He stuck his hands in his pockets. “You could have acknowledged me yesterday.”
“What?”
“At least given me the courtesy of saying hello instead of sneaking off.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, Liesel.” He pointed her toward the shade of an apple tree. She didn’t owe him an explanation, but he hoped she would be honest with him. “Who took care of Cassie yesterday?”
She glanced back at the weathered walls. “She was right here.”
“You left her here all evening?”
“Of course not. She came home with me.”
“I saw you, Liesel.” The jealousy was potent in his voice, but he didn’t care. “You know I saw you.”
“Jacob…”
“If you and Emil want to spend your hours amusing yourselves on a canoe, that’s your business, but you promised me that you’d care for Cassie.”
“Amusing ourselves?” The color drained out of her face. “What did you see on the canoe?”
“You and Emil…” His voice trailed off. “You were with him.”
Her voice shook when she spoke again. “I haven’t left Homestead since we came to visit you well over a week ago.”
His mind spun with confusion. If Liesel wasn’t with Emil, who was the woman in the canoe?
Relief quickly replaced his confusion. It didn’t matter who was with Emil. Liesel wasn’t on that boat, kissing Emil, nor was she reneging on her promise to care for Cassie. He wanted to pick up and twirl her around like he did his daughter.
Liesel pinched her lips together. “You thought I neglected my duty?”
His hands dug farther into his pockets. “I didn’t know.”
“Because I promised I’d stay with Cassie.”
“I’m sorry, Liesel.”
“I wouldn’t leave her here without me.”
She looked over his shoulder again, and he felt like a heel, telling her that he’d caught her fiancé with someone else. He should have known he could trust her.
Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around. Niklas Keller was behind him, his face grim. “We have a problem, Jacob.”
Liesel fell back against the bark of the tree and wiped the beads of sweat off her brow as she watched the two men walk toward the brick church. She’d hoped Jacob would come for a visit soon, but she hadn’t been prepared for him to come today. Not after reading that newspaper article.
She removed her bonnet and fanned her face with it. The words of the article rolled through her mind, but even so, the accusations didn’t match the honorable man she thought she knew.
Her heart quaked—she couldn’t help it. Jacob was in Homestead, and she could only guess as to what Niklas and the other Elders would say to him. He would be asked to leave the community, and Cassie would go with him.
Stepping toward the school, her hands trembled. She had to get Cassie out of school and prepare both of them for the changes to come. There was no time to ask permission from Helene or the Elders. Whatever the consequences, she would face them after Cassie was gone.
A branch cracked under her foot, and she kicked it away. Jacob and Cassie were leaving her, and Emil…
She stopped walking. Jacob saw Emil on a canoe yesterday…with another woman. What was he doing with someone else? An Amana woman.
The image of Emil courting another woman played in her mind, but the thought didn’t upset her like she thought it would. Like it should. Perhaps that was the reason Emil hadn’t come—he’d fallen in love with someone else and couldn’t tell her. Who had caught his eye while she was away?
It didn’t matter, she supposed. The Elders set up the year of separation for this very reason. It was much better for her and Emil to fail now than to fail after they married.
She skirted around the piles of sand and reached for the doorknob on the Kinderschule. It was time to let Emil go, but Cassie and Jacob…she didn’t know if she could bear to say good-bye.
Let My followers who have remained true and loyal step forth, and I shall speak to them tenderly and ease their suffering and tribulation.
Johann Friedrich Rock, 1748
Chapter Twenty-Four
A dozen rows of simple hand-carved benches ran the width of the church building, facing the pale blue walls on the left of the room. The glass on the windows was clear instead of the stained colors that decorated the church Jacob had attended in Chicago, and the only furnishings were a woodstove and an oak table that stood at the side with a green cloth draped over it.
Niklas pointed toward a bench at the back of the room, and Jacob sat on the smooth wood. The older man took a seat on the bench in front of him.
“You’ve been with us a month now,” Niklas began.
“Yes, sir.”
“How is your work on the dredge boat?”
“Very good. Thank you for entrusting me with this job.”
“Trust.” Niklas said the word slowly. “Trust is a fragile thing.”
“Yes, it is.”
Niklas passed a newspaper over the back of the bench, and Jacob took the wrinkled copy of the Daily News.
“You told us you came from Chicago.”
“That’s correct.”
“What did you do in Chicago?”
Jacob blinked, glancing between Niklas and the paper. Niklas said there was a problem, but until Niklas told him what it was, he supposed he would need to answer his questions since he didn’t know why he was here.
“I was a bank clerk.”
“What happened to your job?”
He hesitated at the simple question. The answer was easy, yet it seemed that there was much hanging on it.
“The bank lost a lot of money last year when the economy collapsed. They couldn’t afford to keep paying all the clerks.”
“So you lost your job.”
He nodded. “The president dismissed me and another clerk in April.”
Niklas tapped his knees, the silence between them begging to be filled. “How did you provide for your family after you lost your position?”
“I had a little money set aside to get us through the first few months.”
“But not enough to stay in Chicago.”
