Katie's Way (32 page)

Rhoda scrambled down, carrying her duffel bag. “I promised you I'd be home early to go to Sarah's.”

“Ja, you did.” Katie hugged her. “But I expected to come for you.”

“Caleb said he'd drive me.” Rhoda scurried to the door. “I'll go and pack up the cookies I made to take to Molly's.” The door banged behind her, leaving Katie alone with Caleb.

She forced herself to look up to the buggy seat. “Denke, Caleb. This was ser gut of you.”

“It made no trouble to bring her.” He stared for a moment at the horse's ears, and then seemed to yank his gaze away to look at her. “Besides, I . . . Well, I thought maybe I sounded harsh yesterday. I didn't mean—”

“It's all right.” It was hard to keep her smile in place when her heart seemed to be crying. “I would rather know the truth.”

“Ja.” He took a deep breath. “Gut. I just want us to be friends.”

For an instant she thought of Myra's words about loving someone who was also your best friend. Katie's smile wavered, and she stiffened it until she feared her face must look like a mask. “Ja,” she said. “Friends.”

Caleb glanced away, as if he could not hold her gaze any longer. His eyes narrowed. “There is Cliff Wainwright. He looks as if something is wrong.”

Katie turned, raising her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Caleb was right. Cliff was hurrying toward them, his white hair standing on end as if he'd just gotten out of bed. As usual, his glasses were pushed on top of his head, but his shirt collar was open and his tie dangled.

She was suddenly chilled. “Cliff, is something wrong? You don't look well.”

“Neither will you when you've heard.” His face was grim.

Caleb slid down from the buggy, and Katie felt him come and stand next to her. “What is wrong?”

“Vandals again, that's what.” Cliff spat out the words. “They hit a bunch of merchants last night, but Lisa Macklin got the worst of it. Her shop has been trashed.”

“Lisa.” Katie's numb lips formed the name. “I must go.” She rushed down the street, her heart pounding in her chest. Trashed. That sounded bad. Poor Lisa. All her pleasure in what had happened yesterday would be turned to ashes.

K
atie
moved through the small knot of people who had gathered in front of Lisa's shop, talking in low, tense whispers. She reached the front of the crowd and stopped, staring. Shocked.

She had imagined something bad, but nothing like this. The front windows had been smashed, all the candles and knickknacks broken or trampled almost past recognition. Beyond, the shop itself was a mass of overturned shelves and broken displays. It was as if a malevolent giant had crashed through, swinging a massive club at everything in his path.

She took a breath that caught on a sob. Caleb gripped her elbow. “Komm away. There's nothing you can do.”

She pulled free of him, shaking her head. He was just being kind, she understood that, but at the moment she couldn't handle his kindness.

“I must talk with Lisa.”

Lisa stood with Chief Walker, staring numbly at what was left of her shop. She huddled inside a sweater despite the warmth of the sunshine, and her face looked pinched and old.

Katie moved, and Lisa looked over and saw her. For an instant she just stared, but then she walked toward her stiffly, trying to smile even as she blinked back tears.

“I am so sorry.” Katie put her arms around Lisa, feeling the woman lean against her as if needing the support. “So sorry.”

“I know.” Lisa's voice was choked. “You know what it's like, don't you?”

“Ja,” Katie said softly. She moved her hand in gentle circles on Lisa's back. “Why don't you come with me and have some coffee? You don't have to stay here.”

Lisa drew away, making an effort to compose herself. “Thanks, but I'd rather stay. I ... I can't seem to take it in. All that destruction—it's so hard to look at.”

“I'll help you clean up. Everyone will help.”

“No, we can't.” Lisa put her hand on Katie's arm, as if to stop her from moving. “I can't touch anything until Chief Walker is done with his investigation. And the insurance adjuster, too. He's supposed to be on his way.”

Katie nodded. She hadn't thought of that. Being Englisch, Lisa would naturally have insurance. Amish folks didn't, relying on God's providence and each other in times of trouble.

