She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “Well, now that was a chill. Did anyone else feel it?”
Rebekah and Katie nodded, still staring at each other.
“That does it. I believe you just answered my prayers, ladies.”
Molly Sue stared at her ramshackle home. A man with a top hat and sheepish smile walked inside. A voice, presumably belonging to Bessie the roommate with the lifesaving skillet, sang out. “Well hello. What can I do for you this morning, sir?”
Molly Sue smiled and turned back to Katie and Rebekah. “What do I tell Father Plant when I get there?”
“Tell him Katie sent you. Katie Knepp. And that I’m doing as he asked, and going into the world and showing God’s love. So I sent you to him. And Him.”
Molly Sue nodded and gave a little wave. “Have a good trip home, girls,” she said as she turned to go. Then looked at something over their shoulders. “Looks like your men are almost as bloodied as you, Rebekah Elnora Stoll.” With a shy smile, she turned her back and began to walk away. This time, she didn’t look back.
“She looks like any other English lady,” Katie murmured.
Rebekah nodded. “Only more graceful.”
“And with a kinder, more giving heart.”
The pair shared a soft giggle as Joseph and Peter closed the space between them. For once, Joseph was in the lead. “Rebekah, oh Rebekah.” He held out his arms to her. “Thank you God, she’s okay.”
She unhooked her arm from over Katie’s shoulder and fell into Joseph, knowing that he spoke to God, and not to her in this moment. “Hello Katie,” Joseph added. “I hope Rebekah told you that we already bought your ticket home to Indiana, and it would be rude of you to turn it down.”
She giggled a terse giggle and looked over his shoulder to where Peter stood. “I’d know you anywhere, Peter. Tall Peter, broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip. Dressed in head-to-toe Amish clothing, but with an English fire burning behind his green eyes.”
He flickered her a smile. His eye was growing more and more purple and swollen, and a trickle of blood tracked from the corner of his lip.
“Katie,” he said, making no move toward her.
Rebekah couldn’t place his tone, and that scared her. She grasped Joseph tighter.
“Are you, um. Thank you for...” Katie’s voice began to tremble and her thoughts seemingly scatter. “What happened with Jack the Ripper?”
“With who?” Joseph’s voice was incredulous. “What kind of a name is that?”
“A bad man’s name,” Rebekah whispered.
“The one you two lit into.” Katie sucked in a breath and stilled the tremble in her voice. “What happened to him?”
“Well, he grabbed Rebekah, so we grabbed him back,” Joseph answered for Peter. His attempt to be jocular fell flat. Rebekah caught his hand and squeezed it. “Shush,” she whispered. “He got Katie before he got me,” Rebekah explained almost silently.
Joseph squeezed her fingers back.
Peter’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you all right, Katie girl? Did he...”
“No no, a good person, some sort of angel really, saved me with a well-placed skillet to the back of his head.” Katie smiled shyly. “Molly Sue Shannon. I’ll never forget the name.”
“Thank you God,” Peter mumbled. “Thank you. Thank you.”
“You didn’t...um...kill him, did you? Peter?” Katie’s words were halting and she didn’t look directly him or Joseph.
“No, murder is a sin.” Peter crammed his hat on his head and stuck his hands in his pockets. “So, we beat him to a bloody pulp and put him on the first boat we could find. One that was just pushing away from the dock. One that would be long out to sea before he woke up.”
Katie exhaled.
Rebekah did too.
“Going where?” Katie asked.
“London, I think,” Peter answered.
“Yeah, London,” Joseph added.
“Good. He’s wanted for murder there,” Katie said. “Maybe he will learn that you can’t run from your sins.” Katie quit talking and studied the ground.
“Well,” Peter said, breaking the all too awkward silence. “Who is ready to head for Indiana?”
“Me!” Rebekah and Joseph cried. If Katie’s voice joined in, it was much too soft to hear.
Chapter Sixteen
Leaving New York City
Joseph bent his long frame to situate his shoulder under Rebekah’s arm. “Here, lean on me.”
Rebekah did as she was told. “My bag, Joseph, my wedding dress is there.”
“I have your bag, my love.” Rebekah was taken aback by his words. He never spoke romantically to her, using such terms of endearment. “That’s how I found you.”
Rebekah stammered over her own words. “I have to go back and say goodbye to Mrs. Cheng. She asked specifically that I come back.”
“We.”
“Do what?”
“From now on, you and I. We are we.” She was acutely aware of his arm, warm, around her, holding her close to his side. As though they were divinely crafted for one another. Or from one another.
Woman was made from man’s rib.
“Here we are, just a few steps more.”
Everything in Rebekah’s body ached. Her ankle throbbed something terrible and her head pounded. “Maybe Mrs. Cheng will have something to make me feel a bit better for the trip home.”
Mrs. Cheng was waiting outside when Joseph and Rebekah hobbled up to her shop. “Again?” She gave Joseph a long hard stare. “You must keep your woman safe. Or what good is having husband?” She caught her mistake. “Or husband to be?”
Peter and Katie, not walking together but at least walking on the same road at the same time, followed them into the shop.
“Mrs. Cheng,” Rebekah managed, “you know Joseph, my fiancé. And this is…”
