An Amish Reunion

by Jo Ann Brown

  “I’m glad you’re here, Daniel,” the lawyer said as soon as they were settled in their places. “You can help us with one procedural step before we can proceed. I know you don’t carry identification, so will you vouch this woman is, indeed, Hannah Lambright, a woman you have known for...?”

  “Almost five years,” Daniel supplied.

  “A woman you have known for over four years,” the attorney said as he scribbled on the form waiting on his desk. “Do you vouch for her identity?” He gave them a brief smile. “All you need to do, Daniel, is say yes or no.”

  “Ja. I mean, yes.”

  “Either works fine.” Scrawling something across the bottom of the page, he pushed the page toward Daniel. “Will you sign at the bottom, too? By signing, you’re acknowledging your statement about Hannah is the truth.”

  What had he said? That he’d known her for years. True, but there were depths to Hannah he hadn’t realized existed until the past few weeks. She was a woman who stood strong against the storms of life and, despite what she’d experienced—or maybe because of it—she offered every bit of her strength to others as she held them up to God in action and in prayer. He wondered if he’d ever met another person who so embodied God’s grace, giving everything she had and expecting nothing in return.

  The attorney slipped the paper into a folder, then looked again at Hannah. “Do you wish the rest of our conversation to be private?”

  “Having Daniel here is fine.” Her voice was so dull she sounded as if a large part of her had died along with her daed.

  “All right.” Opening the folder, he said, “Your father left detailed instructions for his funeral.” He looked uncomfortable as he went on, “He did not want his remains to be brought to Paradise Springs. He wanted to be buried in Michigan where he lived when he wasn’t on the road. He told me he found it too painful even to think of returning here after your mother died.”

  Daniel looked at the toddler who was wiggling on Hannah’s lap. Isaac had returned long enough to leave Shelby on the porch.

  “Usually we wait until after the funeral to read the will,” the attorney said.

  “My daed had a will?” Hannah asked as she set Shelby on the floor.

  “Yes.” Mr. Marianelli tapped the folder. “He prepared it after your mother died and left it with me. It’s straightforward with his estate divided between his children. There is some insurance money, and we’ll deal with that when the funds are disbursed.” He tapped the folder on the desk. “Why I wanted you to come here today was I received two letters from your father. He wanted you to have them after his death. He gave the first one to me about three years ago.”

  “He was here three years ago?” Betrayal rang through her question.

  “Yes,” said the attorney. “He was pleased you were making yourself a future with a good man, Hannah. Those were his exact words. He didn’t want to do anything to ruin your happiness with your young man.”

  Sickness clawed at Daniel’s gut. Three years ago, Hannah had been walking out with him. Isaac must have chanced to see them together or heard they were courting. Because he was under the bann, Isaac had assumed speaking with his daughter might cause trouble between her and her admirer.

  Hannah reached over and took his hand as she had on the porch yesterday. Only yesterday? It seemed like a lifetime ago. He squeezed her hand, not surprised she was offering him comfort.

  Mr. Marianelli took an unmarked envelope from the file and held it out.

  Daniel held his breath as he saw the last remnants of color fall away from her face as she stared at the letter that contained the final words her daed would ever have for her.

  * * *

  As she stared at the envelope, Hannah wanted to flee, but she must read what her daed had wanted her to read, for herself and for Shelby. She was grateful Daniel had arrived before she was called in to talk with the attorney. She’d wanted Daniel to stay because too much of the conversations around her sounded like Shelby’s gibberish.

  Her fingers trembled as she reached for the envelope. “Should I read it now?”

  “If you don’t mind,” the lawyer said.

  When Daniel put a steadying hand on her arm, she didn’t glance at him. She opened the envelope and lifted out a single folded page. She opened it.

  Her daed had printed the four lines, but the letters were smudged as if he’d erased some words several times. She began reading aloud,

  “Dearest Hannah,

  “Forgive me. I can’t stay. Each time I see you, I see your mamm. I am weak, I know, but you’ll have a better life without me.

  “Your Daed”

  That was it. Daed had left because he couldn’t bear to look at her because she reminded him too much of her mamm. How ironic Shelby had been fearful of her at first because everyone said Hannah had grown to resemble him.

  “That’s all it says.” She folded the page and put it into its envelope. She placed it on Mr. Marianelli’s desk.

  The attorney shuffled pages in the file, then drew out another envelope. It had printing in the upper left-hand corner. When he handed it to Hannah, he said, “This arrived a few weeks ago. On the back, you can see the date it was delivered.”

  She turned over the envelope imprinted with the name of a hotel chain. With a gasp, she stared at the date. “It’s two days after Shelby was left at our house.”

  She ripped the envelope getting it open and pulled out another sheet with writing on both sides. Seeing her name on the top on one side, she began reading,

  “Dearest Hannah,

  “You must have many questions after finding a little girl on the front porch of Grossmammi Ella’s house, but I have space to answer only the important ones. Shelby is your little sister. Karen tells me she’s actually your half-sister. That’s Shelby’s mamm. Karen. She and I know a special child like Shelby needs a stable home, and we can’t give her that. She shouldn’t be living in a big rig. She needs extra help, and she needs someone she can depend on to get her help. That’s you, Hannah. We would have kept her with us awhile longer, but a new job has come up in Alaska, and we’re going to head that way once we’ve finished the other jobs we have scheduled. It’s a good job, and it pays well. I’ll send money to you and Shelby when I can. I should have sent you money before, but somehow the rig always needed repairs or times were lean. I could afford to send postcards, and I hope you thought of me when you received them and knew I was thinking of you.

