Taken for English (8 page)

“Have you seen her?” Annie sat on her bicycle seat with one foot on the ground and the other on a pedal. “Maybe you thought she was on her way somewhere?”

“Yesterday.”

Annie gave a slight gasp. She had not really expected any help from Joel. “Where?”

“Walking through the meadow across the highway.”

“Could you tell where she was going?”

Joel stretched his lips into a straight line. “It would just be a guess.”

“Then guess! I think she’s in trouble, Joel. I’m worried.”

He bumped a fist softly against his chin. “She was walking west. Not sure why anyone would go that way, but there is an old mining road.”

“Where? Tell me how to find it.”

Joel hesitated. “I don’t want to hear that you got into trouble, too.”

“I’m going to keep looking either way, Joel. Just give me some directions.”

He shook his head. “Let me have a few minutes. I left the cart at the south end of the field. I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll meet you there.” Annie shifted her weight and put her bicycle in motion.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Annie gripped the seat beneath her with both hands.

“Well, if I don’t, then it’s better I did not send you off on a wild goose chase by yourself.”

“But do you?”

“I can’t promise Leah is going to be there.”

Joel swung as hard a left turn as Annie had ever seen anyone make in a horse and cart. She refused to slide on the bench.

“Fine. Just show me where you saw her yesterday and we’ll figure it out from there.”

Annie scanned the meadow on both sides of the narrow road that Joel had found. It was barely more than a horse trail, but she could see how in Westcliffe’s history it would have been an avenue between the mines and the population. Summer was waning. Around her the meadow already had begun to brown. Leah’s dress would be bright—a rich blue and a purple apron if she was wearing the same dress Annie had last seen her in. But where on this meadow could Leah have found shelter? Soon home heating systems would go on at night. Even a dedicated camper would look for a way to keep warm.

“I think we found her.” Joel slowed the horse.

Annie swung around to look out the other side of the cart, and there was the patch of blue and purple. Leah sat cross-legged on the ground with her head hanging almost to her lap.

Leah was crying, Annie realized. She put up a hand to signal Joel to stop then carefully exited the cart with no sudden movement. Annie glanced over her shoulder when the creak above the left wheel revealed Joel had left the cart as well. Leah’s shoulders rose and fell with her sobs. Annie took one slow step at a time toward the girl. Finally, she was close enough to kneel beside her.

“Leah.”

The girl’s head snapped up. “What are you doing here? Can’t a body have a moment of peace?”

Annie licked her lips. “It doesn’t look like peace to me.”

“I didn’t ask you.”

“Leah, let me help you.” Behind Annie, Joel followed but kept his distance.

“Tell me how to take a train to Pennsylvania.” Leah’s eyes dared. “Get me a job in that shop you work in so I can earn train fare. You want to help me? That’s what you can do.”

Annie sat on the ground and said nothing.

“I suppose you want me to go to my parents.” Leah sniffed.

“We could talk about it, at least.”

Leah picked up a letter from her lap and waved it. “I walked into town yesterday and went to the post office. I asked if any mail was addressed to me, not to my parents, and I got this.”

The letter bore a firm male hand and was written in Pennsylvania Dutch.

“Who is it from?” Annie asked quietly.

“From the only person on earth who really loves me.”

“I see.” Annie understood now why Leah was so desperate to return to Pennsylvania.

“He wants me to come back. We want to get married.”

“You’re only seventeen.”

Leah rolled her eyes. “You’re baptized Amish. You have to know that seventeen and Amish is not like seventeen and
English.”

It was still young, but Annie choked back her words.

“Don’t say anything if you’re just going to sound like my mother.”

“Have you had other letters? Have you showed one to your mother?”

Leah expelled breath. “I tried. She tore it up without even taking it out of the envelope.”

“I’m sorry.” Annie pulled her knees up under her chin. “What if I asked you to come home with me?”

Leah’s eyes widened. “To your house in town?”

Annie nodded. It would be a first step. If she could get Leah sheltered and cared for, perhaps the girl would agree to further conversation.

“It’s a trick. Don’t think Amish girls don’t recognize tricks.”

“I never said—”

Leah was on her feet and sprinting toward Brownie and the cart.

“Wait!” Annie called.

Joel sprang into action, too. But Leah had too much of a head start on them. She leaped into the cart and picked up the reins. Brownie responded to the sound she made and the signals of the reins and began a rapid trot.

Rufus looked at the newspaper folded neatly on the coffee shop table he had chosen to occupy. It was just the local Westcliffe paper, in print for over a hundred years. Rufus thought of it like the
Budget
, the Amish newspaper out of Sugarcreek, Ohio, that congregations around the nation read. It was full of news and information that might pique the curiosity of members of the community but would not interest outsiders. Rufus nudged the paper out of his way and set his coffee down.

