Lancaster Amish Promise: The Lancaster Amish Juggler Series, #4
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Tragedy Comes To Hope Crossing
When Lilly races into the Troyer’s kitchen distraught about the sudden disappearance of Jessup, Rebecca and Simon can hardly believe it. She says he left suddenly and without a word, and as Simon sets out to find him, old, croon Ruth pipes up with hateful, embarrassing words about Lilly’s love for Simon.
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Lancaster Amish Promise - Rebecca Price
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INTRODUCTION
In researching my book, I found out a lot of interesting things about black bears in Pennsylvania. While this is a work of fiction, I did want this to be based in reality.
Here is an excerpt from the Cook Forest Online located here:
http://cookforest.com/articles/livingwithblackbears/blackbears3.cfm
Black bear attacks in the eastern United States are rare. However, they have occurred. If a bear attacks, fight back. Bears have been driven away when people have fought back with rocks, sticks, binoculars and even their bare hands.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is responsible for managing, conserving and protecting wildlife. If you have a nuisance bear problem, or have been threatened by a bear, please contact the Pennsylvania Game Commission at the following telephone numbers:
Harrisburg Headquarters
717-787-4250
Northwest Region Office
814-432-3189
Southwest Region Office
724-238-5639
Northcentral Region Office
570-398-3423
Southcentral Region Office
814-643-9635
Northeast Region Office
570-675-5065
Southeast Region Office
610-926-1966
CHAPTER ONE
The day starts with a frenzied knock on the door. The sun hasn’t even risen, which is why Simon and I are still cozy on our feather bed. Bam, bam, bam! Simon crawls out from under the quilt and reaches for his robe.
Mine isn’t far either.
We make it to the door, the knocks still coming at a rapid rate. Simon pulls it open, and I feel a wave of surprise pass through me.
Lilly stands there, already dressed. Or perhaps she’s still wearing her clothes from the day before, judging by the way they hang wrinkled on her slouching frame. Lilly,
Simon asks, what’s wrong?
It’s Jessup,
Lilly says, her voice quivering, her body small, against the lightening purple of dawn. He’s been gone all night; I’m so worried.
I look around. Lilly, come in, please.
We ease her in and close the door behind her.
Lilly walks slowly, as if barely managing to stay on her feet. She says, He went out yesterday afternoon, to take Wilfred for a ride in the foothills. Simon, he never came back!
He’s been gone all night?
Simon asks her. Why did you wait so long to tell me?
I...I didn’t want to upset you without need.
Without need? Lilly, he could be injured out there, maybe freezing to death.
Simon turns for the hallway. I’ll get dressed.
I’m sorry, Simon,
Lilly says weakly, her voice raw from crying and self-recrimination. I...I’m so sorry...
I sit Lilly down on the couch and stroke her arm to reassure and calm her. It’s not your fault, Lilly,
I say. Nobody wants to jump to the wrong conclusions, or go running around to all the neighbors prematurely. Where was he going?
Lilly sits there, shrugging as she considers, eyes darting at the floor. I dunno, he didn’t say, just that he was going out for a ride.
Did you wait by the phone shed?
I ask. He might have gone somewhere and called.
For hours,
she replies, her voice as tired as her expression. Anyway, where would he go? Where would he call from so late?
I search my memory and my imagination, and come up with nothing. I haven’t known Jessup very long, Lilly, but you’ve known him your whole life. He doesn’t have relatives out of town, or....?
I phoned his parents last night, but he hadn’t stopped by. By now they must be worried sick.
I can’t think of many options. If he had somewhere to go specifically, and it’s something Lilly doesn’t know about, that might mean that it’s not somewhere at all, but rather someone. I hesitate to suggest that to Lilly now, especially in her state.
And it doesn’t seem likely to me that Jessup would be seeing another woman. After all, they’d just gotten back from their honeymoon: they married almost immediately after the harvest festival. And Simon’s been in love with Lilly his whole life, at least that’s what I gather from everything I’ve heard, and certainly from what I’ve seen of them together. He always looks at her with such adoration, such dedication. But she was always in love with Simon.
