It may be a lie, but what else do I have?
Katie’s cheeks were wet as she painted out her message. After about thirty minutes, she was done.
Katie stepped back from the fence, inspecting her work. “Amish you must leave. Find another comunity! Go!”
The heavy block letters were nothing like Katie’s usual neat, cursive script, and she had deliberately misspelled a word. It scared her, knowing she had done this.
Maybe I can paint it over?
Before she could decide though, the loud rumble of an approaching truck thundered down the road beside her. By the sound, it was one of the tall, sixteen-wheelers. Was it tall enough to see over the line of tall bushes and scrub trees that partially hid the fence from the road?
Terrified, Katie dropped to the ground and lay with her cheek flat to the hard dirt. If they saw her, it was over.
When the truck had passed, Katie ran. She caught her breath in the barn, hastily putting the paint can and brush back where it belonged.
She was too scared to remember to wash the brush clean. Hurrying to the back door, she quietly let herself in and snuck back upstairs.
Shivering atop her quilts in her damp, mud-stained clothes, she tried to sleep. Even with her eyes shut, her guilt and fear brought her terrifying dreams.
Shouldn’t she even feel a little bit better?
The next morning, she forced herself out of bed, as soon as she saw the gentle pink of the sunrise.
Only then did she change into clean clothing and go to the kitchen. Forcing a smile, she said, “Gut, morning, Mam.”
“Did I hear you coming downstairs last night?” Mary was concerned.
Katie’s heart felt like it stopped for a second. She took a sharp breath. “Oh, ja,” the lies spilled out in an easy rush. “I couldn’t sleep, so I sat in my quilting room and drank some water. After a while, I was able to get to sleep. I’m sorry if I was noisy.”
“Nee, you were quiet. I just heard the stair creaking under your foot.”
“Oh.”
They ate. Her mam and dat chatted out the farm, an easy conversation that Katie barely heard.
“Daughter? Katie!”
Katie looked up. Her eggs were growing cold on her plate.
“Are you well?” Mary asked.
“Ja.” Katie shoveled a mouthful of eggs into her mouth. Her stomach twisted as she chewed and swallowed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not very hungry.”
“Perhaps you should lay back down?”
And be alone with her nightmares and guilt? “Nee, you need help with the washing, and I have two quilt orders, plus I have a meeting in town with someone who wants a quilt made as a wedding gift.”
If she stayed busy, maybe she could work herself into exhaustion and sleep without dreams or voices.
“Well!” Mary smiled, though her lips still held a tightness as she watched her youngest daughter pick at her food. “Your business is picking up, isn’t it?”
“Ja, it is! I’m going to be putting more money into savings than I’d planned.”
Katie finally managed to escape the house, and she hopped in the buggy. Maybe no one had seen the note. Maybe she could paint it over tonight.
Gott, please.
But as Katie hurried into town, to her dismay, a large crowd was clustered around the large fence she’d painted the night before. Assuming a look of confusion, she pulled up as close as she could. Setting the brake, she jumped out and approached one of her friends. “Sarah, what’s going on?”
“Look! Now, they’re painting signs!” Sarah’s voice quavered as she tried to hold back fear and anger.
Katie’s wide eyes swung to the large, white-painted sign. At that moment, in the stark daylight, it terrified her. What had she done? “Mei Gott!” Katie swung around, looking for Amos. Not seeing him, she continued to look for anyone else she knew. Her gaze stopped on Eli Smits, Amos’s older brother.
Eli caught sight of Katie’s surprised, white face as she looked at the sign, then around the crowd. Though Katie was pale and clearly upset, it didn’t convince Eli that she was innocent. She was too close to this. The sign was within walking distance of Katie’s family home. In fact, everything about this rumor connected in some way to Katie. He resolved to continue keeping an eye on her and share his observations with Annie.
Maybe he was wrong. But if he was right, then Katie was a bad influence who would drag his brother down too. Swinging away from Katie’s pale face, Eli jogged back to his buggy and hurried away.
“Katie. Katie! Did you see the sign?” Libby shouted.
Katie’s head pounded. The thick white lettering and those horrible words she had written whirled through her mind.
A small cut.
But it wasn’t. It was a gaping, bleeding wound and she couldn’t stop it.
“Ja, I did. This...now...we know. Right?” Katie squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her headache growing more insistent.
“Ja, are you okay?” Libby put a hand on Katie’s shoulder.
Katie flinched. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
The truth lodged in her throat again like a chicken bone. Finally, Katie said, “My head.”
“Is it a migraine?”
“Ja, I think so. Oh, and I have a meeting with a new client!”
How could she meet her client when she felt so awful. When everything was so awful, and it was all so awfully her own fault. Katie took a step towards her buggy. Her guts roiled. She clutched her stomach and swallowed.
“Are you going to throw up?” Libby put a hand on her small of her back. Katie smelled candied apples, and before she could do anything to stop it, her guts rebelled. She leaned over as her breakfast splattered like her dreams onto the hard dirt.
