by Debby Giusti
* * *
Abraham stepped onto the porch. He quietly closed the door behind him and stared into the night. His gaze focused on the two young men approaching the house. Slowly he moved toward the water pump near the dawdy house and waited until they’d rounded the barn.
“Get off my property,” Abraham said, his voice raised.
Both guys stopped and stared into the darkness.
Abraham stepped from the shadows. “Get off my property now.”
“Hey, man. We wanna talk to Will.” Pablo shrugged as if they were doing nothing wrong. “Tell him Davey misses him.”
“I will tell the sheriff you are both trespassing.”
“And how will you contact the sheriff?” Mateo chuckled. “You Amish don’t have phones.” He pulled his cell from his pocket. “You wanna use mine?”
“I wanna see you turn around, Mateo, and head back to your car parked by the road.”
“Oh, man, you’re scaring me.” Mateo jiggled his knees. “You have me quaking in my boots.”
“Leave. Now.”
The punk shook his head. “Not without the kid.”
“You need better intel,” Abraham taunted. “The Philadores called off the search.”
“Man, we don’t care about the Philadores. We wanna work for the Delphis. Bringing the kid back to Philly will make us important to our new brothers.” Mateo jabbed his thumb against his chest. “We’ll have status.”
“Using a kid for your own gain?” Abraham turned to Pablo. “Did your mother raise you to hide behind children?”
“Leave my mother outta this.”
“What about your dad, Pablo? Is he proud of you?”
“My dad left me. He didn’t care about me or my brother. That’s why I have to be the man.”
“Then be the man,” Abraham said. “Walk away before someone gets hurt.”
Mateo glanced at Pablo. “You’re crazy loco to listen to him, bro. I’ll show him who’s in charge.” He pulled a nine millimeter from his waistband.
Julia stepped onto the porch.
Abraham raised his hand. “Get back, Julia. Go in the house. Lock the door.”
She ignored the warning and moved closer. “Mateo is using you, Pablo. He wants William so he can turn him in to Fuentes. Mateo didn’t leave the Philadores. He was in my apartment the night they came looking for Will. The police had Mateo in custody. Ask him how he got off.”
“Shut up,” Mateo growled.
“Fuentes used his money and power to spring him.” Julia took another step forward. “It’s true, isn’t it, Mateo?”
The punk snarled. “If we can’t get your kid, we’ll take you back, lady.”
“No.” Pablo held up his hand. “She’s not who we want.”
“She’s who I want, bro. But I want her dead.” He raised his weapon.
Abraham pushed Julia behind the pump.
Mateo fired.
Abraham groaned and grabbed his side.
The door to the house opened. “Mom?”
“No, Will!” Julia screamed. “Stay inside.”
Mateo raised his revolver.
Pablo grabbed his arm. “Don’t hurt the kid. He’s a friend of Davey’s.”
“As if I care, Pablo. You need to know who’s boss.”
As the thugs argued, Abraham put his arm around Julia and hurried her to the porch. He grabbed William’s hand and urged both of them into the house.
“We’re in this together,” Pablo insisted.
“No, bro.” Mateo laughed. “I’m in this alone. The Philadores don’t think the kid’s alive, so when I bring him back, I’ll be a hero.”
He raised his revolver and pulled the trigger.
Pablo took the hit and gasped. He yanked a weapon from his own waistband and fired.
Mateo’s eyes bulged. Blood darkened his shirt. He grabbed his gut and fired again.
Pablo groaned with the second hit. His eyes widened, his body twitched and then fell limp onto the ground.
Mateo turned his weapon on Abraham. He squeezed the trigger. The gun jammed. He threw it aside and ran.
Abraham stumbled down from the porch. He kicked the gun away from Pablo and followed Mateo, his gait unsteady.
“Get the guns, Julia,” Abraham called over his shoulder. “Ring the dinner bell, Will.”
He grasped his side, feeling the warm blood seep into his hand. He had to get Mateo before he escaped again. The Philadelphia gangs knew nothing about Julia and William hiding with the Amish. Abraham had to ensure they never learned of the family’s whereabouts. Julia and William would not be safe until Mateo was stopped.
Mateo tripped. He struggled to get his footing.
The clang of the dinner bell echoed in the night.
Abraham’s side burned like fire. His legs grew weak, but he continued on, unwilling to give up.
Mateo’s car was parked in a stand of trees near the road. He opened the car door and reached for a back-up revolver on the console.
Abraham grabbed the guy’s shoulder.
The punk turned, raised the weapon and fired.
The bullet hit Abraham in the gut. He stumbled back, gasping for air.
Mateo climbed into his car and gunned the engine.
Abraham could not stop him. Once again, he had failed.
The last thing he did was call Julia’s name.
* * *
Julia ran to Abraham and shoved her hand down on his wound, stemming the flow of blood. He wasn’t breathing, wasn’t moving. William had found Pablo’s cell phone and called 911. But would help arrive in time?
