The Amish Secret Wish

by Laura V. Hilton

  She stumbled to a stop and slapped her hand over her mouth. Busted.

  His green eyes widened. A brow rose. And his gaze slowly slid over her wet, tangled hair, down to her bare toes.

  “You violated my privacy.” Her voice emerged in a wimpy-sounding squeak. And then she hated that was all she could think to say.

  He waved the community notes toward a small pile of folded clothes on the edge of the bed. “Your mammi—”

  “You’re in my room.” That came out a bit breathier than she liked.

  He dropped the papers on her quilt. “Jah, your mammi—”

  “Get out!” She turned and jerked at the door.

  It didn’t open.

  She yanked again, fresh tears burning her eyes. Nothing. She pushed and pulled and would’ve kicked, but she was barefoot. And, oh, why did he have to see her like this? Find out this way?

  His empty hand closed over hers. Tingles shot up her arm. “It’s locked.”

  Hallie caught her breath and stared up at him.

  He laid the lavender pen down on the dresser beside the door. His hand rose and caught a strand of her tangled hair. He gave it a gentle tug. “I’ll be glad to comb it for you sometime.”

  She sucked in a noisy breath.

  Kiah winked.

  He flipped the lock with his thumb and opened the door.

  “We’ll talk later…” The fingers holding her hair slid down the length, then brushed her cheek as he pulled away. “Scribe.”

  Chapter 6

  Kiah grinned as he walked across the hallway to his room. Behind him, the door clicked shut and the lock kicked into place. Finding GHB was way easier than he’d thought it would be. And she was who he’d hoped she’d be. What did the G stand for anyway? He mentally ran through a list of all the women’s names he could think of that started with G, but none of them made sense with Hallie. Or Henrietta.

  Of course, maybe the G was added just to throw people off, because for some reason she wanted to conceal her identity.

  Whatever it was, it would all be revealed eventually. Because now was the time to start seriously wooing the woman. Prepping her for their maybe eventual courtship, if she was willing. Despite the interest in her eyes, she’d already stated that she wasn’t interested in a relationship—or something to that effect.

  Though, of course, he needed to be cautious, too. His former relationship had ended badly. Although maybe not as badly as Hallie’s. His ex-girlfriend—very brief ex-fiancée—was still alive…and very apologetic. She was wrong, but…then she blamed him for something as her gaze followed another man. No. It didn’t matter how many times Molly asked him to take her back. He couldn’t trust her.

  Enough. Molly was his history. Hallie was his future.

  Hallie was hopefully his future. Right now chances were real good he’d crash and burn.

  Kiah blew out a puff of air and twisted the knob to open his temporary bedroom door. Downstairs, two men conversed in low tones.

  He needed to win Hallie’s friendship. For real. And her trust. Which he’d seriously violated by invading her personal space and picking up the papers filled with her familiar handwriting and community notes. Especially when her mammi said to leave the clothes on the floor outside the door and he’d deliberately chosen to disobey and snoop when he saw that telltale lavender pen on the floor.

  She’d also said—multiple times in her letters—that she had lost someone she loved. Whoever that was. Was she referring to Toby’s death? Or a different failed relationship?

  He walked over to the bedroom window and stared out at the barn. The sliding wood doors were open, revealing bits of the dim interior.

  He stared at the dusky darkness. Were his feelings coming across too strong and she wanted to let him down easy?

  Or worse, maybe she already had fallen in love with someone else? Oh no. No. No. Wait. Kiah’s blood chilled. It had been over a year since Toby died. Was he too late? She could have found another man who lived somewhere in another Amish community.

  That meant she’d be gone.

  Gone!

  He hadn’t put that together until now. He turned away from the window and started pacing the room.

  He was determined to try to win her love and woo her away from some other man. But wait. That meant encouraging her to step out on her boyfriend. To make her do what Molly had done to him.

  His stomach roiled. He stopped in his tracks and turned toward the hallway and eyed Hallie’s door. What should he say? Do? Should he apologize? He crossed the hall and raised his hand to knock. Then he paused, fist still posed in a knocking position. Of course, he could—and would—pray, but it didn’t seem to be enough.

