The Only Way (The Amish Millers Get Married Book 4) (8 page)

Rebecca’s mind wandered while her
daed
talked of all the furniture he made. She was sure he could talk two
hours straight about his furniture and the quality of the
craftsmanship. Her
mudder’s
eyes were glazed over as they
usually were when anyone else was speaking, but Rebecca could not
help but notice that Sarah was still looking pale and appeared to
be nervous. Maybe Sarah was attracted to Benjamin?

“So you’re interested in furniture, are you?”
Mr. Miller asked.

Benjamin nodded enthusiastically.

“Come out to the barn and I’ll show you the
workshop.”

“No you don’t, Abraham. Benjamin is our
dinner guest and has come for conversation and
gut
food. You
can show him the workshop some other time.” Mrs. Miller turned to
Benjamin and smiled sweetly. “I take it you will be coming back to
visit us since you’ll be staying in the community for a while,
won’t you?”

“
Jah
,
jah,
of course,
denki
. I’d love to come again.”

Rebecca thought his response far too eager.
There was something not right about Benjamin and his reasons for
being in Lancaster County. She could not figure out what it was.
Her
mudder
was not the only one who was intrigued by his
presence.

2 Titus 1:6-7.

For this reason I remind you to fan into
flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my
hands,

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of
power and love and self-control.

Chapter
12

Rebecca, her
mudder
, and Sarah Beachy
all sat in the bishop’s living room, chatting to his talkative
wife, Fannie. Mrs. Miller had driven the
familye
buggy there
on the pretext of delivering whoopie pies, but Rebecca knew full
well that her
mudder
was there for one reason, and one
reason only, to find out all she could about Benjamin Shetler. Mrs.
Miller was not a gossip, but the one thing she could not abide was
having information kept from her.

By contrast, Mrs. Fannie Graber had a
reputation in the community for not being able to keep a secret,
and everyone suspected that her husband, the bishop, kept most
things from her. Nevertheless, she did appear to have a far deeper
knowledge about the goings on in the community than any other
person.

“I had just made a pot of bone set tea when
you arrived,” Fannie said. “It will go nicely with the whoopie
pies.”

Rebecca was a little concerned. The bishop’s
wife fancied herself as a healer, and was always mixing up a
concoction of herbs and serving them to people as tea. Most of them
tasted downright awful.

Fannie poured everyone a cup of hot tea, and
then looked expectantly at them while they tasted it. Rebecca took
one sip, at the same time as Mrs. Miller said, “
Denki
,
Fannie. I’ll just wait for mine to cool down.”

Why didn’t I think of that?
Rebecca
asked herself. Aloud she said, “Oh it tastes unusual. What’s in
it?”

Fannie smiled. “It is a mixture of comfrey,
wormwood, mallow, and horsetail.”

“Isn’t wormwood poisonous?” Rebecca asked,
while wincing at the glare directed at her by her
mudder
.

Fannie shrugged. “There’s only a little
wormwood in the tea.”

Rebecca forced a smile. The tea tasted
dreadful but she felt she needed to drink it so as not to offend
the bishop’s wife. She wished the weather was warmer so they could
have sat outside and she could have tipped it into the garden when
Fannie Graber wasn’t looking.

Fannie turned her attention to Sarah, who was
already fidgeting nervously. “Do you like living in these parts,
Sarah?”

“Oh yes,
denki
, Mrs. Graber.”

Fannie sipped some bone set tea before
speaking again. “Do you think you will stay here long?” She shot a
long, penetrating look at Sarah, a fact which did not go unmissed
by Rebecca.

Hmm, Mrs. Graber knows something about
Sarah that I don’t know
, she thought.

Sarah twisted her apron in her hands.
“
Jah
, so long as Mrs. Miller will have me.”

“You are welcome to stay as long as you like,
Sarah.”

“
Denki
, Mrs. Miller.”

Mrs. Miller turned her tea cup around, but
did not pick it up. “There have been several new people arrive in
our community lately, haven’t there, Fannie.”

Mrs. Graber set her tea cup down.
“
Jah
, that there have been. Sarah, the Flickingers, their
son Eli, and now Benjamin Shetler.”

