A Love Redeemed
Page 20
After that, he’d decide how to handle his future. If Josie was here, Tobias aimed to buy a place and settle in Campton Creek with the hope that she’d settle with him.
If she didn’t want him, he’d still be near her, and that had to count for something.
Tobias walked toward the big brick home with the impressive columns on each side of the front door. All around, various trees heavy with spring sprouts hung like green veils. Garden trails wound their way around the grounds, annuals and perennials shouting in hues of red, blue and orange. The side yard held a parking lot complete with buggy hitches and horse railings.
That made him smile. Seemed this place did accommodate the Amish. He wondered about this obviously historic house and the Camptons. This town had obviously been named after the family. Tobias loved history and often checked out historical fiction or biographies from the library. Most of his friends frowned on such notions, but he liked to know about things.
His daed used to tell him that his curiosity would get him in trouble one day. Maybe so. Right now, he was curious about a clean room and a good meal.
Tobias rang the doorbell and waited.
An older woman with a bright smile on her face opened the door.
“Jewel?” Tobias asked, taking in her white hair and serviceable skirt and blouse.
“No, I’m Bettye,” the woman said with a wave of her hand. “Jewel is our new manager, but she had to run some errands. You must be Tobias Mast.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, mindful to speak in Englisch.
“C’mon in, then,” Bettye said. “I’ll get you signed in and show you to your room.”
Tobias took in the opulence of the estate house. “I appreciate that. I’m mighty tired.”
Bettye checked the register on a small electronic pad, her fingers moving with haste over the keyboard. “Now, Tobias, we serve breakfast to our visitors at seven each morning. And if you ask ahead, we’ll leave you some dinner on the stove.”
“You must stay busy,” he said, liking Bettye’s calm demeanor. “From what Jewel told me, this place is truly a community center.”
“Oh, I don’t normally do much these days,” she replied. “I’m a companion to the owner, Judy Campton. I was her assistant for years after my husband passed. When Admiral Campton died, she and I moved into the apartment over the carriage house. We usually have lots of people moving through here, but it’s the end of the day. Jewel will be back soon. She lives here now and keeps watch over Mrs. Campton and me.” Chuckling, she whispered, “They all think we’re old, you know.”
Grinning, Tobias followed her to the stairs while she continued. “The kitchen is located in the back of the house. You’ll find snacks and drinks on the sideboard in the dining room. We have one of those newfangled coffee makers that use pods.”
Tobias had seen those in his travels and marveled at how the machines made a cup of coffee from a tiny round plastic pod.
“My daed frowned on such notions,” he admitted. “I think they’re amazing, but I’m not supposed to admit that.”
“I won’t tell,” Bettye said. They reached a door on the second floor. “This is your room. It has a small bath and a desk and chair. There is a table where you can eat if you’d like or you’re welcome to eat in the kitchen or out on the sunporch.”
Bettye turned to smile at him. “We operate from six to six around here, but if you need anything, there is a button on the phone that will ring through to Jewel. She’s a light sleeper, and I must warn you—the woman used to be a bouncer at a nightclub.”
“Denke,” Tobias said, thinking Bettye was one of the kindest women he’d ever met even when she was warning him to mind his manners. “I think I will fall straight to sleep once I get settled.”
“Oh, one more thing,” Bettye said as she gave him a key card to his room. “Jewel left you copies of the real-estate listings she mentioned on the phone.”
“I’ll look those over,” Tobias said. “I appreciate her doing that.”
Bettye gave him a motherly stare. “Do you plan to buy land here?”
He nodded. “Yes, I do.”
He didn’t tell Bettye that he also planned to find Josephine Fisher. That was something he had to do in his own way and on his own time.
Once Tobias was in his room and had freshened up, he ate one of the cinnamon cookies along with a bottle of apple juice he’d found on the small wooden table.
Then he sat down in the comfortable chair by the window that looked out over a small side garden full of roses and some pretty shrubs, so he could read the listings he’d found on the desk.
Four different farms for sale. He skimmed the first three pretty quickly. He couldn’t afford two of them and the other one looked in bad shape.
But the fourth one caught his attention and had his heart pumping too fast.
The Fisher place. Located next to the Bawell Hat Shop and Farm. The same address Josie’s friend had given him. The directions were listed along with the price. Within his budget.
Was this the house Josie had lived in when she was young?
Copyright © 2020 by Lenora H. Nazworth
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ISBN-13: 9781488060427
A Love Redeemed
Copyright © 2020 by Lisa Jordan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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