“While it’s true I’ve occasionally signed off on the company account—under Aaron’s direction—or used the bank card to purchase supplies or withdraw cash for our work projects, I’ve always provided him the receipts,” Fletcher declared. “I don’t know anything about this matter.”
His uncle took him by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. “I believe you, Fletcher, but it was only fair and right for me to ask. Now drink your kaffi and then make yourself some eggs. You look like you could use a little nourishment.”
But after the door clicked shut behind Isaiah, Fletcher was too nauseated to eat. He hadn’t thought it was possible to feel more betrayed than he’d felt when he confirmed Anna kissed Aaron, but once again, he was wrong. Having his own uncle accuse him of thievery was an indignity greater than he could bear. Setting his hat on his head, he decided then and there that he’d return to work alright—but only long enough to tell Aaron he quit. Then he was packing up his things and leaving immediately. He couldn’t get away from Willow Creek fast enough.
Chapter Ten
After her daed died, Anna discovered one of the horrible truths about grieving: no matter how many tears she shed, her eyes never ran dry. It was as if her body had an unlimited capacity to mourn. She found this truth returning to her as she soaked her pillow with sadness the morning after her argument with Fletcher, just as she’d done the previous night.
There was a tap on the door and Anna sat up. Her eyelids were so swollen she practically had to pry them open with her fingertips, but since the shades were drawn she hoped her stepmother wouldn’t notice she’d been crying. “Guder mariye,” she said as Naomi entered with a tray of tea, cheese and fruit.
“You mean guder nammidaag,” Naomi replied. “How are you feeling?”
“Groggy, but otherwise alright. I’m sorry. I really overslept.”
“Neh, I don’t mean how are you feeling physically, Anna dear. Clearly something is troubling you and I’d like to help.”
Anna was moved by Naomi’s expression of compassion. Knowing she could disclose even her deepest heartaches to her stepmother, Anna confided what transpired the evening before and the decision she and Fletcher had made. She managed to get through most of the details without weeping, but when she started to sniff, Naomi moved to wrap an arm around her shoulders.
When Anna finished speaking, Naomi exhaled heavily. “I’m disappointed,” she said. “Very, very disappointed.”
“I know, Naomi. You’ve put so much work into preparing the house and—”
“Neh!” She clarified, “I’m not disappointed for my sake. I’m disappointed for yours. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed in Fletcher. I thought he was more mature than that.”
Anna was surprised to hear herself defending him. “But, Naomi, as difficult as it is for me to believe it myself, there’s very little question that I kissed Aaron. It’s no wonder Fletcher is upset.”
“Upset, jah. But Fletcher knows your character, just as I know your character, and I sense a piece of this puzzle is still missing—especially because Aaron is involved.”
Anna took a napkin from the tray and blew her nose with it. “It hardly matters anymore. Fletcher and I have made up our minds. I suppose we’ll have to talk to the deacon before we tell the leit from church that the wedding is off. We’ll want to notify our out-of-state guests as soon as possible, too. I guess we’ll call them from the phone shanty, so they can cancel their travel plans. But I don’t know how or what I’m going to tell Melinda. I don’t think she has any clue about what happened last night.”
Naomi patted Anna’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t concern yourself with those matters right now. Melinda’s wedding is still almost three weeks away. You needn’t tell her anything right now. Today, you need all the rest you can get. Your head will be clearer tomorrow.”
“Jah, since I don’t have to keep up with my own wedding preparation schedule anymore, I’ll take a leisurely walk down to the creek.”
“That sounds like a gut idea,” Naomi replied as she stood to leave. “It’s a beautiful spring day. Just be careful not to slip on any rocks.”
By the time Anna finished picking at the plate of food Naomi had brought her, got dressed and journeyed to the creek, she felt so fatigued she wished she were back in bed. Her lethargy was more emotional than physical: every thought she had was of her breakup with Fletcher. Closing her eyes, she reclined on the boulder and tried to concentrate on the warmth of the sun on her skin, the smell of damp earth and the sound of water cascading over the stones. But it was no use: she kept envisioning the shocked look on Fletcher’s face when Eli announced he’d seen her and Aaron kissing.
