“Like your dad?” Poppy said.
He hunched over in surrender. “I shouldn’t have done it.” He picked up a cookie from the plate, almost as if he were simply looking for something to do with his hands. “I’m sorry I scared Rose and tried to kiss her. It was a joke. I didn’t think she’d cry.”
Such an explanation strained Josiah’s ability to believe. The anger flared brightly inside him and immediately burned itself out. At least Griff had offered an apology. That was no small thing.
“Please don’t tell Ashley what I did,” Griff said. “She likes Amish people. She’d break up with me.”
Josiah thought it would serve him right, but he also knew that everyone deserved forgiveness. It was what the Amish taught almost every week in church. Griff had hurt Rose. Could Josiah find it in his heart to forgive him?
“I hope you can be happy,” Rose said, not moving from the safety of Lily’s arms. Josiah could see her hands trembling even as she spoke. Her kindness took his breath clean away.
A low rumbling seemed to shake the very foundation of the house. Griff perked up at the sound. “That’s Ashley. I let her drive my truck.”
A few seconds later, Ashley knocked on the door. How could someone put so much excitement into three taps?
Dan was still standing dumbly by the door, so he opened it. The girl at the door had long, jet-black hair, so shiny it seemed to sparkle in the lamplight. It cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall and fell almost to her waist. Her hair framed her round, mousy face and her lively brown eyes.
Her earrings looked too thick to fit into the holes in her ears, and Josiah winced at the thought of distended earlobes and huge ear holes. She wore a pair of tight jeans and flip-flops bedecked with dozens of little blue beads.
“Hello,” Ashley said. “Is Griff here?” She peered into the kitchen and saw Griff sitting at the table with his back to her.
He turned and looked at her.
“Griff!” she squeaked.
Her grin was so infectious, Josiah couldn’t help but smile himself.
Without waiting to be invited in, she skipped into the house and threw her arms around Griff’s neck from behind. “I can’t believe the police dragged you away like that. He didn’t even have a warrant or anything.” She looked at Bitsy. “Did you tell the police he didn’t do it?”
Bitsy nodded. “Jah. We knew it wasn’t Griff.”
She squeezed her arms tighter around Griff’s neck. “Oh, thank you so much. You Amish people are so nice.” She bent farther and pressed her cheek to Griff’s. “I told you, didn’t I, Griff?”
“Yeah. You told me.”
“I said, ‘Griff, these Amish folks are super nice. They forgive everybody.’ I said that, didn’t I, Griff?”
“Yeah.”
Ashley took her arms from around Griff and stood up straight. She gazed around the room as if she were in a museum. “I’ve never been in an Amish house before. Hi, Lily. Hi, Rose.” She furrowed her brow. “Is it Poppy?”
“Jah,” Poppy said.
“After we met the other day, I was going to remember your names. I really was.”
“You did very well,” Lily said.
Ashley smiled. “I was shocked when that policeman came to take Griff away. He said Griff set your barn on fire. But he didn’t.” She tapped Griff on the shoulder. “Show them your burns, Griff.”
“I already showed them,” Griff said, holding his arms out anyway.
“It could have been so much worse.” Ashley’s smile faded to nothing. “His dad smacks him around almost every night—especially when he’s drunk. He had to get five stitches last week.”
Griff seemed to fold into himself. For a boy so big, he was getting smaller and smaller. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Ashley’s eyes sparkled with tears. “We’ve got to do something. Enough is enough.”
“They’d only put him on parole anyway. Nothing changes, and calling the police only makes him madder.”
“Do you have to live with your dad?” Bitsy said.
“What about your mother?” In spite of his gruff exterior, Luke was always the champion for the underdog.
Griff shook his head, and Josiah thought he looked a little sheepish. “She kicked me out.”
Standing behind him, Ashley laid both hands on his shoulders. “The stupid jocks were always starting fights at school. What else could he do?”
“Can we do something to stop your dat from picking on you?” Luke asked.
