by Katy Lee
“Amos?” Benjamin said.
“No, Daed. He’s not your brudder. He’s Jack, die mann ich lieb.” The man I love. Saying the words that she had been denying since the moment she’d wanted Jack to kiss her in the barn brought a sense of peace that could only be from God.
But admitting her love for this man would go nowhere—even if he was alive.
Benjamin took her hand in his. “Lieb, ya?”
“Ya,” she said. She loved him. No matter where her life led, or who she would have to marry, in her heart she would always love Jack Kaufman.
“Neigeh,” her father told her. Go in. She nodded, but as she turned, he pulled her hand back and said, “Zu der maedel geh.” He was giving them permission to court.
Grace tried to smile through a frown. Her daed didn’t understand that he could never court her. He wasn’t Amish anymore, and she always would be. She left her father to step back inside.
Still no sound could be heard but leaving the door open to let in a little more moonlight, she could make out the fallen chandelier. She circled around it until her foot hit something. Or someone.
It could be Jack, or it could be Hank.
Suddenly, a light flashed on ahead of her, and she could see Jack holding his phone.
“Jack!” She headed that way, bending over to try to lift the chandelier when she saw his leg caught beneath it.
“Be careful. It’s heavy. Don’t cut yourself.” He groaned as she shifted the broken metal fixture. “Where’s Hank?”
She looked back to the body she’d literally stumbled upon. “He’s over there, and oh! He’s moving a little. He’s alive.”
“Good. He’ll need to stand trial for murder, as well as framing me for the crime.”
“What do you mean?”
“He used my gun to kill Barone and would have used it on you and Benjamin. Then he could have shot me with his own gun and said he caught me in the act.”
Grace lifted the chandelier a little, but it was enough for Jack to pull himself free. Each movement he made elicited more groans as he slowly got to his feet.
“There’s glass everywhere,” she said.
“I see that and feel it.” He lifted his phone and used the light to find and secure the two guns. Then he punched in a number. When someone answered, he reported the situation and requested law enforcement.
Then he held the light over Hank, one of their own. Such a shame.
The sheriff was hurt badly and wasn’t going anywhere. Jack felt for his pulse, then stood back up. “The police can deal with him. Let’s go get your daed.”
“Shouldn’t you stay to arrest him?”
“We’ll be outside to answer questions, but this is not my case anymore.”
“Why not?” she asked, coming up alongside him to help him walk. They carefully wrapped an arm around each other as they crossed the threshold.
“I quit the FBI.”
Grace halted and stared up at him. “You can do that?”
Jack chuckled. “I’m going to have to if I’m Amish. I can’t do both.”
Grace stood ferhoodled. Did he really mean that? “Are you going back to Colorado?”
“No, lieb. I’m staying here. With you.” He swallowed and tensed beside her. “I mean, if you’ll have me. I would like to court you.”
“Court?” she asked warily.
He smiled nervously in the moonlight. “And by court, I mean marry. I’m sorry, I’m not very good at this. It will take some time for me to learn how to be a gut mann for you. I’ve been running for a long time. Following my head instead of my heart.”
Grace smiled and reached for a small piece of glass in his face. “That’s just fine, because it will take me some time to learn how to be a gut frau for you.”
He grabbed her hand in his. He was cut up badly, but she held him gently “I don’t want you to change for me. I want you to do what your heart longs for.”
“My heart longs for you, Jack.”
“And the gauls. Don’t forget the horses.” He smiled. “You’re a natural. Watching you in the stands, I could tell. Don’t give it up for me.”
Grace’s heart filled to bursting. Could she really have both loves in her life? “Your gift is wunderbar. Denki.” Without thinking, she rose up on her toes and found Jack’s lips in gratitude.
It quickly turned to a kiss of love that curled her toes. More perfect than she could have ever imagined.
In shock at her boldness, she stepped back. “I’m sor—”
Jack reached for her and leaned down to capture her mouth again before she could apologize. She smiled against his lips, accepting this moment as confirmation that waiting to marry for love would make all the difference.
The sound of a throat being cleared interrupted them. “Excuse me, but you’re bussing my daughter.”
They pulled apart and turned to face her daed. And found another figure standing beside him.
Police sirens floated through the night as Grace and Jack studied the frightened-looking young man.
“Liam,” Grace said. “Did you know about all this?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I believed him when he said he wanted to bring you home. I didn’t know he planned to kill you so he would inherit the place. He said he was making things right, but I see now he meant right for him.” Liam looked to Jack, his worried eyes glinting in the moonlight. “Sir, I would like to turn myself in for swapping the horses in the stables and stealing them from the Millers’ farm afterward. And for shooting you.”
Jack nodded. “That’s right mature of you, Liam, but I will let the local law enforcement handle things from here on in.”
“Jack?” Grace said, placing her hand on his forearm. “Would it be all right if we speak for Liam? So the authorities know Edmund and Hank both used a lot of people to accomplish their goals.”
