Plain Promise

by Beth Wiseman

  8

  AFTER INTRODUCTIONS HAD BEEN MADE, SADIE PLACED the turkey roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans on the table while Carley poured everyone a glass of tea.

  “This looks wonderful, Sadie,” Noah’s friend Evan said. The balding man had soft, gray eyes beneath gold-rimmed glasses, and a kind expression.

  “Danki,” Sadie said. She smiled and took a seat at the head of the table, with Carley and Noah on each side of her.

  “And this tea is delicious,” Evan added after he took a drink from his glass. “Very sweet, and I like that. The sweeter the better.” He smiled.

  “We call it meadow tea,” Sadie explained. “It grows wild in meadows along the creek.”

  Evan nodded his approval. Tyler and Kade sat on Carley’s bench, and Noah’s friends sat beside Noah on the opposite side. Sadie explained that the Amish pray silently before meals and asked if everyone would bow their heads in a prayer of thanksgiving for the food before them.

  When they all raised their heads, Evan’s wife, Shelly, was the first one to speak. “And it smells fabulous as well,” she said.

  Noah loaded his plate with mashed potatoes, and everyone followed by serving themselves whatever was nearby, and then passed each dish to the right.

  Kade spooned food onto Tyler’s plate, and then his own, each time an item was handed to him. He kept a fearful eye on Tyler.

  Amid the small talk, Tyler’s hands were all over the place—picking up utensils and then putting them down, sticking a finger in his mashed potatoes, tapping his piece of bread on the table, and then spilling his tea—mostly in Kade’s lap.

  As the liquid rolled across the table, Tyler began to scream. Kade sat with his mouth open for a moment and stared down at a lap full of tea. Then he shook his head. “I knew this was a bad idea. I apologize to everyone, and . . .” He attempted to calm his son, but Tyler flung himself onto the floor and continued to cry.

  Shelly, a tiny little woman with short brown hair, jumped up first and ran around the table to Tyler. Kade had turned around on the bench and was staring hopelessly at his son. Sadie watched Kade’s face redden with embarrassment.

  Shelly squatted down and reached her hand out toward Tyler, but she pulled back quickly when Kade practically yelled, “Watch out! He bites.”

  Sadie narrowed her eyes in Kade’s direction and fought the urge to tell him that Tyler is not a dog. Then she got up and walked to where Shelly was squatting and joined her. “Tyler likes tapioca pudding. And if Tyler is a gut boy, I have some saved just for him.”

  “Is he . . .” Shelly glanced up at Kade, who was still sitting on the bench, facing them.

  “Autistic,” Kade answered. “Again, I apologize. We should probably go and . . .”

  Tyler stopped crying, and then sat up and looked at Sadie. Sort of. His eyes darted around the room. “Hug, hug, hug.”

  Instinctively, Sadie started to wrap her arms around him, but she stopped when she recalled how he’d pulled away from her when she was with him at the cottage.

  “He actually wants a hug,” Kade said. He leaned down toward the boy, but Sadie beat him to it and pulled Tyler into a hug.

  Kade dabbed at his soaked blue jeans, and then put the wet napkin on his plate. “I think we’d best go. I apologize for—”

  “Nonsense!” Shelly said. “We have three children close to his age at home with my mother-in-law. Rest assured, we’ve seen bigger messes than this.” She smiled in Kade’s direction. “You absolutely must stay.”

  What a lovely person, Sadie thought, as she continued to hug Tyler.

  “Heck, I’ve had a whole plate of food dumped in my lap before,” Evan added with a chuckle. “Did she mention that two of our angels are twins? Double trouble on some days.” He laughed again.

  Kade still looked extremely embarrassed by the whole display, but he managed a smile.

  Tyler continued to snuggle against Sadie, and she whispered in his ear. “Tyler, you’re a gut boy.”

  He eased out of her arms and smiled. “Pudding.”

  “Ya, pudding for Tyler after he eats his supper. Can you do that?” His big, blue eyes looked through her, but his smile seemed to say yes. He stood up and climbed back into his spot on the bench beside Kade.