This I’m sure of.
But if either Lilly or Jessup was going to be unfaithful to the other, my bet wouldn’t have been on Jessup as the guilty party.
All of that is just conjecture, however, me circling this conundrum the way I tend to do. I often don’t zero in directly on an answer, but sort of work my way toward it.
But there’s little enough time for that now. Simon steps out of the hallway, dressed and ready to ride. I’ll get Beau and a few others, and we’ll set out to find him. Where did you say he was going?
Just for a ride,
Lilly responds, with a little shake of her head. In the foothills, he didn’t say where, exactly.
Simon gives it some thought. He loves the trout stream near the old covered bridge; we’ll try that. I’ll get as many men as I can together.
Simon turns to me with a little nod that says, You’ll stay here with her?
And I nod, responding, Of course.
I say, Be careful, Simon.
Simon smiles and nods again. We’ll be back presently.
Simon exits, and Lilly watches him go. There is a yearning in her eyes, a longing, and I don’t think they’re necessarily inspired by Jessup. But this isn’t the time to reprimand Lilly about that, either. Now is the time to comfort and reassure her, and maybe find out a little bit more about what happened last night.
But Lilly just starts crying, bending forward, her face in her hands. She begins to quiver, as her sobs increase in power, shaking her body with the vigor of her misery. What am I going to do, Hannah?
You’re going to be patient,
I say, and be faithful. You know God loves you, and God loves Jessup, and you’re both in his protection and embrace.
Citing Genesis 4:15, I say, "And the Lord said unto him, ‘Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."
Lilly looks up at me, but something in her expression tells me she’s struggling with her faith, that doubt is overcoming her resolve, that fear has crept into her heart.
And that fear only grows as the hours pass. Once word is out that half-a-dozen men are out looking for Jessup, their women begin to gather at our house. Rebecca comes over, as does our mamm. Ruth Thompson arrives with some baked oatmeal and cheddar biscuits, which are still warm from the oven, and would have been delicious, if it weren’t for the tension in the room.
At one point, Lilly seems to sway on the couch, her hand to her temple. Rebecca asks, Are you all right, Lilly? Need some fresh air, maybe?
Lilly shakes her head, wincing. Headache, I’ll be fine.
Sure you’re not hungry, hon?
Mamm asks her, but Lilly just shakes her head with a polite smile.
I ease Lilly up off the couch and slowly across the room. Why don’t you go into my room, take a little nap. We’ll let you know when we hear anything.
I get Lilly into my bedroom, and close the door as she falls into the bed.
I rejoin the others in the living room, where snacks and gossip and rumor are being devoured by my guests.
Where do you think he is?
Rebecca asks Ruth.
Ruth can only shrug and shake her head. If I’d married that little brat,
she says, eying the hallway, I’d have run off too.
Gramm stares at Ruth, her old expression unchanging, yet revealing nothing of Gramm’s hidden impulses. She just keeps staring.
She can be a...a challenge,
Rebecca says, taking a sip of homemade fruit tea, its cozy scent filling the room. But so can a lot of people. I think Jessup knows Lilly well enough, and loves her well enough, to overlook her little quirks.
I say, Then something else made him stay in those woods overnight, and that’s not good news. He could be lost out there.
Gramm shakes her head. That boy knows the hills,
she pushes out, in her thick German accent. Not lost!
I run through the further possibilities. He could have fallen off his horse, broken his leg; who knows?
Did they have a fight?
Ruth asks me.
I dunno,
I respond, she didn’t say. Why?
Ruth sits in the dreading silence of her presumption. Maybe he decided just to leave...and not come back. Maybe that’s why she waited until the morning to mention it to anyone, because she knows he’s not hurt, but rather...that he’s left her.
He loves her,
Rebecca says.
And he always has,
I add. Why would he suddenly just leave her, after wanting her his whole life, and then finally getting her?
Because it’s easy to love somebody from afar,
Ruth says. "But when you engage with them in the real thing, real love, that’s when it