“Emma said that it needs a lot of work,” Silvie said.
At that point, Emma gave up. She was a private person and did not want the detective to know all her personal information that Silvie was giving out so freely. Emma knew she should not mind what the detective thought of her, but because of Silvie’s prattling, Emma felt the need to add, “It’s going to be a nice house when it’s finished.”
Emma was thankful that Ettie changed the subject by saying to the detective, “I’ve got some more meals in the cold box for you.”
“Ettie, I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary. I have learned to cook over the years.”
Ettie scrunched up her face at Detective Crowley as if she did not believe that he could cook. “I like having someone to cook for and Elsa-May and I always have so much left over.”
“It’s true,” Elsa-May said.
The detective reached for a chocolate fudge bar and took a bite. While he was chewing he looked around at the ladies who all had their eyes fastened onto him. “I’m sorry; I’m keeping you ladies from your secret meeting, aren’t I? ” He raised his half eaten chocolate bar. “One more of these and I’ll go.”
Ettie rose to her feet. “I’ll get those meals ready for you.”
Emma tried not to smile. No one had made an effort to be polite and ask the detective to stay. He was right, they could not speak freely while he was there and it was after all, a widows’ meeting.
After Ettie closed the door on the detective, she sat back down on the rickety, wooden chair. “Well, Emma, you can get the address from the detective tomorrow. He’ll be able to get it quicker than I could. Let me know if you need my help with anything else.”
“Denke, Ettie, we might still need your help with something.”
Ettie nodded. “No doubt.”
Maureen clapped her hands together. “I’m excited to go to Florida.”
“Me too,” said Emma.
Chapter 4.
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him,
Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
Luke 5:20
Going to Crowley’s office had not been as bad as Emma had expected since he’d been called out on a case and wasn’t there. He had left Dorothy Welby’s home address for Emma at the front desk.
Emma saw that the old lady did live in Florida just as the realtor had told them. She went straight to Maureen’s haus.
Maureen was in her buggy, just about to drive to work. “I can talk for five minutes then I’ll have to leave otherwise I’ll be late. Did you get the address from Crowley?”
Emma nodded. “I did and she does live in Florida. When do you want to leave?”
“It’s up to you, Emma, but if we decide now, I can let them know at work what days I won’t be able to work.”
“I guess the sooner we go the sooner we get back. I’m just thinking of getting back to all the wedding preparations,” Emma said.
“Okay. Shall we go by bus or train?”
“It’s a long trip, isn’t it?” Emma grimaced.
Maureen nodded. “About a day on the train.”
“If it’s going to take that long, sounds like a train would be more comfortable than a bus.” Emma considered there would be more room to move about on a train rather than sit in a cramped seat for nearly a day, or over a day.
“Let’s go the day after tomorrow then, that would be Saturday.”
Emma nodded.
“I’ll get the tickets organized.”
“Denke, Maureen. I’m getting excited. I’ll go to the new haus now to get the box and I’ll take it home with me.”
“Did you read all the letters?”
“I read some of the letters, but when I realized they were all love letters from the one man, it seemed too private to read further.”
Maureen nodded. “Jah, I understand. I hope the old lady wants her old letters. It’d be a shame to go all that way to find that she didn’t want to take the letters with her.”
“Something tells me she will want the letters. They were so touching and so beautiful. Well, I’ll let you get to work, Maureen.”
* * *
Two days later, Maureen and Emma were sitting on the train headed for Florida.
“I’m hungry. I’ve pre-booked us into the dining car so we can have a nice meal.” Maureen said.
“Sounds gut, let’s go.”
The ladies stood up, and both adjusted their over aprons and prayer kapps before they made their way down the aisle.
“I’ll just duck into the ladies’ room,” Emma said, noticing the sign pointing to the ladies’ room to her left. No sooner had she stepped through the doorway, about to shut the door than Maureen pushed her way in.
“Maureen what are you doing? This is a small room. There’s only room for one.”
Maureen put her hands up and signaled for Emma to keep quiet. “I’ve just seen an old beau. I would die if he saw me.”
“Nee, that’s awful. Let me open the door a little and have a look at him,” Emma said, curious to see what the old beau looked like.
Maureen stood in front of the door. “Nee, you mustn’t. I can’t risk him seeing me.”
“A boyfriend after your husband died, or before you were married?”
“Way before, when I was eighteen. I was going to marry him, but changed my mind just two weeks before the wedding. He’s left the community now.”
“You’ve never mentioned him.”
“I tried to forget him, that’s why. He was heading in the direction of the dining car; we can’t go there now.”
Emma pulled a face; she was hungry and was looking forward to a nice meal. “Why not? The price of the meal is included with our tickets. Just say hello and get it over with.”
“Nee, you don’t understand, Emma. I don’t know what he’s likely to do when he sees me. He’s strange, truly weird.”
Emma and Maureen were still cramped in the tiny space. Maureen was a large lady, so there was barely room for the two of them.
