Lydia's Hope (8 page)

“That’s gut news, ain’t so?” Lydia linked her arm with his as they walked toward the
house. “Maybe he’ll be calling you back soon.”

He smiled and nodded, because he didn’t want Lydia to worry. But it seemed unlikely
that Mr. Owens would get up to a full crew anytime in the foreseeable future. When
money was tight, folks didn’t buy vacation trailers. That only made sense.

There were fewer jobs all over, something he hadn’t expected even a couple of years
ago. He’d been asking around, and no one seemed to know of anyone who was hiring.

Lydia was staring at him, her eyes questioning. “What is it, Adam? Are you worried
about finding something else?”

“No, no, I’m not thinking that at all,” he said hastily.

The trouble with hiding your feelings from Lydia was that she always seemed to sense
them without your telling her. He’d need to divert her attention.

“You didn’t tell me about your trip to Oyersburg. How was it? Did you see Susanna?”
He probably should say
your sister
but the words still seemed odd to him.

“Ja, I saw her.” Her face softened, and she seemed to be gazing someplace far away.
“Ach, Adam, I knew the minute I saw her that she’s my sister. She has such a sweet
face and a gentle way about her.” Lydia’s expression clouded. “She limps, though,
and I was afraid her leg was paining her. It’s never been right since the accident.
I wanted so much . . .”

She let that thought trail off, but he knew where it had been headed.

“You wanted to tell her.” He clasped her arm firmly. “Lydia, you didn’t, did you?”

Lydia shook her head, a tear spilling over onto her cheek. “I longed to. But she had
to hurry off to check on her mother. When she’d gone, I talked with her partner in
the shop. She told me how sick Susanna’s mamm is, and how Susanna is her only comfort
in her last days. I couldn’t disrupt her life at a time like this, could I?”

“No, it’s certain-sure you couldn’t,” he said, relieved. “You did the right thing
in keeping silent.” He put his arm around her, hugging her close to his side. “Maybe,
someday, you’ll be free to tell her.”

“Ja.” She rubbed her head against his shoulder. “Ja, I will, won’t I?”

“That’s right.” At least this sister was Amish, and not living too far away. From
the sounds of it, Susanna would be needing support in the future, and there was nothing
Lydia liked better than helping someone. “You can look forward to that day, even if
you’ll never be able to see the youngest one.”

Lydia pulled back, her eyes wide as she stared at him. “Why do you say that?”

“Ach, Lydia, you must think about it.” Why couldn’t she accept the truth? “If even
the bishop doesn’t know how to find the woman who took the little one, it’s best to
resign yourself to God’s will.”

“It’s true I don’t know how to look for her, but Seth says that he does.” She clasped
Adam’s arm with both hands, her smile chasing away the sorrow. “He says it won’t be
hard at all to find her. He’s going to start searching right away, using the Internet.”

“Seth.” Adam couldn’t help it if he sounded disapproving. Why did Seth have to push
his way in where he wasn’t wanted? “I don’t think it’s a gut idea to involve an outsider
in family matters.”

That was not the reaction Lydia expected from him—he could see that in her face.

“Seth isn’t an outsider. We’ve known him since we were kinder. We went to school together.
Ja, he’s Englisch now, but that’s what makes him the ideal person to help me find
Chloe. Don’t you see? Maybe it’s God’s will that Seth finds her for me.”

“I don’t want—” Adam stopped, knowing the words he was about to say were unwise. Lydia
was so excited at the idea of finding her sister that he didn’t have the heart to
throw cold water on the scheme, even though he hated the idea of having Seth involved
with his family’s trouble.

“Look, here are the boys.” Lydia waved, her attention distracted by the sight of Daniel
and David running toward them.

Adam made an effort to be sensible. He couldn’t keep Lydia from an opportunity to
find her baby sister just because he was jealous of Seth.

Besides, chances were it would come to nothing. Not even Seth could make bricks out
of straw.

The boys came rushing into their arms, both of them talking a mile a minute. Adam
stood with his arms around his family, smiling with the pure joy of it.

So what if Seth had driven Lydia home from her first singing? In the end, she had
turned to him, and the end was what counted.

