mention of the cap took Katherine back to the days leading up to the shunning. The final battles--whether or not to wear her covering in her adoptive father's house--had been such a sore spot. As it turned out, he had required her to wear it, against her wishes, really, during one of those last days at home.
At Garrett's chuckle, Katherine's thoughts flew to the job at hand. "Mrs. Bennett's daughter could use a sound dose of makeup, if you ask me."
Katherine felt her cheeks warm with his brief, yet ardent scrutiny.
"I do believe you could teach Katie a thing or two," he observed.
Katherine froze, nearly dropped the platter of warmed bread. "Did you say 'Katie'?"
Glancing up, the head steward nodded. "Interesting name, isn't it? Her last name's Lapp."
"Sounds Dutch to me," Selig offered before dashing off just as several housemaids darted past with trays of dishes, probably the main course plates and silverware.
"What do you think?" Garrett asked. "Does the daugho ter's adopted name sound Dutch to you?"
Her mind whirled. Should she tell this young man why she'd come? Tell him that her given name--her former name--was also Lapp? That she'd abandoned the name Katie because of her need to be Katherine... wholly Laura Bennett's daughter?
Ach. How had things got so ghuddelt--tangled--so quickly? And how was it that Laura Bennett's daughter should have the same adoptive name as Katherine's own?
"Well, what do you say? Dutch or not?" Garrett persisted. "It's Swiss, most likely ... one of the more common
100 names for Pennsylvania Amish," she blurted.
Raising his thick eyebrows, Garrett appeared amused. "And how do you know about Amish names?"
"Oh, if you listen good, you pick things up." She'd almost said "gut" and was mighty glad she hadn't. The last thing the head steward should know was that there were, in all truth, two women claiming the name of Katie Lapp, under the Bennetts' regal roof.
101
It is not the criminal things which are hardest to confess,
but the ridiculous and shameful.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
102
103
Most of the lights were on inside the New Jersey bungalow when Daniel Fisher arrived home. Even the matching floor lamps on either side of the sofa remained lit.
Looking around as he stepped into his plant-filled vestibule, he wondered if every light in the place had been left on. Wonderful, he thought. The new cleaning woman had followed his instructions to a tee.
Whether working late on blueprints at home or arriving there after-hours from his drafting office, Dan insisted on being surrounded by light. Too many years of coming home to a dark farmhouse, maybe.
It wasn't only that he required light for his detailed renderings. No, it was much more than that. He'd discovered something extremely reassuring about rooms being lit up from early evening on. Because it was at night, when the sun toppled over the horizon, that he missed Pennsylvania--home--most. Missed his parents and brothers, and Annie his only sister, and most of all... Katie Lapp. His sweetheart girl would be worried sick if she knew he was living out in the modern English world, far away from Amish society. But she, along with his family and friends, believed he was dead. Drowned at sea.
104
They deserved the truth. He'd decided this on more than one occasion through the years, yet had never been able to come up with a plan. At least one that would not cause severe complications as a result of his "resurrection from the dead."
To mark the Christmas season, he'd begun to grow a beard. Though facial hair was indicative of a married Amishman, he felt it might ease his way back into Hickory Hollow when the time came. Stubble now, but the sure promise of a full beard as bushy as his father's, all in preparation for a possible meeting with the man he'd wronged.
He emptied his pockets of loose change and his keys, then reaching for the hall switch, he marveled once again at the ability to disseminate light at will. With the mere flick of
At Garrett's chuckle, Katherine's thoughts flew to the job at hand. "Mrs. Bennett's daughter could use a sound dose of makeup, if you ask me."
Katherine felt her cheeks warm with his brief, yet ardent scrutiny.
"I do believe you could teach Katie a thing or two," he observed.
Katherine froze, nearly dropped the platter of warmed bread. "Did you say 'Katie'?"
Glancing up, the head steward nodded. "Interesting name, isn't it? Her last name's Lapp."
"Sounds Dutch to me," Selig offered before dashing off just as several housemaids darted past with trays of dishes, probably the main course plates and silverware.
"What do you think?" Garrett asked. "Does the daugho ter's adopted name sound Dutch to you?"
Her mind whirled. Should she tell this young man why she'd come? Tell him that her given name--her former name--was also Lapp? That she'd abandoned the name Katie because of her need to be Katherine... wholly Laura Bennett's daughter?
Ach. How had things got so ghuddelt--tangled--so quickly? And how was it that Laura Bennett's daughter should have the same adoptive name as Katherine's own?
"Well, what do you say? Dutch or not?" Garrett persisted. "It's Swiss, most likely ... one of the more common
100 names for Pennsylvania Amish," she blurted.
Raising his thick eyebrows, Garrett appeared amused. "And how do you know about Amish names?"
"Oh, if you listen good, you pick things up." She'd almost said "gut" and was mighty glad she hadn't. The last thing the head steward should know was that there were, in all truth, two women claiming the name of Katie Lapp, under the Bennetts' regal roof.
101
It is not the criminal things which are hardest to confess,
but the ridiculous and shameful.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
102
103
Most of the lights were on inside the New Jersey bungalow when Daniel Fisher arrived home. Even the matching floor lamps on either side of the sofa remained lit.
Looking around as he stepped into his plant-filled vestibule, he wondered if every light in the place had been left on. Wonderful, he thought. The new cleaning woman had followed his instructions to a tee.
Whether working late on blueprints at home or arriving there after-hours from his drafting office, Dan insisted on being surrounded by light. Too many years of coming home to a dark farmhouse, maybe.
It wasn't only that he required light for his detailed renderings. No, it was much more than that. He'd discovered something extremely reassuring about rooms being lit up from early evening on. Because it was at night, when the sun toppled over the horizon, that he missed Pennsylvania--home--most. Missed his parents and brothers, and Annie his only sister, and most of all... Katie Lapp. His sweetheart girl would be worried sick if she knew he was living out in the modern English world, far away from Amish society. But she, along with his family and friends, believed he was dead. Drowned at sea.
104
They deserved the truth. He'd decided this on more than one occasion through the years, yet had never been able to come up with a plan. At least one that would not cause severe complications as a result of his "resurrection from the dead."
To mark the Christmas season, he'd begun to grow a beard. Though facial hair was indicative of a married Amishman, he felt it might ease his way back into Hickory Hollow when the time came. Stubble now, but the sure promise of a full beard as bushy as his father's, all in preparation for a possible meeting with the man he'd wronged.
He emptied his pockets of loose change and his keys, then reaching for the hall switch, he marveled once again at the ability to disseminate light at will. With the mere flick of
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