The Baby Next Door

by Vannetta Chapman

  Bishop Luke explained that this was a last resort.

  That they sought to council wayward members first.

  That it didn’t apply to sins they’d committed before they’d become members.

  That no one was perfect.

  Still, the entire topic caused a rock to form in Grace’s belly. She loved her community, and she always wanted to remain a part of it. Even people like Donna and Meredith were important members. They had a terrible attitude, but the items they sold to the tour groups were quite popular. Perhaps something in their past caused their bitterness. Maybe there was a reason for their distrust of others.

  Grace didn’t know, but she did know that she’d rather be a part of their church community than not be a part of it.

  Perhaps more important, she felt genuine regret that she’d stepped outside Gotte’s plan for her life. She loved Nicole. She was grateful for Nicole. Perhaps her doschder was Gotte’s way of bringing her back into the fold. If she hadn’t become pregnant, she might have stayed on that wayward path much longer. Her doschder had brought her home to her family, to her church and to Adrian.

  Adrian.

  She missed him more than she would have thought possible.

  Georgia stopped over to drop off a few items she’d knitted. She’d left her children at home with her mother-in-law, and Nicole was down for a nap. It was a good time for the two sisters to talk.

  “How are things going with Adrian?”

  “Gut. I’ve hardly seen him since his dat’s heart attack.”

  “Will stopped over yesterday to help in the fields. He said that Adrian’s dat looks much better—his color is healthy and his energy is returning.”

  “I didn’t realize how much I looked forward to Adrian’s visits.”

  They were pulling laundry off the line, folding it and placing it in large wicker baskets. As Grace pulled off a sheet, Georgia unpinned the other end. They folded it in half, then Georgia walked toward her and matched the ends together.

  “I should have told him.” Grace’s words were soft but certain. She’d missed an important opportunity at the hospital. Let that be a lesson to her—do the important thing when you can. Don’t put it off. Don’t think you’ll have time tomorrow. “I wish I had talked to him already.”

  “About?”

  “Nicole...and Kolby.”

  “So, tell him.”

  “It’s harder now. It feels like...sort of like I’ve been lying to him all this time.”

  “I guess you have and you haven’t. They say a lie of omission is the same as any other lie.”

  “Thanks. That’s helpful.”

  “Just tell him. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  They finished folding the sheet, and Grace placed it in the basket.

  “He could decide he doesn’t want to be with a woman like me.”

  “A woman like you?”

  “One who’s made a mistake.” There, she’d said it! Why was it so hard to talk about such things?

  Georgia finished folding a towel, then sat down in one of the lawn chairs and patted the one next to her. Grace joined her, suddenly too tired to unpin another piece of laundry. She still had those days, where she felt fine one minute and exhausted the next. Maybe she did have the baby blues, or maybe holding such a big secret in her heart was taking its toll.

  “You want to tell Adrian the truth?”

  “I do. I want to tell everyone. I want everyone to know that Nicole is my doschder.”

  “Okay. My advice is to start with Adrian. He deserves to hear it first.”

  “And if he rejects me?”

  “Grace, if he rejects you, then he’s not the man Gotte intended for you to spend your life with. Better to know now how he responds, before your feelings grow even more.” She reached forward and brushed Grace’s kapp string to the back. “There will always be some people who judge.”

  “Like Deborah and Meredith.”

  “Yes. Exactly. We’re not responsible for those people or their reactions.”

  “But what does that mean?”

  “It means you should live your life the way you think you’re supposed to live it, and stop worrying about other people.”

  “Right.”

  “Talk to Adrian.”

  “I will.”

  “Soon.”

  “Okay.”

  Grace felt immeasurably better making that promise to Georgia. No more procrastinating. No more acting like a child. It was time to move forward, hopefully with Adrian, but even if it meant doing so without him, she needed to move forward. Being stuck was worse than having to move in a different direction.

  She was ready.

  Then Adrian’s dat had a slight setback. He returned to the hospital, though they released him after three days. He’d tried to do too much too fast. Adrian would be needed there at the family farm a little longer.

  Two weeks passed, then three. August arrived and the day of her baptism drew nearer.

  Then the rains began.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Goshen, Indiana, received an average of four inches of rain each month during the summer. Grace knew this, because her dat—like most farmers—found the topic of weather and rain and averages to be fascinating. Her dat was quite happy when they received five days straight of solid rain.

  “Gut for the crops,” he reminded her when she stood by the window, frowning out at the clouds.

  “Yes, but not so gut for little girls.” Grace thought that she’d never view rain the same again after having a cooped-up eighteen-month-old to contend with.

  Grace had woke on Friday morning to the sound of more rain hitting the windowpanes. “Great,” she murmured, and pulled the quilt up to her chin. But soon she heard her mamm downstairs in the kitchen, and then Nicole called out from her room across the hall. It was time to face another day trapped in this house.

  Which meant facing another day when she probably wouldn’t see Adrian. No doubt this rain was causing a lot of havoc with his exotic animals. As far as she knew, he’d started work on an ark.

