The next day, the doctor told Eva she could go home as long as she took it easy. Her mamm stood with Ramona in her room, waiting for the discharge papers.
“I have everything under control,” Mamm said now. “Ramona and I gathered your things this morning. Moses had bought the bus tickets. We can leave as soon as we get those papers. We’re breaking the trip up and stopping at hotels for the night so you can rest.”
Eva waited for the part where Mamm would remind her of how much this trip had cost, with doctor visits and now, a hospital stay. But Mamm hadn’t fussed at her too much. Probably that would happen once they were away from Pinecraft.
“Helen, why don’t you all stay until the weekend,” Ramona suggested. “Eva is still bruised and sore. She shouldn’t get on a bus yet.”
Helen huffed a breath. “I want to get her away from the temptation this place holds. I told you, we’ll stop so Eva can rest, but we need to leave. And soon.”
Ramona stood by her sister, distress on her usually jovial face. Glancing at Eva, she said, “Teresa is going to try and make it by to see you before you go. She is handing Becky off to Martha.”
“The scholar program,” Eva said, tears forming in her eyes. “That’s today?”
“Ja,” Ramona said. “Becky is taking it hard that you won’t be there.”
“What’s this?” Mamm asked, her tone stern and ready to argue.
Eva looked at her hands. “Becky’s school is holding a singing. She’s performing a short solo during the program. Some of it is in High German, but we know the songs well. Her solo is in Englisch. I promised her I’d be there.”
“You can’t do that,” Mamm said. “Our bus leaves at three.”
“The program starts at two-thirty,” Ramona said. “You might catch part of it.”
“Neh, she is to be at the bus station, not rushing around to see a school program.” She held her head high. “That way, we can stop for the night in Atlanta. Moses has found accommodations for us, two rooms. Then we go on tomorrow with a possible stop in Nashville. Moses wants to see a few things in the city. I can stay with Eva in the hotel room unless she just wants to sleep. Then I might walk around with Moses.”
“When did you get so adventurous?” Ramona asked while Eva stared up at her mother in shock.
Mamm shrugged. “I had to find something to fill my time.”
Eva glanced from her mother to Ramona. “I’d like to speak to Mamm alone, Aenti.”
Ramona gave her an encouraging nod. “Of course, dear.”
Mamm stared after her sister. “What now?”
Eva sat up against her pillow, her dress clean and her apron tied. Ramona had combed her hair and braided it neatly so she could put on her kapp. She still had a bandage on her temple and a compression wrap on her sore ankle, but she could walk on her own. The man on the bicycle had visited her this morning.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he told her after offering to pay her hospital bills, which she’d refused. “I shouldn’t have been going so fast in that rain.” He’d brought flowers. Pink lilies and roses. Which only reminded her of the hibiscus carving Tanner had made her. “Did you pack my hibiscus?” she asked Helen.
Mamm looked confused. “I don’t know. Ramona packed most of your things while Moses and I got the bus tickets and made our arrangements.”
“I can’t leave without that,” Eva said, trying to stand. “Tanner made it for me. He’s a gut man, Mamm. I love him and Becky. He made me a special gift—a pretty flower carved out of wood. I have to find it.”
“Calm down, child,” Mamm said, worry in her eyes. “I’m sure Ramona can mail it if it’s not packed.”
“Mamm, I don’t want to go home,” Eva said. “They need me, and I’ve done fine here except for a little cold and getting hit by a bike in the rainstorm. I know you love me, but I need my own life. I will always love you and I’m willing to help you with anything, but I really like it here and... I don’t know. I just don’t want to go with things so unsettled.”
“This is not right,” Mamm said. “You might think you’re in love, but where is this Tanner person? He has not been around.”
“Because you sent him away,” Eva said, standing up, her hands gripping the bed railing. “I’m not leaving Pinecraft until I see Tanner and Becky. And I know where they’ll both be this afternoon.”
