Like a Bee to Honey (24 page)

She put her arm around him. “I forgive you, and I hope you will forgive me for the pain I've caused.”

He laughed bitterly. “I hurt myself by holding on to my anger. I wish it hadn't taken me thirteen years and a kidnapping to see it.”

Rose patted him on the shoulder. “Who says it was a kidnapping?”

Jethro lifted his head from her shoulder. “I'm sorry for scaring you. I'm sorry for scaring your sisters and your
aendi
.”

“I forgive you, Jethro.”

He furrowed his brow. “They are probably worried sick about you.” He stood and offered his hand. “We need to get you home.”

“Those scratches look like they hurt. Maybe on the way we could find a bandage.”

He glanced at his arm and frowned. “That is one brave kitten.” He helped her to her feet, and when he released her hand, Rose felt the ever-present fear leave her like a shawl falling from her shoulders. She gasped in surprise.

Chapter Eighteen

Josiah hadn't stopped praying since he'd climbed into Ashley's truck. Every word was from the deepest, most tortured part of his soul.
Lord, let Rose be all right. Bring her home to us. Please don't let them hurt her.
Josiah's own desires were the hardest thing to surrender, but if he wanted
Gotte
to hear him, he had to be willing to lose it all.
Thy will be done.

That thought just about choked him. What if it was
Gotte
's will that Josiah lose Rose?

He would never breathe again. Surely
Gotte
must know that.

He was crammed in the backseat of Ashley's truck with his head bowed and his arms propped on his knees, rocking back and forth in the small space because anxiety made it impossible for him to be still. If he didn't keep moving, he would explode or disintegrate. He couldn't let himself do either.

Sweat beaded on his forehead even though Ashley had the air conditioner turned up full blast. His heart crashed against his chest like violent waves on the beach, each beat more painful than the last.

Ashley, Griff, and Dan sat in the front seat. Ashley drove too slowly, Griff talked on his phone, and Dan tried to decipher the map on Ashley's phone. Since the Amish didn't use cell phones, Dan wasn't quite sure what to do to make the map bigger or make the voice louder or scroll down the page. Josiah couldn't help him. He was as useless at phones as Dan was.

“Lightly touch your finger on the screen and slide it up,” Ashley said, trying to give Dan instructions while keeping an eye on the road. “No, if you touch too hard it will take you to another screen.”

To his credit, Dan didn't give up. Rose needed them. He seemed determined to figure out the phone or die trying.

“The map doesn't really matter,” Ashley said. “I think we're still going the right way.”

“Go faster, Ashley,” Griff said, half listening on his phone.

“I can't. If I get another ticket, I'll lose my license.”

Josiah nearly growled in frustration, even though he knew how ungrateful he was being. If it weren't for Ashley, he would be sitting at home going insane with worry. Right now, Ashley was the answer to many prayers.

“How are you doing back there, Joe?” Ashley said.

Josiah raised his head and made eye contact with Dan. Dan's lips were drawn together in a tense frown, and he looked as pale as a snowstorm. “We're going to find her. They're not far ahead of us.”

Josiah couldn't manage any kind of a reply. Dan was trying to help him feel better, but it was an impossible task. The only thing that would make him feel better was when they found that car with Rose unharmed inside.

Griff lowered the phone from his mouth. “She says go south on 110.”

“I thought you said north,” Ashley said. “Dan, what does the map say?”

“I don't know,” Dan said, staring at the phone in complete confusion.

Griff listened to the person on the other end of the phone. “She says go south. Toward Marion.”

Ashley turned left onto a small town road. They drove a few blocks before the houses thinned out and gave way to rolling farmland.

“Three more miles,” Griff said.

“On this road?”

Griff's lips drooped into a sullen frown. “She just says three miles. Everybody's talking at me at once.”

Ashley patted Griff's leg. “You're doing great with the navigation.”

Griff seemed to perk up. “Thanks. It's hard over the phone.” It sounded like someone on the other end was screaming with excitement. “What?” Griff said. “I can't understand you.” He held perfectly still and listened carefully. “Okay. I'll tell them.” He pulled the phone from his ear. “She knows where they went. There's an Amish cemetery. Turn right! Turn right!” he yelled.

It didn't even feel like Ashley hit the brakes. She took the turn and her tires squealed as if they were being murdered. Even though he was buckled in, Josiah was tossed around like a pebble in the river.

