Unexpected Amish Protectors
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Jo Ann Brown
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16
Chapter One
Lucas Kuepfer was in a bad mood as he drove along the road paralleling the Brudenell River, heading home after picking up supplies in Montague on the other side of the headland. Being in a bad mood wasn’t unusual for him as summer came to an end. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in a gut mood. He should be happy. His brother, who’d been blinded in an accident earlier in the year, was regaining his sight. Lucas’s crops were almost ready to harvest. His cousin’s farm was productive as was the family’s farm shop.
Everything should have been great.
Everything had been more awful than usual since, while having breakfast that morning, he’d read The Diary, the monthly magazine for Old Order communities. It’d brought back the pain that should have been put aside before he’d left Ontario. He’d done everything he could to leave his broken heart behind, but nothing had worked. Other people, including his brother, Juan, and his cousins who’d moved with him to Prince Edward Island two years ago, would have been shocked he was still nursing the pain of being tossed aside by the woman he’d hoped to marry the year before they left.
The problem was the woman, Robin Boshart, had wanted to marry someone else. Anyone else, as she’d told him the last time they’d spoken, because anybody else would have been more fun than Lucas. Apparently she’d found that someone because her wedding had been listed in the most recent edition of The Diary. Robin’s mamm was the scribe for his former community, so details of the wedding and the large number of guests had filled the letter.
A motion among the trees to his right caught his eye. An animal or a person? He kept his gaze on the road that glistened from the rain they’d had earlier. Another sign of how depressed he was. Usually, Lucas would have been eager to figure out what was wandering close to the road. He kept a journal of the animals and birds he’d seen in Prince Edward Island.
Today, he didn’t care.
“What does it matter?” He grimaced. He was turning into a grump, proving Robin right. If he—
Someone ran through a break in the hedge to his right. Someone heading straight into the path of his buggy. Someone not very tall. A woman. Or was it a kind?
Lucas yanked to the left on the reins, turning Rebel toward the center of the road. The driver of an oncoming truck hammered his horn. He was on a collision path with the buggy. Lucas pulled the reins in the other direction. The buggy’s metal wheels slid. The truck’s brakes squealed and the tires spun as the vehicle began to skid. Praying he wasn’t going to get them killed, Lucas shouted to Rebel to head for the shoulder.
Where was the person who’d jumped out in front of him?
The buggy tilted. He held his breath as its wheels hit the soft dirt beyond the shoulder. Rebel danced as the buggy jerked to a stop, one corner striking the hedge.
Lucas jumped out. Running to his horse, he worked to calm him as the truck honked angrily again and zoomed by. His heart beat like storm-driven waves on the shore. Where was the pedestrian? He hadn’t felt the buggy’s wheels hit anything other than the edge of the road. Was the person okay?
He looked both ways but saw nobody. Tall trees blocked the view of the river to his left, and a golf course was visible past the high hedges on his right. Had someone pushed their way from the course to look for an errant ball?
“Moonbeam!” he heard someone call. “Moonbeam, komm here. Tweet-tweet-tweet! Tweet-tweet-tweet!”
A woman, he realized, when he walked around Rebel and saw her on the road. She was barely five feet tall. The sunlight on her hair made it appear as bright red as the soil. Her conical kapp was askew and she straightened it as she put her hand to her brow to scan the trees across the road. They marked the edge of the marsh leading to a cove in the river.
“Are you all right?” she asked as he approached.
“Ja. You?”
She raised her head and he drew in a sharp breath. Aveline Lampel! He should have guessed. The Lampel women had a reputation for being pushy and having their noses in everyone else’s business. He could imagine either Aveline or her mamm stepping out into traffic and assuming everyone would stop. A plain woman usually didn’t think she was the center of the universe, but Aveline’s mamm, Chalonna, seemed to believe she was. After hearing how Aveline had approached his cousin and cajoled him—or to hear Mark tell it, cornered him—into asking her to go with him to a benefit supper, Lucas had made sure to avoid her.
Until now.
“Have you lost your mind?” he demanded. “Didn’t you see me and the truck?”
“I’m sorry. I’ve lost a calf, and I need to get her before she’s injured.”
“You won’t find her if you get yourself killed. What’s wrong with you?”
He heard her sharp intake of breath. His words had been harsh. Ja, she’d made a mistake, but he shouldn’t be dumping his grim feelings on her. She wasn’t Robin.
Aveline drew herself up to her full height, but the top of her head didn’t reach his shoulder. “Nothing is wrong with me, Lucas Kuepfer. I’m trying to find a wayward calf. I don’t need your interference.”
“It sounds like you need my help if you’re chasing a calf and sounding like a bird.”
“A bird?”
“Tweet-tweet-tweet,” he said as she had.
For a moment, a smile lit her face, transforming it. “I was saying ‘treat-treat-treat.’ It’s a signal for her to know I’ve got something special to share with her.” Then she grew serious. “Did you see a calf on the road?”
“What kind of calf?” He tried to remember which breed of cattle the Lampels raised to make the cheese they sold at farmers’ markets. “Jersey? Brown Swiss?”
“Water buffalo.”
