John slipped the wrench into his pants pocket and stood. “There’s been enough talk!” He reached into his shirt pocket and withdrew a cigarette lighter; then he bent down and grabbed a handful of hay. “If ya don’t wanna burn with the barn, then you’d better get outa here now.”
Martha squeezed her eyes shut and started to pray. Please, God, don’t let John do this. Give me the right words to say. She opened her eyes and drew in a deep breath. “I … I don’t know all the details of how things were between my dad and your stepdad, but I’m sorry your stepdad took his anger out on you and your mother.”
The stubble of hay crackled under John’s feet as he shifted his position. “Roman’s gonna be sorry.” His voice cracked. “He ruined my life. He’s gotta pay.”
“Your life’s not ruined, John. You have a good business, a well-trained dog that’s devoted to you, and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. If you’d just—”
“Shut up!” John flicked the lighter, and a glow of light illuminated his face. Deep lines etched his forehead. His eyes looked red and swollen. He pointed to the hayloft ladder. “Go down!”
Martha did as he requested, praying with each step she took. There had to be a way to get through to John. She couldn’t let him burn Dad’s barn. Her throat felt clogged as she thought about her dogs in their kennels near the back of the barn. She had to save them—Dad’s horses, too. Maybe if she made a run for the door, she could dash up the hill to Cleon and Grace’s place and get help before it was too late. Or should she stay and keep talking to John—try to make him see the error of his ways? After all, John needed saving, too.
When John stepped off the bottom rung of the ladder behind her, she turned to him and said, “Luke really likes you, John. He’s said many times what a good boss you are. He enjoys working for you.”
“Luke’s a good guy, not like Roman.”
Martha cringed. If John liked Luke so much, then why had he tried to make Luke look like the one who’d done the attacks?
“My dad’s not a bad person, John,” she said. “It’s not his fault your stepdad drank or beat you.”
“Uh-huh. Harold said it was. Someone’s gotta pay.”
“Harold said that because he couldn’t face up to his own problems,” Martha said. “It was Harold’s drinking that got him fired, and he beat you and your mother because he needed help for his drinking problem and uncontrollable temper, not because my dad fired him.” She paused to gauge John’s reaction, but he said nothing.
“Do you believe in God, John?”
He rocked back and forth on his heels. “Mom did. She read her Bible. She prayed when Harold got drunk.” He snorted. “For all the good it did her! God never answered Mom’s prayers. God didn’t care about us. If He had, He would’ve done somethin’ to make Harold stop. Roman needs to pay.”
“God doesn’t make us do anything,” Martha said, carefully choosing her words. “He gave us a free will to choose between right and wrong. You can’t blame my dad for the actions of your stepdad, either. Harold chose to drink and abuse his family; nobody made him do it.”
John gave no reply, but he made no move to light the barn on fire, either. He snapped the cigarette lighter closed and shoved it in his pocket. Martha took that as a good sign and continued with what she felt God had laid on her heart.
“Instead of hating your stepdad and my dad, you need to forgive them.”
John shook his head. “I can’t.”
“In your strength, you can’t, but with God’s help, you can. In Matthew 6:14, God’s Word says: ‘For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.’” Martha touched John’s arm. “The things you’ve done to my family are wrong. The only way you’ll ever find peace in your heart is to seek God’s forgiveness.”
John drew in a ragged breath and blew it out with another snort. “There’s only one way to find peace. I’ve gotta end it all.”
End it all? Was John saying he planned to commit suicide? Was he going to burn the barn with him in it? Or was he planning to do worse things to them?
As Roman, Luke, and Rosemary approached the barn, Roman noticed that the door was slightly open. He turned to Luke. “Did you unlock the lock before you dropped the key?”
Luke nodded. “Said I did, didn’t I?”
“Did you open the door?”
“No, I never got that far.”
Roman frowned. “But it’s open now, so that means someone must be in the barn.” He turned to Rosemary. “You’d better stay out here. Luke and I will go in and see what’s up.”
She touched his arm. “Listen, I hear voices. Do you hear them, Roman?”
