DESPITE THE LATE night after the school board meeting, Cathy was on the go Saturday morning, arriving early at the Mud Sale grounds to help with Joanna’s stand.
“Here’s the person of the week,” Joanna said, lifting her foam coffee cup in a mock toast. “Do you have a big head after all the wonderful good things people said about you last night?”
“No, but I feel about ten years younger than I have all week.” Cathy accepted the coffee cup Rachel was holding out to her. “Looks as if you two have done all the work without me.”
“Ach, no, we saved some for you. We’re just taking a break for coffee.” Rachel produced a plate of sticky buns from a basket behind the counter. “Eat. Don’t worry,” she added quickly, apparently seeing a warning forming on Joanna’s face. “I have something to clean up with. We won’t touch your quilts with sticky fingers.”
“In that case...” Joanna helped herself. “Yum, still warm. What did you do, get up in the middle of the night?”
Rachel laughed, shaking her head. “I put the dough to rise in the refrigerator, of course. It’s a gut thing you don’t have a husband to feed, or he’d be eating out of cans.”
“Since that’s unlikely, I’ll enjoy the fruits of your baking,” Joanna retorted.
Marriage was unlikely for all three of them, though Joanna hadn’t pointed that out. She didn’t seem to look further than her business for satisfaction, and poor Rachel was so tied to that father of hers it seemed she’d never get loose.
As for her...at least she knew now what it meant to be in love. That was something to hold on to. She had her job, loving family and good friends. Plenty of people didn’t have that much. She’d learn to be content again.
Joanna launched into an account of the school board meeting for Rachel’s benefit, giving it an air of humor that Cathy hadn’t felt at the time. Cathy studied their familiar faces, swept with gratitude for them. She could so easily have been the only unmarried woman from their little group. They would still have been friends, of course, but there was an inevitable chasm between married and unmarried women in the community, no matter how deeply they cared for each other.
Their morning break finished, the three of them made short work of setting up the rest of the sale items. Cathy lingered over a child’s quilt—one made for a little girl, it seemed, with traditional patterns in delicate shades from rose to palest pink. It would be perfect for Allie, but she didn’t have the right to buy a gift for her. Their relationship was teacher and pupil, and that was all.
The fire hall grounds gradually filled with people circulating, stopping at stalls, but looking rather than buying at this early point in the day. Things would really start rolling around eleven, when the auction began.
Rachel leaned against the counter next to her. “Looks like a wonderful gut day. You should get a nice amount for the school from this day’s work.”
Cathy nodded. “The board is talking about a new roof. That’ll take a chunk of it, but I’m hoping to have enough extra for bookshelves and new books.”
“If we have anything to say about it, there will definitely be enough for that,” Joanna said. “Why don’t you take a walk around? We’re not going to be very busy until this afternoon.” She gestured toward the crowd. “Aren’t those some of your nieces and nephews coming?”
“Looks that way.” Cathy waved. “I think I remember promising them caramel apples.”
“Go on, then,” Rachel urged. “Take your time. We’ll switch off later.”
“Denke.” Cathy slipped out of the booth and a moment later was surrounded by nieces and nephews, all talking at once.
That was one thing about being the youngest in the family—her siblings had provided her with plenty of young ones to spoil. Two of her nephews had grasped her hands and were tugging her across the grounds toward the caramel apple stand.
“Wait, wait.” Laughing, she freed herself, pausing to be sure the smallest ones were holding hands with an older sibling or cousin. “All right. Now we can go, but don’t lose the little ones.”
They must, she thought, resemble an amoeba as they moved in a cluster with the crowd. She’d have to remember that for next week’s science lesson.
“Hurry, Aunt Cathy.” Her sister Mary’s daughter, Emma, had a voice just like hers. “They might run out.”
“Emma, it is not quite eleven in the morning. There isn’t the slightest chance that Ben Miller’s stand will run out of caramel apples.”