He stared at her, shocked. A water buffalo? In Prince Edward Island? Was she trying to make him look like a fool?
“Excuse me?” he asked. “What did you say?”
Aveline Lampel should have been accustomed to how people looked at her as if she’d announced she was going to flap her arms and fly over the Island. Water buffalo were a rare breed in eastern Canada, but she’d convinced her daed to let her buy a small herd after the family had moved to Prince Edward Island four years ago. The first calf had been born at winter’s end and two others later in spring. The milk was a great addition to the family’s cheese-making business. Homemade mozzarella was rare in Canada, and they had a long list of customers waiting to buy the delicious cheese.
She didn’t have time to explain to Lucas Kuepfer as they stood on the Georgetown road. He appeared eager to be anywhere but with her. She’d be as happy to put an end to this conversation because she had a job to do.
Lifting her eyes farther, because Lucas was a foot taller than she was, she ignored his dark gut looks that were, she’d been told, inherited from his grossmammi who’d been born in Mexico. Or she tried to pay them no attention. It wasn’t easy not to let her gaze linger on his high cheekbones and brows arching above his dark brown eyes like a pair of black swans. His hair, swept from his forehead by the warm breeze, was as ebony.
“You’re raising water buffalo?” he asked, his deep voice resonating along the road.
“Ja.” She checked her pocket to make sure she hadn’t lost the alfalfa cubes. She needed them to lure the calf back to the herd. “I’ve got to go. I must find Moobeam.”
As she took a step toward the far side of the road, Lucas asked, “Was that whom you were calling for? A water buffalo calf named Moonbeam?”
She paused. It wouldn’t be polite to walk away when he’d asked her a direct question. Besides, as she and Daed had discussed many times, educating their neighbors about water buffalo was a gut thing. Others might decide to raise the animals and sell their millich to the Lampels for making cheese.
“Her name is Moobeam,” Aveline replied.
“That’s what I said. Moonbeam.”
She shook her head, wondering if he was being obtuse on purpose. With his reputation for teasing and flirting with every woman he’d ever met, he might think he was being witty. She thought he was as thick as the asphalt under her feet.
“Moobeam,” she corrected, emphasizing the first syllable. “You know, like the sound a cow makes. Moo.”
“You named a cow Moobeam?”
“Why not?”
He stared at her as if he couldn’t think of a reply.
She didn’t have time for him to find one. Taking another step across the road, she said, “I need to catch her before she gets mired in the marsh or worse.”
“Don’t water buffalo like water?”
“They do, but a calf on its own can get hurt.” Aveline had reached the far side of the road when Lucas called her name. “I’ve got to go, Lucas. If Moobeam gets stuck, she could struggle to escape and break a leg.”
“Let me help you.”
She wanted to say no, to tell him she was capable of finding a wandering calf on her own, but she didn’t. She and her daed hoped the second generation of their small herd would be healthy and productive. Making sure the calf was safe was too important to let personalities get in the way.
“Danki. I’d appreciate that.”
“Where did you see her last?”
“Heading into the trees.” She pointed at the ones in front of her. “Komm mol. She can move fast when she’s inclined.”
Aveline reached for a tree’s slender trunk for balance as she slid partway into the deep ditch beyond the road’s shoulder. She wanted to jump across and avoid the water swirling at the bottom. Maybe if she and Lucas helped each other, they could keep their shoes dry.
She was about to say that when she realized he’d returned to his buggy. Had he decided not to assist her? Was his offer only an attempt to charm her? She hadn’t imagined he’d be insincere when a neighbor needed help.
Then he pulled something out and draped it over his left shoulder. As he crossed the road in a few long strides, she saw it was a length of rope.
“I don’t think lassoing a water buffalo is a gut idea,” she said. “Moobeam’s horns are small, and throwing a rope will spook her.”
He chuckled, a warm, generous sound. “I wasn’t planning on playing cowboy. I’ll leave that to my cousin Daryn who wants to herd cattle on the range. I figured if we can catch your Moobeam, putting her on a leash might help get her home.”
She nodded, ashamed. He was being kind. Being real instead of making everything a flirting game. How many young women had she heard complaining about him? She should know better than to heed others’ reputations. She wasn’t like her own reputation. She wasn’t desperate to be married. Not in the least. She was focused on building her herd and living a quiet life that wasn’t interrupted by the callers her mamm despaired would never come to their door.
Mamm fretted about Aveline being without a boyfriend or a fiancé or, most important, a husband. It had gotten worse since Aveline’s older brothers, Dwayne and Wes, had revealed they were planning to marry after the harvest. Mamm wasn’t shy about asking embarrassing questions to family or friends. Even strangers were subjected to Mamm’s concerns that Aveline wasn’t encouraging a man to propose.
Aveline had almost blurted out that might have happened if her family hadn’t moved to Prince Edward Island. Merle Shenk had been starting to notice her as he hadn’t when they’d been scholars together. His smile had changed from teasing to something warmer. Before anything could develop beyond a smile and a wink, Daed had whisked Mamm, Aveline and her two older brothers east.
