Plain Fame (17 page)

“What won’t be the same?” he asked gently. Her eyes, wet with tears, were hurting him. He had always been weak against tears. It reminded him too much of the pain that his own mother had gone through during her years as a single mother, struggling in Miami to raise him.

Amanda lifted her eyes to his, and he was immediately engulfed in the depth of her brown eyes. So dark, so beautiful. “Alejandro, how can I court any Amish boy after having this experience?” she asked, the candor of her words cutting through the unspoken but rising tension in the buggy. She bit her lip, then added what she really meant to say: “After having this experience with you?”

Courting?
The word echoed in his mind. Was that what she thought? That he had been courting her?
“Ay, mi madre,”
he mumbled but not unkindly. Instead, he realized how unfair he had been to Amanda. He was used to such a different world, a world of fast women and easy living. Amanda, however, was so pure, so innocent, and so prone to a broken heart. “I’m so sorry, Amanda,” he said. He reached for her hand and held it in his. “I never meant to hurt you,” he whispered as he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “A courtship between us cannot happen, Princesa,” he heard himself say, hating the words as they fell from his lips. “You know that.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“I could never be Amish,” he said, his voice flat and matter-of-fact. She needed to hear the truth; there was no way to sugarcoat it.

Amanda blinked her eyes rapidly as if to force back the tears. He could see that more were on the brink of falling. “I want to experience more, Alejandro. I want to know what it would be like,” she whispered.

This was the moment, he thought. She was staring at him, the sparkle in her eyes dimmed by tears. Yet her lips were pouting enough to make him forget himself. He forgot that he was seated inside a buggy, an Amish woman sitting next to him. Instead, he saw just the pure beauty of a woman. He glanced around to make certain that they had not been followed before he held the reins of the horse in one hand and leaned forward. He put his arm around her neck and pulled her closer, letting himself get lost in the moment. Of all the exotic women he had known in his life, he knew that none of them matched the passion of the woman who was sitting next to him.

He let his lips brush gently against hers, hating himself the moment that it happened. Don’t, he heard his inner voice screaming. But he couldn’t help himself. Instead, he murmured,
“
Dios
mío.”
Amanda’s inner beauty had a stronger pull on him than his own moral strength. Once his lips touched hers, he was no longer able to hold back. He pulled her closer and crushed her against his chest. He could feel her petite body pressed against him, and he knew that he was beyond stopping. Rather than try, he held her tightly and let his mouth cover hers for what he would forever remember as the most passionate kiss of his life. She gave back in a way that was innocence and passion wrapped into one.

Her hands pressed against his chest, and she squeezed his flesh, a return gesture of his desire. He let a low groan escape his mouth as he trailed his lips across her throat and tasted her skin. She was fresh and salty, a perfect blend of country. His hand traveled up the back of her neck and tugged gently at her hair. The pins fell free easily, and before he knew it, her hair hung loose down her back. It smelled sweet like lavender, and he pulled it forward to bury his nose against the scent.

“Ay,
Amanda
,”
he moaned. “I can’t do this,” he said, despite wanting the opposite. Grasping her hair in his hand, he pressed it against her cheek and compelled her to look at him. “It’s not right.” He forced himself to pull back and stared into her face, pressing his hand against her cheek. “
You can
’t come to my world,” he whispered.

“Why not?” she asked, her voice soft and her eyes demanding answers.

Her words echoed in his head.
Why not?
He didn’t know how to answer that. There were a thousand wrong reasons why she could come to his world, and he realized, only one very good reason why she shouldn’t. He shook his head. “You’
d hate me,
” he offered. “You’d find reasons to hate me for taking you there. It
i
s an ugly world and not worthy of someone as good as you. My world is not like here.”

“But I’d be with you,” she countered.

Her sincerity and the way that she looked at him could have convinced him. For a moment, he imagined bringing Amanda on tour with him. Everything would be new and exciting to her. He’d get to see the world through new eyes. But then, other images flashed before his eyes. The women, the concerts, the crowds, the parties. Being together was not reason enough, he told himself.

“You wouldn’t be
here
,” he replied. “And this is where you belong. This is where your life is, Amanda. It is not with me. Not on the road, not with the paparazzi and the fans. You would never survive.”

She tensed in his arms and pulled back. A dark shadow crossed over her eyes, and she became tense. “I can survive anything,” she said.

He held her hand and caressed it. Her young skin was so soft. In his mind, he thought of the other women who had been in her position. Wherever he traveled, he surrounded himself with beautiful women who spent their time with one goal in mind: how to remain beautiful. Their days were spent shopping, working out, applying makeup, and fixing themselves up to attract his attention at the clubs or concerts.

He tried to imagine Amanda in such a situation and knew that it would never work. She’d be swallowed up by those women, despite her own natural beauty and innate goodness. Her heart wasn’t hardened like theirs. And even though he felt a strong attraction to her, he wasn’t going to be responsible for ruining this young woman. Not Amanda.

