Daughter of Darkness Part II by R. W. Murrain

For the next few weeks, the relationship between Shane and Shoshannah blossomed.

 

It expanded beyond their clandestine evenings out of town. It was scattered with their impromptu Sunday meetings at the farmer’s market, along with other rendezvouses that were semi-planned. At one instance, the Connellys and the Holtzes met at the Amish Acres, a local tourist attraction. The Holtzes gave some great insight into the history of the Amish community in Nappanee.

 

All the while, Shane and Shoshannah wanted to touch, to hold hands, but they didn’t, knowing that in the current setting, it would be seen as improper. But it only made their desire for one another that much greater, stealing the occasional come-hither look that the other couldn’t act on.

 

Then they interacted at the Nappanee Apple Festival, where the Holtzes baked several apple pies, many to sell, and for competition. While at the festival, Shoshannah and her youngest sister Abigail taught Shane how to make an apple pie from scratch. The whole process was enjoyable for him, especially the opportunity to be in close quarters with Shoshannah, though the inability to touch her had become agonizing.

 

For a moment, one Sunday at the beginning of October, it boiled over.

 

At the farmer’s market, Shoshannah was headed to the restroom inside the mall, and Shane offered to escort her. The two of them walked from the booth to the bathrooms in the mall, and Shane waited for her patiently. A few minutes later, she returned to the corridor, to Shane, and she stopped.

 

She glanced down the corridor to see if anyone was in it or watching them, and when she found no one there, she grabbed at Shane, pulling him into the little nook between the two restroom doors by his belt. She got in close, pulled her bonnet back and kissed him furiously, drawing a throaty grunt of lust out of him. He planted his hand on her breast and squeezed, and she let out a warbling moan.

 

“I want you,” Shoshannah murmured between kisses. “I want you so badly, Shane.”

 

“I know, but we can’t,” Shane whispered as the kiss ended. “Not here. We can’t.”

 

“So, when?” Shoshannah begged. “I’ve been thinking about you so much.”

 

“So have I,” Shane said. “Are your friends going out?”

 

“No, not this week.”

 

“Then I’ll come and get you on Saturday. I’ll swing by your place and pick you up. We’ll do something together. Just the two of us.”

“Really?” Shoshannah said, looking up at him, her eyes brimming with hope.

 

“Really.”

 

Shoshannah smiled, hooked her hand around the back of his neck and drew him in for a brief kiss.

 

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

 

“So will I,” Shane said. “We should go, before we’re missed.”

 

“I suppose so,” Shoshannah agreed.

 

She took one last peck on the lips before adjusting her bonnet and walking back out to the booth with Shane accompanying her.

 

The week came and went, and Saturday night arrived, the moon rising over Indiana, and Shoshannah waiting in great anticipation for Shane in her room. She sat at the edge of her bed holding her charged phone and waiting for the message. Waiting, waiting, waiting, her heart fluttering. It took everything she had to keep herself calm and not pace anxiously, not wanting to alert anyone else in the house. One of the drawbacks of living in a house with nine other people.

 

Then she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she checked it.

 

A text from Shane: “Ten minutes away. Get ready.”

 

Shoshannah pocketed her phone in her cropped denim jacket, which she paired with a pink button-front sleeveless minidress, a pair of black thigh-high backseam stockings and her suede ankle booties. She climbed out of the window and prepped it for her return, and she climbed down to her ground. She crept to the front of the house and waited in the shadows.

 

A few minutes later, she could hear the rumble of the Mustang’s engine, and she took off early, barreling for the front gate and climbing over it to the street. Less than 30 seconds later, she could see the four ring-shaped headlights winking on as the muscle car pulled up to her, the engine purring aggressively.

 

Shoshannah smiled as she opened the door and climbed in, dropping into the passenger seat. As soon as she shut the door, she leaned over and planted a thick kiss on Shane’s lips.

 

“Wanna get lost?” he asked.

 

“You bet,” Shoshannah said.

 

She buckled up, and Shane floored it, the rear tires scrabbling for purchase for a second before gathering grip and launching them away. Shane upshifted to second gear, then to third.

 

“So, where are we going?” Shoshannah queried.

 

“I found out that there are a lot of little quiet spots to hide around North Webster. I was looking on the map and saw this spot called Goldeneye Pond. Looks like a good place to be alone for a little while. How does that sound?”

“Being alone with you?” Shoshannah said with building pleasure. “Sounds perfect to me.”

Shane grinned as he put his foot down on the accelerator.

 

They took U.S. 6 out of Nappanee and broke off at State Route 13, taking them south through Syracuse and South Park into the outskirts of North Webster, but they broke east before they got into the town, taking a couple of side roads before Shane slowed the car to a creep on Epworth Forest Road. He spotted the side road he was looking for and hooked a hot left before anyone noticed. He eased the Mustang down the lonely dirt path until he found the clearing he was looking for. He nosed the Mustang off to the side and backed it up under a tree. Finally, he shut down the engine.

 

Sighing, he gazed over at Shoshannah, who was beaming from ear to ear, and she leaned over, took his face in her hands and kissed him softly.

 

“I was thinking about this all week,” she admitted.

 

“So was I,” Shane said. “Wait here. I got something for us.”

 

He reached into his jacket pocket and took out a piece of soft black satin.

 

“But first, you need to put this on.”

 

He let it hang from his index finger, and Shoshannah realized that it was a blindfold.

 

“Okay…”

 

“You trust me, right?”

 

“I think so.”

 

“I promise, I’m not going to hurt you.”

 

“Well…all right.”

 

Shoshannah took the blindfold from him and put it on, plunging her sight into darkness.

 

Isaac Holtz shuffled through the house tiredly, making sure that all of the house was locked up tight. When he was sure, he made one last circuit through the house, checking on all of his children before going back to bed. He had turned in early, but he had only slept for about an hour before restlessness drew him out of slumber, and he decided to have another check on his kids.

He reached Shoshannah’s door and opened it an inch or two. He would have a perfect view of her lying in bed from the little crack in the ajar door.

 

But she wasn’t there.

 

“Shoshannah?” he said low. “Are you all right?”

 

There was no reply.

 

“Shoshannah?” he said, opening the door.

 

The room was empty. She wasn’t in bed, and her clothes were hung up in her closet. He stepped over to the bathroom that she had to herself and knocked.

 

“Shoshannah?”

 

No reply.

 

He opened the bathroom door and found it empty. And then he saw the back window was slightly open.

 

“Oh, no,” he murmured.

 

He checked the closet. All of her clothes were there, including her two nightgowns.

 

“Oh, no, no, no, no…”

 

Terror crossed his heart, and he could only envision the worst.

 

“Shoshannah?! Shoshannah!”

 

He heard no reply throughout the house.

 

Frantic, he rushed into his bedroom where his wife Esther was getting ready for bed.

 

“Isaac, what’s wrong?” Esther asked.

 

“Shoshannah isn’t in her room,” Isaac said as he threw off his nightshirt and hastily dressed. “Her window was partially open. I worry that something’s happened to her.”

 

“Oh, no,” Esther said. “What are you going to do?”

 

“I’m going to ride into town, find Chief Cohen. He’ll help us.”

 

“What do you want me to do?”

 

“Stay here with the children. I’ll ask the Chief to send some men to the house. Send Obadiah down to the gate to open it.”

 

“Yes, Isaac.”

 

He finished dressing and hurried out of the house. He ran to the back of his farm and threw open the doors of the barn on the left. He ran inside and saddled up the first horse in the barn, a black American Quarter Horse named Gabriel. He mounted up on the horse and kicked it into life. He thundered down the dirt path to the main road, racing past Obadiah at the main gate and leaving a dust trail in his wake. He hurtled through the night, urging Gabriel on, riding east until he got to Main Street and turned south. He raced closer and closer to the nucleus of Nappanee, heading towards the pocket of civilians. He could already see the locals looking with wide eyes as they saw a man rumbling down the street on horseback.

 

Isaac could care less. He just wanted to find Shoshannah.

 

He turned onto Lincoln Street and rode into the parking lot of the Nappanee Police Department. He came to a stop and hitched the horse up to the flagpole before running into the station and right up to the front desk.

 

“I need to speak to Chief Cohen!” he said without preamble.

 

The desk sergeant looked up and saw who was standing there, and his brows rose in surprise. Not prepared for such a frantic entrance, let alone such a desperate plea from someone that he didn’t interact with on a regular basis.

 

“Uhm…may I ask what this is about?”

 

“My daughter is missing! I need to speak to Chief Cohen now!”

 

“Uh, why don’t you wait and I’ll get you an officer to help you.”

 

“I don’t want an officer! Tell Chief Cohen that Isaac Holtz is here, please!”

 

“Isaac?” Chief Cohen said as he came into view.

 

“Nathaniel!” Isaac said.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Shoshannah is missing. I went to check on her tonight and I didn’t find her in her bedroom, and the window was open. None of her clothes are missing.”

 

Chief Cohen’s face fell.

“Please, Nathaniel. Help me.”

“Of course,” he said determinedly. “Sergeant Meeks! Reroute Officers Ford and Beckham to the Holtz farm and tell them to stand by. Nathaniel, talk to me. Run me through everything that happened.”

 

Shoshannah felt the door open and a hand touching hers.

 

“You ready?” he asked.

 

“Yes,” Shoshannah said, taking his hand in hers. She swung her legs out and he helped her out of the car. She shook out her hair and felt him lead her around the door, and then she heard a loud whump and she jumped in surprise.

 

“Sorry,” he said.

 

She felt him draw her out a few steps and then she came to a stop.

 

“Okay. Take your blindfold off.”

 

Shoshannah lifted the blindfold from her eyes and gasped.

 

Before her was a collapsible table set at the nose of the Mustang. On the table were two plates, each loaded with steak, roasted potatoes, and asparagus. In one of the inlaid pockets was a bottle of what appeared to be some kind of wine. In the center of the table was a pair of candles, already lit.

 

“Oh, my goodness,” Shoshannah said. “Shane…”

 

“Wanted it to be special,” he said.

 

“This is special,” she said, seating herself.

 

“Good. I’m glad to hear that.”

 

She looked up at him with a sweet smile on her lips. He lowered himself into the chair that was perpendicular to hers. He lifted the bottle out of its pocket and opened the top.

 

“What is this?”

 

“It’s sparkling cider,” Shane said, pouring it into the two glasses.

 

Shoshannah took her glass and sipped from it. “Mm! That’s very good.”

 

“My family loves it on Christmas.”

 

“I’ll never have something like this on Christmas.”

 

“Well…at least you can have it with me tonight.”

 

Shoshannah picked up her fork and knife and cut into the medium-well steak. Bit into it. “How is this still hot?”