That particular branch of the Miller family had the largest orchard in the area, and no one would think of getting caramel apples elsewhere. That was a comforting thing about the Mud Sale—the same people were here with the same stands every year, and if they weren’t, they’d be missed.
When each one of the kinder had been provided with a caramel apple, Cathy accepted a handful of napkins. “We’ll need these,” she said. “Unless I turn them back over to their parents covered with caramel.”
Ben grinned, holding out another apple. “How about one for you, Teacher Cathy? On the house.”
“No, thanks. I just finished one of Rachel Hurst’s sticky buns.”
“Later, then,” Ben said. “Don’t forget.”
Nodding, Cathy moved her herd onward. She’d best let them eat the evidence before returning them just in time for lunch. Though on a day like this, no one worried too much about regular meals. If—
She stopped suddenly as a small figure burrowed its way through the group. “Allie?” Her breath caught as she realized the child was shaking. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Allie buried her face in Cathy’s skirt, whispering something Cathy couldn’t hear.
“Hush, now, it’s all right.” She bent over the child, thankful that her nieces and nephews made a screen for what was happening. “Tell me.”
“It was him,” Allie whispered. “I saw him.”
“Who?” She patted the trembling child.
“Mommy’s friend. The one I saw. He—he looked at me, and I was scared.”
A shiver of fear seemed to pass from the child right through Cathy. How could that be? She’d assumed—Michael had assumed—that the man visiting Diana had been a boyfriend, someone she’d met in Harrisburg. How could he be here?
“We’ll find Daadi,” she said. “He’ll know what to do. Is he here?”
Allie raised a tearstained face to her. “I—I don’t know. He left me with Aunt Verna because he had to talk to somebody. He said he’d come soon.”
She looked around, hoping for a glimpse of his familiar face. The grounds were crowded with both Englisch and Amish, but she didn’t spot him.
“Here’s what we’re going to do.” She gathered all the children around her. “We need to get back to Joanna’s stand. Allie’s upset, and she needs your company, so we all go close together. All right?”
They nodded, seeming to catch the seriousness in her voice. Young Daniel, the smallest, held out his caramel apple to Allie, offering her a bite, and she managed a smile despite her apprehension.
Cathy moved slowly, scanning the crowd for her brother-in-law Daniel or Lige or any of the adults from her own family. Where were they all?
Wherever they were, no one seemed available at the moment. She’d get the kinder to Joanna’s stall. Joanna had her phone with her, so she could call for help. Cathy had a wry thought for how someone like Lizzie Stoltzfus would react to her needing the police again already.
It seemed to take forever, inching their way along so that Allie could be kept in the midst of a small horde of Amish children, hopefully indistinguishable from them. If the man was here, if he’d seen Allie as she’d seen him—what then? What would he do if he’d read the fear in her face and known she could put him on the spot when Diana died?
Finally they reached the stall, where Joanna stood alone. Apparently Rachel was off seeing the displays.
“There you are. What—” Joanna stopped, obviously reading trouble in Cathy’s face.
Cathy did a quick survey of her young relatives and picked out Emma as the most responsible. “Emma, I want you to see if you can find your daadi or your uncles or Grossdaadi. Send them here at once if you do. Do you understand?”
Emma, eyes bright, nodded. Without a word, she turned and darted through the crowd.
Cathy gathered the others close to the stand. “Stay where Joanna can see you, all right?” She turned to Joanna, lowering her voice. “Call the police. Tell Chief Jamison that Allie was frightened by seeing a man who used to come and see her mother. That’s all. He’ll understand.”
“Got it.” Joanna was already punching her phone.
“I’ll take Allie in the back, where she’s out of sight until he comes.”
With a quick look around, she slipped past the curtain at the back of the display area, drawing Allie with her into the storage space behind. She sank down on a box and pulled Allie close to her, smoothing her hair back from her little pale face. She seemed to be all big eyes—frightened eyes. It wasn’t right for a child to be so afraid.