“He needs to move out,” Ashley said. “But he can’t live with us. Me and my mom live in a studio apartment. There isn’t even enough room for a cat.”
“I wish I had that problem,” Bitsy muttered under her breath.
“I can’t afford to live on my own,” Griff said. “The government won’t give me no more money.”
Oy, anyhow. Every muscle in Josiah’s body seized up at once. It seemed as if a thick rope pulled him in a direction he didn’t really want to go, but he had to do it. Jesus said to love everyone. I was a stranger and ye took me in. “I live all by myself. You can stay with me,” he said. His voice seemed to echo off the ceiling.
Everyone stared at him as if his ears had just fallen off. Except for Rose. The tenderness in her eyes made him feel like a bowl of mushy tapioca pudding. “He’d have a roof over his head, and he’d be away from his dad,” Josiah said.
“You would do that?” Ashley said, scraping her jaw off the floor and bursting into a smile. Before Josiah even had the wherewithal to fend her off, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed so hard she nearly choked him. Her heavy perfume stung his nose, and even though he’d never been allergic to anything before, he thought he might break out into a rash.
Unsure if it would be rude to pry her off, Josiah let Ashley hug him until she had a mind to let go. Josiah felt increasingly awkward when it seemed Ashley had nowhere else she needed to be besides attached to his neck.
To his relief, Bitsy finally said something. “You can give Josiah his windpipe back now.”
Ashley giggled and released Josiah. She immediately turned to Griff and wrapped her arms around him from behind again. “I told you the Amish were nice. I mean, really nice.”
Griff grimaced as if Josiah’s suggestion didn’t taste very good. “Who are you?”
“I’m Josiah Yoder.”
“Look, Josiah, it’s nice of you to offer, but you got no TV, no computers, and no air-conditioning. I’d go crazy.”
“At least you wouldn’t get hit,” Josiah said.
“But the weirdness factor of living with some Amish guy is off the charts. I can’t do it.”
“But it was a really nice thing to offer,” Ashley said, smoothing a lock of Griff’s hair against his head.
Josiah nodded, ashamed of the relief that flooded over him. He hadn’t wanted Griff to say yes, but Jesus would have wanted Josiah to open his home to a fatherless child. Josiah didn’t have a father, but he was not fatherless. Griff’s father was alive, but he couldn’t have been less of a father if he were completely invisible.
Griff took Ashley’s hand. “I’ve got to save up enough money to move out. Maybe join the army.”
“You’re not going to join the army,” Ashley protested. “I would die if you got killed.”
Griff finally took a bite of the cookie and drank half the glass of milk. “We’ve got to go. You won’t tell the police about my dat?”
Bitsy shrugged. “That’s your choice, not mine, but you’ll come to us if you need help?”
Griff scooted his chair from the table and stood up. “I don’t know. I usually just call Ashley.”
Ashley slid her hand into Griff’s back pocket and let it rest there. “If any of you ever need help, you know you can always call me or Griff. But I’m sure you already know that.” She patted Griff on the chest. “I know he’s been a good friend to you.”
“The best,” said Bitsy, without a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “Do yo
u want some cookies for the road?”
Griff nodded and picked up the whole plate. “Thanks.” He came around the butcher-block island, too close for comfort. Josiah overreacted and stepped in front of Rose just in case Griff wanted to kiss her. It was completely irrational and completely stupid, but it was his first impulse to protect Rose. If Griff noticed, he didn’t show it.
“Hey, man, nothing personal about not wanting to live with you.”
“I’m not offended.” Relieved was a better word, but Griff need never know that.
“Does anybody have a pen?” Ashley said.
Dan retrieved a pen from the drawer. Ashley grabbed his hand and wrote something on his palm. Dan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head and rolled out the door.
“Here is my cell number,” Ashley said. “I know you don’t have a phone, but if you borrow someone else’s phone, I’d love you to call me. You’re all so cute.”
Ashley nudged Griff out of the house with his plate of cookies and shut the door behind her. Everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Josiah’s neck was so tight, he feared it might never bend again.