“Oh, I meant new people who were staying in
the community some time, not just passing guests.” Mrs. Miller
narrowed her eyes and Rebecca could see that this was part of her
mudder’s
plan to extract information from Fannie Graber.

Fannie did not take the bait, but merely
asked, “What do you mean?”

Mrs. Miller looked a little exasperated.
“Benjamin Shetler is only a guest at the B&B; he hasn’t moved
into the community.”

“Oh, he’ll be here quite some time.” Fannie
Graber smiled to herself, and Rebecca could see that she was
enjoying some private knowledge.

Rebecca was so intent watching the exchange
between her
mudder
and Fannie that she had not noticed
Sarah’s reaction, but clearly her
mudder
had. “Sarah, are
you all right? You look quite ill,” Mrs. Miller said.

Sarah had gone white again. “I just feel a
bit dizzy.”

Fannie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, I’m so
sorry, Sarah. Drink the tea; it will help you feel better.”

Rebecca and her
mudder
exchanged
glances. Why did Fannie apologize to Sarah? Was Sarah connected in
some way with Benjamin Shetler?

Clearly exasperated, Mrs. Miller tried the
straight forward approach and addressed Fannie Graber directly. “Do
you know why Benjamin Shetler is here?”

Rebecca had to hide her gasp by pretending to
cough. She had never heard her
mudder
being so blunt in
trying to extract information from somebody. Her gaze turned to
Fannie.

Fannie laughed and her eyes settled on her
tea, rather than on Mrs. Miller. “Oh, goodness me. I don’t know too
much about the goings on around here. People come and go all the
time.”

Rebecca knew that was not the case. There
wasn’t very much in the way of coming and goings at all and never
anything like this. It seemed quite clear from Fannie’s reaction
that there was definitely something going on that she was not at
liberty to disclose. Rebecca unconsciously tapped on her chin as
she wondered what it could be.

Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her seat,
before she said, “It’s very cold for this time of year, isn’t
it?”

Fannie was very quick to accept the change in
the conversation. “
Jah
, it is dear. I was just thinking that
this morning as I pinned out the washing.” Fannie took another sip
of tea, placed it back on the saucer and smiled widely.
A little
too widely
, Rebecca thought.

Mrs. Miller, undaunted, pushed on. “Someone
said that Benjamin was taken to the B&B by Mr. Graber, so you’d
know a little something about him, wouldn’t you?”

Fannie fixed her eyes on Mrs. Miller and then
shot a glance at Sarah, before saying, “He very well could have
been. Mr. Graber entertains visitors all the time, and often I
don’t get to see who they are at all.” Fannie finished off with a
flourish of her hand and a giggle.

The statement did not ring true to Rebecca
and by the look on her
mudder’s
face, it seemed clear that
she too, realized that they were not going to get any information
from Fannie. It was as if Fannie had suddenly become tight lipped.
She was usually much easier to get information from. There was
clearly something going on.

“Are you feeling better, dear?” Fannie asked
Sarah.

Sarah nodded. “
Jah
,
denki
.”

“I had just made a tray of sandwiches just
before you visited,” Fannie said. “I’ll fetch them. Sarah, you
probably have forgotten to eat, haven’t you?”

Sarah smiled weakly, and before long, Fannie
returned with a tray of sandwiches, all cut into triangles, which
she placed on the table. “Here, Sarah, eat this one.” Fannie held
out the tray to Sarah, and then to Mrs. Miller, and finally, to
Rebecca. They all dutifully took a sandwich and put it on their
plates. Rebecca wished she had pockets so she could stuff the
sandwich into them to avoid having to eat it.

“Now Sarah, eat that sandwich; that’ll make
you feel better.”

Sarah took a mouthful and at once looked as
if she was going to be violently ill. She reached for the bone seat
tea and took a gulp, while tears ran down her face. “What’s in the
sandwich?” she finally managed to ask.

“Wasabi on canned eel,” Fannie said. “It’s a
bit hot, but you get used to it. I should have told you to eat it
slowly.”

Rebecca and Mrs. Miller exchanged glances.
“How inventive, Fannie,” Mrs. Miller said politely. “And what is in
these sandwiches that Rebecca and I have?”

Fannie leaned over and peeled each sandwich
open to look inside. “Yours is hazelnut-chocolate spread on
anchovies, and Rebecca’s is thin slices of raw liver with soft cod
roe and parsley. It’s very good for you, full of iron and vitamin
C.”

