A Son's Vow (8 page)

Patsy pressed her hands on Maisie's shoulders. “I won't let him yell at Darla. It will be okay.”

Fury burned deep inside Lukas. No longer caring who overheard their conversation, he turned to her. “Does Aaron yell at you a lot, Darla?”

Patsy rolled her eyes. “He yells at all of us.”

“But mostly Darla,” Maisie said. “Two days ago he grabbed her, too. Real hard.”

Darla's cheeks flushed. “Maisie, there's no need to share this.”

Lukas got to his feet. “He hurt you?”

“I'm fine.” Standing up, too, she said, “Patsy, go take Maisie in. You know as well as I do what Aaron is going to say. There's no reason Maisie needs to witness it.”

“Someone needs to stay with you.”

Lukas stepped closer. “I'm not leaving her side.”

Patsy took the twelve-year-old's hand. “Come on. Darla's right. We know what is about to happen.”

The moment the two girls entered the house, Aaron walked up the steps. “You had no business bringing him here, Darla. Have you already forgotten what his family has been doing? What his father did? Are you stupid?”

Lukas stepped forward. There was no way anyone was going to speak to Darla like that in front of him. “I don't like how you're speaking to her. Watch yourself.”

“Stay out of this, Lukas. I might have to listen to you and your brother at the mill, but I surely don't have to listen to ya at my own
haus
.”

“If you are speaking to Darla in a way that I don't like, it's my business, no matter where we are.”

Aaron glared. “Go home. Darla, what is wrong with you? How could you bring him here?”

Lukas stepped closer to Darla. “Do you really think I'd leave with you talking to her like this?”

“It's all right, Lukas,” Darla said.

“
Nee
. It ain't,” Lukas bit out. He was so angry with the situation and upset with himself for not being more attentive to her, he let his voice rise. “It ain't all right at all.”

“Darla's none of your concern, neither. Now, get off my property.”

“This is my house, too, Aaron,” Darla said quietly. “You can't order people off the property.”

“I can and I will.” His chest puffed up. “I'm the man of the house.”

Lukas was done having Darla fight this battle. Disdain coating his words, he said, “For only a few more months, though, right?”

“What I do is none of your concern, Kinsinger.”

“You calling me Kinsinger now? You don't even want to say my name?”

“I don't even want to know you.” Folding his arms across his chest, Aaron said, “Now, I'll only tell you this one more time. Leave. My family ain't no concern of yours.”

“It is. I care about your siblings. And don't forget, you work for me.”

“Are you threatening me?” Aaron asked. Before Lukas could say a word, he turned to Darla. “What did you tell him? Are you betraying me, too?”

“I have betrayed no one.”

Only his aim of protecting Darla kept Lukas from getting up and walking away. “Aaron, I think it's time we all disposed of some of this anger we've been feeling. We have already lost so much. Why, both of our fathers are in Heaven. Isn't that enough?”

“Wasn't it enough that your family caused an accident and then decided to cover it up by acting as if it was my father's fault?”

“The mill is safe. It was safe then, too.”

“My
daed
didn't cause the fire.”

“No one in my family has ever said that he did. We paid for your father's funeral and have given your family a check to help with expenses.”

“That wasn't enough.”

“The amount?”

“Of course not. The amount was too small, and the deed was too little. At the end of the day, we are all burdened by the veil of accusations surrounding the accident.” He turned to Darla. “And you. You are acting as if none of that is important.”

Darla glared back. “Aaron, you are exaggerating everything.”

Aaron clenched his fists. “Don't ever side against me again, sister. Especially not in front of him.”

Lukas stepped forward, ready to place her behind him for protection. “Stop threatening her.”

“It ain't a threat. It's a promise, Darla.”

When Lukas saw her tremble, the last of his patience left
him. Standing nose-to-nose with Aaron, he released all the pent-up anger that had been held hostage inside him for far too long.

“Hear me now, Aaron,” he said, each word low and careful. “Hear me now and listen good. I will be watching you. And I'll be checking on Darla every day. If I hear or sense that you have been anything but respectful to her, I will find you.”

“All you have to do is leave your office and find me on the line.”

“Not any longer. You are fired.”

Darla gasped.