A shadow crossed the table and Rufus looked up. “Hello, Tom.”

“I’m glad you could meet.” Tom sat across from Rufus. “How are you for work? I might have a lead for you.”

Rufus cleared his throat. “Well, the fire has caused a setback, and you already know David has no orders for me right now.”

“This could be steady work over the winter.”

“I usually try to build hope chests when construction slows down.”

“But you have no orders.”

“God will provide.”

Tom sipped coffee. “Could God provide by giving you a full-time job?”

“Full-time?”

“For a few months. A friend of mine in Cañon City keeps a carpenter on his staff, but the guy got hurt—on his own time. This is nothing dangerous. But he won’t be back to work for four months.”

Rufus turned the pages of a mental calendar. “Cañon City is too far. How would I get there and back every day?”

“It’s not all in Cañon City. The jobs are spread around the southwest part of the state. He remodels apartment buildings, office complexes, and small hotels. You’d be installing ready-made cabinets. It’s all indoors.”

Rufus twisted his lips. “I don’t know, Tom. I don’t see how that could work.”

“Granted, it would be a change for you. But my buddy’s a good guy. Jeff would pay you well. And he would put you up near each job. The money could get you through the winter.”

“Sleep away from home?” Among the
English?
Rufus had built cabinets for many
English
homes. Each one was a work of beauty that brought glory to God. Working as an employee of an
English
had never tempted him, though. He did not want to fall into thinking that any work was beneath him, but the thought of separating from his family—and Annalise—fed his reluctance.

“You could do this in your sleep, Rufus.” Tom tilted his head back and drank the last of his coffee. “It’s honest work. It’s temporary, something to get you through a rough patch.”

Annie lurched toward the moving buggy. “Leah!”

Joel was four strides ahead of her and broke into a sprint. If it were not for her dress, Annie could have caught him, even passed him. The rhythms of running track in high school and college still rose from her muscles when called upon, and she felt the adrenaline now. But while Annie had to use her hands to lift her hem out of the dirt, Joel pumped his limbs and ran freely.

Leah did not look back as Annie and Joel chased her up the old rutted road.

Then with a thud, Annie hit the ground. Though she caught herself on her hands, the damage was done in her right ankle. Wincing, she sat up. Even Joel was slowing down. If anything, Leah was driving faster.

Joel finally stopped and turned to look at Annie. She pushed up to her feet and started limping toward him, testing her ankle with each step.

“I’m sorry,” Annie said once they were close enough to speak. “I had no idea she would do something like this.”

Joel offered an arm to Annie. “How bad is your foot?”

“I used to run races on worse injuries, but that’s been a few years.” Leaning on his arm, she was able to move at a steady pace, but the irregular terrain made speed challenging. “I hope she won’t hurt Brownie.”

It was an hour later when they reached the highway and found the horse, still attached to the cart, grazing contentedly.

Leah Deitwaller was nowhere in sight.

A
nnie lifted her right ankle while Ruth slid a pillow beneath it and gently pressed an ice pack against the lump. “Thanks for driving me out here.”

“I was coming for Sunday dinner with my family anyway.” Ruth settled at the end of the couch. “Do you need anything else?”

Annie shook her head. “I can’t believe I sprained my ankle chasing a buggy.”

“You’re lucky it’s not broken.”

“Lucky?” Annie smiled. “Have you become so
English
as to believe in luck?”

A smile escaped Ruth’s lips.
“Gottes wille
. You are blessed that your ankle is not broken.”

“It’s not really too bad anymore. It’s been three days, after all.”

“Don’t rush the healing. It takes time.”

“Yes, Nurse Beiler.” Annie pulled an afghan off the back of the sofa and spread it over her lap and legs. “I’m glad Brownie and the buggy were all right, but I’m worried about Leah Deitwaller.”

“You can’t help someone who doesn’t want help,” Ruth said.

“Oh, she wants help, all right. She just wants it on her terms.”

Ruth checked the position of the ice pack against Annie’s ankle. “It amounts to the same thing.”

“I wish I understood what her parents are thinking. Do you think they even know about the young man in Pennsylvania?”

“That’s hard to say. Many Amish couples keep their feelings to themselves until they are sure that the way is clear for them to marry.”

“But surely Leah would have told her parents why she did not want to move to Colorado. What if they don’t know this man? What if he is from another district and they don’t know that he would be a perfectly wonderful husband for their daughter?”

Ruth cocked her head.

Annie threw her hands up. “I know, I know. I’m meddling. Trying to solve a problem that is not mine to solve.”

“Well,” Ruth said, “I’m relieved we don’t have to have that conversation again.”

“You probably think I am as hardheaded as Leah.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“If I didn’t think it would hurt my foot to move that pillow, I would throw it at you.”

Ruth laughed. “No more acts of
English
aggression from you. You are a baptized Amish now.”