Sweet as Honey (13 page)

Pain flickered in Aunt B's eyes. “I bought a life insurance policy on my sister after Lily was born. She told me that if anything happened to her, she planned to leave the babies in my care. I knew I would need some money to do it properly if it ever came to that.”

Dan put down his fork and laced his fingers together. He glanced at Lily uncomfortably. “Is it okay if I ask how your parents died? I mean, if it's not, you can throw me out of the house.”

Lily shook her head and looked at him as if he deserved a scolding for thinking she'd be annoyed by that question. “Of course you can ask. They left us with our grandparents while they hired a driver to do some Christmas shopping in Green Bay. The roads were slick. They were killed in a car accident.”

The memory still hurt, but the pain wasn't fresh and raw like it had once been. Mamm and Dat were in a better place, and while that knowledge didn't help Poppy much, Lily took a lot of comfort from it.

Dan lowered his voice, as if he feared they'd be offended if he asked his question too loudly. “How old were you?”

“Almost fifteen years ago,” Lily said. “I was eight. Poppy was six. Rose was five yet.”

He acted as if it had been his own parents who'd been killed. “I'm sorry.”

Lily gave Rose and Poppy a half smile. “We still have each other, and we have Aunt B. We never would have survived without Aunt B.”

Aunt B wiped some moisture from her eyes and swatted away Lily's praise. “You girls are the ones who saved me. I was miserable until you came along.” She took the last bite of her muffin. “Now I'm more miserable.”

Everybody laughed, even Rose, who took their parents' death harder than all of them. Even though Aunt Bitsy couldn't bring herself to spoon out compliments, her girls knew how much she loved them. It was the anchor that kept their lives from going adrift.

Dan jumped up almost before they finished eating and started clearing plates from the table. He filled the sink with water and wouldn't budge when Lily tried to scoot him out of the way. “I'm washing,” he said, with that mischievous smile of his. “Your hands will get wrinkly if they're in the water for too long, and you need to save them for the bees.”

Lily smirked and grabbed a dish towel. She didn't have a witty reply because Dan had completely disarmed her with his offer to wash dishes. To Paul, after-supper cleanup was women's work, and he wouldn't have dreamed of putting his hands into a sink of soapy water.

Lily frowned to herself. She should really stop comparing her boyfriend to Dan Kanagy.

Poppy put away leftovers while Rose wiped counters and Aunt B swept the floor. They had the cleanup routine down almost like a dance. A dance that Dan had become suddenly, naturally a part of.

He obviously had a lot of experience washing dishes. She could see it in the way he drew the rag along the plates front and back, checking for leftover food, making sure he didn't leave excess bubbles.

He rinsed the first plate with hot water, smiled, and handed it to her to dry. “I hope you can keep up,” he said. “I've been known to keep three dryers busy at once.”

Lily raised her eyebrows. “You can't go fast enough for me.”

Dan raced through the plates and cups and put some elbow grease into the frying pan. He still had time to flick drops of water on the back of her neck when she wasn't looking and smear a handful of bubbles up her arm when she reached for another plate. Did he never stop teasing?

They finished the dishes in record time, each trying to prove to the other how fast they were. Lily almost regretted the last dish. They'd been having such a
gute
time. Maybe she should have dried slower.

Aunt B hung up the broom and dustpan on the special hook on the wall and turned to look at Dan who rinsed the last of the bubbles out of the sink. “Well, Dan Kanagy, it's not that we don't appreciate your help with the dishes, but it's time for you to go away now. You've worn out your welcome.”

Lily blushed down to her toes, but to her relief, Dan didn't seem the least bit ruffled by Aunt B's bluntness. He grinned at Lily, dried his hands, and grabbed his hat from the hook by the door.

“I hope you'll let me come back sometime.”

“It's unavoidable,” Aunt B said.

He chuckled as he opened the door and glanced at Lily. “Then I'll see you later.”

The dimming light of sunset offered him enough light to see by. He stepped onto the porch, paused briefly, and caught his breath. Without warning, he turned and pulled the door toward him. Holding it as if it were a shield, he stuck his head back into the house, grabbed Lily's hand, and pulled her outside with him. Lily gasped as he practically yanked her onto the porch.

“I really want to talk to Lily in private for a second,” he said, before slamming the door, no doubt leaving Aunt B and her sisters wondering what in the world had come over him.

What craziness was this?

He pulled her toward him so that their faces were mere inches apart, and her heart jumped into her throat. Was he going to kiss her? Why would he ever dream for one minute he had the right to kiss her?

Her gaze involuntarily traveled to his lips. Did she want him to kiss her?

Absolutely not. No matter how many somersaults her heart did or how warm her cheeks felt, Dan was not her boyfriend. Number eight mesh was not a good enough reason to expect a kiss.

“Dan Kanagy,” she said, trying halfheartedly to pull her hand out of his. “What do you think . . . ?”

He put a finger to his lips. “Shh.” There was no glint of a tease in his eyes or even an I-want-to-kiss-you look she might have expected. His eyes glistened with something deep and troubled.

“I didn't want to alarm Rose,” he whispered, his voice sounding even lower and deeper when he made it soft like that. “But you have to see this.”

He pointed across the lane to where the barn stood facing the house. Someone had painted black, ugly letters on their red barn door:
YOU WILL BURN IN HELL
.

Lily clapped her hand over her mouth. A wave of nausea attacked her like a charging bull. “Dan, what . . . what does it mean? Who would do such a thing?”

He squeezed her hand tighter. “It's okay. It's going to be okay. It must have happened while we ate dinner. It wasn't there when I arrived.”

Lily's skin crawled. Someone had been sneaking around their property while they had been just a few feet away? Terror gripped her, and she grabbed on to Dan's arm like a lifeline.