“Oh, Katie!” Libby’s voice softened. “You can’t drive like this. Can you make it inside the buggy to sit down?”
“I’m fine.” Katie didn’t deserve Libby’s sympathy, even as the other girl’s hand warmed her. “I have to go home,” Katie said. She stumbled to the buggy.
“Nee, just sit down. I’ll drive you in my buggy, and someone else can bring yours over later. Who is your client? We’re going to have to let them know you’re suddenly ill.”
Katie sat down on the step of the buggy, her vision swimming as Libby talked. “Who is the client?”
Katie handed over the paper with her client’s address. “Denki,” she managed.
“Nee! Nee!”
After a few minutes, Katie’s stomach had settled enough for her to breathe evenly again. She had to go home. This was all her doing, and now Libby was going so far out of her way to make sure Katie was safe. If she knew, it would be a different story. None of this was fair.
“Just stay here, and I’ll be right back, okay?” Libby said.
Katie nodded. But when Libby ran off, Katie climbed up into the driver’s seat of her buggy and urged the horses home.
“Katie! Wait!” Libby shouted, her footsteps tapping against the ground as she tried to run after the buggy, but Katie kept going.
At home, Katie barely made it into the barn before her stomach rebelled again. There was nothing left except acid and spit, but she threw up again and again.
Her mam, probably wondering what was taking Katie so long in the barn, came in, and seeing her doubled over, put her arm around her daughter. “Steady now,” she said. “Is it a migraine?”
“I don’t know,” Katie said, truthfully.
“It’s a migraine. It must be. You haven’t had one so awful since you were eleven. Remember, after those English apples Levi brought gave you food poisoning? Too much sugar, I told him.”
It hadn’t been the sugar, but Katie murmured agreement anyway.
Her mam led her gently upstairs, put her to bed and shut the curtains. She gave Katie three aspirin, a glass of water, and placed a cool washcloth on her forehead.
Katie closed her eyes. She felt empty and lost. It was like she’d turned herself in
side out, and now she was scrubbed raw. Even the stories were silent. It was just her and a pounding, unrelenting pain.
THE BISHOP, DEACON and two ministers stood in front of the crudely painted note and conferred. “We have to bring this up in Sunday’s meeting. In the meantime, I’m going to go see the mayor and let her know.” The bishop stopped, looking to his side. “Mayor. It’s progressed.” He indicated the sign with an open hand.
The mayor’s eyes swept over the large sign. “So it would seem. I’m going to talk to the city council. We’ve already started making this public. I’ll need a full accounting of everything that’s been happening. Witnesses, people who’ve heard this person, what the person has said, everything. Are you planning anything?”
“Ja. We’ll be talking about this sign and the rumors at our Sunday service. It’s a meeting Sunday, so we’ll be able to get the attention of just about everyone.”
“Good. I’m going to want to meet with you regularly until this gets figured out.” The mayor shifted her weight. “And...if it is anyone ‘English,’ we will stop them. I’m so very sorry.”
“Denki. I will be happy to meet with you. Here is the phone number by my house.” The bishop wrote the phone number down and gave it to the mayor.
This was no longer a rumor. It was a threat to his community. Jesus admonished his people to turn the other cheek, but in spite of himself, the bishop couldn’t force himself to conciliation. Whoever was responsible would be brought to justice. That he promised himself.
The End.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it! If so, you can grab the next book in the series here.
Here’s a brief excerpt from Chapter 1:
Three long hours later, the service finally ended. People were quiet, preoccupied as they filed out of the large room. Men and older boys moved the benches outside so everyone could sit at the long tables for the community lunch.
The women filed quietly into the kitchen, taking hot lunch dishes out of the oven and going outside with them. Katie set down a large casserole, grateful for the canopy of green leaves. She felt the warmth of the spring day building and wished she didn’t feel so cold inside.
Libby came up next to her, putting down two large bowls of freshly baked bread so the elderly community members could make sandwiches or add bread to their plates. “Katie? Are you okay? Is your head still bothering you?”
Katie shrugged. “A bit.”
“I know you’re scared, but we’re all doing everything we can to be safe.”
But who would keep Katie safe from herself?
The deacon suspected her. Katie had felt his sharp gaze on her through the bishop’s entire talk. “I don’t know. Maybe we should leave.” Go like they had been forced to do before. Except this time, she would run first. She would run before they confirmed their worst suspicions. “All of us. Move to a bigger community. Or even to other states with Amish communities.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Libby asked. In truth, her friend was scaring her. “Maybe you should sit down for a while.”
“Nee. It won’t help.” Katie walked slowly back into the kitchen, dropping the potholders in the hallway as she walked. Libby ran after her and picked them up.
“You dropped these.”
“Oh,” Katie said absently. “Thank you.”
Libby put the potholders on the counter. Katie grabbed two large pitchers of iced tea and lemonade.
“Are you sure you—?”
“I can handle it,” Katie said. Her hands were eerily steady as she carried the pitchers outside and placed them on the large, picnic table beside the cornfield.
