Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book 3) (12 page)

“
It’s not like that and you
know it,” Kate said, hurt by his words. “It’s to keep both of us
safe. The less you know, the less likely someone uses you to get to
me. No one knew. Just me, and my boss, and his friend, the bishop,
and the bishop’s wife. That’s it. Just the people helping
me.”

“
I just wish you would have
told me,” Ryan said.

“
I couldn’t have. I
couldn’t, not until I knew I was safe.”

“
You said you were thinking
about leaving the Amish community. You weren’t even in
it.”

“
I was playing a role,”
Kate said, though as soon as the words were out of her mouth she
regretted them.

“
That’s what it all was?”
Ryan asked, picking up on her poor phrasing. “A role?”

“
No,” Kate said. “Not my
feelings for you.”

“
So you do have feelings
for me?” Ryan asked.

“
Yes.”

“
In your cabin, before..,”
Ryan’s words trailed away, and then he did not speak again for a
few moments. “We almost kissed,” he continued, “but then you told
me to leave.”

Kate nodded.

“
Why?”

“
I knew my time was short
here; I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Ryan shook his head, and then for the
first time in the boat, he looked at Kate. “So if I hadn't been
there, when you did all of that, fought that guy, what would you
have done? When it was time to go, I mean. Would you have just
left?”

Kate sighed. She thought for a moment.
That had been her plan, and she knew it. “Yes,” she said
finally.

“
Well at least you aren’t
lying now,” Ryan said, with a sarcastic laugh.

“
I wouldn’t have been able
to stay gone, though! I would have had to come back, to tell you
everything, to see you,” Kate said. She would have come back. She
and Ryan did have something; Kate needed to tell him. “We have
something here. We do; we both know it.”

“
How could I ever trust you
though?” Ryan asked. “A good relationship is based on trust. Could
we do that?”

Kate shook her head sadly, as tears
welled up in her eyes. “I was in danger. It wasn’t just some lie I
was telling. I was going to be killed. Someone was going to kill me
if they could. If they could find me. Listen, it’s what I do, in
witness protection. I help people who are hiding. And they’re
hiding, because if they don’t, someone will kill them. That’s what
would have happened to me. If I wasn’t hiding, they would have
killed me.”

Something about it this time appeared
to make Ryan realize. He looked at Kate, his eyes on hers. He began
to nod, softly. “I know,” he said, in a voice so quiet it was
almost a whisper. “I know. I’m being stupid; I’m sorry.”

Kate smiled. She laughed, and cried,
her eyes brimming with sharp, salty tears for a reason she couldn’t
comprehend. Ryan’s own eyes shone with tears, though he must have
fought them, as none fell.

“
I’m sorry,” Kate said
again, in a small voice.

“
You don’t have to
apologize,” Ryan said. “I’m sorry. I was being an idiot. I was
hurt, but it was a stupid reason to be hurt.”

Kate hurried to reassure him. “I would
have come back. Truly.”

Ryan smiled at her. “Well now you
don’t have to come back; you’re here.”

Kate smiled and nodded.

“
What are you going to do,
though?” Ryan asked. “Where do you really live?”

“
Wyoming,” she
said.

Ryan whistled. “That’s a long ways
away, isn’t it?”

Kate nodded.

“
So what do we do?” Ryan
asked.

“
I don’t know; I don’t know
right now. I have to go back soon. I have a lot to get back in
order; I’ve been gone a long time. I have a job.”

“
I do too,” Ryan said. “I
understand.”

“
Let’s not worry about it,
not today,” Kate said. “I’ve been worrying about a lot lately, and
I don’t want to worry anymore.”

“
So how do you feel about
marriage?’ Ryan asked.

Kate jumped so much that she nearly
fell overboard, and Ryan had to put out his hand to steady
her.

“
Is this a proposal?” she
asked shyly.

