Grace: A Christmas Sisters of the Heart Novel (6 page)

So she left—making sure that she didn’t even think about turning around to see his reaction.

Though, knowing him, he probably hadn’t even noticed she was gone.

December 21, 10:15
A.M.

After what had felt like an eternity, she left. When he no longer could hear her footsteps on the thick wooden planks, Levi exhaled. Finally, it felt like he could breathe again.

As the flames jumped and popped in the fire, Levi took the time to wonder why such a girl affected him so. It certainly wasn’t her beauty. She was full with child—another man’s child. And she was young, too. Too young for marriage, in his estimation.

She was too forward by half as well. Levi had always enjoyed quiet women. A woman who didn’t mind the silence. She acted like silence was simply an opportunity to fill the air with chatter.

So what was it that kept him thinking about her again and again? Even now, when he truly ached for her to leave him?

It had to be her eyes. They were sad. So sad and full of grief that their expression took his breath away.

Probably because he knew such desolation.

Henry poked his head into the room. “Levi, my
mamm
says you’d like to come with us. Is that the case?”

He scrambled to his feet. “Did you think it wasn’t?”

“She’s been known to push her ways on us a time or two. We would be happy to have you join us, though, if you want.”

“I want to,” he replied, suddenly realizing that he did
not want to be outside in the company of men. “I’ll be right there.”

“Good. We’ll meet in the barn.”

As Levi climbed the flights of stairs to his room, for a moment he was sure he heard the women’s voices raised in laughter. In spite of himself, he found himself straining to hear their words. Women were so different than men. They talked of things he never noticed, discussed ideas he never thought about.

Funny how all of a sudden he missed that. He missed being around laughter and the easy chatter of women.

And as he met Henry, his father John, Jonathan Lundy, and another man, Samuel, and they all tromped off toward the east, two carrying rifles, Levi found his shoulders relaxing.

How long had it been since no one had asked how he was feeling? How long had it been since no one had walked on eggshells around him?

Since no one cared about his past?

December 21, 12:00
P.M.

“Anna, here,” Katie said to Melody, “was once English. She’s far more worldly than the rest of us.” Katie’s eyebrows rose in amusement.

To her left, Anna shook her head in dismay. “I don’t know why you always feel the need to speak of my past, Katie. That’s ancient history.”

Across the room, another girl, Winnie, chuckled. “So ancient, it happened two years ago.”

Anna lifted her chin. “Well, it feels ancient.”

Melody watched the interaction among the three women with a great deal of envy. They had a bond she’d only dreamed of having with other women. A bond she’d never come close to experiencing with her own sister. In
fact, the only person she felt she could even feel such a connection with was Leah.

But even that relationship had begun to change, though it was through no fault of Leah’s. No, it had been her doing. Little by little, she’d been pulling away from her co-worker. Leah was pretty, with a vibrant personality and a bright future.

Melody had none of that. Soon, their lives would be even more dissimilar. She would have a baby and be struggling to make ends meet. Leah, on the other hand, would be leaving their small Kentucky town for good as soon as she received her college degree.

She would start a career and become friends with other English girls doing the same thing. There would be no cause for her to keep in touch with someone so different.

But at the moment, as she longingly watched the exchanges between the ladies in the Brennemans’ kitchen, Melody started to reevaluate her feelings. Perhaps she’d shied away from Leah too quickly. Perhaps the right thing to do would have been to let Leah decide whether or not to continue to be her friend? After all, the trio of girls in front of her didn’t seem too much alike.

And yet these women weren’t sisters at all. Only sisters of their hearts. Daring to enter the conversation, she said, “Tell me how you came to be Amish, then, Anna. That is, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s a long story,” Anna said as she scooped up a handful of flour and spread it around the wooden butcher block table. Melody knew Anna was making pretzels.

“I don’t mind a long story, that is, if you want to tell it.”

“Well, it all started when I was little. My mom took me here for a weekend to learn to quilt and Katie and I hit it off.”

“We became pen pals,” Katie added.

Melody tried to imagine the chain of events. “You became such good friends that you decided to become Amish?”

Anna laughed. “No. I never planned to ever be Amish.” A shadow entered her eyes. “Actually, I planned to marry well and be a housewife. But the man I was dating turned out to be a pretty bad guy.”

