Amish Haven

“Let’s finish up and get home, okay? If we hurry, we can stop and get pizza for dinner.”

Bethany’s eyes lit up and she grinned. “Yay! Pizza! Can we get ice cream, too?”

Annabelle tousled her daughter’s blond hair and smiled back. “Of course! What’s pizza without ice cream for dessert?”

Happy again, Bethany skipped beside the shopping cart.

Annabelle hurried as much as she could. She couldn’t shake the thought that someone was watching again. She turned her head suddenly. Her eyes were pinned by the stare of the young man she’d seen earlier.

Bethany had been right. That was not the face of someone shopping. The cold stare she encountered made her shudder. All thoughts of shopping left her mind. She needed to get her daughter home, where they’d be safe.

“Bethy, come with me.” Grabbing her daughter’s hand, she abandoned the shopping cart and made for the exit. A glance over her shoulder confirmed her fear. The man was on his cell phone, watching her. She moved quicker.

“Mommy, what about the ice cream?”

“Honey, I will see if we can get it somewhere else. But we need to leave. Now.”

Bethany was a very bright girl. She didn’t argue with her mom. Looking down at her daughter, Annabelle could see that she was pale and her eyes were wide. She hated that her daughter was afraid. Better scared and safe. That was the important thing.

She tightened her grip on Bethany’s hand and left the store. The little girl was trembling now. Who was that man? An image of him grabbing Bethany and running off flashed through her mind. Annabelle paused to lift her daughter in her arms. Bethany didn’t question it but wrapped her legs around her waist while winding her arms around her mother’s neck.

The parking lot was crowded. Annabelle ducked between two cars, crouching low. She set down Bethany, motioning her to keep low. Bethany squatted next to Annabelle. “Shh. Don’t make a sound. Okay?” she whispered in Bethany’s ear. The child nodded, burying her face in her mother’s shoulder. Moving as if in slow motion, Annabelle raised herself enough to peer across the parking lot through the windows of the car on her left. The man was standing outside the store, talking on the phone while his eyes searched the parking lot.

For her.

What did he want?

Settling back down, she considered her options. Her car was three rows away. It would be practically impossible to get there without being seen. Or worse.

She peeked again. Oh, no. He was heading this way. Now what?

Putting her finger to her lips to let Bethany know to keep silent, she crouch-walked away from the row, heading toward the next one. Her daughter stayed close to her side. She glanced back. Not good. He’d seen them and was picking up his pace. His eyes were glued to her as he moved toward her.

“Run, Bethany!” Grabbing her daughter’s hand, she ran as fast as she could with a five-year-old in tow. “Please, God. Keep us safe. Protect my baby.”

A police car turned down her aisle and pulled in two cars away from her.’

“Thank You, Jesus!”

The officer stepped out of his car.

“Officer!” She ran up to the man. “Help! We’re being followed!”

She pointed to the man who’d been following her. He was gone.

“Ma’am?”

She shuddered. “There was a man. He’d been following us around the store. When we left, he followed us out here. We hid, and tried to get to our car, but he saw us and was chasing us.”

Her cheeks heated. The officer probably thought she was being paranoid.

“I was scared,” Bethany offered in a shy whisper.

Fortunately, the officer seemed to believe them. “Ma’am, do you think you could give me a description of the man?”

An hour later, they arrived home. Bethany was happy. They’d stopped and picked up pizza and ice cream. Annabelle wanted to sleep for the next ten hours, she was so emotionally drained. Fear for her daughter still swirled in her head, but she wasn’t panicking anymore. Going around the house, she locked and dead-bolted all the doors and windows. She was probably overreacting, but she didn’t care. The whole situation had freaked her out.

She was cleaning up the dishes when her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

“Annie, it’s me.” There was only one person in the world who called her Annie.

Tyler.

Her husband. The man she hadn’t seen in two years.

“Annie? You there?”

She shook her head. “Yes, I’m here. It’s been a frazzling day, Tyler. What do you want?”

A pause. “Something happened last night, Annie. I can’t tell you everything, but the US Marshals are involved. I’m being put into witness protection.”