Ryan smiled. “Not officially, because
I don’t have the ring yet. And when I do have the ring, then I’ll
have to go down on one knee and make a speech. So this is kind of
an unofficial proposal.”

Kate simply said, “Yes.”

“
Okay,” Ryan said, coming
forward, leaving his bench to sit on Kate’s, next to her. He slid
his arm around her, and she closed her eyes as she turned her head
to his. He kissed her, their lips pressing together, and it was
such a long time coming, and it was perfect. There was nothing
beside them, at least for that kiss. The water was still, forgotten
by them both; the uncomfortable bench beneath them was like sitting
on a cloud. The bugs which buzzed up and down the shore were
silent; the frogs’ croaking couldn’t be heard. Kate could sense
nothing but Ryan, and his lips.

Soon they were heading back to Ryan’s
house, their pulses racing, their hands together, fingers
entwined.

“
Would you like to get some
lunch with me?” Ryan asked.

“
Yes,” Kate said with a
smile. “Or we could just kiss some more.”

Ryan laughed. “If we kiss too much I
won’t have time to pack.”

Kate was puzzled. “Don’t you mean I
won’t have time to pack?” she asked.

Ryan shook his head.

“
Where are you going?” Kate
asked.

“
Well, Wyoming needs cops
too, doesn’t it?”

Kate stopped walking, her hand forcing
him to stop, too. “You aren’t serious,” she said.

“
I am. If you are,” he
answered.

“
I am.” Kate was serious.
She and Ryan were in love. She was so serious that she too would
move for him, but she mentioned that, he waved his hand.

“
You need to be there for
your work, right? I can do mine anywhere. There are a lot of cops
all over. You have to go to back to looking after people in
WITSEC.”

Kate couldn’t believe her
luck. Just a day ago she was hidden, pretending to be Amish,
worried about what life without the man with whom she had fallen in
love would be like. And now here they were, the ruse up, planning a
life together. It wasn’t often when everything came together so
perfectly, and Kate knew that well enough to not let it
go.

Isaiah 41:
10.
Fear not, for I am with you; be
not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help
you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Chapter 14.

After leaving Beth and Bill’s house,
Kate got into her car and looked in the rear view mirror. She slid
on her sunglasses to hide the tears that fought to escape her eyes.
She started the car up and readied herself for the next stop. She
was on her way to Beckie’s house next, for the weekly knitting
circle meeting.

When Kate pulled onto the property,
she was apprehensive. She wanted to come clean about her ordeal and
the reasoning behind why she had to lie to everyone in order to
protect not only herself, but them as well. She shut her car off
and pulled the key from the ignition. Kate then stepped out of the
vehicle and walked toward the front porch. She looked up at the sun
as it shone down over the house, casting shadows before her. Kate
sighed, hoping things would seem less ominous inside. She pulled
off her glasses as she climbed the steps of the porch.

She wasn’t sure what the women would
think or say, but when she thought about how great it felt to feel
like herself again, it filled her with the courage she needed to
face them with the truth. Kate then looked down at her outfit and
laughed aloud; it was the first time she was able to wear normal
clothing in the Amish community. Would they even recognize her? She
approached the door and knocked on it gently. After just a few
seconds, it swung open to reveal a sea of happy faces. Beckie stood
in the doorway and welcomed her in with open arms. “Katie! Please
come in!”

As she walked in, she
caught glances of each of the women. They all wore smiles and were
hard at work on their respective projects. Kate looked around at
each of them, but when she locked eyes momentarily with Nancy, the
circle’s chatterbox couldn’t help but speak up. “So, that’s what
you really look like as an
Englischer
?”

Kate was confused. She could tell that
the women recognized her, but had they known she wasn’t really
Amish? If so, how did they know? “What do you mean?” she asked,
hoping to get a better understanding of what they knew and what
they didn’t.

“
You didn’t think we knew
you weren’t really Amish?” Esther said with a smile. “I’ve been
telling them something was different about you for
weeks!”

