Rebecca's Rose (21 page)

“Dottie Mae would have been bored stiff.”

“So, what besides skiing is left on that psycho list of yours?”

“Driving,” Rebecca said.

“I can teach you to drive a golf ball,” Levi said. “It’s safe. Unless you hit me in the head and kill me.”

“Could you teach me to drive your car?”

Levi shook his head. “Lucky for me, it’s illegal without a license.”

“You said your dad used to take you on the back roads before you got your license. I don’t need to drive to Milwaukee. I just want to try it out.”

Levi took a deep breath. He knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn’t give up until he relented. How hard could it be on the old haul road behind the DeGroots’ pasture? A straight, wide dirt road that no one ever used was the perfect place for a driving lesson.

“Okay,” he said, “but I pick the place and the speed and the distance. Once we’re done, you can’t tell me it wasn’t good enough.”

“Agreed,” she said, smiling in satisfaction.

After the hour’s drive back to Patton, Levi slowly made his way down the main road, lecturing Rebecca on the finer points of vehicle operation. By the time they got to DeGroots’ pasture, he hoped he had her scared to death. A car careening out of control was a bit different than an errant skateboard.

He turned off the car and let Rebecca sit in the driver’s seat. He showed her how to start the car then ran around to the passenger seat. “Ease off the brake slowly and let the car roll forward.”

As the car moved, Rebecca caught her breath and pressed hard on the brake. They both lurched forward.

“Sorry,” she squeaked.

She slowly took her foot from the brake and slammed on it again when the car rolled forward.

“Breathe, kid,” Levi said. “We’ll crash if you pass out.”

For the third time, Rebecca let the car roll forward and abruptly applied the brake.

Levi exhaled. “Okay, you’ve driven a car. I think that’s good enough.”

“No, I have the feel of it now.”

“One more time, kid.”

“Thanks, Pooky.”

“Pooky?”

“I heard a lady say that to her son in the store yesterday.”

“You might feel stupid calling me Pooky,” Levi said.

“Probably.”

“Take your foot off the brake and let the car roll. Do you trust me?”

Rebecca nodded.

“We’re only going about two miles an hour, so we’re not going to die. The road is wide enough that you can veer to the right and left a little.”

This time by sheer willpower, Levi was sure, Rebecca held her breath and let the car roll. Her foot hovered over the brake, but she resisted the urge to tap on it. The dirt and gravel popped under the tires as they trundled slowly down the lane.

“Turn your wheel slightly to the left,” Levi said. “Good, now straighten out.”

Rebecca did as she was told. When the car didn’t explode, she took a deep breath.

Levi regarded the stretch of road in front of them. A lot of distance to work with. “Okay, now press very slowly on the gas pedal.”

The engine revved, and the car jolted forward. Panting heavily, Rebecca lifted her foot.

“Try again,” Levi said, hoping he sounded calmer than he felt. He couldn’t help his heart racing. When she was upset, he was upset. The sooner they got through this ordeal, the better. Another thing off that darn list.

Rebecca eased her foot onto the gas pedal, and Levi’s Toyota gradually, almost imperceptibly, picked up speed.

“Keep the speed right here for a minute. Get used to it.”

They couldn’t have been going more than ten miles an hour, but the terror on Rebecca’s face was plain enough.

“Okay, ready to go faster?”

Rebecca kept her eyes glued to the dirt road but nodded slowly.

The car zoomed to twenty miles an hour—plenty fast for Levi. Any faster and they both might have a heart attack. Rebecca would have to be satisfied that she reached school-zone speed.

Rebecca didn’t smile, but she did resume breathing. “This is fun.”

“At the end of the road, stop and I’ll show you how to put it into Park.”

The dirt road ended at a
T
intersection with a slight drop-off and a grove of trees directly ahead. Rebecca, with her penchant for reckless behavior, put more pressure on the gas pedal and sped to thirty miles an hour.

“Slow down!” Levi yelled, now in full panic mode. He wanted to throttle her.

She took her foot off the gas.

Levi’s pried his fist off the door handle. “Stop right here,” he insisted. “You’re done.”

She took her eyes from the road long enough to flash him a sheepish expression as the car slowed considerably. He ran his fingers through his hair. “The death of me,” he muttered.

