Made with Love (41 page)

Noah took another long drink, and then he sat at the kitchen table and slowly removed his boots. The fire examiner would be there early in the morning. And then everyone would know the truth. But how would that help Lovina? And what would it mean for them?

Finally, after weeks of waiting for a confession of her love, he'd heard it. And the emotional high of the moment made the pain of her tears, her accusations, even more painful. She was right. He should have done more. He should have protected her.

He could hear low talking from the teens' bedroom, and Noah couldn't hold back anymore. Anger balled up in his gut, and he strode in that direction. They'd disappeared from the scene of the fire, and Noah guessed why. They didn't want to face up to their mistake. They didn't want to be asked any questions. Not that it would keep them from trouble. Not this time.

Noah pushed the door open without knocking. Mose and Gerald sat on their beds, and Atlee sat on the one chair in the room. All of them looked up in surprise as he entered. He scanned their faces, and each set of eyes fixed on him, waiting for his words.

“So, tell me how the fire started.” Noah spoke the words through clenched teeth.

“What do you mean?” It was Mose who answered for the group. He tried to give Noah an innocent look, but Noah wasn't buying it.

“I mean, which prank was it? More firecrackers? The welder?
You can tell me now or I can wait to hear it from the fire examiner. If I were you, I'd tell me now. Things might be easier on you if you confess to the authorities.”

Mose stood, straightening his shoulders. His brow wrinkled in confusion, and then anger flashed in his gaze. “Wait, you—you think we did this?”

“I don't
think
you did it. I
know
you did. I told you to finish up cleaning the office and hang the clock—the surprise for Lovina. You were the last ones in the office, and I want to know what you were doing.”

“Noah, we hung the clock and then we left.” Gerald raised his hands in defense. “I swear that's all that happened.”

“We weren't even there. We—” Atlee started, but Mose cut off his words.

“Don't try to explain, Atlee. Noah's not gonna listen.” Mose crossed his arms and cocked his chin. “Noah says he wants to help us, but now we know different. I'm glad I was already planning to get out of here. The truth is, he just wanted to make himself look good…isn't that right, Noah? Show off some good deeds to win yourself a wife. Seems to me Lovina bought it…or at least that's what she said earlier.” Mose clicked his tongue. “I'd hate to see how she feels about that now. I bet she blames you. That's why you're so angry, right?”

Noah's eyes narrowed, and he wanted nothing more than to defend his actions. He had been doing everything for them. But from the look in his eyes it would do no good. Mose's opinion was set, just as his was set.

“Listen.” Gerald's voice was low. “We're telling you the truth, Noah. Things were fine when we were in the office. We came home for lunch, and that's when we saw the smoke. Mose is telling you the truth.”

He studied Gerald's face, wishing that
was
the truth. Noah let out a sigh. “I suppose we'll find out in the morning, won't we?”

Noah stepped back and shut the door. The last of his energy drained from him. He headed to the shower and knew that he'd failed them. More than that, now he'd failed Lovina. He'd tried to do everything right, but now all was lost. Another shop was destroyed, and he had no money to fix it. History was repeating itself, only this time there was more than his reputation at stake—there also was his heart.

Everything was gone now—his good name, the pie shop, his work with the boys, and now Lovina. He'd worked so hard, and this was how he was rewarded? And just think, he'd been the one to talk to Mose about a loving, grace-filled God. God felt far, far away.

Noah took a quick shower and then slumped into bed. He wanted to pray but no words came. Ever since working on this project he'd been eager to start the new day. But now…now he wished the night would last. He didn't want to wake up. He didn't want to know how the teens had caused the fire. And he didn't want to see the disappointment on Lovina's face.

Where was God in all this? None of it made sense.

A loud knock on the front door woke Noah, and he struggled for consciousness. The first thing he realized was that the whole room smelled of smoke because of the filthy clothes he'd been wearing yesterday. The second—that the sunlight streamed through the windows.

Noah looked at the clock. It was already eight o'clock. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept that long. He hurriedly put on clean clothes and rushed to the front door.

He opened it to see the fire marshal there, and his heart sank.

“We determined the cause of the fire,” the man said. “I'd like to take you to see what I found. And I need to talk to those teens from your work crew too.”

“Of course.” Noah turned to go get them, and the three emerged from the kitchen. Dark circles rimmed their eyes, and he wondered if any of them had slept. At first Noah felt pity for them, but the anger quickly returned.

All four walked silently as they made their way around the back side of the building. John Miller stood there watching Noah approach, and Noah's heart sank even lower. The man's life work had been invested in this pie shop. John had trusted him…and now it came to this. Tears filled Noah's eyes to see the burned wall, the burned-out office, and the charred mess.

Noah paused before it, and then turned to John. “I'm so sorry. I—”

John held up his hand, cutting off Noah's words. “Don't say a word, son. Wait until you see what we found inside.”

