The Bridge of Peace (37 page)

“Sold!” Lennie exclaimed.

The room broke into laughter.

The auctioneer hit the gavel against his podium. “The first and last bid on Dora Blank’s basket is sixty dollars.”

Lennie motioned for him to take his seat.

Michael played along, lowering his head like a young man in trouble as he moved to the front of the room to sit beside his wife.

“Anyone else care to talk while the bidding is going on?” Lennie asked.

“Not me,” Michael said. “I’m now penniless and can’t afford to say a word.”

Grey chuckled. Lennie could charm a snake right out of its skin when in this schoolroom. But the school board meetings never flowed as easily. Her nontraditional ways managed to get someone’s hackles up all too often. And she’d stand her ground as if the Old Ways needed amending. He’d like to alter them himself about now and be free to see her at will. He looked around and saw Christian watching Lennie, probably ready to bid on her basket when it became available. Dwayne sat beside him.

Grey didn’t like the idea of standing by while Christian won the bid and a date with Lennie. Her Daed or brothers might be willing to bid, but they’d drop out when a single man showed interest. He’d wanted to ask Allen to win the bid, but what excuse could Grey give for asking such a thing?

He looked around the room and saw Peter staring at him. He gave him a reassuring smile. He held no grudges against him. Peter nodded, not looking anything like the surly teen who six months ago stood in this very room and back-talked Lennie.

Several more baskets were bid on and sold. A few young men kept upping the bid when Cara’s basket hit the block, making sure Ephraim had to pay dearly to share a picnic lunch with the woman he’d marry.

Lennie held up another basket. “Okay, this basket belongs to the beautiful and single Deborah Mast. Who will start the bidding?”

Deborah jumped to her feet.

Lennie frowned. “You’re bidding on your own basket this year?”

Deborah hurried to the front. “I’m taking matters into my own hands, so to speak.” She snatched her basket from Lennie.

Lennie picked out another basket.

Deborah motioned to her. “You haven’t auctioned my basket.”

“You took it and confused me, so I’ve moved on.” Lennie raised an eyebrow and put one hand on her hip. “Anyone else here confused?”

Deborah shook her head. “I’m not a bit confused, haven’t been for many months. Begin the bidding.”

Lennie pointed the microphone near her mouth. “Okay, who will—”

“Everything in this basket is made from scratch,” Deborah interrupted, pulling the microphone toward her as she spoke. “All the ingredients are fresh made, including the butter.”

“Can I assume you made this with one person in mind?”

“Definitely.”

“Couldn’t you have written him a note about all this ahead of time and spared the rest of us?”

“That’s not how the auction works.”

“And this is?” Lennie asked. “Can we cut to the chase here? Jonathan, our good friend Deborah, who used only the best ingredients and no processed foods or leftovers whatsoever, would dearly love for you to win the bid. I suggest you aim high and end my misery.”

Jonathan stood. “Three hundred dollars.”

Cheers went up, and Deborah smiled broadly, laughing and blushing at the same time as she walked to Jonathan and delivered her basket.

The crowd in the room thinned out as some of the men paid for their baskets and left with a girlfriend, wife, daughter, or mother. Israel won the bid for Ada’s basket, and they left. Soon Allen bought Emily’s basket, and they left too. Grey moved to a bench, and his son sat beside him. With the sun shining brightly and today’s temperature around seventy degrees, Lennie had the day she’d hoped for, a perfect time for picnics. The auctioneer and Lennie continued to take turns grabbing the baskets and asking for bids. As the event organizer, Lennie was called away to tend to some other business a couple of times. While she was elsewhere, the auctioneer took her basket from its place on the table behind him. There were only a few more baskets to bid on.

“The next basket belongs to our own Lena Kauffman.”

