A Heart Made New (44 page)

“Everyone is fine, Leah, just fine.” David turned to Logan. “Let the women and children go. Please.”

“Everyone but Charisma and my babies.”

“I’m not leaving Charisma.” Annie put her hands on her hips. “If you think—”

“Go. Now.” David didn’t raise his voice, but he brought all the force to bear that he could. If they had any future together, she would learn to bow to his authority when it really mattered. “Don’t argue. Do as I say.”

A mutinous look on her face, she swooped down and picked up the little twins, one in each arm. Leah, her expression pleading, herded William and Joseph toward the front door. Emma and Miriam followed. No one cried. No one spoke.

The voice in the bullhorn demanded Logan surrender.

At the front door, Annie turned to Logan. “Please don’t do this to Gracie and Luke David,” she pleaded. “They could get caught in the crossfire. If you love them, you’ll let them go.”

“I do love them. That’s why I’m doing this.”

“No.” David stepped between them. “A man who loves his children doesn’t put them in danger. He does everything he can to make sure they’re safe. Even if that means he can’t have them with him.”

Annie sidestepped him, putting herself in the line of fire once again. “If you don’t answer them, they’re going to burst in here.”

Logan shook his head so hard his greasy black hair flopped in his eyes. “They won’t endanger children.”

“They seem pretty set on it.” David took Annie by the arm and forcibly moved her toward the door. “They have rules. You broke them. You hurt one of them. Let all of the women and children go, and they’ll know you don’t intend to hurt anyone else. It’ll be a show of good faith.”

“Please, Logan, please!” Charisma had her arms wrapped around the baby. Her squeeze must have been too much. Luke David began to cry. “I want our baby to grow up in a real house, not on the run, hiding out, always looking over his shoulder.”

Gracie let go of her mother’s leg and trundled across the room. “Daddy, Daddy!” Her lips turned down in a pout and big tears appeared in her blue eyes. “Baby cry.”

“Get them out of here.” His lips twisted in a painful grimace, Logan’s tears matched those of his children. “Get out of here. Now!”

Annie threw David a glance of entreaty. He pushed her toward the door. “We’re coming out,” she called through the broken window. “Please don’t shoot us.”

David pulled the door open wide enough for the procession of women and children to pass through, one at a time. If Annie’s looks could kill, Logan’s gun wouldn’t be necessary. He tried to pour assurance into his returning gaze. “It’ll be all right.”

She glowered back at him.

When she disappeared from sight, he shut the door and turned. “Now what?”

Before Logan could answer, Sergeant Parker bolted into the room. Time slowed. Frozen, David knew he should duck behind the couch,
but he couldn’t move. Logan whirled, but he was too late. Using his own weapon, Sergeant Parker whacked the gun from Logan’s hand with one hard chop. “Get down on the floor. Get down!”

The gun skittered across the floor. Reacting without thinking, David kicked it toward the couch. It boomeranged across the floor and disappeared from sight under the sofa.

Sergeant Parker pointed his gun at Logan’s nose. “Don’t be an idiot, McKee. Get down.”

Logan raised his hands, turned his back, and knelt. Tears running down his face, he looked up at David. “I wouldn’t hurt them.”

“I know.”

Sergeant Parker shoved Logan to the floor so hard his chin smacked the hard wood floor. He let out a
woof
sound. “Hey, you don’t have to be so rough!”

“You all right?” Sergeant Parker directed the question at David, but didn’t give him time to respond. He holstered his gun and slapped handcuffs on Logan. “You shouldn’t have done it, Mr. Plank. You shouldn’t have come in here like some hero. You could’ve gotten them killed. You got lucky.”

Lucky? Luck did not exist. The outcome rested in God’s hands. “I’m sorry we interfered in your plan.”

“It’s all right.” Sergeant Parker pulled Logan to his feet. “Kid, you’ve done some stupid things in your short life, but this one’s got to take the cake. Now you’re going up on escape charges and kidnapping.”

“We won’t press charges.” David didn’t have to ask Luke or Thomas. It wasn’t their way. “No harm done.”

Sergeant Parker’s furious expression came close to comical. “No harm done? No harm done, he says.” He pushed Logan toward the door. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Josiah rushed through the door from the kitchen, saving David from having to respond. “He wouldn’t let me come in. I would’ve been right behind you, but Sergeant Parker threatened to handcuff me to the tree.”

His friend’s wild-eyed statement relieved some of the pressure in
David’s chest. He managed a smile. “You were much better off outside. Everything is fine now. Sergeant Parker has taken care of business.”

Neither of them spoke as Sergeant Parker escorted Logan from Josiah’s house. The man sobbed openly. If the scene where Leah, Emma, Miriam, Annie, Charisma, and the children being held at gunpoint by the man didn’t keep playing on an endless loop in his head, David might have felt sorry for him. Not now. He might pity him, but he couldn’t forgive him. Not yet.

Logan dug in his heels at the screen door. Sergeant Parker tugged at his prisoner. “Let’s go.”

Logan craned his neck and looked back at David. “I’m sorry.” His voice was so thick with tears David could barely make out the words. “I wouldn’t hurt them, I promise.”

“We forgive you.” David glanced at Josiah. Forgiveness started with saying it. “And we’ll take care of Charisma and the babies.”

“They’re safe here.” Josiah added. “I’ll give your apologies to Annie.”

“And Charisma?”

“And Charisma.”

Charisma would need her own place and a new start. David would help Annie finish what she had begun with Charisma. And then they would have their own fresh start.

