Taken for English (2 page)

Yet Annalise had made the same promises as the three teenagers who had been born Amish. In God’s eyes, there was no distinction.

Rufus was tall enough to look over the heads of most of the gathering and catch Annalise’s gray eyes. They brightened, and he knew the smile that raised her lips at that moment was meant for him. A strand of hair fell loose from her braided bun, as it always did. He hoped it always would.

He turned when someone tugged on the elbow of his black jacket.

“It’s Tom Reynolds,” his brother Joel said. “He says it’s urgent. He’s waiting on the porch.”

Rufus glanced again at Annalise and then maneuvered through the congregation toward the front door. The living room windows were open to the fine September day, but the volume of the interior conversations dropped when he stepped out and closed the door behind him.

“What is it, Tom?” Rufus had counted three sirens.

“One of Karl Kramer’s houses just burned.”

The air went out of Rufus.

“It’s the one you worked on,” Tom said. “Your cabinetry…”

Rufus nodded. “All right. Thank you for telling me.”

“I could take you out there.” Tom turned a thumb toward his red pickup truck parked among the buggies.

“It’s the Sabbath. And Annalise was just baptized.”

The front door opened behind them. Annie stepped out.

“Did I hear my name?”

“Hello, Annie,” Tom said. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” She looked from Tom to Rufus. “Why so glum? The sirens?”

“Everything will be fine,” Rufus said. “One of Karl’s houses burned. But the
English
have insurance for these things.”

“Was anyone hurt?” Annie asked.

Tom shook his head. “Not that I’ve heard. It should have been empty on a Sunday.”

“Then what caused the fire?” Annie moved farther out on the porch.

Tom turned his hands palms up. “That will be for the fire department to figure out.”

“Custer County runs on a volunteer firefighting force,” Annie said. “Do they even have forensics capability?”

“I’m sure they have someone to call in if the cause is not obvious,” Tom said. “I wanted to take Rufus out there. Maybe it didn’t get his cabinets.”

“They are no longer my cabinets,” Rufus pointed out. “The
English
will sort out who they belong to when a house is almost finished.”

“I think you should go.” Annie leaned against the porch’s railing and looked back into the house. The transformation of the benches into tables was already under way. “Aren’t you at least curious?”

“Of course.”

“Then go.”

“It’s your baptism day, Annalise.” Those irresistible eyes sank into her.

“I know,” she said. “But even Jesus would take an animal out of a well on the Sabbath. You should go see how bad it is, whether you can help to salvage anything. You might reduce the sense of loss somehow.”

She could see him thinking as his head turned toward the barn where the Beiler buggies were parked.

“Let Tom drive you,” she said. “You’ll be back soon enough. The food will still be here.”
I will still be here
, she wanted to say.

T
om’s truck jerked to a halt. “We’re still four houses away.” Rufus leaned forward and peered through the windshield. “Looks like half the emergency vehicles in the county are here.”

“Might as well get out here.” Tom killed the ignition.

“Are you sure we should have come? It doesn’t look like we’ll get any closer. We’ll just be in the way.”

“You have a vested interest.” Tom pulled the latch to open the driver’s door.

“No I don’t. And it would not matter if I did.”

“You may be right about the cabinets,” Tom said, “but what about the peace of this community? What’s going to happen when Karl Kramer finds out about this?”

Tom had a point. A year ago, the hotheaded construction contractor had no use for an Amish cabinetmaker. Rufus had stayed out of his way long enough to gain Karl’s trust. Over the last few months Rufus had nurtured an unlikely relationship that drew the two of them together in a community improvement project, a joint effort between the
English
and the Amish. Karl had even gained a few popularity points and practically insisted that Rufus build the cabinets in the house now hidden by emergency vehicles.

And now this.

“He’s out of town,” Rufus said. “I don’t know how to reach him.”

“Somebody will,” Tom said. “Let’s get out.”

They slammed the truck’s doors and walked the few yards to where a crowd had assembled.

“We don’t know that it’s foul play.” Rufus wished he had left his black jacket in the car. The warmth of the day and the smoldering remains of the fire made him sweat.

“No, we don’t.” Tom slid his hands into the pockets of his khaki work pants. “But if it was an accident, that means something went wrong with workmanship somewhere.”

They inched through the crowd, for what purpose Rufus was unsure. Smoke filled his nostrils and hung in a wall of gray above the house. The front support of the two-story structure had collapsed, taking half the roof with it. Cinders floated on the breeze.

“The fire must be out.” Tom pointed to the largest fire truck. “They’re not shooting water.”

Whatever was left of the house would be too smoky and water damaged to salvage. Certainly the kitchen cabinets, with their carefully sanded white oak finish, would be reduced to scrap.

Tom reached out and grabbed the shoulder of a passing firefighter. “Bryan, what happened?”

The young man turned toward them and gestured for his companion to pause as well. “Hi, Tom. This is my friend Alan.”