 

“Insulating bags,” Shane explained. “Airtight, keeping the food hot for up to a couple of hours. It was easy from there.”

 

“Wait, something else just came to mind. How did you cook this while your mother and sister were in the house?”

 

“They weren’t. I convinced them to go into town and see a movie. You know…have a little girls’ night out.”

 

“Ah…”

 

The two of them chuckled.

 

“Aren’t they going to miss you?”

 

“No, they’ll be fine without me,” Shane said. “They won’t miss me.”

 

“I think they will. You’re such a good son, a good brother.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“Because I see how you are with them when you’re at the market. I can tell how much you love them. It’s so clear.”

 

“Yeah, my family is important to me,” Shane said, cutting up a piece of his steak and chewing on it. “Is your family important to you?”

 

“Yes, they are, very much,” Shoshannah said. “I know that you must be thinking, how can I hold my family in such high regard when I rebel?”

 

“I was thinking that, yes.”

 

“I do love my family. And one would expect that I wouldn’t want to do something to rebel against them. The truth is, when Chloe invited me to come out with her that one night, I thought that I would be repulsed by the outside world, that I would never want to do it again, and that I would spend my entire life in the community. But…when I went out that first night, when I put on those clothes and ate that food and spent time with people who weren’t in my community, I realized how much I loved it. And I realized how much I believe that I’m more like them, and I’m less like my family and my community.”

 

“So, what will you do?” Shane asked.

 

“Like I said, my Rumspringa is coming in a couple of weeks. I’m going to spend one week with Chloe and the girls, and then I want to spend a few days with you. And then…I’ll have a decision to make.”

 

“And you don’t know what it’ll be.”

 

“No, I can’t say that I do. Not with any certainty.”

 

“That’s okay. Hopefully…spending time in the outside world will give you some perspective.”

 

“Hopefully,” Shoshannah said with a little hopeful smile. “But…if people are like you, then it can’t be so bad.”

 

“Not everyone should be like me, believe me,” Shane said with shameful dismissiveness. “Believe me, the world could do with less people like me.”

 

“I don’t believe that.”

 

“You don’t know what I’ve done.”

 

“Then, why won’t you tell me about it?”

 

“Because…it’s not good, Shoshannah. Trust me on that.”

 

Shoshannah sighed. Nodded.

 

“Tell me, where do you want to go?”

 

“I’d like to see a big city,” Shoshannah said. “I want to experience what that’s like. I want to know what the outside world is like, what’s out there for me.”

 

Shane nodded. Grinned a little.

 

“You have something in mind?”

 

“You said you wanted to see a big city, right? How about Chicago?”

 

“Chicago? I’ve never been.”

 

“I have. I had family in Chicago, so I’ve been there a bunch of times. I know a lot of the good places to go. We’ll have some fun there, and then we’ll hit South Bend on the way back.”

 

“I like the sound of that.”

 

“I thought you would.”

 

They finished dinner and Shane cleared the table and packed everything in the trunk again. Then he pitched the front seats as far forward as they could go and rejoined Shoshannah at the hood of the Mustang.

 

“How long do you have before you’ll be missed?”

 

“Probably not until morning,” Shoshannah said. “My family sleeps through the night.”

 

She slinked up to him and pressed her hands to his chest.

 

“Which is good, because…I can’t hold it in any longer.”

 

She rose on her tiptoes and he bent his head down, and they met in the middle in a long kiss that deepened with every passing second. They waddled back to the open door of the Mustang, Shoshannah shrugging off her jacket and tossing it inside. Shane backed into the car first on the passenger side, scrambling into the backseat, already covered with a blanket. He slipped out of his jacket as Shoshannah clambered in after him and closed the door behind her.

 

As soon as the door was shut, she sat next to him and thrust up her hips to slip off her cheeky black lace thong and toss it aside. She swung her leg across his lap and straddled him as he leaned in and kissed her throat, drawing a little moan out of her. He worked his way down her neck to her clavicle, nibbling on her shoulder as she unbuttoned her dress, one by one, slowly unveiling her sloping, smooth, soft-skinned body. When she got to the bottom button, Shane bent down and kissed her breast, biting her nipple, and she clutched the back of his head in reply and yanked free the hair tie that had held his half-ponytail in place, letting all of his lustrous black hair swing free like the mane of a stallion. He hauled off his shirt and tossed it aside.

 

He had the body of a stallion, all muscle and bone, and an orange-gold phoenix wing tattoo that started at his clavicle and wrapped over his shoulder to the back.

 

“This is beautiful,” she said, tracing the pattern of the burning feathers with her fingers. “What is it?”

 

“It’s the wing of a phoenix,” Shane explained. “In Greek mythology, the phoenix symbolizes death and rebirth.”

 

“And you were reborn?”

 

“Hm.” Shane nodded.

 

Shoshannah took hold of his face and kissed him hard as he reached down and massaged her clit with his fingers. Shoshannah shuddered, never having felt that kind of pleasure manipulated out of her. Never having felt someone touch her that way. But there were so many avenues of pleasure that she was unaware of, and so many paths he most likely knew.

 

She closed her eyes, tilting her head back and moaning loudly in the closed space, twitching, grinding against him until she came for the first time with a high-pitched moan, quivering under his touch. She leaned into him and buried his face in her bosom, feeling his tongue licking at her skin.

 

“Will you make love to me now?” Shoshannah whispered into his ear, biting his earlobe. “Please?”

 

“Yes,” Shane whispered back as he unbuckled his belt and slid down his jeans. He clasped her ass with one hand and guided himself inside her with the other. Shoshannah let out another loud moan, pounding the roof of the car and his shoulder. She tugged on his hair so he would look up at her.

 

And look up at her he did, staring at her with the most loving gaze he could conjure. He caressed her cheek with his thumb, taking in a tremulous breath of pleasure.

 

“I’ve been wanting this all week,” he murmured softly.

 

“Then stop waiting and take it,” Shoshannah said.

 

She rocked her hips against him once, and he responded with a hip thrust up into her. Shoshannah planted her palms against the roof of the Mustang as Shane thrust up into her again, one hand on her hip, the other on her clitoris, fondling gently as he gave her what she begged him for. They rocked and seesawed, kissed and bit, groaned and grunted.

 

It was in no time at all before their body heat and perspiration began to fog the windows of the Mustang, obscuring them almost entirely. Shoshannah grabbed onto the rear headrests and used them for leverage, rocking against his body, slamming into him with her hips, her teeth bared as she groaned in ecstasy until he grabbed her hip roughly and took control back, thrusting up into her again, gazing into her eyes, his own hazel green ones blazing with a bestial ferocity. He leaned back and thrust into her, his body twisting, until she gasped manically all the way to her second orgasm, her whole body covered in tremors and a sheen of sweat as she grabbed onto him to ride it out.

 

“I want your seed, Shane,” Shoshannah whimpered into his ear, stroking his hair. “I want it. I want to know what it feels like. I want it. Please…please!”

 

She felt his hands gliding across her sweat-soaked body, pressing into her, searching for purchase as he resumed his blissful rhythm, filling her already-sensitive walls and making her whimper and gleefully sob into his hair. He let himself go and pounded into her with an animalistic fury until he finally came inside her, entwining around her and pressing himself against her, as deep as he could, so deep that he could feel bone against bone as he filled her up inside. He even felt her twitch as she got what she had pleaded for, and she whimpered, “Oh, God…” almost silently.

 

He collapsed into the seat, panting, spent, and drowning in euphoric afterglow, his eyes fixed on her naked heaving form, fighting for air that almost seemed like it wasn’t there. She leaned into him and bent her head down to French-kiss him indelicately, a bit sloppily, her tongue touching the corners of his mouth on occasion.

 

“Where did you learn to do that?” Shane asked breathlessly.

 

“Taylor taught me,” Shoshannah revealed between kisses. “She showed me on Chloe.”

 

“You had a good teacher,” Shane complimented.

 

Shoshannah laughed, and so did he. “I’ll be sure to tell her that,” she promised.

 

She looked down at him, and she rested her forehead against his. They shared a breath, their eyes closed, each listening to the other’s heartbeat in the stillness until Shoshannah broke the silence with another whisper.

 

“Tell me,” she said. “Tell me what happened.”

 

She heard him swallow nervously. “Shoshannah…”

 

“I won’t judge you,” she insisted tenderly. “I won’t.”

 

Shane took in a shaky breath. Swallowed again.

 

“I killed a man.”

 

Shoshannah said nothing. Just stayed there, leaning against him, caressing the back of his head.

 

“Did you hear what I said?” Shane whispered.

 

“Yes,” Shoshannah replied. “And I don’t judge you.”

 

Shane sighed. Said nothing.

 

“What happened?” she gently asked.

 

Shane leaned back so he could gaze into her eyes. Touch her skin, remind himself of her promise, that he wasn’t in prison anymore, and that he was right there with her.

 

“My family and I went out one night,” Shane began. “We went out to Downtown Indianapolis. To this place we always go to, never had a problem there. Good food, good beer. The three of us, we got there, we got a table, and Jenna went to go to the bathroom. As she walking away, I see these guys watching her. These…frat-looking guys. I thought, they’re gonna be trouble, keep an eye on them. Thought they’d maybe say something…untoward, and I’d have to put them in their place. But then, when Jenna was coming back, one of them grabbed her. Came on to her. She told him off, but he wouldn’t let go, so I got up and made him let go. The next thing I know, the guy’s shoving me, I’m pushing Jenna out of the way and telling him to back off or he’s gonna regret it.” Shane sniffed, looked away for a moment. “Guy took a swing at me, clocked me right on the jaw. I would’ve let it go, but then his buddy hit me in the head, and at that point, it was me against them, and I wasn’t gonna stop until they knew that they’d been in a fight and they’d lost.” Shane let out an abashed sigh. “I went at it with them. Unrelenting. Vicious. Heartless. It was one thing to say something, do something against me, but they were doing it to my sister, and I wasn’t going to stand for it. So, I went at it with them, three against one, and I beat them bad. But then, just when the fight seemed to be over, one of them got up to try and keep swinging, and I preempted him. I whirled around and punched him in the chest with every ounce of my bodyweight behind it. This guy…he felt it and his ancestors felt it. And…when I hit him, he dropped dead.”

 

Shoshannah said nothing.

