Best Friend's Ex Box Set

"Well, don't," I shot back before turning to Gabe and repeating myself, "What do you know, Gabe? What's going on that I don't know?"

"Grace, just stop whatever it is you're doing," Gabe pleaded. "Bishop Miller is out to get you."

"My uncle is not out to get me," I laughed. "He's mad at me for taking Adam in, but in a few days when he's healed up and on his way, all of this will blow over and be forgotten."

"Grace, I don't think you understand how angry he is," Gabe whispered. "He's going to destroy you."

"That's ridiculous, he's my uncle," I laughed. "Besides, we're Amish. We don't destroy people, we pray for them!"

Gabe dropped the flowers on the porch and stumbled backwards until he could drop into one of the benches that lined the front porch. He propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands as he shook his head. He looked like a man who was carrying a very heavy burden, and my heart felt heavy as I watched him wrestle with whatever demons he was fighting. I walked over and sunk down on my knees in front of him, dropped the quilt and took his hands in mine. He looked up and gasped as he looked me over.

"Grace, what are you wearing?"

"Oh, this? It's nightgown," I said looking down and then blushing as I realized how revealing the satin gown really was. Adam disappeared into the house as I talked to Gabe. "Talk to me, Gabe. Tell me what's going on with my uncle."

"Grace," Gabe looked up at me with tears in his eyes as the words came tumbling out. "He's shunning you and your family, and he's calling on the community to shun you all."

"Oh, he already threatened me with that on Sunday after services," I said waving a hand and breathing a sigh of relief. Adam reappeared with his gray hoodie and handed it to me. I stood up smiling gratefully as I slipped it on. Adam and I both chuckled as my hands got lost in the long sleeves while I tried to zip it up.

"No, that's not all," Gabe continued ignoring the moment of levity. "He said that he's going to make sure that the store goes bankrupt. He began spreading the word that anyone who shops at Miller's from now on will also be shunned."

"But people can't get groceries unless they come to the store," I said trying to figure out how my uncle thought he was going to shut the store down when we were the only one in town that carried all the products the Amish community used to feed and care for their families.

"He's having groceries trucked in from Indianapolis," Gabe said. "Everyone had to submit a grocery list of what they needed for the next two weeks. The truck will be arriving in the morning and the bishop is sending some of us out to deliver the orders."

"That's insane!" I shouted as I began pacing the porch. "He can't do that! This won't last. He can't ship in the orders every two weeks and hope that no one runs out of supplies in the meantime. They'll come back. They'll need flour and sugar and milk, and they'll come to Miller's to get it. They might have to defy his orders, but their families and their hunger will win out."

"Grace? That's not all," Gabe said looking up at me sadly. "He's talked with all of your suppliers and told them not to extend you credit or to make any deliveries if they want to be in the running for contracts when he opens a new store."

"He's opening a new grocery store?" I shouted. "How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know, but I know that he and your Dat had a big fight last winter after Sunday services," Gabe said. "No one knew what they were arguing about, but it was heated enough that Bishop Miller had threatened to prohibit your parents from attending Sunday services."

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" I cried as I yanked open the screen door and yelled, "Verity! Honor! Get up and get down here now!"

"Grace, don't you think this can wait until tomorrow morning?" Adam said quietly.

"I'm leaving for Chicago in the morning, so no, this can't wait!" I shouted at him, then turned and yelled, "Verity! Honor! Get up and get down here now! Don't make me come up there and get you!"

I was enraged that I'd been excluded from everything that had been happening in my family, and even more furious that my uncle was now threatening to ruin the family business simply because I'd defied his order to kick Adam out of the house.

"Grace?" Verity said as she descended the stairs rubbing her eyes. Honor wasn't far behind with Danny following in her wake. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me!" I shouted as I held open the screen door and motioned them to join Gabe on the porch. "Gabe tells me that Dat and Uncle Amos had a fight after services last winter. Anyone care to tell me what that was about?"

"It was the usual argument they've been having for the last twenty years, Grace," Verity sighed. "Uncle Amos wanted to buy the store and Dat said no."

"Why is he doing this now?" I asked. "What will he gain from running us out of business? I don't understand."

"Your father was threatening to leave the ward," Gabe said quietly. "He and a few other men were tired of the punitive rules and the way your uncle enforced them. They wanted to form a corporation that would allow them to install solar panels, build wind turbines, and certify their farms as organic so they could sell the produce at a higher price, and Bishop Miller forbade them from doing any of it."

"Dat wanted to go organic?" I said confused by this revelation. I turned to Verity, "Did you know this?"

"Mamm had said something about how he was tired of using generators in the house and pesticides on the crops, but I didn't think anything of it, Grace," she said. "I thought it was just Dat blowing off steam."

"Well, we're not selling the store," I said suddenly realizing that if Dat had lived, he most likely would have agreed to Adam's turbine deal. "Gabe, go home and get some sleep."

"But I want to help," he protested weakly.