The Keeper

by Suzanne Woods Fisher

  Fern and Rome exchanged a look. “I admit that I paid part of that bill, Amos,” Rome said. “But nowhere near that amount.”

  “Where would you get that kind of money?” Amos asked him.

  “I sold my family’s farm.” Rome looked over at Fern. “At least, I thought I did. Then, in the mail, the deed was returned to me. Someone bought it from me, then gifted it back to me.”

  One of Fern’s eyebrows twitched. She eyed the small man in the suit. “When was Amos’s bill paid off? And how was it paid?”

  The man looked ill at ease. “The remainder was paid off by a cashier’s check, just ten minutes ago. But that’s all that I’m at liberty to say.”

  She huffed. “I thought I saw him down the hall!” She frowned and pointed a long finger at Amos. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

  Amos sighed.

  Julia didn’t know what she felt more astounded by—that her father’s hospital bill had been entirely paid in full, or that Rome had sold his family property to help her family. And to think he hadn’t even wanted anyone to know! She was touched beyond words. Life was endlessly perplexing. She looked over at Rome as he played a game of tic-tac-toe with M.K. on the back of a hospital bill as they waited for Fern to return.

  Not six months ago, she would never have believed it if someone had told her how life would play itself out. To think she was in love with Roman Troyer, the Bee Man, Roamin’ Roman! And he was in love with her. It defied logic. It was strange. It was wonderful. It was strangely wonderful!

  Rome glanced up at her and smiled with his eyes. Soon—maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day—she would tell him that yes, she would marry him.

  Fern pushed the door open. Behind her came a man wearing a panama hat.

  “You!” M.K. said. She jumped up and ran to him. “You’re the man who taught me how to play the shell game!”

  “You’re the one who bought my quilt at the auction,” Julia said.

  The man stood at the end of Amos’s bed, looking sheepish.

  “Did you buy my farm?” Rome asked. “Are you R.W.?”

  The man gave a slight nod.

  Rome was confused. “Why did you turn right around and give it back to me?”

  “Why?” Amos asked. “Why would you be spending your money on my family?”

  “Go on,” Fern urged the man. “Tell them.”

  The man looked at his feet. “Money is something I happen to have plenty of. I, well, I made a lot of money on building motor homes years ago. Money isn’t a problem for me.” The man rubbed his hands together. “But a clean conscience—that’s something I can’t seem to buy.”

  “What’s troubling you?” Amos asked softly.

  The man swallowed hard, but couldn’t speak. He looked over at Fern. She waited a long moment, then she, too, choked up. The man closed his eyes and tried again.

  “My name is Richard Webster.” He looked at Rome to see if he recognized the name, but Rome’s face was blank. “I’m the cause of your sorrow.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rome asked.

  “I’m the reason they’re dead. Your family. Your uncle too—Miss Graber’s fiancé. I’m the one who caused the accident. Six years ago. I’m the one.” The man pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face.

  This man was hurting, Julia could see that. A strange combination of sorrow and joy spread through her. His pain—she had seen that same raw pain in Rome. She looked at Rome. What was he feeling? What was he thinking? His face was unreadable.

  “Have you been watching us?” Amos asked. “Spying on us?”

  The man shook his head. “I spend my time traveling around the country in my motor home. I paid a detective to do a little research and found out Fern and Rome were both in Stoney Ridge this summer. So . . . I came here. I just wanted to see . . . if there was something I could do to help out. To make things right.”

  Rome cleared his throat. “You wrote me a letter after the accident. I read it. I wrote you back. I told you that you were forgiven.”

  “I did the same,” Fern said.

  The man shook his head. “You wrote me that one time—but you never answered my other letters. You never let me do anything to make it up to you. You wouldn’t accept my offers of money.”

  “But there was no need,” Rome said. “You weren’t guilty of anything. It was an accident. I knew that. I forgave you, long ago. So did Fern. There’s no need for anything else.”

  The man took off his hat. “There is a need. I need to know you truly forgive me. Words—they’re cheap.”

