Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 2

by Samantha Price

  They were interrupted by the waiter who brought their food to their table.

  As they ate, Jabez pointed out, “Many women in the community have jobs, Bethany, you’re not the only one. A husband and wife become a team, and you’ll no longer need to worry about anything.”

  Bethany chewed on her food and nodded.

  “I know you haven’t had many people close to you. You haven’t had a big family, but maybe we will work on changing that?”

  “I’d love that. I’ve always wanted a large family.”

  They were silent for a few minutes while they ate. Bethany had learned of how a real family behaved when she stayed with their Amish neighbors when her mother was having one of her off days. In those households, she’d seen and experienced love and the warmth of human kindness. She’d always craved to be a part of a large family and having one of her own was something she thought might never happen.

  She looked into Jabez’s blue eyes and her heart melted when he smiled. God had heard her prayers and knew what was in her heart. She looked forward to the near future when the two of them would become one.

  “We must go tomorrow and talk to the bishop. When everything’s in place, we can tell my parents.”

  Bethany nodded, a little sad that there was no one on her side of the family to tell.

  As if reading her thoughts, Jabez reached over and lifted her chin with one finger. He stared into her eyes. “I am your family now.”

  All tension left her body at his words. She couldn’t help but wonder, if Ian Whitmore hadn’t been found dead on her floor causing her to be in danger, would Jabez have ever found the courage to make his feelings for her known?

  Chapter 26

  It was a week later when Ettie and Elsa-May invited Jabez, Bethany, and Detective Kelly over for cake and tea.

  “My DNA test has come through, confirming that I’m Randall’s daughter. They matched my DNA with Ian and Creighton’s, and I’m a family member,” Bethany informed Ettie and Elsa-May not long after they all sat down.

  “So you’ll receive your inheritance?” Ettie asked, placing the tray of tea and cake onto the coffee table.

  Bethany nodded. “I’m just glad I know who I am, even though I’ll never be friendly with anyone from my father’s side of the family.”

  The detective took a piece of cake. “I think you made the wrong decision, Bethany. I think you should’ve proceeded with assault charges against your brother.”

  “Half-brother,” Elsa-May corrected the detective.

  Bethany shook her head. “That’s not something I’d feel comfortable with.”

  “It’s not our way,” Ettie added.

  The detective shook his head in disgust and took a large bite of cake.

  “It must have made your job easier that the woman confessed, Detective,” Jabez said.

  “We proved it was Cheryl Bailey’s gun, and she had the motive. It was in her best interests to confess to get a lesser sentence.”

  “Bethany’s safe now, and that’s the important thing. And with the will sorted out, it’ll remain that way,” Jabez said.

  With food in his mouth, Detective Kelly said, “I hope so.” When he swallowed, he placed the rest of the cake on the plate on the table in front of him. “Well, with Cheryl Bailey in jail one would hope she doesn’t come after Bethany and Creighton for revenge.”

  “I must say it was quite a surprise to learn that Cheryl Bailey and Randall’s primary lawyer were sisters.” Elsa-May slurped on her tea.

  Ettie frowned at her.

  Snowy pawed at detective Kelly’s leg, so he picked him up and put him on his lap. After Snowy had arranged himself comfortably, he sat there, looking pleased.

  The detective said, “Yes, they were sisters. That’s obviously why Ian brought the will to Bethany. He was most likely going to change lawyers, but until then he needed the will to be in safe hands. With the family argument, it was obvious no one was on his side. Time was of the essence, and that’s why he made the long drive to Bethany’s store.”

  “Surely Creighton would’ve been on his side about the will? In the former will he got nothing and in the new one he got half,” Bethany said.

  “Knowing your brother as we do now, he could very well have cut some kind of deal with Cheryl Bailey to get you out of the picture completely, Bethany. And that would have been easy to do if her sister, the lawyer, was on board. Although we can’t prove that Cheryl’s sister had ill intentions,” the detective said.

  “Don’t you just love a happy ending, Detective?” Ettie asked. “Bethany’s safe, she knows who her father was, she’s gotten to know a little about the family, her store is a success, and look at how happy she is.”

  Detective Kelly looked at the blissful young couple. “And I hear congratulations are in order?”

  “Yes, we’re to be married just before Christmas.”

  “That’s lovely. Marriage is good for some. And do you have plans for the money?”

  “We do. We’ll buy a house and then I’m going to extend the store.”

  “What for? With the money you’re getting you’ll never have to work.”

  Elsa-May opened her mouth to speak, but the detective looked at her and said, “I guess you were about to say Idle hands are the devil’s playground?”

  “No. I wasn’t going to say anything like that. I don’t know that the devil has a playground. It would likely melt in his lake of fire. I was going to say that doing nothing at all is not what you think it’ll be. It might be good for the first couple of days, and then you’d start looking for things to do.”

  “I suppose you’re right. I do like my job, but sometimes I would like the pressure to be off—to know I didn’t have to work. If I had a bucket full of money somewhere, I’d feel much better about life.” Detective Kelly chuckled.