Hearing a rustle coming from the direction of the park, she snapped her eyelids open and pushed herself upright. At first, she could only spy a dark head of hair through an opening of the trees and her breath quickened: it was Fletcher! But then the figure rounded the bend and she realized her mistake. The man’s build was stocky and short, not lanky and tall.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded to know.
“Guder nammidaag to you, too,” Aaron replied. “I’ve kumme to talk to you about what happened when we kissed. I wanted to tell you that you mustn’t blame yourself.”
Anna shielded her face with her hands to hide her humiliation. Her stomach was turning upside down and she wished Aaron would just vanish, but it sounded as if he was about to apologize and the least she could do was hear him out.
Instead, he patted her shoulder and said, “I know you can’t remember it now, but initially you were taken in by Fletcher because you were grieving and he provided a shoulder to cry on.”
Anna shook her head. “Neh, that’s not true,” she contradicted.
Aaron persisted, “When he offered to walk out with you, you accepted in order to get back at me for dating Melinda. I confess, I was only feigning interest in her to hasten you to marry me because you’d been putting off the decision for so long. The entire situation had gotten completely out of hand, like a prank that had gone too far. But by the time we came to our senses, you had already agreed to marry Fletcher and I had proposed to Melinda.”
“Neh.” She panted, rising from the rock and spinning to face him. “Neh, it wasn’t like that. My relationship with Fletcher had nothing to do with you.”
“You don’t remember, but it did. You as much as told me so yourself, when we discussed the matter under this very tree the day before your accident, the day we kissed,” Aaron murmured, inching closer. “You said the charade had gone on long enough. Even though I was conflicted about breaking Melinda’s heart, you insisted that I tell her how I really felt. I have to believe that was because you wanted me back.”
“Neh,” Anna repeated, although some small part of what he was saying struck a chord deep in her memory. Her eyes began to spill and she swiped her cheek against her shoulder. “That’s not right. It can’t be.”
“Jah, it is. But the next morning, you suffered your concussion and since then, you’ve never been able to recall what we discussed here, have you?”
“I’ve forgotten, but—”
“After a few weeks, it was clear to me your memory of our conversation would never return, even though I dropped as many hints about how we still felt about each other as I could. Since you were intent on marrying Fletcher, it seemed wrong for me to interfere, especially because Melinda and I had pressed forward with our own wedding plans.”
Anna covered her ears to block out Aaron’s words but he pulled her hands away and gripped them in his own.
“The other night, playing cards, we had such a wunderbaar evening together, like old times. You can’t deny it,” he insisted. “And now, Fletcher finally knows the truth... I think Gott may have brought us back together, Anna. I think it’s time we acknowledge we’ve been His intended for each other all along.”
“It was you, no
t Fletcher!” Anna squawked, suddenly understanding the memory she had of a man kissing her beneath the willow there at the creek. So that was why the feelings associated with it were so disturbing to her!
“Exactly, it was me you loved, not Fletcher,” Aaron cooed, wrapping his arms around her trembling shoulders and whispering into her ear. “Now you’ve got it.”
“Neh,” she threatened. “Now you’re going to get it if you don’t let go of me this instant and get out of my sight.”
Aaron stepped back and his mouth dropped open as if he was about to retort, but Anna screwed her face into the most menacing look she could muster and he left without uttering another syllable. Then, she picked up a stone and lobbed it into the current. I knew I wouldn’t have voluntarily kissed Aaron! she thought. I knew it! But her discovery was of little satisfaction: even if she set the record straight by telling Fletcher what happened, he already admitted he didn’t trust her. If he really knew and loved me, he would have trusted me no matter what Aaron had said, she thought.