  Julia could see the shame eating away at the man. Didn’t they see what this man wanted from them? It was as plain as day. She walked up to the man and put a hand on his arm. “Would you join us for dinner at Windmill Farm on Sunday? We’d like to have you come to our home. We’d like to get to know you.” She swept an arm around the room. “All of us would like to get to know you. To thank you for what you’ve done. We want you to know that you’re truly forgiven.”

  The man looked at her, surprised and hopeful. “If . . . if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” He cast a furtive glance at Fern and Rome.

  Rome walked up to the man. He covered Julia’s hand, still resting on the man, with his own. “No trouble at all.” He looked at Fern. “You don’t mind, do you, Fern?”

  “I’m used to trouble out at Windmill Farm,” Fern said.

  A look of abject relief covered the man’s face. “Then, yes, if you’re sure, well, I’d be honored to come.” He put his panama hat back on. “I’ll be off then. Until Sunday.”

  “Twelve noon,” Fern said. “Don’t be late.”

  “I won’t, Miss Graber,” the man said. “I won’t be late. You can count on it.”

  When his hand was on the door handle, M.K. called out to him. “Mr. Webster, do you happen to like dogs?”

  “I do. Been looking for a dog to keep me company on my travels. But it has to be the right dog.”

  M.K. nodded. “The dog has to pick you.”

  He looked a little puzzled, but then his face filled with a thoughtful smile. “That’s when you know it’s right. I’ve always thought it’s best to let the dog do the choosing.” He tapped his panama hat snugly on his head.

  After the door closed, silence filled the room.

  Finally, Amos cleared his throat and spoke up. “Well, if someone isn’t going to wheel me out of here, I’m going to walk myself out!”

  That broke the spell, and they all laughed. Sadie pulled the door open and M.K. skipped out. Fern grabbed the handles of Amos’s wheelchair and pushed. “That’s all we need—to have you trip and break a leg.”

  “At least I’d be close to the emergency room,” Amos shot back.

  Rome and Julia smiled at each other as the voices faded down the hall. He reached down to pick up Amos’s suitcase and held the door for her. Julia looked back to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything. But she knew they would be bringing all that had happened in this hospital room along with them. Memories as real as Menno’s heart, a part of every breath.

  Life was endlessly perplexing.

  “Ready to go home?” Rome asked, holding a hand out to her.

  She slipped her hand into his. “I am.”

  Questions for Conversation

  You might have found your feelings about a character changing throughout the story. Consider Julia. Did you pity her after Paul called off the wedding? How did you feel about her later, when she told Paul she wouldn’t marry him?

  Take Fern. You might have assumed you had her pegged early on, only to discover there was more to Stern Fern than you first thought. Have you ever found yourself changing your opinion about someone? What lesson is there in that?

  There were a lot of opinions floating around about the Bee Man before he finally appeared at dawn at Windmill Farm. Was Roman Troyer how you expected him to be? Why or why not?

  Despite his famous independent streak, Rome lived his life cautiously. At one point, h
e says, “Things could go wrong. So many things could go wrong.” How did that one comment speak volumes about Rome’s reluctance to form attachments of any kind?

  Avoidance was Rome’s method to cope with grief over the death of his parents and younger sisters. Julia tells him that grief is the price of love. “But hearts are meant to mend,” she said. “Christ can do wonders with a broken heart, if given all the pieces.” What is your response to that?

  Have you lost anyone close to you? How do you deal with grief in your own life? How do you comfort others who are grieving?

  Julia was so busy telling God that Paul was the man for her that she forgot to ask if God agreed. She had to learn to give God a chance to “chime in.” Have you ever had a similar circumstance in your life?

  What incident(s) do you think brought about the most change in Rome? Why?

  Who was your favorite character in this book? Why? What part of that character’s personality, if any, can you relate to?

  The struggle for control was a constant theme for characters in this novel: Julia struggled with it over Paul, Rome wrestled with it over letting himself feel too much, Amos battled with accepting a heart transplant. What lessons did the characters learn about relinquishing control to God?

  As Amos was being wheeled out to prepare for the heart transplant, he said to his family, “I will have joy in the morning.” What did he mean? What does that perspective say to you?

