Page 69 of Prodigal Son

“Oh, please.” The girl sounded like Cain’s sister. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Dane.”

“That man is twice your size, Grace.”

“Size isn’t everything.”

Destiny hid behind the outhouse door, trying to determine which direction their voices were coming from. With everything so open, their words echoed off the house.

“They shouldn’t be here,” the boy, Dane, snapped.

“And why not? They have as much right to be here as you and Cybil do!”

“We live here.”

“Not in this house, you don’t. And even so, you’re as temporary as the ducks at the pond. Eventually you’ll migrate somewhere else.”

Dane and Cybil weren’t Amish? Destiny thought there were rules forbidding such things. Maybe she misunderstood and there was hope for her and Cain after all.

Realizing how quickly her mind had spun into the unlikely, she reeled her emotions in. That guy was a cart and buggy booty call. Nothing more.

“As long as my sister is here, I’m staying. She’s all I have left.”

Destiny sucked in a sharp breath, making the connection. Dane and Cybil. They were the Foster children.

What the heck were they doing here? Maybe that was why she’d run into Cain at their mother’s funeral. Maybe they were somehow related or old family friends.

“That doesn’t make you one of us,” Grace snapped.

“Well, it makes this my home, so you best accept me being around.”

“As long as you accept that you and I are nothing, and you have no right to dictate how I live my life.”

“Nothing?” he sneered.

“Yes, nothing, Dane. Friends. That is all.”

They were silent for a beat and Destiny wondered if they walked off, then Dane said, “Keep lying to yourself, Gracie. I know what you’re thinking. I know more than you realize.”

“You don’t know everything. And stay out of my head! Regardless of what I think, I’m saving myself for the male whom God chooses for me. I know for a fact that isn’t you.”

“Fine,” he said quietly. “But that guy in there is even less of your type so keep your distance.”

“As if I would do anything of that nature with Cain in the house.”

“Cain’s never around long.”

His final words resonated through Destiny. The reasons why Cain was meaningless kept compiling.

First, Cain was Amish, something she was pretty certain a person had to be born into. Second, he apparently had the reputation of a flight risk. Leave it to her to fall for the one Amish player in all of Lancaster.

When it was clear the two arguing had stormed off, Destiny returned to the house. Gracie was back in the kitchen, but not wearing her earlier smile.

Cain signed something to Cybil and whispered, “Be nice.” Then he held up his hand in a sign that Destiny recognized as a universal symbol for I love you.

The little girl’s cheeks tinted with pink and a dimple appeared at the endearment. Then her stare narrowed on Destiny and she frowned.

Grace withdrew a book from the kitchen shelf. “ It’s time for your lesson, Cybil.”

Surprisingly, the little girl responded to Gracie’s spoken words without looking directly at her. Perhaps she wasn’t deaf at all, but mute. Destiny recalled her interviews with the police and how they mentioned the victim’s children had been quiet.

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