The Trustworthy One

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  “Yeah.” She nodded. The door opened a few inches wider. Her expression was so hopeful yet wary that he had to take a minute to collect himself. She was obviously having a hard time, but here she was, trying to take care of her home.

  He pulled out her letter. “So, I got this today. Does it look familiar?”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes.” She looked like she was hoping to ask him about it, but instead she bit her lip, obviously waiting for more information.

  “Your letter was… well, it meant a lot to me. I’m glad you sent it.”

  “Really?”

  There was that whisper of hope again. The lump in his throat was beginning to feel like a boulder. “Oh, jah. I’ve been thinking lately that if more people ask for help when they really need it, the world might be a better place.”

  “I know I’m not Amish like you, but I didn’t know who else to write.”

  “Gut, because I reckon the Lord intended for me to read it. The moment I did, I came over here. I thought maybe I could come in and see your leaky floor.”

  “Really?”

  Boy, did no one ever honor their promises to her? “Really.” He held out his hands. “I mean, I’m here, aren’t I?”

  She nodded again, then stepped backward so he could enter.

  Nate was immediately surrounded by the acrid smell of bleach and Pine-Sol. He looked around the small living room. It held a cheap card table, a worn-down couch, and two chairs, the kind one might find in a diner.

  Everything was spotless.

  “Is your mother here?”

  Allison looked stricken for a moment, then shook her head. “No. She went to work. She cleans houses.”

  “Ah.” Well, if she was working, she had to be feeling better. That was a blessing, he supposed. “How about you go ahead and show me where the problem is?”

  “Yeah. I mean, thank you. It’s over here.” Her voice was as hopeful as if he’d mentioned he was going to take her on a shopping trip to the mall. She pointed to a narrow stairway that led to a loft of sorts. “It’s up here.”

  “Lead the way.” He smiled when she looked at him doubtfully before climbing the stairs.

  The little loft looked as exhausted as the front room. In the corner were a made bed and a table with a variety of medicines on it. “I’m guessing this is your mother’s room?”

  “Yes. She likes being up here by the bathroom.”

  He followed her to the next doorway. When he peeked inside and saw the condition of the shower pan and the floor around it, he winced. Allison had not been wrong. There was a real good leak, and from the looks of it, it had been leaking for a while. Even at first glance it was obvious that the floor was rotten and that the shower was almost unusable. She’d been right to reach out to him. Someone needed to help her.

  “Let’s go see your bedroom.”

  “Okay.” She looked relieved to be going back down the narrow stairs. The moment he got to the main floor, she turned down a hallway and into a small room that was about the size of his storage room at the store. Inside were a twin bed, a chest of drawers, and a metal table with a lamp on it. There wasn’t much else.

  Though it shouldn’t have mattered all that much, the sparseness made him even sadder. It didn’t look that different from a lot of Amish rooms. But even he knew the bare walls and lack of possessions was out of the ordinary for an English teen.

  “See?” She pointed to a dark patch on the ceiling. It was black mold.

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst of it. Stains marred the wall, and the linoleum on the floor was curled at the edges. He had a pretty good idea that there wasn’t mold on just the ceiling. She was surrounded by it.

  Allison was standing at the doorway, motionless and obviously afraid of what he was going to tell her.

  Nate couldn’t help but compare her reaction to some of the men and women he dealt with. Usually they were full of questions, sometimes full of excuses about why things were the way they were. This girl, on the other hand, had no words. Instead, she was simply staring at him. Waiting for his verdict.

  It was humbling.

  He realized then that the Lord was giving him this task as a blessing. It was his chance to help someone, to try to do some kind of penance for all of the cruel jokes and determined indifference he’d felt about Kendra and her family.

  No, it wasn’t going to change anything. Maybe it wasn’t even going to make a difference to the Lord. All he could do was concentrate on the fact that he couldn’t right the past, but he could improve this girl’s future.

  This isn’t about you, anyway, a voice whispered in his head, and he knew this to be true.

  Finally he walked to Allison. “I have gut news,” he said. “This is just the thing I do all the time. I’ll be happy to fix your leak and repair the damage it caused.”

  “Thank you so much!” Almost immediately, worry filled her eyes again. “I don’t know how to pay you back, though.”

  “No need for that. It’s my pleasure, Miss Berry.”

  When she smiled at last, he felt like crying. Instead, he said, “Now, let me go up to that loft and look at things again. I need to make some lists.”

  FIVE

  “Some of you might know that my home life was pretty bad.” Impatiently, she shook her head. Reminding herself she wasn’t going to cover it up anymore. “Nee, what I meant to say is that when I was a little girl, I was abused.”

  WEDNESDAY

  Naomi Troyer had a secret. She hadn’t come to see Kendra just because she wanted to visit her for a couple of days. She wanted to move in with her. She might be only sixteen, but she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy feat to convince her big sister that it was a good idea.

  She had nothing to lose, though.