“Let me take you home,” he said softly as he brushed his fingers across her cheek. She reached up and touched his hand, holding it against her skin. The gesture tugged at his heart, and he leaned down, gently touching his lips against hers one last time. “It’s time to go,” he whispered. He didn’t wait for a response before he took the reins in his hands and urged the horse to continue on its way. She sat quietly by his side, staring out the window with tears in her eyes. There was nothing left to say.

Back at the farm, Alejandro helped her out of the buggy. He had his arm around her waist as he led her toward the house. She walked slowly, knowing that this was the end. He was leaving, and despite his promise, she knew that she would never see him again. His kiss lingered on her lips, and she felt as if her heart would break into pieces.

“What happened?” Lizzie asked as she opened the door to let them in.

“I must leave,”
Alejandro stated.
“They know that I am here.”

“Who?”

He helped Amanda inside the house as he answered her. “The media. It won’t take long for them to find me here, so it is better that I leave before that happens.”

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Lizzie responded, staring at her daughter, who was still visibly upset.

“The people in town,” she whispered. “They were crowding Alejandro and pushed me aside.” It wasn’t a lie, but she knew that it wasn’t the truth. How could she tell her
mamm
what she was really feeling in her heart? How could she tell her
mamm
that Alejandro’s leaving their farm made her feel as though her life was over?

Alejandro helped her inside before disappearing through the door to the
grossdaadihaus
. Within minutes, he had packed the few items that he had and was waiting on the porch for his driver. Amanda clung to the porch post, watching him with tears in her eyes. Lizzie and Elias stood behind her, not understanding exactly what had happened, but it wasn’t in their nature to question his decision to leave so abruptly.

When the black car finally pulled into the driveway, Alejandro turned to Elias and shook his hand. “I cannot thank you enough for allowing me into your lives,” he said. “
I won
’t forget my time here.”

Elias nodded. “You are a
gut Schaffmann
. Don’t forget that.” His voice was strained, and Amanda could tell that he was as sad as she was that Alejandro was leaving so quickly.

Lizzie let him embrace her, and she smiled at him when he thanked her for her hospitality.

When he turned to Amanda, he removed his dark sunglasses and gazed at her. Despite the fact that her parents were standing behind her, he reached out and brushed her cheek with his hand. She shut her eyes and felt the warmth of his touch. “From now on, you look both ways crossing the streets, Princesa,” he whispered, with a smile not reflected by the sadness in his eyes. He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead, an innocent gesture, but he sensed Lizzie’
s discomfort.

The driver was waiting for him. With nothing left to say, he picked up his bag and hurried toward the car. He didn’t look back as the driver shut the door behind him. He refused. There was nothing more to say or do at the Beiler farm. Alejandro knew that his stay was over and it was time to return to the world of Viper. Looking back would only make the transition that much harder.

Chapter Fourteen

“Elias, something’s wrong,” Lizzie called out. She was standing at the front door, looking outside at the men who were leaning against a car in their driveway. She looked over her shoulder, her face pale and her mouth pressed together in a tight grimace. “There are quite a few people here, and I don’t have a good feeling about them.”

Elias came down the stairs. He was pulling up his suspender straps as he walked. “What are they doing?”

She stepped away from the door and let him look for himself. “Englischers. I think they have cameras.” She lowered her voice so that Amanda wouldn’t hear. “They’ve been taking photographs of the house.”

“What on earth?” he exclaimed. Opening the door, Elias walked outside. “Can I help you fellows with something?”

Amanda propped herself up on the sofa. She had been lounging around all day, tired and bored of not being able to move at will. Her mind continued to replay her last moments with Alejandro. On more than one occasion, she had hidden her face into the side of the sofa and wept, as softly as possible so that her mother wouldn’t hear.

Now, with her mother staring out the window and her father calling out to strangers, she found something to divert her attention.
“Wie gehts,
Mamm
?”
she asked.

“
Nichts
for you to worry about, Dochder,” Lizzie replied gently as she stood at the door and watched Elias call out to the men by the car. But the men didn’t respond. Instead, they simply pointed their cameras in his direction and started taking more photographs. One of the men even approached the house and called out something that Lizzie couldn’t understand. But that was all that Elias had to hear before he quickly turned around and hurried back into his home.

As he shut the door behind him, he glanced at Lizzie, then looked over at Amanda. “Seems like it might be a hot day today,” he said, hurrying over to the window by the kitchen sink and pulling down the green shade. The room was immediately enveloped in darkness. “Might want to shut those other shades to keep the sun out.”

“Who are they?” Lizzie whispered.

“
I don
’t know.”

