The Amish Wonders Collection

by Ruth Reid

  “Danki—thank you, Mr. Lambright.” She covered her hand over her mouth. Danki, God.

  “Now, I just have one more question.”

  The air left her lungs. She should have expected a catch to this visit. “Jah?”

  “How’s your head?”

  She touched the knot that took a day and a half to stop throbbing. “Fine nau.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” He stood.

  She rose to walk him to the door. “Will I be seeing—?”

  “Any more of me? Not unless something comes up.” He reached the door and stopped. Digging into his front pocket, he removed a card. “My number is on here if you need to get ahold of me. You can call me anytime.”

  “Danki.” Mattie accepted the card even though she still had the one he’d given her at the hospital. She waited for him to step outside, then closed the door. Mattie covered her mouth to stifle a squeal. If the children weren’t asleep, she would sing for joy. The nightmare had ended.

  “Are you going to tell me about him?” Grace leaned against the wall, arms folded, and brows quirked.

  “There isn’t anything to tell.” Nau.

  “A handsome Englischer asks you about the bump on your forehead, and you say there’s nothing to tell. Oh, and nett to mention the smile he put on your face. You haven’t smiled like that in a long time. I hope you’re nett fooled by his gut looks.”

  “It’s nett what you think.” Was the man handsome? She hadn’t noticed.

  “I know you mentioned you were ready to move on, but he’s an Englischer, Mattie. Don’t get involved with someone who might sway you from your faith.”

  Had any of Grace’s concerns been true, her friend’s reprimand would be warranted. But even though Mattie had said she was going forward, she didn’t mean she would do so with an Englischer—ever.

  “He seemed genuinely concerned about you.” Grace wasn’t letting the issue go.

  “Hardly.” Mattie handed Grace his business card, then went into the kitchen to clean up the mess on the floor.

  “Child Protective Services?”

  Mattie grabbed the broom from the corner. “I was under investigation. Allegations of child abuse, they called it.”

  “What? When?”

  She swept the glass into a pile. “Nathan had been running a fever so I took him in to see Doktah Roswell, only he was out of town and another doktah was seeing his patients. This doktah insisted he be admitted to the hospital, then proceeded to call the police, who then called that man to come investigate me for child abuse. All because the doktah deemed I didn’t bring him to the hospital in a timely manner.”

  “That’s narrisch!” Grace squatted down with the dustpan and held it still as Mattie swept the glass pieces off the floor.

  Mattie tossed the contents into the trash can. “None of this would have happened had Doctor Roswell seen him. He would have probably sent him home with a list of things for me to watch for. As it was, he never spiked another fever.”

  “But children run fevers all the time. Why did the doktah want him admitted?”

  “The inside of his mouth was blistered. Apparently they thought I caused it.”

  Shock registered on Grace’s face. “Nay.”

  Mattie closed her eyes and nodded. “It’s over nau. I just want to put it all behind me.”

  The moment Bo slipped behind the wheel of the car at the Dieners’ place, Davis hit him head-on with her accusations.

  “You are a manipulator, Bo Lambright.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “You manipulated that doctor into agreeing with you just to save your reputation, didn’t you?”

  “First of all, I helped her come to a decision. The toxicity tests were negative. And second, I did it to save an innocent woman. The boy has a strep infection. It had nothing to do with saving my reputation.” He started the engine.

  “Sure.”

  “That’s the truth.” He placed the gearshift in reverse and backed up.

  “You haven’t stopped smiling since you got back into the car. I think you’re gloating.”

  “Am I?” He pulled out of the driveway and headed down the rocky, narrow road, which was more of a trail blazed through the woods. Only two other Amish farms were between the Dieners’ place and the main road. This district was smaller than he originally estimated. Much smaller than the settlements he was familiar with. He hit a dip in the road and Davis jostled on the seat.

  “This road could use repairs,” Davis said, her voice vibrating from the washboard road. “I’m glad we didn’t take my car. It would have bottomed out.”

  “Looks like they’ve attempted to fill most of the holes with stones.”

  “I don’t know why they hold so tight to this land.” She gazed out the window. “I’d sell it in a heartbeat—mineral rights and all.”