H
is legs soft as melted butter, Josiah meandered through the yard looking for Miriam. She’d disappeared by the time he’d come out of the house with David. Surely she hadn’t gone far—the police would want her statement. Rounding the corner of the house, he saw her. She sat alone at the picnic table under the elm tree in the backyard. She stared at the cornfields, her hands in her lap, her face placid. Never had he seen a lovelier sight.

“Are you all right?” he asked softly, not wanting to startle her.

She swiveled her head so their gazes met. “I wasn’t scared.”

“You’re a brave girl. Held at gunpoint twice in a few months’ time. Who would’ve thought it possible in little Bliss Creek?” He slipped closer. “May I sit down?”

“Jah.” She shifted so he could sit next to her. He faced away from the table and left a proper amount of space between them. “I think that’s why I wasn’t afraid. I knew God was in charge this time, just like last time. And Logan is a poor, sweet man who has made terrible mistakes. God will forgive him. Why shouldn’t we?”

Josiah admired her simple faith. He longed to be as rooted in his. “You’re right.”

“I think I’ll ask my father to let me stop working at the tack shop.”

“Why?”

“I teach nine months out of the year.” She ran her hands over the rough wood of the picnic table. Her expression was dreamy, like it often had been in school, as if she had gone somewhere else. “I’d like to be at home, with Mudder, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the little ones. I’ve had enough excitement for a long time.”

“But you weren’t afraid.”

She shook her head. “No. My only fear was that I’d waited too long to be baptized.”

“In September, we’ll both be baptized.”

Miriam’s radiant smile rewarded him. “You’re ready?”

“What would you think of having your own house and your own little ones?”

Her oval face creased around a smile that nearly knocked him from his seat. “It’s all I think about.”

“With me?”

The light faded a little. Doubt crept in and extinguished the smile. “What about Sarah?”

“Gone.”

They sat a while, just breathing. Listening to the coo of mourning doves.

“Will you be happy?”

Her question startled him. He wiggled around so he faced the same direction. The sun warmed his face, reminding him of his mudder’s hug on a cold morning. “You make me happy.”

“Are you sure?” She sounded so uncertain. “You won’t change your mind?”

“I may be slow, but eventually I get there. Once I do, there’s no getting rid of me. Ever.” He let his hand steal across the table and capture hers. “When I started working at the shop, Luke told me to split my earnings and save half for my future. I’ve been doing that for over a year now. I’ve been saving for a house.”

“Our house?” she whispered, wonder in her voice.

“There’s a little plot of land. Ten acres for sale on the outskirts of Bliss Creek. Enough for a garden, a few cows for milk. It’s a start.”

“A few cows…” Her voice trailed away. “Chickens.”

“You want chickens, we’ll have chickens.” He could see it now, them arguing over who would clean the coop until the children were old enough for the loathsome task. “I still have a ways to go in saving enough money to build our house.”

Her grip on his hand tightened. “I have my savings too, from teaching.”

“We’ll build together.”

“You think by November?” Her voice quivered at the idea. “Or maybe another year?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll sure try for this year.” He swallowed and ducked his head. “I’ve made you wait so long. I don’t want you to give up and—”

“That won’t happen and you know it. I got here first, remember? I’m the patient one. I’ll wait as long as necessary.”

She leaned against him. Her gingery scent enveloped him. “You’ve waited long enough.”

Waited for many things. He inched his face toward hers, and she met him halfway. The kiss lasted so long he thought he might forget how to breathe. Miriam pulled away first. Her eyes glistened with tears, but her smile beckoned to him. “You have my heart.”

“And you mine.”

Then he kissed her again, just for good measure.

David strode across the porch and pounded the steps. He needed some air. He needed Annie.

They could have their talk. Finally.

He found her sitting on a bale of hay in the barn, surrounded by the children. From the rapturous looks on their faces she was telling a fine story. When she saw him in the doorway, she didn’t smile. “I thought it was important to give them something new to think about while their mudders give statements. Officer Bingham says mine will be last.” She
smiled at Gracie, who sat on her lap. “No nightmares tonight. Only sweet thoughts.”

David inched closer. “Will
you
have only sweet thoughts?”

“I don’t know.” She tilted her head. “I reckon I’ll dream about bossy men who think they can tell me what to do when they have no claim on me—”

“I saved your life and that’s the thanks I get?” He kicked at the straw strewn across the floor. She surely was something else. He didn’t know quite what. “You can’t be that ungrateful.”

“Saved my life!” She clamped her mouth shut, her eyes bright. After a few seconds, she scooted Gracie onto the hay bale and stood. “William and Joseph, show Gracie the new kittens.”

“Kitty. Kitty.” Gracie rolled off the bale and trundled after the boys. “Want kitty.”

Annie stomped toward the far stall where Mooch chewed on feed, oblivious to the drama around him. “You could’ve been killed.” Her voice soft, she glanced back at the children, who were crawling around in the first stall trying to corral half a dozen kittens and giggling all the while. “He could’ve shot you right there at the back door. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I needed to save his life in order to save yours.”

“I was doing fine.” She glared, but it only made her prettier. “I almost had him talked into surrendering, and you had to meddle.”

“Meddle?” She had a funny way of looking at his offering. “You were being held hostage by a man with a gun. I wanted you safe. That’s why I was so bossy.” David struggled to keep his voice down. The kinner had been through enough for one day. “I’m a Plain man. Like Luke and Thomas and Josiah. We don’t rob bakeries or hold people hostage, but we have strong feelings about the people we…the people we care about.”