  They had breakfast, Grace cleaned the house a bit, then she and her mamm pulled out their needlework, but Grace couldn’t concentrate. She was attempting a sweater in yellow for Nicole, but something had gone terribly wrong with the sleeves. She sighed and set about pulling out the last few rows she’d knitted.

  They ate lunch.

  Knitted some more.

  She read a few picture books to Nicole.

  The rain finally slowed to a soft drip, certainly less than the downpour they’d endured all morning. No doubt another round of heavy rain was coming. Though the clock read two in the afternoon, it seemed more like dusk outside. Grace had pulled the pillows off her bed and scattered them on top of a blanket in the kitchen in front of the large window. Nicole sat there like a queen on her throne, playing with her baby doll and talking to her in a whisper.

  “You should go and check on him.” Her mamm pushed a cup of coffee into her hands. “After you drink this. You look as if you could use a little caffeine.”

  Grace sipped the coffee, which was delicious. Unfortunately, it did nothing to mitigate the restlessness coursing through her veins.

  “This storm system has to move on eventually.”

  “Indeed. But until then, it helps to get out whenever it eases up, as it has now.”

  “You want me to walk over to Adrian’s...in this weather?”

  “It’s plenty warm enough. Wear my rain boots and a light sweater. Oh, and take the umbrella.” She hesitated, then added, “Trust me, you’ll feel better if you talk to him. You haven’t seen him since he finished up working his dat’s fields.”

  Grace looked fully at her mamm then, and in that moment, she knew that her mamm had guessed her feelings for Adrian. She’d never been go
od at hiding such things.

  Now her mamm squeezed her hand and said, “Baby girl is about to go down for a nap.”

  Sure enough, Nicole was now lying on the blanket, fingers stuck in her mouth, baby doll clutched close to her side.

  “You won’t even need to move her.”

  “Exactly. Now go, and tell Adrian to come over here for dinner. He probably hasn’t had a good meal since this rain started five days ago.”

  By the time Grace had fetched a sweater—taking ten minutes to decide between the blue or dark green, and finally opting for the blue, hoping it helped her complexion to look less pale—found an umbrella and donned her mamm’s rain boots, Nicole was fast asleep.

  Her mamm had poured coffee into a thermos. Now she handed it to Nicole along with a lunch pail. “Fresh peanut butter bars in there.” Stepping closer, she put a hand on each side of Grace’s face and kissed her forehead, then nudged her toward the door.

  But she called her back before she stepped outside.

  “Do you remember the emergency signal?”

  “Ya. Um...find a window and put two candles in it.”

  “One means all is right.”

  “Two means send help.”

  “Candles or lanterns. I suspect that Adrian is fine. No doubt he’s in that old barn with his animals, but in case there’s a problem, we can see the barn from here. So if you need us, put two lights in the window and I’ll send your dat right over.”

  Which pretty much summed up her mamm’s attitude toward life. Get on out there. Do what you need or simply want to do. But have a plan ready if things take a turn for the worse.

  Grace hurried down the porch steps and to the lane, dodging giant puddles and small rivulets that threatened to turn into streams. It was actually a bit lighter outside than she had thought, though as she looked to the west, she saw darker clouds and knew they were about to get slammed again. She stopped, looked back toward the house and wondered if she should abandon this fool’s errand.

  But her mamm was right. They should check on Adrian.

  Plus, Nicole was fine. She needed to stop using her doschder as an excuse for avoiding the uncomfortable. She turned and continued toward the main road, made a right, then skirted more puddles as she walked to the lane that led into Adrian’s property. No one was out on the road. No cars. No buggies. People were buttoned-down for the storm, and they had been for the entire week now.

  Her heartbeat quickened at the thought of seeing Adrian. Did he feel the same way that she did? When had she fallen in love with him? When had she lowered her defenses enough to begin caring for someone?

  Perhaps it had been when she’d let the goats out and he hadn’t become angry.

  Maybe it had happened after Nicole’s ear infection, when she’d visited his place and they’d taken that walk and he’d first held her hand. Or perhaps it had been the first time he’d kissed her, when they’d been standing in Cinnamon’s pen. She smiled to herself at that memory.

  She could see his barn now, but none of the animals came to greet her. In fact, it was eerily deserted, though as she passed the aviary she did hear birdsong.

  But where was Adrian?

  Where were his animals?

  She hadn’t realized that his property was lower than theirs. The water here was much deeper, and she was glad she’d worn the rain boots. The barn was on a bit of a hill, and it took her twice as long as usual to even reach it. Turning to look back the way she’d come, she realized that Adrian’s place resembled several ponds more than anything else.

  She nearly slipped in the mud twice as she made her way up to the main doors. She thought of her mamm’s admonition about the emergency signal. Glancing back toward their place, she saw the single battery-operated lantern in the window. Her mamm must have placed it there after she left.

  She turned back toward the barn and pulled in a deep, cleansing breath. The walk had helped to clear her head. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to tell Adrian how she felt. She needed to find out whether he felt the same. Not knowing was making her crazy. So she murmured a prayer for courage, then raised her hand and knocked on the door, but no one answered. Thinking he couldn’t hear her, she pounded on it. Finally, she pushed open the door to the main section of the barn, and when she peered inside she didn’t know whether to laugh or run for help.

