Courting the Amish Nanny

by Carrie Lighte

  As for Otto, Levi felt usurped by him. No, not usurped, but he resented the way Otto came into Levi’s home and did as he pleased, whether that meant helping himself to the last piece of dessert, telling the twins he’d take them snowshoeing without asking Levi’s permission or striking up a courtship with Sadie.

  But Levi couldn’t let on because it would have added insult to injury if Sadie knew how much it bothered him, especially when she was so jubilant. So, with as much civility as he could muster, he said, “Otto’s more perceptive than I give him credit for being.”

  Sadie nodded. The expression on her face couldn’t have been more delighted and he resented how scintillating she looked, all because of his brother-in-law. Levi’s only consolation was that he hadn’t acted on impulse and asked her to become the twins’ permanent nanny. To think he’d even briefly considered telling the two prospective buyers, as well as his in-laws, he’d changed his mind about moving.

  His in-laws! Levi was struck with the realization that if Otto and Sadie got married they’d live in the little house Otto currently owned, right down the street from his parents’ house. The way he was feeling right now, Levi couldn’t imagine himself attending Otto and Sadie’s wedding, much less living in such close proximity to them—although David and Elizabeth would be thrilled. He shuddered and Sadie’s voice brought him back to the room.

  “I think a couple of mice are trying to find out what gifts they’re getting for Grischtdaag,” she said, a finger on her lips. Levi heard the floorboards creaking, too. The twins’ shadows flickered near the door and he was glad for an excuse to change the subject.

  “I’ll check to see if I have an extra mousetrap,” he warned loudly as he pushed his chair from the table and stood. Just then, Otto entered the house through the mudroom. Levi could hardly greet him, but of course Sadie set a place for him to have a late supper.

  As she scooped yumasetta onto Otto’s plate, she announced, “Oh, Levi, I meant to tell you that Jaala and Abram invited me to go with them to Aquilla King’s haus tomorrow because his family is out of town and he won’t have anyone to worship with. So I won’t be coming over in the morning like I usually do on off-Sundays...”

  Letting her sentence dangle, she caught Levi’s eyes and shrugged. Was she waiting for an invitation to come over once she returned? No way. I’m not going to make this courtship any easier for the two of them than I already have.

  Otto filled in the silence. “Don’t forget, we’re going snowshoeing tomorrow afternoon.”

  “I haven’t forgotten. I’m looking forward to it.” Sadie glanced in Levi’s direction again.

  Aha, so that’s why she’s giving me so many funny looks. She’s hinting for me to leave so she and Otto can discuss their plans. Levi wasn’t having it.

  “I’m going to give the kinner a bath now. There’s no need for you to stay and do the dishes, Sadie. Otto can clean his own plate.” Levi said it politely but it wasn’t thoughtfulness that prompted him to dismiss Sadie; it was a juvenile desire to cut her visit with Otto short. Admittedly, Levi was pleased when her shoulders slumped in disappointment.

  “Oh, okay.” She looked Levi squarely in the face. “I, um, really enjoyed our conversation tonight, Levi. As far as we got... We can, uh, talk more tomorrow.”

  What more did she expect him to say? She was wrong if she thought that him questioning her on his brother-in-law’s behalf meant he was going to facilitate a courtship between her and Otto. The two of them weren’t teenagers; they’d have to work it out themselves from now on.

  Levi had barely stepped into the living room after bathing the children and putting them to bed when Otto asked, “Did you talk to Sadie?”

  The answer was heavy on Levi’s tongue. He was tempted to lie like nothing he’d ever been tempted to do before. He felt like he had chalk for teeth and he ran his tongue over them before admitting, “Jah, she said she’d be interested in a long-distance courtship.”

  “That’s terrific!” Otto clapped Levi’s back. “Denki for talking to her. I’m going to ask to court her tomorrow afternoon when we go snowshoeing. I have to admit, I was miffed you wouldn’t let the kinner go snowshoeing with us, but it turns out to be a gut thing. Now Sadie and I will have plenty of time alone to talk.”