  It had to be, though. Because other than winning her friendship and her trust, what other option did he have? If there was one, he couldn’t think what it might be.

  No wonder the bishop had said something about caring for her unique issues. He’d been giving Kiah a clear-cut warning to proceed with caution. To slow down. Maybe to treat her like a skittish horse. With a lot of patience.

  He lowered his hand and backed up until he leaned against the wall opposite her closed door.

  But what about the shadows in her eyes? The pain of loss in her letters? Since Toby died, had another boyfriend broken up with her?

  His brain hurt. The beginnings of a migraine threatened. That’d be bad if he came down with one on this visit. The prescription pills—and the headache both—made it extremely hard to focus.

  The noisy step creaked at the bottom of the staircase, and he turned his head. A young woman, with hair the color of honey and wearing a lavender dress, came into view. She was attractive, but not beautiful. She had a lavender pen tucked in her prayer kapp, just over her ear. A brow arched as she neared Kiah.

  He sought a grin, but his lips hurt. His eyes zeroed in on that pen and his stomach sank. He might have jumped to too quick of a conclusion. “Hezekiah Esh. My friends call me Kiah.”

  Her smile reached her eyes. “Kiah Esh. I’ve seen that name before.” She stuck out her hand. “Genesis Hosanna Brunstetter. My friends call me Hosanna, or usually Anna.”

  Kiah’s stomach tickled. He reached out and gripped her fingers.

  Genesis Hosanna Brunstetter. GHB.

  He should’ve known Hallie wasn’t her. It’d been too easy. And, of course, she wouldn’t give away her sister’s secrets. He’d dreamed of and kissed the wrong sister. Flirted with…

  The stomach tickle faded as the contents went on a roller-coaster ride.

  Anna’s smile grew. “I’d stay and talk, but I need my notes. I’m assisting at a birth.” She gently tugged her fingers free with the tiniest of winks. “Perhaps we could talk later?”

  “I’d like that.” His stomach lurched again. He’d definitely need to apologize—again—to Hallie and beg her to keep the kiss secret.

  Anna turned away and twisted the knob. The door didn’t open. She knocked. Pounded, really. “Hallie, let me in. I need my notes.”

  Rustling came from the room for a moment; then the door opened just wide enough for a familiar-looking stack of papers to slide through.

  Kiah’s head hurt worse. He needed to get away somewhere and think. He started downstairs to get a glass of cold water. Perhaps that’d stop the headache before it got worse. He was seriously dehydrated from the bishop’s hot haus.

  Hallie’s door slammed shut.

  Slammed.

  Wood probably splintered.

  Kiah twisted around, stumbled on the edge of the step, and slipped. He skated all the way down and somehow landed on his feet. But his back hurt.

  Along with his head.

  And his lips.

  Had he somehow made Hallie mad?

  But then again, he’d been snooping in her room.

  And jumping to wrong conclusions.

  * * *

  Hallie probably shouldn’t have slammed the door in her sister’s face, but then again, she shouldn’t have been eavesdropp
ing on her perfect older sister flirting with the sizzling-hot Kiah Esh. Letting him believe she was the scribe, though to be fair they hadn’t mentioned it. But something filled his voice after Anna told Kiah her full name.

  Realization. Horror. Something.

  She should be grateful to Anna but—

  Loud thumps and thuds came from outside her door.

  “Are you all right?” Anna sounded alarmed.

  “Fi—” Hallie began.

  “That looked like a nasty tumble. Did you hurt yourself?”

  What? Hallie fumbled the lock and jerked the door open. She plowed out into the hallway, knocking Anna sideways. Kiah stood at the bottom of the stairs, gingerly stretching his back from side to side.

  “I might need a medical professional to look me over.” He aimed a quick grin up the steps.

  “Of course. I can’t have a handsome guy getting killed on my watch.” Anna elbowed Hallie. “Dibs,” she whispered. “I saw him first.”

  Untrue, but with Anna now running down the stairs to reach him, not to mention the mutual flirting…Hallie blew out a frustrated breath. She didn’t want a relationship anyway. Really. Love hurt.

