The Amish Midwife - By Mindy Starns Clark Page 0,95

again.

“Are you going out?” Marta asked.

The girl nodded.

“With?”

Ella blushed as she stood and picked up her plate. “Ezra.”

Marta pursed her lips together.

“Thank you for the dinner and the cake,” she said. “May I be excused?”

“What about her gifts?” I asked.

“We don’t do gifts,” Zed said, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“Oh.” I glanced at mine, sitting on the edge of the sideboard. I’d put it in her room for her to open after she returned.

A few minutes later I cleared the table as Marta started the dishes. If she heard the sound of Ezra’s motorcycle, she didn’t acknowledge it. A second later, Ella stood in the living room wearing jeans, a sweater, and boots. Her hair was down loose on her shoulders. She motioned to me. “Can you take a picture of us?” she asked quietly.

I wasn’t happy about it, but I nodded and headed upstairs for my camera. Ella wasn’t in the living room when I came back down, so I opened the front door. She was sitting on the back of Ezra’s bike, one arm around his middle and the other holding a helmet. The sun had set and the evening was growing chilly. I snapped the photo, using my flash, capturing Ella’s vibrant smile. Ezra looked a bit like a slacker with his goofy grin. I took another photo and then Ezra revved the motor. I wanted to say something stupid, like “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” but instead I said, “Be careful.”

Ella was putting on her helmet, and I didn’t think she heard me. She waved, though, as they took off down the highway, a wave that sent a current of loneliness through me as I watched them go.

I pulled my cell out of the pocket of my sweatshirt and checked the screen. Nothing. Sean was at work. James was on the retreat.

Turning around, I looked up at the cottage before mounting the steps. Marta stood in the window, watching me. My face grew warm as I slipped my camera into my other pocket and went inside.

That night, long after I fell asleep, my phone beeped. Because I’d been thinking of Sean earlier, I was sure it must be him, saying he’d just gotten off work. It wasn’t. The text was from Ella’s phone, but not from her. This is Ezra. Ella’s drunk. I need your help.

TWENTY-FOUR

I held the phone to my ear, peering into the darkness. The other hand was on the steering wheel, and my lights were on high beam, but still I couldn’t see the road Ezra was telling me to turn on.

“It’s right past the shed, the white one.”

I wanted to scream. How many white sheds were there in Lancaster County?

I could hear Ella crying in the background.

“Past the trees,” Ezra said. They were on the northeast side of town, past Sean’s house, along a canal. Or at least that was the landmark Ezra had given me. He couldn’t believe I’d never heard of it before. It sounded as though they were at a regular old kegger, the kind I’d avoided, but James had thrived on, during high school.

I saw a grouping of trees and then a shed. I made a sharp right turn onto a dirt road, nearly dropping the phone. “Found it,” I said.

“Okay, we’re about a half mile down the road.”

I wouldn’t have had a hard time finding the group from a helicopter. The field was lit up like a sporting event by the headlights of cars circled around. Music was blaring, and a group of kids were dancing in the middle. Closer, a couple of boys were throwing a football back and forth. To my left a group of girls—two wearing dresses, aprons, and caps, and the rest dressed in jeans—were crowded around the open door of a pickup, all with cans of beer in their hands. I parked my borrowed car where no one could block me in and called Ella’s phone again. After a few rings, Ezra picked up. In a moment I spotted him, the phone to his ear, his hand on Ella’s back, his motorcycle parked nearby. She was bent over. I made my way toward them, stepping around piles of trash and clumps of weeds and brush.

“I told her to stop drinking hours ago.”

I gave him a mean look. He never should have brought her out here.

“I didn’t want to put her on my bike. I was afraid she’d fall off.” He took a deep breath. “And I didn’t really trust