Amanda watched her parents move about the room, shutting the window shades. She knew that something was happening outside and that they were trying to shield her from knowing what it was. But she had her own secrets.

Amanda had not told her parents the true extent of the scene at the village just the day before, neglecting to mention that a mob of Alejandro’s fans had shoved her and that she had fallen to the ground. Nor had she told them the real reason why Alejandro had left so abruptly. She shut her eyes and leaned back against the sofa, remembering the kiss that they had shared. For a moment, she almost felt the tears come to her eyes once again. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she wondered if she’d ever hear from him again.

For the rest of the afternoon, Lizzie and Elias seemed to hover nearby. They were looking outside on a regular basis and continued to frown, their expressions showing concern when they lowered the shades. Amanda tried to take a nap but couldn’t. She was too distracted by her thoughts and her parents. When it was close to the hour for evening chores, Amanda watched as her father left the house, his hat pulled over his head and his shoulders hunched over as though he was dreading leaving the house.

“What is it, Mamm?” Amanda asked once again.

Lizzie didn
’t answer, her silence indicating that Amanda didn’t need to know.

“May I at least help with supper, then?” Amanda asked, pushing herself up and reaching for her crutches. It took her a few seconds to steady herself on her feet before she hobbled over to the kitchen counter.

“You’re supposed to be resting,”
Lizzie scolded.

“I’ve been resting all day,” she replied. “It’s boring. I need to move around.”

A deep sigh and a gentle shake of the head showed Lizzie’s displeasure, but she didn’t say anything else. She knew it was impossible to stop Amanda when she had her mind set on something. “I’m going to get some canned beets and chowchow in the cellar,”
Lizzie said.
“You can pour the applesauce into bowls.”

Amanda waited until her mother left the room before hurrying over to the door. Slowly, she opened it, careful not to hit her leg with it as it swung backward. She peeked her head out first, looking around, and quickly noticed the strange car in the driveway. Englischers? That surprised her. Englischers never visited, and from what she quickly surmised, they had been there for a while. She wondered if that was what had bothered her
mamm
and
daed
all day. If they didn’t want anything, why didn’t they leave?

Curious, Amanda used the crutches to help herself walk down the porch steps, moving along the path toward the car. No one was in it. She imagined they were in the barn with her
daed
. She started to move toward the barn when she heard her
mamm
call her name from the door. “Get back inside, Amanda!” Lizzie yelled.

That was when the two men quickly emerged from around the side of the barn. They ran toward her, taking pictures and following her as Amanda quickly tried to get back into the house. They walked alongside her, the cameras pointed into her face. They were so close that she could hear the click, click, click of the photos being taken. And then they began to ask her questions.

“When did Viper leave?” the one man asked.

“Can you tell us why he stayed here?”

The questions seemed to attack her faster than the clicking of the cameras.

Amanda shook her head and tried to look away, but they stood in her path. “Leave me be,” she whispered.

“When is Viper coming back?”

Amanda felt a hand on her arm and was relieved to see her father. He guided her away from the men, sternly telling them to get off his property. But the men didn’t seem to care. They continued taking photographs and following them. Elias was strong enough to push his way past them and managed to get Amanda back into the house.

Once inside, she sank down into a chair at the kitchen table. Her hands were shaking, and the blood had drained from her face. For a moment, she thought back to the day when Alejandro had taken her from the hospital to the waiting car in order to return to Lititz. The photographers had been just as invasive and persistent. She hadn’t understood it then. She understood it even less now. But the overwhelming feeling of fear overcame her, and she started to cry. When Lizzie hurried over to hug her, Amanda pressed her face against her mother’s shoulder and sobbed.

Lizzie looked up at Elias, her eyes wide and desperate. “What do they want?”

Elias shook his head. His face was pale and his eyes worried as he glanced at his daughter. “I think they want Amanda.”

A shocked look crossed Lizzie’s face. “Why?”

“They were asking her about Alejandro,” was all that Elias could think to reply. He rubbed his hand on his forehead and glanced at the door. It was shut and locked, something that they never had to do before. He walked over to the window and moved the curtain slightly in order to peer outside. “I’ve never seen such aggressive Englische! They won’t get off the property.”

“What do we do?”
Lizzie asked, rubbing Amanda
’s back to help calm her down.

“If they don’t leave, we may have to get help,” Elias said.

By late morning the next day, there was no sign of the car in the driveway, but Elias still seemed tense. It was clear that neither Lizzie nor Elias had slept much during the night. They had even insisted that Amanda sleep back upstairs, despite the stairs and the heat. She hadn’t minded. In fact, she had taken comfort knowing that she was in the room next to her parents. The two men with the cameras had upset her, and she didn’t want to be alone downstairs.