Jack leaned over and kissed her temple gently. “I think that’s possible,” he whispered, loudly enough for Liam to hear.
The young man glanced from one to the other, his turn to be ferhoodled. “I don’t understand. Why would you do that? I could have killed you.”
Jack winced as he wrapped a gingerly arm around Grace. “You see, Liam, it’s called grace. Accept it and be thankful. It’s a gift that doesn’t come around very often, but it’s powerful enough to change your life for the better and give you your heart’s desire.” He gazed down at Grace with shining his eyes. “I should know. Grace brought me home.”
Liam huffed. “Yeah, well, speaking of homes, what are you going to do with this place? Will you live here?”
“No,” Grace said. “Why would we live here? It’s much too fancy for the plain life.”
“But you own it. Mr. Barone left it to you when he died. Well, he left it to your mother.” Liam frowned, not commenting on how her mamm’s life had been cut short over money and property.
Grace thought about it for a moment. She had no idea what she would do with such an inheritance.
Three cruisers raced into the lot and up the driveway to take over the case. The night would belong to them from then on, and any decisions about the future of Autumn Woods could come later.
For now, Grace reached for her daed with one arm and held on to her future mann with the other. The road ahead wouldn’t be easy, but she would walk it with faith, hope and love. And on some days, she might even trot along with a gut gaul.
EPILOGUE
Summer at Autumn Woods brought out the beautiful horses to graze, but the ranch also welcomed families and loved ones of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Grace had donated the grounds and buildings to be used as a home and day care facility for people living with these illnesses. Even the horses were part of the deal, with the agreement that the Amish would also be welcome.
Benjamin Miller walked over t
o a group around Game Changer, while Grace and Jack hung back near the fence. They watched as residents groomed the horses and spend time with the sweet-natured creatures.
“Game Changer’s taken a liking to daed,” Grace said. “She will make a gut friend to him here on his visiting days and when...this becomes his home someday.”
Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. “That won’t be for a long time, lieb.”
“He doesn’t know me today,” she said quietly, and squeezed back the tears forming in her eyes. “He hasn’t known me for a few days now. And his gait is different. He’ll need a wheelchair soon.”
“He’ll have whatever he needs. This place will help, and so will our community. You just worry about loving him. And as for not knowing you,” Jack added, as he took her hand and squeezed it, “I have to think that somewhere inside his heart he does.” He turned her to face him, but with her round belly filled with child, they could get only so close. “You’re giving him the best life here. Now, during the days, and later, if and when he needs to come here to stay permanently. We’ll never be far away and will be here regularly to see him.”
“I want to be the one to take care of him,” Grace said. “It’s the Amish way to care for family and community throughout life.”
“The bishop has given his blessing if we find we can’t. The facility can provide things you can’t for his health. They can help us give him a better life for his remaining days. Maybe even time to meet his kinner.”
Grace took comfort in this fact and wished her mamm had had the same opportunity, but all Grace could do was focus on the track ahead. Her race wasn’t complete yet, but with God’s guidance and provision, and with eyes fixed on Him, she would finish it well.
She gazed up at her mann. She couldn’t think of a better partner to run the race with. And soon they would leave for Colorado, where she would be by his side while he made amends with his old community. After the boppli arrived and could make the trip, they would spend a few weeks in the mountains. Grace looked forward to seeing where her mann grew up. And no matter the outcome with his family and friends, she vowed to always stand by him as he had always done for her, even when he thought she might be a criminal.
Grace giggled.
“What’s so funny?” Jack touched her nose and asked.
“I was just thinking how close I came to a life behind bars.”
“Hey, don’t laugh. The idea gives me nightmares just thinking about it. Although I’m certain sure Nic would have laughed at me when I brought you in in cuffs. She wouldn’t have let you go down for the crime.”
“Is she planning to come meet the boppli when he or she is born?”
“Just try and stop her. But be warned, her idea of gifts might be boxing gloves.”
“Ach, no. No fechde.”
“Right, no fighting. I’ll remember that eventually. I think I’m doing well. Even when I went after Hank, it wasn’t to hurt him. It was only to get the gun out of his hands.”
Grace frowned at how close she had come to losing the man she loved. “I pray nothing like that ever happens again.”
“And now that Hank is put away for life, and Sheriff Shaw is running the county, I feel certain sure it won’t.”
Suddenly, Grace remembered something she wanted to share with her life partner. In her excitement, she reached up and pulled on her kapp’s strings. “I read in The Budget that Liam will be released early on good behavior and, listen to this, Leroy is to be married.”
“Gut!” Jack pressed his lips together to suppress a smile. He pulled one of her straps from her hand and wound it through his fingers. His eyes shined with joy and mischief. “Now we don’t have to worry about him coming after us for revenge someday.”
Grace jabbed her mann with her elbow in a joking way. “He hardly would have ever done such a thing.”
