Page 8 of The Pretender (Mifflin County Mysteries #3)

Norman’s stomach tightened. He was stunned by this news but also relieved. After all these months of hearing nothing from his sister, he’d finally accepted the fact that she must be dead and they would never see her again.

“I’m eager to see Rosa and meet her husband.”

“Figured you would be, and I guess your mamm thought so too. She asked me to invite you and Salina to join us for supper this evening. Will you be free to come, or have you made other plans?”

Norman shook his head. “No plans that I know of. I’ll call Salina and let her know right away. What time should we be there, Dad?”

“We’ll probably eat by six thirty, but feel free to come earlier if you like.”

“Okay.”

“I need to get my paperwork done and head back home to study for tomorrow. My driver will be back to pick me up soon.” Dad headed for the back of the store and disappeared into his office.

Susan nudged Norman’s arm. “You’d better be prepared for when you see Rosa tonight.”

“Prepared for what?”

“Rosa doesn’t look like she used to.”

“In what way?”

“She wears English clothes now, and her hair is much shorter.” Susan held her hand against her shoulder. “On top of that, there’s something about the guy Rosa married that Dad doesn’t like.”

“Such as?”

“For one thing, he wears a dark leather jacket and looks like he belongs on the back of a motorcycle, not on the brink of becoming a father.”

Norman’s mouth dropped open. “Rosa’s expecting a baby?”

“That’s right.” Susan’s lips curled. “I think the only reason they showed up at our place is because her husband’s out of a job and they don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Did they say that?”

“Well, no, but—”

The bell above the door jingled and a young English couple entered the store. Norman had to do a double take when the young couple moved toward him, and the woman held her arms outstretched.

“Rosa?”

“Yes, it’s me, in the flesh.”

“Dad told me you had come back, but I could hardly believe it.” Norman gave his sister a hug, and then he stepped back to study her hair and clothing.

“Wow, you’ve really changed, Rosa. You definitely don’t look Amish anymore.

” Before she could respond, he turned to the young man who stood near Rosa and extended his hand.

“I’m Rosa’s brother Norman. And I’m guessing you must be my sister’s husband. ”

“Uh, yeah. My name is Anthony Reeves.” He gave Norman’s hand a hearty shake. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same here.”

Rosa swiped at the moisture on her cheeks. “I’m really sorry for everything I put our family through during my absence.”

“Yeah, some of us thought you were dead, and our poor mom was really a wreck. You shouldn’t have put her through that, Rosa.” Susan got right in their sister’s face, causing Rosa to take a step back.

“I told you all last night that I’d left a note and also some messages on the recorder in our folks’ phone shed.”

Susan gave a huff. “Yeah, so you said.”

“What I said was true. When no one responded to my messages, I finally gave up, thinking I had been disowned for good.”

A mixture of thoughts swirled through Norman’s head.

During Rosa’s absence, he remembered that he’d seen Susan in the phone shed several times and she’d acted strangely when he’d questioned her about it.

He really wanted to discuss this with Susan right now, but he figured it would be best to wait until they were alone to quiz her on this topic.

That evening when Norman and Salina came for supper, the joy Elsie had felt since Rosa returned to them increased.

How wonderful it was to have their whole family together around the dining room table.

And the addition of Rosa’s husband made it even more complete.

Despite what Mahlon thought, Anthony seemed like a nice man.

The only flies in the ointment were that he wasn’t Amish and apparently Rosa still had no desire to join their church.

If she did, wouldn’t she be wearing one of the Amish dresses in her bedroom closest instead of a pair of jeans and a T-shirt?

Did she enjoy dressing in what Elsie considered to be men’s apparel?

I hope Rosa and Anthony remain here in Belleville and don’t move back to New York, Elsie thought.

It would be so hard to see them go, and once their baby comes, we would rarely see the child unless they came back here for a visit.

I can’t imagine that Mahlon would ever hire a driver to take us to the big city to see our daughter whom he has still not truly accepted.

Elsie looked at Norman and Salina, sitting on the other side of the table with smiles on their faces as they conversed with Rosa and her husband.

After all the time Norman had spent fruitlessly searching for his sister, he could have been bitter about not hearing anything from her during the time she’d been gone.

If he was upset with Rosa, he certainly hadn’t let on.

Alvin and Tena had seemed happy to have Rosa back too, but not so with Susan, which saddened Elsie.

She glanced to her right, where Susan sat with slumped shoulders and not a hint of a smile on her face.

What a shame her daughter didn’t seem the least bit happy to have her sister back.

Elsie wondered if it might have something to do with Susan having to give up the room she’d been occupying in Rosa’s absence.

Elsie remembered well how Susan had asked numerous times if she could move her things into Rosa’s old room.

At first, the answer had been no, but Elsie had finally given in and allowed Susan to do as she wished, but with the understanding that if Rosa ever came back, the room would be hers again.

Susan will just have to get used to it and stop being resentful, Elsie told herself. Life is too short to hold grudges.