by Debby Giusti
They rode past the cabin and soon found a path that angled into the woods. The dirt road was narrow and the buggy bounced over the rough terrain. When they were a far enough distance from the road so they could not be seen, Ezra pulled up on the reins. He hopped down and hitched Bessie to a nearby tree, then he helped Rosie to the ground.
“We must be careful,” Ezra insisted. “The cabin appears empty, but this might not be the case. Perhaps you should stay here while I look around.”
She shook her head. “I will go with you. I need to ensure it is the same cabin I remember.”
“Then we will go together, but if we see anything suspect, we will turn around and come back to the buggy. On this we can agree?” he asked.
“Yah, cross my heart.”
He wanted to laugh at the expression Mary sometimes used, but they did not have time for frivolity or lightheartedness.
If there was trouble, Rosie needed to flee as quickly as possible. The fact that she would be vulnerable worried Ezra. What they might find worried him even more.
They started to walk, pushing back the long branches and prickly vines. Both of them were silent as they made their way through the underbrush until they arrived at the wooded area behind the cabin.
Ezra watched for movement, then slowly edged toward the cabin. Rosie followed close behind him.
They climbed the steps to the back porch. Ezra held his finger to his lips and stepped to the window. He placed his hands around his eyes and peered inside, grateful that the blind was only partially closed. He could make out a large worktable and folding chairs.
“Boxes are strewn in the far corner, overflowing from a trash container,” Ezra said as he continued to stare through the window.
“Did you try the door?” Rosie stepped closer and grabbed the knob. The door pushed open.
She raised her brow. “For criminals, they are not very smart to leave a door unlocked.”
He glanced behind them and to the right and left. “Stay here, Rosie. I will look inside.”
Ignoring his warning, she entered the cabin.
His pulse raced. “Someone could be sleeping.”
She shook her head. “I can see into the bedroom. The bed is unoccupied.”
Ezra followed her. Once inside, he hurried to the table littered with bubble-wrapped pill containers and prescription bottles, and read the names on the labels. “Tom Rogers. Brian Holmes. Annalise Carter.”
“Annalise lives at Shady Manor. The pill holders are called blister packs, according to what Nan told me.”
Rosie peered at the blister packs in the trash can. “I recognize a number of patients’ names.”
A car sounded outside. Ezra glanced through the front window. A white SUV turned into the drive. A second car parked directly behind the SUV.
“That is O’Donnell, the manager of Shady Manor,” Rosie whispered as her former boss stepped from his car.
Ezra grabbed her arm. “Come. We must leave now.”
They hurried to the back door, pulled it open and closed it quietly behind them just as the front door opened.
Heart pounding and with a warning voice chastising him for putting Rosie in danger again, Ezra ushered her across the clearing and back to the wooded area. He glanced over his shoulder, fearing they were being followed.
“Do not stop, Ezra, or they might see us.”
He grabbed Rosie’s hand, and together they made their way to the buggy. She hid in the rear and Ezra climbed onto the front seat. He slapped the reins and turned the mare toward the road, only this time they headed for the lake, never passing the house again. Ezra needed to get away from the cabin, away from the lake and especially away from the two men involved in the drug racket.
They had found the cabin but had failed to retrieve evidence that would bring Wagner and O’Donnell to justice.
Rosie nudged Ezra’s shoulder with something she was holding in her outstretched hand.
“I took one of the blister packs labeled for a Shady Manor patient,” she said when he glanced back. “Perhaps it will convince law enforcement to investigate.”
As enthused as Rosie seemed, Ezra was less confident. Pill packages would do little to prove what was really happening, even if it had been retrieved from an isolated cabin in the woods.
Without hard evidence to incriminate O’Donnell and Wagner, Rosie would remain one of law enforcement’s prime suspects, especially if she was caught with one of the empty pill packs on her person.
Perhaps Peter could provide information about the pharmacist. Was Rayleen involved? If only Peter would be able to tell them.
* * *
“Where does Peter live?” Rosie asked after Ezra told her his plan.
“Just outside town. Remember Aaron mentioned his older brother. Did you know Jonas?”
Rosie shook her head. “If he was a few years older than you, he would have been five or six years older than me. I was a quiet child that stayed to myself.”
“I remember you as having your hand in the air, always ready to answer questions and always having the right answer.”
She smiled. “Perhaps your memory is mistaken.”
“If Wagner and O’Donnell remain at the cabin sorting through their pills, we can drive to Peter’s house and talk to him, if he is home. Then we can return to the mountain without running into anyone who could do us harm.”
They rode in silence until the town appeared in the distance. Ezra pulled onto a small farm and stopped near the two-story Amish house. He waved to Peter, who peered from the barn.
Ezra met him there. Rosie stayed in the buggy. She needed to remain out of sight, plus, Peter might be more apt to talk to Ezra without her standing close by.
The conversation did not take long. Ezra returned to the buggy and hurried the mare onto the roadway. “We’ll take the back way as soon as we come to the turnoff.”