Aaron looked stunned. “You canna do that.”

“Of course I can. I would never keep anyone on a Kinsinger payroll who is not only back-talking me but telling lies about the factory.”

Bitterness flashed in Aaron's eyes. “Why don't you admit that you will do anything you want, anytime you want to do it? The power has gone to your head.”

Lukas knew that wasn't the case, but at the moment he didn't really care. He was tired of dealing with Aaron Kurtz. “Though you're wrong about my motives, you are exactly right about one thing. It's my mill. Mine.”

“Since I'm no longer your employee, it's past time you left.”

He had no choice but to comply. “Come walk me down the drive, Darla,” he said quietly.

“Don't follow him, Darla,” Aaron ordered. “You stay here.”

“Oh, Aaron,” she whispered before following Lukas down the steps—much to Lukas's relief.

He wasn't sure what was going to happen between them now.
All Lukas did know was that he needed to say something to help her. As he waited for her to reach his side, he silently prayed that the Lord would give him the words he needed. Because he was fairly certain that what happened next between them was going to matter most of all.

I
t was no doubt foolish to blatantly ignore Aaron's order and walk Lukas down the driveway, but as far as Darla was concerned, the time had come for her to follow her own instincts.

And she still wanted to be Lukas's friend.

After they walked a couple of yards, the gravel crunching under their feet, Lukas looked her way. “I'm sorry, Darla.”

“It's not your fault. I knew if you came over, things wouldn't go well. I let you walk me home anyway.”

“I knew it, too.” Looking almost embarrassed, he added, “Maybe a part of me wanted to confront Aaron. I don't know.”

“If we need to assign blame, it should be to all three of us. I knew better, you had an agenda, and Aaron . . . well, Aaron has no boundaries anymore,” she said, though admitting such a thing was difficult. “He says and does whatever he wants without a care for others.”

But instead of looking relieved that she wasn't taking the blame, Lukas looked shamefaced. “I had no idea things had gotten so bad. I should have been coming over here every day, checking up on you. I'm sorry I haven't.”

“There is nothing to apologize for. I am not your responsibility.” She also didn't like being thought of as a victim.

As they continued, Lukas absently kicking a couple of stones with each stride, he asked, “What do you think is going to happen now?”

“I guess Aaron will be staying home a lot more,” she quipped. It truly was nothing to laugh about but she feared if she didn't make light of it, she'd cry. Though the mill had given them a sizable check to help pay for their expenses after her father's death and there was a lot of money in their savings, they'd also been counting on Aaron's paycheck to take care of their day-to-day needs.

How was she going to be able to take care of everyone now?

Her tears would only make Lukas feel worse and she didn't want to do that.

Abruptly, he stopped. “Will he hurt you?”

“Of course not.”

“But Maisie said he grabbed you. Where did he grab you, Darla?”

His voice was so concerned, she answered before she thought the better of it. “My shoulder.”

As she expected he would, he examined her carefully. “Where? Which shoulder?”

“My left one.” When he reached out, she flinched. Not because she feared he would hurt her, but because she didn't want him ever thinking about her bruises. “Lukas, stop.”

Looking pained, Lukas dropped his hand. “You're still hurting, aren't you?”

“Nee.”
And that was true. She wasn't hurting. Well, not too much.

He turned away, looking toward the front porch. Then, as if he had suddenly solved whatever problem he'd been tackling, he grabbed her hand and guided her farther down her drive, then directed her into a clump of trees surrounding the remains of her great-grandfather's cabin. The cabin was the first structure on their land and had served as both a reminder of their family's struggles and a fort to play in when they were young.

When they were hidden from both the house and any stray passersby on the road, Lukas reached for the pin at her collar. “Let me see your shoulder.”

Batting away his fingers, she stepped back. “Lukas, what in the world? Of course you cannot do this.”

A muscle jumped in his cheek. “Darla, I canna leave you without knowing what he did. I'll stew on it and worry over it. You know I will.”

Darla sighed. She absolutely knew he would. “Lukas, you're making too much of nothing.”

“If I am, prove me wrong. Either unpin that dress enough for me to see your shoulder or I'll call Patsy or Maisie to come help you with it.”