  “He’s adorable,” Shelly said. Then she grinned at Kade. “But you’re soaked, huh? I’ve been there.”

  “I have some clothes in the bedroom that might fit you,” Sadie said to Kade. He arched questioning brows. “They were my husband’s,” she added. Then she couldn’t help but grin. “I’ll go see about some dry pants for you.”

  “No, Sadie. Let’s all eat,” Kade said. “Really, I’m fine for now.” He spoke in a way that seemed intimate to Sadie, for some reason, as if they were more than just the acquaintances they were. She knew she was blushing, and she was glad when Noah spoke up.

  “Did you say Tyler is autistic?” Noah asked Kade once they were all settled and eating again.

  Kade swallowed, and then said, “Yes. He is.”

  “There’s a boy about Tyler’s age in the Amish community who is autistic,” Noah said before turning to Sadie. “Jacob and Martha, those are the parents’ names, right?”

  “Ya.” Sadie waited for Noah to say more. This is what she’d hoped for.

  “The boy’s name is Amos,” Carley added. “Martha has brought him to the clinic a few times for a recurring cold.” She paused. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of the Amish since I work as a receptionist at the clinic.”

  Noah finished off a bite of turkey roast. “But unlike Tyler, Amos is nonverbal. He doesn’t speak at all. Tyler seems to communicate quite well. Is Tyler enrolled in a school that specializes in behavioral therapy?”

  “He has been going to a special school.” Kade glanced at his son. “I’m afraid I haven’t been around Tyler much. I live in Los Angeles, and Tyler lives with his mother in North Carolina.” He paused. “Actually, I haven’t seen Tyler in six months. I’m not sure exactly how much he understands at this point.”

  There was an awkward silence as everyone seemed to be wondering about Kade’s statement, but Kade must have decided to make the most of having two doctors present. “In my notes from my soon-to-be ex-wife, she says that Tyler has hyperlexia. Can you explain a little about that?”

  “Usually autistic children who present with hyperlexia listen selectively. You’d almost think they were deaf if you didn’t know otherwise,” Noah said. “I noticed that with Amos in my office. But Tyler seems tuned in to what you’re saying.”

  Kade hung on Noah’s words. “What about reading? Tyler reads.”

  “But does he understand what he reads?” Evan asked. “Although I haven’t treated any autistic children, it’s my understanding that children with hyperlexia show an intense fascination with numbers or letters, but that doesn’t mean they can count or read. Or even if they can, it doesn’t mean they can comprehend.”

  Kade paused, rubbed his chin, and seemed to be weighing Evan’s comments. “So, he repeats what he reads with no understanding?” Noah had a mouthful and nodded. Kade went on. “That’s what it says in my notes from Monica, my ex, but this afternoon, something . . . something happened, and it was—it was odd.”

  They all waited. But Kade didn’t elaborate.

  “Tyler’s reading skills can help him to develop language, but it’s getting him to understand what he’s saying that is the hard part,” Noah said.

  “He certainly understands tapioca pudding,” Sadie said affectionately.

  “Tyler likes tapioca pudding,” Tyler said. Then he smiled in a way that touched Sadie. How blessed his mother is, she thought. And Kade too.

  “Maybe he understands more than you think,” Evan said.

  Kade got the strangest look on his face. “Maybe.”

  An hour later, everyone was still gathered around the table. Tyler was into his third helping of pudding while the others ate shoofly pie and drank coffee. The conversation had drifted from autism to music,
and Kade found someone who shared his passion for the subject—Evan. They talked a lot about things to do with music that Sadie didn’t know anything about. But watching Kade have such an animated conversation with Evan, often talking with his hands and laughing, made him seem more real to Sadie.

  Everyone’s mood was light, the conversation good, and they all seemed to be having a good time. A successful supper, despite the rocky beginning. Shelly asked lots of questions about the Amish, all of which Sadie gladly answered. She loved to talk about the beliefs of the Amish, their strong faith and plain ways. However, more than once she felt as though she was ministering to herself about the importance of believing all things to be of God’s will.

  Twice while she was talking, she had looked at Kade and found him staring at her in a way that she found most inappropriate. She had blushed and felt almost . . . flattered. Tonight, she’d pray to cleanse herself of such thoughts.

