Faithful to Laura (18 page)

“Was that Sawyer?”

Laura turned to see Anna walk into the room. Her emotions reeled as her skin tingled. One look from Sawyer and she felt like she’d been inside his skin, experiencing a fleeting moment of shared emotions. Desperation. Confusion. Feelings she knew intimately. “He went upstairs.”

“I need to see him.”

Laura put her hand on Anna’s arm.
“Nee.”

Anna whirled around, her face beet red with anger. “Why is everyone trying to keep me from
mei kinn
? I’m his
mamm
. He needs me right now.”

“He needs to be alone.”

“How do you know? What makes you an expert on
mei sohn
?”

Laura knew she shouldn’t have said anything. But Sawyer didn’t need his mother. Or anyone else. She recognized that the minute he walked in the door. “I . . . I just know.”

She wanted to tell Anna that she understood the anger. The frustration. But she kept her mouth shut. She wouldn’t risk making things worse by saying the wrong thing.

Finally, Anna went outside.
Fraa
Byler came into the room as the front door shut.

“Sawyer?”

“Upstairs.” Laura nodded at the staircase. “Anna went outside. I think Lukas and . . . what is that
fraa’s
name?”

“Cora.”
Fraa
Byler sighed. “Cora Easley.”

“I think they’re both still out there.”

Fraa
Byler rubbed her left temple. “This is so hard to believe.
Mei
Lukas and his Anna, they could never have
kinner
of their own. Sawyer was their only one. It’s why Anna is so upset. She knows he’s an adult. But in her heart he’s still that young, scared
bu
who tried to hide his fear and grief. She’s always tried to protect him, but still let him be who he is.”

She looked at Laura and wrung her hands together. “Now everything has changed. If Sawyer leaves, I don’t know what she’ll do. Or what we’ll do. He’s a part of us. A part of our
familye
as much as if he’d been born into it. Even though we’ve never been certain he would join the church, we assumed he would always be close to us.” She bit her bottom lip. “Now I’m not so sure.”

Laura put her arms around
Fraa
Byler. “It will be okay.”

“You have faith,
ya
?”
Fraa
Byler whispered in her ear.

Laura didn’t respond. She couldn’t. She wasn’t sure she had faith in anything anymore.

But she’d let the old woman believe it, if it brought her comfort.

“How can my grandson refuse me?”

Lukas prayed for patience. He’d never met a woman like Cora Easely before. Yet he knew he had to tread carefully with her. The legal documents she’d presented him had been clear. First Cora’s identification documents—copies of her birth certificate, her passport. Then Kerry’s birth certificate, which proved Cora was her mother, along with the copy of Sawyer’s birth certificate the lawyer had uncovered.

Cora was his biological grandmother. There was no doubt about it. And now she looked mad enough to snap in two. Somehow they had to work together and put Sawyer’s interests and feelings first. Something this woman didn’t want to do.

“Have you people brainwashed him?” She glared at Lukas.

“I can’t believe a grandson of mine would behave like this.”

“Lukas?”

He saw Anna heading toward him. His heart twisted at the pain in her eyes and the tension in her face. His beautiful, tender wife. She loved their son with every beat of her heart. And they had been through so much over the past five years.

All their married life, Anna had wanted nothing so much as to be a mother. Shortly after they married, they found out she couldn’t have children. Then, like a gift from God, Sawyer appeared in their lives.

After Sawyer, they tried adopting more children, only to have them taken away. They had little Samuel for two months, and then his birth mother changed her mind at the last minute. With Curtis, they were in the final stages of adoption when his father asserted parental rights and the adoption fell through. And sweet baby Amanda, who won Anna’s heart immediately, had been claimed by a distant relative.

Too much heartbreak. Too many dashed hopes.

But through it all they’d had Sawyer.

And they always would. He put his hand over Anna’s. In this, as in everything, they would stand together as a united front.

“I have lawyers at my disposal.” Cora’s piercing gaze landed on Anna, then him. “Sawyer will come to New York.”

Anna’s grip tightened. “Why? This is his home.”

“He has business interests to attend to.”

“He works in our family business here.” Anna glanced at Lukas.

Cora huffed. “We can hardly compare the two.”

Lukas held up his hand. “Just a minute, Mrs. Easley. We don’t have to argue about this. We all love Sawyer and want what’s best for him. But if he doesn’t want to leave, we have to respect that.”

“And if he does leave? Will you respect that as well?”

Lukas hesitated. His wife’s face went white.
“Ya,”
he said quietly, squeezing Anna’s hand. “We will. But right now we need to give him time. He deserves that.”

For once Cora didn’t say anything. Then she gave him a curt nod. “Fine. I will wait for him at your house.” She looked at Anna. “I’m ready to leave now.” She whirled on her spiked heel and walked to the buggy.

“Lukas.” Anna’s voice trembled like a frail leaf in a galeforce wind. “What are we going to do?”

