Her Forgotten Amish Past. Debby Giusti

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      “I said that we are both glad to have Becca with us, yah?” Hattie prompted.

      He turned his dark eyes on her again, making Becca’s breath catch as she lost herself for a moment in his gaze. If only she could read his mind.

      She reached for her fork. “I am thankful you found me, Ezekiel. If you had not—”

      She couldn’t go on. Her mind failed to remember the past, yet it could bring forward terrible thoughts of what could have happened last night.

      “All things work together for good,” Hattie intoned with a definitive nod of her head.

      Becca wasn’t as sure. She took a bite of the meat mixture, but the food stuck in her throat. More than anything, she wanted to push back from the table and run upstairs to hide from Zeke’s dark eyes and all the questions she saw in his troubled gaze.

      She didn’t want to bother this man and his aunt any longer, but before leaving, she needed to find out who she was, no matter how difficult the truth might be to accept.

      “Did I hear you mention a nearby town?” she asked, needing something on which to focus other than the man sitting across the table from her.

      “Yah, Willkommen,” Hattie answered. “It is some miles away. Does the name sound familiar, dear?”

      “Regrettably, nothing sounds familiar.”

      Zeke reached for his coffee cup. “You wish to go there?”

      “It might help me remember if something triggers my memory.”

      “Willkommen has a sheriff,” Hattie mused. “He might know of anyone who is missing.”

      “You mean he might have information regarding who I am and where I live?”

      Hattie leaned closer. “Yah, but I must warn you, dear. If you go to town and ask questions, you could find more than you want to know.”

      “I don’t understand.”

      She rubbed Becca’s hand. “Think, dear. You were running from someone last night. If you notify the sheriff, he could tell the person who was chasing after you.”

      Hattie shrugged before adding, “A mean husband is someone to fear.”

      Becca glanced at Ezekiel, then turned back to Hattie. “I don’t feel like I have a husband.”

      “And how would that feel, dear?”

      “I... I’m not sure, but wouldn’t I remember the man I loved?”

      Hattie leaned even closer. “Perhaps you have a husband you do not love.”

      “Yet if I am married, there could be children.”

      Ezekiel’s gaze darkened all the more. The direction of the conversation seemed to be unsettling to both of them. “I will go to town and see for myself without involving the sheriff,” Becca said. “Perhaps then I will remember.”

      “Ezekiel will take you in the buggy,” Hattie volunteered. “But you must dress so no one will recognize you.”

      “What are you suggesting?”

      “You should wear men’s clothing, dear. You are slim and not so tall. People would think you a young Amish lad.”

      Hattie sat back and smiled with satisfaction. “Dressing as a man would be a perfect cover. Ezekiel’s clothing is too big for you, but I kept a few of my husband’s things. I will find something you can wear.”

      Ezekiel stared at Becca, as if she had been the one to suggest the idea of dressing as a man. Hattie was right. The costume would keep Becca from being recognized, especially from anyone who might do her harm, yet the idea of needing to hide her identity from others when she didn’t even know who she was or where she lived weighed heavy on her shoulders.

      The sound of a vehicle turning into the drive made Becca’s heart stop. Zeke glanced at her as if he too was concerned.

      “Stay here,” he cautioned as he rose from the table and walked to the door, grabbing his hat before he stepped outside.

      “Ach.” Hattie patted her chest as if patting down a swell of apprehension, which was exactly what Becca had bubbling up in her own throat. “I do not know who would be coming to see us.”

      Hattie’s gaze narrowed, and she pursed her lips. Then, with a shrug of her shoulders, she added, “We go for days without visitors and now they come one after the other.”

      Some friendly and some not, Becca thought, her stomach a jumble of nerves. Didn’t Hattie realize they were coming because she was here?

      Hattie pushed back from the table, hurried to the sink and then peered from the kitchen window. “It is a tall man who steps from a van. The Montcliff Studio logo is on the passenger door.”

      She glanced back at Becca. “I will go outside to learn the purpose of his visit. Perhaps it is the man Caleb mentioned.”

      “Please, Hattie, don’t invite him in.”

      The older woman nodded, then reached for the doorknob and stepped onto the porch, leaving the door ajar.

      In spite of the cool air coming through the open doorway, Becca moved closer, hoping to overhear what was being said. Her pulse raced when she peered outside. A tall, muscular man stood by the van.

      The footfalls of the man who had chased after her last night played through her memory. From the sound of him stomping through the underbrush, he had to have been a big man, tall in stature and with a bulky build.

      Her gaze homed in on the Montcliff Studio logo on the side of the van. Apprehension zigzagged along her spine as she stared at the black-and-white graphic, longing to remember why it drew her attention.

      The man walked to the front of the van, closer to where Zeke stood.

      A lump jammed Becca’s throat as she saw the movie man’s long legs and thick build. Hands on his hips, he stared at the barn and then the outbuildings as if searching for something.

      Was he searching for her?

      Tears burned Becca’s eyes, but she forced them back. Why would an Englisch man from a movie studio be looking for her?

      He extended his hand to Zeke. “The name’s Larry Landers. I’m the location manager at Montcliff.”

      Zeke accepted his handshake without comment.

      “The movie studio,” Larry added as if for clarification. “As you probably know, we’ve been here for the last six months.”

      “I know about the studio, Mr. Landers,” Zeke said. “It is located higher up the mountain on Levi Gingerich’s land.”

      “That’s right. We’re almost finished with the production of our first film and hope to begin work on our next СКАЧАТЬ