Jack let his smile spread and leaned close to capture her gaze. “I think you don’t have any idea how wunderbar you are. Let me tell you so you know.”
“Ya?” Grace felt her cheeks flush. Funny how this man could still make her feel this way.
“Ya, Mrs. Kaufman, you are a blessing from Gött. Your free gift of grace changed me and how I saw myself. You bring hope and healing to me and to those you meet. And I will forever be grateful for the day I held you at gunpoint.”
Grace burst out in a jubilant laugh. She reached for his hand still holding her strap, never wanting to let go of her mann. “I must be ferhoodled, because, Mr. Kaufman, so will I. So will I.”
And with that, Jack pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, a kiss filled with promises and love for their race to the finish line.
* * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from Runaway Witness by Maggie K. Black.
Dear Reader,
I enjoy traveling to new places and meeting new people, especially when those people live such different lifestyles than I am used to. Writing about the Amish people meant taking a trip to an Amish community. I spent a whole day meeting some of the kindest and gentlest people I’ve ever met. One neat thing I enjoyed learning about them is they also love to read. I felt closer to them instantly.
I am glad to introduce you to Jack and Grace in the pages of Amish Country Undercover. I hope their story of redemption and second chances warms your heart, but I also hope the excitement and suspense keep those pages turning lightning quick. Grace’s love for horses endeared her to me, and I hope you love that trait about her, too.
I love to hear from readers, and you can reach me through email at [email protected] or through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. My website is KatyLeeBooks.com.
Happy reading!
Katy Lee
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Runaway Witness
by Maggie K. Black
ONE
Iris James’s hands shook as she piled dirty dishes high on her tray. Something about the look of the bearded man in the corner booth was unsettlingly familiar. He’d been nursing his coffee way longer than anyone had any business loitering around a highway diner in the middle of nowhere, in the northern regions of Ontario, even if there was a snowstorm brewing outside. But it wasn’t until she noticed the telltale lump of a gun hidden underneath his red plaid jacket that she realized he might be there to kill her.
She shifted the tray of dirty dishes into the crook of her arm and slid her hand deep into the pocket of her waitress’s uniform, feeling for the small handgun tucked behind her order pad.
Then she glanced around the crowded diner and prayed.
If today’s the day Oscar Underwood’s hit men finally catch me, please get someone to find and rescue every last person he kidnapped. And don’t let anyone in this diner right now get hurt in the crossfire.
It was six thirty at night, the late-February sun would be setting soon and the dinner rush was in full swing. Iris stepped behind an empty table and watched the man out of the corner of her eye as she quickly added more dishes to her growing pile.
Growing up poor in a small Canadian town, she’d first gotten a gun to protect herself against wild animals, never imagining she’d ever need it for protection against kidnappers or killers. But then she’d become a social worker, opened a homeless drop-in center in Toronto and started hearing rumors that Underwood’s men had been kidnapping strong and healthy street youth and homeless people in their late teens and early twenties to work on his remote farms and ranches.
The homeless said Underwood used a team of masked “Jackals” to subdue and tranquilize their victims. Police had called it a ridiculous urban legend. Iris had done everything she could to get the authorities to take action, including camping outside the Toronto ma
yor’s office.
But no one listened. Not until the kindest, sweetest and most understanding man she’d ever known—a homeless center volunteer named Mack Gray—had been murdered.
She’d agreed to testify at Underwood’s trial and go into witness protection until then. But criminal hackers had stolen her witness protection file and sold it to Underwood. She’d dropped out of witness protection’s care, disappeared from the new life they’d given her and had been on the run from the Jackals ever since, dyeing her blond hair various shades of brown, living out of a camper trailer and never stopping anywhere for more than a few days at a time.
Iris dropped her tray of dirty dishes on the counter and grabbed a steaming pot of coffee, pulling it off the percolator so quickly it splashed and sizzled on the heating element. She wove through the tables, praying for wisdom, topping up mugs and watching him out of the corner of her eye. The man was taller than his slouch implied, with a thick black beard and a Montreal Canadiens baseball cap shoved down so low she could barely see his face. But even as he seemed to avert his gaze when she glanced his direction, she couldn’t shake the feeling he’d been watching her.
And that she’d definitely seen him somewhere before. Something about the line of his jaw unsettled her in a way she couldn’t begin to understand.
A shiver ran down her spine and she gripped the coffeepot tighter to keep it from shaking. As if sensing her eyes on him, the bearded man glanced up, and for a fraction of a second she caught sight of a pair of piercing blue eyes before his gaze dropped back to his coffee.
Mack?
Hot tears filled her vision and her hands began to shake so hard that the coffee sloshed in the pot she carried. No! It can’t be! Come on, Iris, get a grip on yourself.
Mack’s body had been found floating in Lake Ontario eight weeks ago with two bullets in his back. This man was at least ten pounds lighter than Mack, with a nose that was much wider and a chin a lot squarer than Mack’s had been.