Amanda decided not to go outside, insisting on working on a quilt instead of helping with the outdoor chores. Even with her broken leg, she could have helped her
mamm
with hanging laundry or even weeding the garden, but neither of her parents seemed intent on asking her to do much of anything. It was clear that everyone was on edge from the invasion of privacy. It would take some time for them to return to feeling comfortable and safe.

During the noon meal, Lizzie shared a letter that had arrived that morning from Anna in Ohio. The mood started to lift in the room as they speculated that Anna would not be returning at all. It was clear that she had begun courting someone, although Anna never came right out to admit that. Instead, it was implied. What would have been a joyous occasion seemed sullied and overcast by the events from the previous day.

By early evening, when the tension was beginning to lift from the house, Lizzie sat down with Amanda to look at the quilt that she was bent over. A simple nine-patch for a wall hanging. “Your quilting stitches are quite fine, Amanda,”
Lizzie said approvingly.

Compliments like that were rare, and Amanda forced a smile. But she didn’t feel like smiling. She also didn’t feel like quilting. She didn’t feel like doing much more than staying in bed and feeling sorry for herself. She missed the life and vitality that Alejandro had brought to the farm. It had been far too long since the house had felt so alive. The death of Aaron had drained the farm of laughter and life. Alejandro had returned it. But now that he was gone, it seemed he had taken it away with him.

“They’re back,” Elias said as he hurried through the door. He shut and locked the door behind him, his eyes scanning the room to see if the windows were open. “Shut those windows and blinds, Lizzie.”

“Who’s back?” Amanda said, setting the needle and thread down on the quilt. “Those men?”

“Ja,”
Elias replied as he pulled the green shades down over the windows by the kitchen counter. “And there are more of them.”

“More?” Amanda asked, her eyes wide and the color draining from her face.

Lizzie stood against the counter, wrapping her arms around herself. “How many?”

“Six, I reckon,” Elias said.

“What do we do?”

The question was simple, but the answer far too complex for anyone to answer. Elias stared at Lizzie, the silence speaking far more of the challenges that faced them than if he had tried to respond. Without going to the authorities, there was no stopping the photographers. Amish didn’t press charges. Amish didn’t use the police. Clearly, the men in the driveway knew that and felt safe trespassing. Yet Elias couldn’t continue to allow these men to trespass and disrupt their lives. Something would have to give.

“Mayhaps I need to seek out the bishop,” he finally said.

The thought of being left alone at the farm with those men lingering and lurking outside did not sit well with Amanda. Without her father, it would only be her
mamm
to protect them both from the intruders. It was apparent that the men were not shy about being overly aggressive. “I suppose we couldn’t all go,” she mentioned.

“You’ll be all right here,” her
daed
said, although everyone in the room knew that he was not as convinced as he sounded.

When Elias went outside to hitch up the horse and buggy, Lizzie peered through the window and watched. She refused to let Amanda see what was happening. Instead, Lizzie shook her head and gasped more than once, tsk-tsking, with tears falling down her cheeks. When the buggy finally rattled down the driveway, she hurried to the door to double check that she had locked it properly.

“Why are they here, Mamm?” Amanda asked.

“
I just don
’t know, Dochder,” Lizzie responded. She was shaking and tense, clearly anxious about being alone without Elias at the farm.

For the next hour, they sat quietly in the kitchen. It was dark with the shades drawn, and Lizzie didn’t make a move to light the lantern. Amanda tried to quilt some more, but she kept unthreading the needle or missing the quilt lines. Giving up, for she didn’t feel like quilting anymore, she shut her eyes and tried to rest. She hadn’t slept well the night before and was tired. But even now, she was too tense to nap. Her
mamm
alternated between trying to read the Bible and peeking out the window. Amanda didn’t need to ask whether the men were still out there. She could tell by the tight expression on her
mamm
’s face that the intruders were still in the driveway.

By the time they heard the buggy return, Amanda couldn’t help herself from scurrying to her feet and reaching for the crutches. She moved over to the window and peeked outside as she stood next to her mother. Three buggies rolled into the driveway, and to Amanda’s horror, she also noticed that there were more than six men out there now, all with their cameras pointed at her father, the bishop, and one of the ministers. They ignored the photographers as they hurried to the porch. Lizzie quickly unlocked the door and let them inside.

The bishop’s face was tight and drawn. Clearly, he was displeased. He removed his hat and stared at Lizzie and Amanda. “I am sorry for your troubles,” he started. “Elias told us what has been happening here.” He glanced at the other man, David Yoder. “I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t come to see for myself.”

“How do we get them to leave?” Lizzie pleaded, her voice cracking with emotion.

The bishop pursed his lips and shook his head. “I hesitate to say it, but I feel that we must contact the Englische authorities to have those camera people removed from the property. That is all that we can do,” he said.

“Perhaps having their law enforcement chase them away will be enough,” David Yoder added hopefully.

Elias merely shook his head. “
I just don
’t understand why they are here,” he said.