Plain Fame (16 page)

She couldn’t help herself from watching him. Wherever he was, her eyes were drawn to him. He was magical, the special way he blended in despite being an outsider. He seemed to ignore the fact that others considered him as such. It was a role he had played many times before in his life. He was comfortable in even the most uncomfortable situations. His movements were smooth and calculated. He never seemed to take a misstep or stumble. Unlike the younger Amish men, Alejandro wasn’t awkward, insecure, or unsure of himself. Instead, he was always calm and confident, even when surrounded by a group of strangers, and Amish men at that.

He sat next to Elias, speaking with the menfolk around them. He ignored the fact that some of the men were initially uncomfortable having an Englischer in their midst. His charm and humor quickly won them over, and she could see that the ice was slowly melting. Without his dark sunglasses covering his eyes, it was obvious that he radiated poise and positive energy. There was a new glow about Alejandro since he had come with her to the farm. He was experiencing an aspect of life that she understood had been missing from his own for quite some time. Without the cell phones, the crowds, and the commitments, Alejandro was allowed to be himself. And he was clearly enjoying it.

“Glad to be home, then,
ja
?”

Amanda turned to the young woman in the green dress, one of her friends, who stood at her side. “Oh
ja
,” she said. “Ohio was nice, Katie, but was I ever so glad to come home!”

“Was sorry to hear about your accident,”
Katie said.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Amanda smiled. “God has plans for us that we sometimes can’t explain.”

“I wonder that,”
Katie replied. Her friend
’s eyes scanned the tables of men eating. “Is it true that he’s a famous singer?”

It took Amanda a moment to comprehend what Katie was asking. Famous singer? “
Alejandro?
”

Katie
’s eyes shifted back to Amanda, and she made a face. “Who else, goose?”

“I reckon; not that I know his songs,”
Amanda said.

“What’s it like?” Katie asked, her voice lowered and her eyes sparkling. “Having
him
stay at your farm?”

Amanda laughed.
“Like a person staying at the farm.” She frowned at her friend, despite still smiling. “What are you getting at, Katie Miller?”

“He’s a handsome Englischer.” Her friend pursed her lips and stared down her nose at Amanda. “Mayhaps your sister Anna’s not the only one who found a beau on this trip, ain’t so?”

The directness of Katie’s comment startled Amanda. How could her friend even suggest something like that? “
Katie Miller! He
’
s an Englischer!
”

“Plenty of Amish women have left for Englische men,” Katie said lightly. “I just hope you aren’t one of them,” she added with a giggle. With that, Katie hurried away to make her rounds with the pitchers of water to refill the glasses of the people who were at the first seating for the noon meal.

With her mouth hanging open, Amanda stared after her friend. She hoped that other people weren’t thinking the same thing. It was true that Amanda wasn’t courting anyone in the community. But she hadn’t had a lot of time, especially after her brother, Aaron, had died. She had needed the time to grieve, and then, after the grief subsided, if such a thing were truly possible, she had thrown herself into helping her
daed
on the farm. No one had pushed her, at least not until recently when her parents suggested that both daughters visit relatives in Ohio.

Yet despite her own self-denial, Amanda knew that she had to fight harder to hide her feelings toward Alejandro. Was how she felt becoming so transparent? She knew that nothing would come of her friendship with Alejandro. Their worlds were simply too different. She wasn’t about to leave the Amish community, and he was too involved in his world—his own planet, as he sometimes referred to it, to consider joining hers.

Lowering her eyes, she turned away and, using her crutches, hurried over as best she could to the kitchen sink to help wash the dishes, hoping that work would move her mind toward a different direction.

Chapter Thirteen

At first, the movement was subtle. There was a casual turn of some heads as they strolled through the town of Intercourse, Alejandro walking patiently next to Amanda, who was moving slowly on her crutches. He caught these looks from the corner of his eye. Then he saw the whispering and a few people stopping in the midst of what they were doing. People were noticing them. No, he corrected himself.
Noticing me.

Earlier that morning, he knew that it was time to return to Miami. The next few months would be busy, an endless stream of appointments in Los Angeles before his winter concerts on the West Coast and the holidays. Before he knew it, January would roll around and it would be time to prepare for his upcoming South American and European tours. Knowing this, he had wanted one last drive through the backroads, a final chance to observe the peace and quiet before he returned to his life as Viper, a life filled with meetings, travel, interviews, and concerts.

To his surprise, Amanda had asked if she could come along. Before her
mamm
could object, Amanda had even suggested that they could stop at the store on the way back to pick up some groceries for the house. Besides, she argued, she was perfectly able to use her crutches now and Alejandro could help her into and out of the car.

“That might not be such a good idea, Amanda,” Alejandro had said slowly, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

“Why? I’m quite mobile with the crutches, and I’m tired of being housebound,” she said defiantly. “We could get some ice cream in the center of town. It’s so hot, anyway.” She rubbed at the back of her neck. “Vanilla ice cream from Lapp’s farm? What could possibly be better?”