“You will be able to rebuild, then,” she said. “You'll put everything back the way it was.”

“I don't know.” Lisa sounded defeated. “I just don't know if I have the strength to do that. Mark's dream . . .” She stopped on a sob.

Chief Walker beckoned Lisa, and she returned to him. He gestured, seeming to ask her something about the door.

“I've been talking to some of the other folks,” Caleb said, his voice low in Katie's ear. “Several businesses had spray paint on them, but nothing as bad as Mrs. Macklin's place.”

Katie's breath caught. “I just don't understand it. Why would anyone do this to her?”

“Maybe . . .” Caleb began, and then he shrugged. “Most likely it was just a random choice. Maybe they liked the idea of breaking all those fancy things.”

Katie nodded, but she had a sense that Caleb had been going to say something else and changed his mind.

Melanie came hurrying through the crowd to Katie. “I just heard. This is awful. Who could have done it?” Her voice was shaking, and she looked nearly as bad as Lisa. Poor girl. She had probably never seen destruction like this before.

Katie patted her arm. Melanie grabbed her hand and hung on tightly.

“We don't know,” Katie said. “Most likely the same kids who damaged my place.” She tried to sound matter-of-fact in the face of Melanie's distress.

“Kids? You think it was kids?” Melanie shot the question at her.

“Usually that's the case with vandalism, I think.”

“It looks like someone just charged in there with a baseball bat and started swinging,” Cliff said, running his hand through his hair, making it stand up still more. “Someone would have to be really angry to do that.”

Melanie's lips trembled. “I can't stand to think about it. I can't.”

Before Katie could suggest that she go home, Melanie had rushed off through the crowd.

“Poor kid,” Cliff said, looking after her. “I suppose she still thinks the world is all cotton candy and lollipops.”

“Was that Melanie?” Lisa came back to them, looking a little more like herself. “Why did she run off?”

“She was upset,” Katie said. “I know she wanted to say how sorry she is.”

“Everyone's sorry.” Lisa's voice went flat. “So much for my new life. First Mark, now the shop. I guess this wasn't meant to be.”

“You can't look at it that way. You're still shocked.” Katie hated hearing Lisa sound so defeated. She was always so full of life and enthusiasm.

“Things will look better tomorrow,” Donna said, having elbowed her way through the crowd, and hearing those final words. She pressed her cheek against Lisa's for just a moment. “You'll see. In the meantime, you come home with me. We'd love to have you, and you shouldn't be alone at a time like this.”

“That's a wonderful-gut idea,” Katie said, relieved. Brisk, no-nonsense Donna wouldn't let Lisa brood over what had happened. “You'll feel better staying with someone for today, at least. I'm sure Chief Walker will catch these people quickly, and then you won't have to worry.”

Donna's eyebrows lifted. “Quickly? Somehow I doubt it's going to be that easy. How is he going to track down a gang of outsiders?”

“Outsiders?” Katie stared at her blankly.

Donna pulled a tissue from her bag and handed it to Lisa. “Outsiders,” she repeated firmly. “I hate to say I told you so, but if you do something that brings a lot of attention to Pleasant Valley, this is the sort of thing you have to expect.”

The sidewalk was unsteady beneath Katie's feet. “But, Donna, how can that be? My store was hit before the celebration took place.”

“The publicity had already gone out, hadn't it?” Donna was unmoved. “Mark my words, you've opened a Pandora's box, and—”

“That's ridiculous.” Lisa's voice had recovered its strength, and color came into her cheeks. “Everyone knows there's been vandalism in this area for years. Chief Walker told me it peaks in spring and again in late October. The only difference is that usually it's been directed against the Amish.” Lisa's glance swept the circle of bystanders, her voice rising. “And we've all said how terrible it is, but nobody ever did anything. Well, now it's hitting us, and you can't blame Pennsylvania Dutch Days for that.”

Nobody said anything, although there was some shuffling of feet. Even Donna seemed silenced by Lisa's reaction.

