The FBI just didn’t love me anymore, and it didn’t help that Seth and Hannah solved the graveyard murder instead of me. So, will you give that to her for me?” he demanded, pointing at the envelope.
“I’ll give it to her and Seth together since you said it’s for both of them.”
“Ella Lantz, always on the straight and narrow. Well, take good care of your cousin Andrew. I’d hate to see that go wrong, the way other things have around here.”
His voice and harsh expression grated on her composure. His words almost seemed like a challenge or threat. He glared at her. For a moment—maybe just because she’d been harassed earlier today—she felt afraid of him, but he turned away. Was that because he heard Andrew thudding up the porch steps on his crutch?
“I saw you have an English visitor, Ella,” Andrew said. “One who appeared without a car, ya? ”
She was glad that Andrew was trying to sound Amish. He had even mastered the pace of their English words pretty good. The two men stared at each other. They were about the same height.
“That’s because I left my car down the lane and walked in,” Linc told him. “Great country for walking—right?—though I heard about your little accident. I’m Linc Armstrong, a friend of Gerald Branin’s,” he explained, finally extending a hand, which Andrew shook. “I’m just here to ask Ella to deliver a wedding gift to her brother and his bride.”
The man had evidently said everything he wanted to, because he walked out, just when—now that Andrew was here—she was wishing he’d stay and the two men might talk a bit about Andrew’s witness situation, so she could pick up more about it.
“Kind of a brusque guy,” Andrew said.
“He doesn’t like me much. He thinks I swayed my friend Hannah Esh against him and toward Seth.”
“Hannah and him—an outsider? I didn’t know. And is he right? Did you sway Hannah?”
“She always loved Seth, but it’s true that Linc Armstrong had his eye on her. Anyway, I don’t think she could have been happy with an Englischer.”
“But you said earlier your friend Sarah is happy with one, despite the fact you were against that too.”
They stared at each other with the wedding card and her lavender on the table between them. “And she’s been put under the ban because of that,” Ella argued, her voice rising. “She can’t be at Hannah’s wedding, can’t so much as sit down to a meal with her family. She can receive things from their hands but they cannot take things from her or visit her.”
“That’s pretty harsh. So I won’t meet Sarah and her Englischer husband at the wedding? And the wedding is one of your and Sarah’s lifelong friends, but she’s not invited?”
“That’s what I said! Keeping the way things should be—it’s difficult at times but necessary for the protection of our people.”
“Protection. Well, I wouldn’t want to mess with that. As your grandfather said, Never the twain shall meet. But that’s a shame, isn’t it? I’ll wait out here on the porch for you to go into dinner so you don’t get any other surprise English visitors—just old Amish me. Ser gut und danki, Ella. ”
The undertone in his voice—even his few German words—sounded sarcastic and angry. Either he agreed with Linc Armstrong that she’d been wrongly judgmental, or he was just upset someone had been able to sneak up on her when she was alone. Or what if he thought she meant that the two of them shouldn’t get any closer? Ach, for sure, like he’d said, that would be a shame.
But when she started out onto the back porch to make amends, Andrew wasn’t there. He must really be angry with her. But no—there he was going back up the hill, shading his eyes against the late-afternoon sun. He was still limping a bit, but she saw he’d left his crutch on the porch and was staring down the lane toward the road.
As if she could read his mind, she realized what he must be doing. Dashing back
“I’ll give it to her and Seth together since you said it’s for both of them.”
“Ella Lantz, always on the straight and narrow. Well, take good care of your cousin Andrew. I’d hate to see that go wrong, the way other things have around here.”
His voice and harsh expression grated on her composure. His words almost seemed like a challenge or threat. He glared at her. For a moment—maybe just because she’d been harassed earlier today—she felt afraid of him, but he turned away. Was that because he heard Andrew thudding up the porch steps on his crutch?
“I saw you have an English visitor, Ella,” Andrew said. “One who appeared without a car, ya? ”
She was glad that Andrew was trying to sound Amish. He had even mastered the pace of their English words pretty good. The two men stared at each other. They were about the same height.
“That’s because I left my car down the lane and walked in,” Linc told him. “Great country for walking—right?—though I heard about your little accident. I’m Linc Armstrong, a friend of Gerald Branin’s,” he explained, finally extending a hand, which Andrew shook. “I’m just here to ask Ella to deliver a wedding gift to her brother and his bride.”
The man had evidently said everything he wanted to, because he walked out, just when—now that Andrew was here—she was wishing he’d stay and the two men might talk a bit about Andrew’s witness situation, so she could pick up more about it.
“Kind of a brusque guy,” Andrew said.
“He doesn’t like me much. He thinks I swayed my friend Hannah Esh against him and toward Seth.”
“Hannah and him—an outsider? I didn’t know. And is he right? Did you sway Hannah?”
“She always loved Seth, but it’s true that Linc Armstrong had his eye on her. Anyway, I don’t think she could have been happy with an Englischer.”
“But you said earlier your friend Sarah is happy with one, despite the fact you were against that too.”
They stared at each other with the wedding card and her lavender on the table between them. “And she’s been put under the ban because of that,” Ella argued, her voice rising. “She can’t be at Hannah’s wedding, can’t so much as sit down to a meal with her family. She can receive things from their hands but they cannot take things from her or visit her.”
“That’s pretty harsh. So I won’t meet Sarah and her Englischer husband at the wedding? And the wedding is one of your and Sarah’s lifelong friends, but she’s not invited?”
“That’s what I said! Keeping the way things should be—it’s difficult at times but necessary for the protection of our people.”
“Protection. Well, I wouldn’t want to mess with that. As your grandfather said, Never the twain shall meet. But that’s a shame, isn’t it? I’ll wait out here on the porch for you to go into dinner so you don’t get any other surprise English visitors—just old Amish me. Ser gut und danki, Ella. ”
The undertone in his voice—even his few German words—sounded sarcastic and angry. Either he agreed with Linc Armstrong that she’d been wrongly judgmental, or he was just upset someone had been able to sneak up on her when she was alone. Or what if he thought she meant that the two of them shouldn’t get any closer? Ach, for sure, like he’d said, that would be a shame.
But when she started out onto the back porch to make amends, Andrew wasn’t there. He must really be angry with her. But no—there he was going back up the hill, shading his eyes against the late-afternoon sun. He was still limping a bit, but she saw he’d left his crutch on the porch and was staring down the lane toward the road.
As if she could read his mind, she realized what he must be doing. Dashing back
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