Simple Deceit (The Harmony Series 2) (27 page)

I took her hand. “Like I said, if Sam and I are meant to be together, it will happen. You and I both need to believe that.”

She shook her head. “But sometimes things don’t seem to work out right. What about Gabe and his wife? I bet he thought they’d be together forever, and she walked out on her husband and daughter without so much as a fare-thee-well and spit in your face.”

I was trying to figure out what a “fare-thee-well and spit in your face” was when I heard Sarah’s voice coming from behind me. “Oh no.”

I turned to find her dressed in her dark blue frock, her hair back up and covered by her matching prayer cap. Although she was beautiful no matter what she wore, I missed seeing her hair down.

“My mother wasn’t dedicated to God, Sweetie,” she said. “That’s the difference between Gracie and Mama.” She came into the kitchen and sat down at the table. There was still a shadow of weariness in her face. “She was raised in the Old Order ways, but she followed them because she had to. She married my father because he was the only boy close to her age that she liked at all.” Sarah clasped her hands together and stared at them. “You see, she never really gave her heart to the Lord—or to our faith. So when she met the man she left with, all she could see was a new and different life. In her mind, a better life.” She raised her head and smiled sweetly. “But Gracie has chosen her faith. She has chosen her God. And that is the difference. We cannot serve God because our parents do—or even because we think it is the right thing. Our commitment needs to come from our hearts—not just our minds.” A frown creased her smooth forehead. “Am I saying this clearly? Do you understand?”

Sweetie nodded. “I think I do. I was readin’ somethin’ ‘bout that the other day. Jesus asked Peter if he knew who He was, and Peter said Jesus was the Son of God. Then Jesus said somethin’ that I had to read a few times before I got it. He spoke about flesh and blood not tellin’ Peter who He was. But that his knowin’ the
truth about Jesus came straight from God.” She frowned. “What Jesus said then was kinda amazin’. He said that the gates of hell couldn’t come against that. I finally figgered out He was talkin’ about the devil not bein’ able to take away what we get straight from heaven.” She looked at Sarah questioningly. “Is that what you mean?”

Sarah smiled at her. “That’s exactly what I mean. Peter knew about Jesus because God revealed it to him. Not because someone else told him. I believe we all must have that moment when we choose to believe of our own free will.” A sad countenance came over her. “My mother never made that choice. When she did finally choose, she chose the wrong thing.”

“Sarah, in all these years have you or Gabe ever heard from your mom?”

“A few years ago a letter came. I will never forget my father’s expression when he looked at the return address. He stared at it for the longest time. Then he threw it away without reading it or mentioning it again.” She shrugged her thin shoulders. “He never said, but I think it might have been from my mother.”

“You never asked him?” I said.

“No. I felt it would cause him pain. And to be honest, I feel more committed to caring about the parent who stayed with me—who raised me—than the one who walked away.”

“I understand if Gabe just tossed out that letter,” Sweetie said. “I kept things from my father the last year of his life because I didn’t want him to worry. After his accident, he was so sick it was all I could do to keep him alive. Worryin’ about things he couldn’t fix…well, it just seemed wrong. Your papa didn’t want your mama to cause you any more hurt. That’s why he didn’t open that letter.”

Sarah nodded. “And I guess it isn’t just the parents who protect their children. Sometimes the children protect the parents. And they may never know it.”

Like Sarah was protecting Gabe from his fear of being alone. I had to wonder what Gabe would think if he knew the truth. “I’d better get this coffee to Eric before it gets cold,” I said. “Sarah, would you like to meet him?”

“That would be nice.”

I carried Eric’s cup into the living room. He’d probably begun to wonder what was taking so long. “Eric Beck, this is Sarah Ketterling, Gabe Ketterling’s daughter.”

Eric stood to his feet. “Nice to meet you, Miss Ketterling. I visited with your father at your store in downtown Harmony. Unfortunately, he wasn’t too enthusiastic about my project.”

Sarah nodded at him and sat down in a chair across from the couch. Eric sat down as well.

“I hope he wasn’t rude, Mr. Beck. My father is rather opinionated on most subjects.”