 

“The medical examiner found the tip of his rib in his heart,” Shane went on. “It broke off when I hit him. He continued the attack, but he died because of me. It was a murky case, to say the least.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“The district attorney had no choice. He charged me with manslaughter. He didn’t want to do it, but he couldn’t just let it go. Kid’s family was angry. So…there I was, about to go to trial on manslaughter. I could’ve been in jail for years, but then they came to me with a plea deal. That’s where you plead to a charge and you…negotiate how much time you spend in prison. So…the district attorney offered me what’s called criminally negligent homicide, meaning that I didn’t intend to kill him, but the act was still against the law and reckless, leading to death. At first, I wasn’t going to take the deal, but my attorney…he…talked me into it. He said that there wasn’t a good chance that I wouldn’t come out of this on top. I didn’t believe him, but my mother and my sister begged me to take it too. So…against every emotion in my heart, against…every fighting instinct that I had, I agreed to the plea bargain.”

 

Shoshannah cupped his cheek in her palm. “Oh, Shane…”

 

Shane shrugged. “It is what it is, right?” he said with a shaky sigh, a couple of tears blooming in his eyelids. “So, I went to the Correctional Industrial Facility near Pendleton, and I was there for six months. And now I’m on one year probation. If I complete it, the charges will be dismissed and my records will be expunged. But…if I get in trouble again, I could go back to prison for as long as four years.”

 

Shoshannah sighed deeply.

 

“So, now you know,” Shane concluded. “That’s why I’m scared, Shoshannah. I don’t want to go back to prison. When I was in there…there were a lot of days when I had to fight to keep myself in one piece. I learned how to fight in prison. The guy who taught me, he said, ‘You don’t fight to win, you fight to survive, to piss on the other guy’s grave.’ So I learned to fight. Most days felt like 360-degree combat. Just…my eyes and my head on a swivel, constantly looking for any threat. Some of that’s gone away, but some of that hasn’t. So…here I am. Trying to be a simple man making his way in the world.”

 

He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand.

 

“And here I am with you.”

 

Shoshannah smiled a little and leaned in to kiss him.

 

“Whatever your past,” she whispered, “that’s what it is exactly. It’s the past. You don’t have to live in it much longer. And you can start looking forward to whatever your life holds. And…maybe…”

 

She locked her hands behind his neck.

 

“…maybe that involves me.”

 

Shane managed a small smile of his own. “I really hope so.”

 

They closed the space between them and shared another long smooch, going on for 30 minutes making out in the backseat before they got dressed again and Shane fired up the Mustang’s engine. He put the windows down and brought the car around in the clearing before leading it out to the main road. Shane put on a playlist of country music as he got out on the two-lane blacktop and gunned it, a list that included songs like Sam Hunt’s “Leave the Night On,” Dustin Lynch’s “Ridin’ Roads,” Lauren Alaina’s “Next Boyfriend,” and Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash’s “Highwayman.” An extensive hour-long list of country artists spanning more than sixty years that spoke on the standard themes of good times, good drinks, muscle cars and big trucks, and the older ones singing of the deeper themes of love, loss, death and pain, amongst others. Shoshannah certainly seemed to enjoy it, jamming to the list as they ripped through the night towards her home.

 

But when they got there, the scene was far from quiet.

 

As they approached the Holtz family farm, they found two Nappanee Police Department squad cars at the gate, blocking the way, each of them manned by a single officer leaning against his cruiser. No lights, most likely to not draw attention to themselves, but the way they were parked nose-to-nose in front of the gate made it clear that they were there in a defensive formation. Just try and get past us.

 

Apprehension filling his heart, Shane eased the Mustang to the side of the road and engaged the parking brake. He turned to tell Shoshannah to wait, but she’d already flung the door open and was halfway out of the car. Shane shut off the engine and leapt out after her and came alongside her as she walked up to the nearest officer, a middle-aged woman with auburn hair in a bun beneath her cap, with a nametag that read, “K. Beckham.”

 

“Hold on a minute,” she said, holding up her hand to stop them.

 

“Officer, what’s going on?” Shane asked.

 

“Missing person, possible kidnapping,” she said. “Shoshannah Holtz, 18 years old.”

 

Shoshannah and Shane shared a worried look. Her brows raised promptingly, asking the wordless question, and Shane nodded reluctantly.

 

“Officer,” she said, “I’m Shoshannah Holtz, and I wasn’t kidnapped. This is…my boyfriend, Shane Connelly.”

 

Officer Beckham’s face betrayed her confusion. “No, I don’t think so. Shoshannah Holtz is an Amish girl. You…well, no offense, but you don’t look Amish at all. In fact, you look very much the opposite of Amish. And this dude’s your boyfriend? Come on.”

 

Shane internally bristled at the flippant dismissal, but he held his tongue, not wanting to generate any more controversy.

 

“My mother’s name is Esther,” Shoshannah said. “I have eight siblings. Send my mother down to the gate, she’ll prove it’s me.”

 

“Hold on.” She keyed her radio. “Decker, I’ve got a girl here at the gate claiming to be Shoshannah Holtz. Standing with a male. Walk the mother down here, please.”

 

They heard the buzz of a reply.

 

Two minutes later, Esther Holtz came running out of the house in a black dress with no bonnet. She hurried down the gravel path, getting closer and closer until she slowed to a stop about ten feet away, her mouth hanging agog and her eyes wide.

 

“Shoshannah!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing? Where have you been? And what are you wearing?”

 

The emphasis on that last word was tinged with disgust.

 

Then Esther’s eyes turned on the other person at the scene, who hadn’t been the subject of anyone’s focus until just that moment.

 

“Mr. Connelly?” she said.

 

“Mrs. Holtz,” Shane replied quietly with the slightest of nods.

 

Beckham went back to her radio. “Unit 7 to Base. Inform Chief Cohen that subject has been located at the Holtz family farm with an unknown male.”

 

There was another buzz of speech.

 

“Copy that,” Beckham said. “Sir, I’ll need you to remain here until Chief Cohen arrives.”

 

Shane sat on the roof without a word, crossing his arms. Shoshannah sat next to him and scooted in next to him, drawing a glare of shock from her mother, and an even greater one when she leaned into him.

 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

 

“I know,” Shane replied.

 

A few minutes elapsed before they heard the sound of clopping hoofbeats and a purring engine, and the two of them looked back and saw the source: an unmarked black Crown Victoria sedan and a man on a black horse. As it came closer, Shane realized who it was.

 

Isaac Holtz, riding on a black horse.

 

Instantly, Shane’s mind went to what knowledge of the Bible he had, and he recalled Revelations 6:5: When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come and see.” I looked and beheld a black horse, and he who sat on it held a pair of scales in his hand.

 

The horseman Famine. Ironic, considering that Isaac was a seller of food.

 

He galloped up to the gate and brought the horse around. The horse whinnied and reared for a moment before settling, and the black Crown Victoria parked crossways, covering the tail of the Mustang. Shane took notice of the tactic. He’d seen it before, and it made his heart jump and pound loudly against his chest, so loud that he thought everyone could hear it.

 

He’d seen that before. On the day he was arrested for manslaughter.

 

Clearly, Chief Cohen had no grasp of the situation, so he’d executed a standard technique to prevent a subject—or potential suspect—from fleeing in reverse.

 

Then he saw the other officer that wasn’t Beckham getting into his cruiser, but he didn’t turn over his engine. No need, not yet, but ready to block the Mustang in front of necessary.

 

Missing person, possible kidnapping.

 

For all they knew, Shane had abducted her from the house, threw her in that dress and drove her around for any number of nefarious purposes, and he had scared her into saying that he was her boyfriend. For all they knew, this was some kind of Stockholm Syndrome deal, and if that was the case, they couldn’t let him potentially escape.

 

He remembered this formation on the day he was arrested. He had been heading home, thinking about a quiet, solemn dinner, when he realized that there was a police cruiser tailing him. He remembered the apprehension as he turned onto his street, and then the utter alarm as a second cruiser screeched sideways and blocked his way, right in front of his house.

 

He remembered seeing his mother and sister on the front porch as Shane stepped out, flanked in front and behind by police officers who all but bushwhacked him. He remembered his chin slamming into the pavement as he was handcuffed, and the bruise that was left on his face in his mug shot. He remembered his sister screaming at the police to let him go, and an officer holding her back so roughly that she had bruises on her arms.

 

He’d never forget that day.

 

“What’s going on here?” Isaac boomed.

 

Neither Shane nor Shoshannah answered. Neither one was sure how to put it.

 

“Mr. Connelly, I demand an explanation,” Isaac said. “I want to know why you’re here and why you have my daughter.”

“I don’t have your daughter,” Shane replied.

 

“Mr. Holtz came to the station in a state of panic,” Chief Cohen explained, coming up alongside the car. “He said that someone kidnapped his daughter. And there have been multiple reports from residents in the area of a black Mustang and a blue motorcycle riding along this road on multiple Saturday and Friday nights. And here you are, in a black Mustang.”

 

“Shane didn’t abduct me, Chief Cohen,” Shoshannah declared. “I went with him willingly.”

 

“Willingly?” Isaac said as he dismounted from his horse. “What do you mean, willingly?”

 

“I mean I chose to go with Shane. I met Shane one night in Bremen when I was out with my friends.”

 

“What friends?!”

 

“Friends I’ve made,” Shoshannah said.

 

“Who are they? I demand to know!”

 

“Isaac, calm down,” Chief Cohen said.

 

“The fact remains,” Shoshannah said, “I went willingly with Shane. He didn’t kidnap me. It was my choice.”

 

“Who gave you that choice?” Isaac thundered with a fire-and-brimstone edge to his voice that was shocking to Shane. “Who gives you the right to sneak out? You don’t have that right, no more than he has the right to take you!”

 

“I didn’t take her, Isaac,” Shane said. “Like she’s been saying, she chose to spend time with me.”

 

“You stay out of this, boy,” Isaac warned, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

 

A sudden kernel of smoldering fury bloomed to life, and Shane rose from his seat on the hood. His nostrils flared and his shoulders squared. His fists closed.

 

“Do not…call me ‘boy,’” Shane said in a dark, even tone. “You don’t know what I’ve done. I haven’t been a boy for a long time.”

 

“You think yourself a man?” Isaac said. “With your long hair and your hot rod and rebellious demeanor? You are no man. What do you know of being a man?”

 

“I know what I am. What I’ve been through. And if you took more than a minute to find out, you would realize who I am.”

 

“You are no man in my eyes. You are a…a miscreant, a rebel, and a sinful influence on my daughter! You come to my house and steal my child away in the middle of the night!”

 

“I am not a child!” Shoshannah shouted.

 

“In the eyes of this community, in the eyes of God, you are a child! And you are my child! And you will do as I say!”

 

“Maybe in your eyes, Isaac,” Chief Cohen said, “but in the eyes of the law, Shoshannah is an adult.”

 

“She is no adult! Not in this place! And this boy had something to do with all this! I want him taken away!”