  As much as Levi regretted that decision, Elizabeth and David regretted it even more.

  “I wish we could go snowshoeing,” David griped the next day as he stood on the sofa to watch Sadie and Otto crisscrossing the yard in the snow.

  “What have I told you about not climbing on the furniture, David?” Levi asked.

  “I’m not climbing. I’m standing very still.”

  Levi didn’t know if his son was talking back or was simply stating what he saw as a fact. “Get down now, please.”

  Elizabeth beckoned David to join her in front of the adjacent window. “You can stand next to me.”

  They were quiet for a while as Levi read The Budget, but suddenly they broke into laughter. “Sadie fell down, Daed.”

  Levi wasn’t amused. “You shouldn’t laugh when someone falls.”

  David reported, “But Onkel Otto tried to help her up and he tripped and fell down, too. They’re covered in snow and they’re laughing.”

  Levi had heard enough. “Kumme away from that window right now.”

  His tone must have taken them aback because Elizabeth’s eyes welled and David said, “But we’re safe and sound with both feet on the ground.”

  Since when do my children talk back to me? Levi wondered. He already knew the answer: since he’d allowed Sadie and Otto to trample over his boundaries. All his boundaries. He might not have any influence over Otto, but Sadie was still under Levi’s employment, and as soon as Levi got the chance he was going to remind her exactly what kind of conduct he expected from her in front of the twins.

  * * *

  “That was such schpass,” Sadie told Otto when they finally sat down on the porch of the daadi haus to remove their snowshoes. “Except my dress is wet from falling so often.”

  “How about I build you a gut fire and you fix me a mug of hot chocolate?”

  Sadie hesitated. All day she’d been yearning to finish her conversation with Levi—rather, for him to finish it by making their courtship official—but since Otto had gone out of his way to rent snowshoes for them, it seemed rude to turn him away. So she agreed.

  A few minutes later, as they were sipping their drinks in the living room, she said, “My brieder will be envious I got to snowshoe.”

  “Maybe later in the season, I’ll take you cross-country skiing, too.”

  Later in the season? That meant Levi must have spoken to Otto about Sadie visiting Levi again after Grischtdaag. She wondered whether they’d reunite in Maine before Levi moved, or in Indiana. Feeling self-conscious Otto knew more about her courtship—her almost courtship—with Levi than she did, she responded vaguely, “Well, I do have to go home for Grischtdaag, but hopefully we’ll get to see each other again soon and we can go skiing then.”

  Otto cleared his throat. “So then, uh, you’re definitely open to a long-distance courtship? I mean, I wasn’t sure, which is why I suggested Levi talk to you about it first...”

  Sadie bobbed her head and beamed. “Jah, I’m very much open to it. Just do me a favor and don’t mention it to anyone, okay? It’s not the kind of thing we discuss where I kumme from.”

  Otto grinned. “Don’t worry. As happy as I am about it, I’ll keep it a secret,” he promised. “It won’t be easy having a long-distance courtship, but it will only be for a short time.”

  Levi definitely must have spoken to Otto about when he hoped to see Sadie next. Maybe Levi would even ask her to return to Maine permanently, the way Maria suggested! She could hardly wait to talk to him and find out. Rising, she said, “I’d better put on some dry clothing now.”

  Otto stood, too,
but he didn’t leave. “I’m very happy you said jah,” he told her. Before she knew what was happening he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

  “Absatz!” she said, taking a step backward and swiping her hand across her cheek. She didn’t care if he was the twins’ uncle or Levi’s brother-in-law; that was inappropriate and she had half a mind to dump the remainder of her hot chocolate over his head.

  “I’m sorry!” he immediately apologized, red-faced. “I thought it would be all right to begin our courtship with a kiss. I should have asked first.”

  “Our courtship? What are you talking about?” Sadie’s mind was spinning.

  “What am I talking about?” he repeated. “What are you playing at? Thirty seconds ago you very clearly said jah, you wanted a long-distance courtship with me. And you told Levi you did, too.”