“You’re safe now, Allie. You’re here with me, and soon Daadi will be here, too. How did you get to be all by yourself?”
She couldn’t imagine Verna letting a child Allie’s age go off alone at the sale.
Allie seemed calmer, but her lips trembled. “I was with Aunt Verna, but she...she stopped to talk to someone. I let go of her hand because I wanted to see a box of bunnies that a man was carrying. He let me touch one.” Her face shone with remembered pleasure. “But then when I started to go back to Aunt Verna, I couldn’t see her anymore.”
Her face crumpled, and Cathy hurried to reassure her. “It’s all right. It’s easy to get separated in a crowd. No one will blame you. Tell me what happened next.”
“I...I thought she was by a woman with a dog, but I couldn’t see the woman or the dog or Aunt Verna. So I went toward where I thought she was, but I couldn’t see anybody that I knew.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I wanted Daadi or you, and you weren’t there.”
“No.” Cathy patted her back soothingly. “But I’m here now. What happened next?”
“There were a lot of people. I thought maybe I’d see somebody I knew, but then I saw him.” Her voice broke, and she buried her face in Cathy’s lap.
“There, now, you’re safe now. But you need to tell me, so we can do something about him. You’re sure it was the man you saw walking into your house to visit Mommy?”
Her eyes still bright with tears, she nodded solemnly. “It was. I know it.”
“Okay. I believe you. Do you think he knew you?” How could he? How could this anonymous man pick out Allie in a crowd of similarly dressed Amish children?
Allie nodded, a shiver making her whole body shake. Cathy wrapped her arm around the child. “Are you sure? How could you tell?”
“Because he looked like he...he hated me.”
Cathy’s heart twisted, and she gave Allie a fierce hug. “No one could hate you. He’s afraid, that’s what. Afraid you’ll tell on him.”
And she would, if Cathy had anything to say about it. Allie could identify the man, which meant the police could start investigating him. And leave Michael and Allie in peace.
“It’s going to be all right, dear child. I’ll keep you safe.”
Even as she said the words, Cathy saw the canvas at the side of the stall twitch. Before she could catch her breath, someone had pushed his way inside.
It was Randy Hunter. He stood a few feet away from her, but she hardly recognized him. The pleasant, ordinary face she knew was twisted with rage and fear.
Allie gave a tiny cry, clinging to Cathy, her hands and legs wrapping around her like a baby animal clutching its mother. Cathy struggled to get her legs free and rise to her feet.
“Randy, what are you doing here? This is Joanna’s stall.” She kept her voice even with an effort.
If she screamed...someone would come, of course. But Randy was only a few feet away, and if he got his hands on Allie...
She couldn’t risk it. Talk to him, calm him, don’t do anything to set him off.
“Randy!” Sharper, demanding his attention. “Look at me. It’s Catherine Brandt. What are you doing here?”
Hear me, Joanna, please. Get help.
Nothing, no response, and he took another step. Loosening Allie’s stranglehold, she pushed the child behind her, taking a step backward.
Obviously, it was no good talking to him. He wasn’t hearing anything but his own fear. She had to try to get Allie away from him.
“Allie, when I say go, you run to Joanna. Okay?”
But there was no response. The child was too frightened. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t even move.
And Randy advanced even as Cathy backed away, pushing Allie along. She groped with her hand for something, anything, that she could use to deter him.
His eyes were blank, expressionless—it was like looking at something less than a person. His hands were reaching toward her, clutching... A shiver of revulsion went through her.
Her groping fingers closed on a roll of quilt batting. She yanked it from the box, threw it toward him and screamed.
People burst into the stall from all directions. She stumbled backward and felt her father’s arms close around her. When she managed to look, Randy was swathed in quilt batting as Chief Jamison and a young patrolman grabbed him. Then family surrounded her, blocking her view of what followed.
Michael had his arms around Allie and partially around her as well, but no one seemed to notice that as they were escorted out of the stall.
