CHAPTER FIVE

 

Her hands shook nervously as she added the wood to the hot black cooking stove.  A good meal would be needed if she was sent to jail, for she didn’t know if she’d be able to eat in such a scary place, where outlaws, con artists, and liars hung out. 

She quoted part of her mamm’s favorite scripture Roman’s 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Her breathing slowed as calmness flowed through her body.  Like her mamm and her daed, and her other siblings, all but Josh, she would be a strong woman for the Lord, even if it took a lot of crying and pleading. 

“God bless this home and my family, especially Josh,” she uttered before grabbing a wooden bowl for the potatoes. 

“I’m okay, little schwester!”  The words came from upstairs and startled her.

“Josh!”  Her feet pattered hard as she briskly ran out of the house and to the chatty neighbor’s house. Josh was her brother, but he’d left the Old Order Amish, and he’d declared that if he’d even stepped foot back in Bloomington, he’d be presumed a kidnapped man, for several men who had drinking and gambling debts had loaned him money, and one day when he least expected it, he knew they’d come looking for him.  Had one of these loaners been a bank robber?  The doctor had said that the shots had been fired from upstairs. Had the bank robber or another outlaw had her brother kidnapped up in the loft? 

Breathing become short and labored and fear made the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up as she made the sharp turn around the chatty neighbor’s fence. Must to her dismay, she saw the chatty neighbor leaning against a buggy chatting with the candy salesman.  She flipped her left hand over the top of her head to make sure that it wasn’t too fizzy; she wanted to look good in front of this salesman. I could have been killed, and my brother may be kidnapped, and I still care what this arrogant candy man thinks of me.

“What’s with you?”  The chatty neighbor asked, and she huffed and puffed as she bent over in front of him.

‘Josh is upstairs, and I think the bank robber has him hostage,” she said before massaging her aching throat. 

The candy man spoke up, “Do what I do in New York; tell her to solve her own problems and call the sheriff.” The candy man’s tone was rude, but she had expected him to be rude.

“He’s coming back for you isn’t he?”  The Chatty Neighbor said before returning his attention to the candy man.

“There they come right now.  It doesn’t look like he’s kidnapped to me!”  The candy salesman blurted before tapping her on the shoulder with a candy stick. 

Although Charlotte felt the fancy candy resting against the top of her right arm, she was embarrassed to take it.  She looked at her brother Josh as he walked hand-in-hand with a red-headed woman with a beautiful pink carnation-colored matching umbrella.  Her dress was more casual than the evening gowns that Charlotte owned, and her skin a sun-kissed deep brown. 

She spoke to the candy man, but she didn’t look at him, for she was no match to this lovely, confident lady that was with her brother.  “It looks like I was wrong.  She has an umbrella and is prettier than me; she can afford your beautiful candy.”

“Carry on.  I’ll see you at Christmas,” the candy man threw the candy down on the ground, and returned to his conversation with the chatty neighbor.

He has so much candy that he can waste it.  No wonder I looked so piteous standing in front of him without an umbrella.  She wondered what color the stripes on the candy were, and she wondered what hidden flavor the stripes had, for each stick of candy had a different taste.  Was it the grape-flavored lavender one or the hotter and spiced up deep red swirled one?  Truth be told, she loved candy, but she couldn’t see spending money of frivolous items. I’m in another league; I’m not fooling him into thinking that I’m a lady!

She pouted as she approached her brother and the nice-dressed lady coming around the corner of the farm entrance.  Why was he here, and why did he have a lady with him?  Had he gotten married?  She knew that he hadn’t written her about any fraa.

“This is my fiancée, and she’s in a little trouble, but we’ll be okay.  We wanted to eat dinner with you, and then we’ll be going to the next place,” Josh smiled and spoke low to avoid being overheard.

“She’s in a little trouble? How much trouble is she in?”  Charlotte took the handkerchief out of her white apron pocket and patted it against her face.  Her face still felt icky and firing hot and she had to admit that she wished that she was the owner of an ice house because she’d chip off a block or two to wrap in a clean cloth for her face.  “It’s been a very weird day: one minute there’s bad storms approaching, and the next thing you see is a blistering ray of sun beating down on you.”

