Accidentally Amish (34 page)

Rufus stepped back, and Annie moaned, a sound she did not intend to release. He was not going to kiss her.

Rufus sighed heavily. “It would be wrong, Annalise.”

“Would it? Maybe there could be something between us, after all, if we explore the possibility.”

He shook his head. “That’s not our way. The sight of you in Ruth’s dress took me away for a moment. It gave me a picture of something that is not real.”

Annie knew when a man wanted to kiss her. That part was real. A man’s self-restraint at the moment of opportunity was unfamiliar, though. She took a step toward him. “I like the dress.”

“You’re playing dress up,” Rufus said. “It’s not you.”

“Maybe it could be.” Annie wanted to believe the words coming out of her own mouth.

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” Rufus stepped back from her. “You’ve had a few Amish meals, been to church, admired some quilts. But you have no idea what it means to be Amish.”

“I could learn.”

“You would never choose it.” Rufus looked away now. “It’s not you.”

“You don’t know what I could choose.” Her voice rose. “That’s for me to decide.”

“First, you have to understand what you are choosing between.”

Annie bent over and snatched up the
kapp.
“Am I wearing Ruth’s dress because she chose between? Even she couldn’t choose your way.”

Rufus exhaled. “She understood the seriousness of her choice.”

“Then why must she be punished for it?”

“No one is punishing her.”

“No one is speaking to her. No one even speaks
about
her. Is she being shunned?”

“Of course not. She’s not baptized and has done nothing to deserve shunning.”

“She believes she is following God’s will. She misses you all so much.”

He caught her eyes and held them. “You’ve seen Ruth, haven’t you?”

“Yes. I can’t believe you go to Colorado Springs as often as you do and you haven’t seen her yourself.”

“When she left, something broke,” Rufus said. “My mother has never been quite the same. No one knew she was leaving. No one else was there when the moment came except my mother, and she won’t talk about it.”

“So you don’t want to get in the middle of it? Is that it?”

“It’s not my place.”

“You’ve gotten in the middle of my problems several times now.”

Rufus sucked in his lips.

Annie took a deep breath before speaking. “What if I arranged for you to see Ruth? Would you do it?”

“Did you promise her already?”

“She doesn’t know anything about it.”

“I can’t ask Tom to wait on me while I go off visiting. He’s running a taxi service, and I pay for his time.”

“I’ll bring her to you,” Annie said. “You name the place.”

He turned away slightly and straightened some tools hanging on the wall. “I’m taking several pieces to the Amish furniture store on the north end of town next Thursday.”

“I know where it is. What time?” Eagerness flushed through Annie at the thought of what this meeting would mean to Ruth.

“Three o’clock. I won’t be able to wait past three thirty.”

“You won’t have to. I’ll have her there at three.” She could not fix whatever was broken between Ruth and Franey, but perhaps she could give Ruth her brother back.

“I can’t promise, you understand,” he said. “Some of this depends on Tom.”

“You could call me.”

“I only use my phone for business.”

“She’s your sister, Rufus. She needs you. At least read her letters.”

“I’ll try.” He moved toward the door. “Be careful with the pins when you take the dress off.”

She was alone in the barn then, wearing Ruth’s dress. Slowly she felt for the pins Lydia had placed in the fabric and began pulling them out.

R
uth Beiler pushed the cart of empty food trays to the end of the hall where someone from the food services team would collect it. She was free to go on her own meal break, which meant she had a few minutes to study the posted schedule for next week.

When Annie called, Ruth immediately agreed to go with her to the furniture store on Thursday afternoon. But her normal shift at the nursing home began at three in the afternoon. She had to figure out which other morning CNA would be willing to stay late and cover the time Ruth needed. If she could just have an extra hour before she had to clock in, she could manage.

In the break room, in front of the posted schedule, Ruth filled a mug with coffee and lifted it to her lips while she mused the options. She raised a finger to Thursday’s grid. Laura was out. She only worked during school hours and never stayed a minute past two thirty. Elisa was blacked out for the whole week on vacation. Heather wouldn’t have child care for her two-year-old if she stayed past three.

“What’s up?” Erin breezed in with the high-speed motion that carried her everywhere. Even when Ruth worked her hardest and fastest, she still felt like she didn’t keep up with Erin, who now picked up a stack of magazines and grabbed a paper towel to wipe off the counter, all in one smooth motion.

“I have a schedule conflict,” Ruth said. “I need to come in late on Thursday. I thought I’d just ask someone on the early shift to stay late.”

“Naw. No one likes to do that. But I’ll work the late shift if you’ll work my early shift on Thursday.”

Ruth nodded. “That would be fine. Thank you, Erin.”

“You’d better go see Mrs. Watson. At least stick your head in before your break is over. She keeps track of these things.”

Ruth laughed.

“And we have a new patient, Mrs. Renaldi.” Erin set the magazines on the counter in perfect alignment. “She was in the rehab wing after a fall. She graduated out of there, but they’re not sure she’ll be able to live alone. The family wants to see how she’ll do here first.”

Ruth nodded, already feeling sad for a woman she had not met. Though she worked in a nursing home, she never quite adjusted to how easily families agreed it was the best place for their loved one. Growing up among the Amish, she never saw elderly family members living anywhere but with their families.

With ten minutes left on her meal break, Ruth padded down to Mrs. Watson’s room and knocked lightly. “It’s me, Ruth.”

