A Simple Hope: A Lancaster Crossroads Novel (26 page)

Gary! “He’s not my boyfriend,” she protested.

But Phil went on. Either he didn’t hear her or he didn’t care. “He’ll be coming to get you tonight, right there at that 7-Eleven. He thinks he knows just where it is.”

“No,” Shandell breathed, closing her eyes. This couldn’t be happening.

“Phil … Dad … You
can’t
send him out here. He’s the reason I never got home in the first place.”

“He’s been worried about you ever since you ditched him. That’s not a nice thing to do, now, is it?”

“I ditched him because he wouldn’t take me home,” she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

“Don’t be a drama queen.” Phil’s tone was surly now.

“Tell her I’ll see her tonight,” Gary said in the background. “At the Halfway 7-Eleven.”

“Phil, listen to me.” Shandell’s heart was beating fast as she gripped the phone. “Don’t send Gary. That’s just a waste of everyone’s time. I want Mom to come. I
need
Mom to come get me. Please.”

“Listen to you, making demands. Still haven’t learned that it’s not all about you.”

“This isn’t about being selfish, it’s … it’s about self-preservation.”

“Easy, drama queen. You know what I always say: You’ll get what you get and you won’t get upset.”

She had heard that one a hundred times, but it wasn’t going to
keep her from trying to straighten this out. “Don’t send Gary. I’m not getting in a car with him.”

“Oh, and now you’re a snob? Too good for him?”

“That’s not what I mean at all. Please, tell Mom that—”

“You can tell her yourself, when you get home tonight,” he said. “When Gary drops you off.”

Before Shandell could respond, there was a click on the line. Disconnected.

Quickly, she punched in the number again. She would keep her emotions in check and reason with Phil. But the phone rang on and on, and outside the door of the shanty, the sight of James and Rachel talking in the buggy reminded her that they were waiting, and James had to get to therapy. She would have to leave a message and call back later.

After the tone, she told her mother not to send Gary, because she would not go with him. She promised to call later, adding that she really wanted to come home and missed her mom.

After she hung up, she realized that Phil would probably be the one to retrieve the voice mail. He would be annoyed that she hadn’t said that she missed him, too. He might even delete the message without telling Mom about it. He could be that petty sometimes.

As she left the shanty, she pressed a hand to her mouth. Would she be able to talk sense into Phil? She knew Gary could be very persuasive.

Oh, if she could just reach Mom. She tried Mom’s cell, but the call didn’t go through. That was no surprise; Chelsea worked in a building with zero cell reception.

“Shandell?” Concern flashed in Rachel’s blue eyes. “You’re shaking like a leaf. Are you sick?”

“Sick at heart, I guess.”

“Did you speak with your mother?” asked James.

“No.” She climbed into the back of the buggy and collapsed on
the seat. “She was at work. But it turns out she’s not coming for me tonight. They decided to send Gary, the lunatic that I had to escape from.”

Rachel started the buggy moving, turning it around on the road. “What’s a lunatic?”

“Verhuddelt,” James said. “But in a mean way.” Then he launched into that language Shandell didn’t understand again, only this time his tone was more concerned than argumentative.

“I see,” Rachel said. “This man, Gary, he was trouble for you?”

“Big trouble.” Shandell didn’t know how to begin describing Gary, but she tried to give Rachel and James a condensed version. “He told me we were going home, but he kept stalling and driving through all the towns around here, telling me he’d take me home when he really had no intention of doing that. I felt like one of those kidnap victims who have to break free. And he’s a thief. At first he stole gas and snacks from a few gas stations. Then, when he realized that Amish people don’t give a lot of push-back, he started stealing from Amish shops and stands. So, yeah, he’s trouble.”

She thought about her plan to call back and talk Gary out of coming. That was lame. He wasn’t going to back off, especially now that he knew where she was. It would be like some sort of conquest for him, a sick victory. He would enjoy having her back in his car and under his power.

Would he actually drive her home?

She wasn’t going to take the chance that he might do her that favor.

“What will you do if he is the one who comes tonight?”

“I can’t go with him. If he’s coming to Halfway, I’m going to get myself as far from here as I can, even if I have to hitchhike. As soon as I get back to the sugar shack, I’ll get my stuff together and leave. What’s the next town over?”

“Paradise,” James said, “but it’s a good ten miles. It will take you
most of the morning to walk there. And what will you do once you get there? It’s much like Halfway, but bigger. You talked to the police and they can’t help you. I don’t think the answer is in Paradise.”

That sounded funny; Shandell would have laughed if she didn’t feel nauseated.

“And don’t forget, your pants are still drying,” Rachel reminded her.

“Right.” The ultimate humiliation; Shandell was now running around in her Minnie Mouse pajama pants. That wouldn’t have been such a big deal on some college campuses, but here in Lancaster County, the attire wasn’t quite so loose. “Well, I guess I’ll be walking in wet jeans.” She would get over it and get through it. She didn’t know where she would go next.

She knew only one thing for sure: She could not go near Gary.

J
ames watched the two of them move about the sugar shack, chatting like two old friends. It was hard to believe that Rachel and Shandell had met just this morning, and in a very uncomfortable moment, too.

Warm from the fire and relaxed from a good helping of cheesy casserole, James eyed the cocoa drop cookie in his hand. It was his favorite treat, from his favorite girl. Indeed, the young woman he had always planned to marry. But in the years before, James had not seen Rachel tested on big matters. He had not known that she had the strength to travel a bumpy road, full of obstacles, until she had stayed by his side throughout his rehabilitation. He had not seen her endure his harsh words until Easter Sunday. He had not seen anger flare in her cornflower-blue eyes until today. And he had not seen her take a fallen angel under her wing, until this evening when she realized that Shandell was truly in need.