She didn't doubt he was serious. When he had a goal, he fixated on it, he always had. It was why he was now running Kinsinger Mill. It was why she'd always trusted him. Lukas didn't back down and he didn't change his mind.

After reminding herself that he was only wanting to inspect her bruises and that he'd seen far more of her body when he'd taught her to swim all those years ago, she pulled out the top two pins of her dress then spread the opening she'd made along her skin until it stretched across her bare shoulder. Hardly more than six or eight inches of her skin was visible to him. Hardly enough to feel embarrassed about.

Still, she closed her eyes because she knew what he would see.

“Oh, Darla,” he whispered.

She shuddered and fought back tears. Not because of what he saw but because of his reaction. Pain and compassion laced his tone, reminding her that she wasn't alone. Not anymore.

As he carefully ran one calloused finger along what she knew were four dark purple fingerprints staining her skin, he glanced up. “You are hurting, aren't you?”

“They're just bruises, Lukas.” She wouldn't dare mention that her shoulder had been sore for a good day.

“These are from his fingers. Where was his thumb?” Without asking for permission, he wrapped his hands around her hips and turned her like she was a mannequin. When she felt the tender brush of his thumb along the nape of her neck, tracing the last imprint, she lowered her head in shame.

Aaron wasn't a violent man, but it seemed he was becoming so. And she was letting him.

With her back still facing Lukas, she fought to keep her voice firm. “Now you have seen them.”

“Jah.”

“So . . . So, I need to refasten my dress. And we need to get back on the drive before someone comes looking for us.”

“Of course.” He stepped back. Dropped his hands. She felt him standing rigidly behind her, whether to offer a tiny bit of privacy or because he was simply waiting for her, she didn't know.

She supposed it didn't matter.

After she got the last pin inserted and was covered modestly again, she turned to him. “Let's go. You need to get home and I need to get back.”

Lukas seemed frozen. “I've never hit a man in my life, but I'm tempted to do so now.”

“You know violence is not the answer.”

“It might be.”

“It's not
our
answer, Lukas.”

Leading the way back toward the drive, he said, “I'm thinking that your
bruder
needs to remember that.”

She hoped that would happen, too.

Walking again by her side, Lukas said, “Darla, how often does this happen?”

“Not too often.”

After a small pause, he said, “What does that mean?”

It was tempting to lie, but she didn't want to do that any longer. She was so tired of pretending Aaron never hurt her. Keeping silent wasn't making her feel any better. Worse, her silence wasn't making Aaron change. “It means he grabs me roughly once or twice a week.”

He inhaled, obviously attempting to control his reaction. “I don't like leaving you here. Why don't you come home with me?”

If this conversation wasn't so difficult for her to bear, she would have rolled her eyes. Lukas Kinsinger always,
always
tried
to manage things. Tried to manage her. “And when would you suggest I do that?”

“Now.”

The childish part of her was tempted. If she went to Lukas's house, she could escape Aaron's abuse and her younger brothers' and sisters' needs. She could rise without feeling the awful sense of panic in her chest that told her she wasn't going to get enough done, that she wasn't going to be enough for her younger siblings to forget that their father had died and their mother didn't love them enough to stay.

But because she was an adult and she'd never been one to run from responsibility, she shook her head. “Lukas, you're being ridiculous. Of course I canna do that.”

“Think about it,” he coaxed. “You know we have enough room.”

“Running off to your house won't solve anything.”

“Except keep you from harm.”

“If I'm not there, I'm afraid Aaron might take out his frustrations on one of my sisters or brothers.”

“Then we should contact the police.”

“Absolutely not. This is a family problem. And Aaron isn't a criminal. He's just . . .” Her voice drifted off.

“He's just bullying and hurting you.” He stopped and faced her. “Darla, you know I care about you.”

“I know.”

“Then you know how hard this is for me, too. I hate leaving you here. I hate you thinking you need to be your brother's victim in order to protect your siblings. That ain't right.”

She lifted her chin. “Things aren't that bad, Lukas. I'm not going anywhere. I'm needed here.”

“What is going to happen now?” he bit out, frustration evident in every word. “After I turn down the street and you head back inside, will he take his anger out on you?”