“I’ve got to go, Maureen. Peep out the door and see if he’s gone. I won’t be long.”
Maureen snorted and looked out the door. When she saw that no one was there, she moved slowly into the corridor. “Don’t be long,” she said over her shoulder to Emma.
Once Emma joined Maureen they knew the only thing they could do was go to the café since the dining car was now out of the question.
Half an hour later, Emma bit into a toasted sandwich while wondering what the food would be like in the dining car. She tried to take her mind off food by finding out more about the man who had struck fear into Maureen’s heart. “Tell me about that man you saw just now, Maureen.”
Maureen gave an exaggerated tremble of her body. “His name’s David Kingsley. He was brought up Amish, but left just after our wedding didn’t go ahead.”
“What was so awful about him?”
Maureen sucked some chocolate milkshake up through a straw. “I was attracted to him at first because he was different. He was always questioning things, but he went too far with it sometimes. He always questioned the Amish way of doing things and always had questions about Gott.”
Emma chased down her toasted sandwich with a mouthful of soda.
Maureen laughed. “One time mamm invited the bishop and his fraa to dinner, David was there too. David deliberately did disgraceful things. He picked up a whoopie pie from the plate in the center of the table and ate the cream out of the middle and then put the crust back. He knew everyone was watching him, and he did it another three times. No one said anything and everyone just looked at him.”
Emma giggled; she could not picture anyone doing what she had just described.
“It wasn’t funny at the time, but I can see the funny side of it now. Can you imagine how my mudder felt? She was trying to have a lovely dinner with guests.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t funny while it was happening.”
“That’s not all he did that night. He picked up a sp
oon, stared at it, turned it over and over and then he started talking to it.”
Emma grimaced. “Sounds like an odd one alright.”
“I can’t see him. I can’t. I mean - I can’t let him see me. I especially can’t let him know that I’m widowed. If we do happen to bump into him, we must pretend that I’m married.”
Emma nodded and tried to keep the smile off her face.
“It’s hard to know how he’d react. He might be alright, but he might want to get to know me all over again.”
“He must have taken it badly when you didn’t go ahead with the marriage,” Emma said.
“Jah, he left the community. I heard that he married someone and then I heard that he left the poor woman and was living overseas somewhere. I also heard he was doing certain illegal things.”
“I had no idea that you were ever involved with someone else; I always assumed that Paul was the only man you had been interested in,” Emma said.
“Nee, I was dating David before Paul, and before David there was another man, but we only went on a few buggy rides, it was nothing serious.”
“So tell me what attracted you to David again?”
Maureen shook her head. “It’s too awful to speak about.”
“I suppose your parents were relieved when you didn’t go through with the wedding?”
“They were delighted, especially my mudder. She kept saying to me as the wedding drew closer, ‘It's still not too late to change your mind.’”
Emma thought she knew Maureen quite well, but now she was seeing a different side of her. “How did you know that it was right when you met Paul?”
“I didn’t know at first. I thought he was handsome; he was very tall and had a solid build.” Maureen laughed. “I didn’t want a small man. I wanted one bigger than me. We talked one day, after a singing. We liked the same things, and we laughed at the same things. It just felt ‘right.’” Maureen squeezed the straw in her drink. “Why do you ask? You must know what it feels like to be in love since you’ve been in love twice.”
“That’s just it, Maureen. I’m confused. Wil and Levi are so different. I can’t help but compare the two constantly, and I don’t want to compare them. Wil scares me a little because he is so vague and forgetful. I fear he might not be as dependable as Levi was. Then I think that maybe I’m not being fair to Wil expecting him to be like Levi.” Emma looked at Maureen hoping Maureen would be able to give her some insight into her feelings about Wil.
“You do love Wil, don’t you?”
“Jah, I do.” Emma rubbed the back of her neck. “Forget I said anything.”
Maureen reached her hand across the small table and touched Emma’s hand. “Are you having doubts?”
Emma shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know what I’m having.”
“Why did you buy a haus together and why do you need to marry so soon if you are feeling like this?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “The haus. See? He didn’t even ask me about the haus; he just went out and bought it. What if I didn’t like it?”
Maureen tilted her head. “And then you think that Levi wouldn’t have done things like that?”
Emma nodded.
“You have to remember that he’s not Levi and no one will ever be Levi. Wil is Wil and only you can decide if you want to be with Wil for the rest of your life. Can you stop comparing him to Levi?”
Emma put her elbow on the table and her hand to her forehead. “I don’t know; I just don’t know.”
After they finished their toasted sandwiches they both ordered chocolate ice-cream sundaes. They looked at each other and smiled.
“I feel a bit naughty, for some reason. I haven’t been away from the community in so long, I can’t even remember. I think the change will do us both some gut,” Emma said, then tried to steer the conversation away from herself. “How’s work going Maureen?”