  Mommi and Dawdi were nice enough. But because they were their mother’s parents, they didn’t always want to admit to all the problems Rosanna Troyer had. Even now, though none of Rosanna’s children had much of a relationship with her—and more than enough reasons to never see her again—their grandparents still had a ready supply of excuses for her. She’d been overwhelmed because she’d had five kinner. She was spoiled because they’d done too much for her when she was a child. She’d married a bad man and had been a victim, too. Or Naomi’s personal favorite: Rosanna put on such a brave face and kept so much to herself that no one was ever sure how to help her.

  The fact that their grandparents refused to place any blame for their abuse on their mother’s shoulders was something Naomi knew she’d do her best to keep from her other siblings—especially Kendra. Their mother had spent the majority of their lives pretending everything in that house was just fine, but the truth was that they had had a scary childhood and spent much of the time trying not to get hurt by their father or feel abandoned by their mother. Only Kendra and eventually Mary, Jeremiah, and then Chris had made sure they had food to eat and clean clothes to wear.

  They’d all depended on one another—that was for sure. But Naomi had always considered Kendra to be her real mother. She was the one she’d always gone to for hugs or encouragement or if she had a problem. Kendra had gone without so the rest of them could eat.

  Even though Naomi knew it had been Kendra’s idea to send her to their grandparents, she’d still missed her.

  Now, here she was, at her sister’s shop that she was about to open, and she was determined to be so helpful and hardworking that Kendra wouldn’t be able to do anything but ask her to stay. Being with Kendra felt like being home.

  “Nanny, could you do a favor for me, please?” Kendra called out.

  Naomi started, realizing she’d been staring out the window instead of organizing the shelves full of letters an artist had carved out of old wood and painted bright colors. “Of course.” She turned to find her sister sitting on the ground and glaring at the cabinet she’d been trying to put together. “Do you need me to hold something for ya?”

  “Nee.” Sighing, Kendra held out a long metal screw. “I think I
’m short three of these. Would you walk down to the hardware store and buy some?”

  “Sure.” She took the screw. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Hold on. Here.” She handed Naomi a ten-dollar bill. “Sometimes they sell hot dogs in a cart on the sidewalk. If you see it, get yourself something to eat, okay? I just realized that we worked through lunch.”

  “Do you want a hot dog, too?”

  “Sure, if there’s enough money left over. If not, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

  “Kendra, I’m not a baby. I’m not going to get something to eat and leave you hungry.”

  Her sister looked about ready to argue, but at the last minute, she pursed her lips and nodded. “Danke.”

  Naomi felt like rolling her eyes, but she simply smiled before darting out the door. This was another reason Kendra needed her. Even after all this time, she still was afraid of her siblings going hungry. It broke her heart. All of their hearts, Naomi knew.

  After taking note that the food truck absolutely was there and seeing that the hot dogs were just a dollar and a half each, she walked into Walnut Creek Hardware.

  Because it was Amish owned and there were no strong fluorescent lights, the old store had a good number of skylights and fans overhead. The faint whirr sounded comforting, and it was slightly dark and blissfully cool inside.

  It also smelled good—fresh and clean. The owners must have used a pine air freshener. She stopped for a moment and breathed deeply. Kendra’s shop had been stuffy. She hadn’t realized just how much until she’d walked out the door.

  “Can I help you?”

  She turned to find a boy about her age walking toward her. He had red hair, a thousand freckles, and light brown eyes. Though he was staring at her like she’d been acting strange, breathing in the shop’s air like it was an oxygen tank, Naomi pretended she didn’t notice.

  “Sure you can.” Holding up the metal screw in between two fingers, she said, “We need three of these. Do you have them?”

  “Maybe.” He tilted his head to one side. “What are you building?”

  Wondering if he was being condescending, she lifted her chin. “What business is that of yours?”

  “None. But if it’s brick or something, you’re going to need good ones.”

  “Oh. Well, I’m not building anything out of brick.”

  He looked her up and down, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. “Why won’t you tell me? Is it a secret or something?”

  “Yeah. I’m building a secret with two-inch screws,” she said sarcastically. “Can you help me or not?”

  “Jah. Sure. Follow me.”

  She sighed dramatically and followed him down an aisle, made a right turn, and then walked halfway up another. Just as he stopped in front of a large gray metal cabinet filled with clear plastic drawers, Nate Miller walked out of a back room. “Kane, are you finding… Wait, Nanny? You are Nanny, right?”

  She smiled at him, noticing that he was still as handsome as ever, with his dark blond hair and murky hazel eyes. But more important than his looks was his personality. He’d always been nice to her. “Jah, it’s Naomi.”

  He grinned. “Let me guess. You’ve outgrown your sister’s pet name for you.”

  “Kind of. I think my siblings will always call me Nanny, but it’s not the best name to go by, you know?”

  “I can see your point, though I’ve always been fond of the name myself. I thought it was cute.” As if he’d just realized his employee was standing with them, he said, “Naomi, this is Kane. Kane, this here is Naomi, who I’ve known since she was just a little thing.”

  “Hello,” she said.

  Kane stepped closer and smiled at her. “Good to meet you. Can I call you Nanny?”

  She lifted her chin to show him that she wasn’t someone to mess around with. “Nee. All you need to do is help me get those screws, please.”

  Kane raised his eyebrows. “Wow. You’re pretty bossy.”

