The Caregiver - By Shelley Shepard Gray Page 0,2

that they’d both been speaking Pennsylvania Dutch. Right there in the middle of the train.

That was a curious thing. From the time she’d left the train station in Kalamazoo, she’d hardly come across more than a handful of Amish, and they’d been at the station in Chicago.

“I’m Amish,” she said. Unnecessarily, to be sure. After all, the little girl had just made that pronouncement.

But instead of pointing that out, the man—who really was too handsome for his own good—had the nerve to wink. “It’s enough to make ya smile, ain’t it?” he asked, bright blue eyes shining underneath the brim of his black felt hat. “The coach attendant took Katie, my uncle, and me through practically this whole train here, and I didn’t spy a single other Plain traveler. Until you. And now . . . here we all are.”

Yes, here we all are, she silently repeated to herself—and against her will felt herself slowly falling into a dark void of panic. It seemed no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to have a real conversation with a man.

Paul hadn’t only damaged her physically. He’d damaged her self-confidence as well.

When the silence between them turned awkward, the man pointed to the window. Rain splattered angrily against the pane. “You’re lucky you’ve been able to sleep. The storm is a terrible one, for sure.”

Lightning flashed in the distance, glowing bright against the dark sky. Lucy nodded. “I fell asleep more than an hour ago. I didn’t even realize it was raining.”

“Well, I’m not tired at all,” the little girl said.

Lucy couldn’t help but be charmed by Katie’s blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and chatty nature. Oh, she so did enjoy children. Time and again, she’d prayed for God to bless her with a baby. But none had ever come.

“Katie, you might get tired sooner than you think,” she warned with a smile. “That’s what happened to me. One minute I was looking out the window, and the next I was sound asleep.”

“Until we woke you up,” the man said, sounding terribly aggrieved.

“I don’t mind.”

“You should.” Looking at his sister, he shook his head in obvious exasperation. “You must learn to mind your manners, Katie.”

“But I don’t want to sleep. Traveling is too much fun.” She squirmed in another direction, then pointed to a man two rows down. “Uncle John says traveling is an adventure not to be missed.”

“But if you’ll notice, he’s also sitting far from you.”

“Calvin, you know Uncle John said he was sorry that we couldn’t sit three to a seat. He said he was real sad about that.”

His tone wry, Calvin said, “Somehow, I doubt that.”

As Lucy continued to watch the pair with interest, the man rolled his eyes. “As you can see, my tiny sister here is like a whirling top. Nothing seems to slow her down. It’s no wonder my mother asked me to take her with me to Indianapolis. She probably needed a vacation of her own.”

He smiled again, but in spite of her best intentions, Lucy wasn’t able to relax enough to return his grin. No matter what, it seemed as if Paul was still always with her, judging her reactions to him. To other men. Watching her . . . Little by little, both her family and other members of her community had come to accept that Lucy was far different from the bright, smiling girl she had once been. Of course, most in the community kept their distance—they’d known how Paul had treated her . . . and had chosen to look the other way.

But instead of looking at her strangely, the man seemed amused by Lucy’s lack of conversation. “So, I’m guessing you didn’t board here in South Bend,” he said. “When did you get on?”

“Back in Michigan.”

“So you’ve been traveling for some time—”

“A really long time,” Katie interjected.

“I have,” she told the child. “Hours and hours. I boarded a different train back in Kalamazoo, then got on this one in Chicago.”

“You’ve had quite an exciting day, then.”

She tensed, sure he was teasing her. Finding fault. But then she noticed that his whole demeanor was patient. Kind. Not searching for blunders.

His little sister didn’t look timid around him at all.

“Jah,” she finally said. With effort, Lucy pushed back the unease she felt rushing forward, heating her cheeks. Just because a man is handsome like Paul, it doesn’t mean he’s like him inside, she cautioned herself.

“We haven’t traveled by train too often, neither. I must have checked my reservation ten times,