Saving Gideon (19 page)

“It’s mighty fine to meet you,” he said, though he had been introduced to her once before. She had been only knee high to a post stump then. Though a lot more grown up, she was still not bigger than a minute.

She smiled shyly and tucked a strand of her silky black hair behind her ear. “Likewise.” Her eyes dropped to the magazine on the counter in front of her.

Had it not been for the bashful reaction, Gideon may never have noticed what the young girl was reading. But it happened, and he did notice: a magazine with glossy pages and detailed pictures . . . and a vaguely familiar face.

His heart gave a thump as her identity seeped through his consciousness.

Annie.

He might not have known her except for those violet eyes. She looked so different in the shiny pictures. Her smile brightened the whole page, but she was dressed in
Englisch
clothes, her hair falling at all angles around her pixie face. She looked at home and at ease.

Gideon pointed toward the magazine. “May I?”

Carly nodded, and he pulled it toward him, turned it right side up, and tried to focus on the pages before him.

The magazine had a story about Annie—
Avery
—and her father and their house, a beautiful three-story structure on the outskirts of Dallas. Gideon had never seen such a place. Gleaming staircase, sparkling chandeliers, and paintings that looked expensive even if he knew nothing about them. He didn’t have to know a lot about the cost of the possessions she stood among to know that Annie had everything she could possibly want in the
Englisch
world. Yet right now she wanted to stay in Amish country with him. He couldn’t get his mind around the idea.

He flipped the page to see more of her life before she crashed her car in his field. Gold faucet sinks, intricate imported rugs, and polished wood antiques filled the pages.

Even with all the stories that Mary Elizabeth had been begging Annie to tell, Gideon was not prepared to see the extent of her family’s holdings.

He tapped his fingers on the counter, a little too loudly—but it beat slamming the magazine shut on the opulence that was her life.

It didn’t matter. Not one bit. She was going back to that decadent
Englisch
world real soon. Until then, it was no concern that his entire house would fit twice over into the room the Hamiltons used only to eat.

Not one bit.

Avery was beginning to love the library. All in all, it was her favorite part of each trip to town. Back in Dallas, if she wanted to know something, she Googled it on her laptop. But nothing compared to holding the words in her hands.

“Good morning, Annie.” Sylvia, one of the two librarians, greeted Avery as she walked past.

“Good morning.” No one questioned why she dressed half Amish and wore an English hairstyle, but Avery knew they probably speculated about it when she wasn’t there. It didn’t matter. She was the happiest she had been in years.

“I got that book you wanted on the interlibrary loan.”

“You did?”

Sylvia pulled a huge book off the shelf behind her. “
The Complete Encyclopedia of Llamas and Alpacas.
”

“That’s great.” She wanted to check out other books while there, but this one would keep her reading for a while.

“You’ve got an extended check-out time, but it has to go back in a month.”

“No problem.” She’d definitely be back home in a month. The thought made her sad so she pushed it away.

She took the books out of the canvas bag and placed them on the counter. “I’m finished with these, but I want to keep the cookbook for another week.” There were still recipes she wanted to try.

“That’ll be fine.”

Avery smiled as Sylvia scanned the big book out and pushed it across the counter.

A familiar voice sounded behind her. “Avery?”

A voice she hadn’t heard in weeks. Her heart gave a thump of dread. She didn’t want to turn in case he was really behind her.

But it had to be him. No one in Amish country called her Avery.

“It is you.”

She wheeled around, knowing he stood behind her, but still unprepared. Avery braced herself. “Hello, Jack.”

He looked the same—handsome, blond, and tan. But he didn’t seem as tall as he once had. Was that because she’d been around Gideon so much? Or because she’d grown as a person?

“I’m so glad to see you. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

She tipped her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you check Aruba?”

“Avery. What was I supposed to do? I was worried sick. I called your father to see if you were home. I couldn’t very well tell him what happened, now could I?”

“I suppose not.” It was impossible to keep the derision out of her tone.

Sylvia looked from one of them to the other, making no attempt to hide her curiosity.

Avery wasn’t bothered by it, but she could tell Jack was. He grabbed her book, shoved it into her bag, and then took her arm. “Let me buy you a drink.”

“Seriously, Jack.”

“An ice cream, then. We have a lot to talk about.”

She tried to wrench free of him. “No. We don’t.”

He half-escorted, half-dragged her toward the doors. Avery only went along for Gideon’s sake. And Lizzie’s. Everyone at the library knew she and the Fishers were friends. She didn’t want anyone to think poorly of them because of her behavior.

Out on the street, Avery managed to tug free of Jack’s grasp.

“What do you want, Jack?”

“Ah, Avery.” His blue eyes—too blue because they were enhanced by contacts—scanned her. Avery could only imagine what he saw: a touch of sunburn on her nose, a trail of freckles across her cheeks, and her hair hadn’t been cut in a couple of weeks, nor had it been properly styled. It curled around her face in a riot of dark locks. She wore another of Lizzie’s castoffs, this one brown with cute, little cap sleeves that kept it from being too boring. Her fingernails were all chipped off, her pedicure gone, and she still ran around in those too-big shower flip-flops she had found at Gideon’s.

Remarkably enough, she wasn’t embarrassed.

