14

SECRETS

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out.

ROBERT FROST

Gant could have shouted for joy when both Asa and Gideon showed up at the shop three days later.

Gideon came through the back door bright and early, grinning as if he knew something Gant would like to know. But if that was the case, the boy was keeping it to himself. He offered nothing except a greeting and his thanks to Gant for giving him an extra few days off in addition to what he’d requested.

Gant had a hunch the boy’s good mood might have something to do with Emma Knepp. He’d noticed his young apprentice tended to wear that same smitten smile after even the briefest encounter with Levi Knepp’s only daughter.

By the time Asa arrived, Gant had already sent Gideon off with a few deliveries and was checking his measurements for a cupboard John Coblentz had ordered. The Amish dairy farmer had been a good customer and always an appreciative one. He also paid on time. For all those reasons, Gant liked working for him.

Asa came in through the front door for a change. Gant noted the fatigue lining his strong features and the dust embedded in his hat and coat. As always, he took off his hat as he entered and rubbed a hand over it.

“So you’re back.” It was an inane thing to say, but Asa didn’t like a fuss. If Gant had told him how happy he really was to see him, his friend would have ignored it anyway. Still, he couldn’t resist adding, “I’m glad.”

Asa’s face creased into a wry expression. “Does that mean you’ve been busy?”

“No, it means I’m glad to see your cynical self back in town. But I have been busy.” He studied the other for a second or two. “You look tired.”

“I stayed on the road last night. Didn’t stop.”

“So you got no sleep?”

“Felt no need for sleep until later this morning. I’m all right.”

“Go get yourself some breakfast and take a nap. Gideon’s back too, so I’ll have help this afternoon.”

“Where’s he been?”

“Off for a few days helping out at his mother’s place.”

“Don’t you want to know how the trip went?”

“You’d have told me by now if there’d been trouble. We can talk later.”

Asa gave a nod, wasting no time before heading out again. “I’ll pull the wagon in back first.”

Gant turned back to his papers and then remembered. “There’s some cornbread and bacon left over from supper last night,” he said. “Help yourself.”

“Now that sounds good, Captain. I’m ready for a decent meal.”

With a close look at his friend’s tall frame, Gant saw that he looked leaner than usual, and Asa had no extra flesh to begin with.

“Some fresh eggs in the icebox too,” he added.

Gideon Kanagy drove the wagon back toward town after his last delivery to Aaron Lapp’s farm. Halfway down the road, he caught himself grinning again.

He’d been doing that all morning, ever since meeting up with Emma and her dat going in the opposite direction as he left Mose Bender’s place. Levi Knepp hadn’t stopped the buggy, of course. Not even for a minute. To the contrary, Gideon thought the man had actually urged his team faster just to make sure he and Emma would have no time for even a civil hello.

Even so, Emma had managed a brief but warm smile for Gideon, which he returned.

What Levi didn’t know was that his daughter had favored Gideon with more than one smile lately. While helping out at his mother’s farm, Gideon had taken to riding past the Knepp place in the afternoon, hoping to catch Emma outside. He knew it wasn’t likely, given the miserable weather they’d been having, but he’d made a daily attempt anyway. And twice his effort had been rewarded.

Yesterday had been one of those times. Emma was coming out the gate with some kind of a covered dish in her hands when he pulled up beside her. He wasn’t surprised that she glanced back at the house as if to see if anyone was watching before turning to him. It seemed that she was taking a dish of chicken and noodles across the road to the Mast farm. “Lovina sprained her ankle last week, so Mamm and I have been helping with extra food,” she told Gideon.

She gave him her usual small smile, though he noted it no longer seemed quite as shy as it once had. Ever since the day he’d taken her home in his wagon after finding her stranded alongside the road with a broken wheel, she had seemed a little more comfortable with him, a little more open in her speech and actions.

Gideon was glad for the difference. There was something about Emma Knepp that drew him. Something more than her pretty face, although she was an extremely pretty girl. Maybe it was a lot of things. Out-of-the-ordinary things, such as the fact that she seemed so…untainted. Pure. But not in a prudish, stuffy way. No, it was more a clean freshness about her that set her apart from most girls he’d gone out with.