When he righted himself, he trained his gaze out the window.

His heart stopped altogether. Up ahead, an old brown car with a rusted bumper was parked along the side of the road. “There it is!”

Ashley drove right up behind the car and slammed on her brakes. Dan and Griff jumped out of the truck, and Josiah practically leaped over the seat in an attempt to get out. Even being the last out of the truck, he was the first to the car. Dan handed him a flashlight, and he shone it in the window. Someone sat in the driver's seat, but it didn't look as if anyone else was in the car.

Josiah wrenched open the front door. A boy, probably just old enough to drive, sat in the driver's seat with his eyes closed and a pair of saucer-sized earphones clamped to his head. Josiah grabbed the boy's T-shirt sleeve and yanked hard.

The boy's eyes flew open, and he ripped the earphones from his head. His eyes widened in alarm as he took a good look at Josiah's face. “Whoa, man,” he said, raising his hands and pressing his back against his seat. “Whoa, don't hurt me.”

“Where is she?” Josiah growled. When the boy didn't immediately answer, he pulled harder on his T-shirt.

“I told him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen.”

Josiah was so angry and so terrified, he thought he might burst into flames. “Where is Rose?”

The boy pointed up an incline to his left. “He took her up there to his dad's grave.”

With flashlight in hand, Josiah bolted in the direction the boy had pointed without waiting for Dan or anyone else to follow. He sprinted up the incline and didn't slow his pace even when his lungs screamed at him to slow down. He turned off his flashlight before he got to the top and slipped behind a tree.

His heart stopped as he peeked around the tree and saw a weak light about a hundred feet ahead. Rose's white-yellow hair seemed to shine in the dim light, as a beacon for all of Josiah's hopes and dreams.

She was alive!

Denki,
Gotte.

The other kidnapper was with her, but he wasn't touching her. Josiah's pulse hummed with tension. If the boy knew Josiah was coming, he might try to hurt Rose or escape before Josiah could get to her. He had to separate the kidnapper from Rose before he had a chance to hurt her.

Hoping the darkness would hide his approach, Josiah ran at the boy with all his might. Lowering his shoulder, he rammed into the boy's gut, sending both of them to the ground with Josiah on top. Rose screamed. The kidnapper dropped his flashlight and grunted as he met the ground. Josiah pressed his knee into the boy's stomach and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt with both hands.

“Run, Rose,” he yelled. “Dan is down the hill.” The kidnapper didn't struggle as Josiah pressed his fists into the boy's chest and yelled at him. “What have you done? What have you done?”

There was a feather-soft touch on his shoulder, so light he almost didn't notice it. “Josiah,” Rose said, her voice so gentle and sweet that he melted at the sound of it. “Josiah, look at me.”

He relaxed his grip on the boy's shirt and turned to see Rose standing there holding the kidnapper's flashlight. Had there ever been a more beautiful, soul-healing sight?

“You're here,” she said, “and I'm safe.”

Nothing else mattered. Not the boy sprawled out on the ground, not revenge, not the terror he'd put them through.

Josiah released the boy's collar and stood up. He didn't even know if she wanted him, but he couldn't hold himself back. He gathered Rose in his arms, pressed his lips to her golden hair, and wept.

Dan was suddenly there. Out of the corner of his eye, Josiah saw him help the stranger from the ground and pull him several steps away. Josiah didn't care about the kidnapper anymore. He'd let Dan handle whatever came next. Josiah had Rose. That was all that mattered.

Rose could surely sense the great, silent sobs that wracked his body and feel the wet tears that slid down his face and into her hair. She reached up and laid her hand on his cheek. “Hush,” she said. “All is well. We have nothing to fear from Jethro Zook.”

He wrapped his hand around her wrist and kissed her palm. “Did he hurt you?”

“Nae,”
she said, even as he felt her trembling in his embrace. “Is Leonard Nimoy all right?”

Josiah managed a weak smile. “Bitsy has probably given her a whole bowl of cream.”

“I was worried about her.”

Josiah tightened an arm around her shoulder. “
Cum
. The truck is just down the hill.”

Rose took his hand and clung to it as she pulled him in the other direction, toward Jethro and Dan. She laid a hand on Jethro's arm. “I hope you find the peace that
Gotte
wants to give you.”

Jethro frowned. “I hope so too.”