  And he was pretty full of himself! “No, I just have things to do. My sister sent me over here to get these screws, and that’s what I’ve come to do.”

  Nate looked at her more closely. “Wait, are you saying that Kendra sent you down here?”

  “Jah. She’s trying to put together a cabinet and said the box didn’t come with enough of these.”

  “Trying?”

  “It’s taking a while.” She knew the reason, of course. Kendra had terrible dyslexia. It made numbers seem backward. Trying to read the directions and put that information into practice wasn’t easy for her. But no way was she going to share that with Nate Miller, and especially not with this Kane fella standing right in front of them and absorbing every word. He might be cute, but he was way too nosy.

  Nate took hold of the screw in her hand, looked at it closely, then spoke to Kane. “I’ll take care of this.” He reached over to a long bank of drawers, each neatly labeled, skimmed his fingertips along the edges, then deftly pulled open the drawer and took out five or six screws.

  Naomi held out her hand. “Danke.”

  “No worries. I’ll walk them down and help Kendra get that cabinet together. Half the time the pieces of wood in those kits aren’t even cut right. It makes it almost impossible to build easily.”

  Naomi held out the ten-dollar bill Kendra had given her. “Do you want me to pay you or Kane?”

  To her surprise, he looked aggravated by her asking. “There’s no charge.” Walking toward the door, he passed Kane, who was wiping down the counter next to the cash register. “I’ll be down at Tried and True. It’s two doors down. I won’t be long.”

  “No worries,” Kane replied. “I can handle everything here.”

  “Hope so.” Nate winked at Naomi before striding out the door.

  Naomi felt a little dismayed as she watched Nate leave. There seemed to be more going on, but she had no idea what it could be. Deciding that it wasn’t any of her business, she focused on the new task at hand—their lunch. Should she still get the hot dogs now, or should she wait? She didn’t want to bother Kendra, but she had promised her that she’d bring food.

  Kane’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Tried and True is your sister’s place?”

  “Yes. Have you been over there yet?”

  “Nee. It’s a girly kind of store, right?”

  “I guess.” He might have been right, but she wasn’t in the mood to stand around and defend her sister’s business. “Well, bye.”

  “Wait.”

  She turned, ready for him to accuse her of stealing a handful of screws. But instead, he was looking at her intently. “Do you live here in Walnut Creek?”

  “I used to.” And she might again, if she had any say in it.

  “Where do you live now?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “Why, is it a secret?”

  “Why are you asking me so many questions?”

  He held up two hands, like he was fending off an attack. “No reason. I was just curious about you.”

  “I don’t know why. We don’t even know each other.”

  “Maybe that’s why I was asking you so many questions.” Smiling like he knew he was being irritating but didn’t care, he lifted one shoulder.

  She wanted to frown at him, she really did. But she also noticed the humor in their exchange. She’d been as prickly as a porcupine!

  And now that she thought about it, there was something about him that had caught her attention. Here he was, wearing a pale gray shirt, faded jeans, and tennis shoes, nothing special. With his red hair and pale skin, the light-colored clothes should have made him look even more awkward. But that was the problem. All that gray shirt did was accentuate his eyes, which were really nice.

  “Sorry, I guess I have been interrogating you something awful. I can’t help it, I’ve always been curious about things, especially pretty girls who are new to town.” Before she could comment on that, he asked another question. “If your sister lives here, how c
ome you don’t?”

  Oh, but he was irritating. Just as she was about to very firmly tell him that he had to stop asking so many questions, she decided to put him in his place. “I don’t live here because our parents abused us and I had to go live with my grandparents.” She turned around with a huff, sure she’d just shocked him to death.

  “Wait, you’re serious, aren’t you?”

  Turning back to face him, Naomi saw Kane’s eyes staring at her intently, and because of that, the smart, sarcastic comment that she’d been intending to say evaporated in her head.

  Instead, she simply told him the truth. “I would never joke about something like that,” she murmured before walking over to the food truck and placing her order.

  It didn’t really matter if Kendra wanted to eat now or later. What mattered was that her sister was finally going to have someone on hand to get her food if she got hungry.

  Out of all the things Kendra had done for her when she was a little girl, the memory of her big sister giving most of her food to her younger siblings stuck with her the most.

  After a lifetime of Kendra doing everything for others and expecting nothing in return, Nanny was going to make sure her big sister was finally going to have someone to take care of her.

  SIX

  “I have four younger siblings, too. So, um, there wasn’t a lot at my house. Not a lot of anything.” Seeing E.A.’s eyes fill with tears, Kendra pushed her story forward. “The reason I’m telling you this now is because back then, when I was fourteen years old, I didn’t tell anyone. Well, I didn’t tell anyone about what my life was really like except for Andy Warner.”

  WEDNESDAY

  Nate Miller’s impatient rap on the door matched the scowl on his face.

  Looking at him through the thick pane of glass, Kendra knew she wasn’t a fan of either his impatience or his scowl. Taking her time, she navigated her way through the piles of merchandise on the floor.

  He watched her the whole time, managing to look even more annoyed with each second that passed.