Plain Change Read online

  He chuckled and tapped his finger against the tip of her nose. “We shall see about that, Princesa. We shall see,” he teased. He looked up at the small crowd of hotel guests who stood a safe distance away, gawking at the scene. He smiled at them, a kind smile, but one that also warned them to stay away.

  A man began speaking to Alejandro in a language that Amanda didn’t understand. Immediately, he put on his sunglasses again and continued walking, talking rapidly in Spanish to the man. Back and forth they volleyed, their singsong words sounding musical and fluid. Ignoring the people who watched them, Amanda tried to listen to the words. She understood nothing.

  They stood before an elevator, one of the men pressing a button. When the doors opened, Alejandro escorted her inside the wood-paneled box. The other two men joined them, and the elevator rose up to the top floor of the building.

  “Princesa,” he said softly, switching back to English. “They will bring your suitcase to your room. I have it adjoining mine so that I am nearby if you need me. It’s a secured floor, so only people who have rooms on it can access it.”

  “Secured?”

  He glanced at the two men. “From paparazzi,” he explained. “And these two men will also be nearby. They are my security guards when I travel.”

  “Security guards?” What type of life, she wondered, does he really live? If she had pondered with curiosity about his life at some point, now she knew she was thrown directly into the middle of it. “Are we in danger?”

  “No,” he replied, a simple answer that needed no further explanation.

  When the doors opened, Alejandro took her arm and led her down the hallway. There were mirrors and paintings on the wall. She glanced at them, but Alejandro seemed determined to get her to her room. No time for exploring now. She wondered if she’d have time later to stare at those beautiful pieces of art that hung on the wall.

  “This is your room,” he said as he opened the door for her.

  He stood back and let her walk through the doorway. He did not enter behind her, giving her the privacy that she needed and that he had promised her. “We will only be here two nights. We can talk more tomorrow about what will happen next.”

  She glanced at him over her shoulder. “What happens next?”

  He laughed at the surprise on her face, realizing that she hadn’t thought much further than the moment when he had come to rescue her and take her away from the paparazzi frenzy on her father’s farm. “Well, we aren’t in Lancaster County anymore, no?”

  She smiled, glancing around the room. “Nee,” she conceded.

  “So we must come up with a plan, sí?”

  “Ja,” she answered.

  “Now I have some things to do. I will be next door, Amanda,” he said, pointing toward a door by the dresser. “It locks on both sides. I will keep my side unlocked in case you need me.”

  “Need you?”

  He raised an eyebrow that peeked up from behind his sunglasses. “In case you get scared or lonely,” he responded.

  And with that, he shut the door and she was left alone in the middle of the strange room in an even stranger city. Left alone to realize that she had stepped far outside of her world in what she feared was a rash decision. Perhaps she should have left her community for Ohio. Perhaps she should have just permitted the bishop to have her sent away. Perhaps she never should have left with Alejandro.

  “What have I done?” she asked out loud, grateful that no one else but herself could hear the doubt in her voice.

  The loud ring of the phone on the desk made her jump. She turned away from the mirror and stared at it, wondering who would possibly be calling her. Immediately, she realized that it had to be Alejandro. No one in her family knew where she was yet. In fact, she realized, she herself didn’t even know where she was.

  She padded across the thick white carpet. It felt soft and warm under her bare feet. The floors at her parents’ farm were all made of hardwood with throw rugs scattered throughout, except in the kitchen, which was a cream-colored linoleum. None of their rooms had anything like the plush carpet that tickled her toes right now.

  By the fourth ring, she reached for the phone and lifted the handset to her ear. For a moment, she hesitated. It felt strange to answer a phone in a room instead of visiting the phone shanty by the barn. “Ja?” she said into the receiver.

  “You are up, sí?”

  She smiled. Her heart fluttered, and she bit her lip, happy to hear the excitement in his voice. “Alejandro!”