“No, sir. I’d already spent a good deal of money when my wife was ill.”
Niklas paused again. “You were angry when she passed.”
Annoyance pricked like needles across his back. “What does this have to do with my work in Amana?”
Niklas paused. “The Elders and I are wondering why you decided to come here.”
“I didn’t intend to come here…. I purchased train tickets to
Washington State.”
“Yet you stopped in the Amanas.”
“Cassie was sick,” he insisted. “I had no choice.”
“Even when she was better, you chose to stay.”
Jacob shifted on the bench, the newspaper still in his hand. “I was searching for work, sir. You and Adam offered me a job.”
The sanctuary door opened, and five other men—Homestead Elders—shuffled into the room. Jacob glanced between the Elders and Niklas. The men didn’t approach Niklas and him, instead waiting by the door as if they were guarding it. Something was very wrong, but apparently he was the only one who didn’t know what it was.
“Did something happen?” Jacob asked.
Instead of answering his question, Niklas asked him another. “Was there any other reason why you stayed in the Amanas?”
Jacob focused on Niklas. “I don’t understand what you’re asking.”
Niklas stared at him. “Were you intending to hide out among our people?”
His eyes caught the stares of the other men, but none of them acknowledged him. Puzzled, Jacob said, “I’m not hiding from anyone.”
Niklas reached for the newspaper and opened it. In the center of the page, he pointed to a headline—a headline about an embezzler.
Jacob froze when he saw his
name.
Stunned, he scanned the article and then read it again, trying to comprehend the words. Was Second National accusing him of embezzlement? That couldn’t be. When Frank Powell had removed him from his position, he hadn’t taken anything.
He slumped back against the bench. The truth didn’t matter. Niklas believed he’d stolen the bank’s money, and so did Liesel. That was why her face clouded when she saw him in the garden. She thought he was a thief.
How could she doubt him? They hadn’t known each other long, but she should trust him…just like he should have trusted her.
Over his shoulder, he watched the barricade of men move toward them. Were they planning to haul him off to prison until he proved his innocence?
He shoved the newspaper away, and its page scattered on the floor. “This is a lie.”
“Why are they accusing you of this crime?”
“They aren’t accusing me. There must be another Jacob Hirsch in Chicago.”
The men were behind Niklas now, like he needed protection. Niklas picked the newspaper off the floor and found the article again. He read out loud.“‘Hirsch disappeared on July fifth, and he may be traveling with his daughter, Cassie, a four-year-old with long, auburn hair.’ ”
Jacob reached for the paper, and Niklas pointed at the paragraph that clearly accused him of stealing from the bank.
“I don’t know why they’re accusing me.”
Niklas stood up beside the other Elders. “We cannot let you stay in the Colonies any longer, not until we know the truth.”
“I understand.” He pushed himself to his feet. “I will clear my name.”
Niklas bowed his head in resignation. In his eyes, Jacob was a transient who’d landed in their town with a deathly ill daughter.
They thought he’d used them to care for Cassie and to escape from his crime. Cut off from most of the world, the Amanas would be a good hideaway, but he hadn’t been hiding. He’d been working. Hard. Did they really think he would be feeding the boiler on the dredge boat if he had twenty thousand dollars to his name? He could think of plenty of other things he’d rather be doing with that kind of money.
He didn’t have thousands, but he’d saved fourteen dollars from his work on the dredge. Enough to purchase a train ticket back to Chicago.
“Can Cassie stay with Liesel while I’m in Chicago?”
Niklas sighed, his eyes heavy.
“God knows I am innocent, Niklas.”
Niklas looked up at him. “Then He will answer our prayers.”
As she pushed Cassie on the tree swing, Liesel quietly petitioned God for answers. And she pleaded with Him not to take Cassie—and Jacob—from her life. Not yet.
Cassie stretched out her feet, kicking at the branch above her, and she laughed with delight as the tree rained twigs on her head.
Liesel pushed her again, but her own joy was dampened. Oh, to feel so carefree right now, relief from the burden pressing down on her. If Cassie left her today…
She would miss the girl’s hugs after school. Her laughter. And she would miss knowing that Jacob was nearby, that he might come to visit at any moment. She would miss him.
He couldn’t possibly be guilty of this crime. Even if he was an outsider—and people in the world did things she didn’t understand—it didn’t mean he’d stolen money.
She glanced back at the church building again. How long did it take to confront a man and seek resolution? The men had entered the side doors at least a half hour ago, and Liesel wished she could climb up a window and steal a glance inside. Cassie fluttered her legs in the air again, oblivious to the tension on the other side of the brick wall.
Cassie’s toes brushed the branch again, and as she swung back, Liesel pushed her once more.
The church doors creaked as they opened behind her. Her heart pounded, but she didn’t turn around. Seeing Jacob’s face right now…it was almost more than she could bear.
“Liesel,” Niklas called out. Slowly, she turned toward him.
The other Elders were gone, but Jacob stood beside Niklas, the pallor on his face gray. He looked like the man she’d found along the railroad track so many days ago. In spite of what she’d read, in spite of what he might have done, her heart broke for him.
