The Saddle Maker's Son Part 14

"Why did your daddy come here?"

"To escape soldados. They thought he was bad man."

"Soldados?"

Lupe scrambled to her feet and stood, her shoulders straight, head back, arms at her side. Then she saluted. "Soldado."

"Soldier."

"S."

"What is his name?"

"Carlos."

"Carlos." Carl. "And your mama?"

"Lidia."

"Pretty."

"S. No picture of her."

"I'm sorry."

The girl plopped down next to Rebekah and picked up her flowers. "Nice here."

It was nice here. Rebekah hadn't always thought so. When she first arrived in Bee County, she'd thought of it as a barren desert. Now it was home. The people made it home. That and believing G.o.d had a reason for sending her here. Now this little girl and her brother were here too. A long way from home. Growing up without a mother. Not knowing where their father was. Dead or alive. It was no wonder Lupe felt so torn. She was safe here. People cared about her. She had no way of knowing what she would find in San Antonio. If anything. Or anybody. "Do you pray?"

Lupe c.o.c.ked her head, her expression puzzled. Rebekah bowed her head and pressed her palms together in front of her, fingers pointed toward the cloudless blue sky. "Pray?"

The girl crossed herself, forehead, chest, then arm to arm, bowed her head, and pressed her hands together.

She believed in a different way, but she believed. "We'll pray then that we figure out what Gott's plan is for you and Diego. We'll pray we find your father."

"I no know him. He gone long time ago." Lupe shrugged. She plucked a dandelion and handed it to Rebekah. Smiling, she took it and held it close to her face. A universal rite of spring. "You first."

Lupe tugged another dandelion from the mult.i.tude that surrounded them. Together, they blew. The soft thistles lifted and floated in the air, tossed and turned by the humid breeze that blew them skyward, then waned as if it were too much trouble. The delicate seeds landed on the photo in Rebekah's lap, covering it like a lacy blanket.

Rebekah sighed. She wouldn't mind sitting here forever. Lupe's sigh joined hers, lifting to the heavens, a prayer all their own on the same breeze that blew the dandelion thistles. Gott, thank You for this scant moment of peace. Show me what the future holds. Tell me what to do. How to help Lupe and Diego. They need their daed. Help us find him so they can stay.

He had stopped sending money. Maybe he had none to send. Or maybe he was dead. Rebekah suppressed a shudder. How would they even begin to look for a man in the country illegally? Help us, Lord. They need our help. Show us what to do.

Lupe's lips trembled. Shimmering tears kept each other company on her smooth brown cheeks.

"What is it? Don't you think Gott will help?"

"Bad men looking for us."

Bad men. That first day Lupe had been so afraid of Tobias. Even Mordecai's genial smile and simple ways had not dissolved the hard knot of anxiety so apparent in Lupe's face every time he approached her. There had to be more to her story. "You can tell me anything."

Lupe ran her hand across the black-eyed Susans, making them ripple, back and forth, before settling back into formation. "Abuela paid to get us to Mejico. Ms dinero for us to get over border." She waved her arm to encompa.s.s the field. "Aqu."

"You had money to cross the border to America."

She nodded. "It not enough. Men wanted more."

Despite the warm South Texas sun, a shiver scurried up the backs of Rebekah's arms, raising goose b.u.mps usually reserved for the dead of winter. "But they brought you across anyway."

Lupe nodded. Fear made her eyes huge. She swiped at her face with the back of her hand. "They tell me after we cross Rio Grande, they sell me."

Nausea swelled in Rebekah's stomach. The hot dog she'd eaten at the picnic heaved in her throat. Men who sell little girls existed in the same world as sweet Lupe and Diego. Rebekah didn't want to imagine the purpose of such a sale. As nannies? As maids? Or worse. Hombres malos indeed. Rebekah wanted to draw a breath but found she couldn't. She swallowed, her throat dry. "But they let you go?"

"We ran away. Hide."

"In the shed."

"S."

"That's why you didn't want to go to the store to buy clothes."

"They find us."

"But they didn't. You're safe with us." It had been days. Those men would never think to look for two Salvadoran children in an Amish community. Thousands of children crossed the border monthly. They'd moved on to other little girls. The thought made Rebekah queasy again. She couldn't save them all, but she could do whatever possible for Lupe. "Mordecai and Tobias and Levi and all the others will keep you safe."

What could they do? Call the sheriff? He would take Lupe and Diego away. Would Tobias and Levi and the other men go to jail for harboring these children who came into the country illegally?