This boy had terrorized Rose for months, threatened her whole family, and had forced her to a graveyard in the middle of the night. How could she manage a kind word for him?

If Josiah lived a thousand years, he would never deserve Rose Christner.

She pulled Josiah back to La Wayne's grave. They stood in silence and looked at it. “I hope La Wayne is at peace,” she said.

“Me too.” Josiah wrapped his arms around her and wove his fingers into the hair at the base of her neck. “I hope you are at peace.”

“
Jah.
I am.” She leaned heavily against him. “I'm not afraid anymore, Josiah. I'm not afraid.”

He could tell she was completely spent. He tightened his arm around her waist, but even then her steps faltered. Raw emotion made it impossible for him to say more. He tugged her close and scooped her into his arms.

After wrapping her arms around his neck, she buried her face in his shoulder and cried softly. “Take me home, Josiah. I want to go home.”

Chapter Nineteen

Rose tied her apron strings in a bow behind her back and tried to comprehend the sheer number of goodies on the butcher-block island. Once word got around that Rose had been kidnapped four days ago, the cakes and pies and cookies had started coming in from all the neighbors, Amish and
Englisch
alike. The Yutzy sisters had brought over a special batch of glazed donuts, Luke's
mamm
had made them a butterscotch pie, and Ashley's mother had sent them a plate of cookies from Wal-Mart. There were at least two-dozen desserts and loaves of bread sitting on their island.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Aunt Bitsy said, planting her hands on her hips. “Do they think if they get us fat we'll be harder to kidnap?”

Lily donned her own apron. “I think it shows how much everyone in the community loves Rose.”

“They love all you girls,” Aunt Bitsy said. “I think the only family in the
gmayna
who didn't send something over is the Glicks. They're shunning us independently.”

Rose leaned against the counter. “What are we going to do with all this food?”

“Let's freeze what will freeze,” Aunt Bitsy said. “We can use it for the weddings. Luke's
mamm
says we can use her freezer. And Josiah's sister, Suvie, offered her freezer as well.”

Rose's heart sped up. These days, any mention of anyone or anything related to Josiah made her pay attention.

Poppy cut a little piece out of the corner of one of the cakes and popped it into her mouth. “We'll just have to let the boys eat the rest for dinner tonight.”

Aunt Bitsy smirked. “Luke could eat most of it by himself.”

“We should take a few things to Josiah,” Rose said. “He doesn't have a wife to cook for him.”

Her sisters and Aunt Bitsy seemed to take a collective pause. They stared at Rose as if waiting for her to say something else. Was her hair tumbling out of her scarf? Did she have flour on her nose? She brushed her hand across her face just to be sure.

The staring lasted a good ten seconds, and then Lily pulled a box of food storage bags from the drawer. “We could give one of the cakes to Griff and Ashley. I never thought I'd say this in a hundred years, but I am wonderful glad Griff lives just down the lane.”

“I'm grateful for Ashley,” Poppy said. “That girl is the best thing that ever happened to Griff. I just hope she never realizes that she's way too good for him.”

Aunt Bitsy sidled next to Lily and started stuffing freezable cookies in plastic bags. “Yesterday, after we pulled honey, Ashley asked if I would like to start an Amish cooking blog with her.”

“What does that mean?” Rose asked.

Aunt Bitsy shrugged. “You write a recipe and put it on the computer. People search for Amish recipes on the Internet, and they see your recipe.”

“Ashley wants your recipes?” Lily asked.

“
Jah.
She thinks we would make a
gute
cooking team.”

Rose nodded her encouragement. “It sounds like it would be fun, Aunt Bitsy.”

“Maybe. But I don't know if Ashley would make a very
gute
partner. She didn't even know that you can buy chocolate chips separate from the cookies. I have a sneaking suspicion she doesn't know how to boil water.”

They heard a hiss from the direction of the window seat. Leonard Nimoy was pawing at Farrah Fawcett, trying to get the white cat to play with her.

Rose picked up Leonard Nimoy. “Now, Leonard Nimoy,” she said, in her most precious baby voice. “You know Farrah Fawcett doesn't like to be bothered. You have your own soft bed. Don't crowd Farrah Fawcett out of her own cushion.”

She placed the kitten on the soft, cuddly cat pillow that Aunt Bitsy had bought Leonard Nimoy as a reward for trying to defend Rose against Jethro Zook.