  “I most certainly did not. I told Levi I’d be interested—” In a rush, Sadie comprehended what had happened. Her legs felt tottery, so she plunked herself back down onto the couch. “Otto, I’m sorry, but there’s been a misunderstanding.”

  Otto’s ears were red now, too. He closed his eyes to ask, “Then you don’t want to walk out with me?”

  “I’m flattered you’d ask me to but—”

  “Spare me the consolation speech,” Otto said bitterly. “If you weren’t interested, you shouldn’t have flirted with me.”

  Sadie was indignant. “When did I ever flirt with you?”

  Otto threw his hands in the air. “That first night, in the grocery store when you said I’d be fortunate to be married to you. And the way you always tease me about rationing my food. And all that talk about pairing up at the party being more schpass. Not to mention, we just spent the entire afternoon snowshoeing together. Alone.”

  Sadie felt as if she was looking into a mirror of her past when she saw the bewildered hurt in Otto’s eyes. Now she understood how such a miscommunication could occur. Now she finally believed neither Harrison nor her two suitors had intended to hurt or mislead her. They’d said as much, but until she was on the other side of the equation Sadie had doubted their veracity. She only hoped Otto would be quicker to forgive than she’d been. “I am so sorry, Otto. I know how you feel because I’ve been in your shoes. But I truly never meant to give you the wrong impression or hurt your feelings.”

  “For not trying, you did a gut job of it,” he answered back. “You also made a fool of me in front of my brother-in-law.”

  “Not as big of a fool as I almost made of myself,” Sadie muttered. She’d been so distraught about Otto’s misinterpretation of her words and actions it hadn’t occurred to her until just now that Levi never would have agreed to play matchmaker between Otto and her if he’d had any romantic interest in Sadie himself.

  “How did you almost make a fool of yourself in front of—” Otto stopped midsentence as the meaning behind Sadie’s words seemed to dawn on him. He raised his eyebrows. “Levi? You thought Levi was asking you about a long-distance courtship with him, didn’t you?”

  Sadie covered her face with her hands. “Jah.”

  Guffawing, Otto dropped into the chair behind him.

  “It’s not funny, Otto,” Sadie scolded. “It’s bad enough you know about it, but do you have any idea how humiliated I’m going to feel when Levi finds out?”

  “Jah, I think I have an idea,” Otto wryly replied and then cracked a smile. He was being so good-natured about the whole fiasco it made Sadie see a side of him she hadn’t noticed before.

  “I suppose what goes around comes around,” she quipped. “I really am sorry, Otto, and I hope this little...misunderstanding doesn’t interfere with our friendship. I think you’d make someone a terrific suitor. That was actually the reason—part of the reason anyway—I wanted to have a little party. I thought it would give you and Maria a chance to get better acquainted.”

  Otto rose and stoked the fire before answering with his back to her, “It’s all right. I hope you don’t let, ah, what I did kumme between us. I never would have—”

  “Of course you wouldn’t have,” Sadie interrupted. The less said about that kiss, the better. When Otto turned to face her, she pressed her palms together. “One more thing... Could you please not mention this to Levi yet? I want to tell him myself.”

  Actually, she didn’t want to tell Levi at all. She wanted to run away to Pennsylvania in the middle of the night.

  “But he knows I was going to officially ask to court you this afternoon. Are you saying you want me to act as if we’re walking out?”

  “Neh. That wouldn’t be right. But maybe you could act like we’re not not walking out?”

  “Fair enough,” Otto said, grinning. “But from now on, I want a bigger portion of dessert.”

  * * *

  Barely mumbling a few words in greeting, Otto seemed more subdued than Levi expected when he returned from snowshoeing with Sadie. Since it was past dark, Levi assumed the two of them had had supper at her house. In any case, he and the children had already eaten a typically light Sabbath meal of bologna and cheese sandwiches, and Levi was too begrudging to inform Otto there were leftovers in the fridge. Besides, Otto immediately joined Elizabeth and David in the living room, so Levi poked his head in to say he had a chore to take care of outside.