Dan rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “Lily, I'm going to go have a look around. Can you stay right here and wait for me?”

“Is he . . . is he still here?” The thought that he might be lurking anywhere near made Lily light-headed.

He cupped his hands gently around her arms. “I don't think so, but that's what I want to find out. Are you going to be okay if I leave you? I'll only be a few minutes.”

The panic rose in her throat like bile. He was going to leave her alone on the porch? What if the man came back and attacked her?

The concern on his face deepened in the lines around his mouth. “Maybe you should go back in the house and wait for me. It's just that I don't want to frighten Rose if we don't have to.”

If she was this panicked, Lily could only imagine how something like this would affect Rose. She took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “I'll wait here for you.”

His hand traveled down her arm, and he found her hand again. His touch made her feel safer. “If you see anything or hear anything, call for me and I'll come running, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, nearly choking with fear.

He released her hand and bounded quietly down the steps. Clutching the porch railing, she watched him disappear around the side of the barn. The irrational thought that he might have disappeared forever stole her breath away. Was something sinister waiting for him in the orchards?

With her eyes trained into the gathering darkness, she counted to sixty again and again. She flinched when she thought she might have heard rustling to her left but talked herself out of panicking. If she burst into the house trembling and pale, as she surely was, Rose would never sleep in her own bed again.

How many times had she counted to sixty? Where was Dan? She'd never forgive herself if something horrible happened to him.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard something stirring to her left. For certain this time. “Lily?”

She thought she might faint at the sound of Dan's voice. Willing her heart to slow to a gallop, she looked to the bushes that stood between the lane and the house. They rustled again, and Dan squeezed through a gap. She never would have believed that she could welcome the approach of Dan Kanagy, but right now he was the most comforting sight in the world. He seemed to glide over the flagstones and up the porch steps. Relief overcame her, and she finally let out the breath she'd been holding.

He must have seen something in her eyes he didn't like—maybe the glassy stare of someone who would surely faint any minute. He gathered her into his arms and held her tight, as if she might fall to pieces if he let go. In the back of her mind, she knew she shouldn't, but she melted into his embrace and let his warmth seep into her brittle bones.

“You're shaking,” he said.

“I was afraid you wouldn't come back.”

She heard the smile in his voice. “Your
aendi
Bitsy would have liked that. I trampled some dandelions out there.”

Lily giggled in spite of her fright. “I promise I'll never tell.”

“I might have to plant a tree to placate her.”

His light tone helped Lily regain some of her composure, at least enough to know that she should not be swaddling herself in Dan's arms like this. She nudged away from him.

He seemed reluctant to let go. Maybe he felt as shaken as she did.

“Did you find anything?”

“Whoever it was is gone. There was a half-empty can of spray paint behind the barn, but it's too dark to see footprints.”

She shivered involuntarily as ice threaded up her spine. “Who hates us this much?”

The muscles of Dan's jaw tensed as he gazed toward the barn. “I don't know. But right now, they seem to be bent on making mischief but not doing any real harm.”

“Our bees might disagree with you.”

He gave her a half smile. “I was trying to make you feel better.”

She rested her hand on the railing. “I know.
Denki
.”

He brought his hand on top of hers. He really shouldn't do that. “We've got to make sure Rose doesn't find out about this.”

“What can we do? She gathers eggs at five thirty.”

“Can you keep her in the house the rest of the night?”

She knit her brows together. “
Jah,
we don't usually go out this late.”

“I can paint over it before she wakes up. She'll never know.”

Lily felt giddy with gratitude. “That is so kind. I don't know what to say.”

His smile came back with full force. “Anything for the Honeybee Schwesters.”

She frowned. “It could take some time.”

He thumbed his suspenders and looked away. “I'd be up late reading about bees anyway.”

“Okay,” Lily said. “I will go in and distract Rose and tell Poppy and Aunt B what happened.” She turned to go into the house and then turned back. “What reason am I going to give them for your strange behavior? You pulled me out of the house as if it were on fire.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You could tell them I had the overwhelming urge to kiss you, and it couldn't wait.”

She widened her eyes in mock indignation. “I'm not going to lie to them.”

The way he looked at her made her forget how to breathe. “Who said anything about lying?” He took a step closer. Too close. She could smell fresh-cut hay and leather. “If you'd rather be completely truthful with your family, we should do a little kissing right now.”

He stood too close. Though she couldn't meet his eye, she was sure he wore that teasing smile on his face. The heat traveled up her face clear to the tips of her ears. At least he wouldn't be able to see her flaming red ears in the dimness.

He didn't back away, not one little bit, as if eager to talk her into it. “Your story would be more believable if we actually kissed.”

More believable? None of her family would ever believe Dan Kanagy would kiss her. He'd made it clear that he thought she was homely and unappealing. She
was
homely and unappealing.

Her heart stumbled over itself and fell in the mud. Paul was the only person who would ever consider kissing her, and that was only because he'd have to someday.

She took a giant step back. “I'll . . . I'll think of something to tell my family.”

She must have mistaken the look in his eyes for disappointment. Surely he didn't really want to kiss her. He'd only been teasing.

Whatever she saw in his gaze disappeared, replaced by that irrepressible smile, gentle and accepting. “Do you have paint?”

She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Oh dear. Not a bit of red. Rose's paints are on the workbench in the barn, but if she has red, it's not much.”

“Luke Bontrager lives close. I'll see if I can borrow paint from him.” He rubbed his hands together. “I'll be back as soon as I can. And try not to worry. That painter, whoever he is, is long gone.”

“Okay,” she said. She would do her best not to worry. She didn't know if she would succeed.