* * *

S
eth
paused for a moment on Adam and Lydia’s back porch that evening. Lydia, he was sure,
would welcome the news he’d brought. As for Adam—well, it wasn’t hard to read Adam’s
attitude. Adam hadn’t exchanged more than a few sentences with Seth since his return
to Pleasant Valley months ago, despite the fact that Seth’s mother was Adam and Lydia’s
nearest neighbor and close friend.

Seth tapped lightly on the screen door. He hadn’t expected to be greeted with open
arms by his old community. Even though he wasn’t under the bann, since he’d left before
being baptized into the church, the
Leit
, the term the Amish used to refer to themselves, still looked warily at a former
Amish who had achieved what they’d consider worldly success. As for what success actually
meant—

The door swung open. Two small faces tilted up to him, expressions questioning. Seth
couldn’t help but smile. No matter how much they changed later, young Amish boys all
seemed to look the same, with their fair hair, light eyes, black pants with suspenders
crossing their shoulders, and usually, at this time of year, bare feet.

“You’re Daniel and David, right?” His Pennsylvania Dutch dialect was a bit rusty,
but it had improved rapidly now that he was hearing so much of it. “I’m Seth Miller.
Are your mammi and daad here?”

Before the kids could respond, the door swung wider, and Adam seemed to fill the opening,
almost as if he were on guard.

“Seth.” He nodded in greeting and gave the boys a gentle push. “Time you boys were
getting to your chores, ja?”

“Ja, Daadi.” The older boy, Daniel, grabbed his brother’s arm and tugged. The little
one seemed to hang back for a moment, his gaze fixed on Seth, his blue eyes round.
Then they both scurried across the porch and raced toward the barn.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt your supper.” Seth accepted the tacit invitation of the
door Adam held open and walked into the kitchen.

“No, no, we’re finished.” Lydia came toward him, drying her hands on a dish towel.
“Is it . . . you haven’t found something already, have you?” Her expression was torn
between hope and fear, while Adam just looked disapproving.

Seth decided he’d have to be a complete idiot not to sense the tension in the room.
There was more going on here than he’d anticipated with his possibly rash offer. But
it was too late to reconsider now.

“Actually, the search was even easier than I expected. So yes, I have news.”

Lydia’s face lit. “Ach, what am I thinking, to keep you standing here? Sit down, I’ll
get you coffee, and you can tell us all about it.”

She sent a glance toward Adam that Seth couldn’t quite interpret, except to know that
they were not entirely in harmony, either about finding Lydia’s sister or perhaps
about accepting his help.

Too late now,
he told himself again, and sat down at the long pine table. “Coffee sounds fine.”
It was a good thing he’d said yes, since Lydia was already setting mugs on the table
and pouring.

“Not for me, denke,” Adam said, positioning himself against the pine cabinets, hands
braced behind him against the countertop.

Maybe he should have been able to predict it. Adam wasn’t ready to sit at table with
him.

Seth stirred sugar into his coffee. “As I told you, the Internet has made it fairly
easy to find anyone. Well, anyone Englisch, at least. I assumed Chloe’s grandmother
would have given the child her last name, so I just had to search for a Chloe Wentworth
in the greater Philadelphia area, and there she was. I double-checked the parents’
names to be sure I had the right one, of course.”

He opened the manila envelope he’d brought with him and pulled out the best of the
photos he’d found online. “Your sister.”

Lydia grabbed the picture and pulled it to her, earning a disapproving sound from
her husband. She flashed him an annoyed look.

“Chloe was brought up Englisch,” she pointed out. “Naturally there would be photographs
of her.”

He’d printed out a color photo that showed Chloe, head tilted slightly to one side,
green eyes seeming to smile at the camera. She had the same warm, peachy complexion
Lydia did, he realized, but her hair was a deeper brown. Reddish tones showed in the
photo, and Chloe’s hair was worn in a loose style that just brushed her slim shoulders.
In the photo she looked poised, polished, and sophisticated, none of which were terms
one applied to an Amish woman.

“She is beautiful,” Lydia murmured, touching the pictured face with her fingertips.

Adam, curiosity apparently overcoming his reluctance, moved behind her. Lydia looked
up at him, something pleading in her gaze.