  “The Amish aren’t materialistic.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Everyone can be bought.”

  He shrugged. “You don’t know the extent of their resolve.”

  “What are you, their spokesperson?”

  He held his tongue. No matter what he said, Davis wouldn’t understand. Not many outsiders did.

  She sank into the seat. “Well, you worked hard enough to get the investigation closed. She must be elated with you—see you as some sort of hero.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” Although once he reached the other side of the county and could file his report, he would be elated to have the case closed. He’d never been so moved by a woman’s emotions. She loved her children and defended them, as any mother should. Had he not left the house when he did, he might have shed a tear or two. Crazy. It wasn’t like he was emotionally attached. He merely wanted to make sure she received fair treatment—and she had. His job was over. Weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying evaporated.

  “I don’t think Norton will be pleased to hear you made me sit in the car,” she snipped.

  “Don’t sulk. You tried your best to undermine me in the doctor’s office. Besides, you still could use a lesson or two in tactfulness. Your approach bordered on abuse of power the other day.”

  “I’m practicing for the courtroom.”

  “That much I gathered. It might help, though, if you remember a person is innocent until proven guilty.” He smiled. “And some cases do have a happy ending.”

  “Point taken.” She settled into the seat. “Field work isn’t so bad.”

  For her sake, he hoped Norton kept her in the office. She didn’t need to be out on a call in the middle of the night on the wrong side of the tracks. If she treated someone else the way she had Mattie, Davis might find herself on the receiving end of a fist. Most people they dealt with were strung out on drugs and confrontational. Nothing like Mattie Diener.

  “Well,” she said, shifting in her seat to face him. “Now that we have your reputation intact, I suppose you’ll want to ask me out for dinner and a midnight boat ride. A celebration of sorts.”

  Bo laughed. “For the record, I never thought my reputation was at risk. As I told you, my observation skills are spot-on. I’m very good at my work.”

  “You’re full of yourself, Lambright.”

  “Confident sounds better.” He glanced sideways at her and grinned. “Sorry, but I have to decline on dinner. I have a mountain of paperwork to finish when we get back to the office.” He planned to take tomorrow off, even if it meant putting his cell phone on mute.

  “That’s too bad. I was going to show you how unruly I could get aboard your boat and tempt you to throw me overboard.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Mattie placed Amanda on the buggy bench, then helped Nathan climb inside and sit beside his sister. “I’ll be right back,” she told them. She jogged up the porch steps and retrieved the basket of herbal preparations and another basket with her sewing supplies. Once Bo Lambright delivered the good news yesterday, she’d had a sudden spurt of energy and was able to fill most of the herbal remedy orders. She
returned to the buggy and lowered the basket onto the floorboard.

  Alvin’s buggy pulled into the yard as she was about to board hers. She waited until his horse came to a stop, and he climbed out.

  “Hiya, Alvin.”

  “Hi, yourself. Hot day, ain’t so?” He removed his hat and wiped his shirt sleeve across his forehead. “I was hoping you would be home.”

  She motioned to her buggy. “I was just heading over to Grace’s haus for the quilting bee. Was there something you needed?”

  He shoved his hat on his head, pressing down his thick mop of curls over his ears. He looked at the buggy, smiling nervously at the children who had poked their heads out the window. He wiped his hands along the side seams of his pants. “I, ah . . . I guess it can wait.” He motioned to the barn. “Is the lamb in the pen?”

  “Jah.” She had moved Snowball out to the barn yesterday, afraid it wouldn’t look good in the report if Bo Lambright spied a barn animal living inside the house. No government authority would have understood, no matter how sick the lamb was.

  “There’s still some pie on the counter,” she said, boarding her buggy. “Help yourself.”

  Alvin frowned. He scratched the back of his neck and mumbled something on his way to the barn. He was out of sorts. She’d never seen him frown at the mention of pie before.