Could they take that chance? Should they be willing to pay that price to keep kinner safe from the evil in the world? Rebekah's head ached, each question like an arrow that burrowed in her flesh, the reverberation bringing fresh pain with each shudder.

"There you are."

As if thinking the name could bring him to them. The deep voice with that unmistakably northern accent-or maybe it was the lack of a southern accent that gave him away-sent a wave of warmth flowing through Rebekah. The pain eased and disappeared. Why Tobias affected her that way, she couldn't say, and it kept her awake at night. Something about the look in his eyes as if he protected everyone and everything that mattered to him. Whatever the cost. She needed him now. Lupe and Diego needed him. She slung her arm around Lupe's shoulder and glanced back. "Here we are. Why? Are you looking for us?"

"Mordecai was." He held his hat in one hand and ran the fingers of his other hand through damp hair. A sheen of sweat glistened on his chiseled face. His shirt was wet and dirt smudged his pant knees. Like a child who'd been running and had fallen. He'd been playing with the kinner, no doubt. "He wants to talk to you and Lupe. Him and Jeremiah. Will too. They're in the school."

This was it. A decision had been made.

Her hands shaking, legs weak, Rebekah rose to her feet. Her childlike smile fleeing, Lupe s.n.a.t.c.hed up her photos and stashed them in her pocket. Rebekah wanted the little girl back. She tucked her arm around her skinny shoulders. "Why did they ask for me?"

He shrugged. "He didn't say."

Rebekah chewed on her lip until it hurt. Lupe's secret couldn't be a secret anymore. It might cause problems-even danger-for the community. "Wait a minute, Lupe, okay?"

A look of relief on her face, the girl sank to the ground cross-legged again. Rebekah inched closer to Tobias, careful to keep her back to Lupe. Her English was getting better every day. "There is more to their story than she has been telling us."

Tobias rubbed his forehead, his expression perturbed. "What?"

"She didn't tell us everything about how she and Diego ended up in the shed."

"We know they came here from El Salvador and entered the country illegally." Tobias's dark eyebrows rose and fell. "Weren't they hiding from immigration in the shed?"

"Their daed is somewhere here in the States, but he stopped sending money a while back and they have no idea where he is now. Her groossmammi sent them here, thinking it wouldn't be so hard to find him."

Tobias planted his feet and crossed his arms, his full lips turned down in a frown. "And her mudder?"

"Dead."

"And the shed?"

Rebekah told the rest of the story quickly, to stem the flow of questions.

"I can't imagine the kind of human beings who sell little girls." His gaze went to Lupe, his tone soft yet somehow fierce at the same time. "Gott have mercy on their souls."

"If we could find her daed, we could get her away from here. Away from the border. Her and Diego both."

Or they could stay here. With Rebekah and her family. No one would look for them here.

Tobias tugged at his suspenders, his eyes squinted against the sun, making it hard to read his thoughts. "We have to do something, you're right, but how would we even go about finding a man like that in a big state like Texas, especially a man who doesn't want to be found?"

"We could use the computer at the library."

"Do you know how? Or would we have to ask the librarian for help?"

Which would draw attention. "Mordecai does." Rebekah glanced back at Lupe. She had picked another dandelion, seemingly mesmerized by the way the seeds floated in the air. "Or they could stay with us. If she wore clothes more like ours and covered her hair with a prayer kapp, she would fit in more. Diego already does."

"You mean your family or us?" Tobias scooped up his own dandelion and plucked at the seeds, sending them wafting into the air. He glanced at her. "All of us?"

"Same thing, isn't it?" What was he getting at? Or was she reading too much into his tone? "Do you think the immigration people will let them?"

"I don't know about that sort of thing." He let go of the dandelion. It disappeared into the gra.s.s. "If not, we have to find her daed."

This time the we sounded much firmer. A we that included Rebekah. She nodded. Tobias's gaze caught hers. It held a promise. A vow. He would protect these kinner. Together, they would protect them.

She turned and waved. "Let's go, Lupe. They're waiting."

She shook her head. She ducked her head and crossed her arms over her flat chest. "No entiendo."

She did understand and it scared her. "It's okay. I'll be with you." Rebekah wiggled her fingers. "Take my hand. We'll be fine."

"She's right." One arm extended, Tobias moved closer to Lupe. "Take my hand too. Between the two of us, we'll take care of you."