  “I know you think I’m abandoning Shelby as I did you, but no matter how much distance has separated us, nothing could remove you from my heart, Hannah. Your mamm and I loved you. I still love you, and I miss you, just as I’ll miss Shelby. But I thank God my daughters will be safe with each other.

  “Your Daed”

  No one spoke as Hannah lowered the letter to her lap. Her daed loved her. The pain she’d expected when told her daed had died rushed over her like a fierce storm. She’d never hear him say those words again.

  “May I take this with me?” she asked, struggling to hold in the tears stinging her eyes.

  Mr. Marianelli smiled sadly. “Of course. The letters are yours. I want you to know there’s no hurry to go over your father’s last will and testament. We can arrange a meeting in a week or two at a time convenient for you.”

  Coming to her feet, she thanked him as she put the letters in her bag. She went to where Shelby had been paging through magazines, looking for pictures. Several were scattered on the floor by the table. Putting them back, she picked up the toddler. She went with Daniel from the office and to where his buggy was parked beside hers.

  So many thoughts were ricocheting through her mind she was surprised her head could hold them. Everything she’d come to believe had been turned upside down. She wasn’t unlovable. Her daed loved her as did her great-grandmother and her adorable lit
tle sister. No half about it. Shelby was her sister.

  “Hannah?” asked Daniel as she put Shelby in the buggy. “Do you want me to go back to the house with you?”

  She shook her head. “No, I need time to think about this and to share it with Grossmammi Ella.”

  “Are you sure? I know this has to be tough for you.”

  “It is.”

  “Isn’t there anything I can do to help?”

  Climbing into her buggy, she shook her head. “I appreciate your offer, Daniel, but the truth is I can manage with God’s help.” She looked into his handsome face, fighting her fingers that wanted to push the ebony hair from his brow. “Danki for being here today. I know you’ve got to get going to meet with a potential client.”

  He stared at her in disbelief. “How did you hear that?”

  “The Englischer who is looking to hire you heard about you from our neighbor, Barry Jones. Barry told Grossmammi Ella, and I saw you talking to a stranger at the bridge yesterday. I put one and one together.” It took all her strength to smile. “I’m happy for you, Daniel. It’s what you’ve wanted for so long.”

  “I meant to tell you, but I couldn’t when you were upset. I could come over to your house after—”

  “I don’t think you should come by as often as you have.”

  His dark brows lowered as he frowned. “You mean you don’t want me to help with Shelby’s therapy?”

  “You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”

  “Say what?”

  She forced herself to meet his eyes. What she had to say was going to be hurtful, but it had to be better to say it than to be heartbroken again. “I don’t want to think I can depend on you, Daniel, and then realize I can’t.”

  “You can depend on me.” He frowned, his brows knitting together. “Haven’t I been here to help you?”

  “Ja, you have been. But you’ve got a chance to have the work you’ve been waiting for. I’m afraid it will be like before when—”

  Realization of what she was trying not to say must have hit him because the color washed from his face. He looked as horrified as if she’d told him to jump off the bridge.

  “I’ve told you I’m not that man any longer,” he said.

  “I know.”

  “But you can’t believe me.”

  Her heart cramped when he didn’t make it a question. “I want to, but I believed you before. I can’t risk that again, so you should focus on your new job instead of us.”

  “By us, you mean you, don’t you?”

  “I mean me, and I mean us. I don’t want Shelby to believe you’ll be there for her and then have your job keep you from coming to see her as you’ve promised.” She looked from him to her little sister who was yawning and cuddling her stuffed honeybee. “Really, Daniel, I’m glad this opportunity has come along for you. I want you to be happy.”

  He opened his mouth, then shut it. Swallowing hard, he squared his shoulders. “Can I come and see Shelby?”

  “Of course. She likes to do her therapy games with you.” Every instinct urged her to put her hand on his arm to comfort him. She didn’t. As he turned away, she added, “Daniel?”

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  As he got into his buggy, she thought she heard him say, “I am, too.” Then he was gone.

  And her heart broke again. Her efforts to protect it had been for nothing as she realized the one truth she’d tried to ignore: she’d fallen in love with him again as hard and deeply as the first time. Only this time she’d pushed him away before he could do the same to her.

  She put her hands over her face as sobs ripped through her.

  A tiny hand patted her cheek. She looked into Shelby’s dark eyes.

  “Han-han,” the little girl murmured, throwing her arms around Hannah’s neck and burying her face against her shoulder.