Winnie, who was frying hamburger for a casserole, widened her eyes. “He was a
verra
bad man, Anna. He beat you.”

Little Eli frowned as Melody gripped him too hard. “Sorry,” she murmured, cuddling him closer. Once the baby was sleeping contentedly again, she glanced Anna’s way. “You were beaten?”

A shadow filled Anna’s beautiful green eyes. “I … was. Not all the time, and not at first … but it slowly was getting worse. I was scared.”

Remembering how it had felt to be helpless, Melody shivered. “I imagine you were.”

Anna was rolling the dough into long strips with her palms. Quickly, she lifted her head and looked Melody’s way. When their eyes met, Melody felt a new awareness pass between them. They both knew what it felt like to be a victim.

Then Anna cleared her throat. “Anyway, he was an important guy and I didn’t think anyone would help me. So I came here for help.”

“She hid here,” Katie said. “She wore my clothes and
pretended to be Amish. We practically lived on pins and needles, worried she would be found.”

“But along the way, Anna fell in love with my Henry,” Mrs. Brenneman said, bustling in the room with a smile. “And then it was just a matter of time before everything worked out.”

Never had Melody heard such a story. “I have an English friend, but I can’t imagine her ever wanting to become Amish.”

“I would have loved Anna even if she had stayed in the outside world. But now she’s married to my brother and we are truly sisters, and I’m terribly grateful.”

Anna looked at Katie fondly. “I feel the same way. I grew up as an only child, so now having Katie and Winnie, it’s a wonderful thing.”

Winnie looked at Melody and grinned. “I am Jonathan’s sister. Jonathan Lundy is Katie’s husband.”

“And you are married, too?”

“I am. I married Samuel Miller. He grew up with us.”

“Ah, so you’ve known him for some time,” Melody said, enjoying all the other girls’ romances.

A spark entered Winnie’s gray eyes. “That is mostly true. But Sam was an
Englischer
for a time—a professor at a college. We only got reacquainted when I was in the hospital.”

Anna smiled at Winnie fondly. “Winnie was injured when Jonathan and Katie’s barn burned down.”

“My word!”

“Oh, I ended up all right,” Winnie reassured her as she held up her arm. Melody noticed a faint discoloration
marking her forearm. “Now all I have is a few reminders of that event.”

“And Samuel,” Katie said. “We can’t forget him!”

Mrs. Brenneman laughed with the girls. Melody couldn’t help but smile as well.

She was charmed by the other girls, and pleased that they shared so much with her. In Melody’s experience, people didn’t accept newcomers. And people really didn’t accept bad things that came. For most, it was far better to pretend those things didn’t exist. To push them out of their lives, so they didn’t have to see them.

Didn’t have to deal with them.

Anna chuckled. “I’m sorry. Did I shock you?”

“Nee.”
Melody struggled to put into words everything she was thinking. “I just never imagined someone could make a change like that.”

“It wasn’t easy, but I had a lot of help.”

It took everything she had to keep her voice even and calm. To act like she was merely curious about Anna’s past, not trying to learn from it. “What happened to the man?”

“The man who beat me?” she asked slowly.

Melody nodded, afraid to speak.

“Actually, he kept looking for me. For weeks. And then, when he discovered where I was, he came after me.”

“He came here. To our house,” Katie supplied. Melody watched her hands grip her rolling pin, the only indication of how scary that visit must have been.

Anna nodded, all traces of humor gone from her face. “It was really scary. The whole time I was petrified. I didn’t
want to get hurt, but most of all, I didn’t want any of the Brennemans to get hurt.”

Katie folded her arms over her chest. “We weren’t helpless. We were ready to defend her.”

“I don’t know,” Anna allowed. “It was a difficult time. I was hiding out here, pretending to be something I wasn’t; falling in love with Henry, yet always worried that Rob was going to appear at the door at any minute.”

“But your parents?”

“I’m sorry to say I didn’t trust them enough to tell them where I was.” Her voice drifted off for a moment. Then Anna shook her head, like she was trying to shake off her past. “But everything’s okay now. Rob is in jail and he’s not coming out anytime soon. Not only did he threaten me at gunpoint, but he was also running for office and misusing the campaign funds.”