Bitsy grunted. “He just took one of the Sunday plates. I hope he enjoys it.”
“I feel sorry for him,” Lily said.
Poppy frowned. “Me too.”
“Don’t feel too sorry,” Aunt Bitsy said. “He got a very nice plate as a memento.”
Luke pressed his fingers into the back of his neck. “He’s in a very bad situation, but I’m wonderful glad Josiah doesn’t have to live with him. Whatever made you offer?”
Josiah shook his head. “I don’t know. I hate the thought of his dat beating up on him.”
Rose was suddenly right next to him looking at him as if he’d unclogged every sink in her house. “I’ve never seen such kindness.”
“I’m sorry his fater is less of a man than he should be.”
Rose’s blue eyes sparkled. “And you are more of a man than most will ever be. You would have made your dat very happy.”
Josiah looked at his hands as his face got warm. “I hope so.”
Dan studied the phone number Ashley had written on his hand. “I gave her the permanent marker. This is never going to come off.”
Lily giggled. “At least you’ll always know how to reach Griff’s girlfriend.”
“I can’t believe you invited him into our house, B,” Poppy said. “What were you thinking?”
Bitsy shrugged. “When Gotte tells you to do something, you do it, no questions asked. I prayed for Gotte to give Griff a yeast infection, and Gotte told me to give him a cookie. I hate it when that happens.”
Chapter Nine
Josiah sat outside the toolshed, where there was more light to work, but all the light in the world wasn’t going to help him figure out this post driver. Andrew was usually the one who fixed the farm tools, but he was at a school meeting and wouldn’t be home for at least another hour. Even though Alvin was only three years old and wouldn’t be in school for another three years, the entire community took an interest in the kinner’s education. Andrew had just as much say in whom they hired to teach as anybody.
Josiah tried to loosen the tiny screw behind the pull cord. The screwdriver slipped and tore an inch-long gash in his trouser. Oh sis yuscht! That was going to leave a mark. And probably a little blood. He had fixed the Honeybee sisters’ sink and their chair and even one of the loose boards on their porch. Surely he could get this post driver to start before Andrew came home.
He stood up to survey the damage to his knee. Suvie would mend his trousers, and there were only a few spots of blood.
Glancing at the scabbed scratches on his arm, he thought it would be wonderful-gute if Rose were here to give him some first aid. Maybe he could ask her to mend his trousers. That would give him another excuse to visit her. Then again, he didn’t want to make a pest of himself, and he didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage of her kindness.
How he wished he could just say, “Rose, I think of you every time my heart beats. I love you down to my bones. Will you please just marry me already?”
That’s what he was going to say someday.
But not today. Not unless he wanted her to lock her bedroom door and never come out.
A smile pulled at his lips. She had smiled at him more than once the other night. There was reason to hope, if only just a little. But he certainly wouldn’t allow his hope to take wing. There were too many things he could do wrong before she came anywhere close to agreeing to marry him.
Or learning to trust him.
Or deciding to love him.
Oy, anyhow. His hope wilted like cornstalks in a drought. He should never think about what could go wrong.
“Josiah, you know you’re not allowed to use the tools,” Luke said, as he and Dan tromped over the dirt toward the toolshed.
“I’m not allowed to use your tools,” Josiah said, picking up his screwdriver and trying to look like he knew how to use it. “Half of these tools are mine. Andrew says I can use whatever I want.”
“It’s because he’s too polite to tell you to keep your hands off.” Luke smoothed his fingers down the driver chuck and took a close look at what Josiah was working on.
“It won’t start,” Josiah said.
Luke rolled his eyes. “You’re trying to fix it with a screwdriver? You should be arrested.” He pulled a wrench from the toolbox and nudged Josiah aside. “Let me do this before you hurt yourself.”
Josiah would have protested, but he had, in fact, already hurt himself and the post driver was no closer to working than it was before. He was humble enough to admit that Luke was better than he was with a pair of pliers.
