Her Brother's Keeper by Beth Wiseman Page B

had on the playground one time. This was a side of Hannah that Charlotte hadn’t seen before.
    Charlotte stuffed her hands in the pockets of her black apron as she raised an eyebrow. “Maybe. Your mother said I should extend my stay.” Even though there was no way she would stay here any longer than she needed to, she was just irritated enough to meet Hannah on the playground. “We might hit it off. You never know.”
    Then Hannah spoke to her in Dutch, all the while wagging her finger and frowning. Charlotte recalled the story she’d made up during worship service. She had lucked out the past couple of days during meals. Jacob had done most of the talking, in English, about a space documentary that was coming on television next week. His parents were refusing to let him go to a friend’s house to watch it even though he was in his running-around period, or rumschpringe , as they called it.
    Charlotte knew she had a deer-in-the-headlights look, but she was trying to organize her thoughts before she just blurted something.
    â€œWho are you, Mary Troyer?” Hannah took a step closer to her. “You did not understand anything I just said, and it wonders me why that might be.”
    Think, think. Be careful. Get it straight. She hung her head for a few moments, before she sat down in a kitchen chair and lowered her palms to the table in front of her. “I’m so sorry I’ve been deceitful.” This was going to require the best acting she’d ever done. Normally, she despised lying. “I’m-I’m just embarrassed. I became Amish late in life, and by the time I was welcomed into my Amish family, I had a hard time latching on to the dialect. So everyone made an effort to help me out by using English around me.”
    Then Charlotte told Hannah the part of the story that was actually true, how her parents were abusive, but she omitted the part about having a brother or about being in foster care. She wasn’t sure how much Ethan had shared with Hannah, and she feared Hannah might make the connection. “I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I left. I knew my great-aunt had married an Amish man, so I ran away to their house in Texas. They took me in, and I was baptized into the faith when I was nineteen.”
    Hannah slipped into the chair across from Charlotte, her eyes round as saucers, and reached for Charlotte’s hands. “ Ach, mei cousin. Why didn’t you tell us? How awful for you.” Hannah shook her head. “I feel badly that so much of the time, you couldn’t understand what we were saying. I am so ashamed for testing you.”
    â€œIt’s okay.” Charlotte pushed the truths about her past from her mind, hoping she’d be able to keep all her lies straight.
    â€œNee, nee. It is not okay.” Hannah kept her hands on Charlotte’s as she spoke. “Someone very close to me was also abused by his parents, and then later at the hands of his Englisch caretakers. It was heartbreaking to hear him talk of his stay with strangers. Foster care, he called it.” She paused, sighed. “And it’s a shame that this kind of thing happens everywhere. Even here.” Hannah paused again, a faraway look in her eyes. She blinked a few times, pulled her hands away, and leaned back against the chair. “He died almost a year ago. Mamm said she told you what happened. But before that, he said that coming here and learning about the Lord saved him.” She smiled. “He used to say that I completed him, a line from one of his favorite movies, which of course I’d never seen. His name was Ethan, and he also became Amish late in life.”
    Saved him? He killed himself. Charlotte was surprised that Ethan had told Hannah about those two years, since he’d never talked to Charlotte about it. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know the details, but she’d always wondered. “I’m sorry about your