The sound of horses’ hooves filled the night. She looked up to see buggies blocking the road. Mateo laid on the horn and swerved around the blockade. His car skidded into a giant oak. He was thrown from the car and landed face down on the ground. Two Amish men ran toward him. They turned him over and shook their heads.
His car horn continued to blare in the night. Over that sound came the shrill scream of sirens.
Two ambulances and the sheriff’s car appeared in the distance. One ambulance stopped to check on Mateo. The other skirted the buggies and headed toward Julia.
The EMTs jumped from their vehicle and hurried to her aid. “We’ve got this, ma’am.”
She fell back and stared at her hands covered with Abraham’s blood.
William was suddenly next to her, burying his face in her shoulder, crying his eyes out.
“Oh, Mom, he’s dead. Abraham is dead.”
TWENTY-THREE
Kayla clutched her doll. She hadn’t spoken since Julia had awakened her and gotten her dressed. William was ashen. He refused to eat and had only taken a sip of water, claiming he felt sick. Julia could relate. Her head pounded and her puffy eyes burned from the tears she had shed. She had changed out of her blood-soaked clothing and now wore the jeans and sweater she’d had on the night she arrived at Abraham’s house. Everything seemed so déjà vu, except in reverse.
They had left the dawdy house in a van. Jonathan told her where they were going, but she hadn’t listened and didn’t care. Stacy and Karl sat in the rear, whispering quietly between themselves. Julia couldn’t make out what they said. She turned to glance at them and saw their hands entwined. On any other night, Julia would have taken delight in their new relationship. Tonight, she could think only of Abraham.
He hadn’t died, as William had thought, but he was holding on to life by a thread. Mateo and Pablo had both succumbed to their wounds, and the Philadores seem oblivious to what had happened. Still, Jonathan was convinced they couldn’t take chances. Not when William’s life was on the line. As much as she hadn’t want to leave Yoder, Jonathan had given her no choice.
The marshals had pieced together enough information to realize that Pablo thought Mateo was interested in joining the D
elphis when Mateo was only thinking of a way to get noticed by Fuentes.
Pablo and Mateo had met the guy with the camera at the Yoder hotel and questioned him about the interesting sights in the area. He talked about a teenage boy and young girl caught on a runaway buggy. Pablo provided a photo of William taken in Philadelphia. The man recognized the boy and provided directions to the farm.
Julia didn’t have the wherewithal to fight anymore, except she had to take care of her children. Still, her heart broke, knowing Abraham might not survive.
Please, Lord, save him. Guide the doctors and nurses who care for him. Heal his wounds and let him live.
“We’re here.”
She glanced at Jonathan. “I thought we were going to our new location.”
“We will be, eventually, but I thought we should make a stop first. We’ll go in through a rear entrance.”
Julia should be used to secretiveness, but she wasn’t. She didn’t know what to expect and she didn’t want any more surprises, yet she dutifully followed Jonathan and guided her children through a heavy fire door and down a long tiled corridor. Stacy and Karl followed them.
Jonathan stopped in front of an elevator. The doors opened. He pushed the button, and once the two other marshals entered, standing a bit too close, the elevator rose a number of floors. When the doors opened, they stepped into another corridor.
“The children can wait in here,” Jonathan said, motioning them into a waiting room. “This officer will escort you.”
Julia didn’t understand, but she was too tired to argue. The children settled on a couch and closed their eyes. Stacy and Karl sat nearby.
“How long will I be gone?” she asked Jonathan.
“You can come back at any time,” he assured her. “You’ll just be down the hall.”
She followed the police officer, not sure of where they were going or what she needed to see. He stopped at the third door on the right. She glanced back at the room where the three marshals remained with the children.
The officer pushed open the door and motioned her forward. Then he closed the door behind her.
Her heart stopped. The push and pull of machines sounded in the otherwise still hospital room. A curtain was drawn halfway to provide some semblance of privacy for the patient lying on the bed.
Julia moved silently forward and peered around the curtain, unwilling to believe what she saw.
His eyes blinked open.
“Abraham,” she gasped, reaching for his hand and pulling it to her heart. “You’re alive.”
“Jul...ia.”
Tears clouded her view. She wiped them away, unwilling to have anything keep her from seeing him for herself.
“The surgery?”
He nodded ever so slightly. “Okay... I will...be...okay.”
She laughed through her tears and rubbed her hand over his forehead. “I thought we had lost you.”
“I lived...for you.”
His words brought joy to her heart. “And I didn’t want to live without you. I knew I had to go on because of the children, but there was nothing left.”
“I...I need you, Julia.”
“Oh, Abraham.”
“I want us to be together...you...me...the children.”
“That’s what I want, too.”
“I...” He struggled to make his voice heard. “I love you and want...to be with you...for the rest of my life.”
“Oh, Abraham.”
“I...will love...you...forever, Julia.”
She lowered her lips to his for one sweet kiss that she wanted to last for a lifetime.
When their lips parted, she sighed. “I love you, Abraham. Sleep now, so you can get stronger.”
His eyes closed, but Julia remained at his side, holding his hand and giving thanks that the man she loved was alive.