What a day it had been! James had risen at four as usual and had
spent nearly four hours working in the orchard with his brothers and sisters. They were making some progress with the fertilization, but he feared it was not enough to keep Dat from hiring on strangers to take over the orchard.

And a new can of worms was opened as Shandell considered her future. James and Rachel weren’t sure what to do, but Rachel had been firm on getting Shandell to stay at the sugar shack until they returned from treatment so that they could talk about a plan.

And then, at the clinic, when his treatment was done, Dr. Finley gave him another chance to stand up—and he did. This time, he stayed on his feet for nearly three minutes, holding on to the bars only for balance. A true blessing! It reassured James that the progress of the day before hadn’t been a fluke. After that, he had pushed himself during the physical therapy, scraping all of his might to lift each leg, just a little bit. JJ was a good inspiration, calling at him to squeeze hard here or press hard there.

“Even if you move just a hair,” JJ had said. “A fraction of an inch today can be a few inches in a few months, and before you know it you’re taking a few steps.”

That was exactly the encouragement James needed to hear. He vowed to do everything asked of him in physical therapy. With Gott’s blessing and lots of hard work, James would be a whole man once again.

And now they were back at the sugar shack with Shandell, the stranded Englisher girl. He took a bite of the cookie, letting the bittersweet chocolate melt in his mouth. So much had been packed into one day.

Watching the two of them now as they gathered trash and tidied up the sugar shack after the good supper Rachel had brought, James realized that he loved Rachel more than ever before.

No longer lost in her art, no longer distant and dreamy, Rachel had stepped out of her girlhood to become a woman who cared
deeply for him and for other people. When had this change happened? He suspected the accident had something to do with it. Those first few weeks, he’d been surly and distant, sunk too deep into the muck to notice anyone else. From a terrible tragedy, Gott had blessed Rachel with new strength. She now had backbone and a kind heart. When she calmed Shandell’s worries, he could imagine her soothing the children they would have. When she handed them plates of casserole warmed from the woodstove, he saw her serving up a big family supper. It was a pretty picture, imagining Rachel as his wife. It pushed him that much more to recover, so that he could be the healthy husband she deserved.

His thoughts were interrupted when Shandell jumped up and pointed to a spider in the rafters. Calm and efficient, Rachel got the broom and managed to brush the critter and his web down. A minute later, the spider was scuttling out the door.

“What’s the difference between a spider and a duck?” James asked.

“Plenty of things.” Shandell sat back in the plastic chair and curled her legs up to her chin. “But you don’t want either of them bunking in with you.”

“It’s a riddle,” Rachel said, her blue eyes glimmering as she smiled at him. “James used to be full of jokes. So tell us, what’s the difference?”

“The spider has two feet of web, while the duck has two webbed feet.”

Shandell rolled her eyes, but Rachel’s chuckle was music to his ears.

“Tell us another,” Rachel said, taking a seat beside Shandell.

“How do you fix a broken pizza?”

“That I don’t know,” Rachel egged him on.

“With tomato paste.”

Now Shandell was giggling, too. “That’s so corny.”

“No, it’s tomato-ee,” James corrected. “And what gets bigger
when you take more away from it?” When both women shook their heads, he answered, “A hole.”

With a peaceful smile, Rachel leaned back in the chair. “Oh, James! I’ve missed your jokes and riddles. A good laugh eases every worry.”

That had been his intention. “But there are some matters that can’t be laughed away,” he said, turning his gaze to Shandell. “Like the matter of getting you home safely. Rachel and I, we’ve been talking about this as we rode in and out of town today. It sounds like a wise choice to avoid that man, Gary. But walking into Paradise is no way to fix things, either.” Now that he knew her, he hated the thought of Shandell traipsing around other towns and country roads. Bad things could happen to her, and that path would lead her even farther from home, where she needed to go. And Rachel had quickly come to the same conclusion.

“Not to sound selfish, but I’m disappointed that I’m not going home tonight. You’ve been so generous, James, and you, too, Rachel. That casserole was delicious, but I just don’t belong here. I need to be home, and this is getting ridiculous.”

“We want to help you get home, and we have an Englisher friend who would probably help you.” Rachel turned to James. “When does Dylan get back?”

“I’m not sure.” James knew Dylan would help if he was here. “He said he was going to Chicago for a friend’s wedding.”

“If I could just get through to my mother, I know she would wire me some money. At least enough to get a car service to Lancaster and take the bus home from there.”

“You must keep trying to reach your mother,” Rachel said. “I’m sure she’s worried sick for you.”

“How much is that bus from Lancaster?” James asked. “Maybe we can help.”

When Shandell named a sum, he remembered that he had no
cash on hand now. Like most Amish men in their twenties, James had received a small stipend from his parents—most of which he had saved for a house of his own. But after the accident, James had turned all his savings over to his parents to help cover expenses.

“I wish I could help,” Rachel said. “But I don’t have money just now.” James had learned that Rachel had donated her savings, all the money earned from her paintings, to the fund for his medical expenses. What a pair they were! Two hardworking young people, and not a penny to their names.

“I don’t want to take your money,” Shandell said. “And I don’t want to cause you any more trouble. My mom will come through. You’ll see.”

“Until then, you can stay here,” James said. “You’ve been no trouble, really.” He gazed at Rachel through lazy, lowered eyelids. “Except for the surprise you gave this one this morning.”

Shandell held her hands up to her face. “That was totally awkward. But I’m glad it was you, Rachel. I would have really freaked out if it had been a bunch of wild Amish guys, like on TV.”

Although Shandell sometimes seemed to be speaking a strange language, James appreciated her honesty. “Who are these Amish men on the TV? Plain folk don’t abide by having their photos taken, on account of the Bible telling us not to have a graven image.”