Elias and Lizzie had exchanged a glance, another one of those looks that could only pass between couples who’ve shared many years of married life. Alejandro saw it and knew enough to step back and let them figure out how to respond. While he didn’
t mind Amanda
’s company, he wasn’t certain it was the greatest idea. Only ten days had passed since the accident and, despite their friendliness, Alejandro wasn’t quite certain how they felt about Amanda being alone with him. He had noticed, however, that they tended to cater to her few requests. She wasn’t demanding and she was rarely unreasonable, a quality he had noticed about her in the hospital and one of her traits that he truly admired.

To his surprise, Elias finally nodded his head. “I’ll agree, but on one condition,” he said. “Only if you take the horse and buggy. No need for calling that fancy car.”

“I could use some fresh fruit and flaxseed from the store,”
Lizzie surrendered reluctantly.

Alejandro
’s jaw dropped. “The buggy?”

Elias clapped him on the back as he headed toward the door. “Welcome to the Plain ways,” he said with a big smile across his face. “Let’s go harness the mare. Might do you some good to stop relying on all that worldly technology.”

An hour later, Alejandro had helped Amanda into the buggy. Feeling cramped and out of his element, he sat next to her in the buggy, watching as she took ahold of the reins. “You sure you know how to do this?” he asked suspiciously as she slapped the reins on the horse’s back and the buggy lurched forward on the driveway.

She laughed at him. “Don’t be silly. I’ve been driving horses since I was a young girl.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Mayhaps I’ll even let you drive a bit,
ja
?”

“Nee,”
he had replied teasingly. “You can be in control this time,
sí
?”

But now, as she hobbled on her crutches toward the village where she wanted to stop at a fabric store before purchasing her ice cream, he felt the start of a murmur in the crowd behind them. He could sense it without seeing it. There were just a few younger people in the summer crowds, but he knew it took only a few to start the wave of interest. Cell phones would begin ringing, texts would circulate, and suddenly . . .

It was half an hour later when the crowd began to thicken. If the movement was subtle in the beginning, now it was becoming much too obvious. Alejandro tensed and closed in around Amanda. “We need to leave,” he murmured in her ear.

“I thought we were going to get some ice cream,” she said, turning to look at him. Clearly, she was unaware of the energy that followed them. Unlike him, her inexperience with the public made her immune to what was happening. “What’s wrong, Alejandro?”

“It’s time to go,” he said firmly and put his arm around her back, guiding her as best he could since she was using the crutches. “Where is the buggy?” he asked, looking around. He had lost his sense of direction in the village of small shops.

“Look, that’s him!”

Alejandro took a deep breath and braced himself. And so it begins, he thought, waiting for the inevitable. Several young girls came running over, pushing themselves between him and Amanda. Before he knew it, there were more people gathering, and despite trying to be polite, he felt his pulse race. He could see Amanda struggling to keep her balance with the crutches as the crowd pushed her back, separating them from each other. Amanda frowned, looking up at him, her eyes large and frightened as more people wedged themselves between the two of them.

“Excuse me,” he said, his voice stern and loud as he tried to make his way toward her. But the crowd was too large. And then, he saw it. Someone shoved Amanda, and she fell against a large man, who, when he whirled around, knocked her to the ground. Immediately, Alejandro pushed people aside, not caring if he was too rough. He had to get to her, to help her, before she was hurt, or worse, crushed.

“Amanda!
¿Estás bien?
” he asked, his voice thick with concern, when he finally reached her.

When she looked up at him, he saw that her face was washed of all color; she pleaded with her eyes for him to get them out of the crowd. He frowned, cursing himself for not having foreseen such a scenario. He had thought he’d be anonymous in Intercourse, Pennsylvania, where God and country music were tied as the number-one hits. But fame, while a blessing, was also a curse. There was no anonymity for the famous. Hadn’t he preached that to her, earlier that very week?

Without a moment’s hesitation, he scooped her into his arms. As he turned in the direction where he thought the buggy was parked, he felt her press her face against his chest and cling to his neck, hiding her face from the people and the cameras. He also felt something wet against his skin. She was crying. Not caring that he left the crutches on the ground, Alejandro carried her through the people. His face was strained, and he didn’t smile for the cameras.

And the cameras were out. Cell phones were lifted, snapping photos of “Viper” carrying the young Amish woman in his arms. He knew that, within minutes, the photos would be littering the social media websites. Not good, he told himself.

When he found the buggy, he struggled to open the door. She was still in his arms, and he couldn’t balance holding her with opening the buggy door. He was surprised when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a man stepped forward to help him. He was an older man but clearly not a tourist. “Let me help you get her in. My son picked up her crutches and put them in the back,” the man said.

“Gracias,”
Alejandro said as they helped Amanda slide into the buggy. Quickly, he shut the door and turned around to face the crowd. His expression showed his displeasure, but he managed to control his temper, refusing to address them. He had learned many years ago that one slip of the tongue became a sound bite that would circle the world many times over before he even realized what he had said. Straightening his jacket, he excused himself as he pushed through the people and hurried to the other side of the buggy. He remembered to untie the horse before getting inside and taking the reins.