  Cinnamon stood in the main portion of the barn, and the camel seemed twice as big as normal, twice as big as when she was outside in her fenced area. She turned her large head toward Grace, then back toward the bucket of feed.

  Kendrick was on the other side of the room, and for once, he seemed subdued. Perhaps the camel had finally settled their score, or maybe there was nowhere for him to run, so he’d decided to behave himself.

  Those two animals looked so incongruous together that Grace felt laughter bubble up inside. They pretty much represented Adrian and what he was trying to do here—bring together every strange and diverse animal that needed a home and teach them to coexist.

  Grace heard Triangle’s bark, and she followed the sound down the north side of the barn, past the stall holding Adrian’s buggy horse, who seemed to be sleeping, then back outside and around the corner of the barn. Adrian’s barn was what they called a bank barn, meaning it was built into the side of a hill. The top portion of the barn could be driven into with a buggy, and hay or supplies could be easily off-loaded and stored. Farther in, it became a loft that overlooked the bottom portion of the structure.

  When she climbed the hill toward where Triangle was apparently having the time of his life, what Grace saw there was something she’d remember for a very long time. Adrian was waving his arms, trying to drive the pygmy goats into the upper section of the barn. Triangle was barking and running in circles. Millie, the blind donkey, stood near Adrian, shadowing his every step. And Dolly the red-rumped parrot sat on the open barn door, squawking as if her voice would help the situation.

  Adrian’s mouth fell open when he saw her standing there.

  “Grace, is everything...is everything okay?”

  “Ya. Just came to visit.”

  “Visit?” He glanced at his goats, then back at her, apparently at a loss for what to say.

  “What are you doing...with the goats?”

  “Oh. These. My bruder came by, said I need to move all my animals inside because the worst of the storm is coming.”

  “Worst?”

  “Ya, and then he couldn’t stay, so I’ve been moving—” Nelly the pygmy goat dashed past him, then stopped and cried out like a very unhappy child “—trying to move them inside.”

  “That explains the camel and llama in your barn.” She set the thermos and lunch box under the roof hang. “Let me help.”

  They spent the next thirty minutes together herding goats. They’d manage to get two in and three more would slip out. At one point, they had seven of the eight goats inside the large barn door, and Nelly decided to dash through the middle and scatter everyone. The rain began to fall harder, and Adrian’s expression changed from frustrated to desperate.

  That look, the one that conveyed how much he loved his crazy collection of animals and how worried he was, convinced Grace they needed to try something different.

  “I have an idea,” she called out over the wind. She ran over to the lunch pail and pulled out the peanut butter bars, then held them out to Nelly, who immediately ran to where she was standing. But instead of giving the beast the treats, Grace held the bars above her head and walked backward into the barn. Nelly followed Grace, and the other goats followed Nelly.

  Dolly flew inside, Triangle circled around behind the slowest goat, and Adrian grabbed her thermos and slammed the barn doors shut.

  Grace crumbled up two of the bars and let the pieces fall to the floor. The goats surrounded her, nudging one another, completely focused on the food at her feet.
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  “You’re beautiful. Did you know that?”

  “Pardon?” She glanced up, and what she saw in his eyes raised a lump in her throat.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  “I’m muddy and wet. We both are.” She reached up, found her kapp had slipped back, half off her head, and attempted to pull it forward. But her hair was soaked and the kapp was soaked, so she pulled it off and wrung the rain out of it. Looking again at Adrian, she shrugged. “Want a peanut butter bar?”

  Five minutes later, they sat at the edge of the loft, feet dangling over. It was a funny view, looking down at Kendrick and Cinnamon. The goats, even Nelly, had finally collapsed onto the hay behind them. Dolly the parrot sat atop one of the higher bales of hay, preening herself. Triangle had curled into a ball and was watching them through half-closed eyes.

  “Are your other birds going to be okay?”

  “Sure. Dolly, she’s just used to following me around.”

  “She’s a gut bird.”

  “And beautiful.” He nudged his shoulder against hers. “Like you.”

  “Are you comparing me to a parrot?” Grace laughed as she pulled her hair over her left shoulder and finger combed the braid out. How had she managed to get so wet?

  “It’s a compliment.”

  “One can hope.”

  “I meant what I said earlier about you being beautiful.” Adrian laid a hand over his heart. “Honest.”

  “Adrian, are you trying to sweet talk me in order to get more peanut butter bars?” She pulled another out of the lunch pail and leaned back, holding it out of his reach.

  Which caused Adrian to reach for it, and then they both fell over in the hay, laughing, and Triangle belly crawled closer to lick them on the face.

  When she looked up at Adrian, he pushed the hair out of her eyes, then he did what she’d been dreaming about for days. He kissed her—softly at first and then more thoroughly. Grace felt her face flush, wondered if she had mud on her cheeks, then realized she didn’t care about any of that. The only thing that mattered was Adrian’s fingertips on her face, his lips on hers, his eyes drinking in the sight of her.