Chapter One
Sara Albright, was only 22 years old and was running a farm and watching over her siblings. It wasn’t the life she had ever imagined for herself. But after her Ma and Pa had been in the accident, she had no choice.
She sighs heavily as she cleans up after her two siblings. Henry, age 16, and Sally, age 17. They didn’t ask for their parents to be killed either, none of them had ever thought of a life without them around. Well, eventually, but not until a much later time.
The shock of it all still was fresh in her mind and heart. She would forever miss her parents; it had left a huge hole in her heart. But it hadn’t been one that she had any time to focus on.
Immediately the tasks of everyday life had been pushed on her. She didn’t have a choice, she would be the one who had to feed her siblings and do it all. But Sara knew how bad the situation was for them, she was on the verge of losing it all. What would happen to her family then? Sara honestly didn’t know her family had been the only one who accepted her anymore. Ever since she had stood beside Elizabeth, the rest of the community here looked at her as an outcast.
Sara didn’t blame them, after all what had she expected? She was Amish and knew how her community would react. As soon as everyone had heard about the unwed Elizabeth’s impending child, they had turned on her quickly. Not Sara though, she had known Elizabeth since they had both been young children.
She knew that Elizabeth hadn’t done this as a betrayal to their religion. She had just enjoyed rumspringa too much. But that was the time they were supposed to have fun. Not that Sara would have gone and had sex, but her friend had. How could she turn her back on her?
Elizabeth had not admitted to that though, she had told everyone that Seth had raped her. It wasn’t true of course, but Sara still stood by her friend. It had cost her everything, well almost everything. At least she hadn’t been kicked out of the community. That was just because when the truth had come out, Sara had played dumb. But she knew people looked at her differently. She knew they were sure she had known the truth. After all her and Elizabeth were almost inseparable since they had been little. In fact she was sure they all thought Sara had gone and had sex during rumspringa too. Though she hadn’t, she couldn’t plead her case, no one ever listened.
Her friend had left shortly after that to parts unknown. But Sara had been stuck there, and then after a short two weeks her parent’s had passed away. Numb, but smart enough, she realized that no help would come from anyone in the community. She had to solve this on her own, but how?
She heard a knocking on the door; it must be someone who saw my sign for vegetables for sale. She was happy, that would mean money coming in finally!
She opened the door to a man who was definitely not Amish. He was dressed in ripped blue jeans and a t-shirt with some sort of cartoon superhero on it. She had seen outsiders wearing them in town before.
“Who are you?” She asked, immediately leery.
“Yeah, well you don’t know me obviously. But I have a proposition, wait do you use like our money?” He stopped and looked waiting for her to answer.
Sara was still shocked looking at him. “What? Yes we use money, how do you think we buy things?” She chuckled lightly.
“Okay, then I have a great deal for you. I can change your life, with only two weeks of your time spent. I can make you rich.” He explained.
“Well sir, first off I don’t know your name? However, how rich can you make me?” Sara admitted she was interested. If it would mean being able to keep the farm, and her now much smaller family together, she was all for it.
“Oh I’m sorry, my name is John Austin. I’m the agent for Ben North. Have you ever heard of him?” He asked.
Sara had seen things while in town about Ben North many times. She had always thought how attractive he had been in those pictures. “Yes, but only a little bit.”
“He is playing a new role, and needs to learn about Amish culture. So what I would like you to do is help him out. Let him come into your home, and teach him everything. This is a very important role to him, and we are willing to offer you ample compensation for your time and effort.” John explained.
“Well, he would have to come in as a cousin. We’d have to try and make it possible that the community would believe it. See I’m already quite the outcast here. But bringing in a man, who isn’t related, no they would tar and feather me for sure. I’d be kicked out and have nowhere left to go, my siblings, I don’t know if they would send them with me. I have no clue what would happen, but it isn’t something I want to experience.” Sara explained.
“Of course, we will follow your rules. Aren’t you interested in how much we will be paying you?” He asked.
Sara realized she hadn’t found out what he was offering. She realized it was because she was thinking of what Ben North looked like. He was rugged and very handsome. “Of course I do, how much are you offering me?”
“We will give you $250,000.”
She sat up surprised by the huge amount of money. If she used that correctly, it could keep the farm running for years. “When will he be coming?”
“Is next month okay?”
“Sure.”
“Good, see you in a month. Thank you very much. I’ll bring the money that day when I drop him off.” John shook her hand and said goodbye.
Sara plopped down on the sofa. Her life would soon change for the better and she would have Ben North in her house!