Cassie broke the silence with her squeal. “Papa!”
Launching off the swing, the little girl tumbled into the grass and ran toward Jacob. He lifted her, clutching his daughter close to his chest, but he didn’t twirl this time. Nor did he laugh.
Cassie placed her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to look in her face. “What’s wrong, Papa?”
“I…,” he started, but his voice faltered.
“What is it?” she repeated.
“I have to go away,” he said simply.
Cassie’s lower lip quivered, and as Liesel stepped toward her, Niklas cleared his throat. She faced him.
“I need to speak with you,” he said.
She glanced back toward Cassie, aching for the child, but she followed Niklas toward the greenhouse. They passed several women, friends of hers from the garden, but no one spoke to her, not even Niklas. He motioned her inside the empty greenhouse and closed the door.
“Jacob is leaving for Chicago in the morning,” he said.
She felt her own lips shake, but she didn’t speak.
“He says he is innocent of the crime.”
In front of her was a table filled with gardening tools, and she steadied herself on it. “Is he innocent?”
“We don’t know,” Niklas said with a shake of his head. “Adam Voepel is traveling with him.”
“And Cassie?”
“Jacob asked that she stay here…with you.”
She breathed deeply of the sweet aroma flooding the air. “I would like that. Very much.”
“Liesel…” Niklas cleared his throat. “The Elders and I are concerned about one thing.”
“What is that?”
He hesitated. “What if Jacob doesn’t return?”
When you are inspired by His Spirit to follow in His footsteps, He shall turn into a quiet and gentle Lamb and His roar shall become a holy and mysterious rushing.
Johann Adam Gruber, 1717
Chapter Twenty-Five
Grasping his satchel in one hand, Jacob clung to Cassie’s fingers with the other. Leaving her had never been an option, at least not leaving to travel 250 miles back to Chicago, but now he had no choice. If he didn’t go to Chicago, the Elders would notify the newspaper of his whereabouts, and he had no doubt that they could detain him until the Chicago police appeared on their doorstep.
It didn’t matter either way. He was innocent, and he would prove it.
The train whistle blasted from the west, the rail rattling. Only moments now before he would be traveling back to Chicago to face this accusation.
Adam was busy saying good-bye to his family beside the station so Jacob stepped toward Liesel.
She stood on her toes to whisper in his ear. “You asked me once what I was afraid of.”
He stepped back and looked at the tears in her eyes. “What is it, Liesel?”
Her voice shook. “I believe I’m afraid of you.”
Slowly he lifted her chin. He didn’t care who was watching him. “I didn’t do it, Liesel.”
“I know you didn’t take the money.” She whispered again, “And that wasn’t me on the canoe.”
Her gaze arrested him, and more than anything, he wished they were back in the quietness of the doctor’s house, alone.
“Are you going to marry Emil?”
She slowly shook her head. “I can’t marry him.”
The train pulled up beside him, but he didn’t move. “I won’t be gone long.”
“I’ll take good care of Cassie.”
His daughter tugged on his arm, but his eyes lingered another moment on Liesel’s face before he bent down beside his daughter. “You listen to Liesel.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll miss you,
Pumpkin.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I’m not a pumpkin.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You’re my pumpkin,” he said, before he forced himself to embark the train.
Cassie slept through the noon hour, but Liesel’s eyes wouldn’t close. Quietly she shuffled to the desk in her room and sat down in her chair.
Dear Emil, she scribbled with her fountain pen. We have tested our engagement over the past seven months, and I believe we’ve failed the test. It is not fair to either of us to continue this facade. I release you from this commitment and ask that you release me as well.
The words came easily now. They wouldn’t be married. Couldn’t marry. He loved another, and even if he didn’t, she didn’t long for him—not as she should. Her gaze wandered out the window. She longed for another man.
Crumpling the paper, she threw it on the floor, on top of the growing pile of attempts to write an end to her engagement. Her thoughts were clear now, but perhaps the words shouldn’t come in a letter. Perhaps she needed to communicate them in person.
Cassie stirred on her bed and rubbed her eyes. “I’m not sleepy,” she said with a yawn.
Liesel smiled. “I’m glad you didn’t get any sleep then.”
The girl opened her eyes. “Is Papa in Chicago?”
Liesel looked back out the window and saw two horses pulling a wagon down the street. “Oh, I think he’s probably crossed into Illinois by now.”
“Do you think he misses me?”
She walked over to the girl and knelt by her bed. “Without a doubt.”
Cassie patted her chest. “I miss him too.”
The words played like a song in Liesel’s mind.
“Tomorrow is Sunday,” Liesel said.
“Will Papa be back by then?”
“No, not yet.” She chewed on the end of the fountain pen. None of them knew how long it would be before Jacob returned. “Would you like to go to Main Amana with me, to visit my father?”
“Oh, yes.” Cassie swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I want to meet your papa.”
For a moment Liesel hesitated. Her father was wary of any outsider, but even he would be kind to a child. She would visit her father while she was in Amana…and she would talk to Emil.
Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa Page 17