  “Ach,” she said to Kade when she was clearing the dishes. “I forgot to round you up some clean breeches. You don’t want to walk to the cottage like that. You’ll freeze for sure.”

  He waved his hand to shush her, but then quickly jerked the action to a stop. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s okay, really. I haven’t even noticed it. I should probably take Tyler and be on my way.”

  “Look.” Sadie pointed to the couch in her den, where Tyler had been playing with his plastic letters. “He fell asleep.”

  “You said earlier that your company builds high-rises,” Evan said. “If Sadie’s not in too big a hurry to get rid of us, I’d like to hear more about that.”

  Kade turned to Sadie.

  “No rush at all,” she said much too quickly. “I’ll go get you some pants.” She hurriedly left the room and retrieved a lit lantern on a table in the den. She headed down the hall to her bedroom and wondered why she felt elated that everyone—particularly Kade—wanted to extend their visit.

  Kade stood up from the table. This had turned out to be the best night he’d had in ages. He was looking forward to spending more time with all of them—especially Sadie. Something about that woman seemed to have a soothing effect on him. He hung on her every word when she talked about her strong beliefs, about God’s will, and the ways of the Amish. Several times, he recalled what Tyler had said during bath time. It sent a rush of possibilities through his mind. Could turning his life back over to God quiet the unrest in his soul and lead Kade to the calm existence he longed for? Was God trying to communicate to him through Tyler? Is God the answer?

  He wasn’t sure about any of it, but for the first time in a long time, he felt a sense of hope that seemed to center around the prospect of a relationship with God.

  Sadie’s wooden table with modest china hardly compared to the tables he’d dined at over the years. Senators, heads of state, religious leaders, and those comparable in power only to others in Kade’s elite circle. And yet, it was the best dinner party he could remember attending.

  He thought back to dinner in his household when he was growing up. Formality was something that had been handed down from generation to generation. Dressing nicely for the meal was a requirement, and if a child made an outburst at a dinner party, like Tyler’s this evening, a nanny would have rushed him away. Kade was twelve before he realized that everyone didn’t have live-in housekeepers and nannies.

  Tonight the warmth and kindness he felt were real and heartfelt, the conversation was appealing, and the people held no pretenses. He smiled.

  “Excuse me, please,” he said to everyone.

  The hallway was dark as he walked to where he thought the bathroom was. He paused at the first closed door on his right, and then gently pushed it open. Darkness. He remembered Sadie telling Shelly that a lantern was lit in the bathroom. He quietly pulled the door shut and took a few more steps down the hallway to the next door on his right. It was slightly open, and he could see light inside.

  He pushed the door wide and walked right into Sadie holding a lantern in one hand, a pair of slacks in the other. They barely bumped, and she stepped back and lifted the lantern to see his face.

  Kade could certainly see her face in the dim light—soft shades of ivory skin and blue eyes sparked with indefinable emotion. A strand of wavy red hair had lost its place beneath her prayer covering and draped across her face. She didn’t move, didn’t breathe, when Kade gently brushed the strand from her cheek. For what seemed like an eternity, they stood in the threshold of what evidently was not the bathroom and gazed into each other’s eyes.

  “Here,” she finally said. She pushed the pants toward him and slowly eased her way around him and was gone.

  What just happened?

  Sadie rushed down the hall to rejoin her guests.

  What was that?

  Everyone was laughing and carrying on about their high school years. It was a conversation Sadie couldn’t add to, since Amish schooling only ran through the eighth grade.

  “Sadie, this is way past your bedtime, I’m sure,” Carley said when Sadie took a seat at the head of the table. Only coffee cups and empty pie plates lined the table now, and she fought the urge to yawn.

  “It’s fine,” she said. “I enjoy you all being here.”

  “Well, it was a wonderful meal,” Noah said.

  The others all commented about the food, the company, and what a nice night it was. But Sadie barely heard them as her eyes met Kade’s when he reentered the room. Then she couldn’t help but grin. Ben had been a tall man, almost six foot, five inches. Kade was tall, too, but lacked about three inches of Ben’s height, and the black pants dragged the floor.