“Jah, it’s going well, but I’m thinking of doing something a little different. It’s hard work doing the cleaning, and the different shifts are awkward. I’d rather go and do a day’s work rather than a few hours here and a few hours there. Often I do a few hours in the morning and have to go back that afternoon to do another few hours.”
“What have you been thinking of doing?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ve thought about opening a little bakery, but there seems to be so many of them nowadays.”
“Perhaps you could specialize in something then. Do something that the others don’t do very well.”
“That’s an idea, but it’d take money.”
“Maybe you could take on a partner. Like me.” As soon as she said it Emma realized that she no longer had her nest egg; she had given it to Wil to renovate their haus.
“Really? You’d be interested in something like that?”
“After I’m married of course. I’d like to do something. Wil always keeps himself busy with things and going from my past history I won’t be having bopplis anytime soon.” Emma wondered how long it would take her to save that same amount of money all over again.
“Let’s speak more about it after your wedding. We’ll both dream up some ideas.”
Emma nodded. “Sounds good, but I won’t think about it too much because I’ll end up thinking about it more than the wedding.” Emma looked at the box on the seat beside her. “I wonder if we should have tried to call her first.”
“Did Detective Crowley find a number for her?”
Emma shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t ask him. If he found one, I guess he would’ve given it to me.”
Chapter 5.
And the light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:5
Emma lifted her hand and knocked on the door at the address that Crowley had given her. She hoped that the old lady was at home and more than that she hoped that the old lady still wanted the letters.
The door opened, and an elderly woman stepped toward them. She was small, neatly dressed and her white hair was caught up behind her head. “Hello.” She looked from Emma to Maureen and then her eyes fell to the box. She gasped, and her hands flew to her face. “Is that my box?”
Emma smiled. “Yes, it is if you’re Dorothy Welby.”
“Yes, I am. You found it in my house and brought it all this way?”
Before Emma could speak the lady said, “Please come in.”
Once they walked through the door Emma placed the box on a low side-table then the three of them sat in armchairs. “Thank you for bringing me my box. I was so upset when I realized that I’d left it behind. Tell me, how did you come by it?”
“I bought your house, in Lancaster County. My fiancé and I found the box on the upper level. I must apologize to you for opening it. We wanted to see if there was something of value in it to see if we should keep trying to get in contact with you. We did write to your post office box.”
“I never check my post office box.” She looked behind her at the box then looked at the ladies in front of her. “Your fiancé bought my house you say?”
Emma nodded.
Dorothy frowned. “Then I’ve some bad news for you. I got a call from my lawyer this morning, and he said that my house is still not sold. He said that the contract fell through. I’ll tell you the name of the buyer; I wrote it down.” Dorothy reached for a notepad on the small table beside her. She placed her reading glasses on her nose, lifted the notepad and held it close, in front of her. “The lawyer said that the buyer was William Joseph Jacobson, and the sale did not go through because of no funding.”
Emma felt sick to the stomach. “Fell through, why? How did if fall through?”
“You didn’t know?” Dorothy looked over the top of her glasses.
“No, we came up by train and left my fiancé back in Lancaster County working on the house.”
“Oh dear, I’m sorry to give you bad news my dear. Especially when you’ve delivered my box back to me. What work is he doing on the house? I hope he ha
sn’t spent too much money on it.”
Emma shrugged. “I’ll have to call him and see what’s happening.”
“Stay for morning tea, won’t you? Yes, you must.” Before they could say another word, Dorothy had disappeared into the kitchen.
Maureen whispered to Emma, “Don’t worry, put it out of your mind, and we’ll call Wil when we get back to the hotel.”
Emma nodded and did her best to push the whole thing out of her mind while they were with Dorothy.
They sat and drank tea with the elderly lady in the tiny living room of her house in the retirement village.
As Dorothy offered a plate of cookies to the ladies, she said, “I can’t tell you how much those letters mean to me. I’m so grateful to you both.” She looked at Emma. “I do hope I didn’t leave the house in too bad a state. It got too hard for me to clean, and the house was far too big for me.”
“It was fine. Wil, my fiancé, had planned to do a few things to it.” In an effort to drive the whole haus situation out of her mind, Emma asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, whatever happened to Harold? Did you marry him?” Emma’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry, I did read one or two letters.”
The old lady sat back deeply into her chair. “He just disappeared, missing in action. His name never appeared as dead. They told me that he was missing presumed dead. Anyway, that’s what they said when I pressed them for an answer.”
“Have you done any recent checks on him since that time? Electoral roles, driver’s license and the like?” Maureen asked.
The old lady did not answer for a while. “No, and I’ll tell you why. He knew where to find me. We bought that house together as a promise that he’d come back to me. I waited and waited, and he never came back.” Dorothy inhaled deeply and let it out slowly as if trying to calm herself. “Do you know what it does to a person to wait like that?”
Emma and Maureen shook their heads under Dorothy’s green-eyed gaze.
“I don’t know which would be worse, to know that he was alive and never bothered to come back to me or to find out that he was killed in the war.”
Amish House of Secrets Page 3
