“I ignore him for the most part.”
Summer took a swig from her bottle and set it down a bit harder than was necessary.
“Why, don’t you like him?”
“Ha, he has this attitude. As if he’s a gift to the female population of the school and I should be going all goo-goo eyed over him.”
I considered her attitude for a minute and decided that she must like Sam a little bit, otherwise she wouldn’t get so torn up about his popularity with the girls. God help her, though, if she did fall for him.
“Usually, the girls are chasing Sam, not the other way around.” I caught her eyes as she squinted in the light. “Maybe he’s really into you. I mean, it’s not like Sam to go out of his way to talk to a girl, unless he’s interested.”
“His girlfriend keeps him pretty busy, I’d say.” Summer definitely had a hint of anger in the tone of her voice. I laughed out loud. “That’s exactly what I called Amber in my head when I met her. Sam’s still with her?”
“I don’t know for sure. Sometimes they’re together and he ignores me, other times, when he’s free of her and his football buddies, he shows up, acting all friendly.” She seemed to be considering what she’d just said, weighing the possibilities.
“I’ll only give you this advice once and whether you take it is up to you, but you should watch out for Sam—he’ll break your heart,” I said softly and honestly. I didn’t want to see Summer go down the road of the dozen girls before her.
“Maybe he’ll be the one with the broken heart,” she quipped, catching me totally by surprise.
While she finished off her sandwich, I reappraised her. She was pretty, colorful—and unique. She might just be the one to tromp all over Sam’s soul for a change. But I didn’t want the responsibility if it backfired on her.
“You’ve been warned.” I sighed.
She just smiled back at me with an evil spread to her lips, making me think again that Summer would be the one to help me nail Levi’s skinny ass to the wall.
I leaned over the rough wood of the table and whispered, “Do you have your phone on you?”
“Yeah, course I do.”
Summer was curious about the change of subject, and she leaned in closer to hear what I had to say.
I quickly told her what I had in mind, watching her expression go from rapt interest with big green eyes to worry when she began chewing on her bottom lip.
It was a crazy plan, and one that probably wouldn’t amount to anything, but it was better than nothing. And, even though I trusted Suzanna fully, I didn’t feel comfortable bringing her into the situation. The last thing the Amish girl needed was to have to deal with the fallout. On the other hand, I believed that Summer was up to the challenge.
I sat, barely breathing, while I watched the redheaded girl stare at the boards of the table top for several long seconds. When her eyes rose, her mouth was set in a grim line of determination. My belly suddenly rocked with nervousness when she nodded slowly.
She was with me.
* * *
When I finally did spot Noah, he was beside his dad and Jacob, eyeing some hulking plow thing. He kept looking up and searching around, making the pleasant butterflies push the queasiness I was feeling aside. He was looking for me.
I ducked behind the tent flap and let out a strong breath. As much as I longed to walk over to Noah and have his hot eyes on me, I hardened my heart with another breath and a slight shake of my body. It was good that he was busy—the last thing I needed was for him to ruin my plan. The success of which depended an enormous amount on how I believed Levi would act if given the opportunity to be alone with me. Hopefully, if I was right, within the hour I’d have a weapon to hold against Levi—one that would keep him forever away from Miranda and off my case, too.
Maybe I was dead wrong, but I highly doubted it.
What I was doing wasn’t exactly entrapment. It was more like giving a jerk a situation to show his true and nasty colors.
As I made my way around the wagons, nodding my head and smiling at several ladies who acknowledged me, my heart began to drum faster and my legs felt jellylike. I thought I had things worked out in my mind, but I was still a nervous wreck.
When I saw the source of my inner conflict I slowed, preparing myself. Before I made it to my position, Emilene strolled up, catching me off guard. She was holding one of the babies while Jeremiah followed with the other one.
“Hi, Emy, how are the boys enjoying their first big outing?” I said, stopping to peek under the little blue blanket covering Emilene’s bundle. I had to admit the squirming little guy was cute. In all our visits to the Yoders’ to help with the cooking and laundry after the birth I’d discovered that babies were okay—especially now that I knew how to hold one.
Seeing the pleading look on Jeremiah’s face, I was on alert that he was getting ready to dump his bundle on me.
“I believe they’re enjoying it. Joshua here hasn’t woken at all, but Jacob has been a bit fussy.”
Before Jeremiah got his chance to skip out of his parental duties, I said, “I better go help with the food. They’re probably missing me.”
I hightailed it past them.
The encounter had interrupted my preparation, and now that I was almost on top of Levi I had to think quickly.
I took a breath and smoothed the blue material at the front of my dress flat. Picturing Miranda in my head, I looked up at Levi. Only this time, instead of the scowl that usually accompanied my face when I met his eyes, I swallowed and kept my face neutral. Knowing I had only one chance, I held his gaze for several seconds longer than any girl would before passing closely by him.
My heart was attacking my rib cage, and sweat cooled the skin under my dress. I had a brief moment of, Oh, my God what am I doing, before I peeked over my shoulder.
It worked. Levi was following at a discreet distance. I continued past the women selling their goodies. The smells and jovial sounds coming from the building seemed as if they were a world away, I was so intent on my mission.