“Witness protection?” Stunned, she lowered herself into a chair at the kitchen table. “Tyler, people in those programs have to completely disappear.”

In her mind, she heard Bethany ask when she would see her daddy again.

“I know. It won’t be forever. At least I hope it won’t. I need to testify against someone. Maybe after that, I can go back to being me.”

A sudden thought occurred to her. “Tyler, the reason you’re going into witness protection... Would it affect me at all?”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone was following me today.”

TWO

“Someone’s following you?” Tyler exclaimed, horrified.

“Hey, don’t shout at me!”

“Sorry.” Keep it together, Tyler. “Where are you now?”

He heard an aggravated sigh. “I’m at home. I just put Bethany down to bed, and I’m exhausted.”

She sounded irritated, but he hadn’t lived with her for the first four of their seven years of marriage without learning something. She was frightened. She was covering it up, but he heard the tremble in her voice. Man, he hated that. She had always seemed so fearless.

“You never answered me. Could the man following me be related to what happened to you?”

That was a good question. He had the feeling she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“I don’t know. Annie, I will call you back.” He disconnected the call and went to the door of his room. He had no idea where he was. All he knew was that Marshal Mast and his team had hustled him out the back door of the police station the night before and driven for over an hour to this house.

An agent was coming down the hall. Tyler had met him briefly earlier. What was his name? Kurt? No. Karl. Karl Adams. That was it. “Could you tell me where I could find Marshal Mast?”

“Sure. Come with me.”

Tyler walked beside the agent, his nerves on edge. What was happening at Annabelle’s house right now? Was someone watching her? What about his daughter? Fear rose up inside him. How much danger was Bethany in? He was helpless to protect her, and it ate at him. He followed Karl Adams. A female agent with a tight dark bun smiled at them as they passed. He saw her gaze lingering on Karl. Karl left him at the office, then retreated to talk with the woman.

Marshal Mast was sitting at a laptop in an office at the back of the house. He glanced up from the screen as Tyler entered. Pushing back the headset, he allowed it to settle around his neck. “Something on your mind, Tyler?”

“Yes, Marshal Mast.”

The marshal waved his hand. “We’re going to be working together, Tyler. You need to get used to calling us by our first names. We don’t want to announce to others that we’re US marshals.”

Tyler nodded. “Jonathan, then. I called my wife to tell her I was going into witness protection.”

Jonathan frowned. Tyler had told the man that he and his wife were separated and wouldn’t be getting back together. He could practically read the man’s mind: So why is he calling her? He quickly headed off any questioning.

“She informed me that she and my daughter were being followed today.”

At this information, Jonathan jumped to his feet. “Karl!”

Feet pounded in the hallway. Karl Adams entered the room at a brisk pace. “Jonathan? What did you need?”

Jonathan glanced up at Karl, a frown creating grooves in the flesh beside his mouth. “Karl, I need you to make a trip for me to pick up Tyler’s wife and daughter. They may be in danger. Take Stacy with you. What’s the address, Tyler?”

Tyler recited the address. Would Karl and Stacy get there in time? How he wished he could go with them.

“Call her back, Tyler. Let her know he’s coming.”

She wouldn’t be happy. Nevertheless, Tyler dialed the number. Annabelle answered on the first ring. He knew at once she was steamed.

“What’s going on, Tyler? You call me out of the blue, tell me you’re going into hiding, hang up on me and now you’re calling me back? Do you know what time it is? What have you gotten yourself into?”

“Annie—”

He stopped. Jonathan held out his hand for the phone. Fine. Let him deal with her. She was too stubborn to listen to him, anyway. And too angry.

“Mrs. Everson? This is US Marshal Jonathan Mast. I am in charge of your husband’s case. He tells me you thought someone was following you today?” He listened for a minute. It drove Tyler crazy not hearing her side of the conversation. What exactly had happened? Had it been an actual threat, or some freaky coincidence?

He didn’t believe in coincidences. And he doubted that the marshals would buy that theory, either.

“Mrs. Everson, I need you to listen. I am sending a marshal to come get you and bring you to a safe house. Yes, it’s necessary. I have every reason to believe that your life and the life of your daughter are in grave peril.”