TWENTY-FOUR
Julia’s stomach was a tumble of nerves that had her running to the window every few minutes. She smiled, thinking of Kayla’s admonishment back in Yoder that a watched pot never boiled. Today Julia’s proverbial pot wasn’t even lukewarm, yet she couldn’t sit still so she paced back and forth across the kitchen, grateful for this home and the new Amish community that had welcomed her and her children. In the six weeks since they had arrived, the children had made friends and had started to sink roots. The only thing missing was Abraham.
His surgery had been successful, but his recovery had been long and complicated, marred by a secondary infection that had extended his time in rehab.
She looked around the house to ensure everything was tidy and in its place. The schoolbooks for the children were on the shelf, the sewing she had been working on was folded and put in a chest near her treadle machine, and her Bible—the book she so dearly loved to read each morning when she rose and each evening before sleep—sat on the small table near her rocking chair.
Over the last six weeks, she had fully embraced the Amish faith. The local bishop was pleased with her progress. Julia was, as well.
Her baptism in the not-too-distant future would be another turning point. She had experienced so many over the last two months—the Philadores’ break-in, the flight to Kansas, meeting Abraham and having her life change forever. Now, a new identity in a small Amish community in Ohio.
William had testified. Fuentes had been brought to justice and would remain incarcerated for the rest of his life. The gang that had done so much harm was crumbling without his leadership and, hopefully someday, would be only a painful memory of how young men could seek affirmation and a sense of belonging in the wrong way.
Her hand touched the sideboard, the wood smooth under her fingers. She pulled open the drawer. The letter lay there. Charlie had written both children. In his tight script, he had asked their forgiveness for not being a good father and for the mistakes he had made.
Somehow the sealed envelope had ended up in Jonathan’s hands. He had brought it to her on his last visit. Not knowing what it might contain, she had been hesitant at first, but with her new ability to trust the ways of the Lord, she had given it to the children. The letter had started the healing process both of them needed.
Charlie had sent a separate note to Julia, taking full responsibility for their failed marriage. “I didn’t know what it meant to be a husband or father,” he had written. “The prison chaplain said, in truth, we never had a valid marriage because I didn’t know how to love.” The note brought comfort and removed the last traces of guilt she had carried for so long.
A car sounded in the drive. Her pulse raced. She closed the drawer and pulled in a deep breath. As footsteps sounded on the porch, she threw open the door.
Her heart nearly pounded out of her chest when she beheld the man standing there. “Oh, Abraham.”
Without saying a word, he opened his arms. She fell into his embrace, mindful of his still-fragile wounds.
“I have missed you, Julia.”
Her heart soared.
He had lost weight in his ordeal, but he was still the strong man who had protected her and her children.
“Come inside.” She motioned him forward, then glancing at the car idling in the driveway, she waved to the driver. “The dawdy house next door is open. Leave his bags there.”
“Thanks so much,” Abraham called to the driver after he had delivered the bags.
“You’re staying in the house next door,” Julia explained. “It’s one story, so you don’t have to worry about stairs.”
“I can climb stairs, Julia.”
“No farm work yet, Jonathan told me. William is handling most of the difficult jobs. He could use your guidance.”
“And Kayla?” he asked.
“She’s eager to see you. The children went to town with a neighbor. I wanted to get the house ready and have you to myself for a few minutes, knowing they wouldn’t let you out of
their sight once you arrived.”
The car pulled out of the drive and Julia closed the door, then took Abraham’s hand. “You could have gone home to Yoder, but Jonathan said you chose to come here and recuperate with us.”
“I sold the farm, Julia. The youngest of Harvey Raber’s three sons bought the place. From what I have learned, the oldest son has been attentive to Sarah. The matchmakers in the area are anticipating a wedding after harvest this fall.”
“Sarah deserves a good man.”
“You do, too, Julia.”
Her heart fluttered. “I have a good man, Abraham, a man who is trustworthy and caring, hardworking and who loves the Lord. Why would I look for another?”
He touched her kapp and smiled. “Jonathan said you are meeting with the bishop.”
She nodded. “I still struggle with the heute deutsch and the Pennsylvania Dutch, but he assures me that will come with time. He has not questioned my desire to be baptized.”
“Once you become truly Amish, Julia, all the men in the area will come courting.”
She laughed. “Oh, Abraham, if they look into my eyes they will know that I have given my heart to another.”
“Should I be jealous?” His mouth curved into a playful smile.
“Maybe a little,” she teased.
“I love you, Julia.”
He lowered his lips to hers and time stood still as they melded together. Never had she felt such a sense of completion.
He pulled back ever so slightly.
The seriousness of his gaze threw her off balance.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“Not wrong, just unfinished.”
She raised her brow.
“I want more than the dawdy house, Julia. I want to be with you and the children in our own house. I want to wake each morning knowing you will be there and that together we will face the day and whatever it brings. I want to be your husband and care for you and protect you as best I can, and to love you and cherish you for the rest of my life.”
“Oh, Abraham. I want that, as well.”
