Lost in Plain Sight by Marta Perry Page A

beverage into tall glasses. “We’ve had a warm afternoon for late September.”
    “Denke.” Josiah accepted the glass she held out. “How are you—“
    His question cut off when the front doorbell shrilled loudly over and over, as if someone had planted a finger on the button and kept it there. A flicker of annoyance crossed Geneva’s face.
    “Help yourselves.” She waved at the plate of cookies. “I’ll just see who that is.” She hurried out the wide-planked hallway toward the front door.
    Josiah grinned at Leah, his familiar smile making her heart seem to flip over. “Abe tells me you have quite a business working in different Englisch houses. Are you liking that?”
    “It’s always a pleasure to komm here to help Geneva.” Some of the others weren’t so pleasant. Like Mrs. Grayson, where she’d been yesterday. “But some people act as if I can’t be trusted to clean the house.”
    “Humility, little sister,” Josiah chided, laughter in his eyes.
    Humility, that most Amish of virtues. She had need of it with some folks. “I’m not so little, remember?”
    And I’m not your sister, Josiah. Will you ever see that?
    For a moment the silence stretched between them. There was something a little startled in Josiah’s expression, and she seemed to be holding her breath.
    A clatter of footsteps in the hallway had them both swinging in that direction. Geneva stood back, staring in amazement at the woman who surged past her, heading straight for Leah. It was Mrs. Grayson, with her husband lagging behind her.
    “Mrs. Grayson?” Leah found her voice. “Is something wrong?”
    “Wrong?” The woman’s voice rose on the word. “You know very well what’s wrong, Leah Miller. You’re a thief, that’s what!”
     
     
    Josiah glanced from the Englisch woman’s mottled, angry face to Leah’s. Poor little Leah looked as if she was too stunned to speak. The desire to protect her surged through him.
    Careful , he warned himself. This is a different Leah   from the child you knew.
    True, but people didn’t alter their basic nature. He surely knew Leah well enough to know she wasn’t a thief, no matter what this Mrs. Grayson said.
    The woman had plenty to say, that was certain sure.
    “I showed you that ring the last time you were at the house to clean. I told you how valuable it was. And now it’s gone. Who else could have taken it?” she demanded.
    “But I didn’t. I wouldn’t.” Leah was so pale her freckles stood out on her fair skin, and her green eyes had gone dark with the shock. She glanced at the man, who stood several feet behind his wife as if he wanted to separate himself from her anger. “Mr. Grayson, Mrs. Grayson, you must believe me.”
    “Perhaps the ring is lost,” Geneva said, coming to stand next to Leah. “It’s easy to mislay something small like that. Goodness knows I’ve done it many times.”
    “I don’t lose things.” Mrs. Grayson’s tone was firm. “Besides, we searched the whole house. It’s not there.”
    “How can you be sure?” Geneva’s voice was persuasive. “It would be a terrible thing to accuse someone of theft unjustly.”
    “We did search, but it’s so small…” Mr. Grayson spread his hands. “It could be there somewhere. I’m sure you’ve just mislaid it, Angela. Besides, it’s insured.”
    His wife dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “I don’t want the insurance. I want my ring back. A center emerald surrounded by diamonds…it was my anniversary gift, and I want it.”
    “Perhaps if we all searched—“ Geneva began.
    “If you think I’ll have that woman in my house again, you’re crazy,” Mrs. Grayson snapped.
    Geneva clasped Leah’s hand reassuringly, and Josiah regretted he hadn’t done that. Leah deserved support from those who knew her.
    “I’ve known Leah since she was a child,” Geneva said quietly. “I trust her implicitly.”
    “That’s all very well, but it’s not your ring that’s gone.”
    Grayson took