  “What about Greg in all this?” Elsa-May asked. “Bethany said he seemed nice.”

  “Ian’s son?” the detective asked.

  “I don’t think he cared one way or the other about his uncle’s will. He just wanted us to find his father’s killer.”

  “I’m glad Creighton wasn’t the killer,” Bethany said.

  The detective reminded her, “The man stabbed you. He’s a criminal in my eyes.”

  Bethany remained silent and looked down.

  “You’re still seeing your brother through rosy glasses, aren’t you?”

  Before Bethany could reply, Elsa-May corrected him again. “Half-brother, and we don’t judge.”

  “There is one who judges, and it’s not any of us,” Jabez added.

  Detective Kelly looked at all of them. “Snowy and I are outnumbered.” He stroked Snowy, who was startled at the sudden movement and promptly jumped off the detective’s lap and scampered away. He stared after the startled dog. “Maybe it’s just me outnumbered, then.”

  Everyone laughed, and Kelly grinned as he reached for what was left of his cake.

  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

  Romans 2:1-3

  Amish Baby Mystery

  Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Book 6

  Copyright © 2016 by Samantha Price

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

  This
is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  “It looks like the rain’s going to hold off this morning. Are you going to take Snowy for a walk now?”

  From her chair, Elsa-May squinted toward the window in the living room, and then looked up at Ettie hovering over her holding Snowy’s leash in her hand. “I took him yesterday.”

  “That walk wasn’t very long because it rained, remember?”

  “I suppose I should take him, otherwise he’ll end up chewing the house to pieces again all day.”

  Ettie looked down at Snowy, who was sleeping at Elsa-May’s feet, and then leaned down and clipped the leash onto Snowy’s collar before she handed the other end of it to Elsa-May. “There you go.” Ettie was keen for a few minutes peace and with both Snowy and Elsa-May out of the house; she’d get exactly that.

  Once Elsa-May had taken hold of the leash, she glared up at Ettie. “Why are you trying to get rid of me? What are you up to?”

  Ettie placed her hands on her hips. “I’m not up to anything. There’s a break in the rain so you should take him for a walk now. They tell me it’s going to rain over the next few days. Who knows when his next walk will be if you don’t take him now?”

  “Are you sure you’re not up to something?”

  “What could I possibly be up to? Do you think I’m going to bake a secret pie while you’re out? While you’re out on your fifteen minute walk?”

  Elsa-May sneezed. “Maybe I’m allergic to Snowy. Perhaps I’m getting a cold and should stay inside. You take him for a walk.”

  “The doctor said that you need to walk—there’s nothing wrong with me.”

  “That’s debatable,” Elsa-May said under her breath.

  Ettie ignored her sister’s comment but grew more annoyed. “You’d think of anything to get out of it. Any excuse at all.”

  “That’s not fair to say when I’ve walked him nearly every day since we got him, and don’t say that I haven’t!”

  Ettie leaned down and rubbed Snowy’s fluffy head while Elsa-May pushed herself to her feet.

  “I’ll have a pot of hot tea waiting for you, and I’ll see if I can rustle up something nice for Snowy. Take an umbrella just in case it rains, and take your shawl.”

  “Ettie, I’m not five years old. I do have a brain in my head to think for myself.”

  Ettie remained silent as she watched Elsa-May place her black over-bonnet over her white prayer kapp and toss her black shawl over her shoulders.

  “I’ll see you soon, then,” Elsa-May said.

  “Can’t wait,” Ettie said under her breath, wondering if she should tell Elsa-May that she’d forgotten the umbrella. Finally, she would have fifteen minutes peace, maybe more if the rain held off. Unable to keep the smile from her face, Ettie turned and headed toward the couch.

  “Ettie!” Elsa-May screamed after she’d closed the front door.

  Thinking that Elsa-May had slipped and fallen on the wet steps, Ettie rushed to the front door and swung it open to see if Elsa-May was okay. On looking closer, she saw Elsa-May was leaning over and looking into a basket.

  Thinking that their neighbor had dropped off some more vegetables or fruit for them, Ettie said, “There’s no need to scream. You gave me a terrible fright.”

  Elsa-May straightened up. “Ettie look inside the basket, will you?”

  The next thing Ettie saw was the very last thing she expected. Ettie stared into the basket to see a small baby fast asleep. “Is that a real boppli?” Ettie asked in shock, wondering if it was just one of those lifelike dolls that looked like a baby.

  “Help me, Ettie, we must get the boppli out of the cold.”

  Ettie picked up one side of the basket and Elsa-May, with Snowy’s leash slipped over her wrist, took hold of the other. They carried the basket into the warmth of the kitchen and placed it on the table.

  “Where did the boppli come from?” Ettie asked.

  “I don’t know. He was just there when I opened the door.”

  “He? How do you know he’s a boy?”

  “I don’t. I just assumed; that’s what the Englischers do—pink for girls and blue for little boys.”

