Amish Breaking Point by Samantha Price Read Free Book Online Page B

knew what happened to make his grandfather leave the Amish all those years ago. “I have no idea; even his sisters don’t seem to know why he left.”
    Crowley said nothing and slurped his coffee loudly. Then Crowley leaned back into his high-backed swivel chair.
    Bailey placed his mug down on the desk after taking a sip. “I’ve always meant to ask you. How did you come to know Elsa-May and Ettie?”
    “They’ve helped me and I’ve helped them. Have done so for a number of years now.”
    Bailey did not press Crowley for more information figuring he’d find out another day. For now, the only thing he was interested in was finding his mother and his father. “I won’t hold you up. I’ll give you the phone number of where I’m staying. It’s my friend, Jack’s house.” Bailey scribbled the phone number down and handed it to the detective.
    “Very good, I’ll look into it later today.”
    “Thanks, Crowley. I appreciate it.”
    Bailey looked at the clock on the side of Detective Crowley’s office. He had enough time to get to Elsa-May and Ettie’s house before he had to get the buggy back to Jack and Pamela.
     
    * * *
     
    “Bailey, this is a nice surprise. Elsa-May, Bailey’s here.” Ettie called out to her older schweschder while pulling Bailey into the small haus and shutting the door. “Tea?”
    “ Jah , tea would be nice.” Bailey sat in a hard wooden chair while Ettie disappeared into the kitchen.
    Elsa-May flurried into the room. “ Wie Ghet’s ?”
    “I’m well, aunty, and you?”
    “Fine, what brings you here?”
    “I’ve a few questions for you and Ettie.”
    Elsa-May nodded. “Well, we’ll wait for Ettie to come back with the tea. How are you enjoying staying with Jack?”
    Bailey’s limbs still had not become accustomed to the hard work of the farm. He wondered how Jack could do it all, day in and day out. “I’m enjoying staying there, but it’s hard work on the farm. Even Pamela has a huge workload, not just looking after the children, there are the pigs, the chooks, the vegetables, and I don’t know how either of them do it.”
    “The life of a farmer is a hard one, but it’s good to bring children up on a farm so they can work hard and learn to cooperate with people.”
    Ettie hurried in with a pot of meadow tea and three teacups and saucers. She set it down on a small table and began to pour the tea. “I heard you say to Elsa-May that you have questions for us.” Ettie handed him his tea.
    “ Denke, ant .” Bailey took a deep breath, balancing the tea on his knees. “I’ve some questions about my grandfather and my parents.”
    Elsa-May and Ettie looked at each other.
    “Is there something that you’re not telling me?”
    “You haven’t asked us anything yet,” Elsa-May said.
    Bailey wondered what they knew that they were being cagey about; he knew that they knew something. “First thing I’ve always wanted to know is why did my grandfather leave the Amish and never go back to visit his family? Was he shunned?”
    Elsa-May glanced at Ettie and said, “ Nee ; he wasn’t shunned.”
    “Then why? He would take me back to his family’s land, and we fished in the old creek. If he loved the land so much, why wouldn’t he stop by to visit his familye ?”
    Ettie opened her mouth to speak, but Elsa-May butted in. “He was stubborn. He made the decision to leave, and he might have thought if he went back, even just for a visit, someone might try and talk him into staying.”
    Elsa-May stared at him, and Bailey looked to Ettie, who put her teacup up to her lips and took a sip. He wondered if that were true, or was there something that they were leaving out?
    “So, he left and sometime later he got married and had my mother?” Bailey took a sip of tea.
    Elsa-May said, “We had no contact with him after he left.”
    “Your mother contacted us though,” Ettie said.
    Elsa-May turned and glared at her schweschder.
    “Well, he’s got a right to know, Elsa-May,