I walked past the first barn I came to, the big one where all the horses were lined up in tie stalls. Then I passed the second smaller barn where a few cows had their heads hanging over the gate. By that point there were only a few meandering guys whom I guessed were being nosey about the Weavers’ farm.
I turned into the old tobacco barn. As my eyes adjusted to the dark interior I was satisfied to see that it looked exactly as I’d expected: a few rusty pieces of machinery stored on one side and some round bales on the other. There were several chickens pecking around in the dirt, giving me something to focus on while I waited for Levi to arrive.
My legs were steady and my head clear when he walked through the opening, a smile twitching his thin lips. His expression made my stomach crawl, but I stood my ground and watched him carefully.
He approached confidently, before pausing at one of the bales, pulling out a long blade of yellowish grass. He broke it and popped one piece into the side of his mouth, dropping the other half. I watched it fall to the ground, a hen hurrying to the place where it landed.
Anxiously, I lifted my head again. Levi was directly in front of me, close enough that I could smell the sweat on his shirt.
“So, what are ya doing out here, Rose?” He drawled out the words in a low voice.
Oh, yeah, the jerk was working hard to sound all nice and friendly, but I knew better.
“It’s really none of your business,” I snapped.
His eyes narrowed, and judging from the even thinner line his lips became, his temper was heating up.
“It’s not a good idea for a girl that looks like you to be wandering off by yourself. You should be thanking me for coming down here to check in with ya.”
He stretched his arm out to the post beside me, partially hemming me in.
When I went to move away, he snaked his hand out and grabbed my wrist. He was faster than I thought he’d be and even though this was what I wanted, I wasn’
t expecting it to happen quite so quickly.
“Let go of me,” I growled, trying to yank my arm away.
“Why should I? After all, you gladly give your kisses away to the likes of Noah Miller. Why not spread yourself around a little bit?”
He got a hold of my other arm, and I started to struggle with him in earnest. The last thing I wanted was him to really touch his mouth to mine—or worse.
“Stop your struggling, you little whore, so I can give you what you deserve.” He pulled me in more tightly, and I was vaguely aware of the dust around our feet rising up and the chickens scurrying out of the way as we struggled.
“Please, Levi, don’t do this. Let go.” I writhed against him. I hadn’t planned that his spindly body would be so strong or that I wouldn’t be able to get away.
“Go ahead and beg me to stop. I like that....” His voice broke mid-sentence, and in a blink he was smashing to the ground.
My mind only had a second to register that Noah was on top of Levi, hitting him.
Summer stepped out from behind a bale of hay. Catching her eyes, we simultaneously nodded at our success. A second later we were scrambling into action, pulling at Noah’s arms and shoulders before he messed up my plan in a really bad way. After all, I’d been anticipating that Summer would be the one to join me in battle against Levi if it was needed, not Noah. And, although the sight of Noah attacking Levi sent a thrill through me, I was also suddenly terrified at how it would all play out.
After a moment of tugging, Summer and I managed to pry Noah away from his punching bag. He breathed madly between the two of us, his gaze still locked on his victim.
Levi was resilient, though, and even with his left eye already swelling shut and blood running freely down his face, he managed to spit in our direction.
Noah tried to break from our grip to attack Levi again, and I almost shouted, but I kept my voice at a steady hiss, still not wanting to bring attention to us.
“Noah, stop. Please, come on.”
I managed to get his face between my hands, and when our eyes met, his arms came around me and he squeezed me tightly into his body.
“Did he hurt you? Tell me what he did.” Noah pulled back enough to search my face, demanding an answer.
I hadn’t expected Noah to become part of our scheme and with only a moment to think about it, I decided that he could never know about Miranda, which meant my plan would have to extend to him. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I wouldn’t break Miranda’s confidence. And I didn’t know exactly how Noah would take it if he knew that I had baited Levi even a little bit.
All in all, it was best that Noah was kept in the dark on this one.
I eyed Summer and could tell she was with me one hundred percent. Something about the set of her jaw and the glint in her eyes told me I could trust her. Summer and I would be the only two people in the world who would know the whole truth.
I touched Noah’s face with my fingertips. “I’m okay, Noah. He didn’t get the chance to do anything, because of you.”
“How touching. But you just wait ’til everyone hears about this and sees my face.” Levi was up, although he was standing awkwardly. He pointed to Noah. “You’ll be punished by the church for sure ’bout this and you—” his finger pointed in my direction “—will never be accepted into our community.”
Noah began to go for Levi again, and I threw my arms around his waist to stop him.
“Noah, stop,” I said, throwing all my weight into holding his body back.
My hands calmed Noah, and he spoke to Levi with pure loathing in his voice, “Do you really think that our people will be okay with you trying to rape a girl?”
Levi managed a half smile with his swollen face. “The story they’re gonna get from me is that little whore enticed me down here to seduce me. And do you think Abram is gonna believe an English girl, over me, a church member?” he snarled, “I don’t think so.”
He turned and limped as fast as his injured body would take him by us and out the doorway.
