A Sister's Secret (9 page)

Chapter 9

It was difficult for Grace to go to work the next day, but she had no legitimate reason for staying home other than feeling traumatized over the break-in at their house. She wished she could tell Cleon about the break-in, but she knew he and his family had left for Rexford, Montana, to attend a cousin’s wedding. In all likelihood, they wouldn’t be back for a week.

When Grace arrived at the restaurant, she was surprised to learn that Esther was out sick with the flu. That meant Grace was needed more than ever, confirming that she’d done the right thing by coming to work.

She donned her apron, grabbed an order pad and pencil from behind the counter, and headed for the dining room. She’d only taken a few steps when she halted. There sat Gary in a booth in her section, looking as smug as always. Grace had no choice but to wait on him.

Her legs felt like two sticks of rubber as she slowly made her way across the room. When she reached Gary’s table, she placed the menu in front of him, avoiding his piercing gaze. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“Sure, that’d be great.”

“I’ll take your order when I bring the coffee.” Grace turned and walked away before he could respond.

When she returned a few minutes later, she had calmed down some. She’d decided to come right out and ask if he had anything to do with the break-in at their house when she spotted a notebook lying on the table beside his camera. That’s when she remembered that Gary had said he was some kind of reporter. If she mentioned the break-in and he wasn’t the one involved, he might want to do a story about it, and seeing a story about their break-in in some publication would make her father furious. Maybe it would be best if she didn’t say anything—at least for now. No point in letting Gary know how upset they had all been.

“Are you going to stand there staring at the table all day, or did you plan to give me that cup of coffee you’re holding?”

Grace drew in a deep breath and placed the cup on the table; then she reached into her apron pocket and withdrew her order pad and pencil. “What would you like for breakfast?”

He jiggled his eyebrows and gave her a quick wink. “Is a date with you on the menu?”

She moaned. Apparently Gary hadn’t changed. He’d always been a big flirt, which she’d been attracted to at first. But when she got to know him better, she’d come to see how moody he could be.

“Aw, come on, Gracie,” he drawled. “Don’t look so down-in-the-mouth. You and I had something special together once, remember?”

Of course she remembered. Remembering was the easy part. The hard part was forgetting. If Grace had it to do over again, she never would have dated anyone outside her faith during her rumschpringe, and she certainly wouldn’t have dated anyone as arrogant as Gary.

He touched her arm, and the contact of his sweaty, hot fingers made her cringe. “You’re bound and determined not to warm up to me, aren’t you?”

Grace jerked away, feeling like she’d been stung by one of Cleon’s honeybees. She could hardly believe she used to enjoy this irritating man’s touch or that she’d been sucked in by his smooth talking. Not anymore. She was older, wiser, and more cautious. “Are you going to order or not?” she asked through tight lips.

He grinned up at her and tapped the menu with his pen. “I’ll have two eggs over easy, a side of hash browns, and a cinnamon roll to make me sweeter.”

If a cinnamon roll would make you sweeter, I would bring you ten.
Grace picked up the menu and turned away, but she’d taken only a few steps when he called out to her.

“Better make that two cinnamon rolls, Gracie. Today, I’ll be interviewing several people who work with the Amish, and I might need a little extra energy so I can sweet-talk ’em into telling me what I want to know.”

Grace hurried across the room to put in his order. She figured the best thing was to ignore his catty remarks. If he really was a reporter and had only come to Holmes County to get a story on the Amish, then hopefully he would be gone in a few days.

***

Ruth had just finished waiting on a customer when Luke walked into the bakeshop. “I’m surprised to see you,” she said as he stepped up to the counter. “I figured you’d be working for my daed today.”

“I am. Just came into Berlin to deliver a table to Paul Hendricks. Last week, he and his wife opened a new bed-and-breakfast across town.”

“I heard about that. With all the tourists who come into the area, I guess we need another place for them to stay.”

“Jah.” Luke leaned against the counter and studied the pastries Ruth had put into the case when she’d arrived at work this morning. “Think I’ll buy myself a donut or something. Any suggestions?”

“Normally, I’m kind of partial to cream puffs, but since I have no appetite today, I’d better let you decide.”

“What’s wrong with your appetite? You’re not comin’ down with the bug that’s been going around, I hope.” He lifted his shoulders in a brief shrug. “I felt kind of under the weather yesterday. That’s why I wasn’t in church.”

“Are you doing better now?”

He nodded. “Guess a lot of folks are still sick, though.”

“The flu’s not my problem,” she said with a shake of her head, “but I am a bit
loddrich
after what happened yesterday.”

“What happened that’s got you feeling shaky?”

“Didn’t my daed tell to you about the break-in at our place yesterday while we were at church?”

“He never said a thing. So why don’t you fill me in?”

Ruth glanced around the room to be sure there were no other customers in the store, and then she quickly relayed the details of the break-in. She sniffed and swallowed hard in an effort to hold back the threatening tears. “I know others have been the victims of break-ins and vandalism in the past, but we’ve never had anything like that happen to us, and it made everyone in the family feel loddrich.”

Luke leaned on the counter. “Did your daed phone the sheriff?”

Ruth shook her head. “Dad thinks it was probably a bunch of English kids having some fun. He said we should try and forget it ever happened.” She drew in a deep breath and released it quickly. “Of course, that’s easier said than done.”

“Roman’s probably right about it being some English fellows. A group of ’em dumped over some outhouses not long ago. Did you hear about that?”

“It wasn’t confirmed that they were English, though, right?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Who’s to say that it wasn’t some Amish kids going through rumschpringe?”

“Right.” Luke shifted from one foot to another, then stepped away from the counter. “Well, guess I’d better be going.”

“What about that donut you wanted?”

He turned and lifted his hand in a backwards wave. “Some other time, maybe. I’ve got things to do and places to go.”

