River of Mercy (47 page)

An icy chill coiled all the way down Gant's spine as he watched the light weaving its way from the trees to the house.

“We need to move,” he said, his words a harsh whisper as he tossed the blanket away. Cautiously, he unhooked the lantern from the side of the buggy and lighted it, shading it as best he could with one hand and then giving it to Gideon while he reached for his cane.

Gideon jumped from the buggy, stopping to wait for Gant. Mac stood in the back, stiff legged, on alert with a menacing, low growl.

Gant waved both of them on.
“Go!
I'll be right behind you! Mac—
forward!
”

With that, Mac cleared the buggy with one leap, taking off ahead of Gideon, both of them crashing through the grove and onto the road.

Gant wouldn't have thought he could take the mud-slicked road as fast as he did, and he did stumble a couple of times, almost falling. But he righted himself and kept going, following the trail of light from Gideon and the lantern.

He looked up and saw a faint light seeping through an upstairs window—a light that hadn't been there a moment before. He remembered the night he'd searched the house, after the break-in.
The light was coming from Rachel's bedroom.

So she was awake. Was she aware that someone was just outside the house?

Rachel tiptoed into the kitchen, the plank floor cold on her bare feet. She went to the cabinet and opened the drawer where she stored most of her larger utensils, rifling through it in the darkness with trembling hands. She found the mallet, her hand lingering on it for a moment. Then, with a ragged breath she lifted it from the drawer, ran her hand over it, and put it back.

Everything in her, everything she'd been taught, believed, and grown up with screamed deep inside her that she could not, must not resort to violence, even if she were physically capable of defending herself.

“He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust…”

After a moment she stepped quietly into the shadows and waited.

Gant pushed himself to move faster, finally catching up with Gideon, where he was waiting for him at the side of the house. Mac, restrained by Gideon's hand on his head, stood watching Gant expectantly, clearly waiting for a command.

With one hand behind him, palm outward to caution the dog from charging ahead, Gant, followed by Gideon and Mac, now moved slowly and as quietly as possible toward the back of the house.

They were halfway there when they heard a blood-chilling screech from the hill close behind the house. Gideon lunged on ahead, dangling the lantern close in front of him while Gant followed, with Mac overtaking him as he pushed ahead.

They reached the back porch and stopped dead.

A snarling Mac, on his hind legs and stretched to his full length, had pinned a man to the porch wall. The kitchen door stood open, revealing nothing but darkness.

Gant glanced to his right at the hill behind the house, where a hissing, growling bobcat—
Jake
—stood poised halfway down as if about to leap, at the same time eyeing Mac and his captive.

Gideon scanned the entire scene, including the hill where the bobcat waited. Gant held his breath, locking gazes with the wintry-eyed bobcat before stepping onto the porch.

Gideon lifted the lantern higher, trapping Mac's prey in the flickering light.
“Aaron?”

A white-faced Aaron Beiler stood trembling, his eyes glazed with what looked to be rage and something akin to terror. One hand still held a lantern. On the floor of the porch, where he had dropped it or thrown it, lay a dangerous-looking iron pipe.

Gant ordered Mac to release and then to stay. The big dog dropped to all fours but moved little more than an inch away from the boy he'd held captive until a few seconds ago. The dog stood panting, teeth still bared, a threatening stare solidly fixed on Samuel Beiler's eldest son.

At that moment, Rachel appeared in the open doorway. She wore a stunned but defiant expression. With her left hand, she clutched her robe tightly around her. “What—Gideon? Jeremiah? What are you doing here?”

Her gaze went to Aaron Beiler and to Mac and then cut to the bobcat. She was pale and visibly shaken. Yet, all things considered, Gant thought she appeared remarkably steady.

In that instant, Aaron Beiler made a move as if to run, but Mac stopped him dead by blocking him with his heavily muscled body and a fierce warning snarl. The boy shrank back.

“Gideon,” Gant said quietly, “take the buggy and go fetch Carl Nielson. We need the law out here. Mac and I will stay with your sister and make sure Aaron doesn't go anywhere.” He paused. “Maybe when you get back with Carl, Aaron would like to explain what he's doing here.” He glanced at the iron pipe and motioned to it. “With a weapon.”

That said, he put a hand on Rachel's shoulder, waiting for Mac to herd Aaron Beiler inside before moving to follow them.

They stopped when the bobcat uttered one final cry—a growl of dismissal, Gant thought. He watched as the creature turned his back on them all and took the hill in broad leaps, stopping when he reached the crest only long enough to cast an impatient look down on them.

Then he was gone, leaving Gant to strengthen his grip on Rachel's shoulder as he led her indoors.

46

My beloved is mine, and I am his.

S
ONG OF
S
OLOMON
2:16

T
hree weeks later, Susan and David Sebastian invited Gant and Gideon to a “very special late supper,” which they planned to host on Sunday. It was their way, Doc explained when he stopped in town to invite Gant, of sharing their thankfulness and appreciation to him for helping to keep Rachel safe.

Gant wasn't concerned about their showing appreciation for anything he'd done—they had already expressed that to him many times over. The only thing he was interested in was whether Rachel would be there.

As it turned out, she was.

Susan, in her usual style, had prepared a feast.

The woman was a wonder in the kitchen. Gant declared himself to be “royally stuffed” as he finished off his last bite of apple pie. “I'll probably topple over and cave in your mother's floor when I get up from the table,” he told Fannie, who was seated next to him and, as always, found him highly amusing.

Indeed, the gathering did turn out to be very special, and for more than one reason. A few days earlier, Gideon had announced his intention to return to the community and make his vows. He would again be living Amish. Susan was fairly beaming throughout the evening.

Gideon had told Gant of his plans two days earlier, at which time he expressed his concern about keeping his job. Gant had quickly assured him that for his part, he would definitely hope to keep him on. It all depended, of course, on what the new bishop decided about the situation, but the fact that Samuel Beiler was no longer their bishop boosted Gideon's hopes considerably.

Gant had noticed another area in which Gideon seemed to be hopeful. Without referring to Emma Knepp by name, Gant had offhandedly inquired as to whether Gideon had any other news, given the fact that he would be living Amish again. The boy had merely grinned and granted that indeed he might, in the near future, have more news.

Good for him.

There was some conversation, as might have been expected, about Aaron Beiler. The young troublemaker was now in jail and awaiting trial, not only for the havoc he had wreaked upon the community for more than a year but also for what the boy claimed to be the accidental death of Phoebe Esch.

“It will be up to his lawyer to prove Phoebe's death was truly an accident, of course,” Doc pointed out while they were still at the table. “But I tend to believe the boy on that score. I think it likely that what began mostly as mischief, probably as an attempt to frighten Phoebe—and thereby unnerve the rest of us—took a tragic turn. My opinion is still that Phoebe died of a sudden heart attack.”

“But he'll still have to pay, won't he?” Gideon asked.

“Certainly he will,” Doc agreed. “And for all the rest of his bad doings as well. Aaron insists he was only trying to get rid of…”

He paused and stole a glance at Gant, who nodded, saying, “I know what the boy was up to, Doc. He's already confessed part of it to Carl Nielson. He thought he could run me off, and then Rachel would turn to his father. In fact, according to Carl, just about everything the boy did was provoked by his desire to make things better for Samuel—and thereby make things easier for himself and his brothers.”