Love’s Journey Home Read Free

through the streets
     in broad daylight, this was a new one. What would possess the boy to do something
     so openly? Back home the teenagers wore Englisch clothes, smoked, carried cell phones,
     and even drove cars. They sneaked around, thinking no one saw. Parents turned their
     heads and pretended not to know. But this flaunting of it was different. Disrespectful.
     His hope that this move to Kansas would make it easier for him to protect his children
     from worldly influences drained away.
    This boy, this Edmond, had been out of control. What kind of mudder raised a child
     to act like that? Helen looked so forlorn, he might have felt sorry for her were it
     not for the hairsbreadth he’d been away from being trampled by the horse. He’d felt
     the breeze of the buggy as it passed. For himself, he had no worries. But for his
     children. They had only one parent now.
    “Edmond’s a good boy.” Thomas spoke as if reading Gabriel’s thoughts on his face.
     His cousin stood next to Helen, towering nearly a foot over her, his arms crossed
     over his chest. “He’s a hard worker. Works for me on the farm.”
    Thomas would never say something he didn’t mean. He rarely spoke at all, but when
     he did, he meant it.
    Still, the horse’s whinnies sounded in Gabriel’s ears. The feel of Isabelle’s body
     squirming against him as he hurled himself past the buggy caused the panic to rise
     again. Fighting for composure, he leaned over to examine the knees of his pants. Better
     they didn’t see his face. One pant leg had been torn by his rapid descent to the asphalt.
    “That was strange behavior for a good boy.” He managed to sound calm. No judgment.
     “He seemed…crazed or drugged.”
    “He’s embraced his rumspringa, as many of our youngsters do.” Helen put her hands
     on her ample hips. Gone was the awkward woman who’d introduced herself earlier, replaced
     by a mother hen whose feathers were ruffled, her chick found wanting. “As I’m sure
     your older boys have done. That is the point of it. He should be forgiven for that.”
    “My boys didn’t put a little girl in danger.” Warmth flooded Gabriel’s face and showered
     his neck. She ought not to speak back to a man such as himself. Yet he couldn’t help
     but admire that she stood up for her son. “Forgiven, yes. But his actions—endangering
     others and flaunting it in public—must be corrected. Surely you’ll talk to your bishop.”
    “Now your bishop as well.” Thomas spoke again. Why did he defend this woman and her
     undisciplined son? “I’ll talk to Edmond.”
    “So will I, being I’m his mudder and all.” Helen dusted her hands together as if to
     wash them of the subject. “I’ll go now. I reckon Chief Parker has caught up with him
     and given him a talking to. Emma, could the girls stay with you until I come back?”
    “Of course.”
    “Rumspringa doesn’t give him the right to put others in danger.” Gabriel couldn’t
     help himself. He kept talking even though she’d turned away, giving him her back.
     She was short and sturdy, very different from Laura with her long legs and thin build.
     The direction of his thoughts confounded him. “Does this community’s Ordnung allow
     him to do that?”
    “Nee.” Thomas answered yet again. “He’ll be dealt—”
    “Mrs. Crouch!” A sweaty, heavy man in a uniform so tight the buttons looked as if
     they might burst wormed his way through the parade goers. His skin was burnt red from
     the sun and he wore shiny sunglasses that hid his eyes and reflected everything around
     him. “Mrs. Crouch, I need to talk to you.”
    Helen turned back. Her dimpled cheeks turned from red to an ashen gray. “What is it?
     Is he hurt, Officer Bingham?”
    “No, ma’am.” The officer removed his hat. He nodded at Gabriel and Thomas, then glanced
     at a notebook he clutched in his hand as if seeking guidance. “Chief Parker says to
     tell you, begging your pardon, ma’am, that your