The Winnowing Season (13 page)

“Ya, you fell asleep before we pulled out of the Philly station, but I figured you needed the rest to get through what’s ahead for today.”

“Has the view been interesting?”

Rhoda smiled, but her eyes reflected disappointment. “It’s been interesting. I liked seeing the sunlight dance across bodies of water, just as Jacob said I would, and the fall leaves were the most splendid I’ve ever seen. But it’s been sad. In part because Jacob isn’t here to explain the sights and also because I didn’t realize America had as much poverty as it does.”

Leah stretched. “Jacob said the housing and buildings near the railroads are often the poorest because the noise of the trains makes the land nearby cheaper. Plus the first buildings in an area were often constructed near railroads, so it’s the oldest part of most towns.”

“It’s still disturbing. My family’s not well off, and we’ve had three families in our home for years, but what I saw …”

Leah looked across the aisle at Rhoda’s sister-in-law and two young children. “How’s Phoebe holding up?”

Phoebe helped her daughter and son get on their coats.

“Pretty good, considering she’s had to keep them entertained and calm for six hours without their Daed. Unlike you, she wasn’t up all night packing before she boarded the train. We’ve been taking turns working with them.”

Leah yawned. “Where will we meet up with your brother?”

“At the farm, but Steven’s not sure when. Hopefully by midnight. He said the train he’ll be on has rules and regulations for loading and unloading livestock, so it’s pretty much on a schedule all its own.”

Leah arched her back. “When I asked Samuel why you two were gone until after midnight, he said you had a hard time saying good-bye to your folks.”

Rhoda’s chin quivered briefly. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.” She stood, looking at the overhead luggage rack. “But I hadn’t expected it to feel like open-heart surgery without any pain medication.”

“I’m surprised Samuel didn’t insist you hurry up.”

She grabbed their warmer clothing from overhead and tossed Leah her sweater. “He owed me.”

“With all the hours you’ve been working, I’m sure he does. I was just glad when he finally called for Landon to come get you two.”

Rhoda chuckled and slid her arms into her jacket. “Once we got back to the farm, you, Landon, Samuel, and I looked like squirrels storing nuts for the winter, and I appreciate that you and Landon worked all night, even without Jacob, Samuel, and me.”

“It wasn’t so bad. Landon makes good coffee.” And he’d been funny and charming, but Leah wouldn’t share that part. “I couldn’t have slept last night anyway.” She grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “I’m no longer in Pennsylvania.” If things went her way, and if Landon were willing to give her some direction and a few pointers, she would get to say something within the year that would make her even happier—and also frighten her:
I’m no longer Amish
.

Rhoda offered a half smile before looking at the empty seat where Jacob should have been. Leah imagined that the seat was far from vacant. It probably held mounds of disappointment and concern.

Leah removed her prayer Kapp so she could repin it. “Did you doze even a little?”

“No.” Rhoda sat. “I kept hoping the last thing Samuel said before we parted this morning would be right—that Jacob would be on one of the train platforms.” She looked out the window.

“He’s fine. Whatever’s keeping him, he’ll get free of it as soon as he can.”

“I’m sure you’re right.”

Despite Rhoda’s words, Leah didn’t believe her.

Rhoda studied the platform as the train continued to slow. “He’s been excited for the last month about us taking this train ride together.”

Leah raised the handle to the wheeled bag. “I’m sure he has good reasons.”

“Well,”—Rhoda pulled her suitcase down with a thud and jerked the handle up—“You can bank on the fact that I want clarification.”

That wouldn’t go over well with Jacob. He never offered explanations for his disappearances. Leah grabbed her purse off the seat. “So what’s the plan from here?”

The train came to a halt, and the doors opened.

Rhoda paused beside her sister-in-law and lifted her two-year-old niece, Arie, onto her hip. “Board a bus and get as close to the farm as we can.”

“And then?”

Phoebe took Isaac by the hand before clutching the handle on her roller suitcase. The three women stepped onto an almost empty platform, went about twenty feet, and stopped.

Rhoda looked one way and then another, searching for something. “If we get on the right bus, Landon’s grandmother will be at the bus station when we arrive.”

“If?”