Tanner was late. But he had a good reason. After he’d delivered and hung the huge fish he’d pieced together out of driftwood and some sea glass his client had collected from Lake Erie over the years, he’d hurried to see the bishop.
Bishop Lapp was a kind man who seemed to stay calm in any kind of chaos. Tanner remembered how the bishop and his wife had been so thoughtful to him after Deborah’s death. Ruth Lapp had taken Becky into her arms and cooed to her while they’d talked about nothing at all.
Today, he’d sat across from Bishop Lapp and explained his predicament. Once he was finished, the bishop had nodded, his hands clasped together.
“You will need to come before the brethren and tell this story, Tanner. And you know you’ll be forgiven. You made a hard choice, but the right choice for Becky’s sake. You are her father in every way.” Then he’d added, “You must pray on these things, and I will pray, too. You’re a valuable member of this community and you provide jobs for people. I think you can rest assured now. And if things turn out gut with you and our Eva, then God’s will can prevail.”
Now Tanner hurried along the streets, his cart sputtering as he tried to get to Becky’s program before she sang. He knew if he missed this, Eva would not forgive him. But then, Eva probably wouldn’t be there, would she?
He’d heard from Teresa that she might leave this afternoon.
He couldn’t go chasing after her at the bus stop when he had to be at Becky’s event. Or could he? Checking his watch, he knew the answer to that.
He’d chosen Becky every time, he thought. Eva had encouraged this—that he’d be at the scholar singing. Why couldn’t he have chosen Eva, too?
He could have a wife and take care of Becky. In fact, he needed a wife to help him take care of his daughter, but he’d always been afraid a new wife would frown on Becky’s birth if she knew he wasn’t Becky’s real father.
He was a block from the school, but he was also a block from the bus stop. Tanner groaned and took a left turn. He could check the bus stop and still make it to the school just in time if he hurried.
When he pulled up to the bus station, his heart dropped. There stood Eva and her mother with the older man Moses. They must be about to board the bus.
Tanner stared at them, wishing he could approach Eva without her mother there. Torn, he didn’t know what to do. He had to get to the school.
He took one last gaze at Eva, thinking he’d never see her again. But she looked up and around, as if she knew he might be there. When she saw him, she waved and hurried to him, her ankle wrapped and obviously still painful.
Her mamm and Moses turned around. Helen looked at him and then she glanced at Eva. And she smiled.
Eva couldn’t believe her eyes. Tanner had come to see her off. Only she wasn’t leaving. She hurried as fast as possible with her sore ankle, careful not to trip or make it worse. Tanner saw her coming and pulled the cart up close, then jumped off. “Eva?”
“Tanner?”
He rushed to her and held her in his arms. “Don’t leave, Eva. We have just enough time to see Becky sing. You promised you’d be there. If you have to leave, you can take another bus.”
Before she could speak, he added, “And I need to tell you everything. Everything, okay. First, I went to the bishop and told him my story, and I’ll tell my confession when church meets again. I... I love you so much...and I don’t want you to go. But there is more.”
Eva put her finger to his lips, touched by how he’d struggled to get all of that out. “Tanner, I’m not leaving. I was telling Mamm and Moses goodbye. They’re going home, but they’re taking the long way home and then they are to be married this fall. Possibly here in Pinecraft.”
Tanner seemed to have missed the fact that Eva’s mother had a whole new life and was leaving. He grabbed her up into his arms. “You’re staying.”
“I was staying for Becky’s program, ja. But after what you just declared, I’d say I’m staying for a long, long time.” She held his head in her hands. “Because I was also staying for you, Tanner. I love you, too. So much.”
He looked relieved and confused, his brows burrowing together. “But I haven’t told you all the truth.”
“We’ll have a lifetime for that. Right now, we are needed elsewhere.”
Tanner nodded. Eva turned and waved to her mamm. Helen smiled and nodded, then wiped at her eyes. Moses waved and they got on the bus, merging with the other passengers.