“
I could tell the moment I
saw you trying to knit,” Nancy said, causing the others to
laugh.

Kate smiled, unable to fight the humor
of the statement as well. Despite how hard she had tried to learn
the craft, it just hadn’t worked out in her favor.

“
That’s true,” added
Beckie. “No Amish women could ever be as hopeless at knitting as
you seemed to be.” She laughed.

“
Ahem,” Maria said,
clearing her throat and trying to grab everyone’s attention. Kate
looked over at the tall, thin woman as she focused on the quilt she
was knitting. “Do we really need to be discussing such things? Kate
has clearly come to say her goodbyes. Can’t we just do that without
focusing so much on her knitting skills?”

Kate held a straight face, but deep
down she wanted to laugh. Maria was always a bit uptight compared
to the others, but the group wouldn’t be the same without the
various personalities that each woman brought to it. Her thoughts
then drifted back to the fact that they seemed to know beforehand
that she wasn’t really Amish. “How did you know I wasn’t Amish,
though? Well, beside the poor knitting,” she said, with a
chuckle.

Beckie looked up at Kate and spoke in
a soft tone. “There were lots of little signs. As I’m sure you’ve
noticed, we like to be one step ahead of everyone else and know
what’s going on.” The other women nodded in agreement, but Kate
noticed Maria was rolling her eyes. “Esther was the first one to
have a suspicion based on your mannerisms.”

“
I had a hunch that you
were feeling us out the first few times you came to the knitting
circle, like you were trying to understand our culture and ways of
life or something. It confused me at first, but I never felt
threatened by you, so we agreed to trust you. Then, the more we got
to know you, the more obvious it became that you weren’t really one
of us,” Esther explained. “Well, you are one of us now, but I meant
that it was obvious you weren’t truly Amish.”

“
I still remember the look
on your face when Bill broke out the German Bible passage,” Beckie
laughed. Kate didn’t know that she had been so conspicuous in the
eyes of the knitting circle, but looking back on it, she realized
the mistakes she had made. The biggest one was underestimating this
clever bunch of women. “I could tell you had no idea what he was
saying,” Beth said.

The women laughed as Kate tried to
hide her embarrassment. “Okay, so I wasn’t the best Amish woman,
but that is what broke my cover?”

“
Well, the main thing was
when that man showed up asking all those questions. We immediately
thought it might have something to do with you,” Lillian said. She
was normally the quiet one of the bunch, but sometimes her
knowledge of current events even exceeded Kate’s.

“
Yes, and that’s why I came
to you with the information about the counterfeit identification
card,” Beckie added. “When my nephew mentioned how the
color-shifting inks worked and how the man’s ID lacked the correct
holograms, we immediately thought bringing the information to
you.”

Kate scrunched her eyebrows as
confusion struck her. “You automatically assumed he was here for
me?”

Esther shook her head.
“
Nee
, but after
everything Jeremiah had been saying about that private detective
asking questions, we knew something was odd,” Esther said. “Two men
snooping around Amish communities asking questions? Something
wasn’t right.”

“
And that’s when Elijah and
I went to inform you, Beth, and Bill of the man. We figured if we
were right about you -”

Nancy interrupted her. “She means if
you were indeed in law enforcement, like we thought.”

Beckie shot Nancy a quick glance,
silencing her instantly. Kate laughed, causing the other women to
join in. “We thought if we were right about you not being Amish and
possibly being in law enforcement, that you’d be able to find out
who he was and why he was here,” Beckie said.

“
Oh,” Kate replied, unsure
of what else to say. She looked around the room and noticed that
each of the women wore warm, friendly expressions on their faces.
Despite knowing she had lied to them and hidden her true identity,
they were all welcoming her back with open arms. Kate smiled at the
thought, but then something occurred to her. “Wait. Why didn’t any
of you say anything if you suspected that I wasn’t really who I
claimed to be?”