Libby picked up a large container bearing hot coffee and carefully moved outside with it.
As she set the coffee dispenser down, she looked closely at Katie.
Something was deeply wrong with her best friend.
Words of the scripture, the Book of Jude, passed through Libby’s mind as she watched Katie go through the motions of helping with the after meeting meal: ...waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame...
Was this reaction not fear, but instead guilt? And if so, did it mean Libby’s initial suspicions were correct?
Grab Amish Trust and Betrayal here (or at your favorite online booksellers).
Or *SAVE BIG* get all of the books in one discount collection here.
Lastly, if you enjoyed this book and want to continue to support my writing, please leave this book a review on its review page and/or Goodreads to let everyone know what you thought of the series. It’s the best thing you can do to keep indie authors like me writing. (And if you find something in the book that – YIKES – makes you think it deserves less than 5-stars, drop me a line at [email protected], and I’ll fix it if I can.)
Best,
Rachel
ENJOY THIS BOOK? You can make a big difference
Reviews are the most powerful tools in my arsenal when it comes to getting attention for my books. As much as I'd love to, I don't have the financial muscle of a New York publisher. I can't take out full page ads in the newspaper or put up billboards on the highway.
(Not yet, anyway.)
But I have a blessing that is much more powerful and effective than that, and it's something those publishers would do anything to get their hands on.
A loyal and committed group of wonderful readers.
Honest reviews of my books from readers like you help bring them to the attention of other readers.
If you've enjoyed this book, I would be very grateful if you could spend just 3 minutes leaving a review (it can be as short as you like) on this book's review page.
And if, *YIKES* you find an issue in the book that makes you think it deserves less than 5-stars, send me an email at [email protected] and I'll do everything I can to fix it.
Thank you so much!
Blessings,
Rachel S
A WORD FROM RACHEL
Building a relationship with my readers and sharing my love of Amish books is the very best thing about writing. For those who choose to hear from me via email, I send out alerts with details on new releases from myself and occasional alerts from Christian authors like my sister-in-law, Ruth Price, who also writes Amish fiction.
And if you sign up for my reader club, you'll get to read all of these books on me:
A digital copy of Amish Country Tours, retailing at $2.99. This is the first of the Amish Country Tours series. About the book, one reader, Angel exclaims: " Loved it, loved it, loved it!!! Another sweet story from Rachel Stoltzfus."
A digital copy of Winter Storms, retailing at $2.99. This is the first of the Winter of Faith series. About the book, Deborah Spencer raves: " I LOVED this book! Though there were central characters (and a love story), the book focuses more on the community and how it comes together to deal with the difficulties of a truly horrible winter."
A digital copy of Amish Cinderella 1-2. This is the first full book of the Amish Fairy Tales series and retails at 99c. About the book, one reader, Jianna Sandoval, explains: " Knowing well the classic "Cinderella" or rather, "Ashputtle", story by the Grimm brothers, I've do far enjoyed the creativity the author has come up with to match up the original. The details are excruciating and heart wrenching, yet I love this book all the more."
A digital copy of A Lancaster Amish Home for Jacob, the first of the bestselling Amish Home for Jacob series. This is the story of a city orphan, who after getting into a heap of trouble, is given one last chance to reform his life by living on an Amish farm. Reader Willa Hayes loved the book, explaining: " The story is an excellent and heartfelt description of a boy who is trying to find his place in the community - either city or country - by surmounting incredible odds."
False Worship 1-2. This is the first complete arc of the False Worship series, retailing
at 99c. Reader Willa Haynes recommends the book highly, explaining: " I gave this book a five star rating. It was very well written and an interesting story. Father and daughter both find happiness in their own way. I highly recommend this book."
You can get all five of these books for free by signing up at http://familychristianbookstore.net/Rachel-Starter.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Being a neighbor of the Mennonite community, she started writing Amish romance fiction as a way of looking at the Amish community. She wanted to present a fair and honest representation of a love that is both romantic and sweet. She hopes her readers enjoy her efforts.
You can keep up with her new releases, discounts and specials when you sign up for Rachel’s email updates list.
Also by Rachel Stoltzfus
A Home for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Home for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Prayer for Jacob
A New Life for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish School for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Home for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Home for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Vacation for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Love Story for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Memory for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Miracle for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Treasure for Jacob
A Lancaster Amish Home for Jacob 9-Book Boxed Set
A Lancaster Amish Home for Jacob 9-Book Collection
A Lancaster County Amish Quarrel Series
An Amish Country Quarrel
Simple Truths
Neighboring Faiths
Courageous Faith
An Amish Country Quarrel 4-Book Boxed Set
An Amish Country Quarrel 4-Book Boxed Set Bundle
A Lancaster Home for Jacob Boxed Sets
A Lancaster Home for Jacob 5-Book Boxed Set Bundle
Amish Country Tours, Amish Romance Series (An Amish of Lancaster County Saga)
Amish Secrets and Lies Page 9