  What’s your personal attitude toward organ donation? Could you understand Amos’s point of view? Did your perspective change toward the end of the book, with Menno’s death and gift of life to his father? If you want to learn more about organ donation, here’s a place to start: www.organdonor.gov.

  A Note from the Author . . .

  Thank you for joining me on this armchair journey to Stoney Ridge. If this is your first visit, I hope you enjoyed getting to know the Lapp Family. If you’re anxious to learn more about Sadie and Mary Kate, you won’t have long to wait. The second novel is set for release in August 2012, and the third will release in January 2013.

  In the meantime, I hope you’ll drop by my website, www.suzannewoodsfisher.com. You can check out my blog, send me a note (I always love hearing from readers), read excerpts from all five of my novels—all set in Stoney Ridge (BTW, more stories of Stoney Ridge are in the works!), or check out my calendar to see if I might be coming to visit your area.

  Again, thank you for visiting Stoney Ridge. I hope you had as much fun reading this book as I had writing it and that you’ll be back soon.

  Blessings and joy!

  Suzanne Woods Fisher

  Acknowledgments

  There are two subject matters in this story that took a great deal of help from others to “get it right”: beekeeping and heart transplants. Thank you to Troy and Susan Buuch for sharing their vast knowledge about beekeeping with me—especially helpful was the information about how an Amish person, without electricity or vehicles to transport hives, would keep bees. And a very special thank-you to Ron and Mary Westgate, for telling me the story of Ron’s heart transplant. With Ron’s editing, I tried to depict Amos’s illness and heart transplant as accurately as I could, but this is a work of fiction. Any blunders—or maybe a better way to say it would be “any stretch of circumstances” (such as having the Organ Donation Transplantation Network swiftly agree to allow a recently deceased family member to donate a heart)—belong to me.

  And I feel compelled to add a note about the Swartzentruber Amish in this story: According to Erik Wesner of AmishAmerica, there is only one Swartzentruber church district in Pennsylvania and it is in Cambria County, not Lancaster County. Another stretch on my part, but remember . . . this is fiction!

  A thank-you to a few other people who answered questions for me: Karla Hanns, my Canadian Facebook friend, for her expertise in quilting, and Sherry Gore, another FB friend, for answering questions about shooting bears.

  And the entire Revell team who does so much, start to finish, to help my book be the best it can be: editors Andrea Doering and Barb Barnes, who have the first (Andrea) and last (Barb) look at the manuscript. I hope we are sharing this journey for a very long time! And a special thank-you to the art (Cheryl), marketing and publicity departments (Twila, Michele, Janelle, Deonne, Donna, Sheila, Claudia), and the tireless sales reps! There are others at Revell too who have a hand in making a book come to life and get into the hands of readers. Working with all of you is an honor.

  To Joyce Hart, my agent, for your professional support.

  To my selfless first readers, Lindsey, Wendrea, and Nyna: how can I ever thank you? Your input and suggestions are invaluable.

  My heartfelt gratitude to my husband, Steve, for his loving support and encouragement in this author gig.

  And finally, to God. What a blessing you have bestowed on me! I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to write books that, I hope and pray, reveals you to readers in a new way.

  Suzanne Woods Fisher is the author of The Choice, The Waiting, and The Search—the bestselling Lancaster County Secrets series. The Waiting was a finalist for the 2011 Christy Award.

  Suzanne’s grandfather was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Her interest in living a simple, faith-filled life began with her Dunkard cousins. Suzanne is also the author of the bestselling Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World and Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life, both finalists for the ECPA Book of the Year award, and Amish Values for Your Family. She is the host of Amish Wisdom, a weekly radio program on toginet.com. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  You can find Suzanne online at www.suzannewoodsfisher.com.

  Books by Suzanne Woods Fisher

  * * *

  Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World

  Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life

  Amish Values for Your Family: What We Can Learn from the Simple Life

  LANCASTER COUNTY SECRETS

  The Choice

  The Waiting

  The Search

  Lancaster County Christmas

  STONEY RIDGE SEASONS

  The Keeper

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