He tipped his head and listened. “You’re right. Someone must be inside.”
“Maybe it’s Cleon and Martha. Could be they came to feed her dogs,” Rosemary said.
“At this hour?” Roman blew out an exasperated breath.
“I’m going in,” Luke said, pushing past them.
As soon as Roman stepped inside, he realized that one of the voices was Martha’s.
“She’s talking to someone,” Luke whispered as they crept along in the dark.
“Maybe it’s Cleon.” Roman followed the sounds of Martha’s voice. As they drew closer, he saw the back of her head. He shined his flashlight in that direction, and she turned to face him.
A man dressed in Amish clothes stepped out from behind Martha.
Luke rushed forward. “John! What are you doing in Roman’s barn in the middle of the night, wearing Amish clothes?”
“That’s what I’m wondering, too,” Roman said.
John kicked a hunk of straw with the toe of his boot and mumbled, “Came to burn down the barn.”
Rosemary gasped, and Roman gripped the flashlight so hard his fingers ached. “You were going to do what?”
John’s finger shook as he pointed it at Roman. “Came to make you pay for what you did to me and Mom!”
Roman’s forehead wrinkled as he slowly shook his head. “I don’t understand. I’ve never done anything to you. I don’t even know your mother.”
“John’s stepdad used to work for you,” Martha spoke up. “I guess he had a drinking problem and you fired him because of it.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “John said his stepdad used to beat him and his mother, and—”
Roman’s jaw dropped. “Harold Crawford? Was he your stepdad,
John?”
John nodded. “I vowed to make you pay for turnin’ the only man I’d ever known as a father into an evil monster.”
“So you’re the one who did these things against the Hostettlers?” Luke stepped between John and Martha. “And you tried to make it look as if it was me?”
“That’s right. Roman’s gotta pay for every year Harold smacked me and Mom around.”
Roman trembled as he struggled to keep his emotions under control. Violence went against the Amish ways, but at this moment, he wanted to do something that would make John pay for all the horrible things he had done to Roman’s family.
“I was just telling John that he doesn’t have to hate you or his stepdad,” Martha said. “I told him he could ask God to forgive his sins and choose to forgive those who have hurt him.”
“Martha’s right,” Luke added. “You can release your pain to God and forgive Roman, your stepdad, and yourself.”
John’s gaze went to Martha, back to Luke, and finally to Roman. With a shuddering sob, he dropped to his knees.
Martha and Luke went down beside him, each with their hands on John’s trembling shoulders.
Rosemary touched Roman’s arm. “Let’s move over there.” She motioned to the other side of the barn. “Let’s give Martha and Luke a chance to talk to John.”
Roman hesitated but finally nodded. He lit one of the gas lamps hanging from the rafters and followed Rosemary across the barn.
She stopped near one of the stalls and turned to face him. “Are you finally convinced that Luke’s not holding a grudge against you?”
He nodded and swallowed hard, unable to speak around the thick lump in his throat.
“What are you going to do about John?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“John needs help for his emotional problems. And he’ll have to pay for his deeds. Do you want me to phone the sheriff?”
Roman was about to reply when he heard a car pull into the yard. He opened the barn door and stepped out just as Sheriff Osborn got out of his car.
“Roman, what are you doing here?” the sheriff asked. “I heard that you took your wife up to Geauga County.”
“I did, but I left her with my brother and came back so I could keep an eye on my place.” Roman moved over to stand by the sheriff. “Did someone call and ask you to come over here?”
The sheriff shook his head. “I was out patrolling tonight, and since I was in the area and knew you were gone, I decided to swing by your place and check on things. Then I spotted two black trucks parked out by the road—one about a quarter of a mile from here and one on the other side of your driveway. It made me suspicious. When I came up the driveway, I spotted a car parked near your house.”
“That’s my sister’s car,” Roman said.
“Where is she?”
Roman pointed to the barn. “In there, with Martha, Luke Friesen, and John Peterson.”
The sheriff’s bushy eyebrows pulled together. “What’s going on?”
