Accidentally Amish (30 page)

The color drained from his face before Elizabeth’s eyes.

“I wonder if you received my letter.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “No, I don’t believe we did. Were you trying to order a particular item?”

He looked as if he might stop breathing. Elizabeth grabbed her stool and ran around the end of the counter to offer it to him.

“Please sit down.” She put a hand on his shoulder to urge him. “I will get you a cup of water.”

Almost afraid to leave him unattended, Elizabeth pushed through the green velvet curtain that separated the main shop from the cramped space she and Rachel used as an office. Still hunched over accounts, Rachel sat at her small desk with a pen in her hand.

“Mr. Byler is here.” Elizabeth took a tin cup off the shelf above the water barrel. “Apparently he sent a letter that did not reach us.”

“Byler?” Rachel sat alert. “Isn’t he one of those Amish people?”

“Yes, I suppose he is. But he’s a paying customer.”

“I think you should steer clear of him.”

“I don’t believe you’ve even met him.” Elizabeth gestured to the main shop. “The poor man is out there having some sort of spell because we did not get his letter.”

Rachel sighed. “We got the letter.” She reached under her stack of accounts.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she took the envelope. “This is addressed to me, but it is open.”

“It might have been an order. But something about the handwriting made me uneasy. It is just not right.”

“What is not right?”

“The things he says. He has no business making such a proposition.”

Elizabeth lifted the flap of the envelope and slid the paper out.

T
wo days later, Annie was in her Prius with an iPod full of her favorite bands cranking through the sound system. In comfortable navy slacks and a purple cotton shirt, she was ready to get down to business.

She liked Lee, and he had done a good job of dispatching her legal issues. She also liked the idea of throwing corporate work toward an independent attorney rather than a large firm. But his office was an hour away, and she was used to an attorney virtually around the corner. They would have to figure out how they were going to have a satisfactory professional relationship at a distance.

Annie parked outside Lee’s unpretentious office in Cañon City, a second-floor suite in a corner building that likely did not exist three years ago. An hour later, she emerged into the sunlight, having agreed to a three-month trial of full corporate representation by Lee Solano. August had just begun. The searing heat of summer would persist for another six weeks. Wincing at the blast of heat that came from opening the car door, Annie sank into the seat and put the cooling system on maximum.

Lee had suggested she lie low for a few days. She persisted in her opinion that Rick would not hurt her physically, but Lee countered with the wisdom of not taking any chances while he sorted out the legal ground. Work from home. Stay away from the gym. Change where she shopped. Eat at someplace new. Use an uncommon route to everywhere.

An uncommon route to everywhere.
That’s what Lee said.

She was halfway to Westcliffe already. What was more uncommon than that? At least in Westcliffe she could step into the sunlight without expecting to see Rick Stebbins around every corner.

At least she hoped so.

Annie sat with the air, now hinting at turning cool, blowing in her face, and surveyed the environs of the office building and parking lot. She put the car into gear and rolled out of the lot and onto the street, where she made a complete turn around the block. Then she went to the next block and toured around a slightly wider radius in full alert, looking for any sign of a bronze Jeep with a small dent in the left front bumper.

No sign of Rick. He did have a law practice to run, after all. He could not spend all his time following Annie.

She exhaled with slow control. It was the middle of the week already. A couple of workdays—and then the weekend—in Westcliffe might be just what she needed to wait out Rick’s fury. Her gym bag, tossed in the backseat, held workout clothes and two clean outfits. This time she would have a car in Westcliffe. Annie pulled over in a residential area, took out her phone, and shot a quick e-mail to Jamie with instructions to distribute her client meetings among the software writers and to set up the second phone conference with Liam-Ryder Industries for the following week. Then she let her mother know where she was going.

Besides, when Lee had found out she knew the name of the witness who had seen Rick confront her, he had prodded her to ask the person to stand by ready to recount what he saw. She neglected to mention the witness was Amish and lived in Westcliffe. Why should that matter? It only meant that her best chance of getting Rufus to agree to the plan was to go see him in person. She punched some information into her navigational system and hoped some of the scenery would look familiar.

An hour later, Annie slowed into the long Beiler driveway. The barn and the chicken coop were on the right, Rufus’s workshop on the left, and the house straight ahead. It was a simple and efficient layout in the daylight, far from her first late-evening arrival. The view was comforting to Annie, and she thought of Ruth and what it would mean to her to see this place again. To be welcomed here.

She still did not know the whole story. Even after three cups of tea with Ruth, Annie knew the young woman was holding something back.

Annie shut off the engine, dreading the scorching instant that would come with opening her car door to the outside air. She looked at her denim bag on the seat beside her. It held her laptop, an e-reader, and several folders of legal papers. A fleeting impulse to grab Eli’s book and leave the bag on the seat passed, and she reached to sling the bag over her shoulder and grabbed her iPod out of its slot at the same time. She couldn’t leave valuable electronics in the car on a hot day like this.

When she cracked the door, Annie was surprised at the flutter of wind against her face. A couple of thousand feet in elevation made a difference. The day was warm, but the mountain air moved steadily. Still, she kept the bag on her shoulder and stepped out of the car.

“What am I doing?” she said under her breath.
Especially after that kiss.