“Ja,” he said, his voice gruff. “She has a look of you about her, ain’t so?” He touched
Lydia’s shoulder gently, and they seemed to communicate without words, making Seth
feel like an outsider.

Which he was, he reminded himself. He pulled a printout from the envelope.

“Anyway, she apparently still lives with her grandmother in the family home. She attended
school and college in Philadelphia.”

“She’s not married?” Lydia asked.

“No, and I couldn’t find any engagement announcement, so I’m guessing she’s not about
to be.” Chloe had attended exclusive private schools, he’d noticed, but he didn’t
bother saying, knowing that fact would mean little to Lydia and Adam. “She’s currently
working at a small museum in Philadelphia that specializes in Pennsylvania German
Culture.”

“A museum?” Lydia couldn’t seem to take her gaze from the photo. “What does she do
there?”

“According to the museum website, she’s an assistant curator, working on folk art
and furniture.” He shrugged. “Maybe that’s her Amish heritage coming out, even if
she doesn’t know about it.”

Lydia looked stricken. “You think she doesn’t know about her parents being Amish?”

He seemed to have put his foot in it, and Adam was giving him a warning glare.

“I don’t really have any idea. But since she’s never been in touch . . .”

He let that trail off, seeing the pitfall he’d ignored in his eagerness to do something
for Lydia in return for her kindness to his mother. Lydia could end up getting hurt
by this unknown sister. He sucked in a breath, trying to see a way out.

“I have her address,” he said. “You could write to her, if you wanted.”

“Write?” Lydia’s voice rose. “I don’t want to write to her. I want to see her. I must
go to Philadelphia—”

“No.” Adam’s shocked voice cut across hers. “You cannot do such a thing. To go halfway
across the state to a city you don’t know . . . Lydia, this is impossible. It was
one thing to go to Oyersburg, but you cannot go off to Philadelphia.”

“I have to.” Lydia stood, hands braced on the table, tears sparkling in her eyes.
“If Chloe doesn’t know about her parents and her sisters, I have to tell her. I have
to see her.”

Anger fairly sparked between Lydia and Adam, and Seth had an instinctive desire to
flee what was rapidly turning into an emotional scene.

But he couldn’t. He was responsible for this, so he had to find a solution.

“I’ll go and see her.” The words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to consider
just how difficult such an encounter might be.

But he had to offer. The thought of Lydia setting off alone for the city made his
blood run cold. For once, he and Adam were in agreement.

“You will go?” Lydia’s face reflected both reluctance and hope. “I can’t ask you to
do that for us.”

“It’s the least I can do, after all you’ve done for Mamm and Jessie,” he said, thinking
of the debts he could never repay. “I have to go to Philadelphia anyway to handle
some business, so I’ll just move the trip up.”

“Are you sure? Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“I really do have to go,” he assured her.

Her breath caught as if he’d just given her a gift. “When?”

Seth’s thoughts ticked over the possibilities as he mentally rearranged his calendar.
At the best of times it wasn’t easy to balance the trips he had to make for the firm
with the telecommuting he did the rest of the time while trying to care for his mother
and sister. His boss had been surprisingly supportive of this unorthodox schedule.

“It might be best if I approach her at the museum, rather than trying to go to her
house. So that means it can’t be before Monday.”

“What will you say to her?” Lydia clasped her hands together in a prayerlike gesture.

“It won’t be that hard.” He tried to sound more confident than he felt. “I’ll just
explain that I came for you, and who you are. I’ll say you’d like to be in touch with
her, and see how she responds.”

She might well respond by calling security and having him thrown out, but he wasn’t
going to say that to Lydia.

“It’s the best way,” Adam said, putting his hands on Lydia’s shoulders as if to keep
her from flying away from him. “Denke, Seth.”

The look he gave Seth was actually anything but thankful. Clearly he was blaming Seth
for the disruption of his peaceful home life.

Well, Adam was deluding himself if he thought Lydia’s need to find her sister would
have ended if not for Seth’s offer. Lydia was gentle and dutiful, true, but she could
be a tigress when it came to taking care of others.

No, his suggestion was the best of a number of possibilities, and Adam should realize
that he and Seth had a lot in common. They both wanted to help Lydia and protect her
from hurt.