Plain Promise (5 page)

Sadie’s heart flipped in her chest. “What was the message?” Occasionally, Milo left tender messages on the machine. She hoped this wasn’t one of those times. A flush was building in her cheeks.

“She said her name was Lillian and that it was an emergency. She said for you to come quickly if you got the message.” He paused. “And here’s the part that really caught my attention . . .” Kade shook his head, a perplexed look on his face. “She said she needed
my
car.”

“What?” Sadie turned and moved toward the door.

“Why would someone named Lillian need my car?” He was hovering right behind her.

Sadie tied the kerchief in a bulky knot under her chin, pulled her boots on, and swung her cape over her robe. Then she bolted out the door.

“Be careful! It’s slippery out there!” he yelled as he followed her.

It was snowing again, and the bitterly cold wind blew through her cape as she hurried across the white powder. Lillian would never call this late. And she said it was an emergency.
If she needs
a car, something is terribly wrong.

When Sadie got to the barn, she was numb from head to toe. Her hand was shaking when she reached for the answering machine—another luxury that was unheard-of years ago. She pushed the button.

“Sadie, it’s Lillian . . .”

Sadie could hear the
Mr. Saunders
coming up behind her in the barn. “What is it?” He paused, sounding out of breath. “Who is Jonas?”

She gripped her hands together, drew them to her chest, and took a deep breath as she listened to the rest of Lillian’s message.

“Oh, no,” she said, fighting tears.

3

KADE REMEMBERED HIS COAT AND GLOVES THIS TIME. He carefully backed the car out of the barn and wondered how in the heck he was going to drive in this weather. He was from L.A., for crying out loud.

Sadie waited on the front porch, bundled up like a snow bunny. The last thing he felt like doing was driving around, particularly in these elements, to find a lost old man. Not because he was a cold, heartless kind of guy, but because he’d been this route before. And the end result hadn’t been good. Kade thought back to when his mother first told him about his father’s Alzheimer’s disease. Dad was such a young man at the time too. Not much older than Kade. According to the doctors, early onset of the illness accounts for 5 to 10 percent of those diagnosed, and his father fell into that unlucky percentage. Kade feared losing his mind more than anything else. And it seemed to run in his genes.

Oh man, oh man
. The car slid sideways when he tried to turn the Mercedes around. Pulling forward, the tires spun in the snow. He glanced up at the porch and saw Sadie, who appeared irritated at his efforts. Did she want to give it a try?
You don’t even
know how to drive, and I’m doing the best I can.

Finally the car inched ahead. When he stopped, she was already down the porch steps. She opened the back door and slid into the seat.

“What are you doing? Do you think maybe you should sit in the front seat and help me navigate?” She gave him a strange look, then exited and eased her way into the front seat. All his frustration washed away when he looked into her teary, blue eyes, reflective of the pain in her heart.
This old man must be very
dear to her.

“We’ll find him,” he said soothingly.

“I’m sorry about this.” As they pulled onto Black Horse Road, Sadie turned to look at him. He seemed to be concentrating. “But they will need all the help they can get. And Lillian knew there was a car here, so . . .” It seemed strange to be sitting in the front seat with him. Normally, when an
Englisch
driver was called for a ride, she sat in the backseat. Unless, of course, it was a friend of hers. She barely knew her renter.

Kade leaned forward on the steering wheel and struggled to see past the falling snow. “How far down the road is it?”

“Not far.” She shook her head. “Poor Jonas.”

“Did your friend say how long he’s been missing?” Kade turned briefly toward her, then steadied his eyes back on the road.

“Lillian’s mother said Jonas left in the buggy after supper, which would mean he went home after he left my shop today. Lillian said her mother tried to talk him out of going for a ride in this
baremlich—
I mean, terrible—weather.”

“What’s that language you’re speaking? It sounds like German.”

“Pennsylvania
Deitsch
. It’s rather like German, I suppose.” She pointed to her left. “Over there.”

“Thank goodness,” Kade grumbled.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. She’d rather not be going anywhere with him either.

“No, it’s okay. I just don’t know how to drive in these conditions. I’d hate to have an accident.”

And mess up this fancy car
. Sadie didn’t say anything.

“Wow,” he said when he pulled into the driveway. “I’ve never seen this many buggies in one place at one time.”

“In our community, everyone helps everyone else, ’specially at a time like this.”

“What’s everyone going to do? Trudge around in the snow, looking for this guy?”

Sadie knew the look she shot Kade Saunders would have God frowning, and she tried to free herself of the bad thoughts she was having about this man. But even in the darkness, he evidently picked up on her dislike for him.

“I mean, I’ll help look, but it’s freezing outside, and—”

“We don’t need your help, Mr. Saunders. You are welcome to sit in the car, if you see fit.” She folded her hands in her lap.

“Of course I’m going to help.” She thought he rolled his eyes before continuing. “And you can call me Kade.”

Sadie didn’t answer. She opened the door and headed toward the crowd of people on the porch.

“Thank you for coming, Sadie. And for bringing the car.” Lillian hugged her.

Lillian’s mother, Sarah Jane, was talking to the elders gathered at the other end of the porch. Even the bishop had come, and he had to be at least Jonas’s age.

“Where do you want us to start looking?” Sadie asked. She scanned the porch. About twenty folks so far.

“Barbie should be here soon in her car. And she’s bringing several other
Englisch
friends with cars. Noah and Carley will be here soon, too, in their car. But in this
wedder
, it will take them longer to get here.” Lillian looked over Sadie’s shoulder. “The
Englisch
man is walking this way. Is he friendly?”

