A Simple Vow Read Online Free PDF Page A

fellow thrown from his horse alongside the road, out cold!”
    Andy rushed toward the door, and Luke felt compelled to go with him. His Aunt Nazareth, now Bishop Tom’s wife, had hollered over the happy chatter of the crowd, and she appeared winded from sprinting to the Grill N Skillet. “After we ate, Jerusalem and I were walking over to the barn so she could see our little goats when we spotted a tall black horse, saddled but without its rider,” she explained as the three of them hurried out to the road. “Then we noticed a fellow sprawled over in the grass—”
    “Stay here and catch your breath, Nazareth,” Andy insisted as he smiled at her. “I’ll meet up with your sister as soon as I get my horse hitched to the clinic wagon.”
    “Wonder who it could be?” Luke asked as he and Andy loped down the highway toward the clinic at the next corner. “Most of the locals are still at the wedding dinner or visiting out back of the restaurant.”
    “Naz didn’t seem to know him. Could be an out-of-town guest—or just somebody passing through on a pretty day,” Andy said. “ Denki for coming along, Luke.”
    Minutes after they reached the Leitner barn, they were rolling down the gravel road that ran past the Riehl place and the bishop’s pasture, where cud-chewing Holsteins gazed over the fence at them. Luke had always been in awe of Andy’s specialized wagon, which was a small clinic on wheels—allowed by Bishop Tom because it was a horse-drawn vehicle their local nurse could drive to medical emergencies or house calls. Luke’s pulse accelerated with the mare’s hoofbeats as he gazed up the road. Aunt Jerusalem’s white kapp caught the sunshine as she waved her arm above her head.
    “Wow, that’s an impressive horse,” he murmured. “Percheron by the looks of it—although he seems to have a limp.”
    “Might want to have Ben take a look at the horse after we see to its owner,” Andy murmured. “The guy’s sitting up now. Let’s keep him still until I figure out how badly he’s hurt.”
    Andy stopped the wagon a couple of yards from where Luke’s Aunt Jerusalem stood, her face etched with concern. “Glad ya got here so quick, Andy,” the middle-aged woman remarked. “Now that he’s sittin’ up, he seems determined to be anywhere but here.”
    The man had coal-black hair and a grass-stained shirt that stuck out around his suspenders. One side of his face was badly bruised, and he had an open wound in his forehead. He appeared dazed as he looked up at them, and he was placing his hands on the ground as though he intended to push himself up. “Where am I?” he asked hoarsely. “I have no idea how I came to be—”
    “Don’t stand up!” Andy insisted as he sprang from the wagon seat. “I’ll check you over for broken bones and such. I’m a nurse, by the way. Andy Leitner.”
    The man’s dark eyebrows rose. “You look like an Amish man—but you’re a nurse? I must’ve really hit my head hard.”
    Andy smiled as he ran his hands over the fellow’s neck and shoulders. “I get that reaction a lot. What can you tell me about your accident?” he asked as he gently grasped the man’s upper arms.
    The stranger winced. “I’m foggy about that. I think I remember a buggy whizzing past me—must’ve spooked Midnight awfully bad—”
    The gelding nickered in response to hearing its name.
    “—and from there, it’s a blur,” the man finished with a sigh.
    “Any idea how long you’ve been lying here?”
    “Nope.”
    Andy nodded and continued his examination. “Any idea where you are, what town this is?” he quizzed as he assessed the man’s eyes and pupils.
    “Not really—except I’m on the ground and in a state of pain,” the guy added with a short laugh.
    “We’ll fix that as soon as we can,” Andy assured him. “So, what’s your name? Where are you from?”
    “Ah, my manners are slipping. I’m Asa Detweiler, and I live in— ouch! ”
    “Sorry,” Andy murmured.