It was more than her appearance, though. Somehow Gideon knew that Emma was unusual. Different. He could tell she was a good, gentle person but with a strength and kindness that made folks naturally respect and like her.

Young as she was, she was already someone special. At least she was becoming special to Gideon. And he found that surprising. Even a little scary.

For example, yesterday he’d actually asked her if she went to the singings—the Sunday evening gatherings for the Amish young people, where couples often started courting. A good number of those couples eventually married.

The look she’d given him had been one of obvious surprise and puzzlement. “Oh…well, sometimes I do. When one of my brothers is free to take me and bring me home.”

So she wasn’t seeing anyone in particular. At least not yet.

Then she’d added, “I’ve…I’ve never seen you there though.”

Gideon had almost choked on his reply. “Well, you just might soon.”

At first he’d thought she wasn’t going to say anything. But after a few seconds, she looked directly at him with a long, searching look that was unusual for Emma and said in a quiet but steady voice, “That would be nice, Gideon.”

She paused, and a faint blush stained her face as she added, “The next singing is this Sunday at the Springers’.” Again she hesitated. “In case you wanted to know.”

Gideon had gone on his way feeling a little light-headed and with his mind already set to show up at the Sunday night singing. He wondered only briefly if he would be welcome, absent as he’d been from the church services and the singings for months now. But he didn’t fret about it long. It wasn’t as if he were under the Bann, after all. He was still Amish, even if he hadn’t joined the church. He was still in his rumspringa and was allowed to have his running-around time before joining the church—if he ever did join.

Welcome or not, he was going to that singing.

Gant waited until late that night before taking Asa to the barn to meet the newest runaways. The children were already asleep, as were a couple of the women, but the men were wide awake. So alert and restless did they appear, they might as well have been keeping watch.

And maybe they were.

Silas, the youth who seemed more man than a boy, didn’t budge from his place at the far end of the barn, where he could look out through a wide crack between the boards. He didn’t even turn around until Gant and Asa were almost up to him.

Once introduced, he greeted Asa with an impassive, even cold expression. But then his interest seemed to quicken. In fact, the stare he fixed on the older man almost bordered on rudeness. It was as if he were taking Asa’s measure.

If Asa took exception to the boy’s scrutiny, he didn’t show it but simply stood regarding him with a faint smile that held a hint of curiosity. “So is your family with you, son?”

Gant had already told Asa about Silas, but Asa liked to ask his own questions and gather his own information.

“No family,” Silas said.

Asa crossed his arms over his chest, a sign that he was going to take his time sizing up the boy. “Where you from?”

“We come from more than one place.”

“Uh-huh.” Asa waited, as if expecting more than a short reply that hinted of insolence. When the boy offered nothing more, he tried a different tack. “You’re all traveling together though,” he said, glancing around at the people scattered about. “So you’re their guide?”

Silas nodded.

“You’re young to be taking on that kind of responsibility.”

“I’m old enough,” Silas said, his gaze holding steady. “Besides, there wasn’t anybody else.”

“I see. Well then, in that case I expect they’re lucky to have you. All the same, you’ve undertaken a heavy load for one so young.”

The other’s expression didn’t change, nor did he make any reply.

What kind of youngster was this anyway, when a man like Asa couldn’t crack his shell?

A similar thought had occurred to Gant when Silas and Gideon had first met. Gideon was obviously older and considerably bigger, and he had a maturity about him beyond his years. All that and the fact that he was white might have intimidated a Southern black, especially one who looked to be still in his teens.

But Silas had shown no sign of being unsettled by Gideon, no hint of being put off by him. So maybe it should have come as no surprise that he wasn’t cowed by Asa either.

Still, the more Gant came into contact with the unusual youth, the more his curiosity about him grew. Time would no doubt give up some of the mystery that hung over the boy like a cloud. Especially time spent with Asa, who had an uncanny way of peeling back the layers of another’s secrets and bringing them into the open without the slightest discernible effort.

He should know. Over the years, his good-natured friend had managed to unearth all manner of his secrets—even a few that Gant himself hadn’t been aware of.