Bethy's Heart's Hideout (Amish Circle Series Book 4) Read Free Page B

been worn or washed much. At this point, they felt like an alien skin that didn’t seem to fit him properly. Gone were his t-shirts and jeans. Now, in their place, he wore a simple pair of dark work pants, a white collarless shirt and a plain, dark jacket. His mother had presented him with the clothing proudly and had waited outside his room until he had changed his outfit. Then, she had come in and taken away all of the non-Amish clothing that he owned. Watching that happen had been one of the worst moments in Mark’s life.
    Soon, they would be switching the modest rental haus in the city for a modest farm in the Amish community. His parents had decided that they were not satisfied living as Mennonites and had decided to become Amish instead. They had spent a lot of time talking with the Bishop and his fraa and had, after quite a bit of time had passed, finally been given permission to move into the community so that they could live a more religious lifestyle.
    Of course, it wasn’t like Mark had to put up with the changes forever, he told himself. He was eighteen and was happy that soon he would have the right to leave home if he so chose. And he knew with one hundred percent certainty that he would be choosing to do so. He knew that there was a good chance that he would be saying goodbye to his familye but the idea of living an Amish lifestyle was just too strange for him to be able to accept it.
    He heard his parents’ dark, modest sedan pulling into the driveway and clicked the radio off. It was small enough that he could tuck it inside his jacket. It fit into the waistband of his pants and he arranged his clothing around it so that the radio wasn’t visible. Before long, he heard steps coming up the stairs. Each thump made Mark wince. It was like a jailor coming to seal his fate.
    Mark heard his father outside in the hall. He knocked on the door and told Mark to leave the rest of his things where they were. The time had come. It was time to leave.

Chapter 5
    Elizabeth looked out of the front window of the store, her jaw hanging open in disbelief. She was used to seeing tourists come and go. Some were more polite than others. They were usually the ones who had visited the town before. They didn’t gawk or pester members of her community for pictures. Others were much ruder. Some even poked or teased the men, women and kinder that they saw on the street. They treated the people they saw like they were actors in some Englischer movie and didn’t understand that while the Amish were peaceful people, it still made them plenty angry to be treated like curiosities.
    What she had never seen before was someone dressed like one of her people but not acting like it; at least, not until today anyway. The day had started out fairly normally. Things were a bit quieter than normal, perhaps but there was still the usual mix of Englischers and members of her community. The usual people went about their daily business and there was a comforting feel of routine to it. Elizabeth knew that when she left, she would dearly miss this part of life but she knew that this comfortable feeling was not enough to hold her and make her stay in the community.
    Then, in late afternoon, it had happened. A car had pulled up to the side of the road. It was a modest car. The paint was dark and dull and all of the shiny metal had also been painted over. She had seen some Mennonites and even some Amish from other communities driving vehicles like these instead of horse-drawn buggies. Usually, though, it was Englisch people who drove such inventions and not members of the Ordnung .
    The car door had opened and a young man had climbed out. He was tall and slender and had obviously spent more time pouring over books than he had spent at any kind of manual labor. He had a curly mop of dark hair on his head and it was longer than the hairstyles of any Amish men that Elizabeth knew. She couldn’t get a good look at his eyes but his face was attractive in an