Seasons of Tomorrow (16 page)

“Seriously, Leah?” he yelled at her closed door from his spot on the stairs. He waited, but she didn’t open it. If staying in Maine was
that
important, she could stay. He turned toward the kitchen.

Don’t do this!
The warning inside him only irritated him more. He was done being patient and reasonable. Since he’d begun to care for her, back when they were still in Pennsylvania, he’d tried to do what was best for her. Look where it’d gotten him! Leah thought he cared for his job more than her. He’d set that straight right now.

He went into the kitchen, where the group was still sitting at the table as if it were a normal meeting.

Rhoda looked at him, and her eyes widened, apparently reading his anger. “Landon, we were just discussing—”

“Benjamin.” Landon straightened his ball cap. He didn’t want to hear what else they were discussing. He’d had enough. “What will it take for you to allow Leah to stay here?”

The man interlaced his fingers. “I doubt you understand the gravity of—”

“I understand plenty.” Landon gritted his teeth, keeping his tone as even as possible. “And I’m sick of you thinking outsiders are too stupid to comprehend what’s important in life and too evil to be allowed to infiltrate your camps of great holiness.” He clenched his jaw. “What will it take?”

“You leave Orchard Bend Farms today, now actually, and give your word you’ll not see or contact Leah for a year, and you turn in your phone so she can’t contact you.”

“Landon,”—Rhoda came to him—“you’re angry. Don’t agree to leave here like this. What he’s asking is ridiculous.”

The voice inside him kept saying,
Don’t. Don’t give in to your anger
.

“It’s done.” Landon held out his phone. “How different is this plan from him taking Leah to Pennsylvania tomorrow?”

“A good bit,” she whispered. “Trust me.”

But Leah’s accusation kept pelting him like a winter ice storm, snatching his breath and all ability to see beyond a few feet. When Rhoda didn’t accept his phone, he took her by the wrist, turned her hand palm up, and placed his phone in it. “I really don’t want to hear from anyone, and I have to put some distance between me and this farm.”

He turned and walked out.

When Leah’s tears finally subsided, she pulled free of the pillows and sat up. She wiped her face and straightened her crumpled clothes before going to the closet to find her suitcase. Fresh tears welled, but she put the traveling bag on her bed and opened it.

She heard a car door slam and went to the window. Landon was leaving? How much time had passed since she locked herself in her bedroom? Surely it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Had someone sent him home, or was he leaving because he was sick of the drama—her drama?

They still had a little time. It sounded as if Rhoda and Samuel would fight for her to have an evening of talking with Landon and saying good-byes. Surely he’d return in an hour or two, and they’d spend the rest of the time talking—even if her Daed insisted a chaperone go along.

Her complaint that he didn’t want to marry her wasn’t true, was it? She could hardly blame him if it was. Time and again her emotions built up inside her like a thunderstorm. When they did, she lashed out with what she felt at that moment, not necessarily what she really believed or thought.

While she was staring at the yard and driveway, Samuel, Steven, and her Daed emerged from under the roof of the porch and traipsed to the barn. Had Rhoda and Samuel helped her Daed make plans to take her home, or were they honestly just as caught by the circumstances as she was?

She sighed. Her Daed had left her no choice. Either she went home with him, or Landon had to leave, and Landon was needed around here more than she was. Actually, everyone else, including Steven and even Jacob when he was here, fell into place somewhere below the anchor of the trio of Rhoda, Samuel, and Landon.

But before she finished packing to return to Pennsylvania, she had to talk to Landon. She grabbed the phone out of her pocket and texted him:
What just happened? How did we end up arguing as if we’re enemies?

Surely he’d respond in typical Landon form—understanding and unwavering in his love.

While waiting on him to answer, she watched as Steven drove a wagon carrying large cans of oil mixture out of the barn and into the orchard. Since her grandfather Apple Sam was a young man, the Kings had taken great care of their apple orchards, tending to them organically regardless of the amount of work that required. The Amish were often good stewards of the land, but they’d break her heart and dismantle her future because she didn’t view life as they did?

Samuel and Daed rode out of the barn on horseback, going a different direction than Steven. Where was Rhoda?

At least they were leaving Leah alone for a bit. But their goal was no secret—to give her space to make the
right
decision to obey her father.

She clutched the phone. Why hadn’t Landon answered her? She texted him again:
Hello?
She waited. Had he turned off his phone?

Or was he simply through responding to her at all?

Someone tapped on the door. “Leah, may I come in?” Rhoda’s voice trembled.

Leah turned the lock, and when she opened the door, she saw a rarity—Rhoda’s eyes glistening with tears.

Rhoda forced a smile. “I’m sorry.” A sob broke from her before she pursed her lips and drew a deep breath. “I never thought …”

Leah went to the closet and pulled three dresses off the hangers at one time. She didn’t want to hear anyone’s apology. “I’m packing now so that when Landon returns, I have nothing else to do but spend time with him.” She grabbed a stack of underwear out of a drawer. “What time do Daed and I leave here tomorrow?”

Rhoda moved in closer. “Leah … honey, you can stay.”

Leah dropped the underwear, and her puny strength seemed to melt like wax. “What do you mean?”

Rhoda took her by the shoulders and helped her sit on the bed. She knelt beside her. “I … I think it’s Landon’s gift to you.”