They were safe. Allie was safe, crying in her father’s arms, and suddenly Cathy’s legs were shaking so that she sagged against Daad, who had appeared from nowhere, it seemed.
Joanna thrust a chair behind her and pulled her into it. “It’s all right, Cathy. I heard you. Everyone came.”
Arms wrapped around her—her mother’s, Joanna’s, Rachel’s—until she could scarcely breathe. She looked over their heads and saw Michael holding Allie, similarly surrounded. For just a moment their eyes met, and then someone moved between, and the moment vanished.
IT WASN’T UNTIL evening that Chief Jamison came to the house to see Michael. He looked faintly surprised at the number of people who were there—Lige and Sarah and their children, Daad, Aunt Verna, Michael’s two brothers—no one had wanted to go home, as if the only safe thing was to stay together.
“Komm, komm,” Aunt Verna said, ushering him into the kitchen. “You’ll have coffee. And some pie, ain’t so? I brought cherry and apple home from the sale.”
“Just coffee, thanks.” He pulled out a chair, sinking onto it and propping both arms on the table. “I hope I never go through another day like this one. Seems pretty clear now what happened, so I wanted to bring you up-to-date.” He grimaced. “That Harrisburg cop was all for keeping everything quiet, but I told him you folks deserved the peace of mind of knowing the truth.”
Michael saw Sarah and Aunt Verna exchange glances, and then they were shepherding the children toward the door. “You boys take the young ones outside to play ball.” When his brothers looked loath to miss the explanations, Aunt Verna gave them a look that permitted no argument. “You’ll hear it all later. Go.”
Obediently, they gathered up Allie, Ruthie and the boys. Little Sally was already asleep on her mother’s lap.
When the door had closed behind them, Jamison gave a satisfied nod. “It’s not suitable for youngsters to hear, especially not little Allie.” He glanced at Michael. “I’m just sorry we didn’t figure it out before she had such a scary experience.”
“She’s safe, thanks to Cathy.” A cold hand gripped his heart at the thought of what might have happened. “How he thought he could get away with it in the middle of a crowd...”
“That’s just it—he was past thinking, at least by the time we got him down to the station. According to Cathy, he acted like he was in a daze from the minute she saw him.”
“You’ve talked to her, then.” He longed to ask how she was, but he feared giving himself away when his emotions and his thoughts were in such a tangled mess.
“Just briefly, to get her account of what happened. She’ll come in and make a formal statement on Monday, but that’s enough to go on with.”
So it wasn’t over for Cathy yet. He tried not to let his mind dwell on her.
“Anyway, the case is wrapping up pretty well. I think Randy was so demoralized by the realization of what he’d almost done that it was a relief to him to spill it all. His lawyer kept trying to hush him up, but nobody could stop him from talking.”
“You mean he confessed about Diana?” He’d been picturing Diana’s killer as some sort of monster, not the broken remains of a human being he’d seen led away to the police car.
Jamison nodded. “It seems she called him sometime ago, asking him to come and see her. I’d guess the truth is, he’d never gotten over his crush on her, so he went. Turns out she wanted him to be an intermediary with her grandmother, thinking he could sway the old woman’s feelings. All she wanted, she said, was to have the life she’d left.”
Michael tried to rub away the tension that always built behind his forehead when he thought of Diana. “She seemed to be thinking of that a lot that last year or so—the life she’d have had if we’d never run away together.”
As he had, he supposed, except that he wouldn’t exchange anything for his daughter.
“I suppose Randy would do whatever she asked. He was always crazy about her, not that she’d ever paid any attention to him.” Randy had just been another of her court of admirers, from what he remembered.
“Seems to be the case. The old lady is having memory problems, but he’d spent a lot of time with her, talking about Diana. Apparently he was convinced he’d gotten her to the point of welcoming Diana back with open arms.”
“I don’t guess Bernard Wilcox would be happy about that,” Lige commented.