The little girl rose. She took Tobias's hand first. Rebekah found no disrespect in that. He had won Lupe over. He was an hombre bueno. She glanced up at Tobias. He had eyes only for the young girl. He looked like a father comforting his child. With all his little brothers and sisters and no mother, he had experience with this. More than Rebekah had.

It was a good look for him.

Holding hands with Lupe, with Rebekah on the other side, was almost like holding hands with Rebekah. Heat scurried across Tobias's face. He ducked his head, hoping his straw hat's brim would hide the telltale signs of his embarra.s.sment. Something had pa.s.sed between them in the last few seconds. A mutual commitment to help two children navigate a tumultuous future. Finding their daed seemed an impossible task, but they had to try. Kinner needed family, needed their daeds. Keeping them here and safe and protected in the meantime would be the plan.

Rebekah had no idea how his heart and mind battled. He wanted a fraa, he wanted a family, but he never wanted to feel again the way he felt when his mudder died. Or how he'd felt when he realized his love for Serena had been a terrible mistake, How could he risk loss again? How could he risk his heart again?

He sneaked a peek at Rebekah. If she read anything deeper into their conversation, it didn't show. She looked as young and innocent and pretty as the girl she wanted to help. He knew better. She had a determined streak. A backbone of steel. Rebekah would do whatever necessary to help these children. Her secret visit with Leila had proven that. He'd seen it in action at the meeting with Jeremiah. And she'd never looked prettier than today, frowning up at him, the sun a halo around her head only minutes earlier.

Serena had been a pretty girl with her lipstick, dangling earrings, and flowing skirts, but it was her unerring way of getting to the heart of things that kept him coming back for one more conversation. And then another and another. She had a brain and wasn't afraid to use it.

So many Plain women chose to hide behind their ap.r.o.ns and oven mitts. Not Rebekah Lantz. In her, Tobias had found another woman who spoke her mind. The lack of makeup, the simple clothes, the clear skin and big, blue eyes, the sharp, smart words-those were the package that made Rebekah beautiful. She had all the traits he sought in a woman. All he had to do was have faith in himself and in her.

Why was that so hard for him to do? Daed said Gott used these circ.u.mstances to hone character. His should be honed to an edge as sharp as his skiving knife by now. He had a sudden image of G.o.d shaving away the rough edges of his character until the smooth, shaped leather appeared. Piles of shavings on the floor around ma.s.sive feet. His back must be tired by now.

Lupe's soft fingers tightened in his as they approached the school's door.

Tobias stopped and turned to her. "It's okay. They are nice men who want only the best for everyone."

Her expression troubled, the girl turned to Rebekah, who put an arm around her. "Hombres buenos. Like Tobias."

"S?" Lupe's gaze swung back to him. "Gracas."

Tobias looked over her head at Rebekah. She shrugged. "She's thanking you."

"I haven't done anything."

"You've been nice to her. I reckon she's not used to that."

The thought caused Tobias's heart to wrench. His sisters Nyla and Ida raced past, intent on a game of tag, their faces red with exertion, mouths open, high-pitched laughter floating on the air. They hadn't always been so carefree. But they had Daed and Tobias and Martha to help them get over their grief and understand that Gott's plan would be revealed to them in time.

Lupe had no one and she had to care for her six-year-old brother while pursued by men whose only goal was to make money from the desire of these people to better themselves, to escape suffering and misery for a life with a future.

"We will get you help." Tobias stopped short of making a promise. He understood how promises made in haste, then broken, served to shatter hearts. "We'll do everything we can."

Lupe might not understand his words, but her face said she understood his feelings. "Thank you."

The words came out tank you.

He also understood. He cleared his throat and opened the door. Jeremiah, Mordecai, and Will had dragged chairs into a semicircle at the front of the single, small cla.s.sroom. Mordecai smiled and waved. Will nodded. Jeremiah simply waited.

With reluctance Tobias let go of her hand and gave her a gentle push. "Go on." He turned to Rebekah. "You too. You're the closest thing we have to a translator."

"Come on down." Jeremiah patted an empty chair beside him. "We won't bite."

Maybe not, but to Lupe they must look like a tribunal of old men. Tobias offered her an encouraging smile. "Buenos, remember?"

She nodded and plopped into the chair. Rebekah squeezed in next to her. Tobias remained standing, not sure they would want or need him for this discussion.

"Have a seat, have a seat." Mordecai waved him over. "We're all family here."

Jeremiah leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his ample belly. "You know why we are here?"

Lupe looked at Rebekah as if for permission. Rebekah nodded. "She knows."

"She understands me?"