“A gift?” As realization dawned, Leah ran from the room, down the stairs, and to the front yard. What was she searching for? She’d seen Landon leave! But her head was spinning, and she couldn’t make out one clear thought.

Rhoda followed her.

“Where is he?”

Rhoda pulled his phone out of her hidden pocket. “He’s gone.”

Leah snatched his cell from Rhoda and ran for the barn. He’d be at his granny’s. She knew he would. She jerked the landline out of its cradle and dialed Erlene’s house. But no one picked up.

Rhoda came to the doorway of the office.

“Why?” Leah knocked a container of pencils off the desk. “Tell me why he would do this.”

Rhoda shrugged one shoulder. “He got really angry with all of us.”

“What was said after I went to my room?”

Rhoda shrugged again but said nothing.

Leah plunked into the office chair. “It was me, wasn’t it? I’m the one who said something that made him leave like this.” She tried to think of all she’d screamed at him before slamming the door and locking it.

Her heart pounded, and the room continued to spin as fragments of complaints against him returned to her. She couldn’t recall her exact words, but she remembered the essence of what she’d said—that she believed he didn’t love her and that he was unwilling to jeopardize his chance of becoming a partner.

Along with her heartache, shame engulfed her, and she longed to turn back the hands of time.

What had she done?

THIRTEEN

Early morning light streamed through the clouds as Jacob drove the wagon toward Esther’s. The sunshine breaking through the white billows looked as hopeful as he felt of late. He had a second wind. A new optimism. Maybe because April began a couple of days ago and the air was filled with sunlight and promises of spring. Or maybe he felt great because of opening up with Esther as they worked side by side for hours on Monday. If talking to someone made a person feel this much better, he shouldn’t have spent his life avoiding it.

He pulled into her driveway and saw her through the double-wide doors of the shed—coatless and with the littlest one strapped to her back. Even though it’d warm up to near sixty later today, right now it had to be close to forty degrees. But she tended to move quickly, and the cool temperature probably felt just right. Her little boy appeared bundled up enough for both of them.

An old door rested on two sawhorses, and it had various crates on it, as if the door was being used for a workbench or desk. She appeared to be looking through one of the crates for something when she glanced up. Coming to the door of the shed, she motioned to him with one hand and pointed with the other, directing him to the right spot to park. He saw the stack of wood flooring and made a wide loop with the horse, aiming to get the wagon directly in front of the wood.

After seeing the wood floors at Bailey’s ironwork shop a couple of days ago, he had an opportunity to talk to the owners of the homes later that day. One owner wasn’t interested in anything old, but the other one had already planned to use a turn-of-the-century country look in her décor. So the woman jumped at the chance to have repurposed flooring installed. She also wanted to know if he could get hold of antique hearths for the two fireplaces and something she called pilaster doorways.

He didn’t know what that was, but since he had the roster of all the
contractors who’d worked on the houses, he’d called Bailey’s shop. Esther was gone for the day, but Bailey gave him the number to Esther’s phone shanty. Jacob left a message, and thankfully she returned his call within a few hours.

Although Esther kept most of her wood flooring at the warehouse, she’d told him to meet her at the shed this morning, and she’d have the needed supplies. They discussed everything the homebuyer was interested in except the pilasters. He wasn’t even sure he was pronouncing it right, so he figured a face-to-face with Esther about it would be best.

He had six days to get the houses ready for the owners to do a walk-through. Then he’d need a couple of days to work the punch lists that delineated what still had to be done before the final inspection. After that he would turn over the keys and the responsibilities of the houses to the Realtor and head for Sandra’s place.

With the wagon in place, he set the brake and hopped down. “Morning.”

Esther looked up, a welcoming smile gracing her face. The little one on her back grinned at him, opening and shutting his mittened hand.

“Hi.” Still favoring her knee, Esther moved a crate from the workbench door to a shelf. She dug through the container in search of something. “I’ve gathered all the hard pine I could since we talked, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough to do all the homeowner wants.”

Jacob eyed the pile. She must have collected more since they first talked in November, or she’d been mistaken about how much she had. The stack was enough to cover three to four hundred square feet, and if he got the contractors to patchwork brick around the edges, he might be able to do the foyer also. “It’ll do. Maybe the owner will like the idea of supplementing with brick. I’ll check, but I can’t get brick in this load.” The horse would struggle under that added weight.

“This is quite exciting.” Her brown eyes sparkled. “You should’ve come through town and run over me years ago.”

Jacob laughed. “My apologies.” He started loading the wagon. “You have more flooring than I expected.”

“Ya.” She began looking through the crates again, shifting items from one container to another. “But you should see the bathrooms in the Daadi Haus where the girls live and the front hall of my Mamm’s house.”

“You stripped the floors of their covering?”

“I did.”

He imagined the subflooring looked pretty rough where she’d pulled up the hardwood, but linoleum was an inexpensive fix, and if she could lay the hardwood, she could certainly lay linoleum. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her making that sacrifice in order to earn money, but the concept itself was amusing. “Is that sort of like pulling a rug out from underneath someone’s feet?”

“Worse. I pulled the floor out from underneath pregnant women and my aging, widowed mom.” She gave an evil laugh.