As Luke left the store, Ruth’s thoughts took her to the day she and Sadie had gone to the pond to meet Luke and Toby. When Luke had shown up late, he’d acted kind of odd, too.

She grabbed a tray of donuts from the shelf behind her and slipped them into the display cabinet, knowing she needed to keep busy so she wouldn’t have to think about yesterday’s break-in or Luke’s strange behavior.

A few minutes later, another customer entered the store. This time it was Donna Larson, their middle-aged English neighbor, who often drove for them when they needed to go places that were too far to travel by horse and buggy.

“I heard you were working here now,” Donna said as she stepped up to the counter and pushed a wisp of grayish-brown hair away from her face.

Ruth nodded and pointed to the pastries inside the glass. “We’re having a special on donuts today, if you’re interested.”

“I haven’t had time to do much baking lately, so I think I will take a few of those with chocolate glaze.” Donna snickered. “Better make that half-a-dozen chocolate and half-a-dozen lemon. Ray has a sweet tooth, and he’ll probably eat all the chocolate ones himself.”

Ruth smiled, but her heart really wasn’t in it. Truth was, she wished she and Grace could have stayed home from work today, since they’d both felt shaky after yesterday’s break-in.

“For a young woman with a new job, and a good-smelling one at that, you sure look down in the dumps today,” Donna commented.

Ruth wondered if she should tell Donna what had happened at their place. Maybe whoever had broken in had vandalized some of the neighbors’ homes, as well. She waited until she had Donna’s donuts put in a box and had rung up her purchase, then she leaned across the counter and said, “Did anything unusual happen at your place yesterday?”

“Let’s see now, Ray fixed us some omelets for breakfast.” Donna grinned and fluttered her eyelashes. “That’s pretty unusual for him.”

“No, I meant did anything
bad
happen yesterday?”

“Not really. Unless you count Ray falling asleep in the middle of me trying to tell him about the letter I got from my sister the other day.”

Ruth grimaced. Beating around the shrubs wasn’t getting her anywhere, so she guessed she might as well come right out and say it. “Your house wasn’t broken into, was it?”

Donna tipped her head to one side and squinted at Ruth, her gray-blue eyes narrowing into tiny slits. “Of course not. Why do you ask?”

Ruth cleared her throat and lowered her voice to a whisper. “While we were in church, someone broke into our house.”

Donna’s eyes opened wide. “Was anything taken?”

“No, but they made a mess in a couple of rooms.” She leaned closer to Donna. “Did you hear or see anything unusual yesterday?”

“No, I didn’t, but then I was inside most of the day watching Ray sleep while I worked on a crossword puzzle.” Donna’s eyes narrowed again. “Did you notify the sheriff?”

Ruth shook her head. “Dad said no to that idea. Even if he had let the sheriff know, he wouldn’t have pressed charges if they’d found the person responsible.”

“I understand that’s not the Amish way.”

“No, it’s not. Dad also thinks it was probably a bunch of kids out for a good time and that it isn’t likely to happen again.”

“He could be right, but I’ll tell Ray to keep an eye out just the same. He’s always got those binoculars of his trained on the trees in our yard, watching for different birds. I’ll ask him to check things out over at your place whenever he gets the chance.” Donna plucked the box of donuts from the counter and glanced at her watch. “I’d better run. I’ve got a hair appointment in ten minutes, and I don’t want to be late.” With a quick wave, she hurried out the door.

***

“How are you doing today, Heidi?” Martha asked as she stared into the box where the mother sheltie lay nursing her pups.

The dog responded with a faint whimper but didn’t budge from her spot.

She patted the top of Heidi’s head. “You’re a good
mudder,
and I’m glad you and your little ones weren’t bothered by whoever broke into our house yesterday.” Just thinking about anyone disturbing her dogs made Martha feel sick to her stomach.

The barn door clicked open, then slammed shut, and she jumped. “Who’s there?”

“It’s only me,” Mom called. “Came out to tell you that I’m taking some lunch to your daed soon. I thought if he’s not too busy I would eat with him, and I wondered if you’d like to join us.”

Martha waited until her mother was closer before she responded. “Will Luke be there, too?”

“I don’t rightly know. Probably so, unless he’s planning to go home for lunch today. I guess he does that from time to time.” Mom laid a hand on Martha’s shoulder. “Why do you ask?”

Martha shrugged. “Just wondered, is all.”

“So, did you want to join us?”

“Think I’ll spend a little more time with Heidi and her brood, and then I’ll take my lunch out back and sit by the creek awhile.”

Mom leaned over and looked into the box. “Those puppies are sure cute. I’ll bet it’s going to be hard for you to part with them after they’re weaned.”

Martha sighed. “Jah, but I’m raising them for the money, so except for one pup I might keep for breeding, I’ll be selling the rest.”

“Are you still planning to buy some other breed of dogs to raise?”

“I hope so. If and when I can afford it.”

Mom patted Martha’s arm. “Be patient, dear one. Only barns are built in a day, and that’s because there are so many workers to help with the building.”

Martha chuckled. It appeared that her mother had calmed down after yesterday’s scare, for her sense of humor had obviously returned.

“Guess I’ll head back to the house and gather up the lunch I fixed,” Mom said, turning to go. “Come on out to the shop if you change your mind about eating with us.”

“Okay.”

Mom closed the door behind her, and Martha dished up some dog food for Heidi. When she was done, she dropped to a bale of hay and let her head fall forward in her hands. “Dear Lord,” she prayed, “please protect our family, and don’t let anything like that awful break-in happen to anyone else we know.”

***

“You’re sure late getting back. What took you so long?” Roman grumbled as Luke stepped into the shop with his face all red and sweaty and his straw hat tilted to one side.