Rebekah stepped between her sister and Tobias’s buggy. He leaned back in the seat, but every part of him seemed tense and poised for action. She stood straighter and introduced Tobias to Leila. “This is my schweschder. We’re just having a quick visit.”
His unrelenting gaze, filled with a mix of curiosity and what seemed like suspicion, studied her. She fought the urge to pat her hair back under her kapp and smooth her wrinkled apron. He moved on to Leila and then the car. “Strange place for visiting.” He shoved his hat back, revealing those green eyes flecked with gold. Eyes that would mesmerize under other circumstances. Now they were cool and brilliant as cut glass in the sun. “Usually people visit in their homes where they can offer their guests a glass of tea or a cup of kaffi. They don’t do it on someone else’s property on a back road so no one can see them.”
Rebekah crossed her arms. Who cared about his eyes? Not her. Or his opinion. The horse pranced and shimmied to one side, but he handled it with ease. It was no concern of his why she and Leila met here. “What are you doing out here?”
“This is my daed’s property. He asked me to stop at the school on my way home for lunch—something about rattlesnakes.” Tobias glanced at Leila, at the car, and then back at Rebekah, his expression seeming to indicate that he wondered why he was explaining himself. He did have a right to be on his daed’s property. “You must be the Leila mentioned at Mordecai’s house the other night.”
Her confusion apparent in her face, Leila glanced at Rebekah. “Y’all were talking about me?”
“You and Jesse. About you helping the kinner.” Rebekah sidled closer to Leila. “Mordecai didn’t want you involved—”
“Of course he didn’t—”
“Why don’t you bring your sister up to the house? My sister Martha made biscuits for breakfast.” Tobias’s tone wasn’t all that inviting despite his offer. “There’s honey. Mordecai brought us a batch this morning. Neighborly of him. He didn’t mention a visit from a daughter.”
“Leila’s not his daughter.” Rebekah wanted to snatch the words back. Mordecai wasn’t their father, but he’d been a good stepfather from the day he exchanged vows with Mudder. He didn’t deserve disrespect. “We’re his stepdaughters. Leila was just leaving. She’ll take the car off your daed’s property.”
“The proper thing to do would be to welcome a new neighbor.”
He was right, but she couldn’t trust a stranger to understand. “Leila has to get back. The baby will be hungry soon, and her husband will be waiting for her.”
“Best they go, then.” Apparently the man excelled at reading between the lines. “I reckon school is back in session after lunches were eaten. Susan must be wondering where you are. Or does she know you’re talking to Leila after Jeremiah and the others said not to do it?”
She didn’t owe him an explanation. Not at all. “Nee.”
“Welcome to Bee County.” Leila brushed past Rebekah and offered her hand to Tobias. Such an Englisch thing for a woman to do. Tobias’s countenance didn’t change. He leaned down and grasped her hand in a quick shake. Leila smiled up at him. “Don’t blame my sister for any of this. I wanted to . . . see her. It was my idea and it was a bad one. Since I’m here, she told me about the children from El Salvador. Jesse might be able to help. I’ll ask him as soon as I get home.”
“I don’t think the bishop wants your husband’s help.”
“He might decide to put his feelings aside about keeping us separate for the sake of the children.” Leila spoke in a deliberate tone Rebekah hadn’t heard from her sister before. Like she knew what she was talking about and had a right to talk. “In the meantime, I hope you can see that it wouldn’t do any good to tell the others about our visit until we know more about the options out there for those two little ones.”
“I haven’t been in my new district a week and you want me to keep secret a visit you know the bishop would not approve of?” He lifted his hat and settled it on his fine, straight brown hair. “I don’t know about you, but where I come from, that’s not the way we do things.”
“Rebekah has had a hard row to hoe, and it’s my fault. I don’t want to make it worse.” Leila’s earnest tone seemed to have no effect on Tobias. “Coming here might have been a mistake, but Rebekah’s heart is in the right place. We might be able to help two kids who are a long way from home. That’s what’s really important.”
“Are you shunned?”
“Nee.”
Tobias’s gaze lifted to the horizon. He said nothing for seconds that seemed to last years. “Are you thinking of returning to the fold?”
“No.”
He cocked his head. “Then you should go now.”
Who did he think he was? A stranger telling her sister what to do. Heat rushed to Rebekah’s face. Her heart pounded in her throat. She fought off an absurd desire to stamp her foot. “You don’t get to tell her what to do—”
“Hush.” Gracie cooed, her arms flailing in the air. Leila hugged her to her chest. “He’s right. Give the baby a kiss. I love you. I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused you. All of you.”
Rebekah did as she was told, then straightened. “You’ll talk to Jesse?”
“As soon as I get home.”
“You won’t leave without looking into it?”
You won’t leave me without saying good-bye?
“We’ll not go until after the baby is born.”
That time would come too soon. Three months, four at the most. “Write me.”
“I will.”
Three minutes later Leila was gone, one arm stuck through the open window, waving as she drove away into the bright, hot light, leaving Rebekah with empty arms and a heart with a hole the size of the state of Texas. She ducked her head and trudged past the man who sat on his high horse—and buggy—with such judgment. “I better get moving. Susan will be missing me.”
“I’m sorry about your sister.”
The rough compassion in his voice only served to cause the lump in her throat to expand until she found it hard to swallow, let alone speak. Rebekah nodded and kept walking.
“This place sure is dry and dusty.”
Rebekah had no trouble remembering her first impressions of Bee County. His words were kind in comparison. Dirty. Ugly. Not fit for humans. Leaving the only home she’d ever known in Tennessee—lush by comparison—had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. Until now.
“It’s not so bad.” She paused and turned back. “You get used to it.”
“I’m not sure I want—”
Caleb came storming through the brush, stumbled over a rock, and fell to his knees. “Rebekah, I’ve been looking all over for you. Susan is worried.” Her brother righted himself. His bewildered gaze flew from Tobias to Rebekah. “Oh.”
Oh was right.