He looked up to welcome his assigned partner back into the room. Marcus had a habit of disappearing for curiously long periods of time, but Rufus had to admit that when he was present he was a valuable helper. He was cheerful, did not mind Rufus’s humming, and did what Rufus asked him to do without looking for shortcuts.
And Marcus always returned with large Styrofoam cups of steaming coffee.
“You’re going to like this one,” Marcus said. “Dark. Robust. Rich.”
“You found that kind of coffee in a hospital?” Rufus gratefully took hold of a cup and sipped before setting it down.
“You just have to know where to look.” Marcus took a generous draft. “Ah! Smooth, eh?”
“Yes, smooth. Now let’s do a smooth job of getting these cabinets up.”
“Smooth transition.” Marcus found a secure place to set his coffee down. “I heard another Amish dude came in through the ER a couple hours ago. Came all the way from Westcliffe in an ambulance.”
Rufus dropped the bracket dangling from his fingers.
Twenty-Seven
Rufus took the stairs two at a time until he was sure he was on the ground floor and then darted through the unfamiliar hospital hallways. Stripes in the flooring and signs overhead guided his path without providing visual reassurance that he would, in fact, reach the emergency department. This was his first day working at this location, and he had not yet made sense of the building’s layout. He trusted the signs until he came to a registration counter under a hanging sign announcing the ER.
“I understand you had an Amish man come in this afternoon.” Rufus managed a calm tone. “I’m concerned it might be a family member.”
“Your last name?” A clerk flipped over a pile of papers and looked up from behind her computer.
“Beiler.” He spelled it.
“And does the family member you’re looking for share your last name?”
“Yes.” Joel. Or Daed. Had there been an accident that he would have known about if he were home on his family’s farm?
The clerk clicked a few keys. “No, I don’t see anyone by that name.”
“Are you sure? Maybe the name was misspelled? How many Amish men would you have?”
“Sir, I cannot give you any patient information. All I can tell you is we have no one under the name you gave me.”
“Thank you.” Rufus wiped a hand across his forehead. When he turned away from the counter in relief, he saw Ruth huddled across the waiting room.
“Rufus!” Relief rattled her voice when she saw him. She wiped tears with the heels of both hands.
“What happened?” He sat beside her on the row of interlocking gray armless chairs and enfolded her.
“It’s Elijah,” she said.
Intent on understanding, Rufus listened to Ruth’s account.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “How did you get here?”
“I’m putting cabinets in offices on one of the upper floors.”
“I can’t believe you’re here on this day of all days.”
“Gottes wille. Is Elijah going to be all right?”
“I think so. Of course I’m concerned, but why were the Capps so cold to me? It was as if they dismissed me. Why would they tell me to go home like that?”
“He still has your heart, doesn’t he?” Rufus leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
“If they think I’m trying to lure their son away, I would assure them that I have gone out of my way not to do that.” Ruth ground a fist into her thigh. “That doesn’t mean I stopped caring about him. He’s a person, after all. Someone I’ve known well for many years.”
“Of course you care about him. When the Capps have the reassurance that Elijah is well, they will look at things differently.”
Ruth shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. It’s as if they are blaming me for something. I had nothing to do with what happened today. Annalise is the one who was there with Elijah, not me.”
“If you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear.”
“I’m not afraid. I’m hurt. And I want someone to tell me what is happening with Elijah!”
Rufus absorbed the contortions of his sister’s face and wished he knew the words that would smooth them. How thick her heart must be with the burden of loving a man who belonged to a people she called her own less and less.
“Hey, dude!” Marcus dropped into a chair on the other side of Rufus. “The boss is looking for you.”
Annie stared at her open back door. While she had taken to leaving it unlocked, it was not her habit to leave it standing wide open.
By the time she got back into town after the morning’s drama, she had to go straight to the shop without stopping at home. In the back room, she had done her best to wash up in the old sink and brush dirt off her dress. With a sigh, she realized she had lost yet another prayer kapp. It could be in the meadow, snagged on a bush and billowed by wind, or it could be in the rig she had returned to town in, smashed against a floor mat. It made no difference. She would not get it back. Annie resisted the urge to inspect her face and hair in the mirror and settled for pinning her straggly braids back into place by touch alone.
By the end of the afternoon, she was ready for a hot bath and a hot meal.
And word from Ruth about Elijah’s condition. Making a series of phone calls from the shop, it had taken Annie most of two hours to track down Elijah’s parents and then find Tom to see if he would taxi. Mrs. Weichert, working on the month-end books, looked up periodically with concern. Annie was careful to say only that Elijah had an accident and had been taken to the hospital. For as long as possible, she hoped to leave Leah’s name out of the rumors that were sure to fly around town. The truth would come out about Leah’s part in the accident, but for now, just for today, Annie did not want to raise questions she could not answer.
And now her back door was standing wide open.
Annie entered her home and laid her purse on the counter inside the back door.
“Annalise?” A faint voice came from the front of the house.
“Who’s there?” Still unsettled, Annie decided she would not take a makeshift kitchen weapon to greet someone who knew her name.
