The Selfless Act Page 7

  Looking to the right, where a man and woman sat in a booth, Kristi’s breath caught in her throat. It was Joel, with the pretty Amish woman she’d seen him talking to the day of his father’s funeral. When she’d asked Joel about it later, he’d said the woman’s name was Anna, and that he’d been engaged to marry her before he left the Amish faith. Apparently they were back together, for Joel reached across the table and placed his hand on Anna’s.

  I can’t believe it. Unbidden tears sprang to Kristi’s eyes. I should have expected he would eventually give up on me. No wonder Joel hasn’t called or left any messages for so long. He’s obviously back with his old girlfriend. A lump lodged in her throat. I bet he’s planning to return to the Amish faith again, too. Or maybe Joel’s convinced Anna to become part of the English world with him.

  The hostess returned from seating the other people, but before she could say anything, Kristi turned, nearly bumping into the gentleman behind her, and rushed out the door. She’d waited all that time to be seated, but now her appetite was gone.

  Joel smiled as Anna told him about Melvin Mast, who had recently started courting her. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her face glow like this—not even when the two of them had been courting. Anna deserved to be happy, and he wished her well, reaching across the table and placing his hand over hers.

  Joel hadn’t made plans to meet Anna here for lunch. They’d both arrived around the same time, and after learning she was alone, he’d invited her to sit with him. He was anxious to see how she was doing and tell her that he’d committed his life to the Lord. Anna seemed as happy for Joel as he was for her starting a relationship with Melvin. They’d laughed and talked when they began eating, and Joel couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so relaxed in her presence. Of course, he felt better around everyone these days—especially his family members.

  Joel thought about the inheritance he’d received from his father and bit back a chuckle. There would have been a day he’d have been hopping mad at Dad for leaving him so little and at his sisters for getting much more than him. Not that it was their fault. None of them knew what Dad had designated in his will. To Joel’s surprise, shortly after Doris, Arlene, and Elsie opened their envelopes, they’d each offered to give him part of the money they’d been left. He’d said no. He didn’t deserve one penny of what Dad wanted his daughters to have. All three of them had been dutiful to Dad—especially after Mom died and he’d needed their help. Joel’s sisters had always been kind and loving to their parents; unlike him, who’d given Mom and Dad nothing but trouble and heartache.

  Once more, Joel wished he could turn back the hands of time and begin again. Knowing what he did now, if he could start over, he’d be a better son and brother. Well, he couldn’t undo the past, but he’d spend the rest of his days trying to make it up to his sisters and their families.

  “Joel, did you hear what I said?”

  Anna’s question drove his thoughts aside, and he blinked a couple of times. “Sorry, I was spacing—kind of lost in my thoughts.”

  “There’s a young woman out by the hostess’s desk, and she looks a lot like the woman you brought to your daed’s funeral.” Anna pointed in that direction.

  He turned his head sharply, but only caught a glimpse of the back of a woman’s auburn head as she hurried from the restaurant. “That couldn’t have been Kristi,” he murmured. “What would she be doing here?”

  CHAPTER 10

  Charm

  We need some more boxes to load up the last of your food items,” Joel called to Elsie as he emptied one of the kitchen cupboards.

  “I think there are some more in the barn.” She smiled. “Thank you for taking the day off to help us move. We also appreciate all the work you’ve done on our new home.”

  “I was happy to do it, Elsie.” Joel glanced around the kitchen. “Now I need to figure out what to do with Dad’s house.”

  She placed her hand on his arm. “It belongs to you now. For whatever reason, Dad wanted you to have it.”

  “I realize that, but I have my own place in Akron.”

  “You said it’s a mobile home, right?”

  He nodded.

  Elsie made a sweeping gesture of the kitchen. “This isn’t fancy, but it’s a solidly built home. With the three acres it sits on, there’d be room for you to build a shop for all the tools and supplies you need for your construction business.”