 

“I understand your frustration, Isaac,” Chief Cohen acknowledged, “but in the eyes of the law, Shoshannah is eighteen years old, so she is legally an adult. In addition, Shoshannah is saying that she went willingly with Shane. I see no evidence of malfeasance or injury. There is nothing that I could charge Mr. Connelly with.”

 

Isaac’s fists closed and he let out a sputtering breath, his beard ruffling, as his laser-sharp glare set on Shane, who didn’t outwardly waver in any way, suddenly finding his inner strength and propping himself up with it.

 

And it didn’t hurt that Shoshannah had taken his hand and was holding it tightly.

 

There was a tense standoff that lasted a good ten seconds, Isaac and Shane staring each other down before the former finally spoke.

 

“Shoshannah, go up to the house this instant,” Isaac commanded evenly. “Do not contradict me. Just go.”

 

Shoshannah huffed quietly. She turned her head to Shane and whispered into his ear, “I’ll find you,” and she let go of his hand and walked past the officers and past the gate. Shane remained where he was, standing in front of the Mustang.

 

Isaac took a few steps towards the young man and Shane’s fists closed again and his jaw set. The multiple changes in stance between the two made Chief Cohen and the other officers stiffen in responsive readiness. For a moment, they must have wondered if this penitent and God-fearing man would take a swing at the young transplant from Indianapolis. If he did, they would have to quell it before things got out of hand, because their thought process had to be that if Isaac swung at Shane and hit him, Shane would undoubtedly defend himself.

 

Shane, however, wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t fault Isaac for lashing out, and he wouldn’t retaliate, though every animal instinct would tell him to. These cops, however, didn’t know him that well, so they were most likely assuming that he was like any other human being with natural emotions that would respond to being attacked.

 

But Isaac didn’t strike him. Instead, he poked his finger in his chest.

 

“And you, boy,” Isaac rumbled in a low, accusatory tone, “it’s time for you to leave. You’ve wreaked enough havoc upon this family.”

Shane sighed deeply. “And so it is,” he said in quick succinctness.

 

Isaac turned away, leading the horse through the gap between the two police cruisers and up the dirt path.

 

Shane returned to the cabin of the Mustang and turned over the engine. As he buckled up, Chief Cohen came alongside his open window.

 

“I know who you are,” Cohen said. “I looked into you after the farmer’s market. Criminally negligent homicide, six months in the CIF at Pendleton.”

 

Shane said nothing.

 

Cohen leaned down so he was at eye level with Shane. “I don’t know what your endgame is here, what your motives are.”

 

“I don’t have any motives,” Shane said, looking straight ahead. “I care about her. That’s it. It’s not a game to me. Very little ever is.”

 

“Nevertheless,” Cohen countered, “I would advise you to stay out of trouble for the remainder of your probation, Shane. It would be good for everyone.”

 

“You know what would be truly good for everyone?” Shane countered darkly. “If you went back to your fancy computer and actually read up on the case, front to back, before you go around issuing empty threats veiled as friendly advice.”

 

He set his eyes on Chief Cohen in a hard glare, who didn’t waver in the slightest.

 

“We done here?” he asked in a soft voice that still held a lot of weight.

 

“Yes, we’re done,” Cohen said. “Have a good night.”

 

“You too, Chief.”

 

Shane pulled away from the Holtz family farm. He was going the wrong way to get back to his house, but he decided to take the long way. He needed the time to cool off.

 

 

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Isaac shouted as he slammed the door. “Cavorting with that boy, dressing like…like…like a harlot?!”

 

Shoshannah stood silently, leaning against the sink in the kitchen.

 

“You had better say something,” Isaac said warningly.

 

“I enjoy Shane’s company,” Shoshannah said. “He is a good man. He’s a better man than you think.”

 

“He’s English, Shoshannah! He’s not from this community! He comes from their world! Their world of sin and debauchery and madness! And you think that because he’s shown you kindness, he is some kind of upstanding man? You don’t even know if he believes in God!”

 

“He’s told me that he does,” Shoshannah said. “He says that they haven’t found a church that they like, but he does believe in God.”

 

“And I suppose you think that makes him suitable for you?” Esther said.

 

“He is more suitable to me than any of the boys that I have seen in this community,” Shoshannah replied. “I find something about him that is good. Pure. Real. There is nothing wrong with him. Nothing except the way you both see him!”

 

“Well, that is why we are here, to guide you, Shoshannah.”

 

“I don’t need your guidance!” Shoshannah spouted. “I know what I feel about him!”

 

“And what is that?” Isaac bellowed. “Some…passing flirtation? Fleeting infatuation?”

 

“No!” Shoshannah shouted. “I love him!”

 

“Oh, this is foolishness!”

 

“Oh, because I love someone from outside our world? Someone that doesn’t fit into your perfect little mindset? Well, I love him, Papa, and nothing you can say will change my mind!”

 

“You had best take care how you speak to me,” Isaac rumbled. “Chief Cohen may call you an adult in the eyes of their law, but in this community, in this house, I am your father, you are my child, and you will treat me with the respect that is due!”

 

“Well, we’ll see how long that lasts,” Shoshannah said. “I’m going on Rumspringa in a week, and when all is said and done, I’ll follow my heart and not some old rules!”

 

Isaac took two large steps towards her, imposing his height against her, but Shoshannah didn’t shrink in the shadow of his sudden towering stature.

 

“Isaac…” Esther said softly.

 

Isaac’s nostrils flared.

 

“Fine,” Isaac said. “You are right, Shoshannah. You are headed on Rumspringa soon. But allow me to impart some much-needed wisdom upon you, child. You learn what you want about their world, about their way of life, who they are, what they do. But when you return, I hope you think long and hard about whether or not you would be best served returning and recommitting to the life and the faith that has protected you from the day you were born, or if you’re willing to throw away everything you’ve ever known for some boy.”

 

Shoshannah said nothing. Just stared up at her father with wide, defiant eyes.

 

“Now, until you are on Rumspringa, you will obey and behave like a good godly daughter should behave. You will obey me without question, or there will be a harsh reprisal that you cannot envision. Do you understand me?”

 

Shoshannah said nothing.

 

“Hm. You can look up at me with those accusatory eyes all you want, my daughter, but believe me, I know what is best for you in this moment. Now, go upstairs and take off that harlot’s dress, and go to bed. Tomorrow morning, you will burn that harlot’s dress and those shoes, and you will assist Obadiah in readying the horses for market, but you will remain here and look after Rachel and Joanna. You will not leave this house tomorrow. You will not leave this house unless I deem it. And you will not speak of this incident to anyone in our community, do you understand? Not to anyone. The substance of this ordeal is to not leave these walls. Now, get to bed, and I suggest you pray feverishly that God forgives you for your misbehavior, and the humiliation you have brought upon this family!”

 

Isaac turned on his heel and crisply marched to the stairs and ascended them. Shoshannah let out a frustrated breath.

 

“You heard your father, Shoshannah,” Esther said.

 

“I love him, Mother,” Shoshannah declared. “I love him. You may not understand, but I do. Shane is a good man, and you will see it in time.”

 

“How good can he be,” Esther questioned with narrowed eyes, “if you have to sneak out of the house at night to see him?” She swept him from head to toe with her eyes. “Look at you. You look like a common whore, like one of those girls in town. God only knows what you do with him.”

 

“I would rather love him as a common whore than live a lie as the wife of some man I hate.”

 

The slap came so quickly that Shoshannah had barely registered it had hit her until the pain in her cheek caught up with her. She took in a breath, her chest heaving, and she felt a sudden emotion that was alien to her.

 

It was a boiling fury that wanted her to swing back at her mother, slap her back. But she didn’t, instead turning away and squaring her shoulders.

 

“When you go on Rumspringa,” Esther said, “I suggest that you spend some time praying as well as cavorting. I suggest you pray hard about where God wants you, that you make the right decision for your life. And God help you if you make the wrong one.”

Esther turned and headed to the stairs.

 

“Get to bed, child,” Esther said. “You have an early morning tomorrow.”

 

Shoshannah stood there for a while longer, leaning against the sink, fighting the feelings that were welling up in her.

Fighting the feeling of wanting to shed tears of frustrated despair.

 

On Sunday morning, Shane got up early and made breakfast for the family. At the table, he revealed that he didn’t feel like going to the market today, instead deciding to stay in and work on his ’93 Fat Boy. It was almost done, and he’d like to get a chance to take it out for a ride before the weather got so cold that he couldn’t.

 

After breakfast, Lainie and Jenna left in the Durango, while Shane stayed in the garage and went to work on the Harley. All of the internal pieces were in place; he just needed to make sure that everything was buttoned up. He had customized the bike with a diamond-stitched front and rear seat, a fold-down backrest and a luggage rack, and some blacked-out chrome. He was going with a gloss black paint as well, and the standard wheels were going to get painted black as well. The look of a menace on the roads when it finally got completed.

 

He was torquing down some bolts on the engine when the Durango backed into the garage about 90 minutes later, and the engine shut off. Lainie and Jenna stepped down from the silver SUV, each with a bag in their hand.

 

“Jenna,” Lainie said, “take this bag into the kitchen and start putting stuff away.”

 

“Okay, Mom,” Jenna said. She took the other cloth bag that they had bought specifically for the farmer’s market and walked into the house.

 

“Everything okay, Mom?” Shane asked.

 

“So…I ran into Chief Cohen at the market today,” Lainie explained. “He had some interesting questions for me. Regarding you.”

 

“Oh, really? Did he?”

 

“He wanted to know more of the circumstances surrounding your plea bargain. I asked him why he had any interest in that whatsoever. And he told me that it was because you rolled up to the Holtz family farm with their eldest daughter Shoshannah in the car, and she was dressed in regular clothing.”

 

Shane said nothing. Finished torquing the bolts down.

 

“Shane, put down the wrench and talk to me,” Lainie insisted.

 

“What is there to talk about?” Shane asked as he put the wrench down.

 

“Why was Shoshannah Holtz with you? And why in the hell was she in non-Amish clothes?”

 

Shane took in a long breath.

 

“We’ve been dating.”

 

He heard silence behind him. Long silence. At least a minute. He only imagined that her expression was one of shock, and the sound of her voice confirmed it.

 

“You’re…dating Shoshannah Holtz?” Lainie said with incredulity tinging her voice. “How are you dating Shoshannah Holtz?”

 

Shane sighed again.

 

“Shane, you can tell me. I’ll do my best to not judge you.”

 

Shane got up from his stool, turned around to face his mother.

 

“That first Saturday, when I went out and I went to Bremen, I met Shoshannah in a bar. But she didn’t introduce herself as Shoshannah. She called herself Hannah. She had a fake ID that said she was 21 years old, and I bought her a beer. We talked, flirted, and…” Shane swallowed hard, closing his eyes. “…we had sex. Outside, behind the bar.”