“It’s me.”
Annie progressed into the dining room. “Leah?”
The kitten shot past just then, brushing Annie’s skirt on his way to the kitchen. Annie took a moment to light the small oil lamp on the dining room table. Leah came into focus scrunched into the far chair in the adjoining living room.
“Are you all right, Leah?”
The response came slowly, with deliberation. “I guess if I were, I would not have done that to Elijah.”
Annie closed her eyes and offered a prayer of thanks before proceeding to sit in the other chair. “You did a great job getting help, Leah. Ruth got there even before the ambulance, and Elijah was so glad to see her.”
“Is he paralyzed?”
“No,” Annie answered quickly and then thought she should qualify her response. “I don’t think so. They took him to a hospital just to be sure.”
“Everybody is going to find out.” Leah’s face was suddenly slick with tears. “His family will want the church to pay his medical expenses, and everybody will know that I was the one doing something stupid, not Elijah.”
Annie had no answer. What Leah said might well be true.
“My mother is right. I mess things up all the time. I can’t control myself.”
Annie pulled a tissue from a box on the end table between the chairs and handed it to Leah.
“But I’m not going to hurt Aaron. If I can just get to Pennsylvania, I can change. He makes me believe in myself. No one else does that for me.”
“I want to help you, too.” Annie pointed across the room. “Have you looked on the other side of that screen?”
Leah shook her head. “I’ve just been sitting here all day. I put away the groceries Ruth bought because they needed to be in the refrigerator,
but I didn’t want you to think I was touching all your things.”
“I would like to show you what is over there. Would you like to see?”
“It’s a nice screen. Useful but pretty in a plain way.”
“I’ll turn on a couple of lamps so you can see better.” Annie turned the switch on the propane lamp rising out of the end table. “Come over here.”
Annie took Leah’s hand and led her the few steps across the room. “The other lamp is over here, behind the screen. Why don’t you turn it on?”
Leah gently moved the end of the screen and stepped into the bedroom-like space Annie had created.
“I told you before that you were welcome to stay with me,” Annie said, “and I meant it. I’ve made up the couch like a bed. Your bed.”
Leah’s eyes widened. “How did you know I would come?”
“I prayed that you would, and I felt a peace about making up the bed. That’s a kind of knowing, isn’t it?”
Leah exhaled heavily. “But after today you should change your mind.”
“I don’t think so. God answered my prayer. You’re here.”
“I don’t know why you want me here.”
“For the same reason I wanted you to come down from the gravel. I want you to be safe.”
“I can’t sleep there.” Leah stepped back. “I’ve been wearing the same dress for three weeks. I don’t deserve it. I’m filthy.”
“You’re lovely,” Annie said quickly. “As for the rest, I have plenty of hot water and a purple dress that should suit you well.”
“An Amish dress?”
“Yes.”
“Is that all you have now?”
“Yes. I gave away my English clothes months ago.” Annie raised a tender hand to Leah’s head. “Look, you’ve still got your prayer kapp.”
“Of course. I ran away from my parents, not from God.”
Annie chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe how many prayer kapps I have lost trying to run toward God.”
“I don’t want to be some kind of prisoner.” Leah stepped out of Annie’s reach. “I could do that at my parents’ house.”
“I’m not trying to be a jailer. I’m trying to be a friend.”
“I don’t have any friends here.”
“You have me.”
“You can’t ask me a lot of questions about where I go or what I’m doing all day. I’m not going to tell you.”
Annie pressed her lips together. She had questions she did not dare ask in this tremulous moment. Was she willing to take on a distraught teenager without any boundaries? She took a slow breath of prayer.
“I’m not going to hound you,” Annie said.
“You have to trust me.” Leah’s tone dared Annie.
“And I hope you can trust me,” Annie said. “Let’s start with tonight and see where we go, all right? How about a hot bath?”
Leah nodded.
Ruth accepted the coffee that Tom brought her a few minutes after Rufus returned to work. “Thank you.”
“No news yet?”
She shook her head. Surely by now Elijah was back from his scans.
“Pardon me, then,” Tom said. “I am going to force the issue by asking to speak to the Capps. I don’t want to abandon them, but I need to know what to tell my wife about when I’ll be home.”
Taking his own coffee with him, Tom sauntered toward the ER desk.
The automatic doors from the outside slid open, sending a draft of cool outside air into the waiting area. Alan Wellner stepped in and immediately spied Ruth.
“I heard about your friend,” he said. “I came to see if there was anything I could do to help.”
She shrugged. “I’m just waiting. There should be some news soon.”
“I could give you a ride back to Westcliffe.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be all right.” Ruth was stranded, and even if Tom Reynolds had room in his truck, the Capps might not want her to ride with them. But Alan unsettled her.
“I know it was weird with my dad the other day.” He took the seat Rufus had been in just moments ago and stretched out his long form, arms across the chairs on either side of him. “Stuff like that happens all the time, but it doesn’t mean anything. So don’t be freaked out by it.”