“Keep down, Princesa,” he commanded.

“You don’t know how to drive horses!” she said, her voice cracking and tears in her eyes.

“Thanks for pointing that out,” he replied sharply and pulled back on the reins, clicking his tongue. He didn’t care if anyone was behind the buggy. He needed to get Amanda away from the crowd and back to the safety of her home. Once clear of the hitching post, he slapped the reins on the horse’s back and steered the buggy through the parking lot and away from the people.

He turned on the main road and hurried to the first street where he could turn. He needed to get as far away from the main street as possible. He quickly navigated the side streets, getting farther and farther away from the center of town. At one point, she laid her hand on his arm and pointed to the left, indicating that he should turn there.

When they were far enough away that they were fairly certain no one had followed them, Alejandro exhaled heavily. In fact, he realized that he had been holding his breath for a while. “That was close,” he said. He glanced at her. “Too close.”

“What happened?”

She was staring at him, and he took the moment to see the panic in her face. In her world, she had never experienced the crush of a flash mob. He had and, despite years of dealing with it, was still not used to the feeling of powerlessness that came with being crushed by adoring fans. It was at that moment that he realized the danger that faced her. Worse, he realized it was all because of his selfish motives. He had wanted to escape, but instead, he had brought the enemy to her doorstep.

“You wanted to experience my world,” he said, his voice breathless and husky. “I think you just got your first taste.”

“What were they doing? What did they want?” she whispered.

“Amanda, you can’t be seen with me,” he said gently. “I told you that there is a dark side to fame. You just saw it.” He exhaled. “I have to leave. They won’t let you alone if I’m here.”

“
I don
’
t understand,
” she said, her eyes pleading with him for an explanation.

He shook his head, angry with himself. “I should have known better. I just thought that we’d be safe out here.”

She touched his arm again, and he slowed the horse and buggy.
“
Alejandro?
”

“I have to leave,” he repeated abruptly. He pulled the buggy to the side of the road and looked at her. “It’s time, Amanda.” He paused and turned to face her. “Not tomorrow, not later. But now.”

“No,” she said softly, her lips pouting.

“What happened back there,” he said, gesturing with his hand in the direction from which they had just come. “This will only get worse. They know that I’m here.”

She shook her head. “Why do they do that to you? Why do they care?”

“
You can
’
t understand, Amanda,
”
he sighed.
“I’
m a product.
” He hesitated. How could he explain this to her? An idea came to him. “Every year, you see hundreds of thousands of people come to your town because they are curious about the Amish,
sí
?” She nodded. “They come to learn about you, to buy things in stores that are Amish, to take your picture. That is no different with me. Except, in my world, I have to permit that and welcome it.”

He could see that she was digesting what he said. Slowly, she understood and lifted her sorrowful dark eyes to look at him. Gone was the sparkle that he had grown so used to seeing. “
I don
’t want you to go,” she whispered.

He placed a finger on her lips and nodded his head. “I came here to make certain you were all right. I also came here to escape, Amanda,” he said. He hated how he saw the pain return to her eyes. If only he could make it go away. But the truth was what was needed. “You knew that I couldn’t stay forever, Princesa. That was never part of the plan. This is your world,” he said gently. “Not mine.” He wiped the tear that fell from her eye. “It’s time,
sí
. I have to go to Los Angeles for some work before my trip to Europe. You know I have concerts there.” Six countries in ten days, he thought. He dreaded it, especially now. Being shuffled from one country to another, never having a good night’s sleep, always being hidden in a hotel room until it was showtime. It wasn’t the life he had imagined when he started this game.

“Will you return?”

He laughed. “Eventually. I don’t plan on staying in Europe forever.” Then he sobered, realizing that she meant more than returning to the country. She sounded so innocent when she asked. He almost forgot that she was a grown woman. It dawned on him that she was actually asking if he would return to Pennsylvania. To Lititz.

He sighed, trying to find the right way to tell her the truth. “I have six concerts in different countries through ten days, Amanda. It will be a very strenuous couple of weeks.” He looked around the farm. “Not like this week. I needed this break,” he said. She was looking away from him, trying to hide the tears that were starting to flow freely from the corners of her eyes. “No, no, none of that, Princesa.”

“
You won
’t come back,” she said, immediately understanding what he was saying, despite the fact that he didn’t say it.

The story of his life, he thought. And then, the words slipped from his lips, “I’ll come back. I promise.” At that moment, he felt as though he meant it, but in reality, he knew it was impossible. The past few days had been a present, arranged for him by his manager, Mike. He’d never have that amount of time again, not without his entourage and his endless commitments. Not if he wanted to remain on top of the music charts and in the minds of his fans. “I’ll try,” he said quickly, trying to correct himself but not believing the words as he spoke them.

“It won’t be the same . . .” she started but stopped midsentence.