But Rebecca must have missed the brake, because the car suddenly accelerated forward. Levi shouted in surprise as his car plowed off the road, slid down the shallow drop-off, and thudded into a tree.

The impact wasn’t huge; she hadn’t been going that fast. But the momentum was enough to throw Rebecca forward, so she smacked her head into the steering wheel. Gasping, she clutched her forehead, and Levi saw blood trickle between her fingers.

With his heart sinking to his toes, Levi leaped from his seat and ran around to the driver’s side. No seat belt. How could he have been so stupid?

He threw open Rebecca’s door and knelt beside her. She had her face buried in her hands.

“Oh, kid. I’m sorry.” He pulled her hands from her face to examine the injury. Blood trickled from a relatively small cut above her eyebrow. The size of the cut didn’t make Levi feel any better. Reaching into the backseat, he found an old T-shirt, wadded it up, and placed it gently over Rebecca’s forehead.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Bad,” she mumbled.

Her eyes had that glassy look that could only mean a concussion. His heart skipped a beat. He pulled the T-shirt from her head and probed around the wound. She winced in pain.

“Oh, kid. It’s going to be okay. I’m so sorry.”

Rebecca needed to get to a hospital immediately, but Levi didn’t know if the old Toyota could make the trip. The engine was still running, but that didn’t mean that the wheels weren’t bent or the radiator wasn’t cracked. He put the T-shirt into Rebecca’s hand and nudged it back over the cut. “Hold this,” he said. “I need to check out the car.”

Rebecca groaned. “I’m sorry I crashed it. I never should have—”

“Don’t worry about it. The car isn’t what’s important.”

He reached over, popped the hood, then walked to the front of the car. The bumper was crumpled but repairable. He lifted the hood to look for damage. No hissing steam or dripping liquids. It looked like the bumper took the brunt of the crash and left the engine unscathed. He patted the front grill. “Good girl,” he said. His Toyota—as dependable as man’s best friend. The tires looked pretty solid on the ground. With any luck, he would be able to back the car up onto the road without a tow truck. He took a deep breath and said a short prayer of thanks.

Returning to Rebecca, he put her arm around his neck and lifted her out of the car. “Come on,” he said. He carried her to the passenger seat and belted her in.

She smiled a groggy smile. “You don’t want me to drive anymore?”

“Never again.”

“I think I agree.”

“Keep the shirt on the bleeding. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

She lifted her head and became more lucid. “No, you’re not.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Levi, I cannot afford a hospital.”

“We’re going anyway,” Levi said.

Her voice rose in panic. “I cannot go to a hospital. My parents will find out. It will cost hundreds of dollars.”

Levi clenched his jaw. “You need to see a doctor. We’ll work out the payment somehow.”

Rebecca reached over and grabbed his arm with her blood-smeared hand. “I do not need a hospital. Hospitals are where people go to die.”

Could he bear to put her through one more panic-inducing experience? Hesitating, he stared into those hazel eyes, which depths revealed so many colors at once. His heart melted. How could he refuse her anything?

“Why do I let you talk me into stuff?” He pounded his fist on the steering wheel. Looking behind him, he pressed lightly on the gas pedal and eased the car back onto the dirt road. The three-ton weights on his chest eased considerably.

“No hospital,” Levi said, shaking his head. “But against my better judgment. Most of what you’ve forced me to do in this relationship is against my better judgment.”

“I need to go somewhere to clean up before you take me home,” Rebecca said, taking the T-shirt from her forehead and feeling the wound. “Do you still have the first-aid kit at work?”

“Hah, very funny. I’m taking you to a professional.”

“You said no hospital.”

“I’m taking you to a nurse, at her apartment. But when she finds out who you are, she’s going to freak out.”

Rebecca wouldn’t let Levi carry her. In spite of his concern about her head, she thought his carting her up two flights of stairs a ridiculous idea. So he put his arm around her waist and supported her as they slowly made their way up to his apartment.

This meeting between Rebecca and Mom was not exactly how he’d intended it, but he did want them to meet eventually. Levi had a plan, and the accident simply moved up the timing somewhat. This might be the perfect way to broach the subject with Mom—a subject he had been mulling over for weeks, a decision that would dramatically alter his life forever.

He knocked on the door, not wanting to fish around in his pocket for the keys. Mom kept it locked whether she was home or not.

