Harvest of Hearts (5 page)

Matthew shrugged, then picked up a coffee cup and headed in Amos’s direction. Shanna moved the two drinks she’d bought to the cup holders in the console of her car. When she looked up again, she saw Amos take a sip of coffee and the trailer driver pocket his wallet. Matthew started toward her. “All set, then. Sure it’s okay if I drive?”

“It’s fine.” Except she felt like an idiot, knowing Matthew considered her an unsafe driver. But it was her fault for showing off and flirting with him. “How much do I owe you?”

“Not much. Don’t worry about it.” Matthew slid into the driver’s seat. “We’ll discuss it later.”

She scooted into the passenger seat, closed the door, and watched as he inserted the key in the ignition, then deliberately adjusted the seat, the side and rearview mirrors, and the steering wheel. Kind of like she had the first couple of times she’d driven. “How much have you driven?” Maybe giving him the keys hadn’t been a good idea, after all, despite the fact that he had a license. But then, he had to have passed a driving test to get the license. He must be a halfway decent driver.

“Enough. Where to?” He hooked the seatbelt and looked behind him before putting the car in reverse and backing out.

“The square.”

He nodded and pulled out. A few minutes later, he eased the car into a parking space.

Shanna climbed out of the car. “I need a few personal items. I’ll be right back. Unless you need something, of course; then you can come in.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Thought you said you needed me along.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I did. I didn’t mean to, anyway. But I wanted you to come.”

“Why…?” His eyes widened, and he immediately shook his head. “Never mind. Don’t answer that.”

Good thing he changed his mind. She didn’t want to admit that she’d wanted to go on a date with him, and this would be the closest she’d ever come. Even if the attraction she thought she saw in his eyes were real, there was no way he’d ask her out.

But she’d gotten what she’d wanted. A job. And a sort-of date. Yet now she regretted manipulating Matthew, and what that said about her. She wasn’t a very nice person sometimes. No wonder she’d never had a real relationship with a man. Plenty of dates, but nothing more. Shanna forced a grin and shut the car door. Then, she hurried across the street toward the store, making a mental list of the things she needed: shampoo, conditioner….

After making her purchases, she exited the store and jogged back to the car. She opened the passenger door, tossed the yellow plastic bag behind her onto the backseat, and closed the door. “Okay, I’m done. Let’s go.”

Matthew glanced at her. “Home?”

“Unless you can think of someplace else to go.” She said it jokingly, but she half meant it. Maybe more than half. “Maybe we could run away and not bother coming back until the fall semester. Do you have any money? We could still go to Mexico.”

“Home it is.”

Shanna gave an exaggerated sigh. She’d known she was being extreme. Still, disappointment ate at her.

Matthew backed the car out of the lot and pulled onto the highway. Shanna shut her eyes, not wanting to watch him drive. She knew he’d be the most careful one on the road.

“I’m afraid someone will recognize me driving,” Matthew said quietly. “I think I saw the bishop back there. I shouldn’t have asked to drive. You shouldn’t have let me.”

“I’m sorry.” She opened her eyes. “I’m really sorry.” Then, she noticed an upturned cardboard box on the side of the road, and a bunch of kittens scampering nearby. She gasped. “Pull over!”

Matthew did, and Shanna was out of the car in an instant, scooping up the kittens to save them from certain death. With her arms full of three kittens, she turned to take them to her car, but Matthew was already standing there, box in hand. He set it down, right-side up, on the ground. He picked up a fat black kitten and lowered it into the box, where it mewed and pawed at the sides.

Shanna dumped in the three she held and then turned to catch the last one, which had wandered out into the road. An approaching vehicle swerved into the other lane, and she grabbed the kitten by the back of its neck, then hurried back to Matthew and the other kittens. “It makes me so mad when people dump animals.”

He nodded. “Jah. They could have at least dumped them in front of an Amish farm. There is no such thing as too many mouse-catchers.”

For a moment, Shanna was tempted to slug his arm and argue that an animal shelter would be a better choice, in case the hypothetical Amish farmer was the type to put the kittens in a bag filled with heavy rocks and take them out to the pond to drown. But she stopped herself. She’d flirted with him entirely too much today. And even though she wanted to, she wouldn’t suggest making a trip to Springfield to find the kittens a good home. She didn’t have time tonight, anyway, since she had to work.

In her defense, he did seem interested in her, and she was used to the Englisch way of going after what she wanted, even toying with men’s affections.

That was wrong. She was wrong. She needed to show more respect to Matthew and his standards.

He loaded the box of kittens onto the backseat of her car. “What are you going to do with them?”

“Take them home.” Her daed had drowned more than his share of kittens in the past, despite her tears, but maybe he wouldn’t notice them for a day or two. At least until she had some time off work. Then, she’d take the animals into the city, where they’d have a chance at survival.

He nodded and dangled her car keys between them as a horse and buggy came to a stop behind them. A gray-haired man climbed out. Shanna recognized him as the bishop. He hadn’t changed at all. She cringed as he eyed her, but instead of berating her, he shifted his attention. “Matthew Yoder. I thought that was you. I must have imagined you behind the wheel of that car.”

Matthew wanted to deny driving the car. But even as the temptation to lie washed over him, he straightened his spine. Lying wouldn’t do any good. The bishop had seen him. Amos Kropf had seen him. And, of course, there were the keys, still clutched in his fingers.