She loved the Island with its red-soil vistas and the pulsing ocean waves. White clapboard houses and barns and Quonset huts and greenhouses marked the farms that seemed to have stepped out of a simpler time. What a wondrous place to launch a new and innovative type of farming! That was what she must focus on. Not the what-ifs of a relationship that had been over before it began. Yet she couldn’t keep from thinking about what her life would have been like if they hadn’t moved.
“Let me,” Lucas said as he held out his right hand. “Hold on and jump. I won’t let you fall.”
“Okay.” She held her breath, hoping she didn’t slip on the slick grass and tumble into the ditch.
Lucas was as gut as his word. She gripped his work-roughened hand and leaped from one side of the ditch to the other. Her fingers tightened on his as she fought for balance on the wet grass.
“Got it?” he asked.
“Ja.” She started to release his hand.
“Not yet. I don’t want to land in the water either.”
Wondering how he expected her to keep that from happening, she nodded.
“Plant your feet,” he ordered.
“Okay,” she repeated, rubbing her soaked black sneakers into the grass until the soles were against earth. “Go ahead.”
She held her breath, but he moved with a grace she hadn’t expected such a tall man to possess. His feet didn’t slip as he landed right next to her, but his arms windmilled, almost knocking her over with the rope.
Throwing her arms around him, she closed her eyes, praying they wouldn’t fall in the muddy water. He slid a couple centimeters, and she was drawn closer to the water with him; then he steadied her.
She released him. The last thing she needed was to have someone driving by and seeing her with her arms around the notorious flirt. Mamm would decide it was necessary to talk to the deacon about arranging a marriage ceremony.
“Let’s get going,” she said as she grasped the top of the ditch’s wall and pulled herself up. Wiping her hands on her apron, she regarded it with a grimace. She was thankful she’d put on her oldest one before checking on the herd. The black polyester was filthy and one corner was torn. She must have caught it in the hedge.
It was his turn to say, “Okay.” He shifted the rope on his shoulder and waved his hand in an indeterminate direction. “Lead the way.”
She did, heading for the trees. They grew closer together, knit with knee-high underbrush that tried to keep her out. She held the branches until Lucas took them, not wanting them to snap back at him. Birdsong flooded the morning air and the shrill buzz of insects warned she might be covered by mosquito bites before she found the calf.
If she found the calf...
Aveline picked her way through the bushes. Where was Moobeam? None of the others in the herd could have fit through the hole the calf had found in the fence, but Aveline suspected the others wouldn’t have pushed through to discover what was on the far side.
Lucas examined the ground and Aveline paused. She held her breath, listened to the singing birds and the soft breeze gliding through the leaves and the quick zip of insects.
Was that a rustle?
Not of tree leaves. Something closer to the ground.
She grasped Lucas’s shoulder. When he looked at her, shocked at her bold motion, she put her finger to her lips. The fallen trees in front of them were bleached white by salt and time. Bushes had grown into a tangled cocoon around them.
“There,” she whispered.
“Where?”
She pointed to the deadfall. “Over there. I heard something moving.”
Uncoiling the rope from his shoulder, he motioned for her to take the lead. He must think Moobeam would be less likely to bolt if she saw someone she knew.
Aveline almost laughed. The calf wasn’t that mature yet. She came running when Aveline appeared by the fence, because Moobeam knew she’d get a treat. Otherwise, the calf ignored her. Reaching into her apron pocket, she pulled out an alfalfa cube. It offered her the best chance to get close enough to grab the calf.
She edged forward. Twigs cracked under her feet. Something small scurried away, rattling the underbrush. A much larger form crashed through the greenery beyond the fallen trees. Knowing she couldn’t wait longer, she ran around the windfall.
Arms were flung around her, knocking her off her feet. She landed hard on the ground and winced. What was going on? A calf didn’t have arms.
“You’re here!” cried a girl’s voice from beside her. “Thank God, you’re here at last!”
Aveline sat up and stared at the kind beside her. Though the girl’s blonde hair was as snarled as the branches around them, her bright blue eyes were awash with the tears pouring down her face. Had the kind been hurt when she’d bowled them over? The youngster, who looked to be eleven or twelve years old, wore a filthy pink T-shirt with a large colorful fish on the front, a pair of torn jeans and once-white sneakers flecked with gold and black paint.
Aveline looked at Lucas, who had paused by the roots of the fallen trees. He was rolling the rope over his shoulder, his mouth in a grim line. She understood why when she saw cold embers from a campfire. Discarded cans and wrappers had been tossed everywhere. Her nose wrinkled at an odor that lingered in the air, the stench of rotten food and unwashed bodies. When her gaze settled on the girl in front of her, she saw dirt caked on her hands and face. How long had the kind been out here on her own?
Or had she been alone? Cigarette stubs were among the litter.
“What’s your name?” Aveline asked.
“Julie. Have you come to take me home?”
Lucas knelt beside them. “Why do you need to be rescued, Julie?”
“You don’t know?” The kind looked from one to the other. “It’s got to be on the news. Daddy wouldn’t be quiet about what’s happened.”
“What’s happened?” asked Aveline as she shared a concerned glance with Lucas.
The girl said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, “I’ve been kidnapped. Are you here to take me home?”