“Who is it?” came a voice from the inside.

“Levi.”

Mom opened the door a crack. Since Beth had left for college, she took extra caution. “Levi?” Her eyes widened as she looked at Rebecca. “Oh my, come in. What happened?”

Keeping a firm hold on Rebecca’s arm, Levi led her to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair for her. She sat, then sucked in her breath and held it as she studied his mom.

“We were in a minor car accident,” he said.

“Have you been drinking?”

She might as well have slapped him in the face. He reeled from the blow then regained his composure. “No, Mom. No way.”

She lowered her eyes. “I am sorry, Levi. I shouldn’t have assumed—”

“It’s okay, Mom. It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s not his fault,” Rebecca said quietly. “I was driving.”

Mom knelt beside the chair and put a hand to Rebecca’s forehead. “You must be Rebecca.”

Rebecca nodded.

“Let me see the cut. Levi, go get the first-aid kit. The big one in my room.”

Levi jogged to Mom’s room and pulled out the box from under her bed. When he returned to the kitchen, Mom and Rebecca were conversing quietly.

“She says she hit the steering wheel,” Mom said. “Did you check for signs of a concussion?”

“Yeah, she seemed kind of dazed.”

Mom took Rebecca’s hand. “You might have a mild concussion, but nothing serious, I think.”

She stood and opened the box and donned a pair of latex gloves. With the efficiency of someone who had cleaned many wounds, Mom wiped the blood from Rebecca’s forehead and face. “Levi, get a wet rag so she can wipe her hands.”

Rebecca held perfectly still and stared at Mom with unguarded curiosity.

“So, you are the girl Levi spends all his time with,” Mom said as she poured more mild soap onto a gauze pad. “I can see why he was interested in the first place.”

“So can I,” said Levi.

Mom rolled her eyes then winked at Rebecca. “Have you noticed that you always know exactly how Levi feels about everything?”

Once the cut was clean, Mom could examine it more closely. “It is small,” she said. “Even without stitches, I don’t think you will have much of a scar. Right above the eyebrow like that, it will not be as noticeable. I can secure it with a butterfly. But if you wanted to go get stitches at the emergency room, that would be fine too.”

“That ain’t gonna happen,” Levi said. “She refuses to set foot inside a hospital. You were the next best thing.”

“I’m glad for that,” Mom said, smiling. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for weeks, and Levi keeps you all to himself.” She pulled another gauze pad and some antibacterial ointment from the first-aid kit. “Tell me about yourself. Where do you live? Are you going to school?”

Rebecca glanced at Levi as his mom dressed the cut on her forehead then forged ahead. “The most important thing you should know about me,” she said, “is that I am Amish. My family lives in Apple Lake.”

Mom was not prepared for such a revelation. She pulled away from her work. The ointment she meant to apply to Rebecca’s forehead dangled precariously from the tube as her eyes darted from Levi to Rebecca in shocked disbelief. She plopped down without even checking to see if there was a chair to catch her when she descended.

Mom laid down her medical supplies. “Have you been baptized?”

Rebecca shook her head. “Later on next year, Lord willing.”

“How did this happen?” she said, more to herself than either Levi or Rebecca.

“Mom, it’s not the end of the world.”

She didn’t take it as the tease Levi meant it to be. “Yes, it is.” Mom propped her elbows on the table, laced her fingers together, and leaned her forehead on her clasped hands. “Do you two understand what you are getting into?”

“We are only dating,” Rebecca said.

“That is where the road begins,” Mom said. “You have no idea where it ends.” She massaged her temples.

“I asked Levi to teach me how to ski. He is going to take me skiing when the snows come.”

Mom stared not at Rebecca, but at Levi, with something akin to pity. “I do not know you well, Rebecca,” she said, “but I know my son, and this relationship means much more to him than a ski trip.”

Rebecca studied her hands in her lap. “It means much more to me too,” she said.

Levi’s heart did a cartwheel. She had never come so close to expressing some sort of feeling for him. Despite the charged emotions in the room, he wanted to smile.

Mom seemed to think better of whatever she was going to say next. She clamped her mouth shut, picked up the ointment, and began to smear it over Rebecca’s cut. They remained in silence until Mom chose to break it. She seemed to suddenly change moods, as if her outburst had never happened. “Who are your parents, Rebecca?