  Kade smiled back at her. “At least they’re dry,” he said as he glanced down at the floor.

  “Tell us a little about your business, Kade, and then we’re going to let Sadie get some rest,” Evan said. “From what she said earlier, her day starts very early, and I know we’re keeping her up too late.”

  Sadie shook her head and repeated, “It’s fine.”

  Kade glanced at Tyler, who was still sleeping soundly, and then he sat down at the table, but not before giving Sadie a look that seemed to confirm that something had happened in the hallway. Ridiculous. She pulled her eyes from his.

  “Not much to tell,” Kade said modestly. “We build high-rise office buildings. We’re currently working on two projects, one in Dallas and one in Chicago.”

  Evan rubbed his chin. “What did you say your last name was?”

  “Saunders,” Kade said.

  Evan’s eyes grew wide and assessing. “As in Saunders Real Estate and Development?”

  “Yes,” Kade answered, as if it was no big matter.

  Evan sat up a little taller and looked at Noah. “Do you realize who we’re dining with?”

  Kade lowered his head, and Sadie could tell he wasn’t comfortable with the direction the conversation was going.

  Noah smiled. “I do now.” He turned to Kade. “I recognize you now from a recent issue of Forbes magazine. You were on the cover.”

  Kade forced a smile and nodded.

  “Uh, no,” Evan said. He shook his head. “I didn’t see that. I saw Kade on a cover of Newsweek a while back.”

  Shelly’s thick lashes opened and closed, her green eyes wide with astonishment. “Good grief,” she said softly. “I read an article about you too. And there was a picture of you and the president.”

  “Of the United States?” Sadie brought her hand to her chest. Who is this man?

  They all smiled at Sadie’s outburst—all but Kade, who shrugged, as if having your picture taken with the president was nothing impressive.

  Sadie glanced around her plain kitchen, void of electricity, modern conveniences, and all the things she was sure Kade was used to—things far fancier than Sadie had ever even seen.

  Then, as if Carley was reading Sadie’s mind, Carley asked, “Kade, what in the world brought you to Lancaster County for three months? This has to be incredibly different from what you are, um . . . used to.”
>
  Kade folded his hands on the table and slowly looked around at each of them. He laughed in such a way that it didn’t seem genuine, and he shook his head. Then he focused on Sadie and spoke the one word Sadie couldn’t have guessed if she had bet all the peas in a summer garden.

  “God,” Kade said softly. He shifted his gaze to Tyler for a long moment. Then glanced around at each of them again and smiled. “Seriously?” Shelly asked after a few awkward moments of silence.

  Evan twisted his mouth to one side and seemed equally curious about Kade’s response. Noah and Carley looked at each other and smiled. They were so in love, the type of love blessed by God. How Sadie’s heart ached for such a love as theirs.

  Sadie locked eyes with Kade, and as it was in the hallway, she had trouble looking away. So she didn’t. Their eyes were still fused when Kade answered Shelly. “Yes, seriously,” he said. Then he paused to glance at Tyler again. “And I don’t think I realized it until today.”

  “I think that’s as good a reason as any.” Noah smiled, dabbed his mouth with his napkin, and then stood up. “I think we need to let Sadie get some sleep.”

  Carley, Evan, and Shelly all stood up. The two couples hugged Sadie and thanked her repeatedly for a wonderful supper. Kade rose and shook each of their hands, but oddly he made no attempt to arouse Tyler and be on his way home.

  “Don’t forget Tyler,” Sadie teased. She pointed toward the small, tan couch in her den.

  “Not likely.” Kade stood beside Sadie and waved to everyone as they walked out the door.

  She waved good-bye to her guests and attempted to smile, in between darting her eyes at Kade. He can’t stay.

  Then Kade closed the door, as if he owned the place.

  Stunned, Sadie turned to face him, but backed up a step when his eyes met hers in a way that was becoming more and more unsettling. She was terribly embarrassed that her guests, especially Carley and Noah, saw that Kade did not leave.

  “I’ll help you with Tyler.” Sadie backed up another step, drew her eyes from his, and headed toward the couch.