you a hard time about this. I love you, plain and simple.”
She shut her open mouth with a snap and shook her head. “Daniel Graber, just when I thought I had everything figured out, you throw in a monkey wrench.” Her laughter drew smiles from those sitting at nearby tables. “I love you too.” Then she lowered her voice. “And I love my kinner and parents and sisters and brothers. That’s why I want to put this business behind me. I phoned my lawyer, asking him to stop by. There’s no reason to drag this out with a jury trial. I’m ready to plead guilty and put myself in God’s and Judge O’Neil’s hands. The sooner this is resolved, the sooner I can serve my time and return home to my family.”
“What did he say?”
“He hasn’t come to talk with me yet, this being the weekend. But if the judge still demands to know who supplied the Pitocin, I’m ready to comply. I’ll pray that Margaret will someday forgive me.”
Daniel dropped his head, running both hands through his longish hair. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” He sounded hoarse from worry and fatigue.
“Let’s have faith that God will deliver the best solution for everyone involved. And before I forget, you need a haircut. Ask my schwester to give you a trim. You’re starting to look like one of those teenaged Englischers who hang out at the auction barn.”
“Is her haircutting skill similar to her cooking and baking?” His question teemed with impish irony.
“Pretty much, but I don’t see you losing any weight.”
“Maybe I’ll stop on my way home and shell out ten bucks at the barber shop.”
“Suit yourself. Now, how are the young ones and Catherine and Isaiah? Has she made any progress with him? She sounded bound and determined to teach him to talk.”
While he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips, Daniel told her the family vignettes and travails of daily farm life. Abby could tell he chose his words carefully to describe her sister’s insistence on taking Isaiah to a restaurant for dinner. Abby tamped down her growing excitement for Catherine’s project, deciding to let this matter play out on its own accord. Daniel’s opinion of the liaison was apparent, despite his diplomatic phrasing.
After he filled her in on the news, he did something quite out of character. Just as they spotted the guard heading in their direction, he leaned over and kissed her squarely on the mouth. Such bold public demonstrations of affection were rare in the Amish community.
Her daed would be speechless.
The other brethren would be aghast.
But Abigail Graber felt as joyous as a brand-new bride on her wedding day.
Catherine tried not to think the worst about people, but it sure seemed as though Daniel was trying to keep Isaiah and her apart. She never saw him at breakfast, yet she found his empty plate on the porch by the time she finished morning chores. His lunch sack never went unclaimed, but Daniel usually insisted on delivering his noon meal when he retrieved his own sandwiches and fresh thermos. And apparently Daniel found too much work for his cousin to do, preventing him from sharing dinner at the kitchen table again with the family. She certainly hoped this was Daniel’s handiwork instead of Isaiah avoiding her. But by the fifth day, she had her doubts.
I embarrassed him in the restaurant. I drew attention to us and to what I was trying to accomplish. If I’ve learned anything about him, Isaiah shuns the limelight at all costs.
When she set his plate of meatloaf, lima beans, and carrots on the picnic table, she didn’t bother scanning the yard for his tall, lithe form. He was avoiding her, like a cat to water. Grim thoughts filled her mind as she washed the dinner dishes that night. So total was her pitiful self-absorption that she almost didn’t notice the soft tap on the kitchen window. Moving aside the curtains, she gazed on Isaiah, who was sitting with a napkin tucked into his shirt collar and eating his dinner with his usual hearty appetite. He grinned and motioned for her to join him on the porch. She held up a soapy plate and then her index finger and closed the curtain, but not before she offered a dazzling smile. Catherine yearned to leave the sink full of dishes for later that night, but that would only draw Daniel’s suspicion.
After hanging up the dish towel to dry, she rinsed out her