At that point I was feeling a crazy adrenaline rush along with the shock of Noah’s arrival. My mind was quickly running through all the possible scenarios and preparing for them all. Having the incident being brought out into the open was definitely not part of the plan. But maybe Noah bursting in to save the day might play out even better in the end.
Noah put his hands to his face, rubbing in frustration, and cried out, “God, this is terrible. He’s right, damn it. No one will believe us.”
That’s when Summer finally spoke, her performance proving that she could be a Hollywood star someday. I relaxed a bit, knowing she could handle the situation.
“They have to believe, Noah, because I have proof.”
She held up her phone to Noah’s face.
“What...” I shushed him while Summer played the video for Noah to see. It started at the point that Levi asked what I was doing in the barn and ended at the beginning of the fight.
Noah looked between me and Summer in confusion. “I don’t understand. Why were you here in this old barn, Summer?”
Summer had told me that she took a drama class as a freshman, and from what I saw now, it definitely paid off. She looked at me hesitantly and then spilled the beans, her voice believably reluctant.
“Uh, well, you see, I came down here to meet Rose so that she could use my phone.” She jumped in front of me and raised her voice, “I’m sorry, Rose, but it was going to come out in the open, anyway.”
I huffed a little and turned away from her, feigning anger.
“Rose, tell me why you would sneak back here to use her phone—who where you going to call?”
I looked him in the eye and lied. I hated lying to him, but I had to think about the bigger picture, I couldn’t falter now.
I shook my head and said, “I wanted to talk to Amanda. It’s been so long and I missed her, that’s all. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”
When Noah looked up at the rafters, not wanting to make eye contact with me, I went on, “I certainly wasn’t expecting Levi to follow me here, and...and...”
That got him. A blink later I was in his arms, just where I wanted to be. I peeked past his arm at Summer, who was leaning against the hay, frowning slightly.
And that’s how Bishop Lambright and Amos Miller found us.
14
Noah
I stared at Rose, who sat beside Summer on the couch. She was twirling the string of her cap around her finger, only to let it go, over and over again. I spared a glance at Summer, who was chewing on her pinky nail while she stared out the window into the fading evening light.
The last few families that had stayed until late in the afternoon to help clean up the Weavers’ farm were gone now—along with Levi Zook, who’d left hours ago. Even the Weaver family had evacuated the premises, except for Mervin, who right now was arguing with Father in the other room. Mervin had taken it upon himself to be Levi’s defender since Levi’s own father didn’t want to press the issue. William Zook knew his own son and wasn’t nearly as upset as Libby Zook had been when Levi showed up in the middle of the auction bleeding and bruised.
Abram was in there listening to both sides, probably thinking about which biblical quotes he could use. I thought Marcus Bontrager was still there, but his silence made me wonder. And of course, James Hershberger would have remained. But I hadn’t heard him speak in a while, either.
And then there was Martha Lambright, who sat on the floral chair beside the couch. She was reading from a Bible, only occasionally looking up to smile at one of us. The woman gave me the creeps with all her friendliness.
No one could be that nice all the time.
The voices rose again, and Martha’s eyes caught mine for a second. Luckily for Rose and Summer, the words were in our language so they hadn’t a clue what was going on. I, on the other hand, didn’t have that luxury.
Father was making his point that if Rose had been granted the request of joining th
e church months ago, none of this would have happened, while Mervin was arguing that Rose was not fit to walk the Amish life. James had tried to intercede earlier about Rose, but he couldn’t get much in between Father and Mervin going at it. I hadn’t heard Marcus say a thing, but I had spotted him earlier. I reckoned he was doing his usual thing of not putting his neck out for anybody.
Besides twirling the string, Rose was unusually calm. For me, the worst part of our house arrest was sitting for hours with nothing to do but look at the walls. Summer had it a little better, since she at least had her phone to play with.
Rose had kept busy early on by working her way through the few hunting magazines lying around. I smiled, remembering how she’d wrinkled her nose in disgust at the pictures.
She was so precious to me, but still, I couldn’t rid my mind of the nagging feeling that there was more going on with Rose than what she told me. It didn’t make any sense that she’d risk everything to sneak away from the auction to meet Summer in a barn to secretly call her city friend. It stirred all kinds of questions in my mind.
Was Rose doing other things behind my back because she felt like it?
I knew it would not be an easy go with her. She hadn’t been raised in our ways and she was used to always getting what she wanted, either through her cuteness or her intelligence. We were so close to having her accepted into the church, Father had told me so, and now...now it might be over—and all because of a cell phone.
The heavy thuds coming closer brought all four of our heads up in a flash and our bodies followed suit. Abram entered first, followed by Father, then James and Marcus walking together. Mervin brought up the rear, his bright blue eyes flashing.
Abram faced Summer, who shrank back a little against Rose. Rose put her hand up against Summer’s back to brace the redheaded girl. The two girls looked completely different, one with the dress and cap, the other wearing tight jeans and a jacket made of the same material.
But looks were deceiving in this instance—they were both Englishers.
“Let me see the video you have, young lady.” Abram spoke almost harshly to Summer.
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