Rhoda shrugged, studying her surroundings. “Jacob knew how to do this, not me.” She lifted her niece higher on her hip. “Right now we have to figure out how to get to the bus station from here.”

Leah fell into step behind Rhoda. She’d always admired Jacob’s free spirit and his willingness to buck their parents and go his own way. She used to envy his right to do what she could never get away with, but right now her brother’s casual attitude had her more annoyed than anything else. If he was serious about Rhoda, he had better change his ways.

Not even someone as kind as Rhoda would put up with being treated this way for long.

TWELVE

Jacob put his billfold on the check-in counter and waited while the desk clerk helped the people ahead of him. Good thing no one was behind him. He didn’t want anyone overhearing the conversation.

Through the glass doors he saw some trash tumble across the asphalt. He hoped this place had an empty room. Actually, he would prefer two rooms, but he’d take a broom closet at this point.

What was Rhoda thinking right now? How had last night gone for her? He had been looking forward to sharing an adventure with her today. She had probably arrived at the farm five or six hours ago, if all had gone as planned. But if it hadn’t, he couldn’t help, because he was here.

Had he ever experienced a more miserable day? It reminded him of the time as a kid when he’d played piñata with a hornet’s nest—not that he knew what to call it at the time.

At least Sandra and Casey were safe, even if they were sitting on all they owned and hoping he could get them a room. Maybe the woman behind the counter would give him a break. It would be the first one he’d had since connecting with Sandra at the inn yesterday.

To make matters worse, he hadn’t eaten in more than ten hours. But with Murphy’s Law in full swing the way it had been these last two days, the lack of food had been the easiest part of his day thus far. Even if it was making him lightheaded and weak in the knees. Thankfully, Sandra and Casey had eaten.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror covering half the wall behind the check-in counter. At least he didn’t look Amish. He’d bought a couple of pairs of jeans and some shirts at a discount store before stopping at a car
dealership outside of Rockport, New Jersey. After parking just outside the entry of the car lot and staying there a couple of hours, he talked two of the car lot’s potential customers into trading their old junker for Sandra’s car and giving Jacob some cash to boot. They wanted to see Sandra’s car title, but once they did, they wasted no time in taking Jacob up on the offer. Clearly, they knew what he didn’t, because a few hundred miles later, the junker car died, leaving the three of them stranded on the shoulder of I-95 for hours.

They had hitchhiked here—he looked around—wherever
here
was. The upside was that if Jacob didn’t know where they were, no one who had been chasing Sandra could have a clue where they were either.

He remembered this cloak-and-dagger feeling all too well, and he hated it. The only thing he wanted was to get to Rhoda.

The wiry brunette finished with everyone ahead of him. “Can I help you?”

“I need two rooms for tonight, maybe for a couple of nights.”

She went to her computer and began typing.

He had no idea what his long-term plan was other than looking for a place where Sandra and Casey could live for a while and he could hightail it to Maine. But finding a place could take days. Maybe a week. He had to get a message to Rhoda, but how? And what could he say?

The woman rested one hand on the laminate countertop and tapped her fake nails. “I have two rooms.”

“I’ll take them.” He pulled twenties out of his billfold. “How much?”

“You can pay with cash, but I’ll need to see a credit card and a driver’s license before I give you the room keys.”

He had a license, but he refused to own a credit card because of the paper trail it left. Sandra had both, but he wasn’t flashing them to anyone. The clerk would log them into her computer, and they could lead people straight to where they were. Jacob wasn’t sure who he was hiding from—the police, the insurance adjuster, or even the loan sharks—but he knew he and Sandra needed to avoid leaving any paper trails.

“For a night in a place like this?” He’d stayed in numerous hotels in his
day, and this was no Hampton Inn. He put several twenties on the counter near her.

“I told you the policy.” She pushed the money toward him. “Take it or leave it.”

“Know of another place we could stay?”

“Not a clue.”

Clearly, the woman didn’t care. She was busy, and he figured she didn’t see him as a person, only as someone who needed to go away.

“Look, uh, Miss …” He gestured toward her, hoping she would share her name.

“No ‘Miss.’ Just plain Brittany.”

“Brittany, I’m Jacob.” He shook her hand. “Having a rough night?”