“It was a terrible day, the day Rob Peterson came,” Katie said. “But it was a proud one for us, too, because we stopped him.”

“My dad hit him with one of my father-in-law’s canes!” Anna exclaimed.

Melody could hardly believe the story she was hearing; it sounded so far-fetched—like something out of a storybook or on the movie screen. “And then Henry wanted to marry you?”

“Something like that.” Anna’s hands stilled as she continued to talk. “It’s hard to explain, but somehow, while I was hiding out, I began to feel more comfortable here than at my own home. Things here mattered more to me. I told
my parents I wanted to become Amish and then moved here and started learning as much as I could.”

“I must say it was a slow process,” Katie murmured as she approached Melody and took her sleeping baby from her arms. From what looked like nowhere, she pulled out a small wicker bassinet and placed Eli in it, securely wrapping the flannel blankets around him.

Then, seemingly satisfied, Katie went back to the story. “Anna didn’t adjust all that easily.”

“In some ways I did; in others, I didn’t. For one thing, I missed watching television.”

“I think she missed a lot of things,” Katie added dryly. “You should have seen her try to can! She was a terrible Amish cook.”

“Oh, stop. I wasn’t that bad.” Anna’s eyes twinkled. “I wasn’t that
gut,
though.”

Winnie, who’d merely been smiling as Anna and Katie shared their story, chuckled. “She’s still not that good.”

Melody laughed. She liked these women, the way they worked easily together and the way they talked to each other. Full of teasing and fun. “The way you girls work together is wonderful-gut. It reminds me of how things are at my job.”

Mrs. Brenneman nodded. “Work and chatter seem to bring out the best of us here. Where do you work?”

“In a coffeehouse.”

“What do you do?”

“Wait on customers. I make baked goods, too. Cinnamon rolls, donuts, scones.”

Mrs. Brenneman looked interested. “Scones? I’ve never made one of those.”

“They’re like biscuits. Most times, I put fruit in them. Any kind will do. Cranberries … blueberries.”

“They sound delicious. If you weren’t our guest, I’d ask you to make some.”

“I’d love to, if you don’t mind a guest puttering in your kitchen.” Melody started to stand, eager to be of use. Eager to be invited into the women’s close circle of friendship, if only for a little while …

“I wouldn’t feel good about that, dear,” Mrs. Brenneman said abruptly. “But I thank you just the same.”

The refusal was kindly given. But the results were the same. And Melody still felt the sting. “Oh, of course,” she said quickly, trying not to sound as awkward as she felt. “I mean, it was just an idea.”

“And it was a good one,” Katie agreed. “It’s just that it’s best if we don’t let paying guests use the kitchen. You know how that goes. We’d never want something to happen to you.”

Obviously, she was trying to take some of the sting out of her mother’s refusal. And she did have a point. There were laws about keeping a kitchen clean and such. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

“Besides, you had a long day of traveling. And you fainted! I don’t know how you feel, but seeing you on the ground very well scared me half to death.”

“I’m fine now, though.”

“Perhaps, but it would be good for you to sit and relax,”
Mrs. Brenneman said. “We certainly don’t want you to overdo things.”

“The baby isn’t due for three more weeks.”

“Jah,
but
bopplis
have a way of coming when they’re ready,” the older lady said sagely.

Katie looked over at her son, who was sleeping contentedly in his bassinet. “That’s true. My Eli came on his own schedule.”

“Was he early?”

Katie wrinkled her nose. “I wasn’t that lucky. No, our boy came four days late.”

“As most babies are,” Mrs. Brenneman supplied. “Though my daughter here didn’t want to hear about that.”

“Not even a little bit.” Anna chuckled. “Actually, Katie complained just about every hour of the day.”

Katie arched a brow. “Just you wait until you are the one expecting, Anna. Then we’ll see how patient you are.”

“If I’m only half as impatient as you that will be saying a lot!”

Just hearing the women joke about labor and delivery made Melody’s shoulders relax. Though she’d been too caught up with so much else, she had worried a bit about when the big day would come. It was a relief to know that it wasn’t likely she would deliver anytime soon. “Well, chances are very good that I’ll be back in Kentucky, bored and restless when it’s my babe’s time.”