“Perhaps you could take a plate of sandwiches
to Benjamin Shetler,” Mrs. Miller said, and Rebecca could not help
but admire the way in which her
mudder
had brought the
mann
in question back into the conversation. “It must be
hard for him not knowing anyone in the community.”

“I didn’t say he didn’t know anyone in the
community,” Fannie said smugly, looking directly at Sarah before
while helping herself to one of her sandwiches.

Rebecca studied her
mudder
who sat
primly with a straight back and her hands clutched tightly together
in her lap. In her
mudder’s
eyes was a determination to get
to the bottom of the Benjamin Shetler story, but Fannie was being
uncharacteristically less than forthcoming.

And why did Fannie Graber look at Sarah
like that when she answered Mamm?
Rebecca wondered. There was
definitely something fishy going on, and it wasn’t just the
sandwiches.

Psalm 33:20-22.

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help
and our shield.

For our heart is glad in him, because we
trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

Chapter
13

Nash congratulated himself on his plan. He
knew that Mrs. Miller would be visiting Mrs. Yoder all day, and
Rebecca was already at work at the B&B. He figured she wouldn’t
get through the huge pile of ironing that he had told her that Mrs.
Flickinger insist she do at once. He had lied of course, but
Rebecca wasn’t likely to find out anytime soon. Martha and Moses
were still away visiting, the greedy things, getting nice gifts
from everyone they visited.
What a good way to score free
stuff
, he thought. That meant that the blonde girl, Sarah,
would be alone at the Miller
haus
.

Nash drove around the corner, more slowly
than usual, so as not to dislodge the sugar cream pie he had just
bought in town from falling off the seat. He had borrowed a plate
from the B&B when no one was looking, and had done everything
he could to make the pie look homemade. He chuckled to himself as
he drove. This was fun, the most fun he’d had in a long time.

He drove up slowly, cut the engine and let
the car slide in. He had no wish to alert Mr. Miller to his
presence.

Nash walked up to the door, sugar cream pie
in hand. Light flakes of snow were starting to fall, and he pulled
his coat around him, grateful that the coat covered all his
tattoos. He had also removed all his piercings for the day. He had
no wish to alarm Sarah by his appearance; he knew that people
judged him by how he looked, so he had done his best to look, well,
inoffensive and believable.

As soon as Sarah opened the door, Nash spoke,
careful to speak in Pennsylvania Dutch. “My
mudder
sent this
sugar cream pie over for the Millers. Is Mrs. Miller home?” He put
on his most hopeful expression.

“
Denki
.
Nee
, she isn’t,” Sarah
said. “Won’t you come in?” She stood aside and Nash walked inside
the
haus
. He handed her the pie; she took it to the kitchen
and then returned. “Would you like some meadow tea?”

Nash smiled broadly, and turned on the charm.
“
Denki
. It’s quite chilly.” He paused for effect. “Yet we
should sit outside on the porch to drink the tea, if it will not be
too cold for you?”

Sarah nodded appreciatively. “I’ll get my
coat after I make the tea.”

Nash walked outside to sit on the porch. He
was quite pleased with himself, figuring that Sarah would consider
he had good manners to suggest sitting outside the house. It was
not the done thing in the community for an unmarried girl and an
unmarried man to be alone in a house together, with no others
present.

Nash looked out over the rolling fields and
hills.
How could anyone live here?
he asked himself.
The
most exciting thing in view is a cow. It’s so boring; there’s
nothing to do. I can’t believe these people actually live
here
.

Yet Nash was feeling quite smug. Everything
was falling into place nicely. He was so pleased with himself that
he barely noticed Sarah return with two mugs of tea. He thanked her
and wrapped his hands around his mug of tea to warm his hands.

“Are you on
rumspringa
?”

Nash looked at Sarah. “
Jah
. It’s been
a long
rumspringa
, and like many of the
youngie
on
rumspringa
, I did some foolish things. I confessed to the
bishop in my own community, and then came on here to see if my
daed
and my
mudder
would forgive me.” He wiped a
pretend tear from his eye. “I won’t return to the community until
after they have forgiven me.” Nash was satisfied to see the
sympathy in Sarah’s eyes.