“You have no idea.”

He nodded sympathetically. “Normally I’d respect your dismissal of me. But it’s been one of the worst twenty-four hours you can imagine, and if you could find it in yourself to extend a bit of patience and offer a hand, I’d be indebted to you.”

Brittany looked perturbed, but she nodded.

“I have cash, no credit card. I can give you twice as much as it costs to rent the rooms, and when we check out, once it’s been verified that we haven’t trashed our rooms, the extra money can be returned to me, okay?”

She shrugged, but he saw a little less doubt and jadedness in her eyes. “I guess I could do that.”

He counted out the money, and she seemed to relax. He had her attention, and he didn’t intend to lose it. “Starting tomorrow, I’ll be looking for a more permanent place to rent for my friends.” He gestured at Sandra and Casey, who were sitting on their suitcases, looking shabby and weary. “Somewhere that’ll take cash. My guess is if you’re from around here, in, uh …”

“Lowell, Massachusetts.”

“If you’re from Lowell, you probably know of a place or know someone who does. Am I right?”

She stared at him, apparently unsure whether she wanted to help him or not.

“Look, I know how I sound, and you just want to do your job and be left alone. That’s all I wanted when an old friend showed up with her daughter, needing my help. All I want to do is help her and then get back to my life, back to my girl, and I need to do that before I mess up the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

She studied him. Then a slow grin began to grace her lips. “I grew up around here. I guess I might be able to find somebody who can help out your friend.”

He smiled, the first genuine smile of the day. “Thank you. I appreciate anything you can do.”

“Give me a minute.” She headed for what had to be a back office.

“Brittany?”

She turned.

“May I use your phone?”

“Sure.” She shooed him with her hand. “You go right ahead and try to reach your girl.”

Jacob’s eyes watered a bit as he reached across the counter and picked up the phone. Why hadn’t he realized that trying to be a hero for a man mired in troubles of his own making could cost Jacob everything?

He punched the phone numbers for Landon’s grandmother’s cell. Jacob didn’t have a way to reach Rhoda, but he knew Erlene’s number from when he made arrangements with her to pick up him and the others at the bus station. Maybe she would take a message to Rhoda.

Jacob waited for the call to go through. He had to keep Rhoda from getting caught in the middle of his nightmare, but the truth was, today proved she was already affected by whatever touched his life. He couldn’t take it if she got hurt because he’d once been a gullible fool. For years he had been living with the fear that his culpability in the construction cover-up would hit the news and then the courts. But right now, what had his stomach in knots was the
nagging fear that he would have to pay for all he’d done, all he’d cost others, by giving up what mattered most.

Rhoda.

There
had
to be a way to navigate this mess without losing her.

If guilt weren’t eating at him, he’d get on his knees right now in this grungy lobby and beg for mercy. But God had no reason to give it to him. He could only hope that Rhoda would be willing to do so.

“Hello?” An elderly woman’s voice crackled through the phone.

“Erlene, this is Jacob King.”

“Oh, yeah. You were supposed to be with the others when I picked them up at the train station.”

“That’s right, and I need to get a message to Rhoda. Do you mind?”

“I won’t mind as long as you’ve got good news. I’ve had to take them two messages so far, and at this point nobody’s made it to the farm except the three women and the two little ones I drove there before dark. They don’t have a stick of furniture or even a candle, but they insisted on staying the night.”

Jacob wanted to thud his head against the wall. It was apparent the others were experiencing Murphy’s Law too. “What’s going on?”

“The man driving the moving van wasn’t scheduled to arrive until tomorrow anyway. But Landon and Samuel had all the necessary items for getting through tonight—mattresses, blankets, kitchen utensils, and kerosene lanterns—and they were going to stop by the store on their way in and get food so they could cook.”

“Ya.”
Get to the point, Erlene
. Unfortunately, she seemed eager to chat.

“According to Landon, they were pulling a utility trailer that belongs to his dad. One of the tires blew out in the middle of nowhere, and the spare was flat. Rhoda’s brother hasn’t arrived either. Something about the railroad holding the livestock until they get an official release. But what I don’t understand is why those young women wouldn’t agree to stay with me tonight.”