  But then again, missing out on love hurt, too. Was that a sign that her broken heart was coming back to life and the light was seeping into the cracks and chasing away the darkness? No. Couldn’t be.

  “Where do you hurt?” Anna sounded suitably professional.

  My heart. Hallie thought the words as Kiah said them.

  Anna giggled.

  Hallie tried not to snort. But she might not have succeeded, because Kiah’s eyes rose and locked on hers.

  They stood there, staring at each other until Anna apparently noticed something was off and Kiah’s attention wasn’t on her. She turned. And glared at Hallie.

  The spell broken, Hallie retreated to her room. Then realized too late that her hair was still loose, tangled, and uncovered. Mamm would scold her for that.

  Anna said something and giggled. Kiah chuckled.

  Hallie locked the door, moved her notes out of the way, and flopped onto the bed.

  A fresh round of tears burned her eyes. She fisted her hands and rubbed at the moisture. She’d cried enough. At least for now she had. She’d had a chance with Kiah, and she’d chosen to push him away. Had chosen not to admit that, despite there being numerous GHBs in the district, she really was the scribe. She told him flat out that she wasn’t interested. But she was.

  Very interested.

  And missing out on this chance of love hurt, too.

  Though, really, she’d thought he’d figured out the truth. She was the scribe. She was interested. Please, woo her…

  Woo her.

  Win her.

  Love her.

  Too late now.

  More laughter came from outside. A horse whinnied.

  Hallie sat up enough to peek out the window. Kiah held Anna’s hand as he helped her into the buggy. As if Anna was unable to get in by herself. Why hadn’t Kiah helped Hallie? It wasn’t like she needed assistance, though.

  She sighed and flopped back on the bed.

  An annoying rat-a-tat tapping came from somewhere above her head. Clip-clops came from outside. At least with Kiah ogling Anna as she was taking her leave, Hallie needn’t have foolish thoughts about him tossing a handful of pebbles at her window.

  More rat-a-tats followed the first. Hallie glared at the ceiling. It sounded as if a woodpecker had taken a remodeling job in the attic. This had happened a couple years ago and Mamm had caught the bird with a fishnet, releasing it miles down the road.

  If Mamm could do it, Hallie could.

  She firmed her jaw, rolled off the bed, grabbed her notes and slid them under her pillow, then marched to the doorway. After unlocking the door, she peeked out to make sure Kiah hadn’t returned and taken sentry right outside her bedroom.

  All clear.

  She dashed to the square in the ceiling that concealed the ladder leading up into the attic, yanked the rope tied to the metal ring, and pulled the ladder down. Dim light came in through the grimy window at the far side of the attic. Not enough.

  Hallie found the lantern-style flashlight Mamm kept up there, not necessarily for bird-induced emergencies. She flicked it on to make sure it worked, then pulled the steps up, closing the escape route so the bird wouldn’t head south into other areas of the haus.

  Daed’s fishing gear was near the exit. Hallie grabbed the fishing net and the flashlight and waded deep into the shadowy attic jungle. She found Woody renovating the area behind where Mamm had stacked all the old children’s games.

  She swung the net.

  Missed.

  Woody raised his red head, looked at her with a quizzical eye, then apparently decided they were playing a game of tag. He fluttered to the rafters.

  Hallie made a makeshift staircase out of old chairs, left the flashlight on one of them, and started the climb.

  Woody waited until she reached the summit, then dived straight toward her eyes.

  She screeched, flinging an arm over her face, barely keeping her balance. Moments later, she watched the bird perch on the other side of the attic. She could’ve sworn he wrinkled his long beak at her. Maybe he even smirked.

  “Okay, this is war, Woody.” Obviously she read too many adventure novels.

  Woody made churring sounds that may or may not have been taunting.

  She chose to believe they were.

  Once safely descended from Mt. Wobbly Chairs, Hallie found a child’s swimming mask that belonged to her brother Aaron and yanked it over her head to shield her eyes. Daed’s old straw hat covered her loose hair to protect it from whatever damage a woodpecker would do to it.