 

“Oh, my God…!”

 

“So much for not judging.”

 

“Shane, how could you?”

 

“Mom, I didn’t know!” Shane insisted. “She had a fake ID that must’ve cost a fortune, because it fooled me! It fooled the fucking bartender! I thought she was 21 years old! I thought she was some local girl that I wasn’t going to see again until I saw her at the farmer’s market, and my heart took the express elevator out of my ass!”

 

Lainie sighed, running her fingers through her hair. “And then what?”

 

“Then she told me the truth. The whole truth. She told me that she was an eighteen-year-old Amish girl who lived on a farm with her parents and eight siblings and a bunch of fucking horses. She told me the whole thing. But, Mom, I’m telling you…even after she told me the truth, I couldn’t hate her for it because I feel this…this pull towards her. It feels like gravity. It’s hard to explain otherwise, except the only way I can say it is…”

 

He looked down and away, leaned against the side of the Mustang. His shoulders rose and fell perceptibly.

 

“…I love her, Mom. Call me crazy, that’s fine, but I think I’m in love with her.”

 

“Shane…”

 

“Mom, I’m not making this up.”

 

“I know you don’t think you’re making this up.”

 

“I don’t think anything,” Shane snapped. “I know what I’m feeling. And this is more than anything I ever felt with Mary. This isn’t some infatuation.” He sighed deeply, his shoulders rising and falling again. “I just know what I’m feeling, and it’s love, Mom.”

 

“Oh, boy…” Lainie crossed her arms too, leaning against the side of the Durango and blowing out a long, noisy breath. “Well, I saw Isaac Holtz as well, and he was…less than pleased with you, to put it lightly. So what happens now, Shane? Is this going to be a Capulets and Montagues situation?”

 

“I certainly hope not,” Shane said with a scoff. “But I can tell you what happens next. Shoshannah is going on Rumspringa in a couple of weeks. That’s when Amish kids go out and sample the outside world and decide if they want to live in it or return to theirs. Shoshannah is spending most of it with her friends that she’s met in the outside world. But she wants to spend the rest of the time with me.”

 

“And what are you two going to do?”

 

Shane didn’t waver, meeting his mother’s eyes with hers. “We’re going to Chicago for a couple of days. And then we’re going to South Bend.”

 

Lainie rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Is there any way that I can talk you out of doing that?”

 

Shane said nothing.

 

“Of course not,” Lainie said, throwing her arms up in the air. “Shane, we’ve only been here about six weeks, and in those six weeks you’ve made a crazy, untenable situation. And now you say you’re in love with this girl.”

 

“I don’t say I’m in love with Shoshannah. I know I’m in love with Shoshannah.”

 

Lainie let out an exasperated grunt and ran her fingers through her hair.

 

“Fine, Shane. Fine. You are an adult; you are allowed to do what you want. But all I am going to say is that not only are you an adult, but for the next year, you are also a felon with a homicide conviction on your record! So please do me a favor and don’t do something stupid with this girl.”

 

Shane let out another scoff and said snidely, “Sure, Mom, I’ll do my best to not commit another crime and embarrass you in front of your friends.”

 

“That’s not—” Lainie sighed. “Shane, that’s not what I meant.”

 

“But it’s what you were thinking, wasn’t it?!”

 

“No!” Lainie insisted. “No, it’s not what I was thinking. Shane…I promise you, that’s…what I meant was that I don’t want something to happen to you or this girl while you’re together.”

 

“She has a name, Mom. Her name is Shoshannah.”

 

Lainie sighed. “Yes, I know, Shane. Just look out for Shoshannah when you take off with her.”

 

“I know, Mom. And I will.”

 

Lainie nodded. “The bike looks good, by the way.”

 

Shane chuckled as he turned back to it. “It’s almost done. Just needs a few last tweaks.”

 

“You’ll get there,” Lainie encouraged as she went in the house.

 

Shane picked up his wrench and began torquing down another bolt.

 

It was the last week of October when Shoshannah went on Rumspringa, and she was picked up by Chloe, Taylor, and Brenda. They spent the majority of the week in town since the girls were still in school, but they did go out on Halloween night and enjoy what Nappanee had to offer before going into Fort Wayne for some better trick-or-treating. The girls dressed up Shoshannah as an angel, complete with outstretched white wings, white leather heels and a sparkly white pushup bra from Victoria’s Secret. When she saw herself in the mirror in Chloe’s bedroom and saw how good she looked—combined with how much they were complimenting her—she asked them if they could help her find some similar underwear. Chloe simply said, “Keep it.”

 

She gave her the matching set of panties to go with it.

 

“For later,” she said.

 

Then, a couple of days later, Chloe gave Shoshannah a ride over to Shane’s place on Centennial Street, having already gotten the address. She pulled up in front of the door and engaged the parking brake.

 

“Thanks, Chloe,” she said.

 

“Anytime, babe,” Chloe replied. “So, you’re really gonna go to Chicago with Shane?”

 

“That’s the plan, yes,” Shoshannah confirmed.

 

Chloe smiled. “You’re lucky.”

 

“Am I?”

 

“Yeah, you are. You’ve found a nice guy in, like, seven weeks, while I’ve been single for seven months. Some bitches are just born lucky.”

 

Shoshannah chuckled mirthlessly. “I don’t think I’m born lucky. I think things have just fallen the way they have.”

 

“Why? Because of God?”

 

Shoshannah shrugged. “Maybe,” she said softly.

 

“Well, if that’s the case, then God wants you to get out of the car and go get that sugar and that honey.”

 

Shoshannah giggled.

 

“I’m proud of you.”

 

“Thanks, Chloe.”

 

“So, go. Go! Go get it!”

 

“Thanks,” Shoshannah said, laughing as she climbed out of the car and got her bag from the backseat. She waved and walked up to the front door and knocked.

 

Ten seconds later, the front door opened and Shane was standing on the other side. He was dressed in a simple black Daughtry T-shirt, stonewashed boot-cut jeans, black lace-up boots and a black hooded leather bomber jacket on his shoulders. And he was wearing a smile on his face.

 

It wasn’t the biggest smile she’d seen on him. But it was a smile that was meaningful, and Shoshannah realized that a smile didn’t have to be big to have meaning. And she realized a smaller smile meant even more to her.

 

And it meant even more when he drew her into her arms and hugged her tight.

 

He didn’t speak. She didn’t speak. Neither one of them spoke for a good minute. And then Shane took in a breath.

 

“Hi,” he murmured into her hair.

 

“Hi,” Shoshannah whispered into his ear. “I missed you.”

 

“I missed you too.” He looked past her and waved. “Hi, Chloe!”

 

“Hi, Shane!” Chloe called. “Take good care of her!”

 

“I will!”

 

Shoshannah smiled and waved. Chloe waved back and pulled away from the curb. Shane led Shoshannah inside the house and shut the door.

 

“Where are your mother and sister?” Shoshannah asked.

 

“My mother’s at work, and my sister’s in school.”

 

“Do they know you’re going to be gone?”

 

“My mother does. And she’ll tell my sister.”

 

“Do you think it’s going to be okay?”

 

“Honestly…I don’t really care right now. I’m so tired of explaining myself to people, and I’m not going to when it comes to you. However, I will say that I’m sorry I got you jammed up with your father.”

 

“Jammed up?”

 

“In trouble.”

 

“Oh. Well…yes, that was hard, but it was worth it to me.”

 

“It was?” Shane asked.

 

“Yes, it was. I wanted this. I was sure that I wanted this after that night by the lake.”

 

Shane nodded. “So…are you ready to see Chicago?”

 

“I definitely am,” Shoshannah said.

 

“Then let’s get lost.”

 

The two of them walked to the garage and Shane unlocked the Mustang, and the two of them set their bags in the trunk. They dropped into the seats and Shane opened the garage door. He fired the engine and inched the Mustang out of the garage, closing it as they exited. They hit the main road and took U.S. 6 out of Nappanee. They rode west all the way to U.S. 421 and used it to connect to Interstate 90. Once they were on the interstate, Shane turned up the speed and settled into the cruise with the tunes bumping through his sound system. In the shotgun seat, Shoshannah was smiling a mile wide, brimming with anticipation.

 

Her anticipation was well-rewarded.

 

Their drive into Chicago diverted off the interstate and onto Lake Shore Drive, so he could show her Lake Michigan at a comfortable cruise with the windows down. They rode the coast of Lake Michigan until they got into the Magnificent Mile and turned inland. Their drive came to an end at the Freehand, a small hotel in the heart of Chicago, and they found a place to park the car and went to the hotel and checked in for two days. They got up to their room and dropped their bags. Shane sat down on the edge of the bed with a long sigh.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Yeah. No.” He laughed. “I’m not used to driving two hours.”

 

“So, why’d you do it?”

 

“Ain’t it obvious?” Shane said. “I did it for you. So you could get a real experience. South Bend is one thing, but you have to see how big cities operate too, if you choose to live in this world. You should see how big cities, medium cities, small towns all operate. You should see that there’s more than just Nappanee.”

 

“I mean, I saw it on the drive in. I’ve never seen so many cars and so many tall buildings! And I don’t think I’ve seen a body of water like that before!”

 

“Oh. Lake Michigan?” Shane chuckled. “That’s something, huh? Yeah, I remember the first time I saw it. It was a heck of a thing.”

“So…you’ve got family here, right?”

 

“Yeah…uh, an uncle, an aunt and two cousins.”

 

“Are we going to go see them?”

 

“No.”

 

“No?”

 

“No. I don’t want to see them. Besides…this isn’t about me; this is about you.” He shrugged and looked out the window.

 

“You’re lying.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“You’re lying. There’s something else that you don’t want to tell me.”

 

Shane sighed. Nodded.

 

“I thought we promised each other. No more lies.”

 

Shane gulped silently. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

 

He patted the bed, and Shoshannah joined him, seating herself next to him, wafting onto the bed like a lily petal landing on the surface of a pond.

 

“After I was arrested, my mother and my sister backed me all the way,” Shane explained. “But when she told my uncle and my aunt what had happened, they didn’t understand. When they came to visit me, they still didn’t understand. They didn’t understand how I could take it so far, how I could kill a man, accident or not. They said that I was wrong for doing what I did, and that was it. They didn’t say they understood, they didn’t acknowledge that I was protecting Jenna. All they fixated on was the fact that I had killed someone. My aunt, my mother’s sister, said she couldn’t even look at me the same way ever again.”

 

“That must’ve been unbearable,” Shoshannah said, rubbing his back.

 

“They didn’t come to the trial. They didn’t come visit me in prison. I asked my mother why. She said…they couldn’t get over it. They couldn’t see why I did what I did. They couldn’t forgive me for it, like I had done it to them somehow.”