Eric smiled. “No, he wasn’t rude. He was just suspicious. And please, call me Eric.”

“I would be happy to, but you must call me Sarah.”

“Thank you.” Eric finally had a chance to sip his coffee. I hoped it was still hot.

“Eric, can you tell me what will happen to your project now? Now that Rand McAllister is…deceased?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’m actually in a rather difficult situation. Time is ticking away on this deal, but I can’t run over and talk to Thelma right away. It wouldn’t be respectful. I’m not sure just what I’ll do.”

“Perhaps Pastor Mueller could intercede for you,” Sarah said. “I’m certain he will be spending time with Thelma and Jessica as they deal with their loss. Maybe you could speak to him, and he could broach the subject?”

Eric’s face brightened. “That’s a wonderful idea. Thank you, Sarah.”

“I tend to wonder if Thelma will be ready to move for a while,” I said to Eric. “I mean, her husband dies, and she’s going to sell her home right away? I don’t know. That might be a lot of upheaval for someone dealing with grief.”

“I know,” Eric said. “But the problem is that unless we move quickly, this deal will fold. The investors are looking at some property in northwest Kansas. Lakefront property. Of course, that would be the most desirable choice.”

“Well, maybe they should just buy it and forget about Harmony,” I said.

“They’re thinking seriously about it. It’s much more expensive than Rand’s property, but a better site overall.”

I frowned at him. “Why don’t they just buy some of the property around Trouble Lake? The lake is large, and except for my place and Sam’s, the area hasn’t been developed.”

Eric smiled and picked up his coffee cup. “We looked at that first, but your place and Sam’s are the only privately owned land around the lake. The rest of it is owned by the county, and they’re not selling.” He took a sip of coffee and put the cup down. It had to be cold by now.

“Let me warm that up for you,” I said, rising to my feet. “What about you, Sarah? Can I get you anything?”

She shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m fine.”

As I walked away, I heard Sarah say, “But if you could buy affordable land on Trouble Lake, your investors would probably decide to build here?”

“Absolutely. This area is still their first choice.”

When I got to the kitchen, Sweetie wasn’t there, but the door to the basement was open. She kept an extensive pantry downstairs. I’d found most folks who live in the country have big pantries. When you don’t have a grocery store nearby, you have to stock up for situations just like the blizzard we’d just gone
through. Anytime a big storm was predicted for Wichita, the stores ran out of bread and milk almost immediately. I always found that funny. How much bread and milk can anyone use at one time? Well, in Harmony, most women made their own bread and there were enough milk cows around to make sure everyone had all they wanted. Those weren’t the items folks around here stocked up on.

The coffeemaker was still on, so I poured Eric a fresh cup of coffee, added cream, and headed back to the living room. As I entered the room, Eric was telling Sarah about growing up in Mound City, Kansas.

“I’ve never been to Mound City,” I said as I set Eric’s cup down on the table in front of him, “but I had a friend in Wichita who grew up there. She had such fond memories of her childhood. Sounds like a nice place.”

“It is. I miss it. My folks still live there.” He flashed me a grin. “Go, Hawks!”

“You played sports?” Sarah asked.

“Baseball. Nothing like playing for a high school team in a small town. Everyone comes to the games.”

“I grew up in a small town in Nebraska,” I said as I sat down, “and you’re right. The games were the most exciting thing going. People brought their grills and cooked hot dogs and hamburgers before the game. We certainly never went hungry.”

Eric laughed. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“It sounds wonderful,” Sarah said.

I’d heard that a lot of Mennonite children weren’t allowed to play sports as children. Gabe had mentioned as much. Not wanting to make the conversation uncomfortable for Sarah, I changed the subject back to something I’d heard before I went into the kitchen. “Eric, did I hear you say something about your investors having an interest in lakefront property?”

“Well, sure. Anytime you can build a property near a lake, it adds to the value. Especially if you can offer swimming, boating, and fishing.”

“How much land do you need?”

“As much as we can get, with most of the property next to the water,” he said. “I’d want to give a majority of the condos a view of the water with easy access to the shore.”

“I was just thinking that since originally my land was used for farming and I’m not doing that, maybe I could sell off part of it to help the town.”

