I had never felt this way back in Corner Grove, Indiana where my family had lived and worked for generations. In fact, despite the vast acreage that my family owned and farmed, growing up I had often felt trapped. The Amish traditions and expectations were a heavy mantle for a young girl who wanted to explore and experience. There were so many things I read about in the books and magazines I checked out from the public library, but when I'd ask my parents or my teachers about them, they would direct me back to the scriptures and remind me of the importance of patience, obedience, and living a life of devotion to God and the community.
When I finally packed up my few belongings and headed to Chicago for college, I felt like I could finally breathe. The adjustment to college and city life was enormously difficult, but after a year of living in the dorms, I'd shed my skin and adjusted to college life. I'd bought new clothes and cut my waist length hair into a fashionable bob so that I wouldn't stand out as much. But what had been most freeing was the ability to move around the city anonymously.
In Corner Grove, I was Eli and Rebekah Miller's oldest daughter, Bishop Amos Miller's niece, "that nice Miller girl who works at the grocery store," and Gabe Yoder's sweetheart. In Chicago, I was Grace Miller, college student. No one knew anything about me unless I told them. There was absolute freedom in anonymity.
At times, it was painfully lonely, though. There was no way to contact my parents unless they made the trek down to the phone booth at the end of the dirt road where we lived, but the difference in my schedule and theirs often made it difficult to arrange, so I had to be content with a monthly letter that summarized everything that was going on. Once a year, I would go home and visit, but the minute the train pulled into Corner Grove, I would start to feel homesick for the city.
When I finally graduated, no one from my family was there to share in the joy of my accomplishment because they couldn't get away from the farm or the store. Dat offered to send Gabe up to sit with me while I received my degree, but I couldn't think of anything more humiliating than having an Amish man sticking out like a sore thumb when very few of my friends knew about where I came from and what I'd left behind.
I ran my fingers through my hair and inhaled deeply as I tried to shake the memory of that very lonely day. After graduation, I had landed an entry level accounting position with Riser Tech, and after six years I was making enough to be able to afford a down payment on a small but comfortable condo just north of downtown. I had a wardrobe that made me feel good myself, and only one of the plain, ugly Amish dresses tucked in a drawer for when I went home. Mamm and Dat were happy to have me come home, but their one rule was that I had to dress Amish while I was there. It seemed like a small price to pay for the time I got to spend with them, so I followed the rules and wore the hated dress.
It was dark now, and most of the people in the office had gone home, so I packed up my things and headed for the L. Out on Randolph Street, I stopped at the bridge and looked out along the river. Lights were coming on in the buildings that lined the waterway and the street lamps cast a golden glow on the water. I sighed as I took a deep breath and said a small prayer of thanks for the beautiful life I was living.
Chapter Two
Adam
"Mr. Wallace, your father will see you now," the young woman behind the desk said as she flashed me a smile that told me if I stopped and asked for her number after the meeting, she'd definitely give it to me.
"Thanks, Miss.." I grinned as I trailed off waiting for the curvy brunette to fill in the blank.
"Carson. Kimber Carson, Mr. Wallace," she said as she stood up and prepared to usher me into my father's office.
"Please, call me Adam," I said offering my hand as I gave her the once over and then flashed an appreciative grin to let her know I liked what I saw. "Why haven't I noticed you before, Kimber?"
"I'm new here, Mr. Wa—Adam," she said with laugh. "It's been about a month now."
"Ah, I see, he got rid of what's-her-name," I said nodding knowingly. My father had a reputation for hiring and firing secretaries more often than most people changed their bed sheets. Some speculated that it was because my mother would get wind of the newest pretty-young-thing and then storm into the office demanding the he get rid of the girl. I knew it was because my father was a miserable, self-righteous bastard who was unforgiving when it came to mistakes and often used other people as scapegoats for his own.
"I don't know who was here before me, but your father has been quite lovely to me since I arrived," she said with a
wide smile. I couldn't tell if she was lying or just naïve; either way I knew she'd figure it out sooner or later.
"That's wonderful," I said smiling as she turned and walked toward the office door. I watched the sway of her hips, encased in a skintight dress, as she walked and imagined what it would be like to push that dress up over her hips and take her hard and fast against the door to my father's office. The image of being buried deep in Kimber made me hard, and the idea of flipping my father the bird by screwing his secretary made me smile.
"Here you go, Adam," she said as she pulled the door open and motioned me in. "Have a good meeting."
"Oh, I wouldn't go that far," I said as I stepped inside my father's office and looked over to find him on the phone yelling orders into it before slamming the receiver down hard enough to make the desk vibrate. I looked at my father and said, "I'm not marrying that Vasquez girl."
"Don't get smart with me, Adam," he growled. "I'm in no mood."
"Are you ever?" I asked knowing that this would push him a step closer to the edge. My father, Gordon Wallace, was known for, among other things, having an extraordinarily short fuse. Unfortunately, this was something I'd inherited from him, so when we butted heads, it tended to be explosive. This morning my mother had called me and broken the news that she was planning my wedding to Veronica Vasquez, and that I needed to go see my father at his downtown office to secure the large ring I'd be offering the girl at the dinner my parents were throwing at the end of the month. I'd laughed loudly at my mother before hanging up the phone and felt fairly sure that my father might be on my side in this one, but now I wasn't so certain.
"What the hell do you want?" he shouted as he dropped down into his enormous leather chair and leaned back staring at me. "Why the hell are you here?"
"I told you: I'm not marrying that Vasquez girl. Also, I've come with a proposal for something that will require an investment, but has the potential to make you an enormous amount of money," I said invoking the magic word. When it came to making money, my father would listen to anything that had the potential to make him a profit.
"Is this another one of your harebrained schemes that is going to lose me more than it makes?" he asked as he shifted his attention to the computer on his desk and began tapping the keyboard. "Aren't you happy with your little job in R&D? It'll set you up nicely for that nice girl your mother has chosen for you."
"No, this is one of those ideas that is going to revolutionize the market," I said ignoring his reference to the girl and my mother. I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket and pulled it out so I could see who was calling. It was my best friend, Bugsy Wiseman. I hit the button to send it to voicemail before I responded. "The job is boring; it's not what I want to do and you know it. You knew it when you forced me to take the position."
"You should be grateful that you have any job—put that goddamn thing away," my father ordered in an irritated tone as he sorted through the paperwork on his desk. "The whole world has gone insane over those damn things. If this is another one of your ridiculous ideas, I'd rather you kept it to yourself."
I stood stock-still and fumed as I waited for him to stop fussing with his computer. What I wanted to do was walk around the desk, grab the computer, and toss it out the window. I knew he'd never actually agree with anything I proposed unless he could take full credit for it, and I already had the feeling that this wasn't going to be something he'd want to take credit for.
"Bugsy and I want to sell our idea for individual renewable energy turbines to farmers in the Midwest," I began. "We've started Agape Resources to work on establishing the wind farming program. It's a renewable energy source that has the potential to feed millions of kilowatt-hours back into the electrical grid and generate profits unlike anything we've ever seen before. We've researched the market and we think that we can make a killing in the Midwest states that big turbine companies have ignored. "
"Over my dead body," he said without looking up. The hard tapping of his fingers on the keyboard let me know just how angry my father was. For a moment, I stood looking out the vast expanse of windows that ran floor to ceiling across one side of his office contemplating how I could get this stubborn man to listen to me when he spoke again. His voice was entirely too calm as he asked, "What in the hell is wrong with you?"