 

Shane’s hands closed to fists.

 

“What she didn’t tell me until after I got out of prison was that she’d had a big fight with her sister. Huge. Knock-down, drag-out. And she’d said to her sister that if she couldn’t forgive me, then my aunt’s family was no longer welcome in her house.”

 

“When did that happen?”

 

“It was my first month inside. That was the last time she talked to her sister.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“I’m not. When she told me, I said—and pardon my language—but I said, fuck 'em. If they don’t want to be a part of my life, I don’t want to be a part of theirs. Simple. Very simple. So, I don’t need to see them.”

 

“Shane, there’s something else I’ve been wanting to ask. Where’s your father?”

 

“The last I heard, he was in Oregon, running a lumber yard. He got remarried, and he’s got two kids.”

 

“And you don’t see him?”

 

“No, and pardon my language again, but fuck him too. Fuck 'em all; I don’t need 'em. I’m fine without 'em. He didn’t give one damn about me since he left me when I was fourteen, so why should I give a damn about him?” Shane shrugged. “That’s the life. Fine by me.”

 

Shoshannah nodded. “I understand. And I’m sorry for bringing up such painful memories.”

 

“You wanted me to be honest, I have no problem with it. I just didn’t want it to be a downer. And truthfully, the pain makes me stronger. So I have no complaints.”

 

“And you are a strong man.”

 

Shane chuckled, stroking her hair. “I try to be,” he said. “Now, enough of this talk. It’s time for you to experience the quintessential Chicago.”

 

“And how do we do that?”

 

Shane stood up and pulled Shoshannah to her feet.

 

“We start with food. The one thing that is unique to Chicago. Other cities do it, but Chi-Town does it right.”

 

“And that is?”

 

“Deep dish pizza.”

 

Shoshannah laughed. “Deep dish pizza? What’s that?”

 

“Only one of the greatest creations since bread. Come on!”

 

They left the Freehand and walked ten minutes to Superior Street, to Gino’s East, and they landed a table together. An intimate setting for just the two of them. Shane kept it simple—a large deep-dish with pepperoni and sausage, and Shoshannah marveled at the size of it and gushed at the taste. At one point, mid-bite, she got a stretch of cheese clamped between her teeth and Shane snapped a picture and showed it to her, making her cackle in delight.

 

After, they dropped the leftover pizza at the hotel and took the Red Line into The Loop, Chicago’s central business district. From there, they rode the actual El train, seeing the city from above. Shoshannah was in awe of the technology, and she screamed in delight at the sound of the clattering trains overhead as they passed under the tracks to reach the station.

 

Once they were on the train, Shoshannah’s head swung around constantly, her virgin eyes bombarded with the sights of skyscrapers and the countless restaurants and stores that she’d never heard of in her life. Some of the other riders didn’t get it, but Shane and Shoshannah just laughed, keeping the inside joke to themselves.

 

They got off in the east side of The Loop and walked Grant Park and Maggie Daley Park and the Lakefront Trail all the way to Navy Pier, where they ended their night with a ride on the Ferris Wheel—where they spent more time kissing than enjoying the view—and a stop at Ben & Jerry’s before retiring to the hotel. They were so exhausted from the day that they just showered, disrobed and collapsed on the bed, not even having the energy to make love.

 

The next day, Shane surprised Shoshannah with tickets to a baseball game at Wrigley Field in the middle of the day. They were nosebleeds at some of the lowest prices, but the view was still something to see, and the company was even better. They got authentic hot dogs and watched the Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 in ten innings before heading back to the hotel to change for their night out. Shane dressed in all black and Shoshannah dressed in a sleeveless black sequin thigh-length dress and her suede ankle booties. They got a cab from the hotel and rode up to B.L.U.E.S., a joint in Lincoln Park that featured exactly what the acronym depicted—live electric blues music.

 

The two of them got a table not too far from the front, where they saw a four-piece band wailing out a tune and the spectators stomping and clapping.

 

“This is amazing!” Shoshannah declared 30 minutes in. “It’s so plaintive and full of expression, like the hymns we sing at my church!”

 

“Well, it’s not exactly like the hymns at your church. After all…at the time, religious communities called it ‘the devil’s music.’”

 

Shoshannah looked at him with wide eyes of disbelief. Shane just shrugged, and Shoshannah laughed.

 

They stayed out until midnight, at which point they called it a night and went back to the hotel. They got back up to their room and closed and locked the door. As soon as it was shut, Shoshannah was on him in a second, crashing into him so hard that he stumbled against the door and collided into it with a grunt. Shoshannah’s lips were on his a second after that.

 

“So, do you like Chicago?” he asked her.

 

“I love it,” Shoshannah said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

 

She tugged on his shirt and led him towards the bed. She whirled him around and shoved him back onto it. She stepped out of her booties and reached behind her back and unzipped the simple black sequin dress and let it slip off her shoulders and unveil her body, and the sparkly white bra and panties of lace and rhinestones that flickered in the dancing lights from the outside.

“Wow,” Shane murmured.

 

Shoshannah smiled in faux innocence as she approached the bed and crawled onto it, onto him, like a lioness stalking her prey, complete with flowing blonde mane. She crawled overtop of him, looked down at him, her lips ever so slightly parted. Shane reached up and brushed his fingers on her cheek.

 

“There’s something I want to say to you,” Shoshannah whispered.

 

“Say it,” Shane said.

 

“I love you.”

 

Shane took in a long breath, staring up at her, tracing a line along her cheekbone and her lips with his thumb. He looked up into her face, framed by her wavy blonde hair, seeing the wonder in it, and the anticipation of what he would reply with.

 

So, he replied.

 

“I love you too.”

 

Shoshannah let out a breath of relief.

 

“What, did you think I was going to say something else?”

 

“Brenda said that boys run when you tell them you love them.”

 

He bent his neck up and kissed her softly.

 

“I am no boy,” he said.

 

“No…you’re not.”

 

He unbuttoned his shirt and eased off his trousers, and Shoshannah kissed his chest. He traced lines on her body from her bra to the band of her panties, until she finally unclipped the bra and tossed it aside. She eased her underwear aside and took him inside her, gasping and moaning with every inch that penetrated her, until she was settled on top of him. She ran her hands on his chest as she began, grinding against him, moaning higher in pitch and louder in volume. She took one of his hands and locked fingers with him, gazing down at him, and he up at her. He was almost nothing more than a spectator this time around, just holding onto her hip as she did all the work. She didn’t seem to mind, smiling the entire time until her mouth was shaped in an open O of ecstasy.

 

He’d let all of his defenses down. He had nothing to hide anymore. She’d stripped everything away from him, leaving just the man he wanted to be, the man she saw, and he liked being this vulnerable with her. He could truly be himself with her, and hopefully he could be that more often. But right then and there, he would settle for being that way with her in that hotel room, and whenever they were alone together.

 

He let her stay on top of him, riding him with a subtle fury until she came first, bucking and moaning deeply, looking down at him with a content smile behind her slightly tousled hair. He took over, thrusting up into her, his hands on both of her hips this time around, looking up at her as she cried out and squeezed his wrists, holding on for dear life until he finished inside her, let out a long, shaky breath and crumpled on the bed, once again enervated and overcome with masculine bliss.

 

Shoshannah bent down and kissed him again deeply, running her tongue in his mouth.

 

“I love you,” she breathed.

 

“I love you, Shoshannah,” Shane murmured into her ear.

 

They laid naked in the bed, deep in slumber, wrapped in one another, when Shane’s phone rang. Groaning, he reached over Shoshannah’s sleeping form and picked it up. He saw who it was and sighed angrily as he answered.

 

“Mom, it’s 1:00 in the morning.”

 

“Shane, I know, and I’m sorry. Listen, um…I need you to come back to Nappanee.”

 

“What? No way. I’m in Chicago with Shoshannah. I’m not coming back for another couple of days.”

 

“Shane…the Durango broke down. Jenna and I went out to dinner tonight, and when we came out, I tried to start the car, but it wouldn’t do anything.”

 

“Did you try giving it a jump?”

 

“Of course I did, but it didn’t do anything. I had to call a tow truck, and it took 90 minutes for it to get to us and take us home and drop the Durango off. I have to take it to the shop to get looked at, but the problem is that the nearest repair shop is in Goshen. I don’t have time to go to Goshen and wrangle a ride to Fort Wayne. I need a ride, Shane.”

 

“Then I’ll come back tomorrow morning.”

 

“No, that’s not enough time. It’s an hour to the museum, Shane. I need you to come back now.”

 

“Mom…”

 

“Please, Shane. Look, I know you have two more days away, so here’s what I’ll do. I’ll talk to Darrell and ask him to give you a couple more days off. If you do this for me, Shoshannah can stay with you at our house, and Jenna and I won’t make a fuss.”

 

Shane let out a frustrated grunt.

 

“I’ll even compensate you for it.”

 

“How?”

 

“We’ll start with money for gas and go from there.”

 

Shane sighed.

 

“Please, Shane?”

 

“Fine, Mom. But you owe me. Bigtime.”

 

“I know. And I’ll make it up to you.”

 

Shane hung up and gently woke Shoshannah.

 

“What’s wrong?” she asked sleepily.

 

“My mother needs me back in Nappanee,” Shane said. “Her car broke down, so she needs a ride tomorrow. We’re gonna stay at my place.”

 

“All right,” Shoshannah said. “I’ll get dressed.”

 

The two of them put on clothes and packed up. They checked out of the Freehand and returned to the Mustang. Shane fired the engine and pulled out into traffic.

 

“I’m sorry, Shoshannah,” Shane said. “I wanted us to see South Bend.”

 

“It’s all right,” Shoshannah said. “I think we’ll have plenty of time to see it.”

 

He gave her a long glance of surprise.

 

Shoshannah smiled, shrugged.

 

“Does that mean…?”

 

“I think so,” she said with a nod.

 

Shane chuckled. “That made this night suck less.”

 

“Do you think we can check on my family on the way back into town?” Shoshannah asked.

 

“Of course. We’ll stop at the farm first.”

 

They took Interstate 90 out of Chicago and went back the way they came. They got off the interstate in Gary, Indiana, and they rode east on U.S. 6 until they approached Nappanee from the west, breaking off on the Plymouth Goshen Trail, just like they had the night they met, and they went to County Road 3. They made the turn south, and as they approached, Shane could already see that something was wrong.

 

Five motorcycles were parked next to the main gate of the Holtz family farm.

 

Shane pulled over to the side of the road and brought the Mustang to a stop.

 

“Shoshannah, wait here,” Shane said. “I’ll check it out.”