  Joel massaged the back of his neck. “Are you suggesting I sell my place and move here?”

  “It’d be nice for all of us if you did. Keeping the home we grew up in would be meaningful, and living closer would give us opportunities to see you more often.”

  He tilted his head, weighing his choices. He could either sell Dad’s place and use the money to build a new house on the property he owned now, or sell his land and mobile home and move here. If he did the latter, he’d have to update the house, connect to the power lines, and get an Internet provider, because he needed that for his business and computer. Since the jobs Joel often did were in various locations, he didn’t need to live in Akron. He could commute to most anywhere in this part of Ohio within a few hours’ drive. Still, what would he do in this rambling old house all alone? If he had a wife and children, it would be a nice place to live and raise a family. But by himself, all he’d have were the memories from growing up here as a child.

  “Are you thinking about my suggestion?” Elsie tugged on his shirtsleeve.

  “I am, and as nice as it would be to live closer to you and the rest of our family, it may not be the sensible thing to do.”

  “Well, give it some thought before you make a final decision.” Elsie looked at the open cupboard they’d just emptied of food.

  “I will. And I’ll be praying about it, too.” Joel turned toward the back door. “I’ll head out to the barn now and look for those boxes.”

  Elsie grabbed a sponge and rinsed it in the sink; then she stepped over to the cupboard and started wiping the shelves. “Okay. If you see Aunt Verna, would you let her know I could use her help in here? She went outside some time ago to hang a few dish-towels on the line, and I haven’t seen her since.”

  He chuckled. “You know our dear aunt. She can easily become distracted.”

  “You’re right about that. It was nice of her and Uncle Lester to come down to help with the move.” Elsie grinned. “I think she’s looking forward to spending the next few nights in our new home. Since it has two bedrooms on the main floor, she and Uncle Lester can have a cozy room on the first floor, and John and I won’t have to give up our room.”

  “They could stay here, you know.”

  “Right, but since Glen will be staying here until you decide what to do with the place, I thought he would enjoy having some peace and quiet without any visitors.”

  Joel gave his sister a hug. “You’re a thoughtful mudder.” He opened the back door and stepped out.

  Grinning, Aunt Verna waved at him from where she was rocking back and forth on the porch swing.

  He smiled in response. “I can see you’re enjoying yourself. But when you get tired of swinging, Elsie could you use your help in the kitchen.”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “Elsie has a kitten?”

  Joel resisted the urge to laugh. She must not have her new hearing aids turned on. “No, she said she needs your help in the kitchen.”

  “Oh, of course.” She rose from the swing, pausing for a minute to watch some robins searching for worms in the grass, before going into the house.

  Joel headed for the barn. He’d barely set foot inside when Dad’s spirited horse started acting up, kicking at the back wall in his stall. I wonder what’s got him so worked up.

  Speaking softly to the horse, Joel entered the stall. “Whoa, boy. Settle down.”

  With an ear-piercing whinny, the horse reared up, then kicked again—this time putting a hole in the wall.

  Joel figured a cat, or even a mouse, may have spooked the horse. He grabbed a rope,
put it around the animal’s neck, and tied him to the other side of the stall. Then he knelt in front of the wall to examine the damage. When Joel peered into the gaping hole, he was surprised to see something shiny. It looked like a piece of chrome, but it wasn’t close enough for him to reach. The horse’s stall was at the back of the barn, where outside, dirt was built up along the whole side and stretched out into the hillside. Dad had called it a “bank barn.” Joel used to climb up on the mound of dirt when he was a boy and pretend he was standing on a mountain. He remembered once, Dad had caught him playing up there and told him in no uncertain terms to get off and never go up there again. When Joel asked why, Dad said, “Because you could fall and get hurt.” Joel never understood what the big deal was. The mound of dirt wasn’t that high. But he’d done as Dad asked and never went near it again. For that matter, Dad had been fussy about Joel or anyone else coming into this particular stall. Joel always figured it was because Dad had been so finicky about his own horse.