Eva stared after the bus, her heart pounding. “They’re really leaving.” She wasn’t sure Mamm could actually do it.
“How did you pull that off?” Tanner asked as he pushed the cart to its limit. “I told the truth,” she said, laughing, her heart so light she thought she might fly. “I told Mamm I loved you and I was going to stay here and fight for you. She balked until...until she heard me crying and found Moses trying to comfort me. Then she came into the room and confessed that she and Moses want to marry, but she was concerned about me. I told her I’d be fine, and we worked it out. They will come and visit often, and they did talk about getting married here. She realized we love each other in the same way she finally admitted she loved Moses. And Moses is beyond in love with her. Life sure is funny, ain’t so.”
“For certain sure,” Tanner said. “But Eva, after the program I’ll tell you the rest of my story.”
“I know the rest of your story,” she replied, so happy. “But I will listen anyway.”
Becky sang such a sweet rendition of “Jesus Loves Me,” everyone in the room had tears flowing down their faces. When the other children joined in, more tears came.
Tanner held Eva’s hand, his misty gaze moving from her back to Becky. Ramona and all of Tanner’s family had come, too. Becky beamed and went on to sing with the rest of the children as if nothing special had happened.
When it was over, she ran up to Eva and Tanner. “You’re here. You both came.”
Tanner took his daughter into his arms. “Ja, and you were wunderbar gut. All of you.”
Becky showed humility. “My friends sang so pretty, too. And Daed, you had Eva with you, ain’t so?”
“I did,” Tanner said, smiling. “And Eva is going to stay with us for a long, long time.”
Becky squealed, causing others to glance at them and smile. “Eva, you stretched it?”
They all laughed. “I did stretch it—for a lifetime.”
They headed to the park to celebrate the end of school with Teresa’s family. It seemed the whole community had shown up with food and drinks. Isaac kept everyone moving and organized, and soon they were all eating ice cream and playing shuffleboard.
Becky was off playing with her friends, Teresa and Jasper watching out for her while Tanner took Eva off toward the creek.
He found a bench and they sat down.
“I love you,” he said. “I don’t know why that was so hard to admit.”
“I love you, too, and I don’t mind admitting that.”
He turned to her then and told her all about Deborah’s forbidden affair with an Englisch. “He was a rookie officer, Eva. A police officer. He knew he’d be in trouble for messing with an Amish girl, and then she got pregnant. They’d planned to leave together, but he got shot while serving a warrant.”
“He died?” Eva’s heart seemed to shatter all over again. “Tanner, what a horrible thing to happen.” Suddenly, Eva understood everything. “So she came to you?”
He nodded. “She knew I loved her. And she knew I’d marry her, no matter.”
“I see it all now. You had to protect Becky. Are you afraid her other grandparents will find her?”
“Neh. The officer wasn’t close to his family and after I’d tracked them down, just in case they ever came calling, I found out the grandfather had died, and the grandmama had dementia and was in a nursing home. So I never said anything to anyone. I was more afraid for Becky. That she’d be ridiculed or teased or worse, shunned, if anyone ever found out my secret. But I am her father. I will always be her father.”
Eva leaned close and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her there. Off in the distance the sunset hovered over the palm trees and winked behind the tall pines. “Becky will be just fine, Tanner. Because I will love her and protect her same as you.”
He tugged Eva’s chin up with his thumb. “So you’ll marry me?”
“I will.”
“And Becky might have some siblings one day?”
“I sure hope so.”
“Can you forgive me?”
“Nothing to forgive other than your grumpy nature.”
Tanner leaned over and kissed her. Leaving her breathless, he whispered, “Hmm. Seems my grumpy nature has disappeared.”
They laughed and held each other while the sun set out over the sea, taking their secrets with it, but leaving a beautiful afterglow for them to enjoy while they held each other tight.
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Secret Amish Admirer by Virginia Wise.