  Ettie stared down at the baby, and at the bottom of the Amish baby quilt was a blue blanket.

  “Where did you come from?” Ettie asked, peering down at the little baby who, she guessed, was a newborn—not more than a week old.

  “I don’t know where he came from any more now than the last time you asked me.”

  Ettie looked across at Elsa-May, wondering what her sister was complaining about now. She wasn’t aware that she’d asked Elsa-May anything. “I was talking to him, not you.”

  “Well, he’s asleep so he can’t hear you.”

  Ettie frowned at her sister. “Is he Amish or an Englisch woman’s baby?”

  Elsa-May shrugged her shoulders and then shook her head.

  “Well, what will we do? Did someone leave him here because they don’t want him?”

  “They could’ve. He’s an Amish baby I’m certain of it,” Elsa-May said as she studied the baby.

  “Whose would he be, then? Why would they have brought him to us? I’d think that if anyone was going to give their boppli away, they’d give him to a childless couple or someone who had a large familye.”

  “I think you’re right for once, Ettie. It doesn’t make sense for someone to bring a baby to a couple of old girls like us.”

  Unsure of whether her sister had just insulted her or given her a compliment, Ettie decided this was not the time to inquire—much less care. They had to find out why the baby had been abandoned and to whom he belonged.

  Elsa-May leaned down and unclipped Snowy’s leash. “Off you go, boy,” she said before she collapsed onto a kitchen chair.

  Ettie sat opposite with the baby on the table between them. “Do we know any young lady who might have been expecting and was trying to hide it?”

  Elsa-May’s gaze flickered to the ceiling. “I can’t think of anyone right away.”

  “How about a woman who has a lot of kinner and doesn’t want any more?”

  “Humph. Debbie King has too many of them to count. Then there’s Becky Fuller who had her eleventh last year. She’s put on an enormous amount of weight. No one would ever know whether she was expecting or not.”

  “That’s true, and she looks so pale and worn out all the time. Then there is Sarah Miller who has twelve and she always looks happy, but perhaps an extra would tip the scales in the opposite direction,” Ettie said.

  They both peeped over the top of the basket at the baby.

  “Does he look like a Miller, or a Fuller?” Elsa-May asked.

  Ettie shook her head. “He just looks like any other boppli. We won’t be able to tell until he gets bigger.”

  “We can’t keep him for that long, Ettie.”

  “We can’t give him away either, Elsa-May. Someone left him with us because they knew we’d take good care of him. And do that, we will.”

  Elsa-May pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes. “What do you plan to tell people? Will you say Myra suddenly had a boppli and left him with us?”

  “That’s a gut idea except Myra is too old to have a boppli now.” Myra was one of Ettie’s daughters who had left the Amish years ago. “They’ll take him away and who knows what will happen to the poor little mite. If we call the police, they’ll put him in an Englisch foster home until they sort things out, and then…”

  “We can’t be certain he’ll be well cared for can we?”

  Ettie shook her head.

  “Ettie, we must find out who dropped him here so we can figure out what to do.”

  After she stood up, Ettie lifted the blue blanket hoping to find some clue to his identity. “There’s a note, Elsa-May!”

  “Nee!” Elsa-May pushed the chair out and sto
od up with her eyes bulging. “Why didn’t I see that?”

  “It was under the quilt—tucked in and hidden by the blanket.”

  Elsa-May grabbed the note from Ettie’s hands and read it aloud. “Please don’t let an Englisher take my baby. Don’t let anyone know you found him or his life will be in danger. Keep him safe!”

  “Let me see!” Ettie plucked the note from her sister’s hands. After she'd silently read it, she placed it on the table beside the basket.

  Both ladies sat back down, stunned.

  “Why would his life be in danger?” Ettie asked.

  “Someone is hiding him with us. Maybe they don’t want us to keep him long-term, they could be hiding him for a short time.”

  “But who and why?”

  “Do you think we should call Detective Kelly?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Nee, didn’t you read the note?”

  “Jah, I don’t think we should call him either, but I was just seeing what you thought.” Elsa-May bit her lip. “What do we do now? We can’t keep a boppli. People will want to know where he came from.”

  “We need a plan. We can create a cover story to mask the truth until we figure out what to do. We’ll need diapers and baby food, and also clothes.”

  Elsa-May frowned. “He won’t be on food he’s too young.”

  “Stop arguing with me all the time. You know what I mean. He’ll need formula, and bottles—all that.”

  Elsa-May added, “Also some tiny clothes.”

  “You stay here with him and I’ll go out and get everything he needs. Okay?”

  “Hurry, though. I don’t know what I’ll do if he wakes up and cries and I’ve got no bottle to give him.”

  Ettie rose to her feet. “I’m on my way. Don’t answer the door to anyone. I have an uncanny feeling about this.”

  “Me too, Ettie, me too.”

  Chapter 2

  When the taxi brought Ettie back home from the store, she stepped up to the front door and heard the baby’s cries. After she had placed the bags on the doorstep, she opened the door.