“Tom Reynolds.” Tom offered a handshake. “This is Rufus Beiler.”

“All that’s left is the cleanup,” Bryan said. “Alan and I are here to make sure the scene is secured and the evidence is not compromised.”

“Evidence?” Rufus asked. “So you think it’s arson?”

“Too soon to say, but the fire chief doesn’t want to take any chances in a situation like this.”

Annie suspected women were hugging and congratulating her for the second or third time. Surely she had already received more embraces than there were women present during worship. Though she had a plate of food in front of her on a table in the Beilers’ dining room, she hardly got to swallow a bite before someone else was tapping her on the shoulder and smiling broadly. Each time, Annie stood and allowed a pair of arms to fold around her.

“It was perfect to have your baptism here at our home.”

With her teeth about to close on a forkful of ham, Annie looked up to see Franey Beiler’s eyes brimming. Annie reached for Franey’s hand. “I confess I’m glad it was here, too. This is where it all began for me, after all.”

Annie had first met the Beilers more than a year ago when she stumbled onto their land in the dark with no idea that Amish had settled in southwestern Colorado.

“Eli and I cannot imagine our lives without you,” Franey said. “I’m sure it will be only a matter of time now.”

Annie tilted her head and shrugged one shoulder. She hoped Franey was right—that she and Rufus would have their banns read and be married before the end of the year. But she would wait for Rufus to decide. She had chosen to be baptized into the Amish church of her own free will. The next step was for Rufus to take.

Someone asked Franey a question, and she disappeared into the kitchen. Annie smiled at the women around her table—but hoped none of them planned to congratulate her yet again. She wished one of the Beiler girls, Lydia or Sophie, might slide into the empty chair beside her.

Instead a young stranger sat down. An unhappy young stranger with no plate of food.

“Hello. I’m Annalise.”

“I know who you are,” the girl said. “Everybody knows who you are.”

“I suppose on my baptism day, that is true.” Annie dabbed her lips with a napkin. “If we’ve met, I’m sorry that I’ve forgotten your name.”

“We haven’t met. I’m Leah Deitwaller. From Pennsylvania.”

“Oh, the new family. Welcome.”

“You don’t have to say that. I don’t even want to be here. And I’m not staying.”

“You’re ready to go home already? Have your parents eaten?”

Leah rolled her eyes. “I mean I don’t want to be in Colorado. I’m going home to Pennsylvania.”

“Oh.” Annie doubted the girl was of age.

“Is it true that you’re
English?”

“Until a couple of hours ago that was true.”

“Can you help me find out how much it would cost to take the train to Pennsylvania?”

Annie set her fork down gently and took a moment to straighten her prayer
kapp
. “Shouldn’t you have this conversation with your parents?”

“I would pay my own way.” Leah slumped and crossed her arms. “I just need a job. I know I’m small, but I’m seventeen—nearly eighteen. I’m old enough.”

“What does your mother say about your having a job?”

Leah unfolded her arms and slapped both palms on the table. “Never mind. I just thought you might understand.”

“Understand what?”

Leah stood, crossed the dining room, walked through the living room, and went out the front door.

Rufus had been gone a long time. Ruth was scraping and stacking dishes in the kitchen sink when she realized more than two hours had passed since she saw her brother step off the front porch and into Tom Reynolds’s truck. Before long, the families with younger children or those who came from a greater distance would hook their horses to their buggies and begin the trek home. Because of the sparsity of families settling around Westcliffe, the church district covered a wide geographic area.

The door from the dining room swung open, and Annalise entered with a tray of dishes.

“You’re not supposed to be cleaning up after your own baptism.” Ruth took the stack from Annalise and began transferring plates to the sink.

“It’s a ruse,” Annalise said. “Elijah Capp cornered me.”

“Elijah?”

Annalise narrowed her eyes. “Don’t act like you don’t know what he wants.”

“He wants what he always wants.”

“You. That’s what he wants.”

Ruth ran some hot water in the sink. “Perhaps I should not have come here for my internship. It’s not even a real internship, just a place to work to see if it’s the kind of nursing I want to do.”

Annalise put both hands behind her waist and leaned against the counter next to the sink. “Right now all he wants to know is if you are going to the singing tonight.”

Ruth glanced up. “Are you and Rufus going?”

“You know what Rufus says. We’re too old.”

“Where did he go?” Ruth asked. “Why would he leave you on your baptism day?”

“I told him to.”

“How
English
of you.” Ruth flattened a stray strand of her light brown hair.

Annalise nudged Ruth with one elbow. “There was a fire.”

“I heard the sirens.”

“Tom thought Rufus should go out there. I trust Tom’s judgment about these things.”

Ruth rinsed two plates and set them in the dish rack. “Did he say where it was?”

“One of Karl’s houses.”

Ruth exhaled. “Why does everything in this town seen to involve Karl Kramer?”