“You’re very generous. I wish it was the answer, but there’s just not enough acreage. Rand’s place is a little over forty acres, and yours is what…around thirty?”

I nodded.

“Excuse me,” Sarah said softly. “I don’t understand something. Even though Gracie’s land is smaller, wouldn’t your…investors…rather build a smaller community instead of giving up altogether?”

“The problem is that right now they’re thinking about bailing out of the project completely since it seems our original plans won’t work. And it isn’t just the size of the land. Rand’s place was just off a paved country road that connects to the highway. To reach Gracie’s, you have to travel quite a distance on a dirt road. It’s just not as attractive to older residents. My recent experiences in the snow show the importance of well-developed and well-maintained roads.”

“So even if you could buy my place and Sam’s, you still couldn’t move the development here?” I asked.

“Well, I’d have to get the county to pave the road. I suppose if they were agreeable, we might be very interested.” He smiled at me. “If the investors could be talked into looking at the possibility, there’s a chance they’d be willing to offer you a great deal
of money. Lakefront property is hard to come by. I’m sure they’d pay a lot more for your land than they would have for Rand’s.” He hesitated for a moment and then frowned at us. “But your property is much closer to downtown Harmony than Rand’s. How would the residents feel about having the retirement community so close to town? The last thing I want to do is bring division to Harmony. This is a very special place.” He shook his head. “On the other hand, having the development closer would definitely make shopping in Harmony more attractive to our residents.”

The prospect of making Harmony stronger appealed to me. If Eric’s project would really help the town, I’d actually be willing to move. But of course Sam and Sweetie would never sell their home or their orchards. This place was in their blood. And I couldn’t stand to see the big red house destroyed. I pushed the idea out of my head. I’d just started to ask Sarah and Eric if they wanted more coffee when I heard the front door open.

I excused myself and hurried to see who it was. Sam stood in the hallway with the door still ajar. He was staring at Eric’s Hummer parked in the driveway.

“What’s he doing here?” he asked when he saw me.

“Well, hello to you, too.”

“Sorry. Just wasn’t expecting to find Eric here. I figured he’d hole up in Council Grove until the highways were in better shape.”

I peered outside. Gabe and John had gotten out of the truck and were coming up the stairs.

“He came to help,” I whispered. “You be nice. He was worried about all of us.”

Sam glared at me but didn’t pursue it.

“I thought you’d be gone all day. Why are you home so early?”

“We weren’t the only ones out clearing the roads. Lots of men are working to make things passable. I decided the best place for me was back here. I have a lot of work to do before the freeze sets in.”

“I guess you’ve been through this before?”

“Yeah, several times. And I’ve lost trees. I don’t want to lose any more if I can help it.”

With his mind on his orchards, at least he wasn’t concentrated on Eric—or so I thought. When we walked into the living room, something in his expression must have alarmed Eric, who looked concerned when he spotted Sam. Sam still hadn’t shared everything he’d said to Eric when he drove him to his truck the night of the storm—just that he’d threatened to kick him out if he tried to explain the awkward situation. If anything else had transpired, both Sam and Eric were keeping it to themselves. I had the distinct feeling it would be best to let it stay that way.

“Gracie says you drove through the snow to make sure everyone here was okay,” Sam said. He hesitated a moment while I prayed he wouldn’t say something I might regret. “Thanks.” Although he more or less mumbled it, I was relieved. Eric appeared to feel the same way.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “I heard on the news that temperatures are supposed to keep dropping. They interviewed a farmer near Garden City who was worried about his orchards. It made me wonder if you needed some help.”

Sam sat down on the couch and stretched his legs. I could tell he was tired. “That’s exactly why we came home early. I’ve got to clean out my barrels and set out some smudge pots. John and Gabe plan to help. I could use you, too, if you’re interested.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

At that moment John and Gabe both came into the room. John noticed Sarah up and dressed. The weariness in his face disappeared, and he broke into a wide smile. He opened his mouth to say something but suddenly stopped. Sarah lit up when she saw him, too, but when she observed his hesitancy, she immediately broke her gaze from his and focused it on her father. Gabe didn’t
seem to notice.