  His “chore” was to talk to Sadie, who took longer than usual to answer her door. At first Levi wondered if he’d caught her sleeping or if she had a fever. Then he realized her ruddy face and pink-rimmed eyes must have been the result of spending the afternoon outdoors. She seemed reluctant but invited him in. He followed her through the mudroom, but instead of taking a seat at the kitchen table he stood on the little braided rug near the entrance.

  Levi didn’t mince words. “What I have to say won’t take long. I only want you to know the twins were watching you and Otto snowshoeing and when you fell, they got a kick out of it.”

  Sadie shrugged. “I suppose we did look comical. I was pretty clumsy in those contraptions. They take some getting used to.”

  “You don’t understand what I’m saying. David and Elizabeth look to you as a role model. If they see you performing stunts, they’ll want to try them, too. I can’t stop Otto from doing whatever he’s going to do, but you’re my employee—for a few more days anyway—and I’d appreciate it if you set a better example for the kinner.”

  Sadie shook her head and knitted her brows as if she thought she hadn’t heard him correctly. “We weren’t performing stunts, we were snowshoeing. Very slowly, I might add.”

  “Jah, and that’s your business if you want to spend your Sabbath cavorting in the snow with Otto. But I’d ask that you do it out of sight from the kinner. They’re young and impressionable. I don’t want them copying your antics. They might take it too far.”

  “Cavorting? My antics?” she mocked. “You know, Levi, I actually thought you were changing, that you’d lightened up a little. But you haven’t, not at all. You said it was Leora’s dream to raise Elizabeth and David here. But you might as well have been living in Indiana this whole time because you’ve robbed the kinner of some of the best parts of growing up on a farm. You’re keeping them from fully experiencing the joy of childhood.”

  “I’m keeping them safe.” Levi distinctly pronounced each word.

  “Being safe isn’t the same thing as being joyful,” Sadie replied. “But jah, you’re the safest, most cautious man I’ve ever met.”

  Levi didn’t care for her scornful tone but if that was her opinion of him, fine. “I don’t need you to agree with my choices for the kinner, but I do expect you to respect them,” he said before turning on his heel and exiting the house.

  Chapter Nine

  For the first time since arriving in Maine, Sadie had no desire to get out of bed. For one thing, if she was this cold bundled up in quilts, she couldn’t imagine how freezing she’d be crossing the yard to Levi’s house. For another, she
was still seething over Levi’s rebuke the night before and she feared the moment she saw him she’d let loose a tirade of her own.

  She slipped her arm from beneath her covers to grab her pen and diary from the nightstand. Propping herself on her elbow with the quilt tucked around her, she began to write. Every time I think it’s going to be different with Levi, he resorts to his usual overbearing overprotectiveness. It’s so stifling; not just for the children, but for me, too. I’ve been trying to be understanding of him, but he shows no understanding of me. He doesn’t get it that I relish being physically active, especially outdoors, and don’t mind the bumps and scrapes that come with it. The sad part is Levi has other redeeming qualities and he actually has a fun side, too—it’s just so difficult to get to that I’m fed up with trying.

  As far as him worrying about me being a bad example for the twins? Ha! He should be more concerned that he’s teaching them to become timid little rabbits. It’s not as if the children saw me break my leg—all I did was fall in the snow. What is there in that to make him so angry?

  If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was jealous of Otto for spending time with me. But to be jealous he’d have to be romantically interested in me, which he clearly isn’t. As if I care! I don’t have a whit of romantic interest in him anymore. If it weren’t that the children would be so disappointed if I left early, I’d go home right now. As it is, I’ll complete my last few days here, but it’s not going to be easy to face him without getting angry all over again.

  Fortunately, when Sadie arrived at Levi’s house, Otto said Levi had already headed to the northeast section of trees. He indicated Sadie probably shouldn’t expect him for lunch, either. Let him go hungerich, then, she thought.

  “Did he reprimand you for your cavorting antics, too?” she asked Otto.

  “What do you mean? I hardly crossed paths with him last night and when I did, he didn’t have much to say. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”