“We should buy one of those for Jack Willis,” Poppy said. “If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have found Buddy's car.”

Lily nodded. “Ashley and Griff deserve a pillow too. And Josiah. You should have seen him, Rose.”

There was another awkward pause as Lily, Poppy, and Aunt Bitsy stared at her. What? Did they think she didn't remember who Josiah was?

Lily cleared her throat. “He was beside himself, but he still kept his head.”

Rose's heart swelled three times as big. Josiah had saved her in more ways than one. Lily had told her that when they realized Rose was missing, Josiah had raced across the field to try to find her. Jack Willis had given Josiah the information from the car's registration, and Josiah had called Ashley. Ashley had come right over in Griff's truck and had driven Josiah and Dan to Buddy's house in Shawano. When they had explained the situation to Buddy's mom, she had been so mad, Dan said he sort of feared for poor Buddy's life. Buddy's mom had been able to track down Buddy and Jethro using the GPS on Buddy's phone, and she had communicated Buddy's location over the phone to Griff, who in turn had given Ashley directions while she drove.

Poppy stuck out her lower lip in a mock pout. “I missed the whole thing.”

“I'm sure Luke was happy about that,” Lily said. “Even with your hand in a cast, you would have ended up in a fistfight with Jethro Zook.”

“We might have to buy Buddy a pillow too,” Rose said. “He didn't want anything to do with Jethro's plan to take me to the cemetery.”

Aunt Bitsy picked up the box of plastic bags and shook it at no one in particular. “I'm not buying Buddy a cushion until he proves himself.”

On Wednesday morning bright and early, Buddy and his mom had shown up at their door. Buddy had looked very much like a puppy that had just been whacked with a newspaper. He'd apologized five times for letting Jethro Zook talk him into all the bad things they'd done on the farm and for frightening Rose and her sisters and for being generally stupid and ignorant—the
stupid and ignorant
part had been his mom's suggestion. Rose guessed he'd gotten quite an earful the night before. Buddy's mom had taken away his cell phone and his car and told him he'd be well into his thirties before he got them back. Rose felt kind of sorry for him.

Buddy's mother had asked if there was a way Buddy could work to pay them back for the damage he had done to their farm, and that was how Buddy had ended up helping them pull honey for the last four days.

“Buddy was a wonderful-
gute
help with the honey,” Rose said, feeling like she had to come to his defense. He was just a kid. With a mother like his who didn't let him get away with anything, he would learn to be a man.

Aunt Bitsy snorted. “We've simply taken on another stray cat,” she said. “Come to think of it, I should have given him all three cats as his punishment. That would have been a fair trade.”

Rose giggled and covered Leonard Nimoy's ears with her hands. “Aunt Bitsy! Don't ever let them hear you say that. The cats are like family.”

“Well,” Aunt Bitsy said. “Leonard Nimoy did try to save your life. Jethro Zook doesn't have the chicken pox, but he did end up with some
gute
scratches.”

Rose frowned. “He's sorry for what he did, Aunt Bitsy. We should be sad Leonard Nimoy scratched him.”

“We should be,” Aunt Bitsy said. “But I'm not. Why do you think Leonard Nimoy got the pillow?”

“Buddy was a
gute
help with the honey,” Lily said. “We can all admit that.”

Rose clasped her hands together. “Wasn't it
wunderbarr
?”

Aunt Bitsy narrowed her eyes. “The honey?”

“Jah,”
Rose said. “Pulling honey is my favorite time of the year.”

Another long pause as the sisters stared at her. She must have something in her teeth.

The Honeybee sisters, along with Dan, Luke, and Josiah, had spent the better part of the week extracting honey from their three dozen hives. Dan had been able to come most mornings after his milking was done, and then all three boys had come every afternoon after chores on their own farms. Ashley and Griff had come and helped them finish up today, and Buddy had been here all four days.

Rose had never had a better time pulling honey, and she wasn't ashamed to admit why—at least to herself. Josiah had come Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in the afternoon when his farm chores were done and had been so eager to help that Luke had hidden the duct tape just in case Josiah wanted to redecorate the hives.

Josiah had seemed almost giddy about learning how to use the heated scraping knfe, and he never strayed more than a few feet from Rose's side, as if she were the earth and he orbited around her.

Rose really couldn't imagine how she and her sisters had pulled the honey by themselves for so many years. In truth, she couldn't imagine how she'd done without Josiah at all. Her hand went to the nape of her neck, where the memory of Josiah's touch four nights ago still lingered.