Grave peril. He’d failed his family again. Despite his best efforts, he’d brought danger to their door. If Annabelle was scared, his daughter was probably terrified.

The daughter that he hadn’t seen in two years. Guilt swamped him. He knew why he’d made the choice not to be a part of her life. It had hurt more than anything he’d ever done to distance himself from his family, but he knew it had been for their own good. He was saving them from heartache and disappointment. And possibly from danger.

Except now he wasn’t sure if he’d done the right thing, because danger had found them, anyway.

Jonathan got his attention when he set the phone back down.

“So, what’s the plan?” Tyler asked. “You’re going to protect them, right?”

“Let’s bring them here first. Then we’ll decide. I will do my best to see that you are all protected.”

It was a long night, waiting for Annabelle and Bethany to arrive. His nerves were stretched tight as he paced through the house. He couldn’t eat, and he was too wound-up to relax. He forced himself to try to sleep, but it was useless. In his mind, every possible scenario played out, each one worse than the one before. Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and decided to watch a movie to help pass the time.

It was a little after two in the morning when a car pulled up the lane. He shot to the window and peered out. Was that Karl? It was too dark to see, but who else would it be? The grating noise of the garage door opening seemed overly loud in the silent house. Jonathan walked out of the office.

A minute later, the door connecting the kitchen to the garage opened up. Stacy walked in, her dark brown hair starting to escape from the bun at the nape of her neck. She held the door open. Karl walked through the open door and flashed her a tired smile as he passed her. He was carrying a sleeping Bethany against his chest. Tyler was startled by the surge of jealousy that shot through him. That should have been him carrying her. Immediately, he felt ridiculous. The man was protecting his daughter, after all. He should feel grateful, not jealous.

His attention shifted to the woman who had entered behind Karl.

Annie.

Even exhausted and scared, she was beautiful. Her hair was shorter than it had been the last time he’d seen her, brushing her shoulders in straight waves. But it was still a lustrous deep brown with hints of red in it. And her eyes... He’d never forgotten those toffee-brown eyes. Eyes that were guarded as they met his.

He’d hurt her badly during their marriage. How could he expect her to understand, much less forgive him?

“Tyler.” Just that one word, said in a voice devoid of emotion, told him that forgiveness wouldn’t come easy. As she stepped farther into the room, she swayed once.

Jonathan moved forward. “Annabelle. We can talk in the morning. I have you and Bethany in a room in the back.” He led them away, glancing back once at Tyler sympathetically.

Tyler was left standing alone. He was always alone.

But at least he could sleep now.

* * *

The next morning, Tyler was reunited with his daughter. Unlike her mother, Bethany was overjoyed to see her daddy. She was a little shy at first, hanging back. A tight sensation crept into his chest. She didn’t know him. Why should she? After a few minutes, though, her natural curiosity and her happiness at seeing her father overruled her bashfulness. His heart melted as the bright child snuggled up to him and told him all about her two best friends, identical twins who lived down the street, and her excitement to begin kindergarten.

He glanced at Annabelle. She listened, her face strained. She didn’t have to say that she wasn’t pleased with the turn of events. It was clear on her face.

Karl Adams stepped into the kitchen, a fierce frown on his face. Stacy approached Tyler and attempted to persuade Bethany to leave Tyler’s arms. No easy task. The child wanted to stay with her father. Eventually, the marshal succeeded. Holding Bethany’s hand in hers, Stacy led her from the room. Her eyes met Karl’s as she passed him. Something was going on with those two, but Tyler was too concerned about his daughter and Annie to give it much thought. Karl turned his eyes back to meet his. Tyler tensed.

As soon as the child was out of earshot, Jonathan indicated that Karl should go ahead and speak.

“Jonathan, you were right. Barco has put a price on Everson’s head. Every criminal within a hundred-mile radius will be gunning for him.” Karl shifted, his gaze sweeping over Annabelle. “He’s also offered money for Annabelle and the child. Probably to smoke Tyler out of hiding.”

“Can’t you stop it?” Annabelle blurted.