“So,” Josiah said, “did you two come for a friendly visit or did you hear the post driver crying for help?”
Luke sat down and started fiddling with one of the driver’s bolts. It was in much better hands now. “We came to tell you what we found out about the knife.”
“The pocketknife in the barn?”
Dan nodded. “We went to the three addresses, but didn’t see a car like the one that tried to run down Poppy.”
Josiah narrowed his eyes. “Wait a minute. You went to the houses?”
“Jah.”
“I promised Rose we wouldn’t.”
Luke pointed the wrench in Josiah’s direction. “You promised Rose that you wouldn’t. Everybody just assumed that Dan and I agreed.”
“Which we didn’t,” Dan said. “We want to protect Poppy and Lily just as much as you want to protect Rose. No one was going to stop us from checking out those addresses.”
Luke nodded. “We kept our mouths shut so Rose wouldn’t be worried and Poppy wouldn’t insist on coming with us. I kept it a secret so she won’t be mad at me.”
“You’re a coward,” Dan said.
Luke shrugged. “Maybe. But at least Poppy is safe.”
Josiah wasn’t altogether happy about it either. He had promised Rose they wouldn’t go to those houses. Then again, like Poppy, she need never know. “But you didn’t find out anything?”
“Nae,” Dan said. “Amos only gave me three addresses. It wasn’t likely that we’d find anything.”
Luke tightened a bolt, yanked the pull cord, and the engine roared to life.
Josiah shook his head. “How do you do that?”
Luke flipped the wrench up in the air and caught it by the handle. “It’s a gift from Gotte. Poppy thinks it’s adorable.”
Josiah rubbed his hand across his mouth to hide a smile. Luke’s arrogance didn’t need any more encouragement, but for sure and certain, Josiah was glad his post driver was working again.
“I’m glad Poppy finally decided to like you,” Dan said. “I was starting to feel sorry for you.”
Luke set the wrench in the toolbox. “We have one piece of gute news. The boy who cuts through the Honeybee Farm sometimes . . .”
“Jack?” Josiah said.
“Jah, Jack. Dan talked to him y
esterday. He saw the car we’re looking for and got part of their license plate before they drove away.”
“He did?” Josiah said.
Dan half smiled and pressed his fingers back and forth across his forehead.
Luke pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. “I wrote it down. It’s S.”
Josiah waited for a few seconds until he realized that was all he was going to get. “S?”
“Jah,” Luke said. “It wonders me if we should give this to the police.”
Dan was still hiding behind his hand, but Josiah could hear him chuckling softly. Josiah couldn’t help joining him.
Luke was sufficiently offended that both his friends were laughing. “Well, it’s something.”
Josiah braced a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “You’re right. Even the smallest thing might help us. And we’ve got to protect our girls yet.”
Luke and Dan both sobered.
“Jah,” Luke said. “We’re not giving up.”
Josiah nodded. He wouldn’t give up on Rose or the license plate.
They were making progress. They had an S.
* * *
“It wonders me if Mammi and Dawdi lie awake at night thinking of ways to offend us,” Poppy said as she, Lily, and Rose trudged up the porch steps after another difficult Saturday at Mammi and Dawdi’s house.
Rose sighed. “I suppose they mean well.”
Poppy slumped her shoulders. “Do they?”
“They love us very much,” Rose said, trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince Poppy. “Dawdi is afraid for our souls, and Mammi is afraid we’ll all be old maedles.”
They stopped in front of the welcome mat, where the mangled body of a mouse greeted them. “Ach,” Lily said. “Why can’t Billy Idol leave mice on Griff Simons’s porch instead of ours?”
“But he’s such a dear cat,” Rose said. “We would be overrun with mice if it weren’t for him.”
Poppy pointed to one of the floorboards on the porch. It was covered over with a thick layer of duct tape. “It looks as if Josiah has been here yet.”
Rose’s heart hopped like popcorn on a hot skillet. Was he still here? Had he come to see her? Why hadn’t she worn the pink dress instead of this drab brown one?
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