But silence didn't necessarily mean they agreed with her. If people blamed Lisa they'd blame Katie, as well. And if she didn't have the support of the community, her days here would be numbered.

 

 

It
was an uneasy time in Pleasant Valley. Caleb set the newly finished blanket chest against the wall, adjusting its position to catch the afternoon light, liking the way the grain of the wood showed up. Even his pleasure in the completed piece couldn't erase the tension he felt . . . the same tension that seemed to pervade the community, Englisch and Amish alike.

He understood the feeling. After what had happened on Sunday, he'd had to battle a sense of dread when he approached his shop yesterday morning and again this morning.

So far, nothing else bad had happened. Maybe the vandals, aware of the response they'd created, had decided to lie low.

“That's a lovely piece.” Katie approached from her shop, making an effort to sound normal but not quite succeeding.

Caleb ran his hand along the neatly fitted corners. “Turned out okay,” he conceded. They'd both been making an effort, he realized. An effort to be friends. Neighbors. Nothing more.

That was his choice, and he'd made it. So why did he find his path so difficult?

Katie rubbed her arms. “I feel as if we're waiting for something to happen. When I lock the shop at night, I feel . . .”

“Ja, I know. Me, too.” He straightened. “It's going okay, staying with your cousins?” Considering the recent violence, Katie's cousins had insisted that Katie and Rhoda stay with them for a bit.

Katie nodded. “Rhoda loves helping take care of baby Jacob, so that's keeping her happy. And I'm enjoying the company. But I worry about the shop when I'm not here. I know I shouldn't, but I do.”

“I know. I feel the same. I think everyone in town does. How is your friend Mrs. Macklin?”

“She is having a hard time, I think.” Tears welled in Katie's eyes. “That shop was her husband's dream, and since he died, she felt it was all she had left of him. I'm not sure she has the heart to come back from so much trouble.”

Caleb tried to picture his own shop smashed with such violence, but his mind recoiled from the image. “I understand how she feels. If everything I worked for had been destroyed, I don't know if I could do anything but walk away.”

Katie adjusted the position of a rocking chair by a quarter of an inch, as if she couldn't be still. “What are other people saying, do you know?”

He wasn't sure it would do Katie any good to hear everything folks were saying. “I stopped for coffee at Paula's a couple of times and listened to the talk. Folks say Chief Walker is on the warpath. He's had people patrolling the streets all hours of the night, and he even called in the lab from the state police, they say.”

“Amish shouldn't be involved with the law.” A shiver seemed to run through Katie, despite the warmth of the afternoon. “I'm sure folks will be thinking that my actions brought this on.”

Caleb couldn't deny that he'd heard something like that expressed by a few Amish, but it wasn't necessary to say so to Katie, was it? She needed comfort now, not more bad news.

Comfort he couldn't give her. He didn't have the right. He'd told her what he knew was true about himself—that he didn't have that kind of love left to offer a woman.

Still, he had to fight the longing to put his arms around her, draw her close, and smooth his hand down her back....

“How was your quilting class today?” he asked, in a desperate effort to send his thoughts in a different direction.

Katie's lips tightened. “Only two people showed up. The others didn't even stop by with an excuse.”

“They might have a gut reason,” he began, but saw she wasn't believing that.

“Ja. And that reason is their sense that I am somehow responsible for the trouble. Or that it might rub off on them, from just being around me.” She said the words bravely, but he saw the pain behind them.

His heart twisted in sympathy. Katie had worked so hard to make a go of her business, only to see it at risk because of something she couldn't control.

“Chief Walker is a gut man. He'll find out who is doing these things, and then everything will go back to normal.”

She looked at him steadily, her gaze questioning. “Do you really believe what you are saying, Caleb?”

He risked touching her hand. “Ja. And you must as well. Trust, Katie. That is all we have.”

Trust. They could have had more, but he couldn't change who he was, and Katie would never accept being second best.