  Gazing back at the hole, Joel decided to investigate further. He was curious about what was behind the wall. “Better get a flashlight,” he mumbled.

  After moving the horse to another stall, Joel was about to head out to his truck when he spotted a flashlight on the shelf halfway up the wall. Several shelves made the wall inside the stall look like a huge, built-in bookcase that went from top to bottom and all the way from one side to the other along the back wall.

  Reaching up to get the flashlight, Joel touched something cold. It felt like a knob. Twisting it to the left, he was stunned when the bookcase-like structure swung open, revealing another room, apparently hidden under all the dirt behind the barn.

  “What in the world?” Joel turned the flashlight on and shined the beam of light into the room. His nose twitched when he stepped inside. The room had a different smell. Dust, mixed with fuel and rubber, tainted the air.

  He rested his hands on his hips. “What did Dad keep secret in here?”

  Seeing a lot of things covered with tarps, he moved to the closest one and pulled it back. A beautiful old car came into view.

  “Oh, wow!” Like a kid in a candy store, Joel went to each tarp, pulling them off. It seemed like a dream, but he’d just discovered not one, but ten antique classic cars hidden under all those dusty tarps.

  Joel’s breath caught in his throat. “I’ll bet these beauties are worth millions!”

  Yelling for Elsie, he dashed out of the barn.

  Humming to the tune of the song playing on her car radio, Kristi turned off the freeway in the direction of Charm. She wasn’t sure if Elsie and her family still lived in Eustace’s old house, but she had something for them and hoped to deliver it today. If they had already moved to their new home, then Kristi didn’t know what to do, because she did not have their new address.

  “I should have thought to ask Doris,” Kristi muttered. She would have liked to have brought this love gift sooner, but it had taken a few weeks for donations to come in after she’d gotten the word out to church members about the fire that had destroyed the home of Joel’s sister. Even though Doris had said she and her siblings would receive an inheritance from their father, Kristi didn’t know how much it was or whether they’d gotten the money yet. She wanted to do something to help out. In addition to several boxes of food, the church had collected over a thousand dollars in cash. It wasn’t an enormous amount of money, but it would help with some of their expenses. Kristi felt grateful for the congregation’s generosity to a family they’d never met.

  That’s what all churches should do, she thought, turning on the road that led to Eustace Byler’s house. Helping people in need, regardless of whether we know them or not, is the Christian thing to do, and it’s a testimony of Christ’s love for us.

  When she pulled into the yard a few minutes later, Kristi noticed a teenage Amish boy wearing a straw hat, carrying a cardboard box over to a truck parked near the house. Her heart began to pound—it was the truck Joel used for work, which meant he must be here. From the looks of the boxes stacked on the front porch, this must be moving day for Elsie’s family. As much as she dreaded facing Joel, Kristi wasn’t leaving here until she’d seen Elsie and given her the church’s gifts.

  Turning off the engine, she stepped out of the car. When she approached the young man, she asked if Elsie was there.

  He pointed to the barn. “Joel’s there, too—looking at the new cars he just got. He says they’re worth a whole lot of money, so now Uncle Joel has a big collection of cars.” The boy bobbed his head, grinning widely. “My uncle is rich!”

  Kristi’s spine stiffened. Apparently Joel had not changed at all. His emphasis was still on money, and now he’d bought more cars. Won’t he ever get his priorities right?

  “Would you please get your mother?” she asked. “I have some things in the car I want to give her.” With any luck, only Elsie would come out, and she’d avoid seeing Joel at all.

  The boy nodded and headed for the barn. A few minutes later, Elsie appeared…and Joel was with her.

  Joel halted when he stepped out of the barn and saw Kristi standing beside her car. He had no idea what she was doing here, but the sight of her beautiful face and auburn hair made his heart race. If he hadn’t known she had a new boyfriend, he would have dashed over to her, explained that he’d become a Christian, and begged her once again to take him back. He’d never loved another woman the way he did her. Even though he didn’t deserve a second chance, if Kristi would forgive Joel for his past mistakes and agree to become his wife, he’d spend the rest of his life trying to make her happy.