Once they were on the mountain path and hidden from view by the dense wooden area that flanked the road, Rosie climbed to the front and slipped onto the seat next to Ezra.
“What did Peter say?” she asked.
“He does not know why Rayleen told him she did not need him at work. Peter said a big shipment had just arrived from one of the pharmaceutical companies. Usually Rayleen has Peter unload the medication while she organizes it on the shelves in the pharmacy.”
“What about the opioid drugs that could be sold for profit?” she asked.
“Many of those are kept locked up. Peter does not have access.”
“But he sees the meds?”
“He knows where they are kept, but he has no idea how many are in stock. He did check the computer inventory. The pills that came in one morning were disbursed by afternoon.”
“To the various nursing homes in the area?”
“Or somewhere else. He saw pills for one of the patients that had not been packaged along with the other medication going to the nursing home.”
“What happened?”
“Peter pointed out the problem to Rayleen, but she did not seem concerned.”
“What about Nan? Did he see her at the pharmacy?”
“A woman with red hair stopped in two days ago. Rayleen told Peter to go the deli and order his lunch. When he said it was too early in the day, Rayleen gave him twenty dollars for a pizza and told him to keep the change.”
“Did he go?”
“He did and when he finished the pizza and returned to the pharmacy, the red-haired woman was gone and Rayleen was on the phone. He heard her say something about a nurse from Shady Manor, but he could not make out what else was being said. Later that day, Rayleen said she no longer needed his help.”
Rosie was the reason Nan had visited the pharmacist. Once Rayleen realized the nurse was onto her or onto the nursing-home racket, she must have warned Larry Wagner and the nursing
home manager. Had they killed Nan, making it seem like an overdose?
The nurse’s death was Rosie’s fault. Another mistake she had made that had led to pain and suffering and murder.
Rosie had to leave the mountain. She had to leave so no more people would die. She glanced at the Amish man who had done so much to ensure she remained safe.
More than anything she wanted Ezra to remain safe. She had to leave the mountain not only for her own good and the good of her child, but also for Ezra. No matter how much she wanted to stay.
SEVENTEEN
Mary ran into the house when she came home from school, her face flushed and eyes wide. She stopped in the kitchen and peered into the living area. “Where is Joseph?”
“Upstairs. He is taking a long nap today.” Ezra looked out the kitchen window. “Where is your brother?”
“Davey is walking slowly. I ran home because I have to tell Rosie the news.”
“Here I am.” Rosie came down the stairs carrying Joseph, who rubbed his eyes and looked like he wanted to go back to sleep. When he spied Mary, he started to laugh.
“I need to tell you about the Christmas pageant at school.”
Rosie nodded to encourage the girl to continue.
“Mrs. Trochman’s baby was to be the infant Jesus, but the family is going to Pennsylvania to visit relatives. Now they must leave early so that means we need a new baby.”
She stopped and looked from Rosie to Ezra.
Ezra smiled. “A new baby?”
“A real live baby,” Mary explained. “Our teacher said for us to go home and think of a baby we can borrow.”
“You are going to borrow a baby?” he teased.
Mary put her hand on her hip and rolled her blue eyes. “We will not borrow a baby because we have Joseph.”
“Joseph?” Rosie stepped closer. “Tell me what you are thinking, Mary.”
“That Joseph could be our infant Jesus.”
Rosie glanced at Ezra as she touched Mary’s shoulder. “That is nice of you to consider Joseph for your pageant. You and your family have been so generous to have us in your home, but Joseph and I must leave soon.”
Tears swarmed the young girl’s eyes. “You cannot leave. Joseph is going to be my brother. I am a good big sister. You said how much he loves me.”
Rosie leaned down and rubbed her hand over the girl’s cheek. “He does love you very much, Mary. You see how he laughs and waves and kicks his feet when you are close by. He does that because he wants to be your friend.”
“Does he want to be my brother?”
“I am sure he would want that, as well, if he could talk, but Joseph and I must move to another area. Perhaps someday we will come back here or you will come to where we live and you will be able to see each other again.”
“But I told my teacher that I know a baby who could be the infant Jesus.”
“What have I said about making promises you cannot keep, Mary?” Ezra cautioned.
She pouted her lips. “But you promised that we would be happy again and that Mamm and Datt would be watching out for us and that I would feel their love, but all I feel is sadness. When Rosie and Joseph came here, I thought we could forget what happened and start a new family.”
Ezra reached for the child and pulled her into his arms, his own heart feeling the pain she expressed. “We are a family, Mary, and always will be a family. You are a wonderful child and Mamm and Datt are still in our hearts. That will never change.”
“But once Rosie came into our house, you became happier, Ezra. Everything changed for the better. I do not want to go back to the way it was.”
He closed his eyes, wishing they could all go back to before the robbery, when his parents were still alive. He would be a different son. He would not make the careless comments that set everything into motion.