  Armed with the net and the flashlight, she eyed her prey and stalked across the cobweb-filled expanse.

  Woody waited until she was in swinging distance, then did a flyby, buzzing past her face.

  She screeched and dove for the floor. “Man the battle stations! Incoming!”

  * * *

  Kiah watched the buggy carrying GHB until it turned out of sight; then, strangely disquieted, he trudged inside. He still needed a glass of cold water. Maybe an icy drink would help cure the headache that threatened. He’d also take half a headache pill. Maybe that’d be enough to hold the stress-induced migraine at bay.

  Then he needed to find Hallie and have a heart-to-heart with her. That made his head hurt worse.

  He needed to figure out why he had this strange instant, very strong connection with Hallie that seemed to be lacking with Anna. He wanted to give up on Anna and pursue Hallie. But maybe it was because he’d dreamed of Hallie for so long. He needed to give the relationship with Anna time. If the bishop was right, the love-feelings would come if he set his mind on loving Anna. It just seemed, though, that something was off.

  In the kitchen, he gulped multiple glasses of ice water as he read the note—written in lavender—that the Brunstetter mamm left for Hallie. Cold roast beef sandwiches sounded good for supper. Lavender ink, on the other hand, was entirely too prominent in this haus.

  He refilled the glass with more cold water and climbed the stairs to take that half pill and have a chat with Hallie. Hopefully she’d fixed her hair by now. Hallie with just-tumbled-out-of-the-shower messy hair was entirely too…enticing.

  The bedroom door was open. Hallie was gone. So were the notes, because Anna had come to get them. The lavender pen was still on the dresser where he’d laid it.

  Kiah went into his room, bit a headache pill in half, swallowed part, and returned the other partial piece to the container. He took another gulp of water, then set the glass on the floor in the hallway and was starting to lower himself beside it to wait for Hallie’s reappearance when a loud thump came from right above his head.

  “Man the battle stations! Incoming!”

  What on earth? Kiah straightened and looked around. “Hallie?” he shouted.

  “I’m in the attic! Proceed with caution! This i
s war.” She screeched again.

  “War?” He pulled the ladder down and climbed up. “Who are you fighting? An itsy-bitsy spider?”

  She scowled at him. “Woody the woodpecker.” She wore an oversize man’s straw hat and royal blue swim goggles.

  He snickered. Then laughed outright. She stared at him, still scowling.

  “Woody the—” A red and gray blur flew at his face. “Whoa. What’d you do to get on his bad side?” Kiah flung his arm up to ward off the bird and purposely collapsed on the floor, face-first.

  Hallie reached over his legs to close the hatch. He thought maybe her softness brushed against his legs, but wasn’t sure. But he certainly hadn’t felt this instant chemistry with Anna when he’d helped her into the buggy.

  “We don’t want him to escape.”

  “I’m pretty sure he wants to stay.” He wanted to stay, too.

  Hallie’s fingers brushed his hand as she pressed something into his grip. Tingles shot up his arm. “Man up, Kiah. I’m going to try to get him to fly this way. You catch him.”

  “Man up?” Kiah sat and pretended to glower. “You’re the one screaming like a girl.”

  She swatted at him. “I am a girl. In case you haven’t noticed.”

  His gaze slipped from her tangled, straw hat–covered hair, over the funny-looking swim goggles, to her oh-so-kissable lips. “Believe me, I noticed.”

  Woody did another flyby, then landed on a box. He made churring sounds.

  Kiah slowly eased to his feet, glanced at the fishnet in his hands, then to Hallie. “What are we going to do with him?”

  “Release him outside?” Hallie lowered the goggles to dangle around her neck and raised a brow.

  “He’ll just get in again unless we find his entrance and block it.”

  She wrinkled her cute little nose. “Oh.”

  He snagged the worn-out straw hat from her head and handed it to her. “Go get him, Hallie. You can try to make him fly in my direction with the hat. I’ll find the hole he’s getting through after he’s caught.”

  Hallie nodded, firmed her jaw, raised the goggles, and marched toward the bird. When she neared it, she flapped the hat.