Once again Leah’s heart beat with excitement because the boy was losing his fear of her. Had her mission not been so urgent, she would’ve gladly ridden around Morning Star and the countryside all afternoon so she could share Stevie’s happiness longer. As they reached the main street of town, however, the increase in car traffic forced her to slow Mose to a walk along the shoulder. They passed the Dutch bulk store and the pizza place, across the street from the large city park.
“Look at all those kids playin’!” Stevie said wistfully. “They go to the Mennonite school, huh? I wish I could go there, come September—to play in the park every day!”
“Jah, they’re out for recess,” Leah replied. She decided not to suggest that maybe his mammi would bring him to the park. Why disappoint him, if Margaret was too busy for that? “But at the Amish school, you’ll have a ball diamond and a place to play volleyball, as well as the swings. That’ll be fun, too.”
A few moments later they’d left the business district and Jeremiah’s tall white house came into view. Leah guided Mose onto the long dirt lane, hoping the bishop would have some words of wisdom—or some ideas about where to look for his teenage nieces. When she halted her gelding at the side of the house by the hitching post, Stevie quickly clambered down and hurried up the steps to the front porch.
“Uncle Jeremiah!” he shouted as he ran. “We gotta find the girls! They’ve run away from home!”
So much for the subtle approach, Leah thought as the screen door banged behind him. After she tethered Mose, she jogged up the stairs and entered the house a few steps behind the boy, who was talking excitedly back in the kitchen. She hesitantly poked her head in the kitchen doorway, wondering if Margaret would be the one listening to Stevie’s animated story.
Both Jeremiah and his mother were at the kitchen table, with coffee and a plate of fresh cinnamon rolls between them. Their questioning glances made Leah swallow hard. Did they believe she’d been negligent for allowing Alice and Adeline to leave—let alone for waiting so long to start looking for them?
Jeremiah’s face creased with a smile as he motioned Leah toward the chair nearest him. He placed the plate of rolls near her after Stevie had taken one. “Stevie seems very excited today,” he remarked, as though pleased that his nephew had come out from under his dark cloud of mourning. “I think he rather enjoys not having his sisters around to pick on him, jah?”
Leah laughed nervously, appreciating his levelheaded point of view. The rolls smelled heavenly, but she wasn’t staying long enough to enjoy one. “Lately the girls have taken to dressing English and driving off in their rig, shortly after Jude leaves for work,” she explained with a shake of her head. “They scooted their dresser against their bedroom door, shimmied down the tree outside their room, and ran toward the stable without telling me where they were going—and that was after breakfast. They’re usually back by now, so I’m getting concerned about—”
“They certainly never did such a thing while I was living there!” Margaret said archly. “They were very respectful and prompt. If they left the farm, they told me where they were going and when they’d be back.”
Leah pressed her lips together, again suspecting that Margaret had either been unaware of her granddaughters’ escapades or unwilling to admit to their absences. “They didn’t exactly run away,” she clarified, smiling at Stevie. “They didn’t have any luggage with them, so sooner or later they’ll be returning for clean clothes. I brought Stevie here for a visit so I can look for them.”
“I’ve heard the twins have been seen at various places around town,” Jeremiah said calmly. “I spoke to them not long ago about the dangers of spending their time with English boys. I also suggested they start working at the bulk store or other Plain businesses, so they’d at least be earning some money—and be easier to keep track of,” he added with a purposeful glance at his mother. “Wish I could give you more concrete clues about where to look for them, Leah. If you spot that buggy with the Tinker Bell decal on the back, they won’t be far away.”
“Tinker Bell’s a fairy,” Stevie said with wide eyes. He focused again on his cinnamon roll, peeling away the outer layer and pinching off a bite. “Alice and Adeline like Tink because she can fly! She likes to stir up trouble, and then flies away before she gets caught.”
Leah blinked. She’d seen children’s books with Tinker Bell on the cover, but her conservative parents hadn’t allowed her to read them. “Have your sisters been telling you stories about Tinker Bell?” she asked carefully. Maybe, if the twins were sharing their adoration of a fictional fairy with Stevie, they were also telling him about their adventures.
“I watched a little movie about Tink on their cell phone,” Stevie replied—and then he clapped his hand over his mouth. “But I’m not s’posed to tell about that, or they’ll get really mad at me.”
“After Frieda died, Jude allowed the girls to have a Plain cell phone, without any Internet connection on it,” Jeremiah mused aloud. “While I’m not wild about our kids having such English temptations at their disposal during their rumspringa, I went along with his reasoning that the phone would allow the girls to get ahold of him at an auction barn faster if a problem came up when they were away from home.”
“I didn’t see any cell phone,” Margaret muttered. She glanced
