“That puts that matter to rest, I suppose,” Katie whispered as she sank down onto the bed beside Rebekah. For as loud as Rebekah was, Katie seemed to take care to be quieter. “You did see the letters then?”
“Of course, I did!” Rebekah yanked off her covering, too. “Did you think I would not see them?”
“Well—”
Rebekah leaped to her feet, a movement she immediately regretted. The world pitched around her. She grabbed the side table and eased back down onto the bed.
Katie’s eyes were wide as Rebekah continued. “How dare you, Katie. How dare you behave in such a manner. Was it not enough that you chased Joseph all the way through primary school?”
Katie’s eyes widened and she looked as though she might laugh. “Excuse you? Chased him?”
Rebekah ignored her. “And on top of everything else, you refused to accept that it was me that he wanted and not you!” Rebekah’s chest heaved and sweat glistened on her face. She dropped her voice, now breathless. “And then, in what is supposed to be the happiest time in our lives, you have the nerve to show up here, as though nothing is wrong. As though what you did was right and not something shameful and filled with deceit.”
“From what I have heard, times around here have not been all that happy.”
Rebekah turned toward her, fiery rage fueling her movements. She emitted a low growl, like a wild thing, and she did not know what she was going to do. It was like something else was in control. She did not like it, but she was powerless in its clutches.
Katie, though, did not look the least bit intimidated.
“Are you done, Rebekah?”
Rebekah stopped inching toward her and swiped at her face but did not answer.
“Listen, I know you are upset. I can see it. I would be wonderful scared if you could actually stand up without looking like you were going to fall over. That look you had…” Katie shook her head. “It looked as though you wanted to tear my head clean off and chuck it out the window there. And after what you just said, after what you thought I was doing with your husband, I cannot say that I blame you.”
The funny smile reappeared on Katie’s face and made Rebekah want to scream. But she did not dare make a sound and interrupt Katie’s monologue.
Katie took a deep breath and exhaled. “This is very hard to say, so be patient with me as I try to get it out.”
Rebekah raised an eyebrow.
“I guess I will just have to say it, even though I was sworn to secrecy not to tell you. It looks like our secret has done more harm than good.”
Rebekah opened her mouth, but Katie held up a hand. “It is your brother, Rebekah. Peter cannot read. Nor can he write.” Katie stared at her sister-in-law as her words sunk in. After a moment, she held up her hands in mock surrender. “Truce? It seems that we need to talk.”
Rebekah gave Katie a sideways look, not entirely angry but not entirely soothed, either. Whatever had taken control and urged her to advance on Katie had loosened its grip, thankfully, and it seemed her mind might be her own again. Still, she certainly did not want to do anything that Katie told her to do. But she did as she was told. “I am listening.”
“First things first. I did not write the letters myself, Rebekah. Well, I did write them, but I did not pick up a pen and decide to write awkward letters to your husband without your knowing about it. Also, I did not have any intention to correspond with any man without my mann knowing about it.” Katie kneaded her fingers together, as though for the first time in her life, she was self-conscious. “Is that truly what you think of me, Rebekah? That I would do such a thing?”
Rebekah did not hesitate. “Yes, Katie. Yes, I do think of you that way, and I do think you would do such a thing.”
Katie sat back as though Rebekah had slapped her with her words. Outside the window, a bug buzzed by. Had it not been so silent in Rebekah’s bedroom, they never would have realized its existence. “Is that the truly truth, Rebekah? And not just anger talking?”
“Yes,” Rebekah said just as forcefully and just as quickly. “That is more than the truth. It has been my truth as long as I have known you.”
Katie’s eyes shimmered a bit. “I, well.” She fiddled with her apron. “I suppose I deserve that. I am sorry, Rebekah.”
“Sorry for what?” Rebekah asked. “For continuously chasing after Joseph on the schoolyard, or for chasing after him even more when he began to show interest in me?”
Now it was Katie who sat in silence, which spurred Rebekah on. Years of pent-up emotions came rolling out of her mouth, unchecked. “Are you sorry for disappearing during your Rumspringa and making sure Joseph and Peter came after you, to rescue you?”
“You came too,” Katie whispered.
“Are you sorry,” Rebekah continued, “for completely and utterly disrupting our lives, just when Joseph and I start to find some sort of happiness, you come in and just…disrupt it? Are you sorry for that?”
“Yes. Yes, I am.” Katie stared into her lap. “About the letters—”
“Does Peter know about them?” Rebekah asked.
Katie nodded but did not look up. “It was Peter who dictated them, Rebekah. He did not want you to know, and he still does not want you to know. I believe he is afraid you may think less of him. We decided that it was safer that the letters were from me.”
Finally, Rebekah’s rage began to cool. “I had no idea.”
Katie continued with that mature look in her eye that Rebekah was growing to detest. “I respect your wedding vows, very much in fact. And I respect mine just as much. I love your bruder, Rebekah, and your bruder loves me. Even when I was completely and utterly undeserving of that love.”
Now it was Rebekah who was silent.
“I feel as though I need to say this out loud. I do not love Joseph. I never did.” The words hung there, filling the void between them before Katie continued. “Anyway, even if I did want him, which I do not, Joseph loves you and only you. Everybody can see that. Everybody but you, apparently.”
Rebekah knotted her hands in her lap and studied them. “Then, why?”
“Why what?”
Rebekah exhaled an exasperated breath. “Why everything over the years?”
“Well…” Katie gave her a sideways look. “I did thoroughly enjoy making you jealous.”
Rebekah’s jaw went slack. “You did all that with Joseph only to make me jealous?” She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, to be angry or relieved. “Why?”