Roman drew in a quick breath and told the sheriff everything that had transpired since he’d caught Luke in the yard. He ended by saying, “John confessed to the attacks against us.”
The sheriff grunted. “I figured as much. I’ve been watching John for some time and waiting for him to make his next move so I could catch him in the act. He’ll pay for his crimes; I can assure you of that.”
“I won’t press charges against him—it’s not the Amish way,” Roman was quick to say.
“I realize that, but if John’s the one who killed Martin, then the state will press charges. He can’t be allowed to get away with the other things he’s done to your family, either.”
“I’m not saying he should get away with it,” Roman said. “I’m just saying I won’t press charges.”
The sheriff nodded. “Let me worry about the details.” He walked swiftly toward the barn, and Roman followed. They found John still on his knees with Martha, Luke, and Rosemary standing around him in a circle.
“John says he knows he’ll have to pay for what he’s done,” Martha said when she spotted the sheriff walking toward them with Dad at his side.
“You got that right,” the sheriff said with a nod. He read John his rights and handcuffed him. “I’ll drop by some time tomorrow to ask a few more questions,” he said to Dad as he led a very quiet and remorseful-looking John out of the barn.
“Flo. I’ve gotta get Flo,” John mumbled as he approached the sheriff’s car. “I can’t leave my dog alone.”
“Don’t worry about Flo,” Luke called to John. “I’ll take care of her for you.”
As the sheriff’s car headed down the driveway, Dad swiped a hand across his face. “Whew! After all this time of living in fear and wondering when and where the next attack might occur, I can’t believe it’s finally over.”
“Maybe now things will get back to normal and we’ll know some peace,” Martha said.
“Speaking of peace,” Luke said, “I’ll need to make my peace with Toby, since I now know he had nothing to do with the attacks.”
“And speaking of peace—” Rosemary nudged Dad’s arm. “Isn’t there something you’d like to say to Luke?”
The rhythm of Martha’s heartbeat picked up as she waited to see how Dad would respond. He needed to apologize to Luke, but because Dad was a stubborn man, it was hard for him to admit when he was wrong.
Dad cleared his throat and took a step toward Luke. “My sister’s right: I do have something to say to you.”
Luke stared at the floor.
“I need to ask your forgiveness, Luke.” Dad’s voice quavered, and Martha wondered if he might break down in tears. This whole ordeal had to have been terribly stressful on him.
“No need to apologize,” Luke said in a voice barely above a whisper. “What’s done is done. It’s in the past now.”
Dad shook his head. “I do need to apologize. I was wrong about you, Luke, and I … I ask your forgiveness.”
Luke lifted his gaze and stared at Dad. He, too, seemed to be struggling with his emotions. “I accept your apology.”
“There’s something else I’d like to say,” Dad said.
“What’s that?”
“Now that John will be going to jail, his shop will be closing down. So, I … I was wondering if you’d like to come back to work for me.”
“Well, I—”
“Don’t worry. I’ve learned my lesson. I promise not to be so harsh and demanding. If you’ve got an idea you want to share about woodworking, I’ll listen.”
“Jah, I would like to come back to work for you, Roman.” Luke looked over at Martha and said, “But there’s something I’d like even more.”
“What’s that?” Dad asked.
“I’d like permission to court Martha.”
Martha held her breath as she waited for Dad’s reply.
Dad stood, mulling things over. Finally, he nodded and said, “You’ve got my permission, but on one condition.”
Luke tipped his head to one side. “What’s that?”
“That you sell your truck, get baptized, and join the church.”
Luke smiled. “No problem there. That’s exactly what I’d planned to do once my name was cleared.”
Martha threw herself into Dad’s arms and gave him a hug. “Now we just need to get Mom well so she can come home where she belongs.”
“That’s right,” Aunt Rosemary spoke up. “And if I’m not mistaken, you’ll probably need your mother’s help making a wedding dress soon.”
Martha’s cheeks burned hot as she looked over at Luke. She was relieved when he stepped forward and whispered in her ear, “You’re definitely going to need a wedding dress.”