Christian made the first offer. The moment Christian bid, Dwayne said something to him. Sammy, one of Lennie’s older cousins, placed a bid while Christian and Dwayne seemed caught in an argument. Sammy had already bought and paid for his wife’s basket, but with Israel and Allen gone, he seemed to be stepping in for them. Christian got up, bid again, and moved seats. Dwayne followed him.

Lennie hurried back into the room with a handful of twenties. He’d bet she’d had to take ones and fives out to her students who were running the lemonade and baked goods table.

Peter raised his ticket, showing the runner his number. “Fifty dollars.”

Christian turned, clearly interested in who his competition was.

Dwayne stood. “No. You can’t bid on her basket.” He looked to Christian. “Or you either.”

“Let’s keep it calm, boys,” the auctioneer said. “Anyone can bid.”

“No!” Dwayne whirled around, looking at various people as if panicked. “She put poison in that food. I know she did. She tried to poison me and Aaron. If he were here, he’d tell you straight out.”

Michael went down front. “What do you mean?”

“It’s true,” Dwayne cried out. “She brought us a cake that was poison. Aaron didn’t want to make no fuss about it, so he threw it away quietlike.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Lennie motioned. “Take a seat, Dwayne, or take yourself outside.”

“Don’t let her do this. Please,” he pleaded.

“It’s okay, young man.” Michael put his hand on Dwayne’s shoulder. “Just take a deep breath.”

“I didn’t want to say nothing out loud like this. I tried telling Christian private-like. You saw me. You got to believe me. So many people feel sorry for her because of that mark that they don’t want to believe the truth about her.”

Lennie placed her hand over her birthmark for a moment.

Grey’s heart pounded like mad. “You’re out of line, and I think it’s time you leave.”

“She’s a liar and a deceiver.” Dwayne sounded crazy, and Grey wondered if he realized that. But whether he was stable or not, Grey believed he knew Dwayne’s purpose for bringing this up at this specific time—to cause Lennie as much trouble and embarrassment as possible.

Michael motioned toward the door. “Let’s go outside, and we’ll talk.”

“No, I have to say this. I have to tell the truth. She’s destroying men’s lives one by one. Ask Peter. He don’t want to admit it, but he knows she’s a deceiver. At the last school board meeting, they told her never to bring a psychologist into the school again. So you know what she’s doing instead? Bringing that woman from the Englischers’ school into her house right after school is out, and Peter’s been meeting with her behind Mamm and Daed’s backs. I bet other students are too.”

Grey couldn’t believe that. Lennie was stubborn enough to do something her own way, but she wouldn’t have hid it from him, would she?

Michael looked to Lennie. “Is this true?”

She didn’t respond.

“Lena, we made our position very clear at the last meeting. Is what Dwayne says true?”

Confusion stirred. Lennie was in trouble with the board and had said nothing to him about it? He dismissed the nonsense. She didn’t keep secrets from him.

Grey stood. “This isn’t the right place or time.”

“He’s right,” Michael said. “There are only three baskets left. If any of you intended to win the bid on one of the remaining baskets, please pay a reasonable fee, and let’s end the auction now. I’d like to wrap up today’s event and everyone go on home. We’ll have a board meeting Monday night.”

Lennie maintained control, smiling politely and thanking the first man who made his way down front to pay for one of the remaining baskets.

“Don’t let her keep lying to you,” Dwayne screamed before anyone left the room. “She knows exactly where Aaron is. She’s the reason he went there. She’s even chasing after Grey, almost as if she plotted for Elsie to be in that pasture with that bull while Grey stayed in this very classroom with her and Peter. Now Peter needs psychiatric help. Aaron is under the care of a doctor. What she’s done eats them up inside, and if you don’t stop her, she’ll either run Grey crazy or seduce him.” He motioned at Grey. “Grey’s not falling for her tricks, though, because he’s been asking other men to date her. He asked me and Christian. I think he was just hoping to find someone else for her to prey on so she’d leave him alone.”

“Enough!” Grey strode to the front of the classroom.

Lennie stared at him in disbelief. “You … you did that?”