Someone knocked on the door. Poppy snapped her head up and grinned. “Luke and Dan aren't due for another hour. I love it when they come early.”

Rose was simply glad that answering the door wasn't quite the frightening adventure it used to be.

Aunt Bitsy opened the door, and Josiah stood on the porch with a can of paint in one hand and a paintbrush in the other. His dog, Honey, sat at his feet.

Josiah caught sight of Rose and bloomed into a smile that made Rose shiver all the way down to her toes.
Oy
, anyhow. She loved that smile.

“Bitsy,” he said. “I didn't get to help you pull honey this morning, but I've finished my chores and I've come to paint the barn door. I thought you might want it to match the rest of the barn for the wedding.”

“
Gute
idea,” Aunt Bitsy said, glancing at Rose. “Do you need some help?”

He trained his gaze on Rose. “
Nae.
I don't want to bother you. I just wanted to get your approval.”

Lily grabbed a donut from one of the plates and handed it to him. “Would you like a donut?”

“
Jah
, sure.
Denki
.” He smiled at Rose. She returned his smile with an eager one of her own. They stood staring at each other in silence until Josiah seemed to remember where he was. “
Ach, vell
. I won't take up any more of your time. I'll be out by the barn if you need me.”

“Make sure it's the right color this time,” Aunt Bitsy said before she shut the door.

This whole staring thing with Aunt Bitsy and the sisters was becoming downright unnerving. None of them said anything. They just eyed Rose as if they were waiting for something.

Rose folded her arms and returned their gaze. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Lily glanced at Poppy, who glanced at Aunt Bitsy, who took Rose by the hand and led her to the table to sit. Rose sat down in the duct-taped chair. Poppy and Lily sat on either side of her, and Aunt Bitsy sat next to Lily.

Lily wrapped her fingers around Rose's wrist. “Rose,” she said. “How do you feel about Josiah?”

Rose's heart thumped just thinking about it. During the drive home from the cemetery, she and Josiah had sat in the backseat of the truck—just the two of them—and she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. It was then that she had seen clearly what had been tucked away in her heart for a very long time. Josiah wasn't just a friend, and she wasn't just a project. She loved him so deeply that her bones ached when she wasn't with him. But what would her sisters think of such talk? “Why do you ask?” she finally said.

Poppy took her other hand. There was a sense of urgency in her eyes. “Because he loves you something wonderful.”

The tears welled up without warning.
Ach
, it felt so
gute
to hear someone say it. “Do you really think so?”

“For sure and certain,” Lily said breathlessly. “More than anything.”

Rose blinked and a single tear plopped on the table. “And I . . . I love him more than anything too.”

It was as if her sisters and Aunt Bitsy had been holding their breath, and they finally released it. Poppy squealed and threw her arms around Rose's neck, and Lily wrapped her arms around Rose's waist. Rose tried to embrace everybody, and they hugged the stuffing out of each other.

Rose's happiness, as well as her sorrow, came with tears, and she cried into Lily's neck for the pure joy of saying it out loud. “Do you think . . . do you think he loves me enough to want a future together?”

Lily nodded. “There's no doubt about that.”

“Are you sure? He hasn't said a word. Maybe he hasn't made up his mind yet.”

Lily frowned. “Rose, you're blind if you can't see how much that boy loves you, but he doesn't want to rush you.”

“He's afraid he'll scare you away,” Poppy said.

“He's terrified,” Lily said. “If you say no, he'll never smile again.”

Rose wanted to deny it, but Lily and Poppy told the truth. Of course Josiah was apprehensive. Rose had made no secret that his expectations frightened her, that she thought he wanted to make her a project. Every time he had done something nice for her, she had questioned his motives. She had cried one minute, avoided him the next, rejected his gifts, and ordered him off her porch. She'd given him every reason to be cautious and every reason to give up on her.

She caught her breath and covered her mouth with her hand. If Josiah gave up on her, she didn't know what she would do. “Maybe I should let him know how I feel.”

“Don't ask me,” Aunt Bitsy said. “If you marry him, before long you won't be able to see the house for the duct tape. We'd become a tourist attraction.” She rubbed her chin. “I suppose we could make a little money out of it. I'm still deciding if this is a
gute
thing or a bad thing.”