He faced his wife. “We must pray. Trust God. And above all, be there for Sawyer. This isn’t about us.”

“But—”

“
Lieb
. Please.” He touched her face. “Remember, we have always trusted God with everything. This isn’t different.”

“
Ya
, it is.” Fear entered her eyes.

He wished he could wipe away her anguish. Give her a tender kiss and she would know everything would be all right. But he wasn’t sure of that himself. They both knew that God’s will wasn’t always their own. If it was, they would have a houseful of children, instead of being on the verge of losing their only son. Not only did Cora Easley seem determined to take Sawyer with her, she also seemed closed to compromising.

But there was an even worse fear. Sawyer already had one foot in the Amish life and one in the Yankee world. Once he left Middlefield behind, would he ever come back? Or would he become a part of his new family and forget about Lukas and Anna?

Lukas banished the thought from his mind. He was borrowing trouble, inviting worry, and doing exactly the opposite of what he told Anna.
I trust in You, Lord
, he said to himself. To his wife he said, “Be as kind as you can to this
fraa
. Where is she staying tonight?”

“Her suitcases are in our living room.” Anna wiped her eyes. “She brought a lot of them.”

“Then maybe she plans to stay for a while. To get to know Sawyer and where he comes from. Maybe she knew this wouldn’t be easy and prepared for that.”

“I don’t think that’s it.” She looked at Lukas. “I think she just has a lot of stuff. You heard her. She can’t wait to leave.”

“Maybe she should stay with us.”

Anna looked away. “I don’t want her to,” she whispered.

“I know. But this will give us a chance to get to know her better. And hopefully Sawyer will be open to learning about her too.” He leaned close to her. “Be anxious for nothing.”

She nodded.

“Danki, lieb.”
He ran his hand over the back of hers before letting it go. “You should
geh
. Don’t keep her waiting. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“With Sawyer?”

He nodded. “With our
sohn
.”

C
HAPTER
15

Cora placed her foot on the narrow, muddy step of the buggy and heaved herself upward. The slick sole of her shoe gave no traction; she slipped, lost her footing, and had to grab onto the front wheel to keep from falling. That was all she needed to complete this day—make an utter fool of herself by landing face-first in a pile of manure.

What did these people have against cars? Against decent clothing?

On the second try she had more success. She hoisted herself into the buggy and carefully checked the bench. Satisfied that it was relatively clean, she sat down and pulled a linen handkerchief from her bag. She flinched as she wiped the mud off her palm, then laid the handkerchief on the seat, as far away as she could. She wasn’t about to put that nasty thing back in a four-thousand-dollar Hermes.

Cora leaned against the seat and looked out at Anna and Lukas, their heads close together. No doubt plotting how they would circumvent her attempt to convince Sawyer to come home.

It shouldn’t even be an issue. He was her grandson. But Sawyer hadn’t just inherited his mother’s eyes. He also had her stubborn streak.

Cora’s determination, however, ran deeper. Stronger. She would not be denied her only grandson. Not by anyone.

The sound of running water arrested her attention, and Cora realized with a lurch of disgust that the horse attached to the buggy was relieving himself. Again.

Cora cringed. She detested animals, had never had a pet, nor allowed Kerry to have one. The one time her daughter had brought home a puppy, Cora had promptly taken it to the pound. Animals were dirty. They made messes. And in the case of this horse, a huge, steamy puddle in the driveway.

Anna returned to the buggy wearing a strained, forced smile. Cora was used to seeing those. She didn’t return it.

“It won’t take long to get back to the
haus
,” Anna said. She picked up the reins, snapped them smartly across the horse’s rump, and started out of the driveway.

By now Cora knew that “not long” in Amish meant “whenever we get there.” Horse and buggy, indeed. At least in New York the carriages were open. Decorative. And depending on your companion, romantic.

There was nothing romantic about the Amish.

“Do you like chicken and dumplings?”

Cora looked at Anna. “Pardon me?”

“Chicken and dumplings. That’s what we’re having for supper tonight. Along with cabbage casserole and butter beans. With Ho Ho cake for dessert.” She smiled again, although her face looked like it might crack at any minute from the strain.

“That’s Lukas’s favorite.”

Ho Ho cake?
Cora looked out the window of the buggy. “As soon as we get back, I plan to call a taxi. As I said, I’ll be returning to Cleveland tonight.”

“You don’t have to. You’re welcome to stay.” She paused.

“With us.”

Anna sounded anything but welcoming. “I would prefer to go.” Cora crossed her legs. Arranged her scarf and fiddled with her collar for the sixth time since she’d arrived. Pushed the dirty handkerchief onto the floor of the buggy.

Her suit smelled like horse, and her shoes . . . well, better not to think about what her shoes smelled like. She ought to burn the whole lot. But first she had to find a hotel. With a spa. After the day she had, she needed the pampering.