Michael and Dora waited for him to respond. If he assured Lennie of his love now, he’d break Elsie’s parents all over again. He’d run Elsie’s good name through the mud. And he’d ruin Lennie’s reputation as well as his own. People inside the schoolhouse waited on him to respond. People who’d been outside had heard the shouting and come in.

She turned to Christian. “Did Grey ask you … to … date me?”

Christian looked at Grey, clearly unsure what to say.

“Well? Did he or not?”

Christian nodded.

Dwayne turned to his brother. “Peter, tell them it’s true. Tell them you’ve been going to her place to see someone.”

She folded her arms, trembling as if she were cold. “It’s true.” Her eyes met Grey’s. She brushed her fingertips across her birthmark. The hurt reflected in her eyes pierced him.

She lifted her shoulders and walked out.

Everything inside him wanted to chase her, to make her hear him and trust his love for her. Surrounded by disapproving stares, he knew anything he did right now would harm her more. Dwayne’s accusations against her character would die out—all but the one about her setting up meetings between Peter and the outsider.

Thirty-Two

He felt sorry for me?
There was no other explanation for him asking other men to date her. His asking her to wait for him was a lie. He was hoping she’d find someone else. That’s why he told her to date others. It had to be.

Tears burned Lena’s eyes. She couldn’t stay and help clean up. Others would need to remove the benches and load them into the wagon, get the desks out of the lean-to and set them up in the classroom, and restore order. She had to get out of here.

At the edge of the pasture, teen boys held attendant tickets that went with each horse and buggy. People were whispering as she passed them on her way to her rig.

He felt sorry for me
.

She should have known that. She
had
known that.

A lonely widower and a marred old maid.

Why hadn’t she admitted it for what it was?

Pain came in waves, reminding her of the newsreels she’d seen in public school showing the power of a surf during a category five hurricane. It battered against her, and her knees gave way. She staggered.

One of the teens started for her and stopped. “You okay, Lena?”

Willing her body to obey her, she got her footing. “Fine. Denki.” She passed the gaggle of teens who stared and mumbled. They’d been students in past years, and they probably pitied her too. Probably laughed, wondering how she could ever expect a man to love her.

Her mother had been wrong. No man saw beyond her mark. None.

“Can we get your rig, Lena?” one of the teens asked. “Do you have your stub?”

She bit back the tears. “I’ll get it myself. Denki.”

And her job. She’d gone through a few years of public school just so she could be the best teacher possible, and now she’d lose this job in three weeks and probably couldn’t get hired for another position anywhere.

After passing more than two dozen rigs that lined the fence, she untethered her Daed’s horse. Her own horse had been too antsy to harness again today. Lena climbed into her carriage. She’d told herself not to look up, but she did anyway.

People filled the playground and schoolyard, staring at her, whispering. Grey stood with his hand on Ivan’s shoulder, watching her. Fresh tears blurred her vision. Distress filled his features, and she knew he’d never intended to hurt her. Never meant for his loneliness to leave him so vulnerable that he’d make promises he didn’t mean. The memory of following him out to the greenhouse burned through her. Clearly he hadn’t been interested, but his guilt for hurting her must have convinced him to reach out to her.

And then he suggested she see other men.

She pulled onto the road, encouraging her horse to hurry home.

Grey would feel differently if she didn’t have the birthmark. How many men would have asked to take her home from singings over the years if she’d had flawless skin like Elsie?

She lifted her face toward the sky, wishing relief would magically float from white clouds and ease her pain.

Oh, God, it hurts
.

A mixed-up, half-remembered phrase from a song mocked her, and she thought of its name—“At Seventeen” by … by … Janis Ian.

Just listening to the ballad and deciphering the lyrics in English class had pained Lena. She had tried to avoid the boys’ stares and pretend she didn’t care. She hadn’t wanted their attention, but something short of pity would have been welcome. When they did hang around, she ignored them, not trusting their intentions.