“You’ve been here the whole time.” It wasn’t a question, but more of a realization. “You’ve been living with them.”

“What I’ve been doing is none of your concern anymore.”

He had the audacity to smile, looking like a used car salesman with a lemon to unload. “Ah, baby. You didn’t think I was serious about that waitress.” He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear.

Avery slapped his fingers away. “Looked pretty serious from where I was standing.”

“That’s why you haven’t returned my calls.”

“Good-bye, Jack.” She turned and started for the general store. It wasn’t quite time to meet Gideon, but she wasn’t about to stand there a moment longer.

“Avery . . .” He turned around, walking backward in front of her, not bothering to look where he was going.
Same old Jack
. “You and I go back—way back. I made a mistake. Surely you could forgive one little mistake.”

She stopped, sputtering. Hot words bubbled up inside her like acid. “Mistake? I came here to tell you that I would marry you. Right away. No waiting, no big ceremony. And I find you in bed with someone else. That’s a little bigger than a
mistake
.”

“Come on, baby.”

“I’m not your ‘baby.’”

“Avery.”

“Stay away from me, Jack.” She pushed past him, leaving him standing in the street staring after her as she made her way into Anderson’s General Store.

Thankfully, he didn’t follow.

Anger churned inside her as they ambled back toward Gideon’s house. Avery kept her eyes straight ahead, her hands twisted together in her lap.

Every so often, she could see Gideon look at her, then turn his attention back to the road.

She knew he had questions, that he was concerned. He was too nice of a man not to care, but Avery was afraid that if she started talking she might never quit. She didn’t want to give Jack that kind of power over her.

“Sometimes it helps if you talk about it.”

Wasn’t that the exact same thing she had told him last Sunday?

“I-I ran into someone I used to know.”

“I hope no one was hurt.”

She had been, but she’d heal. Then she realized what he said. “I mean, I saw someone I knew.”

He nodded, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. He was trying to make her feel better.

“It’s just—”

“It’s just what, Annie?”

“The night . . . the night I came here . . . the night I wrecked my car I’d come to tell my fiancé that I’d marry him. You see, I wanted a big wedding, and he wanted—”

“Whoa.” He pulled the horse and buggy to the side of the road.

“Why are we stopping?”

“I have a feelin’ this story needs all of my attention.”

He was probably right, but she found it easier to talk when his eyes studied the road, instead of intently waiting for her to continue. She looked away, and tucked her hair behind her ear, giving her hands something to do. “I’ve always wanted a big wedding,” Avery said after a minute. “Long, white dress, doves and lilies, the works, you know?”

He nodded, and Avery wondered how elaborate Amish weddings were. She bet they didn’t go into debt thousands of dollars and invite half the state.
And for what?

She took a deep breath. “But Jack, my fiancé . . . my
ex
-fiancé, wanted to elope.”

“Run away and get married?”

Avery nodded. “He kept saying he was too busy with his movie and the guest list was getting out of hand. I kept fighting him on it. I really had my heart set on being princess for a day. But then, I decided that maybe he was right. Maybe I was just being foolish. I loved him, and he loved me. Why did we need a big ceremony to prove it? So I grabbed Louie and the first plane I could catch, and I flew up here to tell him I’d changed my mind.”

“That was the night you wrecked your car?”

She nodded again. “He borrowed it to drive up here from Dallas. I thought it would be a great surprise for him, for me to just show up. So I didn’t call. I figured the town wasn’t that big. I rented a car and drove around until I spotted my car at a hotel.”

“And?”

“I was the one surprised.” That wasn’t exactly true. Jack had been pretty shocked when she’d walked in on him and the curvy blonde local. “He was unfaithful to me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Avery was saddened by her own story, but not devastated. Amazing what two weeks of peace and solitude—and good company—could do for a person.

“You deserve better than that.”

Avery smiled. “Of course I do. But I’ll never find it.”

“Now there’s a good attitude.” Gideon took up the reins and clicked his tongue at the horses.

“You don’t understand.” She braced her hand against the seat to steady herself as he pulled the wagon back onto the road. “Jack wasn’t the first. I’ve had a lot of fiancés, but they only want one thing.”

He cleared his throat and a deep red color started at his collar and worked its way upward. “I don’t think we should be talkin’ about this.”

“Not that.” She laughed despite herself. “My father’s money. The Hamilton millions.”

“And this is more important to them than bein’ faithful and honest?”

“I suppose so.”

“Crazy
Englisch
.” Gideon shook his head. “And you saw this Jack in town?”

Avery nodded. “He’s here doing research for a movie. A motion picture film.”

“I know what one is.”

“Oh.”

“Did you talk to him?”

She nodded.
If you wanted to call it that.

“And he’s why you’re angry?”

“Yes. No.”

“It has to be one or the other.”

Avery sighed. “I guess it’s a little of both, but mostly I’m mad at myself.”
For falling for his lies.
She was angry with Jack as well, for thinking he could take advantage of Gideon—or any of the kind hearts in the district—like they weren’t really people.

“He is gone now,
jah
?”

Avery returned his smile. “
Jah
.”

“Then let’s not worry about him anymore today.”

To Avery, that sounded like a fine idea.