“If he knew.” Jamison shrugged. “He won’t admit it, I’m sure. Anyway, when Randy told Diana, he says she was delighted. Then he made the mistake of assuming they had a future together.” He hesitated, looking around as if weighing whether to say something or not. “He hedges about her response, but I’d guess she laughed at him. Something that infuriated him anyway.”
Michael could imagine. Diana had been good at hitting a man’s vulnerable points.
“He says it was an accident—that he pushed her, not meaning to knock her down the stairs. And ran away.”
“Do you believe that? That he didn’t mean to hurt her?”
“Doesn’t matter what I believe,” Jamison said. “That’s what his lawyer will argue.”
“When I came back to River Haven, he must have panicked. The vandalism, the feelings against me...he stirred that up, didn’t he?”
“He didn’t want to be reminded of what he’d done by your presence. He wouldn’t admit to stalking Allie, but I’m more or less certain he was afraid she’d seen him. If you’d settled anywhere else, she wouldn’t have had a chance to recognize him. I’d guess he was trying to see which child she was, but he didn’t know for sure until the day he followed her and Cathy home from school.”
“If he’d gotten to Allie today...” His hands knotted into fists.
“He didn’t,” Daad reminded him. “God protected her, and it’s over now.”
Over. Somehow he couldn’t quite believe that the cloud that had darkened his life was gone for good.
“Yah,” he said at last. “It’s over. We can get on with our lives.”
Even as he said it, he wondered. What lives? Should he even think of picking up the pieces of that life out in the world? At one time, that had been all he’d wanted, but the past month had made that life seem remote. Now...
Now, he realized, a lot depended on Cathy. He had to see her before he could know what his future held.
AS FAR AS Cathy could tell, what had happened had disrupted the Mud Sale pretty thoroughly. Still, people had rallied and they’d eventually gotten back on track. Joanna, stopping by after it was over, claimed she’d sold more than she ever had, primarily because people wanted to get close to the scene of the action.
Cathy was feeling overwhelmed by the solicitude of family and friends by the end of the day. When two of her sisters were still hanging around after supper, she’d slipped away, letting them think she was going to rest. Actually, she’d evaded them, gotten out of the house and sought refuge in the barn.
Silence, other than the soft whicker of a horse and the occasional thud of a heavy hoof on the wooden floor—that was what she craved. She needed peace to get her thoughts together and process everything that had happened.
Blackie, the oldest of the buggy horses, put his head over the stall bar and rested it heavily on her shoulder. “All right, all right. I love you, too. Give over.” She shifted him with an effort, and he switched to nuzzling her hand.
Giving in, she got a carrot from the bin and brought it to him, generating a lot of interest from Belle, Cathy’s own buggy mare.
Cathy rested her head against the upright between the stalls. From what Chief Jamison had said when he’d questioned her, it seemed fairly certain that Michael was finally in the clear. The newspapers would trumpet the arrest of Randy Hunter, and everyone would know that Michael was innocent. He’d be able to go back to his Englisch life, if that was what he wanted.
For sure he would, wouldn’t he? She rubbed Blackie’s forelock and let him nuzzle against her shoulder. Standing there, relaxing at last, she felt the tears come to her eyes. She had been telling herself this would get easier, but not yet, obviously. When? How long would it take before she stopped yearning for Michael?
She heard a step behind her, and a shadow moved across the late-day sunshine streaming through the open doorway.
“I thought I might find you here. Cathy?” He took a step toward her. “Are you crying?”
“No, of course not.” She wiped away the trace of tears. What had happened to her control? Today’s events seemed to have shattered it.
“There’s no need to cry now. It’s all over.” He sounded tentative, as if unsure what to say to her.
“I know. I’m just trying to get away from my family,” she managed.
“Same here.” He came to lean on the stall next to her. Not touching, but comforting all the same. “Jamison finally left. He’s satisfied they have all the answers now.”
“So it was Randy who came to the school that day, scaring us all.” He was so close that it seemed she could feel the warmth radiating from him, warming her as well.