  Heart thumping so hard blood pulsated in his head, Joel approached Kristi. Before he had a chance to say anything, she smiled at Elsie and said, “Doris told me about your house burning down, and I’ve brought you a little something from my church.” She opened her trunk and pointed to several boxes full of food. Then she reached into her purse, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to Elsie. “Please accept this love gift and use it in any way you need for your new home.”

  “I…I don’t know what to say.” Elsie’s eyes filled with tears. “Thanks to the inheritance I’ve received from my dad, my husband and I have all the money we need, so I don’t feel right about taking this.”

  Kristi glanced briefly at Joel, then looked quickly back at Elsie. “I would like you to have it. I’m sure you can use the extra food, and if you don’t need the money, feel free to pass it along to someone else in need.”

  “That’s called paying it forward,’” Joel spoke up.

  Without looking at him, Kristi nodded.

  Elsie hugged Kristi. “Please tell your church people I said thank you.” She gave Joel’s arm a little nudge. “I’ll leave you two alone so you can talk. I believe you have some catching up to do.” Without another word, she hurried into the house. Joel’s nephew removed one of the boxes from Kristi’s truck and followed his mother inside.

  Palms sweaty and heart still beating hard, Joel cleared his throat. “Umm…there’s something I’d like you to know, Kristi.”

  “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You’ve gotten a huge inheritance from your dad, so you’ve purchased several more cars, which you are keeping in his barn.”

  He shook his head vigorously. “No, it’s not like that.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “How is it then?”

  Joel quickly explained how he’d accidentally found the secret room in his dad’s barn, and was surprised to find the old cars. “At first I couldn’t figure out why they were there or how they even got in the hidden room behind the barn.” He paused and drew in a quick breath. “Then my aunt came out, and after I showed her what I’d found, she informed me that a long time ago, when Dad was a teenager, he’d had his own car. It was during his running-around years, when he’d been allowed to experience some things outside the Amish world.”

  Kristi stared at him with an uncertain expression.

  “Anyway,” Joel continued, “Aunt Verna said even after Dad
sold his car and joined the church, he often talked about his interest in classic cars. Nobody had any idea his interest went further than merely talking about cars.” He motioned to the barn, slowly shaking his head. “Apparently over the years, Dad bought several old cars and snuck them in a room behind a secret door. So now…”

  “I know—your nephew told me—you’re rich.”

  Joel pulled his fingers through his thick hair. “If I sell them, I probably will get a lot of money, but I won’t keep it all. I’ll give a good chunk of it to someone in need.” He took a step closer to her. “You see, Kristi, after committing my life to God, I’ve come to realize how selfish I was, and I’ve changed.”

  “He’s telling you the truth,” Aunt Verna said when she came out of the barn.

  Joel was surprised his aunt had even heard what he’d said, but then he remembered her new hearing aids and figured she’d finally turned them on.

  Aunt Verna stepped up to them and placed both hands on Kristi’s shoulders. “My nephew is not the same person he was before. He sold his first classic car to help his family, and now, thanks to my brother’s will stating that Joel should have the house, barn, and everything in it, he has more cars to sell so he can help others.”

  Joel gave his aunt a quick wink. “If no one has any objections, I may keep one of the cars. It’ll be fun to fix it up. Then every time I drive it, I’ll think of Dad.”

  “I think that would be fine, Joel.” Aunt Verna slipped her arm around his waist. “Your daed was a bit eccentric, which is probably why he bought all those vehicles when he knew it went against our church rules for a member to own a car. But given that he kept them in the secret room for his own amusement and didn’t drive them, I’m sure if anyone outside our family hears of this, they’ll understand.”

  “I hope so, but even if they don’t, what’s done is done. We can’t go back and change the past.”