Ties That Bind Read Online Free Page A

passed, anger grew—anger at Quill, at herself, and at the fact that the grass outside the Amish community looked greener for far too many.
    She’d told him plenty, perhaps more than he deserved, so she headed for the kitchen. When she reached the end of the hallway and had the front door in sight, she heard the floor creak behind her. After stopping short, she waited.
    The home seemed to fill with their voices and laughter from years ago. She and Quill had been buds of sorts—she the tomboy little sister of Quill’s friend, and Quill the daredevil who schemed to find new ways to endanger his life.
    But the laughter had stopped when his Daed died unexpectedly. She’d been almost fourteen, and their games and hilarity ended like a match thrown into a sink of water. After that, she would sit with him in an empty hay wagon or on the porch steps or in the tree house or on a rock by the creek and listen as he shared memory after memory of his Daed and him—the good and the difficult. She’d thought she knew Quill.
    Later she realized that because he was nearly five years older than she was, he’d had the upper hand. He knew her well, but she’d known only whatever he let her know. Then he’d used her feelings for him to get what he wanted—a way to hide that he and Frieda were planning to leave the Amish.
    “You’re good to her.” His voice was deeper than it’d been when he’d left here at barely twenty, and his accent was closer to the Englisch. “Even better than I’d hoped.”
    Fresh chills ran over her skin, and her eyes pricked with tears. The memory of their last hour together flashed in her mind. She and Frieda had been camping out near the creek. Ariana used to love camping out, but she’d not been since that night. When she’d awakened the next morning, Frieda was gone. A note addressed to Ariana lay on Frieda’s sleeping bag, saying she and Quill had left the Amish and she was sorry to hurt Ariana like this.
    After reading it Ariana had barreled out of the tent in a panic. Quill was sitting on a nearby rock, waiting for her. His deep-blue eyes, the color of a cloudless summer sky, were filled with understanding and maybe remorse for what he was about to put her through.
    He’d known she would panic, so he’d taken Frieda somewhere safe, a place where the Amish couldn’t find her. Then he’d returned to calm and reassure Ariana that Frieda was indeed safe and that even though it was upsetting that he and Frieda were leaving, it was for the best. He’d handed her an envelope, saying it contained a letter from him, and that when she was calmer, it would help her understand a little better. He’d been so gentle and kind during that time it’d taken Ariana weeks to realize he’d used her. They both had. The camping trip was nothing more than a deceitful ploy so Quill could take Frieda far away while all the adults thought the two girls were sleeping in a tent at their favorite spot by the creek.
    Until that day she hadn’t had a clue that he and seventeen-year-old Frieda were in love. Or that either wanted to leave the Amish. Ariana had thought Quill cared for
her
and that one day the wild, adventurous Quill would want to marry her.
    He cleared his throat, dispersing her memories. “Ari, I…I appreciate what you do for my mother far more than you can imagine.”
    She turned. Quill was still hardly visible inside his room at the end of the hallway, but she could imagine his blue eyes staring into her soul. The thought angered her. “I don’t do it for you.” That was completely true, but should she feel bad about how mean it sounded? She didn’t. What she wanted to do was tell him what she really thought.
    “Still…” He moved out of the shadows. She couldn’t see his face well, but his frame was apparent, and she realized he’d hardly been a man at all when he’d left here. Now he had broad, thick shoulders and stood a few inches taller. “I am indebted to you.”
    “That and