8. Maverick

8

Maverick

The men arrived right after breakfast. Michael was already there because Mark had called him on my cell phone.

When the men demanded Rebecca come out and talk to them, Shane, Marcus, and I walked out first and stood in front of the door to shield her from view.

"Maverick, move out of my way. I will do my own talking." Reluctantly, I stepped aside but made sure to stand right behind her.

"Rebecca Cover, we are here to tell you that since Mark and Mary were to be married in two weeks' time, and Mary is gone, you will take her place and marry Mark. Your land will go to waste if it isn't taken care of."

"No, I will not marry Mark. He loved my sister, and she loved him. What you are trying to do is disgraceful. I don't want to talk to any of you. I consider all of you responsible for my family's death. I am of age, so I don't answer to any man."

"I can see you have been around these men too long. Have you given yourself to one of them?" Randall demanded.

"Randall, that is enough," one man said, and others grumbled in agreement. Randall reached out to grab Rebecca, but I intercepted him.

"I told you before you are never allowed to put your hand anywhere near Rebecca." I squeezed his hand harder. "I don't know what your obsession with Rebecca is, but whatever it is, it stops now."

"Rebecca is an Amish woman who will marry an Amish man."

"But you won't choose him," Rebecca retorted. "My father gave me the right to choose who I want to marry. Mark and Mary loved each other; how could you even think I would marry him? I am taking care of things here, so stay out of my business."

"Bishop," someone said.

"I am no longer your bishop," Michael declared. "You'll have to pick another one, but don't pick Randall."

"We all talked, and we want only you to be our bishop," Mark's father said.

"We'll have a meeting in a couple of days. I don't want any of you coming here and bothering Rebecca. She is grieving for her family, and all of you have been coming over here telling her what to do. Leave her alone!" Michael said.

"We don't want her to marry an outsider," Randall insisted.

"It's none of your business who she marries," Michael said.

"This is prime property; we want it to stay in our community," Randall sneered. "Maybe it would be better for the developers to have it."

"You listen to me," Rebecca said. "Those people killed my family, and you should be banned from the community for what you said."

Before Randall could respond, my fist silenced him. "I don't know about you men, but we need to get to work," I said, looking at each of them. It was clear that only a small portion of the men had shown up.

Things changed after that. Rebecca's friends started coming over to check on her. Rebecca explained that they had to have permission before visiting because we were there—even her married friends with babies. But no one could stay long because they all had work to do.

Two weeks later, I heard someone outside. We were sleeping when I heard a faint scraping noise. I woke Rebecca, and Shane and Marcus were awake by then.

We met Kai in the hallway with the children. Shane picked up one of the boys, and we took them to the back room, which seemed the safest.

We immediately went into protective mode. The first thing we saw was the barn engulfed in flames. The horse was in the barn; I could hear her screaming, desperate to get out.

I saw a shadow moving toward the barn, and the door opened, allowing the horse and two cows to escape. The chickens were running everywhere. Damn her, she was supposed to stay put.

Then, the wheat field caught fire. I was still trying to locate Rebecca, knowing she had let the animals out of the barn.

I spotted two men with their guns pointed at Shane and fired. Two went down. I didn't know how many more there were.

"I saw someone walking to the back of the house. Let's go," Shane said.

I ran to the back, fearing Rebecca was nearby, trying to save her animals. I saw her pick up Chewy and run, carrying him. I sprinted toward her, terrified I would be too late.

I saw the flash from a gun and knew she would be hit. I took out the shooter, but another man ran straight for Rebecca, his gun pointed at her. Marcus killed him.

When I reached Rebecca, she smiled at me. I shook my head. "Don't worry, it's just a small bullet wound. I won't die because my sister threw herself in front of the bullet, and it only grazed me."

I was busy trying to stop the flow of blood from the wound in her chest. I saw lights coming down the road and hoped the police and an ambulance were with them.

"Maverick, thank you for everything," Rebecca whispered. I could barely hear her. As soon as I saw the ambulance, I carried her to it and told them to go. I started working on her while the EMT watched.

"Give me something to put against the wound. Hurry," I shouted. He handed me gauze, and I pressed it against her wound, trying to stop the blood.

The hospital doctors met us as soon as we arrived at the emergency area. They whisked her off to surgery. I cleaned as much blood off me as I could in the waiting room. Marcus walked in and sat down.

"She was right. The Sheriff didn't hold those men, and because of that, Rebecca was fighting for her life," I said, angry because no matter where you go, people are corrupt.

"The developer was there with the other guys. He took millions from men who wanted to turn this into a resort. The Sheriff arrested him and one other man.

The others were dead. The Amish men came over and cleaned up everything—even the burned barn. Only a fourth of the wheat field burned down. How is she?"

"I don't know. She lost so much blood. She told me not to worry because her sister threw herself in front of her and took the bullet. Where is Shane?"

"He's with Kai and the boys. They were all scared to death. She's moving in with Shane; she and the boys have no home. Shane's going to help her find a job."

"I had a feeling she would. There is nothing here for her."

We sat there for six hours before the doctor came out. "We'll have to wait forty-eight hours before we know anything. She had two bullet wounds. One was strange because it was as if something stopped the bullet from entering her heart."

I looked at Marcus as chills spread over me. Rebecca was right; Mary saved her life. The bullet to her heart would have killed her.

"I'm going to head home. I'll see you when you get back," Marcus said. "Maverick, if you have feelings for Rebecca, then tell her."

"I could never be an Amish man," I said, "and Rebecca will never give up her family's home or her faith."