Holly And Mistletoe. Susan Mallery

the main road and toward the nearest available phone.

      “Where is your vadder?” Jacob asked.

      “Over here,” she said. He accompanied her past the main house to where her father had fallen.

      Jacob felt his heart beat faster as he saw the ladder, which looked like it would topple over. He noted the danger to Joe, who lay on the ground a few feet away. “Hold on, Joe!” He rushed to move the piece of equipment a safe distance from the dawdi haus before he returned quickly to hunker down near the injured man’s head. “Joe?” he said softly. His fear rose when the man didn’t immediately respond.

      “Dat!” Annie sobbed, clearly terrified. “Dat, open your eyes—say something! Please!” She touched her father’s cheek. “Dat, Jacob Lapp is here. Isaac has gone for help.”

      Joe’s eyelashes fluttered and then opened. “Annie?”

      Annie crouched next to Jacob. “Ja, Dat! Jacob and me. What hurts?”

      “My leg,” he gasped.

      Joe tried to rise, then cried out and reached toward his left leg. Jacob immediately stopped him. “Nay. Don’t move. You could injure yourself more.”

      Joe leaned back and closed his eyes. “Burns,” he whispered. “Feels like fire.”

      “Hold on.” Jacob’s gaze met Annie’s. “An ambulance will be here soon,” he assured her.

      Her blue eyes glistening with tears, she nodded. “I didn’t know what to do.”

      “You did the right thing, leaving him be to get help.” Jacob felt a little catch as he studied her. He’d never seen her looking so vulnerable. He rose to his feet and offered her his hand. She appeared reluctant to take it and rose without help.

      It seemed like forever, but it must have been only ten minutes till they heard the ambulance siren. Jacob managed a smile. “Help has come.”

      “Thanks be to God,” she prayed. He could see that she was trying to pull herself together.

      The ambulance drove closer, rumbling over the dirt lane toward the house. “It was just you and Horseshoe Joe home?” Jacob asked softly, using the nickname that Annie’s father went by in the community.

      “Ja. Grossmudder and Grossdaddi wanted to visit family in New Wilmington. Mam, Barbara and Peter went with them.”

      “And Josiah?”

      Watching as the ambulance pulled into the yard and stopped, Annie hugged herself with her arms. “At the Kings. He left to see Nancy early this morning.”

      “When Isaac comes, I’ll send him to tell your brother.” Jacob noted her shiver and studied her with a frown. “Are you cold?”

      “Nay,” she whispered. “I’m fine.”

      He could see that she wasn’t, but he kept silent. Jacob glanced downward and saw blood along the side of her left foot. “You’re hurt!” he exclaimed, upset for not noticing before.

      “’Tis nothing,” she assured him.

      The ambulance had stopped, and three men climbed out of the vehicle. Jacob approached to explain the situation to them and then took the men to Joe before he returned to Annie. “You should have someone look at your foot.”

       “Nay—”

      “Let me see it,” he said firmly. She seemed taken aback by his brusqueness, but she obeyed and raised her left foot. He hissed at what he saw. “Now the other one.” The right foot looked as bad as the left. The bottoms of both her feet were scratched and bleeding; the soles looked angry and sore. “What did you do to yourself?” he said gently. Running barefoot, she must have stepped on broken glass.

      “Dat fell. I couldn’t worry about shoes!” she cried, almost angrily.

      Jacob nodded. “I know. I would have done the same thing. But now that your father is getting help, you must take care of yourself. Your dat is going to need you. You don’t want to get an infection and be ill, do you?”

      His words seemed to calm her. She sniffed as she met his gaze. “Nay.”

      “I’ll run inside and get something for you to wear on your feet.” He turned to leave. “I’ll just speak with these men first to see if they can take a quick look—”

      “Jacob!” Annie’s call stopped him in his strides.

      He spun back. “Ja?”

      “Don’t bother the men. They’re helping Dat. I can wait. You’ll find black socks in the laundry basket in my grosseldre’s kitchen. I did their laundry but haven’t put it away yet.” She gestured toward her grandparents’ cottage. “And my grossmudder’s old sneakers are by the back door. We wear the same size shoe. I can wear those.”

      Jacob studied her, noting the anxiety playing on her lovely features, the look of fear in her glistening blue eyes. Tendrils of blond hair had escaped from beneath her white prayer kapp. She wore a full-length black apron over a lavender dress. Jacob noticed the way her bottom lip quivered, as if she was ready to break down and cry. But she didn’t. She remained strong.

      “I’ll get you the socks,” he said softly. Inside the dawdi haus, he found the pair of socks right where she told him they would be. He grabbed them and the navy sneakers, brought them outside and handed them to her. “Your dat’s in gut hands, Annie. These men know what they’re doing.” She nodded. “They’ll get him to the hospital. You’ll need to go there, as well.”

      “Ja,” she said, glancing toward where the men bent over her father. She held on to the socks he’d given her but made no effort to put them on.

      “Do you need help?” he asked quietly.

      “Nay. I can do it.” But she didn’t move. She watched the men working on her father.

      “Annie,” he said. “Do you need help?” Without waiting for her answer, Jacob gently took the socks from her and hunkered down near her feet. “Hold on to my shoulder.”

      He tried not to think about the fact that he was holding Annie’s bare foot as he carefully pulled on the first sock and then the second one. Within seconds, he felt satisfied that her injured feet would be protected. He rose and, without meeting her glance as she bent to put on the shoes, turned to watch the ambulance workers.

      As two men lifted Joe onto a stretcher, the driver approached them. “Are you relatives?” he asked.

      “I am,” Annie said as she straightened. “I’m his daughter.”

      “We’ve secured his neck in a brace, and we’ve done what we could for him. It looks like he may have fractured his leg. We’ll be taking him to General Hospital. They’ll do X-rays and check for other injuries.” The dark-haired man wore a white shirt and pants and a white jacket embroidered with the red insignia of the ambulance company. “Do you want to ride with us?” he asked Annie.

      She hesitated. “Ja.”

      “That’s fine,” Jacob said. “We’ll make sure Josiah gets to the hospital.”

      A car rumbled down the dirt drive and stopped near the main farmhouse. As Jacob approached the vehicle, the door on the driver’s side opened and Bob Whittier stepped out. “Isaac called from the store,” he said. “Rick Martin was there. Your brother told us what happened.” He paused, studied the scene. “Do you need a lift to the hospital?”

      Jacob shot Annie a quick glance. “Annie’s going in the ambulance with Joe. I’ll take the ride.” The kind Englisher nodded and Jacob returned to Annie’s side. “I’m going to follow behind the ambulance with Bob.”