noah had no idea if the man had been this cross for all of his seventy-nine years, but he certainly had been since Noah had known him. A small man to begin with, he’d been getting smaller as he aged, and now he peered malevolently up at anyone who tried to help him.

  “Just right over here.” Noah put down the box of nails and gestured to the next set of shelves.

  Crawford grunted. “Let’s have a look.”

  Noah led the way, glancing back at the front window automatically when he heard the sound of the door opening next door. That wasn’t Joanna going out again, was it? He caught a glimpse of someone in Amish dress and craned to see while handing Crawford a package of screws. No, it wasn’t Joanna, it was someone short and plump.

  “What are you trying to pull on me?” Crawford shoved the pack back at him. “Three-inch screws. Can’t you hear? And I don’t want anyone telling me I have to buy a whole package when I only need two.”

  Noah nearly snapped back that he could take his business elsewhere but managed to control himself just in time. Caleb, apparently sensing trouble from afar, slipped in next to him and sorted out the right package.

  “Here you are, sir. Are these the ones you want?”

  Crawford sniffed and examined them. “Good enough, but open that dang package. I don’t want more than I need.”

  “Sure thing.” With the flicker of an amused look at his brother, Caleb slit the package open and extracted two of the screws, handing them over for Crawford’s inspection.

  “Those’ll do, all right. See that you wrap them up so they don’t get lost on my way home.”

  “Come right over to the counter and I’ll take care of that for you.”

  To Noah’s relief, he followed Caleb to the counter, giving him a string of instructions as to how the screws should be wrapped. Noah stayed where he was, transferring the remaining ones to a box used to store unpackaged screws. He heard Caleb jollying the man along while he rang up the purchase, relieved when the door finally closed behind Crawford.

  Caleb, grinning, came over to him. “I’m not sure it’s worth it to listen to Mr. Crawford for the sake of twenty-nine cents each,” he said.

  “Any sale is worth it, I guess.” He clapped Caleb on the shoulder. “Thanks for taking over. I’m afraid I was distracted.”

  “It’s okay.” The boy’s face sobered. “No wonder, as little sleep as you’ve been getting. I can stay tonight, if you want. I don’t mind missing a little sleep.”

  Noah shook his head. “That’s okay. I can manage. But thanks again. You’re doing a gut job, you know. How did you get to be so responsible?”

  Caleb flushed with pleasure at the compliment, making him feel guilty he hadn’t said that to his brother earlier.

  “I like it. Anyway, I figured out a long time ago that I couldn’t count on Daad
to show me how to act. So I decided you were the opposite, and I should be like you.”

  Seeming embarrassed again by expressing such thoughts, he wandered off self-consciously, leaving Noah standing there, dumbfounded.

  If he’d considered how Daad affected the younger ones, he’d assumed that he was the only one who really knew what was going on. He and Mamm had certain sure done everything they could to hide things from the two youngest boys, at least. It looked as if they hadn’t succeeded.

  He felt another flicker of guilt that he hadn’t realized how much they might know and how they might feel. He and Aaron had done their best to take care of them since Daad died, but if he’d considered what they thought of him, he’d have said they probably thought him too strict and bossy.

  And for Caleb to say something like that just melted his heart. Caleb was actually modeling himself on his big brother. It made him feel even more responsible, in a way, but it was a good feeling.

  The thought struck him suddenly—Caleb believed in him. He didn’t think Noah was like his father, any more than Joanna did. It was about the most humbling thing that had happened to him in a long time.

  * * *

  AS SHE AND Aunt Jessie prepared to close for the day, Joanna found herself wondering if Noah had begun his vow to stay away from her already. She’d more than expected him to look for an update on what had happened at the hospital after he left. After all, he’d said he wouldn’t back off until the current situation was resolved.

  Shaking her head in annoyance, she began reorganizing the bolts of print fabrics that customers had left in complete disarray. This had to be the work of Betty O’Donnell. When she was starting a new project, they could count on at least three visits that left chaos behind before she settled on what she wanted.