 

He got out of the car and hopped the gate, and he started his crouched run towards the house. As he approached it, he saw two silhouettes at the corner of the house, one of them holding something, shaking it, the other standing by. When he was close enough, he could make out the shapes, and better details. Jeans, denim vests with patches, motorcycle boots.

 

Bikers.

 

One of them had a gas can in his hands and was splashing fuel on the wall of the house. The other had a road flare in his hand. Shane put the math together and knew what was going down.

 

There was one more variable that came into play: the front door was open.

 

Someone else was inside.

 

He had to move quick.

 

Shane chose his target and gradually accelerated, closing his fist and getting ready to swing, but then the other biker lit the road flare. Shane changed targets and adjusted his angle of attack. He gained as much speed as he could, not slowing down as he cocked back his fist. As he got in range, he rotated his bodyweight into an overhand left that clobbered the biker holding the road flare in the back of the head, right at the base, where the skull met the spine. The blow was so sudden, so devastating that there was a loud CRACK on impact, and the biker pitched forward, the road flare still in his hand all the way to the ground. Shane leapt on him, throwing his weight on him to make sure that he didn’t get up again. He heard scrabbling bootsteps on gravel approaching him, and he scrambled to the right as the second biker lunged past him, missing him so close that he felt the air rush past.

 

Shane went for the most debilitating weapon he had.

 

As the gas-can biker got his bearings and started to turn around, he was met by Shane jamming the business end of the road flare into his cheek, between the corner of his eye and his ear. There was a loud sizzling noise and the immediate stink of burning flesh in the air as the biker wailed in anguish. Shane grabbed his vest and held him in place, burning the flare into his cheek for a good four seconds before releasing him and kicking him in the side of the knee, hobbling him. He cocked back his fist and delivered another overhand left, this one to the nose, folding him backward and laying him out next to his buddy.

 

Shane rifled through the two of them and found a massive D-cell Maglite. Perfect.

 

He ran around to the front of the house and got up on the porch, just as a third biker came into view in the doorway. He was so wide that he could barely go through it straight, and he had a Maglite in his hand as well.

 

The biker was surprisingly quick for his size, bringing his flashlight up and swinging in an overhand strike. Shane met blow for blow, deflecting the hit with his own pilfered Maglite and countering with an underhand right jab to his beer gut. The blow seemed to barely rock him, and the biker countered with a left hook that crashed into Shane’s cheek and sent him flailing off of the porch and face-first into the dirt. He scrambled up to his feet as the biker bounded off the porch and swung the flashlight in a tennis-style forehand attack. Shane blocked the blow with his Maglite and countered with an uppercut to the chin that wrenched his head back, but he came right back and was greeted with a max-power swing from Shane’s flashlight, bashing him on the ear. Both blows stunned him for a second, but the biker came right back and chopped at Shane with his flashlight in another overhand strike. Shane stepped in close and met the biker’s forearm with his own. He was so close that he could smell the beer and whiskey on his enemy’s breath.

 

Shane opened his left hand and let the flashlight fall out of it…into his right hand.

 

He grabbed the biker’s wrist, torqued it back, wound up with his right, and unleashed an uppercut swung with the Maglite that smashed into the biker’s chin. This time, his head wobbled from the blow, and Shane punished him with an overhand strike to the crown of the head. He jammed the heel of his hand into the biker’s Adam’s apple, making him gag and choke, and then Shane took his flashlight in both hands and delivered another powerhouse overhand strike that clocked him on the crown of the head.

 

He was still upright!

 

Shane grunted, cocked back his foot and unloaded a full-power kick to the gonads that would’ve made Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens blush. The kick left the biker cross-eyed and dropping to his knees. Shane closed his left fist, twisted back and threw a left hook that planted the biker in the ground. He scooped up the other flashlight and ran to the house.

 

“Isaac!” he called.

 

“Mr. Connelly?” Esther called as she came to the living room, her children behind her.

 

“Esther! What happened?”

 

“These men came into the house,” Esther said frantically. “One of them was from the market.”

 

“The potato salad guy.”

 

“Yes. They took Isaac and said they were going to teach him a lesson.”

 

“Did you see which way they took him?”

 

“Toward the barn.”

 

“I’ll go and get him.”

 

“I can help you,” Obadiah offered, stepping forward.

 

“You can help by staying with your family, Obadiah. Make sure the idiots outside don’t try anything.”

 

He ran out of the house as Shoshannah was coming up to it.

 

“Call the police,” Shane said without explanation as he rounded the corner of the house and broke out in a sprint. He hurtled past the house towards the back of the farm, and he could see a silhouette in front of the barn on the right, also with a road flare in his hand that he lit. At the same time, another biker came out of the barn, wiping off an ax handle with a cloth.

 

“Light it up!” he barked.

 

The other biker cocked his arm back and hurled the flare at the barn, landing at the corner on a bale of hay that was soaked in gasoline. It instantly flashed and ignited, the flames starting to lick at the corner of the barn.

 

Time wasn’t on his side. He had to take them down quick.

 

Shane veered to the biker that was facing him, and his eyes widened as he saw the young man barreling toward him. He got his ax handle up to swing, but Shane collided with him with the force of a freight train, taking the guy off of his feet and driving him into the ground. Shane raised his flashlight to strike, but the biker swung his ax handle and hit Shane on the chin, knocking him off. Shane rolled over as the other biker tried to kick him, and he rolled backward and away. The downed biker was still scrambling to stand, so he put his focus on the one that was standing, as he came at him swinging a chain with a combination lock on the end of it. Shane leaned away from it and steadied himself as the biker wound up the chain-lock combo and swung again. Shane went low, wound up a swing of his own and smashed his flashlight into the biker’s stomach. The guy was mostly skin and bones, so he felt the impact and doubled over in pain. Shane wound up for a backhand swing, but the biker swung the chain and the lock hit Shane on the cheek and sent him stumbling back.

 

He felt trickling in his mouth and spat.

 

Blood. He must’ve cut the inside of his mouth.

 

The lead biker got to his feet, slapping the business end of his ax handle in his palm.

 

The flames had reached the corner of the barn. They were snaking up the side of the building.

 

“You should’ve minded your own business, kid.”

 

Shane knew that he stood no chance if he let them attack first.

 

He reached back and hurled his left-hand flashlight at the skinny biker as he rushed the leader, who cocked back his ax handle and swung. Shane went low and swung for his knee with the fat end of his right-hand flashlight, landing the blow in the lead biker’s kneecap. The biker shouted in pain as Shane cocked back and drove his fist into the biker’s ribs in an underhand punch. He delivered another, and another, and another, and then he kicked the biker in the back of the knee. He wrapped his arm around the biker’s neck, raised the flashlight and brought it down on his opponent’s temple. He smashed it into the biker’s head again and stripped him of his ax handle as he let him drop.

 

The skinny biker roared as he swung the chain-lock combo. Shane took a half-step in and raised his left forearm. The chain wrapped around his arm, just what he wanted, and he tossed the ax handle to his right hand. He took hold of the chain and tugged, bringing the skinny biker stumbling forward as Shane chopped down on the poor guy’s clavicle with the thick end of the ax handle. Another nasty CRACK.

 

The biker howled in anguish as he flailed wildly to his knees, and Shane finished him off with a full-force swing to the side of the head. The biker went limp as the flames leapt to the front of the barn and covered the doorway in its entirety, creeping down to the doors themselves, still slightly ajar. Shane sprinted for the front door and slipped inside.

 

“Isaac! Isaac!” Shane called. “Isaac!”

 

He looked up and saw the flames creeping across the roof of the barn. It wouldn’t be long before the fire took out the crossbeams and brought the whole structure collapsing in on itself.

 

He went through the booths of stored food that would be lost to the flames, but he didn’t find the towering man.

 

“Isaac! Isaac!”

 

He got about halfway when he heard a human moan of pain amongst the crackling flames.

 

“Isaac?!”

 

Another moan. This one louder. Nearer to the back. He hustled there and searched the stalls.

 

He found him, lying on a pile of potatoes.

 

“Isaac!”

 

Isaac lolled his head to the side and let out a long, pained groan.

 

“Gotta get you outta here, man,” Shane said.

 

He grabbed his hands and pulled him up to his feet. He lowered himself as Isaac tipped forward and Shane caught him on his shoulder. Shane rose to his feet and started for the barn door, but halfway there, there was a cracking noise and the barn doors collapsed and crumbled into a pile that was too high and too hot to pass over.

 

“Shit,” Shane muttered, looking around frantically. “Come on, think. Think!”

 

He glanced up and saw something he hadn’t noticed before.

 

The hayloft door.

 

Scanning the barn, he found a ladder on the right side. He hustled to it and tested it to make sure that it wouldn’t collapse under their combined weight. When he was sure that it was stable, he began his one-handed ascent.

 

The smoke began to gather, encroaching on his nose and mouth, and Shane coughed as he climbed. He looked up and saw more smoke at the top of the barn. He knew it was a risk, but he had no choice. It was either risk the smoke and a bruise or two, maybe a broken bone, or risk the flame and being burned, possibly burned to death.

 

The smoke was choking him even more as he carried Isaac to the loft area. He stayed low, opting to crawl as he dragged Isaac with one hand. It was a long, lugubrious pace, agonizing even, but two costly minutes later, he reached the hayloft barn doors. He unlocked them, but then he realized something that his addled mind hadn’t thought of.

 

As soon as he opened the doors, the fire would possibly accelerate with the fresh air.

 

He then realized he had no choice.

 

With a pained grunt, he kicked the doors open, and he heard a rush of air.

 

The flames were chasing them across the loft floor as Shane dragged Isaac to the edge, just as Esther and the rest of the Holtz family ran up to see the barn ablaze. At the back, he saw Shoshannah.

 

“Shane!” she cried.

 

Shane grunted, pulling Isaac to the edge of the hayloft barn doors. He lined him up parallel and shoved him out. He tumbled in midair and landed on his back.

 

He inched to the edge of the hayloft and prepped himself to jump, but then he heard the groaning of wood, and the floor collapsed from under him, sending him flailing onto the impromptu bonfire and crashing back into the barn. More of the loft area collapsed on top of him, a fully-ablaze beam landing on his back. Shane screamed as he crawled out from under it, pushing it off. He fought for more air but only found more smoke.

 

“Shane!” Shoshannah screamed from outside.

 

Groaning, he hauled himself to his feet with the last of his strength and looked around. He covered his mouth and nose with his shirt, but it did nothing.

 

The flames were surrounding him on all sides, red-orange and searing, his skin feeling like he was in a sauna from hell. The fire was starting to encroach, and he looked through the pile at the silhouettes he could see through the shimmering heat.

There had to be another way out. There had to be.