  He laughed. “Of course it is Alejandro, Princesa. Who else would call you this early? Who else knows where you are?” Still chuckling, he didn’t wait for a response. “Now, Amanda, I imagine you are hungry, no? So I want to take you to breakfast. There is a dining room downstairs with a lovely menu.”

  Breakfast, she thought. In a hotel, with Alejandro. Butterflies in her stomach and more heart flutters. It was all innocent; she knew that. But it would certainly be something to cause raised eyebrows from the bishop and elders at home.

  “I . . . I could eat something, ja,” she replied shyly. She had never had food at a restaurant with a man. Only courting couples did that. She felt nervous, knowing that just because it was courting in Lititz, did not mean that it was courting in Alejandro’s world. And he certainly wasn’t about to let her starve, so it was only natural that he would ask her to breakfast.

  “Bueno! Then I shall knock at your door in just a few minutes to get you,” he said before bidding her good-bye.

  She hung up the phone and stared at it. Communication is so much easier in the world of the Englische, she thought. With her family and friends, plans had to be made well in advance. Of course, she could use a neighbor’s telephone to make and receive phone calls, but the inconvenience of walking to another farm, leaving messages, and trying to connect with people made it easier to just make plans after church service or to visit in person using a horse and buggy. Now, in the world of the Englische, the telephone sat right there, on the desk, and Alejandro Diaz had just called her to invite her to breakfast.

  The feeling of butterflies returned to her stomach as she moved away from the phone and chewed on her fingernail. Her eyes wandered back to the mirror, and she saw herself, standing before it. Indeed, she looked Amish in her blue dress held together with straight pins instead of zippers or buttons. Her dark hair was hidden beneath her white heart-shaped prayer kapp, the strings hanging over her shoulders. She shut her eyes and waited for the knock on the door, realizing that, for the first time in her life, she wished that she wasn’t plain.

  Chapter Two

  When the elevator opened, Amanda hesitated before stepping outside the doors. There were three people standing on the other side, and they stared when they saw Amanda.

  “Good morning,” Alejandro said politely and gave her a soft touch to indicate that she should get off the elevator so that the others could step inside to travel to their desired floor.

  “Viper!” the one woman gasped. And then their eyes were on Amanda, mouths open and speechless to be standing before the woman who had been all over the media and news the previous evening.

  He smiled but didn’t stop for further discussion. Amanda kept staring back at the people, stunned by their boldness. They were unabashed in how they gawked at her. Alejandro had to reach for her hand to force her to move.

  “Princesa,” he mumbled with a stern tone. “Vamos, no?”

  That caught her attention and she looked at him, not understanding what he had said. “¿Vamos?” she repeated inquisitively. “What does that mean?”

  He winked at her. “Let’s go.”

  She blushed and hurried after him, embarrassed that he had to prod her along like a child.

  When she had been little, she didn’t often leave the farm. Her mother usually left her in the care of her grossmammi whenever she had to run errands. Mammi Lo
vina, as she was called, would watch Anna and Amanda when Mamm had to go to the store for dry goods or cloth to make new shirts or dresses. But there had been one time when Mamm had surprised Amanda. Anna was older and had been at school. Aaron was still a baby, so he stayed at home. Today, Mamm had announced, Amanda was going to go with her to the store.

  It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been to a store before that day. She had been to many stores. But this was a special store, one that was in the center of Intercourse, Pennsylvania. It was farther away and that meant a long buggy ride, just Mamm and her. With all of the chores on the farm and people who often came visiting, having one-on-one time with Mamm was a rare treat. Amanda hadn’t cared if the drive took five times as long if it meant she had her mother all to herself.

  Unfortunately, the drive hadn’t taken five times as long. Before Amanda knew what had happened, they had pulled up to the hitching rail outside of the store. There were lots of cars in the parking lot and plenty of people wandering down the sidewalks. Different kinds of people from those Amanda was used to seeing at the other stores. And she couldn’t help herself from staring.