The tanned woman quietly eyed her up and down, and this made Charlotte nervous.  It was hard enough having accidentally killed a man, but to admit that her brother’s fiancée was trouble was more than she wanted to hear, so she chose to be happy and block it all out. 

“Mamm always told us children to not judge anyone, for you could not possibly know the whole story.” Charlotte raised her head high and extended her hand to the tanned woman. “I am Charlotte, and it is a fine pleasure to meet my brother’s fiancée for the first time, and your name is?”

The woman chuckled and then looked at Josh, and Josh grinned and teasingly said, “I told you she would believe anything. She’s been locked up in the loft of the house for sixteen years, so she can’t tell that you’re a cowgirl!”

“I am Emilie Dotson, and I am from New York City, and my family is well off, but I like to roam,” the tanned woman explained in an intriguing tone, and Charlotte found her immediately interesting.

“That is wonderful, Emilie, for I am in need to be styled like a New Yorker.  I need to order some umbrellas to shield my face from the sun,” Charlotte informed as she briefly locked warm hands with Emilie.

“My mother owns a clothing store, and money is no object; I can have them brought via one of our assistants.  I can have them here in a week,” Emilie smiled, and Charlotte’s face become calm, for she now had a reason to order such luxury clothing accessories, and she now had someone to help her look like  a lady.

“May we borrow your buggy to go into town to get supplies?  I want to fix you dinner, New York style, and I always get my hostess a special sugary treat,” Emilie was polite and friendly, and Josh threw his arm around her shoulder and smiled at his sister. 

“You are such a happy couple.  Go ahead, and I will get out a jar of canned watermelon rind for you to take on the road.  I have an extra buggy on the farm; your welcome to it,” Charlotte glanced over Emilie’s petite shoulders and saw the two horses tied to the post.  They had ridden to visit her without a buggy.  “You can take my horses and buggy.”

A cool whisk of moist air bobbled both ladies’ bangs above their heads, but Charlotte’s seemed heavier and less free-flowing than Emilie’s red curls. Several wild birds spoke in code above the wooden fence where they stood, circling and circling until they got bored and formed a swaying line across the sky.  In a way, that’s how Charlotte felt, like she was in a circle of friendship and family, with a new addition, one with differences that would add spice to the family unit, a unit that had been shaken but not forsaken.  Should she follow them in order to stay in a strong circle?  Would they come looking for her if the judge decided that she was to be tried for murder?  She felt pulled between what she wanted to do and what she knew to do, and at this point, she was acquiring a fast approaching headache, so she couldn’t make her mind up at all. 

She watched the loving couple hug on each other as they walked to the house.  The sun’s rays enveloped the couple, illuminating the strong red tones in their hair.  They walked the same pace and giggled at the same time, truly they were meant for each other with so many similarities, and Charlotte was happy for them.

Josh had been one of the middle kinner, and he’d been grounded, so her parents had thought, until he had befriended John C. Brow, a loud, gambling man, one that had been tossed out of the local saloon more times than her uncle Graham. 

“What ever happened to John C. Brow?”  Charlotte asked, and the couple became silent.

Charlotte asked again as they approached the house, and she noticed that the loft window was open, which was unusual because she never slept up there since her mother and sister had died; it was where her uncle Graham slept while he was in town, and he hadn’t been there for days. Could John C. Brow be the bank robber?  Could he have made them lure her to the house?  Something didn’t feel right.

“Oops!  I forgot the broken peppermint stick that the candy man offered.  I’ll be right back,” Charlotte assured, and they nodded before entering the house.  Why were they entering the house if they needed to quickly go to town?  It didn’t make sense.

She made her way back up the driveway to the chatty neighbor’s place.  The wind picked up speed and swayed the bottom ruffles of her pink Champagne-colored evening gown, and she turned and swirled around like a dancing princess in search of her price.  It’s probably my nerves causing me to dance, as I’ve never danced before today.

“Beautiful! Beautiful!”  The chatty neighbor cheered, and she returned a blushing smile. 

The pouring sweat that had rolled down her neck fanned dry as she skipped and swirled up the driveway. Her blonde curls jingled against the back of her neck, and sun’s rays tossed golden sparkles against her whole head.  Her black boots tapped circles of dust into the wind around her, but the two men watching hadn’t noticed, for her beauty had mesmerized them.