He nodded. “He didn’t think that through very well, did he? He seems to have felt compelled to see Allie, even though he knew there was little chance she’d recognize him. He should have realized you’d react as soon as you spotted a stranger on school grounds.”
A shiver went through her. “It was every teacher’s worst nightmare. I’m wonderful thankful we’d been prepared. Even a few years ago, we’d have thought an Amish school the safest place in the world.”
Grief slid through her for the innocent children whose deaths had ensured that the Amish no longer assumed their kinder were safe.
“And he was the one who chased you and Allie that day. If I’d been a little faster, I might have spotted him and saved us all this day.”
He would blame himself, as any parent would. “And if I had been a little braver, I might have gotten a look at him.”
“And paid with your life for slowing down.” His hand closed hard over hers. “I’m very glad you didn’t.”
She had to say something, something to move them away from disturbing emotions. If she were stronger, she would draw her hand away, but if these fleeting moments were all she’d have, she wouldn’t give them up.
“The police in Harrisburg—will they know by now?”
He nodded, the faintest of smiles tugging at his lips. “I think Jamison took pleasure in calling that detective to tell him he’d arrested Diana’s killer. Small-town cop bests the big-city detective, I guess.”
“Chief Jamison had a head start on the truth. He knew you.”
His fingers tightened a little on hers. “That’s the thing that I’m just finally getting used to. The fact that so many people here believed in me even when reason told them not to.”
“That’s the very definition of faith, isn’t it? To believe that way? People who know you had faith in you.”
“Yah. Even Daad. He never thought I was guilty of anything but running away from the life he’d given me.”
“But you’re all right now with your family.” She took a breath to have strength to say what she must. “Even when you go back to your Englisch life...”
“What makes you think I’m going back?” He shifted, and his face was so near her that she could see every tiny line around his eyes, almost count the lashes. So near she couldn’t seem to breathe.
“You—you can now, can’t you? I thought that was what you wanted.”
“I could, I guess. Maybe I did want that once. But now...what would I be going to? Everything that’s important in life is right here—work to do, a place to bring up my daughter, family, good friends, church...and love, if I’m more fortunate than I deserve.”
She didn’t dare think about what those final words might mean, not until she was sure. “You told me once you’d lost everything that was important to you out there. You could have it back now.”
“Ach, Cathy, I didn’t value the right things outside. Now I know what kind of life I want—one that balances all the important things, not just success and money.” He lifted his hand slowly toward her face, so slowly that it was clear he was giving her a chance to pull away.
But she didn’t. He touched her face, moving his fingertips gently over her features as if memorizing how they felt.
“Everything I want is here.” He almost breathed the words, and they seemed to touch her skin. “I love you, Teacher Cathy. I won’t rush you. Not as long as I know the end means the two of us together, forever.”
“Allie...” she began.
“Allie will be delirious, don’t you know that? She loves you already.”
“And I love her.” Her heart winced at the thought of how close they’d come to losing her today. “But I think we should give her some time.”
“You’ll decide,” he said promptly. “I’ll wait until you say it’s time. Good things are always worth waiting for. Well, Cathy? Will you marry me?”
She was sure now. Happiness didn’t come with guarantees, but he was offering her a love that would last, that would only grow. She raised her lips to his in answer.
A long, satisfying time later she drew back just far enough to see his face. “There’s a little matter to be put right first, you know.”
He chuckled, deep in his chest. “The penitent has to return. What do you suppose Bishop Eli will say to that?”
“He’ll be delighted,” she said promptly. “It won’t take long. And then...”
“And then?” His dark eyes were lit by love.
“I think I’ll have to give Mary Alice a crash course on becoming a teacher,” she murmured as his lips closed on hers again.
Ready for more love and mystery in River Haven? Don’t miss the next book in the River Haven series by Marta Perry,
Amish Protector
Available April 2020 from HQN Books.