  She stopped walking as her eyes took in the sight of Englischers with their short pants and white kneesocks, floral dresses and large handbags, baseball caps and sunglasses, open-toed shoes and sneakers . . . it was almost comical to Amanda, who couldn’t tear her eyes from them. She wanted to ask her mother why they dressed so funny, but when she turned to get her mother’s attention, she saw that Mamm was already at the door to the store.

  Mamm turned around and noticed that Amanda wasn’t with her. Putting her hand on her hip, Mamm called out in a loud voice, “Let’s go!” Amanda had blushed, embarrassed that, on this very special day, she might have given her mother a reason to prod her along and perhaps regret having invited Amanda to join her.

  In the restaurant, they were quickly escorted to a private table at the back of the large dining room. There was a window nearby, but the sheer curtains created light with privacy. Amanda sat near the window and peeked out. No one noticed her from the outside, and for that, she was grateful.

  Alejandro motioned for the waitress to bring them coffee as he placed the white cloth napkin across his lap. He watched her staring outside and smiled at the innocence and look of wonder on her face.

  “Amanda,” he said softly. “We need to talk, yes?”

  Letting the curtain fall shut, she turned to look at him. Talk? she wondered. What on earth was there to talk about? But from the expression on his face, she realized that he obviously had an idea of what needed to be discussed and was intent on doing just that.

  “I want to talk about what we are going to do,” he said when he saw that he had her full attention.

  She sat there, silent, trying to anticipate what he would say.

  The waitress set down two cups of coffee, smiling at Alejandro and glancing nervously at the young woman seated across from him. He smiled back and waited until she left before continuing his conversation with Amanda.

  Two packets of sweetener and a three-second pour of cream later, he stirred his coffee before lifting the mug to his lips. Truth was that he, too, hadn’t slept well the previous night. He had sat up, watching the news, disgusted that most of the channels had reported something on how Viper had rescued the distressed Amish girl. There was video, still photographs, and interviews with people who had watched them go into the hotel. The Internet was buzzing, people were tweeting, and the world was tuned into this most unusual story.

  Several times, he had paused the DVR and stared at the image of Amanda on the screen. She was young, that was true, but she was a beautiful girl who responded well to the camera lens. There was very little that she could do about that, and he suspected her photogenic nature added to the public’s desire to know more. They lived in fantasy, and this one was a doozy. A fantasy brought to life through the world of social media and television, the twenty-first-century way that allowed people to live vicariously through the gossip channels.

  He knew what needed to be done, and he knew that he could do it. He just wondered if Amanda could.

  “I have to leave soon,” he started to say as he placed his coffee mug carefully onto the table.

  “Leave?” The word came out high-pitched, a squeak. She hadn’t expected him to say that.

  He nodded. “Sí, Princesa. I have commitments. Tour dates.”

  She sat back in the chair and stared at him. Tour dates meant travel. Travel meant people and other hotels. Other hotels meant . . . She didn’t know what that meant. “Alejandro?” she asked.

  He frowned as he studied her face. She was so young and so fresh. Sitting across from her at the restaurant did not feel strange to him. He could still see her at her father’s farm, weeding the garden that day with her broken leg, laughing as they made homemade ice cream, dancing awkwardly in his arms. Indeed, he told himself. She can do this.

  “You will come with me,” he stated.

  A wave of mixed feelings flooded through her. Relief that she would not be abandoned in this strange world. Fear for what she would face. “I will go with you,” she said, her words soft and barely audible.

  “Amanda,” he said firmly and waited until she looked at him. “We have to construct a plan, no? I have come for you, and I promised to protect you. But what is the goal? Is it to return to the Amish or are you leaving for good?” He paused, but not long enough for her to answer. “Perhaps you don’t have that answer yet, but in order to do either, you need to face the world. And you will do that by being by my side on my tour.”

