An Amish Christmas Promise Read online

  “Carolyn will do.” She wasn’t going to explain that her neighbors assumed she was a widow. Guilt tore at her each time she thought of the lies she had woven like a cocoon to protect Kevin and Rose Anne. “We’re not big on formality.”

  After he’d introduced her to Benjamin Kuhns and James Streicher, two men who’d traveled with him from an Amish settlement across the New York line, she motioned for the trio to follow her and the kinder.

  Children! She needed to say “children” not kinder.

  She must remember not to use Deitsch. Or act as if she understood it. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed hearing the Amish spoken language until these plain men began using it. But she had to seem as ignorant of it as her neighbors. Revealing she understood the language was one of the clues that, if repeated beyond the village, could draw Leland’s attention to Evergreen Corners.

  Holding Rose Anne’s hand to stop the curious little girl from peering over the broken edge of the road, Carolyn made sure Kevin and the men were following her as she walked along the street toward the single intersection in the village. Nothing appeared as it had a week ago. Wide swaths of ground had been wiped clean by the rushing waters, and teetering buildings looked as if a faint breeze would send them crashing onto the sidewalks.

  Michael moved to walk alongside her and Rose Anne as they passed ruined buildings. She heard Kevin regaling the other two men with tales of trying to recover their ten missing chickens.

  “Do you think they survived?” Michael asked. “The chickens, I mean.”

  “We’ve seen most of them around the village. I opened the fence around the chicken coop before we evacuated.” She pushed from her mind images of the horrifying moments when she and the children had struggled to escape the maddened waters.

  She couldn’t keep them from filling her nightmares, but she didn’t intend to let those memories taint her waking hours. If they did, she might get distracted and fail to discover Leland had found them until it was too late. She couldn’t take the chance he’d abduct Kevin and Rose Anne as he’d tried to before her sister died.

  “And now everything is gone?” Michael asked, drawing her back from the abyss of her fears.

  “Not everything.”

  “What’s left?” he asked.

  “Anything more than twenty-five feet above the brook survived, though several buildings were flooded a couple of feet into the first floor. The school, where we’re headed, is the closest building to the brook that wasn’t damaged at all.”

  He looked along the road running east and west through the village. “You’re talking about more than five hundred feet away from the stream’s banks.”

  “Uh-huh.” She’d started to say ja, but halted herself. “Look at the mountains. They make this valley into a funnel, and the water kept rising and rising. We lost two restaurants and three shops as well as parts of the town hall, the fire station, the library, the elementary school, a building supply store. Also some historic buildings like the old gristmill that used to sit next to the brook. And, of course, a lot of houses, including a couple that had been here from when the town was founded in 1750. Many of the records were saved from the town hall, and, thankfully, the local newspaper had stored its back issues from the nineteenth century in the library, because their building washed away.”

  “What about the library books?” asked Benjamin. “Were the books saved?”

  “A lot of them were lost. The cellar and first floor of the library were flooded, and many of the ones out on loan were washed away.”

  The men exchanged glances, but she looked at Kevin and Rose Anne. She was glad they were talking to each other and paying no attention to the adults’ conversation. Her arms ached as she remembered holding them and trying to comfort them after their escape from the flood. They’d been upset about losing their home, but having the library flooded had distressed them even more. They’d loved going there and borrowing books or listening to one read aloud to them.

  “Though the books have gone swimming,” Rose Anne, ever the diplomat, had said, as tears had welled in her eyes, “Jenna will tell us stories. She’s nice, and she has lots and lots of the goriest stories.”

  Carolyn had translated Rose Anne’s mangling of the language as she did each time Rose Anne came up with a new “version” of a word. She’d guessed the little girl meant glorious rather than goriest, but she hadn’t wanted to take the time to ask. Instead, she’d offered the little girl what solace she could. However, after talking with her good friend Jenna Sommers, the village’s librarian and the foster mother of a six-year-old little girl whom Rose Anne adored, Carolyn knew it would be many months—maybe even a year or two—before the library was operational again. First, people needed homes, and the roads had to be repaired and made safe.

  And the children needed to be kept safe, too. Her sister had won full custody of the two children in the wake of her separation from Leland. He’d fought to keep them. Not because he wanted them. They would have been in the way of his rough life of drinking and drugs. He’d fought because he hadn’t wanted his wife to have a single moment of joy. It hadn’t been enough he’d left Regina with bruises and broken bones each time he bothered to come home. At last, her sister had agreed to let Carolyn help her escape the abuse. Regina had been free of her abusive husband for almost three months before she became ill and died two days later from what the doktors had said was a vicious strain of pneumonia.

  “Wow,” murmured one of the men behind her as they reached the main intersection where a concrete bridge’s pilings were lost in a jungle of debris and branches. “Is there another bridge into town?”

  “Not now. There was a covered bridge.”

  “Was it destroyed?” Michael asked.

  “Half of it was except for a couple of deck boards. The other half’s wobbly. From what I’ve heard, engineers will come next week to see what, if anything, can be salvaged.”

