There they are, Luke! There’s my horse and buggy!” Martha shouted as they headed out of Berlin in John’s SUV.
“Can you tell if there’s a driver in the buggy?” John asked, craning his neck.
“Doesn’t look like it,” Luke hollered.
Martha’s heart pounded like a blacksmith’s anvil. Gid ran wild, and the buggy swayed precariously. What if her horse veered into oncoming traffic and caused an accident? What if—
“Oh no, the buggy’s going over!” Luke shouted.
Martha gasped as she watched her buggy topple onto its side. Gid continued to trot, dragging the buggy along.
John pulled his rig to the side of the road. They all jumped out and ran down the road after the runaway horse and buggy. About fifty feet beyond where the buggy had fallen over, Luke grabbed the horse’s reins and got him stopped.
“Is Gid hurt?” Martha panted as she caught up to them.
“Doesn’t seem to be,” John said. “But I don’t know about your buggy.”
“Let’s get it up and assess the damage.” Luke handed the reins to Martha, and he and John set the buggy upright.
Martha breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the only real damage was to the mirrors and blinkers on the right side, which had both been smashed.
“The rig should be okay to drive if you think you’re up to driving it,” John said to Martha.
She nodded slowly, although her hands shook so badly she wasn’t sure she could hold the reins.
“I’ll ride with Martha and drive the horse.” Luke turned to John and said, “If you don’t mind following so you can give me a ride back to your shop, that is.”
John nodded. “Sure. No problem.”
Martha smiled. “I appreciate you both helping me get home.”
Roman was heading up to the house to see if Judith had supper started, when he spotted Martha’s horse and buggy pulling into the yard. To his surprise, Luke was in the driver’s seat, and Martha sat beside him. The horse was lathered up, and he noticed that the mirror and right blinker on the buggy had been smashed.
Roman rushed toward the buggy just as John Peterson’s SUV came up the driveway. “What’s going on?” he called as Luke stepped down from the buggy. “What happened to my daughter’s rig, and why are you driving it instead of her?”
Martha scrambled out of the buggy, holding a package. She spoke before Luke could respond. “Gid broke free when I was at Spector’s, and Luke and John helped me track him down.” She motioned to the sweaty horse. “When we spotted him on the road a short ways out of town, he was running wild, and the buggy was being whipped from side to side.”
“When the buggy flipped over,” Luke added, “the horse dragged it a ways before we got him stopped.”
Roman looked over at John, wondering if he would agree with what Luke had said.
John nodded. “It’s true. It happened just the way Luke said.”
“If I hadn’t run into Luke and John in Spector’s parking lot and if they hadn’t offered to help me look for the horse, I don’t know what would have happened.” Martha looked over at Luke with a strange expression. Was it merely gratitude, or was there something else? Could Martha have a romantic interest in Luke?
Roman massaged his temples, hoping to clear his thinking. No, she was just reacting to the frightening situation; that had to be it. He looked first at John and then at Luke. “I … uh … appreciate you coming to the aid of my daughter.”
“No problem,” John said. “We were happy to do it.”
“I’m just glad Martha and her horse and buggy are okay,” Luke added, as he shuffled his feet a few times.
Martha took a step closer to Luke. There was that look again. Was it more than gratitude Roman saw on his daughter’s face?
“You’d better get in the house and see about helping your mamm with supper,” he said, nudging Martha’s arm. “I’ll put Gid in the barn and rub him down.” He smiled at John and gave Luke a quick nod. “Again, I appreciate what you did.”
“See you, John. See you, Luke.” Martha gave Luke another smile and scurried into the house.
As Luke and John climbed into John’s rig and drove away, Roman headed to the barn with the horse. I sure hope Luke has no designs on my daughter. If he does, he’s got a big surprise coming.
Grace yawned and leaned her head against the back of the sofa. She was glad to have both children tucked into bed. Now maybe she and Cleon could have some time alone. They needed to talk. Ever since Carl’s visit earlier today, she’d been a ball of nerves. What if Carl rented a house in Berlin and decided to stay in the area permanently? Would he want to see Anna all the time? What kind of influence would he have on the child? Grace feared that Anna might become dissatisfied with the Amish way of life if she spent too much time with Carl. What if, despite Carl’s promise, he tried to take Anna away?
“Are you feeling okay tonight?” Cleon asked as he took a seat beside Grace. “You look all done in.”
“I am awfully tired,” she admitted. “It’s been a very long day.”
“Was Daniel fussy?”
“Jah. He’s cutting another tooth.” She released a sigh. “And then there’s the problem with Anna.”
“What problem is that?”
“When I tucked her in bed, all she could talk about was her poppy and how she couldn’t wait to see him again.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “Oh, Cleon, what if he tries to influence her against the Amish ways?”
“Did he say anything that might make you think he would do that?”
Grace shook her head. “No, but I don’t trust him. He and his wife took Anna from me once. I won’t give him the opportunity to do it again.”
“From what you’ve told me, taking Anna and not leaving an address or phone number where you could reach them was mostly his wife’s doing.”
“That’s true. Even so—”
Cleon reached for her hand. “Anna is the man’s only grandchild. Do you think it’s fair to deprive her of spending time with him?”
Grace clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached. “Do you want Anna to go away?”
Cleon’s furrowed brow and the squint of his eyes let Grace know she’d said too much. “How can you even say such a thing? Of course I don’t want Anna to go away.”
“Are you sure? I mean, it wasn’t too long ago that you and she didn’t get along so well.”
“Things are fine with me and Anna now; you know that. I love that little girl as if she were my own.”
Tears clouded Grace’s vision. “Maybe I’m being overly sensitive. I’m probably overreacting to Carl’s visit earlier today.”
“Maybe you’re trying too hard to protect Anna.”
Heat flooded Grace’s cheeks, and she sat up straight. “If caring about my daughter and seeing that she’s safe is being overly protective, then so be it.”
Cleon grunted. “This isn’t getting us anywhere, Grace, and I don’t want to argue.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then let’s make a compromise.”
“What kind of compromise?”
“Anna can spend time with Carl, but only when you, me, or someone from your family is with them. He can take her shopping or out to lunch, but someone from the family will accompany them.” Cleon gently stroked her shoulder. “He’s also welcome to come here to visit Anna. Agreed?”
She nodded slowly. “Jah, okay.”