She stumbled back to the boulder, where she lay covering her face with her hands and crying until her head began to ache, and she knew if she didn’t stop she’d wind up in Dr. Donovan’s office again. Squinting, she thought she saw something glinting overhead between the trunk and an arm of the willow. She circled the tree, craning her neck: there was definitely something up there. Like a flash of lightning, the phrase “squirrel it away in a secret place” occurred to her. That’s what she’d told Fletcher she did with her journal!
She leaped up and grabbed hold of the bottom branch. However depleted she felt physically, she made up for it in sheer determination, hoisting herself over the limb in a burst of vigor. Once upright, she was an avid climber, ascending the branches as easily as a ladder. She wrenched the tin from its storage place and scampered back to the ground. Scraped raw, her fingers trembled as she pried the rusted tin open.
She removed the journal and pressed the cold leather to her cheek. Using the key from the string she’d worn around her neck ever since she’d learned the journal was missing, she could feel her heart thudding as she unclasped the lock and opened the diary to the first page. This journal was given to me by Fletcher Chupp, what a heel, it said.
Her tears were bittersweet as she ran up the hill to the house, clutching all that remained of her relationship with Fletcher to her heart.
* * *
When Fletcher arrived at the work site after lunch, he found Roy and Raymond working unsupervised. He didn’t want them to hear what he had come to say to his cousin, so he planned to conduct his conversation outdoors. “Where’s Aaron?” he asked.
“He was already here this morning when Melinda dropped us off,” Roy reported. “But after he talked to her, he left again. It was too early for Melinda to go to the shop—the two of them probably sneaked off for kaffi and doughnuts somewhere.”
Raymond rolled his eyes over Roy’s head. “He also mentioned he had to run an errand,” Raymond elaborated. “I wonder if he went with his daed to the lumber store to talk about the problem with the accounts.”
“What do you know about the problem with the accounts?” Fletcher’s ears perked up.
“Nothing,” Raymond replied. “Only that Isaiah came here this morning and questioned Roy and me about a discrepancy.”
“I told him I didn’t know anything about it, either,” Roy chimed in.
“We aren’t even allowed to sign for anything,” Raymond stated. “But Isaiah said as a matter of fairness he was asking each of us on the crew. He said he intended no offense, but he needed to check with us before making a major decision that would affect the responsible party.”
“Jah,” Roy agreed. “It sounds as if we may be taking our business to another lumber store soon. Either that, or Aaron’s really going to get an earful. It all depends on whose fault it was, I guess.”
Ach, Fletcher realized, Onkel wasn’t singling me out! Fletcher was absolutely dumbfounded. He had completely misread the situation. He’d been so indignant about what he deemed was Isaiah’s unwarranted insinuation that he’d been ready to quit his job and abandon his family on the spot over the offense. But come to find out, Fletcher was the one in the wrong: Isaiah didn’t mean what Fletcher thought he meant. “Things aren’t always as they appear to be,” Anna said the night before and Fletcher had scoffed at her for it.
Isaiah’s words, “I believe you, Fletcher, but it was only fair and right for me to ask,” echoed in his mind. Isaiah simply asked the question and accepted Fletcher’s response immediately, regardless of how incriminating his financial circumstances may have appeared.
But had Fletcher demonstrated the same level of trust in Anna, the woman he claimed to love? No. On the contrary, he’d badgered her with repeated inquiries and then dismissed her answers anyway. He’d as much as said she was ignorant, if not lying, about her deepest feelings. The realization of how he’d failed her caused his heart to spasm with a searing pain. He had to apologize. He had to beg her forgiveness and keep begging it until she accepted his apology.
“Are you alright?” Raymond asked.
“Neh, I’m not,” Fletcher answered. “I have to leave immediately. If Aaron returns, tell him...tell him I’m not coming in for the rest of the day.”
Before he could see Anna, there was a present Fletcher wanted to buy, something he’d seen in the gift shop at the medical center in Highland Springs. He wasted no time journeying there, and when he arrived he hastily hitched the horse in the adjoining lot and hustled toward the building. He made his purchase inside and was about to exit when a familiar form breezed through the door.