  “So the road we traveled in on the bus is the only way in or out?”

  “For now.” She didn’t add it might be several months or longer before the lost and damaged bridges were repaired.

  She led the men to higher ground. She listened as they spoke in hushed Deitsch about how difficult it would be to get supplies in for rebuilding. It was hard not to smile with relief while she listened to their practical suggestions. How splendid it was to have these down-to-earth men in Evergreen Corners! Instead of talking about paperwork and bureaucracy, they planned to get to work.

  Hurrying up the street, Carolyn saw two of her chickens perched in a nearby tree. She was glad neither child noticed. Both were too busy asking the newcomers a barrage of questions.

  The parking lot in front of the high school held news vans with their satellite dishes, so she cut across the lawn to avoid the curiosity of reporters looking for a few more stories before they headed to the next crisis. She nodded her thanks to Michael when he opened the door for her and the children but didn’t slow while she strode along the hall that should have been filled with teenagers.

  The temporary town hall was in the school’s gym. She’d already heard grumbling from the students that the school had survived when so many other buildings hadn’t. By the end of next week when school was scheduled to restart, she guessed most of them would be glad to be done with the drudgery of digging in the mud and get back to their books. Kevin and Rose Anne were growing more restless each day, and only the hunt for their chickens kept them from whining about it.

  Voices reached out past the gym’s open doors, and Carolyn said, “This is where volunteers are supposed to sign in. They’ll get you a place to stay and your assignments.” She flushed, realizing what she should have said from the beginning. “Thank you for coming to help us.”

  “More volunteers?” A man wearing a loosened tie and a cheerful smile came out of the gym, carrying a clipboard. Tony Whittaker was the mayor’s hus
band. Asking their names, he pulled out a pen to check their names off. “Michael Miller, did you say?”

  “Ja,” Michael replied.

  Tony’s smile became more genuine. “I’m glad you and Carolyn have met already.”

  “Really?” she inquired at the same time Michael asked, “Why?”

  “You, Michael, have been assigned to the team building Carolyn and her children a new home.” He chuckled. “Hope you’ve made a good impression on each other, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time together for the next three months.”

  Chapter Two

  Carolyn woke to the cramped space in what once had been—and would again be—stables. The barn, along a ridge overlooking the village, was owned by Merritt Aiken, who had moved to Evergreen Corners after retiring from some fancy job in California.

  The stables had become a temporary home for five families who’d been left homeless in the flood. Her cot, along with the two smaller ones the children used, left little room for any possessions in their cramped space in two stalls. They had only a few changes of clothing, donated by kind members of the Mennonite congregation.

  Carolyn had been able to rescue Hopper, the toy rabbit Rose Anne had slept with since she was born. Somehow in the craziness of escaping the flood, she’d grabbed the wrong thing from Kevin’s bed. Instead of his beloved Tippy, a battered dog who’d lost most of his stuffing years ago, she’d taken an afghan. Kevin had told her it was okay.

  “I’m too big for a stuffed toy anyhow,” he’d said.

  She’d guessed he was trying to spare her feelings. That had been confirmed when the children were offered new stuffed toys. Kevin had thanked the volunteers and taken a bear, but it had been left on the floor by his cot. She’d caught sight of the stains of tears on his face after he’d fallen asleep and known he ached for his special toy.

  It was too great a burden for a little boy to bear. The weight of everything they’d lost pressed down on her. It was difficult to act as if everything could be made right again. All she had from a week ago was the heart-shaped locket that had belonged to her sister and contained baby pictures of the children. It had taken her almost a month to get accustomed to wearing the necklace without feeling she was doing something wrong. A proper plain woman didn’t wear jewelry, but she hoped God would understand she was fulfilling her sister’s dying wish to keep the children close to her heart.

  She clenched the gold locket as she savored the familiar scents of the barn. The dried hay and oats that had been a treat for the horses consigned to a meadow out back were a wonderful break from the odors closer to the brook. She let herself pretend she was a child again and had fallen asleep in her family’s barn on a hot summer afternoon.

  But she wasn’t in that innocent time. She and the children were homeless, and she feared Leland would care enough about Kevin and Rose Anne to come to Vermont.

  Assuming they’d been on the news, and he’d seen the report. Maybe he’d missed it.

  Help me keep these children safe, she prayed.

  The image of Michael Miller flashed through her mind, startling her. Why had she thought of him when she imagined being safe? It must be, she reassured herself, that he represented the Amish life she’d given up. Or maybe it was because he was going to be rebuilding their house. She shouldn’t be envisioning his strong shoulders and easy smile, which had made her feel that everything was going to be okay simply because he was there.

  She pushed herself up to sit. Was she out of her mind? Her sister and mamm had been enticed by good looks and charming talk, and both had suffered for it. Though Daed had never struck Mamm, at least as far as Carolyn knew, he’d berated her whenever something went wrong. Even if it’d been his fault. That abuse had continued until his death and had worn her mother down until she died the year before Carolyn left Indiana.