Ezra was to blame for his parents’ deaths and his sister’s pain. Yet they could not go back, and if even if they did, that meant leaving Rosie out of the moment and more than anything he wanted her here, standing in the kitchen, her eyes filled with understanding. Perhaps she, more than anyone else, knew about mistakes.
“Ask Rosie to stay, Ezra.” Mary burrowed her face into his shoulder. “Tell her she can join our family.”
Ezra wanted to do that, but when he looked at Rosie she turned away from him and walked into the living area with Joseph and stood at the window, staring into the distance. She planned to leave the mountain and leave all of them to make her new life in another place. She did not need a man who had thought only of himself and who could not provide the love and acceptance his family needed.
* * *
Rosie helped Susan prepare the evening meal while Joseph sat on the floor. The wooden toys Mary had given him to play with surrounded him, but he seemed less than interested.
“Joseph is not his joyful self,” Susan noted as she peeled potatoes.
“He slept a long time today, perhaps it is the tooth.” Although Rosie worried it could be something more.
She glanced outside to where the children were working with Ezra. “I thought Mary might come inside to play with Joseph, but she is helping Ezra.”
“He has been a good leader for our family,” Susan pointed out. “And he showers attention on the younger children. I believe Mary’s outburst today was more about her own grief rather than his lack of concern. Plus, she has given her heart to Joseph.”
Susan reached for another potato. “Joseph is an adorable baby, and your presence in the house has brought a warmth we have not felt in all this time without our parents.”
As much as she appreciated Susan’s comment, Rosie knew she and Joseph had done nothing to add to the family unity. Instead, they had brought strife.
“Perhaps it is the time of year,” Rosie mused. “Christmas is for family gatherings and celebrations. Those not with us are more deeply missed.”
She thought of her own parents. Her mamm would cook a plump chicken, prepare stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy for the meal. Her datt would eat silently, hardly noticing Mamm’s efforts to make the day meaningful.
“When I was young, my father would read from scripture the story of Jesus’s birth to begin the day,” Rosie continued. “It was a joyous time and a holy day.”
“You said in your childhood. Did that change?”
“Everything changed as I grew older. My datt turned inward. He would spend all morning on the chores, and he ignored the scripture. I always felt I had hurt him in some way, yet I did not know how. I tried to earn his love and drive away the darkness that had settled over our house.”
“Your parents had no more children?”
She shook her head. “A sweet niece lived with us for a while when her mother had a difficult pregnancy and needed bed rest. The little one brought joy to my heart, but even she could not change the pall that seemed to hang over our family.”
“The child has returned to her parents?”
Rosie nodded. “The family lives in Ohio. I am hoping they might have room for Joseph and me, at least until I can find my way.”
Susan raised an eyebrow. “Would that be Katherine’s daughter?”
Rosie nodded. “Do you know Alice?”
“I knew her years ago but have not seen her for some time. Ohio is a long way from Georgia.”
“But it is time we leave. All of you have been so kind to take Joseph and me into your home.”
“And into our family,” Susan added. “Mary is right, you have brought a lightness of heart to Ezra and a joy to all of us. We have the room if you wish to stay.”
If only Ezra felt the same.
“All of you need to go on with your lives,” Rosie insisted.
“I do not think Ezra feels that way.”
“He must look for a wife within the community. With me here, he is not free to make that ne
xt step.”
Susan placed the pot of peeled potatoes on the stove. “I do not think he needs to search farther.”
Her words touched Rosie. If only they were true, but Susan saw through her own eyes and did not realize all that Rosie sensed when she was with Ezra. Plus, Susan had a false picture of Rosie. She did not realize what she had allowed to happen and the pain she had caused her family.
The smell of roasting meat filled the kitchen when Susan opened the oven and placed the large pan of meat on the back of the stove. “The broth from the roast will make good gravy. Thick and rich.”
Rosie washed her hands and then picked up Joseph. His forehead felt warm when she tucked him close to her cheek. He laid his head on her shoulder and cuddled closer.
“His tooth must hurt,” Susan said.
“He feels like he has a temperature. I will rock him by the fire if you do not need my help.”
“Take care of Joseph. Will you have something to eat with us?”
Rosie shook her head. “Maybe later, once the baby is feeling better.”
She slipped into the rocker and sat close to the wood-burning stove. The warmth was inviting, and she cuddled Joseph in her arms and softly sang a lullaby he liked.
The children and Ezra came inside and peered at them from the kitchen. They talked amongst themselves in hushed tones as if they, too, were concerned about her child.
Ezra washed his hands, then entered the living area and peered down at the baby. “Susan said Joseph has a fever.”
Rosie nodded. “He feels warm. I was hoping he would fall asleep, but his eyes remain open.”
“You must eat.”
She shook her head. “Not now. Not until he is better.”
“We have medication for fever, but it is not for babies.”
“I would fear doing more harm since he is so young.”
Ezra nodded. “Do as you think best. I will have Susan save a plate for you.”
“Thank you, Ezra.” The man was thoughtful and considerate, for which she was grateful. If only he could find a good woman to help him take care of the children and be his partner for life.