 

He limped to the back of the barn, looking for any opening he could find, but there was none.

 

The fire was growing hotter. It wouldn’t be long before he was swallowed in it.

 

But then he took in a breath—whatever oxygen he could find—and a single word determinedly resonated in his mind.

 

No.

 

Sirens wailed as the police, fire department, and emergency medical services came up the drive of the Holtz family farm, racing to the burning barn.

 

“Here! Here!” Obadiah called, waving his arms. “Help! Help! There’s a man in there!”

 

The firefighters sprang into action like the synchronized teams they were meant to be, reading the hoses and aiming them at the barn. They activated the pumps and began expending their water reserves, spraying the barn with two cones of water.

 

“Shane!” Shoshannah cried. “Shane, hold on!”

 

The roof of the barn began to buckle, and there was a loud groan of failing wood.

 

“No, no, no, no…”

 

There was an awful cracking sound, and the spine of the barn began bowing in.

 

“No!”

 

Then, inevitably, the roof gave way with a horrific crackling noise, and it collapsed inward, folding in and crashing down to the ground, the walls still upright.

 

“SHANE!!!”

 

There was no sign of him. No sounds but the burning barn crackling in the night air.

 

Shoshannah dropped to her knees and sobbed.

 

But then Joanna pointed and shouted, “Look!”

 

They all looked in the direction the second-youngest daughter of the Holtz family was pointing, and they saw someone shambling away from the barn.

 

It was Shane.

 

He was clutching one smoking, sizzling arm, bleeding from his head and barely upright, but it was him. He was limping as far as he could, until he got about fifty feet away from them before dropping to the ground with a groan.

 

“SHANE!” Shoshannah cried as she ran to him, followed by a cadre of EMTs.

 

Shane slipped into darkness, Shoshannah’s voice calling after him.

 

When he opened his eyes again, he found sunlight pouring into his face, and he sighed deeply. He shifted around a little, and he felt something sticky on his arm.

 

He slowly turned his head over and saw it. Gauze. A lot of gauze, from his elbow to his shoulder. His cheeks throbbed ever so slightly, and his forehead as well, and his back. He took in a breath and hacked a cough.

 

“Shane,” the voice said.

 

He swung his head the other way, back into the light, and he saw her face, framed by the daylight, turning her angelic and ethereal, though she didn’t need the light behind her to look that way. She already was in his eyes.

 

“Shoshannah…?”

 

“Hi, Shane,” Shoshannah said softly. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Uh…hurt.”

 

He tried to rise.

 

“No, no, no, don’t try to get up,” she insisted gently, holding his shoulders. “You’re…you were pretty badly hurt.”

 

“Uh…where…where…?”

 

“You’re in Elkhart Hospital,” she said. “You were flown here in a helicopter. They took you into surgery to treat your burns.”

 

“Is…is that all?”

 

The door opened and Shane swung his head over to see his mother and sister coming into the room.

 

“He just woke up!” Shoshannah said.

 

“Shane,” Lainie said, coming to the bed and gently hugging him.

 

“Hey, Mom,” he whispered, hugging her fiercely with his good arm.

 

“Oh, my God, are you all right?”

 

Shane shrugged. Winced. “Well…we’ll see. Find out…what they said?”

 

“You have first-degree burns on your upper arm from the fire,” Lainie said. “And you have some bruises and a concussion from the fall and the fights with the bikers.”

 

“What…happened?”

 

“The bikers are in the jail ward in Kosciusko Community Hospital. The police said that you saved the Holtz family.”

 

“He really did,” Shoshannah said.

 

“Wait…” Shane took in a long breath. “Where’s Isaac?”

 

The door opened and the man himself stepped in.

 

“It’s like you read my mind.”

 

“No, I was…standing outside the door,” Isaac confessed, “with your family. We didn’t want to overwhelm you so soon.”

 

“I appreciate that,” Shane said, gaining strength. “How are you doing?”

 

“I’m going to be all right,” Isaac said. “I have a few bruises from the fall out of the hayloft and the hit on the head, but it was worth it if it meant that I got to be here.”

 

Shane nodded.

 

“Could I have a moment to speak with Shane alone?” Isaac requested.

 

“Of course,” Lainie said. “We’ll be right outside, honey.”

 

“Okay, Mom,” Shane replied.

 

Jenna gave him a long hug before she joined Shoshannah and Lainie in the hallway, closing the door behind her. Isaac seated himself next to the bed in the chair in the room.

 

“How are you, son?” Isaac asked.

 

“I’ll live,” Shane answered softly. “I get the feeling I’m going to be here for a little while.”

 

“Better that you’re here than gone from this world forever.”

 

Shane nodded. “True that.” He sighed deeply. Coughed once. “How’s the farm?”

 

Isaac sighed dejectedly. “The barn is destroyed,” he said. “And we have lost a great deal of the food we had in storage for the winter. The community has come to our aid, and they’ve donated to us.”

 

“What about the barn?”

 

“We’ll rebuild it,” Isaac said with a confident nod. “It will be a little while, but we intend to rebuild in December.”

Shane chuckled. “I’ve never been to a barn-raising. Never helped build one. I’d like to, if you’ll have me.”

 

“If you’re well enough to do so, then I would be grateful to have you. Many hands make light work, after all.”

Shane nodded. “How are you doing? Really?”

 

“Really?” Isaac let out a little sigh. “I’m grateful. I’m grateful that you were there. If you hadn’t shown up…my nine children would be without their father today. Perhaps we would all be with the Lord if not for you. Those men could’ve killed us all. But…you were there.”

 

Isaac took a beat. Gathered his thoughts.

 

“When I was laying in my hospital bed, I was thinking about everything that happened since you came to town. You were there when those bikers came to my booth and raised trouble. You were there when they came back to do my family harm. You fought for us. Unflinchingly and unrelentingly. And…you almost sacrificed your life to save me. And that is not something I can ignore.”

Shane said nothing.

 

“I believe…I believe it so strongly that God put you there. An angel on earth.”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Shane said, chuckling. “An ex-con earthbound angel.”

 

“Angels have many faces, Shane. And they can be anyone. Even…a rebellious young man from Indianapolis.”

 

Shane’s brows rose. “Not a boy?”

 

Isaac sighed. “I sat with your mother for a while. Prayed with her. And…I don’t know what came over me, perhaps it was the Lord speaking to me, but I asked your mother about you. About your past. And she told me the story. The entire story. She told me about what you did to defend your sister, and the sacrifice you made.”

 

He laid his hand on top of Shane’s.

 

“I misjudged you, son. I misjudged you greatly. You are most certainly not a boy. You are a man who has taken care of his family for a long time. You’re a young man who’s fought for his family, and now you’ve fought for mine as well. So, thank you, Shane. Thank you for being there. For putting your life on the line.”

 

Shane turned over his hand and shook Isaac’s gently.

 

“It was my pleasure,” he said. “Isaac…I am so sorry that I lied to you. I shouldn’t have. I should’ve been upfront with you about my feelings for your daughter, and I wasn’t. Perhaps I was scared, perhaps I wasn’t sure how I was feeling at first, but it’s no excuse. I should’ve come to you, man to man, and told you what I was feeling about her. I am sorry about the way I handled things. I hope you can forgive me.”

 

“I already have, Shane,” Isaac said. “And I know that you’ll protect Shoshannah just as you protected the rest of us.”

Shane’s face betrayed his mild confusion. “Shoshannah…?”

 

“She has decided to join your world,” Isaac revealed. “She wants a life with you, though she can always come and visit us. I just hope and pray that she’ll be safe in this world, but I’m put at ease by the fact that she’ll have you in it.”

 

Shane nodded. “I promise you, Isaac, I will do everything to keep her safe, especially when she is with me.”

 

“I know you will. And…as a token of my gratitude, when you go home, there’ll be some of our homemade potato salad waiting for you.”

 

Shane smiled. “I’ll probably heal a lot faster when I get home.”

 

The two of them shared a laugh.

 

Six days later, Shane went home to Nappanee to continue resting. The Connellys and the Holtzes had made the decision to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner together, which was coming up soon. Shane also planned to go back to work soon, not wanting to spend any more time laid up doing nothing.

 

Two days after he left the hospital, he was back at work, making up for his time away as much as he could, taking as much overtime as he could, going as hard as he could, until Darrell told him to go home one Saturday because he was, quote, “making everyone else look bad,” considering that he had “just gotten out of the hospital after saving lives and beating the piss out of a gang of bikers.” He told him to take Monday off as well.

 

On Sunday, as the Connellys rested at home, prepping for Thanksgiving dinner, a knock came to the front door, and Shane bounded to the front door to answer it.

 

Shoshannah was there, on the other side.

 

“Hey!” he exclaimed happily. “This is a nice surprise.”

 

“I’m glad it’s a nice surprise,” Shoshannah said. “I wanted to surprise you. I thought it would make up for me not being there for you this past week.”

 

“It’s fine. I know you were…dealing with things with your family. Is everyone okay?”

 

“They are,” Shoshannah said. “Can I come in?”

 

“Of course!”

 

Shoshannah stepped inside.

 

“I have some good news,” she said. “I moved out. I’m living with Chloe’s family for now. And I’m working at the coffee shop in town.”

 

“Wow. That’s a lot all at once.”

 

“That’s not all I’m doing. I’m…studying for my G.E.D., so that I can go to college with Chloe, Brenda and Taylor.”

 

“Where are they going?”

 

“Uh, Purdue University.”

 

“Oh, not bad.”

 

“Chloe says I could get a scholarship if I can pass my G.E.D. tests. She thinks I have a good shot, so…I’m going to try. But…whether or not I do, they’re going to get a house and I’m going to live with them.”

 

“So…it sounds like you’re going to be living in Lafayette next year.”

 

“That’s the plan,” Shoshannah said with a growing smile.

 

“Well…that’s only an hour from Indy.”

 

“That’s the point,” Shoshannah said, coming closer. “This time next year, hopefully, we’ll be close enough that we can still see each other.”

 

“You don’t have to hope,” Shane said as he wrapped his arms around her. “I promised your father that I would do what I could to look out for you. I intend to keep that promise.”

 

“I know you will.”

 

“Wow,” Shane said, looking down at her. “A lot of changes.”

 

“Can you handle one more?”

 

“I’ll try,” Shane said, chuckling.

 

“I’m going to change my name. Legally.”

 

“You are? Let me take a guess. You’re going to call yourself…Hannah from now on.”

 

Hannah nodded.

 

“I like it.”

 

He bent down and kissed her softly.

 

“I love you, Hannah,” Shane murmured.

 

“And I love you, Shane.”

 

She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him back as he lightly shoved the door, letting it swing closed.