The Amish Midwife - By Mindy Starns Clark Page 0,141
true.
“But once I was implicated in her death, everything changed. I knew my hands were clean, that the past was past, but try convincing a jury of that in a court of law. A secular jury who doesn’t understand God’s ways. Can you imagine? With this knowledge, a clever attorney could have twisted things around completely, maybe even raised the charges from manslaughter to first-degree murder. How hard would it have been, really, to convince a jury that I had wanted Lydia to die? If they learned of the connection between us, they would have seen it as payback for the affair she’d once had with my husband. Since the moment I first learned the DA was going to pursue this case, I have lived in terror of someone involved finding out about this other connection between us.”
Marta released her hold on my arm but continued to lean close as she spoke.
“For a while, it looked like I was home free, that this other matter wasn’t going to come up and complicate things after all. But then you showed up and started asking questions. Like a big house of cards, I knew then they were going to fall. Since my night in jail, I’ve even been trying to prepare myself for the electric chair.”
I was so stunned it was hard to speak. “Did your lawyer say that could happen?”
Marta shook her head. “Connie doesn’t know about any of this. Until now, I haven’t breathed a word to a soul, except you. After the way I’ve treated you—and all you did for me in spite of it—I suppose I owe you that much.”
I took a big step backward, resisting the urge to exclaim out loud. So that’s what all of this had been about for her? That’s why she had been so cruel to me? Almost as if an earthquake were reshuffling the ground under my feet, I found myself realigning with this new knowledge. It changed everything.
“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how important it is that you keep my secret.” Marta added, her face solemn. “The case has been dismissed, but the DA could always reopen it if he thought he had new evidence against me.”
My mind raced, uncomfortable with the weight of what I had learned. “What about Lydia’s family? How could they not know about her affair with Freddy, about Zed?”
“Oh, some of them do, of course. Lydia’s mother. Her grandmother. Even Will. But it would never have dawned on any of them to bring that up now. Like me, they see that as far in the past and in no way relevant to what’s been going on in the present.”
Her words made sense. To the Amish, it always came down to repenting, which Lydia had obviously done. Once forgiven was indeed once forgotten. Marta had thought her big secret was safe until the moment I appeared on her doorstep and demanded to know the truth and started to ask questions about the entire family. No wonder she had been so mean to me. She’d been fighting for her very life.
Putting a hand to my mouth, I shook my head slowly, from side to side. “I am so sorry Marta. If only I had known…”
She held up a hand to stop me.
“Don’t say you’re sorry, Lexie, I’m the one who needs to apologize. And I do. I apologize for the way I’ve treated you this whole time. You weren’t wrong in coming here, not at all. It’s just that, for me, it was bad timing. Really bad timing.”
I admitted to her that timing never had been my strong suit, and we shared a smile. Marta slid her hands into her pockets, her shoulders visibly relaxed. She gestured toward the house with a tilt of her head, and we both began walking again.
“For what it’s worth,” she said as we went, “I’m actually glad about what happened this afternoon over at Mammi’s, especially because Zed was there to hear it. If he ever wants to know the truth about his parentage, he’ll have an easier time of it because of you. Because of what he saw today. I thank you for that.”
I nodded, soothed by Marta’s apology and her thanks, both from the woman I had thought incapable of either. How very wrong I had been.
We walked together in companionable silence, my aunt and I, but as we reached the driveway to the cottage, I hesitated, still concerned about the secret she had confided in me.