When Secrets Strike. Marta Perry

he was, that it might be painful to know the truth?

      But it was senseless to worry about the results. Truth was always best.

      “Denke, Sarah. Your common sense was just what I needed today.” He glanced around, realizing how far they’d walked. “Where are we going?”

      Sarah chuckled. “I’m going to visit Julia Everly. I don’t know where you’re going.”

      He laughed, clasping her hand for an instant. “Where is my head? I’ve been that ferhoodled with worrying about Jonah. I’d best get on my way home.” He turned back the way they’d come.

      * * *

      SARAH WAS STILL thinking about that conversation with Aaron as she turned onto the quiet residential street where Julia Everly lived—not that any street in town was ever very busy, except during a special event like the annual spring fair. The ridge that gave the town its name rose sharply where the street ended, dark green now in midsummer, seeming to guard the town below, keeping its people safe.

      Surely Jonah couldn’t be involved in setting fires. Impossible. Aaron had seen that as soon as she’d pointed it out to him. Still, she could understand the nightmare fears that sometimes overtook one in the wee hours of the morning.

      Aaron always seemed to feel responsible for the younger ones. She could understand his attitude. She felt the same about her young brothers. Most likely the age gap between him and Jonah made it difficult for Jonah to confide in him, especially about something as sensitive as the boy’s rumspringa activities. Well, maybe the fact that Aaron hadn’t given him away to their father last night would help matters between them.

      Things had changed so much in her life in just the past few days—since she’d spotted the smoke announcing the fire at Julia’s barn, in fact. Normally, despite the fact that they lived so close, she wouldn’t see much of Aaron except at worship on alternate Sundays, or when everyone pitched in to help with the haying. She’d seen him more often this week than she had in the previous month.

      It should become easier with repetition, shouldn’t it? Well, it didn’t. She couldn’t see him without feeling the jump in her pulse and the longing in her heart.

      And now to be committed to working closely with him on the festival project—how had she gotten into this predicament? He’d been trying to help her, most likely. And it was just as likely that Allison, who knew her secret, thought it a great idea to throw the two of them together. Sarah had to admit that just the thought of being with him that much sent her nerves singing.

      Julia’s house was just ahead, and she gave herself a mental shake. It was time to stop fretting about her own wayward heart and concentrate on something else.

      When Julia had phoned the shop earlier, she’d sounded triumphant. She’d gotten rid of Donna for the morning, she’d said, and she wanted Sarah to come over and search for her stored quilts without, apparently, having to argue with her cousin about it.

      The woman had sounded like her usual feisty self, and Sarah thought again that Donna must be wrong about Julia failing mentally. Donna was one of those people who always saw the worst in every situation, and she was probably just taking an unduly pessimistic view of things.

      The flower borders along Julia’s front porch were crowded with marigolds, snapdragons and dahlias. They were all drooping, looking as if they could do with a drink of water. Sarah would offer to water them before she left.

      She pushed the doorbell and then opened the unlocked front door, not wanting the elderly woman to struggle from her chair. “Julia?”

      “In here. Come on in.” Julia sounded stronger today, probably delighting in having outwitted the cousin she considered interfering.

      Sarah found her in the usual chair, her walker on one side and a tray table in front of her with a laptop computer on it.