“I didn’t know that Amish folk danced!”  The Chatty Neighbor said before he extended his hand to shake her hand.  “I never realized that you weren’t a little girl anymore.” He grinned as he loosely gripped her hand, and her brow wiggled before she burst out laughing.

“Ladies have matching umbrellas,” the Candy Man boasted before he handed her the lavender-striped candy.  It was not broken.  “I know you’ve been eager for that, so enjoy the freebie.  There will never be another one. That was quite a show.”

She pouted, for his words hurt her feelings.  It was “a show.”  He could tell that she really wasn’t a lady. She sighed and handed back the candy.  I don’t want your candy; I’m not a spoiled girl that takes things from men for free.  Besides, I’m going to jail soon.”

“That is a lie!”  The Candy Man said, and his words shocked her.

“Why am I not going to jail?  I accidentally killed a man.”

“The judge accepted the Sheriff’s plea that it was an accident.  You do know that the judge said that the sheriff said that you would agree to teach school in Amish Country?”

“I’m not really Amish anymore.  Look at me; I am wearing an evening gown from New York City.”  She lifted both ends of her pink champagne- flowing gown up and searched his eyes for agreement, and he nodded.

“That’s a stage consignment isn’t it?”  Only the Opera or Broadway girls wear them.  You didn’t know that did you?”  The Candy Man’s mouth curved, and she bit her bottom lip and thought of how to respond.

“My mother’s Englisch friend brought them to me when I was little, and I hid them from my parents.”

He chuckled, “Really?  So you’re trying to pretend to be a New Yorker?”

She laughed and said, “Not really.  I just wanted to wear them since I had collected them over the years.”

“You’ll never be a New Yorker!”  His snarling attitude was back, and she had to admit that this sternness of his was what attracted her to him.

“No, but I will be a good teacher in Amish Country.”  She snapped at him and wanted a quick remark back, but she got none.

“It looks like everything is returning to normal at your place,” the Chatty Neighbor pointed to the sheriff and another badged man riding up to the house.  “That’s a badged US Marshall.”

Three more men with badges surrounded the house, their guns drawn.  Within minutes, John C. Brow came walking backwards out of the house with his arms behind his head.  He’d been a wanted man.

“John C. is the bank robber?  Yes, we all knew that, but we had to keep quiet so that  he would mess up and come out of hiding,” the Candy Man arrogantly said, and she turned and frowned at him.

“You all stay here.  I’ll go over and see what’s going on.”  The Chatty Neighbor shook his head and then walked past her. 

She turned her attention to the candy man.  “I think you’re interesting, but I am only a girl, not a true lady that you’d be interested in.  I just wanted you to know that I find you handsome.”

“More free candy?”  He asked as he tapped her right shoulder with a deep red peppermint stick.

“Candy isn’t what I’m looking for right now.  I’m looking at you.  I would like to get to know you better.”

“I know that you can be a lady before the Lord at sixteen.  That’s something that these Englisch men don’t know, do they?”

She jerked and drew a frantic look.  “You’re Amish?  You said that you have an apartment in New York?”

“Yes, I own a place in New York, and it was given to me by one of my regular customers.  I use it to store my shipments of candy from abroad, but my real home, the one that I lay my head down in, is in Holmes County, Ohio, Walnut Creek to be exact, so I’m very familiar with how you’re supposed to act and what you’re supposed to wear in that culture. I am part of that culture.  My cousin is the bishop.”

Her cheeks drew a rose-colored red and she grinned.  “I’d love to teach school in Walnut Creek.  My brother lives there and it looks like the sheriff may send me there.”

“You won’t need the evening gowns.  I may have noticed you, taken an interest in you, if you had a simple cape dress on and the proper kapp.  Where is your kapp? First Corinthians Eleven has a message about the kapp.  Why don’t you read it before you jump in to teach other little girls? Teachers are role models.”

She nodded and then opened the peppermint stick and found it pleased her palate.  Life was suddenly looking up, and she looked forward to teaching at Walnut Creek, if she could get a job there.