  She stared at him, digesting his words. She wasn’t certain what “on my tour” meant, but she did understand what he meant when he said “by my side.” She felt her heart flutter inside her chest, wondering what his intentions were but too scared to ask.

  “You will have to face the media, Amanda,” he said solemnly. With his accent, the name came out soft and gentle: Aman-tha. “It will be uncomfortable at first, but I will help you. For a while, the attention will get worse.”

  “Worse?” She couldn’t imagine that it would get worse. It simply didn’t seem possible.

  “Sí, worse,” he confirmed. “They are already showing video of you on television.”

  At this announcement, she gasped. Television? Her? “Why?” she demanded. “Why do they care? I’m just . . . just . . .” She didn’t know how to finish the sentence. So she didn’t. “They have already ruined me.”

  He laughed, his laughter causing several people to turn and look at them. The whispering started. They could both hear it. “You are not ruined, Princesa. I have seen ruined. Believe me when I tell you that, despite everything, you are still you.”

  “I am not me anymore,” she proclaimed and lowered her eyes. She hadn’t felt like herself for a long time. Too many conflicting emotions and changes in her life. Now she was seated in a strange restaurant across from this man who had swooped in to rescue her. She had no idea what the future held for her, but she knew that it was a different future from anything she ever could have imagined.

  Despite the eyes watching their every move, Alejandro reached across the table and took her hand in his. He lifted it to his mouth and, slowly, his eyes still on her face, pressed his lips to her skin. The action startled her, and she looked at him, wondering why he would do something so intimate and in public.

  “You are still you, Amanda,” he said. “You will always be you.”

  The color flooded her cheeks. Quickly, she pulled her hand away, too aware of people watching them.

  “Get used to the eyes, Amanda,” he purred. “They will watch, and we will give them what they want until they lose interest and move on. Ignore them, live our lives, and show them that they cannot ruin us.”

  And she suddenly understood. It was an act. She wasn’t certain if she was disappointed or pleased to know that he was orchestrating ever
ything. He was in charge of what people saw. From the moment he had picked her up at her father’s farm to their arrival at the hotel to this moment, this beautiful moment when he kissed the back of her hand, it was an act for the public to see. But it was also an indication of what was ahead. He was training her, and she was scared.

  “I can’t give them that,” she whispered.

  “Sí,” he said, smiling. “You can and you will . . . if you want the ability to choose your future. To choose whether you’ll return home or stay; you will give them what they want.”

  She lifted her hand to her face, her finger curled over her lip and her elbow on the table as she pondered his words. He was watching her, his blue eyes sparkling at the challenge he had just set forth. Acting, she thought. Could it free her? Could she return to Lancaster, she wondered, if she gave the public what they wanted? If she went along with Alejandro’s plan and advice? She had trusted him enough to leave the farm with him. She had no choice but to trust him now.

  In a moment of recklessness, she reached across the table and, with the briefest of hesitations, took his hand, a reversal of the situation. To her delight, he hid his own smile at her gesture. Tilting her head to the side, she hid the wisp of a smile and blinked her eyes. “Ja,” she said. “I can do that, Alejandro. I can try, anyway. But only if you help me.”

  He caressed her hand, staring into her eyes, just long enough to let her know that he understood. “I promised your father that I would take care of you,” he whispered. “I will not hurt you, Amanda. I will help you make that choice . . . to get to the place where you can make that choice. I got you into this,” he said. “I will get you out of it.”

  “Danke, Alejandro,” she said and meant it. She knew that she didn’t have to worry. Viper might have one face for the world at large, but Alejandro was not someone she had to fear. Of that she was certain.

  Withdrawing his hand, he smiled at her. “Bueno! Now that we have resolved that, let me order you a breakfast, a breakfast that will welcome you to your new world,” he said with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, his lips lifted at the edge, just slightly. “Today, you will enjoy an Englische breakfast!”