He was the one who’d asked to drive, even when he knew that it was wrong for him, a member of the Amish church. And he’d been caught. There was nothing to do but own up to his violation of the Ordnung and accept the consequences.

“Jah—”

“I had an accident with a buggy in town,” Shanna said, interrupting him.

Matthew looked at her, noticing the stiffness in her stance. Why had she spoken to the bishop? He hadn’t addressed her.

“I shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car after the day I’ve had. I’m a danger to all the other people on the road. And Matthew knew this. You know how when you take cold medicine, the instructions tell you not to operate heavy machinery? Well, stress can do the same thing.”

“Then, maybe you shouldn’t be driving. Ain’t so?” The bishop’s sharp gaze landed on her.

Shanna’s grin appeared forced. “I knew you’d see it my way.”

The bishop’s brow furrowed in a frown. After a long hesitation, he shook his head and turned back to his buggy. Matthew watched him climb in, check for oncoming traffic, and drive away.

The issue was far from over, but it would be pursued away from confusing Englischers. Away from Shanna. Matthew sighed and jingled the keys. He’d always been the good Amish kid, the one who mostly obeyed the rules during his rumschpringe. Getting a driver’s license had been his one major act of disobedience, and that was because his best friend had talked him into it.

He shoved the memory away and rattled the keys again, drawing her attention.

She didn’t make any move to reach for them.

“Take them.”

Shanna did so without argument, sliding them into her pocket. She peered into the backseat, then turned to scan the road, maybe looking for more stray kittens.

“I don’t need you trying to cover my transgressions,” he told her. “I can talk for myself.”

Her mouth parted for a moment, and then she shut it with a curt nod. Glancing up the road, she walked around him to the driver’s side, opened the door, and slid inside. Without saying a word to him.

The engine roared to life. Did she plan to leave him there? Stranded? Matthew sucked in a breath of air and hustled around to the front passenger’s side. It would be the last straw if she left him standing on the highway.

He was only halfway inside when the tires started to roll. He pulled his other leg in, reached for the door handle, and slammed the door shut as she merged onto the highway.

“You’re dangerous!” He shifted his weight to sit correctly, pulled the seatbelt across his chest, and then glared at her. As if she could feel his eyes.

Her jaw tightened.

“Is that why you wanted to be a nurse? Job security from fixing up all the people you injure in traffic accidents?”

A lone tear made a trail down her cheek.

He instantly regretted the words. They’d been more than a bit harsh. But instead of apologizing, he turned away and looked out the window. He’d apologize later. If he made it home in one piece.

How could this woman have even one drop of Amish blood in her? He certainly couldn’t see it.

She didn’t attempt to avoid the washout on the dirt road when they came to it. She hit the gas and flew over it, seeming to ignore the racket when the car bottomed out.

Jah, Shanna was trouble with a capital T.

So, why did he feel so attracted to her?

***

Shanna dropped Matthew off in front of the shop door, then drove the car behind the barn, where it would be hidden from sight. Daed had always asked Onkel Micah to park his RV back there, as if he was ashamed to have an Englisch vehicle on the grounds. Few, if any, of the neighbors even knew that part of the barn had electricity, and Onkel Micah always kept the windows covered with cardboard at night, probably so the lights wouldn’t be seen.

She would do the same.

But that was as far as it would go. She didn’t claim to be Amish anymore, and while Daed may be permitting her to stay on his property, he treated her as an outsider. At least, he had so far today. So, she would respond in kind. She didn’t belong here, and she wouldn’t make any effort to seek out her family—make that her ex-family—or the handsome Matthew Yoder from Pennsylvania.

She’d done enough damage today, to much more than just the buggy. Her reputation, for one—she couldn’t imagine what Matthew must think of her. Dangerous, a bad driver, a flirt, too talkative…. The list probably went on and on.

Pretending she was about to drive off without him? She wouldn’t have, really. But the joke had belly flopped. She still felt the pain deep inside. College students pulled that trick on each other all the time. Matthew didn’t know that.

Frowning, she climbed out of the car, opened the back door, and lifted the box of mewing kittens. After using her hip to bump both doors closed, she carried the box around to the front of the barn. She hoped Daed wouldn’t peek out of the shop and see her. And that Matthew wouldn’t tell Daed about them.

Surely, Daed wouldn’t notice five extra kittens if no one mentioned them. After all, she’d spied kittens tumbling around in the grass when she’d arrived this morning. She didn’t see them now.

A rock settled in the pit of her stomach. Had Daed drowned the kittens while they’d been gone? If so, he would notice the new ones.

Entering the barn, Shanna scanned the shadows. There, in a corner, a kitten wrestled with a mouse. It looked like the mouse was winning. With a grin, Shanna set the box down and scooped up one of the kittens.

“What do you have there?” Daed’s voice came from behind her.

Shanna felt her heart rate skitter out of control, and she gripped the kitten tightly, squeezing enough that it squeaked and dug its claws into her hand.

She swallowed and turned to face her father, with the kitten still squealing and squirming for freedom. “They were dumped out on the highway. I couldn’t leave them. They were going to get run over. I thought I’d take them to the Humane Society in Springfield.”

“You think this looks like the Humane Society?” Daed folded his arms across his chest.