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For my sake, she was shunned because she refused to tell the elders who revealed
the Thresholds secrets. I loved her. If I had not been so selfish, so pig-headed; we could
have been together. Instead I watched others raise you while my own wife remained
barren. But, I always looked out for you and took it upon myself to guard the Thresholds
and reclaim any travelers. I worried you wouldn t have enough English in you to keep the
balance, but it seemed you did."
Taking a step forward, he waved the gun toward Seth. "You re going back. You re telling
the counsel what you did to her. You re making the wrong right so she can return without
shame."
Tears watered Hannah s gaze. "Why the change of heart, Master Gnaegi?"
"People live to a very old age in the Threshold, but I am only in my fifties and already
feel the tug toward the grave. One can only reap the Lord s grace and healing if one
atones. It is time for me to do so, especially now, especially since I m a cross-breed with
the English-tainted blood. And, I want my son to atone as well. I want him to have a good
life, not one as mine has been littered with dishonor and shame."
With each word, Gnaegi s life s blood drained away. His complexion was a shallow mix
of white and gray. His pistol shook and he had to lean against the wall for support.
Hannah wasn t the only one to notice Gnaegi s wavering. Before Hannah could shout a
warning, Seth spun about and punched the older man solidly upside his jaw. "Too late,
old man," Seth said with a sneer. "Looks like you re going to meet your Maker before
you have a chance to even say& "
Before Seth could finish, Gnaegi s gun went off. Seth fell forward, instantly dead.
Blood oozed from Gnaegi s mouth and nose. He collapsed uttering a single phrase.
"Forgive me."
Hannah screamed.
* * * *
Adam was more than half-way to the door when he heard that scream. He had been a few
miles away when he remembered that Hannah had locked the door the previous night and
had left the key under the mat. It wasn t locked when he had left her there, blowing him
kisses. Fear gagged him and he raced back to the cottage.
Hearing the scream, he knew his worse thoughts had been confirmed. Yet, when he
barged through the door, he found Hannah still and safe, staring at Gnaegi and the body
of a man that looked as familiar as his own face in the mirror.
* * * *
Two years later, Hannah pushed Nora s baby, Matthew, in a porch swing while holding
her own year-old girl and feeling her second child stir within her. The scent of Gran s
shoo-fly pies drifted on the autumn air as Inky curled up under a nearby red maple. Adam
and Matt in dungarees, flannel shirts and tool belts rode an open wagon down the long
winding path. They had spent the day building, log by log, a cabin for Adam and Hannah.
A year ago, they made the decision to raise their children in the Threshold.
The thriving community of shunned had welcomed the new arrivals and had voted both
Adam and Matt on their own committee of elders. Not to be outdone, Gran rallied the
women in protest until a woman was appointed as well. Of course, she didn t object when
they asked her to be the first female elder.
Smelling of wood and sweat and country air, Adam hopped off the wagon, and then
offered Hannah a lingering kiss. "How are my girls?"
Hannah smiled, that gentle smile of hers. "I m just fine, Adam McGreggor. Best get in
there and see Gran. She s all worked up about not having her own cabin, yet. And wants
to make certain you get to work on that as soon as you can."
"Ach," he said, with a taunting twinkle in his gaze. "She s a worse slave driver than you."
"Mind yourself, now, or you won t be gettin no pie."
"Oh would you two stop acting like honeymooners," Nora chided. She stood at the door,
a hand on the arch of her back as she supported the weight of twins in her rotund
stomach. She no longer worried about dress size and, although not overweight, she had a
healthy glow and a layer of soft flesh.
Shutters banged open as Gran poked her white mane and bright expression out the
window. "Dinner!"
Matt and Nora rushed into cabin, jabbering about their day, about the crops, about the
weather, about family and new-found friends. Hannah and Adam, though, lingered on the
porch a moment. Adam took the baby, Becky, cooing at her, while Hannah just looked
out on the world before her of mountains and sweet air, of cornfields and dirt roads. It
was a simple, good life, a life she loved with people she loved.
Today was the anniversary of Seth and Master Gnaegi s deaths, but Hannah didn t bring
that up. Still, she would find time to visit their graves and offer up a prayer that God had
forgiven Gnaegi, for without his newly formed conscience, Seth might have had his way
and none of them would be here.
That night, now a lifetime ago, there had been a lot of confusion, things to cover up,
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