“It’s about time.” Mrs. Watson sat up in the armchair.

Ruth smiled.

“You’re happy about something. I can tell,” Mrs. Watson said.

“I’m happy to see you, as always.” Ruth folded back the covers on the bed. Before long, it would be time for her to get Mrs. Watson ready for the night.

“No, it’s something else. News from home, perhaps.”

Ruth plumped a pillow and laid it in place. “Perhaps.”

“Do tell.”

“I’m going to see my brother on Thursday,” Ruth said.

“Little Jacob?” Mrs. Watson asked.

“No. I wish he could come, too. But it will just be Rufus.”

“The one you’ve been writing to?”

“That’s right. A friend has arranged a meeting when he comes into town on business. It will just be a few minutes.”

“It’s a place to start.”

“Yes, a place to start,” Ruth echoed. And perhaps a place to finish.

Annie planned a long lunch break away from the office, figuring it would take about a hundred years to break even on all the days she worked through lunch. She snagged a primo parking spot outside the mall and entered the maze of shops through the chain bookstore, stopping to buy a coffee to carry with her. The usual department stores anchored the mall, and a couple of other furniture places had sprung up. She told herself she was just looking for ideas. After all, the purchase of the Westcliffe house had not even closed yet. Buying furniture to be delivered there would be jumping the gun. Still, what harm was there in looking?

By the time the tall, disposable coffee cup was empty, Annie’s stomach gurgled, prompting her to think about eating. There was always the food court or the small café on the mall’s upper level for something approximating real food. Annie’s thoughts arced to her sister. Three years older than Annie, she had exactly the same face, everyone said, but Annie’s eyes were gray and Penny’s shimmered green. Most of Colorado Springs considered the café a decent place to grab a meal, but Penny always turned her nose up at it. Penny was a foodie who wanted to know that the cows she was eating had lived a good life. She would have known what exactly was growing in the Beiler garden with just a glance. Not like Annie.

Annie talked about taking time off to fly out and see Penny in Washington, but somehow it never happened. Penny breezed into town for two or three days at Christmas and then went back to her own life, with an occasional e-mail or phone call aimed at her family.

Annie laughed at herself when she thought of digging in the garden as if she knew what she was doing while Rufus fended off Rick Stebbins. She did call Lee Solano about the event. He pledged to choke Stebbins in legal actions. Annie was beginning to think Lee might actually get Rick off her back, though of course she would pay for it.

Sadness sluiced through Annie. She missed her sister. Penny was scrappy. She would have taken protecting her little sister into her own hands if she knew any of what was going on. Annie smiled at the thought.

They had not had a traumatic rupture in their relationship, but the truth was that Annie didn’t speak to her sister much more than Rufus spoke to Ruth. Life diverged, and they let it. She put her hand on her phone, wondering what Penny would do if she called her in the middle of the day for absolutely no reason.

“Annie? Is that you?”

Annie blinked at the young woman beside her. “Lindsay!” She glanced at the stroller. “And the baby. How is she?”

Barrett’s wife. Barrett’s baby. In the mall.

“She’s fine.” Lindsay moved the blanket to allow Annie to see the baby’s face. “She loves sleeping in the stroller, so I come here to walk. I have to do something about my baby fat.”

“You look great.” Annie took a breath. One of them would have to ask the obvious questions. “How’s Barrett?”

Lindsay pushed the stroller back and forth with one hand. Then she broke into tears.

Annie’s breath stuck for a moment. She was calculating how to get past the questions looming over them, and suddenly a sobbing new mother stood between her and the furniture stores.

“Lindsay?” Annie put a hand on Lindsay’s quaking shoulder.

“He doesn’t talk to me,” Lindsay blubbered. “He says he made a lot of money when you bought him out, so we don’t have anything to worry about. But I still don’t understand why he wanted to sell his half when he was so happy working with you all these years.”

Annie could not think of a thing to say.

“He says he’s going to find something else to be passionate about, but he just sits in the house.” Lindsay swayed at the hips with the motion of the stroller. “He hardly pays any attention to the baby, and I’m lucky if he says six words to me all day.”

Annie gulped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Lindsay stopped pushing on the stroller and dug in the diaper bag for a tissue. “I shouldn’t dump on you in the middle of the mall. But I don’t understand what happened. Barrett left the company, and then Rick didn’t want to hang out with him, either.”

“Rick doesn’t want to hang out with him?” Annie tried to make sense of the statement.

“Barrett doesn’t do anything he used to love,” Lindsay said, “and I don’t know what to do.”

“I wish I knew what to tell you.”

“You could tell me what happened. Why did it all fall apart?”

Annie’s phone rang, and the baby squawked at the same time.

“It’s the office,” Annie said. “I’d better take it.”

“Never mind. If I don’t keep going, she won’t go back to sleep.”

“It was nice to see you.” Annie spoke to Lindsay’s back as she raised the phone to her ear. “Jamie, what’s up?”

“The assistant of that guy at Liam-Ryder Industries has called three times.” Annoyance rang in Jamie’s voice. “He’s in town just for the day before he flies out of Denver tonight, and he really wants a meeting.”

“Tell them two o’clock,” Annie said. “Let’s just find out what they want once and for all.”

By four o’clock, a plan formed in Annie’s mind. She sat at the conference table in her own office and listened to the groaning tectonic shifts in her life. Jumping from one plate to the other was still possible, before they separated too far.