“Fletcher!” Dr. Donovan’s voice reverberated. “You’re not here visiting anyone, are you?”
“Neh. Just taking care of a personal matter. Getting a gift for Anna, actually.”
“Glad to hear it. After what the two of you have been through, I wouldn’t want any more challenges coming your way before the big day.” He thrust his arm forward to shake hands with Fletcher. “Congratulations, son—and give that bride of yours my best wishes, too.”
“Thank you, I will,” Fletcher said. Provided she’s still talking to me.
Realizing he hadn’t changed his clothes since the morning before, Fletcher stopped at home to put on a fresh shirt and pants before calling on Anna. He brushed his teeth and hair and was locking the door behind him when he noticed his uncle sitting on a bench on the porch.
“My knee aches—it must be going to rain tomorrow,” Isaiah said by way of greeting.
Clearly his uncle had come back to discuss something more important than the weather, and Fletcher wished he’d let him know what it was because he needed to be on his way to Anna’s house.
“I’m getting too old for the kind of work we do,” Isaiah confided. “I’m definitely too old to have a son who behaves so irresponsibly. I had hoped by working with you every day, he’d pick up on some of your values and habits, but instead, he’s only taken advantage of your scrupulous work ethic.”
Fletcher couldn’t deny the truth of what Isaiah was saying but neither did he think it prudent to confirm it, so he remained silent.
“What’s more, he’s made a mess of our orders and our accounts. His sloppiness nearly cost us our relationship with our supplier in the process. But I believe he can improve his abilities if he receives additional training under my tutelage,” his uncle proposed. “I’d like him to work with me on our projects in the Highland Springs community.”
Fletcher nodded, relieved that Isaiah seemed to have reconciled the deficit in the account. Although he imagined the demotion was disgruntling to his cousin, Fletcher marveled at Isaiah’s forbearance toward Aaron. Anna’s words, “People change. They grow. With Gott’s help, we all do,” ran through Fletcher’s mind as he realized his uncle still carried that kind of loving hope for his son. Fletcher prayed Anna would see Fletche
r’s own potential for change and growth, too.
Isaiah continued, “What this means, however, is I’ll need a reliable, knowledgeable foreman to handle our Englisch clients and to supervise the crew. Raymond is too inexperienced to be a foreman, although he’ll get a pay raise. Eventually Roy will, too, if he keeps progressing like he is... Anyway, what do you say? Will you accept the position of foreman?”
Denki, Lord, Fletcher prayed.
“The promotion would mean a raise for you, too, of course,” Isaiah offered, prompting Fletcher to his senses.
“Jah, of course I will accept the position,” he confirmed. “Denki, Onkel Isaiah, denki!”
“You’re the one I should be thanking,” Isaiah stated. “You’re unfailingly dependable, just like your daed always was. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need a hand yourself. I’ve been worried about the emotional and financial burden you’ve been carrying ever since Anna’s injury. I understand there were back taxes to pay on the house, too. If you need help, that’s what family is for, Fletcher. Just ask.”
Fletcher further understood that when his uncle was questioning him about his expenses, it wasn’t because Isaiah was accusing him; it was because Isaiah was concerned about him.
“Denki, I will,” Fletcher replied.
Before doddering down the steps, his uncle handed him an envelope. “This is from your groossdaadi. I don’t know what it says, but he asked me to give it to you in the event your wedding was published in church this spring. Because of the chaos following Anna’s accident, I’m sorry to say I forgot all about it until now.”
Fletcher waited until he’d embarked his buggy to tear open the envelope. The note read:
To Fletcher J. Chupp,
If you are reading this, it means the lovely Anna Weaver has agreed to become your wife—an answer to my prayers. Although the two of you may have thought you were keeping your courtship a secret, nothing could have been more obvious to me than your mutual fondness, respect and loyalty. It was a delight to spend the last part of my life witnessing the kind of young love that reminded me of my own courtship with your grandmother so many years ago.
Anna's Forgotten Fiancé (Amish Country Courtships Book 2) Page 17
