Temptation (A Temptation Novel) (40 page)

I shrugged. “Why not?”

She said fiercely, “Because the elders think they’re too flashy. Can you imagine, my old, dingy brown boots
flashy?
And that’s just the beginning of it, Sam. I can’t even wear a watch!” she nearly shrieked, although quietly.

“Then why don’t you get out of there?”

“I love Noah, that’s why.”

“So you’re going to live this way, miserable, for the rest of your life?”

“Well, it’s not all bad. The Millers and the Hershbergers are so nice to me. And I’ve made friends.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Are you going to continue with this craziness, or what?” I was becoming irritated with her, and it probably showed in my voice, although I was really trying to sound amicable.

She pushed away from the bags and invaded my personal space. When she was close enough that she must have felt that no one sneaking up on her would hear, she breathed out, “I think Noah might go English.”

I couldn’t help feeling exasperated with her. “Oh, come on, Rose, we’ve been through this before.” When I saw her hopeful eyes, I asked, “Why, has something changed with him?”

“No, not exactly, but I think he might be coming around to my side.” She said it a little sheepishly, and I suddenly felt sorry for nature boy.

“So, your plans all along were to convert Noah—and not really stay Amish yourself? Is that it?”

“No, Sam. I’ll stay Amish if that’s what it takes to be with Noah.” She looked dramatically horrified at my question.

“You’re not convincing me. And besides, how much time are you going to waste on this endeavor? The holidays are in a couple of weeks. Are you planning to shun your family for Christmas?” Number-two thing was now off my chest. I leveled a hard look at her, but I thought that I was being pretty mild. She needed some sense shaken into her.

“Oh, I don’t know. I really want to see you all for the holidays, but Ruth and James have so much family to visit. And there is
so
much work that needs to be done.”

Then she rambled on for a few minutes, something about Mrs. Hershberger’s daughter having twins and having to do her laundry for her, scrubbing a fence by hand and making two hundred Whoopee Pies for some event. I tuned it all out
.
None of it mattered in the least
.
Really, my sis was losing her freak’n mind.

I interrupted her. “Look, Dad wants to see you for Christmas, and that’s the end of it. So you better work it out.”

“Yeah, I’ll do the best I can,” she murmured, staring off into space like a zombie.

“We’re all going to Cincinnati to stay at Aunt Debbie’s for the holidays. Just think about it, Rose—you can hang out with Amanda and Britney, and go shopping at the mall with Aunt Debbie for the last-minute sales. You’d have a blast, and it would be really good for you.”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be allowed to go away for that long.”

“Why don’t you just bring Noah with you.”

I thought it was the perfect solution, but when she rolled her eyes and spat, “No way will they let him do that. He’d have to have an Amish adult chaperone along, and that would be just terrible—as if his folks would even let him leave town during Christmastime anyway,” she said, pouting.

Before I had a chance to respond, a couple of Amish women appeared at the end of the aisle. At that moment, they reminded me of a pair of harpies that just found lunch.

“Rose. Come with us now. We must go,” the older, gray-haired lady said. I figured she was the infamous Mrs. Hershberger. She was a little chubby, still managing to be sharp-faced. Other than that, there wasn’t anything really distinguishable about her.

“Coming.” Rose gave me a fake smile, before whirling and darting over to join the women. When she met up with them, both women put a hand on either of her shoulders and guided her out of my sight.

Shoot.
What a mess Rose was in. It was obvious she wasn’t enjoying being Amish, and it was just a matter of time before her house of cards collapsed. But I still had the nagging feeling that the fool girl might do something insane, like marry Noah, before she got her head on straight.

Well, if I had anything to do with it, that wasn’t going to happen. I’d tell Dad about my encounter with Rose when I got home, and I’d encourage him to go ahead with the family crisis intervention plan he’d been talking about. That’s what he called it, but what Dad really meant to do was to kidnap Rose from the Amish and force her to live in Cincinnati with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Will. This charade had gone on long enough. We’d all figured she’d only last a few weeks at most with the strict disciplinary lifestyle of these people. But to all our amazement, especially Tina’s, she’d proven she had a pretty tough constitution
.
Four months was enough, though.

A discussion I’d had with Summer weeks ago materialized in my mind, and after a few seconds of digesting the information, a plan began to sprout. Someday Rose would thank me for it. But I figured there’d be a whole lot of squalling first.

I slowly walked through the store, not paying any attention to the people passing by me. I was too absorbed in thought. Yeah, Dad needed to take action—the sooner the better.

Acknowledgments

I certainly would
never have seen my characters bound forever in the pages of a real book without the love, encouragement and help of too many people to count, and I’m grateful to each and every one of them!

None of this would be possible if Christina Hogrebe of the Jane Rotrosen Agency hadn’t seen the glorious possibilities of Rose and Noah’s love story, opening that first door for me. Not only has she turned out to be the best partner in the publishing world I could have, but also an excellent therapist when needed and I owe her many thanks on both accounts.

The Harlequin Teen editorial team did a fine job taking care of me throughout the intimidating process of polishing a book for publication, and I want to give a shout of thanks to Adam Wilson for guiding me into my first revision with expertise, understanding and a curiosity for the Amish world, which gave me much fodder to work with and a few laughs besides. Also, big thanks to Natashya Wilson and T.S. Ferguson; their insights and enthusiasm helped refine the story to its very best and have laid the groundwork for the series to prosper.

Special thanks to: my children, Luke, Cole, Lily, Owen and Cora, for putting up with everything—I love you all too much to explain in words; my mother, Marilyn, an avid reader of anything worth reading, who not only encouraged me to follow my dreams, but read all that I wrote, sometimes repeatedly, and gave me her honest opinion every time. I can’t thank you enough for all the time you’ve invested in my blossoming career—I love you; the men in my life, my father, Anthony, my brother, Tony, and my nephew, Jamey, who not only guided me with advice and wisdom when I needed it most, but also helped me with the basics of survival—many hugs to each of you.

Only the friendship and affection of many close friends and family kept my head above water and my focus aimed straight during the making of this novel. The following are some of those people, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart for listening, talking, showing generosity and just plain being there: Devin, Kendra, Kelsey, Grace, Jay, Helen, Carey, Opal, Marian, Tyler, Ange G., Erin, Lane, Matthias, Larry, Tammy, the Dean family and all my friends at Kroger, Maysville.

I would be remiss not to mention the wonderful people of the May’s Lick Amish community who inspired me to write this book in the first place. I am humbled by the kindness shown to me and my children since our arrival in Kentucky, and I still delight in seeing the buggies whisking down the road.

“Success is sweeter and sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats.”

~Amos Bronson Alcott

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ISBN: 9781459233263

Copyright © 2012 by Karen Ann Hopkins

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