  Carolyn heard the children shifting as they woke. She dressed and hushed Kevin as she helped him and his sister get ready for the day care center at the Mennonite meetinghouse’s community center. The children had been going there while she helped prepare breakfast for the displaced and the volunteers.

  After they’d made their beds and folded their nightclothes on top of the blankets, she held her finger to her lips as she led the way out of the barn.

  Some of the people in the large barn were still asleep. With worries about when they’d have a home or a job to return to, many found it impossible to sleep through the night. She’d woken often during the long nights and heard people pacing or talking in anxious whispers. But, just as she did, the resilient Vermonters kept on their cheerful faces during the day.

  Kissing the children and getting kisses in return, Carolyn watched as they joined the others at the low tables where they’d be served breakfast soon. She wasn’t surprised Rose Anne chose a seat right next to Taylor, the librarian’s foster daughter. Rose Anne and Taylor whispered in delight at seeing each other. Her niece had asked to have her hair done like Taylor’s pom-pom pigtails, but Rose Anne’s hair was too straight.

  Carolyn waved to the women and one lone elderly man working at the day care center that morning.

  Jenna Sommers, whose hair was as black as her foster daughter’s, wove through the tables toward her, motioning for Carolyn to wait. More than one child halted the town’s librarian and asked when she was going to read to them. Assuring them she would if they ate their breakfast, she was smiling as she reached the door where Carolyn stood, trying not to look impatient to get to work.

  “Good morning, Carolyn,” Jenna said in her sweet voice, which could alter to a growl when she read a book with a big dog or a giant in it. “I hear the team has arrived who is building you a new house.”

  “That’s what Tony told me yesterday.” Carolyn shifted uneasily, overwhelmed with the generosity. And how the thought of spending time with Michael Miller accelerated her heart rate. “There are other people who need a home as much as we do.”

  “I don’t know what the policies are for this new group, but I’ve heard the MDS helps the elderly and single mothers first.”

  Carolyn had learned MDS stood for the Mennonite Disaster Service. The organization, which was celebrating its seventieth anniversary, had already sent people to evaluate where their volunteers could best be used, and she had sat through an uncomfortable interview. She was grateful people wanted to help her and the children. Having the community pitch in after a tragedy was what she’d been accustomed to while growing up. She was accustomed to such generosity.

  What bothered her was that she wasn’t a single mother. She was a single aunt.

  * * *

  Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Michael followed his friends into the long, low building attached to the simple white meetinghouse. The Mennonite chapel had no tower or steeple, and the windows were clear glass. He was curious about what the sanctuary looked like, but his destination, as his rumbling stomach reminded him, was breakfast in what the locals called the community center.

  Rows of tables in every possible shape and size had been pushed together to allow for the most seating. Chairs and benches flanked them. Upholstered chairs were placed next to lawn chairs with plastic webbing. He wondered if every house in the village had emptied its chairs and tables into the space.

  Many were filled with people intent on eating. He could understand because the aromas of eggs, bacon and toast coming from the kitchen were enticing.

  As enticing as...

  He halted the thought before it could form, but it wasn’t easy when he noticed Carolyn Wiebe smiling at a man and a woman who were selecting generous portions of food at the window between the dining area and what looked like a well-stocked commercial kitchen. Her dark eyes sparkled like stars in a night sky, and her smile was warmer than the air billowing out of the kitchen. He found himself wishing she’d look his way.

  “Over here?” asked James before Michael could wonder why he wa
s acting like a teenage boy at his first youth singing.

  Looking at where his friend was gesturing, Michael wasn’t surprised none of James’s brothers were seated nearby. James hadn’t said anything, but it was clear he was annoyed with his three older brothers who’d swooped down from their homes in Ontario and insisted James join them in volunteering. He’d heard James had moved to Harmony Creek Hollow to get away from his family, though James had been happy when his younger sister had moved in with him earlier and now taught at the settlement’s school.

  Michael pushed thoughts of James’s family from his head as he walked with his two friends to a round table between two rectangular ones. The three chairs on one side would work for them. He nodded to an older couple who sat on the other side before setting his hat on the table.

  “The sweet rolls are fine this morning,” the white-haired man said. “You’ll want to check them out, but you may want to be careful.” He winked and grinned before digging into his breakfast again.

  Michael wasn’t sure why the man had winked until he went to the serving window and saw Carolyn was handing out cinnamon rolls topped with nuts and raisins to each person who walked by. When she noticed him, she greeted him with the same smile she’d offered each person ahead of him.

  “Gute mariye,” he said, then said, “Good morning.”

  She laughed. “You don’t need to translate. Anyone could guess what you were saying. After all, it didn’t sound like you were asking for a second roll.”

  “Can we have two?” asked Benjamin from behind him.

  “The rule is take all you want,” she said with a smile, “but eat all you take.”

  Benjamin took a half step back and spooned more scrambled eggs onto his plate. When James arched a brow, he said, “Hey, I’m a growing boy.”

  “I’ll have two rolls please, Carolyn,” Michael said.

  “Just remember the rules.” Her smile became sassy, and he saw the resemblance between her and her son.