  Hannah wrapped her arms around the little girl. Shelby had never spoken her name before, and the kind’s message was clear. She didn’t want Hannah to cry. Holding the toddler close, Hannah wept for everything she’d lost and everything she’d found...and everything she’d lost again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The rain had been falling hard all night, and it’d become heavier as Daniel pulled into the parking lot for the Stoltzfus Family Shops. If he were the fanciful type, he would have said the weather reflected his bleak state of mind.

  Puddles, poked by raindrops, marked lower spots in front of the shops. He didn’t have to steer Taffy around them. The horse hated puddles, so he maneuvered the buggy without guidance from Daniel. Just as well, because Daniel’s attention wasn’t on driving.

  The parking lot was deserted. Nobody, not even Englischers in their cars, wanted to be out on such a miserable day. He wouldn’t be out himself if he didn’t want to get advice from his brothers.

  Every prayer he’d sent up in the long hours since he’d last spoken with Hannah had led him to the truth. He needed help. He’d been trying to figure out his uneven relationship with Hannah by himself for too long...and failing.

  He’d known she’d find out about the possible job with Liam O’Neill sooner or later. He’d been going to tell her himself before the appalling scene with her great-grandmother and then the news of her daed’s tragic death. Not once had he imagined she’d congratulate him on the job and then tell him it’d be better if they didn’t see each other so often.

  Parking in front of Joshua’s buggy shop, he jumped out and bent his head as the rain pelted him like a hundred tiny needles. He hurried onto the covered area in front of the shops and shook water off his straw hat and shoulders. He walked into the vast room that was filled to overflowing with equipment and buggy parts on the other side of a half wall. Five of Daniel’s six brothers were there. His oldest brother, Joshua, had brewed kaffi, and Amos had brought some cookies and muffins from the grocery store. Isaiah’s hands were ingrained with black soot from his work in the smithy behind the shops, but he held a chocolate chip cookie with a big bite out of it. Jeremiah sat to one side, rubbing varnish into a small box he must have been working on before he came to Joshua’s shop. Joining them was Ezra, who soon would be so busy with spring chores he wouldn’t have time for enjoying a cup of kaffi with his brothers.

  They all looked toward the door as Daniel entered. He saw the glances they exchanged before putting on innocent expressions. They’d been talking about him. Had word already gone through the Amish grapevine about Hannah dumping him yesterday?

  “Kaffi?” asked Joshua with a strained smile.

  “Getting something to warm me after that cold rain sounds like a gut idea,” he replied, following his oldest brother’s lead of pretending as if everything was normal.

  Daniel took the steaming cup. All the chairs had been claimed, so he sat on the half wall dividing the shop. Holding the cup to his face, he appreciated the heat billowing from it.

  “The rain is going to turn to sleet or snow if it gets much colder,” he said after taking a sip.

  “We had enough snow already during the winter.” Ezra gave an emoted shudder. “I didn’t think it’d ever stop.”

  “It did when it turned to rain.”

  His brothers chuckled, and Daniel relaxed. He liked making his brothers laugh, and having them do so made the tension tightening his shoulders ease.

  “Where’s Micah?” he asked as he took a cookie from the plate Joshua held out to him. Among the cookies from the grocery store, he saw a few of the delicious date-nut cookies his oldest brother’s wife, Rebekah, baked. With a cockeyed grin, he snatched two of those before Joshua offered the plate to the others.

  “He said something about taking Mamm out to Reuben’s house.” Amos winked at him. “I’m not sure why Mamm decided she needed to go on such a lousy day, but it’s easy to guess
why Micah was eager to take her.”

  “Unless he’s willing to talk to Katie Kay, there’s no reason for him to go,” Daniel said.

  Joshua began, “His spirit is willing—”

  “But his courage is weak,” said Ezra with a chuckle.

  “I seem to remember,” Jeremiah said as he looked up, “how we had to intervene for you and Leah when your courage was weak, Ezra.”

  The brothers hooted with laughter.

  “How’s the work coming at the bridge?” asked Amos.

  “It’d go better if the rain would stop,” Daniel replied and took another bite of a cookie. He knew what was on his brothers’ minds. How long before they asked about Hannah?

  Ezra chuckled, but with little humor. “The same thing I said about getting the corn in the field. As wet as it is, though I could get the planting started with my team, the seed will rot before it has a chance to grow.”

  “If we could get two days without rain, we’d be finished out at the bridge.”

  “I hear you’re taking a job with an Englischer in Strasburg next.” Isaiah held out his cup for a refill.

  Tilting the pot over it, Daniel said, “It’s not for sure. And don’t call Liam O’Neill an Englischer. When I went over to talk to him about his project, he told me that it’s an insult to gut Irishmen everywhere to be labeled Englisch.” He kept his tone light because he didn’t want anyone to know how hard it’d been for him to have that meeting after his strained conversation with Hannah outside the attorney’s office.

  It’d taken all his determination to be able to act as if he only cared about helping Liam and his wife renovate the old farmhouse that was close to falling in. He’d answered their questions and proposed an idea or two to make the project work, but his thoughts had constantly veered to Hannah. How could he fault her for trying to protect herself and her family after how he’d treated her? He should be grateful she hadn’t spoken of how her daed might have sought her out if Isaac hadn’t believed her future was set with Daniel. That thought shadowed him, making sleep impossible.