Shot through with doubt, Annie set her sights on the front porch. She went up the three wide steps and paused a moment at the swing where she had sat during recovery from her fall, where Franey Beiler tried to make her feel welcome, where Rufus sat with his broken saw, refusing to retaliate.

Sucking in a big breath, Annie knocked on the front door.

“Annalise!” Franey pushed the screen door open. “What brings you here?”

Annie held out the book. “I should have returned this before I left.”

“Come inside,” Franey urged. “I’ll make some cold tea.”

Annie shook her head. “Thank you, but I need to speak to Rufus. Do you know where he’s working?

“He’s in his workshop. He’s been working constantly on those cabinets.”

“For the motel?”

“Yes. He’s almost finished.”

“Is it all right if I go find him?” Annie glanced in the direction of the workshop.

“Let me walk you out there.” Franey fell in step with Annie on the path to the workshop. “Do you have business with Rufus?”

“Not exactly.” Annie was not sure what she would say to Rufus. “I need to ask a question. A favor.”

“I see. You are welcome here, Annalise,” Franey said softly, “but I hope you don’t have expectations about Rufus. He is a baptized Amish man. It is unusual for an
English
woman to take such an interest.”

“I like to think of Rufus as a friend.” Annie’s heart rate surged. Had Rufus told his mother, of all people, about the kiss? “He showed me kindness more than once.”

“I’m glad to hear you speak well of him, and our family enjoys you. But even an Amish mother recognizes a certain look in her grown children. Be careful.”

Annie did not want to meet Franey’s eye at that moment. She swallowed hard. “It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it?”

They were at the workshop. Franey pushed the door open, greeted her son, and revealed Annie’s presence.

His shirt was open halfway down his chest, and both sleeves were rolled up to the elbow. Annie hesitated, embarrassed. The sight of him in that moment moved her more than all the shirtless men she had ever seen.

Rufus immediately dropped his awl and reached to adjust his shirt.

“I cannot get involved,” Rufus said, after Franey left them and Annalise explained that he might help by giving testimony about what he saw. She had flustered him when she arrived, but not enough to make him do what she asked.

“But you saw him.” Annalise leaned on his worktable with both hands. “He was right in my face. He’s trying to ruin my business.”

“He knows I saw him. I made sure of that.” Rufus picked up a plane, though he was not sure what he meant to do with it.

“Right! So you could identify him if need be.”

“I only meant to deter him from harming you. I cannot get involved with an
English
court case. How does that serve the cause of peace?”

“What about justice?” Annalise’s face reddened. “Do you think I should let Rick Stebbins walk all over me the way you let Karl Kramer walk all over you?”

“Is that what it looks like to you?” Rufus carefully set down his plane and swiped his hands together to shake loose the sawdust trapped in the crevices of his skin.

“Well yes.”

“Then I have failed.” As much as it made sense to deny it, Rufus wanted Annalise to understand his ways in a way most
English
did not. She was so smart. Why could she not grasp this?

“What is it supposed to look like?”

“Jesus,” he said softly. “It’s supposed to look like Jesus turning the other cheek. Jesus loving His enemy.”

“And if the enemy wins? If the enemy gets everything and you are left with nothing?”

“God will provide.” If Annalise could understand this one truth, so many more of their ways would follow.

“That doesn’t mean God does not expect us to work hard. You work hard to make a living.”

“God provides through the blessing of work. That is not the same as court battles and lawyers.” Rufus picked up a rag and ran it across the worktable, knocking sawdust and bits of wood to the floor while Annalise was quiet. His words were soaking in, it seemed.

“Well, I didn’t think you would testify, but my lawyer wanted me to ask.”

Annalise leaned against a post at the end of the workbench. She had not expected to persuade him. Right next to her stood a stack of cabinets. She raised one hand to lightly follow the curved edge in the front design. “These are exquisite.”

“Thank you.” The moment he had hoped for was gone, but perhaps it would come again.

“Mo must be excited,” Annalise said. “When will you install them?”

“I’ll take them over tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll begin installing the day after that. My crew is busy with something else right now.”

He waited for her to bring up the subject they were avoiding, and after a couple more minutes of small talk, she did.

“I suppose we should talk about what happened the other day.” She stopped fidgeting with the cabinets. “After … on the bench. I’m sorry.”

She was five feet away from him, and still he could feel the warmth of her against his chest as he had on the bench. He wanted to put his arms around her then, and he wanted to now.

“Don’t be. I’m not.”

“You’re not?”

He smiled at her surprise. “No.” He occupied himself with hanging his tools in their respective spots.

“But—”

“Yes, but. I am an Amish man who wants to live simply, and you are an
English
woman whose life is
complicated.
I let myself feel my own loneliness for a moment.”

“That’s all it was? Loneliness?”

“That’s all it can be, Annalise. I am not going to stop being Amish, and you cannot stop being
English.
”

They stared at each other. Rufus knew she would have no words to raise against the simple truth he had spoken.

The door opened, and Jacob burst in. “Annalise!
Mamm
told me you were here. She says you can stay for supper if you want to. Please want to!”

Annalise looked from Jacob to Rufus, and Rufus nodded. He heard the choke in her voice when she answered, “I want to, Jacob.”

“Do you like beets?”

She scrunched up her face. “Not very much.”

“Good. Then I don’t have to dig more.” Jacob scampered off.

Annalise laughed.

“I’m glad you’re staying,” Rufus said.

She nodded. “Me, too.”