Amish White Christmas Pie (36 page)

“I wish you could have worked things out with Will today,” Megan said as they neared Shipshewana.

Frank sighed. “I wanted that, too, but as you saw, Will did not.”

Megan glanced in the backseat and was relieved to see that the girls were asleep. She didn’t think they needed to hear this conversation. They’d heard enough during dinner.

“It’s only natural that things would have been strained,” she said, turning back to look at Frank. “After all, you and Will haven’t seen each other in a very long time.”

“I keep asking myself if there was anything I could have said or done today to make things right between me and Will.”

“You did the best you could, but there was no way you could get through to Will when he wouldn’t listen. Maybe when we stop at the Stoltzfuses’ tomorrow morning, things will go better. A good night’s sleep can do wonders for a person’s frame of mind.”

“Are you saying I was in a bad mood today and that’s why things went wrong?”

“Of course not. I’m just saying that Will might be more willing to listen to your side of things after he’s had a good night’s sleep.”

Frank grunted. “If Will’s even there tomorrow. When he took off after dinner, I got a horrible feeling that I might never see him again.”

As Karen and Mark headed for her house, she decided to bring up the situation with Will and Frank again.

“If Will sees the note Frank wrote on the back of Regina’s recipe card, do you think things will work out between him and his daed?” Karen asked.

“I hope that’s the case. Even though Regina and I think of Will as our son, we’d like to see him have a relationship with Frank.”

Karen sighed. “What if Will isn’t there when Frank returns to your place in the morning?”

“Where else would he be?”

“What if he doesn’t come home tonight? What if—”

“Look over there!” Mark shouted as he pointed to the other side of the road. “I think that’s Will’s buggy tipped on its side. Ach, what a mess!”

Karen’s breath caught in her throat.
Dear Lord, please don’t let it be Will’s
.

Mark guided his horse to the side of the road and pulled the buggy in behind the other rig. Then he grabbed a flashlight and jumped out of his buggy.

Karen was right behind him, her heart hammering in her chest.

Mark shined a beam of light onto the buggy. The door on the driver’s side was pushed in, and the shafts that had been connected to the horse were broken. As Mark shined the light around more, Karen recognized Will’s horse lying several feet away from the buggy. He wasn’t moving.

“Will! Can you hear me?” Mark shouted, cupping his hand around his mouth.

No response.

“I need to get in there!”

Karen clutched Mark’s arm. “Please, let me go.”

“All right, but I’ll need to get some tools from my buggy so I can clear the front window out of Will’s buggy. It’s the only way you’ll be able to get in.”

Karen nodded, feeling numb. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

Tears flowed down her cheeks, and her body trembled as she stood helplessly waiting for Mark to return with the tools. What if Will was dead? What if she never got to tell him how much she loved him?

Mark stepped up to her, holding a crowbar and a hammer, with his flashlight tucked under one arm. “You’d better stand back while I get the window pulled free.”

Karen moved aside, watching, waiting, and praying. Finally the window released, and Mark tossed it to the side of the road. “You’d better take this,” he said, handing her the flashlight. “You’ll need it to see how things are once you’re inside.”

Karen took the flashlight, and with her heart thudding and legs shaking, she crawled inside. She spotted Will right away, scrunched against the passenger door. He wasn’t moving. With a shaky hand, she slipped her fingers around his wrist to check for a pulse. She felt a pulsation beneath her fingertips, but it was very weak. She leaned close to Will and put her face in front of his mouth. A faint breath blew against her cheek, and she felt a sense of relief knowing he was still alive.

“How’s Will?” Mark called.

“He’s unconscious, and his pulse is awfully weak.” Karen’s voice quavered, and she drew in a shaky breath.
Dear God, please let him live
.

“Can you tell how badly he’s been injured?”

She lifted the flashlight and spotted a bump on Will’s forehead, and then she saw a huge tear in his pants and gasped. Blood squirted from Will’s leg like a gusher of water spurting from a well.