Sadie shrugged. “He has a car.”

“Hi.” Kade extended his hand to Lillian. “I’m Kade Saunders.” “Thank you for bringing your car, Mr. Saunders.” Lillian looked at Kade’s running shoes, covered in snow. “Do you have no boots?”

“No . . .” Kade sounded embarrassed. “I wasn’t very prepared for this weather. I’m planning to get some in town when the weather clears.”

“You won’t need them then,” Lillian said with a smirk on her face. “
Mei daadi
has an extra pair of boots inside the house. I’ll get them for you.”

“Thanks,” Kade said.

Sadie could hear Sarah Jane instructing the others where to go, areas Jonas might have gone. Her stomach rolled. In this weather, Jonas would freeze . . . She squelched the thought and turned her attention to Kade. He was shivering like a little girl.

“I hate the cold,” he snapped as he wrapped his arms around himself.

“I told you, you can sit in the car.”

Kade waved his hand in front of her, signaling silence. He’d done that before, and she didn’t like it. “I want to help. I’m just not used to this weather. That’s all.”

Lillian returned with a pair of Jonas’s boots and a heavy coat. Much heavier than the lightweight overcoat Kade was wearing. “Here you go, Mr. Saunders.” Lillian offered him the boots and coat.

“Thanks.” Kade wasted no time putting on the coat, then pulled the boots over his tennis shoes.

Lillian grabbed Sadie by the arm and began pulling her away from the others. Kade stayed where he was—still shivering.

“The elders will divide up and search the back roads.
Mamm
will stay here, and everyone will be checking back on the hour. When other
Englisch
our get here, we’ll have several portable telephones to use. Does your friend have one? A cell phone?”

“He’s not my friend. He’s my renter. But I reckon he has one.”

“Sadie, there’s somewhere I need you to go, to look for Jonas. Somewhere I don’t want the others to know about. I don’t even want
mei mamm
to know.” Lillian flinched and glanced toward her husband, Samuel, at the other end of the porch. “Actually, there are two places. Samuel will go to one of the spots with Noah and Carley in their car when they get here. Will you and Mr. Saunders go to the other place?”

Sadie knew that Lillian trusted her, and Noah and Carley, to be discreet. Noah was Samuel’s shunned brother who had left the Old Order to become a doctor, and who ended up marrying one of Lillian’s best friends. They were officially outsiders, but really weren’t. The entire community adored them both. Noah’s clinic was frequented by the Amish, despite the bishop’s initial ruling that their district couldn’t patronize Noah’s health facility. But ever since Noah had donated one of his kidneys to Samuel’s son, David, things had been different. The bishop now seemed to overlook things related to Noah and his shunning.

“Where is it that you want us to go?” Sadie asked.

Lillian frowned and leaned toward Sadie’s ear. “There’s a little pub down a ways on Lincoln Highway. I fear he might be in there.” Lillian stood straight again and waited for a reaction from Sadie.

“Uh, do you mean a
bar
that serves beer and the like?” Sadie had never been in such a place.

“I hate to ask you.” Lillian paused. “But once, I was driving the buggy to market, and I saw Grandpa’s buggy parked outside the place. I know it was his, because it has that dent on the right side from when Noah backed his car into it one time.” She shook her head. “I remember that Grandpa was fit to be tied when that happened. Anyway, I had the baby with me, so I didn’t go in.”

“What’s the other place?” Sadie was wondering if she could choose between the two—if the other spot might not be as bad.

“It’s a pub, too, further down Lincoln Highway. It’s a little rougher, though. I figured Noah, Samuel, and Carley can take that one.”

That answered Sadie’s question. “Have you caught him in there before too?”

“
Ya
. I did. And that time I wasn’t with the baby, so I went in and coaxed him out. He made me promise not to tell
mei mamm
, which I didn’t. It was harmless enough. He was chatting with some
Englisch
men that he knew. But he had no business in such a place, so I kindly told him we needed to be on our way.” Lillian’s eyes grew glassy. “Sadie, I am
hoping
he’s in one of those places on this night. If he’s out in this weather . . .”

“We’ll leave right now.” Sadie turned to see Kade holding his position and making no effort to talk to any of the others. He looked out of place, and she dreaded having to spend more time with him.

“There’s Noah and Carley.” Lillian pointed to a car coming up the drive. Then she hugged Sadie. “
Danki
.”

Kade was glad to reach the main highway. There was little traffic, and the snow plows were hard at work keeping the streets clear. Driving down Black Horse Road had been an effort. He sure hoped this Jonas fellow was indoors and not out in the weather. It had been just the opposite the day he found his father. Hot. Humid. Kade struggled to push the thought to the back of his mind.

“There it is.” She pointed to their right. Looked like a hole-in-the-wall joint. “You don’t have to go inside,” she added.

“I was just about to tell you the same thing.” Kade suspected Sadie wouldn’t be comfortable going in such an establishment.

“No, Jonas knows me. I’m not sure he trusts—”

“Me?” Kade grunted. “Yeah, I got that impression earlier today.”

“He’s very protective of Lillian and all her friends,” she said with pride.

Kade put the car in park. “Ready?” He certainly wasn’t, but the sooner they got this over with, the better. “Hopefully, we’ll find him inside.”

She stepped out of the car and pulled the hood of her black coat over her head. Kade found a similar hood on his coat and pulled it on. It was a short walk to the pub, but the snow was coming down in thick blankets. He felt ridiculous in the black galoshes, but his feet were staying dry. He pulled the long, brass handle protruding from the wooden door. Cigarette smoke hit him in the face as he held the door for Sadie. He stayed close behind her.