“I’m not.” Ruth sipped her coffee and moved her eyes to where Tom stood at the ER desk. “Every family is different.”
“My dad is in la-la land sometimes. He’ll call me next week like nothing happened.”
“I hope you can work things out.”
“I let it roll off my back. People sometimes do things just to make a point.” Alan’s fingers drummed against the back of Ruth’s chair, and she stood up.
“So how long have you and Bryan known each other?” she asked.
“Long time. Best friends.”
“That’s great for both of you.”
Mr. Capp had appeared at the desk and leaned in to speak with Tom. Ruth watched for clues about what they might be saying.
“Bryan likes you a lot.” Alan grinned up at her. “He tells me these things. He thinks the whole Amish thing is fascinating, and that you’re a strong woman.”
“He said all that?” Ruth had only seen Bryan a couple of times and thought he understood very little about the Amish.
“He’s a man who knows what he wants.”
Ruth was relieved to see Tom crossing the room toward her. “Good news?”
“Yep.” Tom rubbed his palms together. “They are doing the paperwork to release him now.”
“He can go home?”
“Nothing’s broken, everything works. And Elijah doesn’t want to stay.”
Relief swamped Ruth.
“I wish I could take you home, too,” Tom said, “but the truck will be crowded as it is. We’re going to make Elijah comfortable in the backseat and his parents will both ride in front.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Ruth felt the absence of the car she had owned for the last few months and the independence it provided her. “I’ll figure something out.”
As Tom walked away, Ruth took her phone out of her pocket and dialed Mrs. Weichert’s shop. No one answered. Ruth scrolled through her contact list. Most of the listings were people she knew in Colorado Springs, not Westcliffe.
“Looks like you’re going to need a ride home after all.” Alan stood behind her. “Good thing I’m here.”
Twenty-Eight
No need, Alan. I can take Ruth home.” Bryan took Ruth by the hand and tugged her away from Alan.
“What are you still doing here?” Ruth was grateful for Bryan’s presence at that moment. “I thought you would have taken the ambulance back hours ago.”
“I did. I had to finish out my volunteer shift, in case there were any more calls.”
“And you came all the way back here?”
Bryan squeezed her hand. “I don’t like to leave a damsel in distress.”
“How did you even know she would need a ride?” Alan slid his hands into his pockets. “She could have been gone already.”
“Then why are you here, buddy?” Bryan jabbed his friend’s shoulder playfully. “At least I can claim some responsibility since I brought her here in the first place.”
He still held her hand, and Ruth relaxed into his grip. It was an odd sensation. Elijah was the only man who had taken her hand this way before, covering her slender fingers in a grasp both affectionate and protective, and only when they were alone. Yet Ruth trusted Bryan’s hold.
Alan circled them. “I was only trying to be helpful.”
“Thank you for thinking of me.” Ruth craned her neck to follow Alan’s pacing path.
“Yeah, thanks, buddy, but I’ve got this one covered.” Bryan released Ruth’s hand and put an arm around her shoulder. “How is your friend doing?”
“His parents are here to take him home. No serious damage.”
“I’m glad to hear that. His back is going to be one big bruise.”
“It could have been so m
uch worse.”
“You would know. You’re an almost nurse.” Bryan guided her toward the door.
“I still have a ways to go with my education.” Ruth looked over her shoulder at Alan. “Is your friend going to be okay?”
“Alan? He’ll be fine. He goes into these moods sometimes, usually after he sees his dad.”
“He drove all the way over here because he thought I might need a ride.”
“He likes attention. Being a hero. But he tries too hard and it puts people off.”
“So you’re used to just ignoring him?”
“I learned my lesson years ago.” Bryan pressed his key fob and the lights of the gray Mitsubishi came on.
“You two have a…curious relationship.”
“Are you hungry?” Bryan opened the passenger door. “We could get something to eat while we’re in a town with some actual options.”
“I haven’t had anything since breakfast.” Ruth sized up Bryan’s car. It was a few years old, but it was clean inside and out.
“Then we’ll find a place, and I’ll treat you to an early dinner.”
What can you tell about a man based on his car? Ruth wondered. She hardly knew Bryan any better than she knew Alan. So far they had met in public places within blocks of where she lived and worked.
“How about there?” Ruth pointed across the street from the parking lot to a casual dining establishment. If she decided she was uncomfortable for any reason, she would not get back in his car.
“You got it. Food coming right up.” Bryan closed the car door and walked around to the driver’s side.
Ruth sat facing the emergency entrance of the building. As Bryan turned the key in the ignition, the hospital doors swooshed open and an orderly pushed Elijah outside in a wheelchair. Behind, his parents carried their worried looks and studied discharge papers.
Tom pulled his vehicle to the curb, blocking Ruth’s view of the Capps. While Bryan backed out of his parking space and headed out of the lot, pressure burned in Ruth’s chest. Shock. Grief. Confusion. Love. Whatever it was, she ached for relief.
Rufus separated the tools that belonged to him from those his employer supplied. The end of the workday ushered in a swath of moments he dreaded.
Taken for English Page 19