Knowing she needed to get the bleeding stopped, Karen shined the light around the buggy and was relieved when she found a lightweight blanket on the floor. She scooped it up and, using one corner of the blanket, applied pressure to Will’s leg.

“I checked on Will’s horse, and he’s dead,” Mark said when he stuck his head inside the buggy a few minutes later. “How’s Will doing?”

“He’s unconscious. It looks like his leg’s been cut, and it’s bleeding really bad. I’ve applied pressure, but he needs to get to the hospital right away.”

“We’re close to the Chupps’ place, so I’ll go there and call for help while you stay with Will and keep pressure on his leg.”

Karen swallowed against the bile rising in her throat. “Okay.”

“I’ll be back as quick as I can.” Mark disappeared into the night.

It seemed like an eternity until Mark returned to the buggy.

“I called 911 from the Chupps’ phone shed, and help is on the way,” he panted. “How’s Will doing?”

Tears welled in Karen’s eyes as she spotted blood seeping through the blanket. “Not so good. I haven’t been able to get the bleeding stopped.”

“The ambulance should be here soon. Nathan’s gone to my place to get Regina, and he’s lining us up a ride to the hospital.”

“I’d like to ride in the ambulance with Will, if you don’t mind,” Karen said, swallowing hard.

“That’s fine. We’ll meet you at the hospital.”

Karen looked down and gulped on a sob. “I love you, Will. Please don’t die.”

D
anki,” Regina said when Mark handed her the cup of coffee he’d gotten from the vending machine outside the hospital waiting room.

Mark looked over at Karen. “Are you sure you don’t want some?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid coffee would make me feel shakier than I already am.”

Regina glanced at the door. “I wish we’d hear something. I can’t stand this waiting.”

“Will’s only been in surgery a short time,” Mark said. “I’m sure someone will come and give us some news soon.”

She shuddered. “When you came back to the house and said Will had been in an accident, I was afraid we might never see him again. All I’ve been able to do since then is pray.”

Karen nodded. “I’ve been praying, too.”

“That’s all we can do right now,” Mark said. “Will’s in God’s hands, and we have to trust that he’ll be okay.”

“Frank should be notified about Will’s accident,” Regina said.

Mark nodded. “What hotel did he say they’d be staying at tonight?”

“I believe Megan said it was the Country Inn & Suites,” Regina said.

Karen stood. “Would you like me to look up the number and see if I can reach Frank there?”

Regina nodded. “Jah, please do.”

Karen hurried from the room.

A few minutes later, a doctor entered and stepped up to Regina and Mark. “Mr. and Mrs. Stoltzfus?”

They nodded.

“Your son is out of surgery now.”

Regina jumped to her feet. “Is he all right?”

“He’s got some bumps, bruises, and a couple of broken ribs, but his worst injury was the main artery in his leg that was severed.”

Regina gasped, and Mark groaned.

“He lost a lot of blood, and he’ll need a transfusion.” The doctor looked at Mark. “I’m sure you know that your son has a rare blood type.”

Mark looked at Regina then back at the doctor and shook his head. “We didn’t know.”

“The thing is, no blood of his type is available locally right now, and it might take awhile for us to get some.” The doctor paused. “Will’s very weak, and he needs that blood as soon as possible.”

Tears stung the back of Regina’s eyes. “Is…is he going to die?”

“We got the bleeding stopped, so if we can get the blood Will needs, he’ll recover.” The doctor looked at Mark again. “Since blood types are inherited from the parents, you’re the most likely ones to donate the blood Will needs.”

Mark shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Will isn’t our son. I mean, we raised him from the time he was six, after his real father, who isn’t Amish, left him in our care.”

“Oh, I see. Do you know where Will’s biological parents are?”

Regina nodded. “His mother’s dead, but his father’s staying at a hotel in Shipshewana. Will’s fiancée is trying to reach him on the phone right now.”

Frank was about to turn on the TV in their hotel room when the phone rang. Since Megan had just put Carrie and Kim to bed, he grabbed the receiver.