She hoped not. “I'll be fine. Aaron showers after work. Then he usually goes right over to Hope's house.”

“Does Hope know he grips you so hard that you bruise? Does Hope know that he yells at all of you?”

She doubted it. “Does it matter if she doesn't?”

His lips tightened. “If she accepted his proposal, she needs to know. She needs to know the real man she's planning to marry. Would you like me to talk to her?”

“Of course not.”

“But she needs to know what he is capable of.”

Darla was ashamed that they were speaking of her very own brother. That shame, combined with her frustration with Lukas's high-handed ways, made her speak a little too bluntly. “You can't protect everyone, Lukas.”

“I can try.”

She inhaled sharply, realizing how sincerely he meant those three words. He was willing to do everything he could to protect and support anyone who needed it. This trait of his was as much a part of him as his gray eyes and the defined muscles of his arms.

She knew he wasn't making an empty promise. He would never vow to do anything he didn't fully intend to actually put into practice.

They'd come to a stop at the end of the drive. His farm was less than a mile to the left, as the crow flies. In the other direction was the town of Charm.

They'd stood here together before. Many, many times.

As if reading her mind, he sighed. Little by little, the tension in his body eased, making him look far more like his usual self. Like the Lukas she'd come to know so well and loved. “This feels familiar. Ain't so?”

“Jah.”
Letting herself relax enough for the memories to slip into the present, she said, “I remember waiting for you here when Maisie had just been born and Mamm put me in charge of Patsy.”

He groaned. “Which was a thankless job. She never listened to you.”

“We were twelve.”

“
Nee
. You were twelve, I was fourteen.”

“Anyway, Patsy, of course, had darted off to play instead of doing her chores.”

“And you had done them instead.”

“I did. Then I told on her, too, so she would have to stay around and watch the twins.”

His lips twitched. “You always did tattle.”

“I had to. Otherwise I never got a break,” she said with a laugh. “Anyway, I was so happy to get away, I stood out here and waited for you.” She was suddenly struck by how, even at twelve, she'd known that she could depend on him. And even at that young age, she hadn't been wrong. He had been everything trustworthy.

He grinned. “When I got here, we walked to the creek and waded in the water.”

He'd kicked off his boots and rolled up his pants legs. She'd hiked up the skirt of her dress, feeling so daring. They'd walked for over an hour. And the one time she'd slipped, he'd wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close.

“That was a good day,” she murmured.

“The best.” His gaze met hers and she felt more than a little giddy.

Maybe it was because she wasn't in any hurry to go back to her family or maybe it was because she wanted to reassure him in some odd way—even though she had nothing at her disposal with which to reassure him—but whatever the reason, she didn't want him to leave.

“Even though your visit turned out so badly, I can't regret having you over here again,” she admitted.

“I can't regret it, either. Especially now that I know exactly how tough it's been for you.” Stepping closer, Lukas loosely wrapped his arms around her waist. The weight of his hands felt comforting. Familiar. She relaxed against him, even though they weren't children any longer.

He leaned closer. “Darla, I'm going to walk you home every day now.”

There was only one thing to say. Only one thing she wanted to say, anyway. “All right.”

“
Gut
,” he said around a sigh as he tucked her closer against him.

She let her head rest against his chest, remembering how good it felt to have his arms wrapped around her. She felt protected and cared for. Like she belonged to him. Breathing deeply, she smelled his clean, masculine scent. Allowed herself to linger just a little bit longer.

And then remembered that it wasn't proper.

She needed to regain some distance. She wasn't his. She was his friend. Moreover, when he got home, he would no doubt realize that, too. Surely then he would have regrets.

Pulling away, she lifted her chin so she could meet his gaze. “If something comes up and you can't walk me home tomorrow after all, don't worry, okay?”

“I'm not going to change my mind. I'm going to walk you home every afternoon. And then I'm going to sit with you and we're going to talk like we used to.”

“And then?”

“And then, I'm going to win each of your siblings over until they trust me again.”

She tilted her head to one side. “And then what?”

“And then we'll see what happens next.”

His words sounded like a promise. A vow. Something so deep and emotional and meaningful that she hardly knew whether to ignore it or grab ahold of that promise and beg him never to forget his words.