“No, ma’am. Barco has more resources at his disposal than we know about. He has managed to escape capture for years. Every potential witness has been compromised or disappeared. Evidence has disappeared. Plus, he’s always managed to have an alibi. It’s been impossible to prove his guilt. Until now. Which means he’ll be pulling out all the stops to eliminate Tyler.”

The ticking of the clock on the wall was unnaturally loud in the silence.

“What’s going to happen to my daughter and me?”

The quiet whisper from his wife made his heart ache.

Karl answered. “You’re in danger as a result of your association with Tyler. The US Marshals will help you go into the witness protection program, as well.”

* * *

“No.”

Any other time, the sight of all these big men sitting with their mouths open would have been amusing. Right now, she was just trying to keep herself from panicking. It took all her effort to keep the tremors that were making her stomach quake from showing up in her voice.

“Annie—”

“No, Tyler!” She swung back her gaze to her husband. He hadn’t changed much since she’d seen him last. Still handsome. His brown hair was on the longish side, blue-gray eyes that reminded her of the ocean on a cloudy day, and that square jaw, now covered with several days’ worth of whiskers. Once, he could persuade her to do anything. Not anymore. She was through letting him bother her. She was in charge of her life. It was by his own choice that he wasn’t a part of their lives anymore. “I understand that you are in trouble, but that has nothing to do with me.”

“Ma’am.” One of the agents stepped forward. She was so upset, she couldn’t remember the man’s name. “It would be safer for you if you came with us.”

“I’m not going into hiding. I can go on vacation for a bit with Bethany. Leave the area. Then when this all blows over, I can come back.”

“I don’t think—” the man began.

But she was done. “I don’t care what you think. Tyler and I haven’t lived together for three years. He hasn’t been to see us, including his daughter, in over two. If anyone was searching for him, we wouldn’t be the people to go to. I am not disrupting my life again for him. We’ll go to my mother’s house. She lives in Southern Illinois, five hours from where I live. My brother is a cop. He lives a little over ten minutes from her. He can protect us.”

The marshals tried to convince her to change her mind. She wouldn’t budge. Tyler tried to talk with her, too. Every time he moved toward her, she glared at him. Finally, he seemed to get the message. He wasn’t happy about it, but she didn’t care. He’d made his choice when he’d let them go. She quickly squelched any pity she might have felt for him.

They couldn’t hold her against her will. She knew it, and they did, too. Nor could they force her to go into the witness protection program. That didn’t stop them from giving her disapproving frowns. She ignored them all.

Strangely, while their frowns didn’t bother her, Tyler’s silence did. The way his eyes followed Bethany around. He stuck close to his daughter.

Annabelle couldn’t take it. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he really was concerned. A sliver of guilt tried to wedge itself into her mind. Guilt that she was going to be separating a father from his daughter. Maybe forever. She shoved aside the guilt. She didn’t have time for this.

She walked into the kitchen to demand that they either put her and Bethany in a taxi, or take them home.

She never got the words out.

Marshal Mast, who’d insisted she call him Jonathan, leaped to his feet as his phone went off. Not the phone he’d been talking on throughout the day. Annabelle figured that was his work phone. This one had to have been his personal phone. Especially since it was playing a popular song for the ringtone.

“Celeste?” he blurted into the phone.

She watched, amazed, as the calm US marshal paled. Her brow furrowed. Hopefully it wasn’t too serious. Instinctively, she glanced at Tyler to see his reaction. His eyes were narrowed as he watched the marshal. Obviously, he had no clue what was going on, either.

That could have described their whole situation. It was surreal.

“Okay, honey, relax. Do what the paramedics tell you. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Jonathan’s finger trembled as he disconnected the call. “Karl, you’re in charge. My wife just went into labor at the shopping mall. They are taking her to the hospital in an ambulance.”

“She’ll be okay, Jonathan.” The female marshal she’d met earlier, Stacy, stepped forward. “We know what to do here.”

He nodded, then rushed to the back of the house. Within minutes, he ran past them and out the front door. She heard his car start up and pull down the lane.

“Remember when Bethany was born?”

Annabelle jumped. When had Tyler moved up beside her? She had been so fascinated by the escaping marshal that she hadn’t seen Tyler moving.