The fire marshal cleared his throat. “I got here early, and in my gut I knew what I'd find,” the man said. “I've seen more fires like this than I care to tell you about.” The man looked from Noah to the teens, and then he pointed to the window air-conditioning unit. It lay on the ground, completely burned.

“In these parts people use those window units a lot, but they have no idea of the fire danger. In this county alone I've seen three fires caused by these units in the last six months. When the air handler leaks it short-circuits the electrical equipment underneath, causing sparks. Usually a fire ignites before anyone even sees the leak.”

Noah opened his mouth in disbelief. “So…it was the air-conditioning unit?”

John Miller placed his hand on Noah's shoulder. “There was nothing different you could have done, son. These things just happen.”

Noah turned to the teens. Relief was clear on Atlee and Gerald's faces, but before he could say a word Mose turned and sauntered away. Was Mose relieved too? No doubt he was. But the anger was evident. Noah had accused them. He'd pointed a finger. Noah remembered what it was like, and he lowered his head. The fire had destroyed more than the shop. It had destroyed any relationship he'd managed to build with Mose…and that came not from the flames, but from his own words.

Thirty-Two

A friend is like a rainbow, always there for you after a storm.

A
MISH
P
ROVERB

L
ovina didn't know how long she'd been sleeping, but the sun was bright in the windows when she awoke. She sat up and opened her eyes. They felt puffy and scratchy, as if they'd been rubbed with sand. How late was it now? She didn't have a clock in her bedroom, but from the brightness of the sun streaming through the windows it must have been after eight. The only time she slept in was when she was sick. This time she was heartbroken.

Her dream was gone. Worse than that, so were her father's life-savings. He'd worked his whole life to save up that money. The farm in Ohio had been his inheritance.

Outside the window, a gaggle of teen girls walked by with bags that held their lawn chairs, towels, and lunch. Why had she been so focused on this dream? Why couldn't she just have been happy spending time at the beach with friends?

Lovina pressed her head against her pillow and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she didn't have to wake up. She thought back
to the first moments when she'd focused on her dream. It seemed to have always been there. Making pies had given her value. Provided her worth.

As she lay there, a memory fluttered in her mind—one she hadn't thought about in a while. She'd been just a girl and one of her aunts had been visiting. It had been a cooler winter day, and instead of being outside her sisters had been in the living room.

Joy had been sewing, of course, and the other three had been taking turns playing checkers. Aunt Irma had lived far away in New York, but Lovina had been so excited to meet her.

Lovina could still hear her aunt's voice in her mind. “Look at those blonde curls and light blue eyes. I thought since John has such dark coloring that all your children would be darker too. You'll have no trouble finding
gut
husbands for them.”

“I've always loved Lovina's dark hair,” Mem had said, pulling her back into the conversation.

Even though Lovina hadn't turned her head she'd felt her aunt's gaze on her. “Ja, well.” Her aunt's voice had been low. “Lovina is rather plain, but she does make lovely pies. At least she has that going for her.”

Lovina snuggled deeper into her covers. The tears came quick and unexpected. Lovina tried to wipe them away with the backs of her knuckles, but it did no good.

Remembering that moment, so much about Lovina's life now made sense. She'd believed Aunt Irma. She'd thought herself to be the homely one of the sisters. Honestly, deep down, Lovina had never thought she'd ever get married.

A dozen smaller moments fought for attention in her mind. The moment she was sewing dishtowels and messed up and didn't fix the mistake, because she really couldn't picture herself getting married and needing the towels. The times she'd been approached
by a young man at a singing who tried to strike up a conversation, but she made an excuse to leave, because deep down she thought it would be easier to walk away from a conversation than be left behind later.

She thought again about the phrase that her grandmother had shared. “It is always a good thing to trust an unknown future to a God who holds each person in His palm.” Yet the truth was that even from her younger days she'd thought she'd known what her future would be. Lovina hadn't needed to trust an unknown future to God because she had believed she'd known it. The worst thing an Amish woman could be was prideful, yet hadn't she been full of pride by deciding she'd already figured out what lie ahead?

She'd thought that because she was not as lovely as her sisters she would never get married. But had that been God's plan? Had her poor self-image, planted by the hurtful words of an aunt she barely knew, set her on a path to closing her heart to love?

A sob erupted from her throat as she thought about more recent struggles, like the four days last year where she tried fourteen different recipes for key lime pie, trying to find the best one. After all, who'd ever be able to open a pie shop if they hadn't figured out the best key lime?

And somehow that coincided with the large volleyball tournament, attend by dozens of Amish bachelors who'd come on Pioneer Trails at the end of last season. Every time one of her sisters came home, urging her to join them because they'd found the perfect date for her, she'd pull out another pie recipe. Making pie was easier than meeting someone new. The benefit was almost every neighbor on their street had enjoyed key lime pie after their dinner, but she'd been the one who'd missed out on new friendships.