Memories of happier times flooded her brain. She smiled. “I thought I was going to have her in the car.”

“Me, too! I was terrified. I’m still shocked I didn’t get a speeding ticket.”

She turned to face him. As she did so, she noticed for the first time the corner of a gauze bandage peeking out from the sleeve of his T-shirt. “What happened to your arm?”

He hesitated. “Wilson Barco shot me. While I was running from him.”

Her blood ran cold. No way. She needed to get her daughter away from him. Even as she cringed at being so coldhearted, she hardened her resolve. She had to put Bethany first. There were some things her daughter shouldn’t be exposed to. Bullets were one of them.

Something of what she was feeling must have shown on her face. Tyler hastened to explain. “It’s not a bad wound. Seriously. I need to keep it clean for a few days, but it should heal fine.”

She shook her head. “Tyler, I know what you’re trying to do. And I’m not changing my mind. If someone doesn’t drive me home, I’ll call a cab. I’m sorry you’re in this mess. I truly am. But it’s your mess. And I don’t want any part of it.”

She turned her head away so she didn’t see his reaction.

Karl Adams wasn’t happy. “Look, Annabelle, if you won’t go into the witness protection program, will you at least let us drive you to your mother’s house? It would be safer than driving you to your own house.”

Annabelle thought about it. What did she really need to get from her house? It would be nice to have her own car, but it wasn’t worth their lives. Nor did they desperately need anything from inside the house. She already had some bags packed from when Karl and Stacy had picked them up.

“I will agree to that. A marshal may drive us to my mom’s house.”

Karl visibly relaxed at that. It was a safer and smarter decision, and she knew it.

In a remarkably short time, Annabelle and Bethany were in a car with a younger marshal, heading to her mother’s house. Talk was scarce on the drive. Although the marshal, Rick, seemed like a nice man, Annabelle’s stomach was in knots. What if she was making a mistake? She clenched her teeth, refusing to second-guess her resolve.

A couple of times, Rick tried to engage her in small talk. She did her best to answer but found herself distracted.

After an hour or so, she allowed herself to lean against the door and close her eyes. Every time she would begin to drift off, though, a noise or the motion of the car would jerk her awake, her pulse racing.

The third time it happened, Rick glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Ma’am, it’s not too late to turn back. We would keep you safe.”

Shaking her head, she sat up.

“Thank you, Rick. I mean it. But I really think we’ll be fine at my mother’s house.”

Even as she said it, Annabelle suppressed a shudder.

Recalling the events of the past two days, she wondered if she would forever be looking over her shoulder.

THREE

Exhausted was too weak a word to describe how Annabelle felt as Rick finally pulled into her mother’s driveway Thursday evening.

Nerves had her continuously checking her side mirror to make sure that no one was following them. A couple of times, she got spooked by a car driving too close. Rick took no chances, to her relief. If he thought a car was suspicious, he would turn off the road, or see if it would pass them. Every time, the cars would pass them or keep going straight. It didn’t help her relax. The danger was still very real.

When they were an hour away from her mother’s house, Rick allowed her to call her mother on a burner phone.

“If they are tracking you, using your cell would be too dangerous.”

Her mother didn’t pick up. The answering machine kicked on. “Mom, are you there? Mom?”

“Annabelle? I didn’t recognize the number.”

“I know. Listen, I’m going to be at your house in an hour. A friend is driving me.”

The last hour of the trip dragged on and on.

Her mother was up waiting for them. Annabelle had told her as much as she dared on the phone. She didn’t mention Tyler. Even if she wasn’t going into witness protection, he was. It wasn’t a good idea to broadcast that information, even to her mother. Instead, she told her that someone had been bothering them at home and she needed a safe spot for a few days, so that she could figure out her next move.

Rick waited until she was inside before he left.

“Thanks, Mom.” Annabelle leaned into her mother’s arms as she stepped through the door. Bethany hovered at her side, blue eyes bleary with sleep.

Nancy Schmidt kissed her daughter’s cheek. “You know you’re always welcome, sweetheart.” She turned to her granddaughter. “Bethany, do you have a hug for your grammy?”