  Mattie clicked her tongue, urging the horse forward. As she pulled out of the driveway, her thoughts drifted to the conversation she had with Grace two months ago, after the men returned from the lumber camp. “Alvin’s never been married,” Grace had said. Nothing new. Everyone in the district knew his unmarried status when he first moved to the district, and speculations were that he had chosen to relocate to northern Michigan and to their district because the women outnumbered the men three to one. But Grace went on to point out how Alvin Graber had assumed the responsibility of stocking Mattie’s wood supply and hadn’t missed too many days of checking in on her. Mattie’s stomach roiled. Alvin Graber was like an older brother.

  Mattie pulled into Grace’s driveway and parked next to the row of buggies. She looked forward to spending the day with friends and helping to finish the sewing projects they planned to sell during Badger Creek’s annual Fourth of July craft sale.

  Grace bounded out of the house and scurried over to Mattie’s buggy. “You seem chipper. Did you get caught up on your sleep?” Grace picked up Amanda.

  “Nett a wink.” Mattie hoisted Nathan into her arms.

  “That’s nett gut.” Grace scowled like an old barn cat.

  “I got a lot done, though,” Mattie said as they headed to the house. “I prepared a few batches of herbs. I made you another batch of poultice for your joints. You hadn’t mentioned you needed it, but I figured you must be running low. How are your legs? Did I ask you that yesterday? Mei mind’s been going a million directions.”

  Grace went up the porch steps, but didn’t go to the door. She walked to the corner of the porch instead and turned to face Mattie. “I’m really worried about you. You can’t go too many days in a row without sleep or you’ll . . . hit a wall—collapse.”

  “I can’t seem to unwind.” Productive insomnia wasn’t a bad thing. She’d managed to can a dozen quarts of pickled beets last night in addition to completing everything else on her list.

  Grace’s face crinkled.

  “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” Mattie tapped her friend’s hand. “Really, all is well.” God had delivered her out of the hands of the enemy yesterday, clearing her from those absurd accusations. Everything was back to normal. Whatever normal was—she hadn’t felt normal since Andy died. But she was getting better at hiding the pain. The members in her district believed she had accepted God’s will and had adjusted. Maybe if she stopped dwelling on the loneliness she would be able to move forward.

  “I’m glad you came.” Grace smiled. “Remember yesterday when I asked if you wanted to go with me into town?”

  “Jah.”

  “I had a doktah’s appointment.” A warm blush spread over Grace’s face.

  Mattie chuckled. “I know that glow, Grace Eicher. Have you eaten a lot of saltine crackers to settle your stomach too?”

  Grace’s eyes grew large, giving her secret away. “I’m three months.”

  “That’s wunderbaar!” Mattie drew her friend into a hug, then feeling her stiffen, drew back. “Everything is all right with the boppli, jah?”

  Grace’s smile faded. “Ben and I had decided nett to have children—I don’t want to pass mei muscular dystrophy on to—I . . . I don’t want mei child going through what I’ve had to endure. What mei mamm went through.”

  “How’s Ben taking the news?”

  “He’s ecstatic. And I am too until . . . Oh, Mattie, how can I ignore the risks? I can’t.” Grace turned her gaze toward the barn.

  “I know the idea of having a boppli frightens you, but apparently God’s plan differs from what you and Ben decided.” Mattie forced herself to sound cheerful. In the back of her mind, she remembered how frightening it was going into early labor with Amanda during Andy’s funeral. Amanda’s low birth weight had Mattie a nervous wreck for weeks. God had a different plan for her as well.

  The screen door opened and Grace’s aenti Erma poked her head outside. “Is everything all right?”

  “Jah, Aenti.” Grace leaned toward Mattie and lowered her voice. “She’s hovered over me ever since I returned from the doktah’s office.”

  “Enjoy the attention,” Mattie said, patting Grace’s arm. “Ready to go inside?”

  Once they entered, Nathan wiggled to get down. He pointed toward the other children who had gathered in the corner of the sitting room. His rambunctious spirit was a good sign that he was feeling better. Still, she didn’t want him overdoing it.

  “Down.” He squirmed more.

  “Ask nicely, please.” She wasn’t about to let him make a scene like he had when he head butted her for taking him away from the lamb. Mattie hugged him a little tighter when he continued trying to worm his way out from her hold. She turned to Grace. “They say the twos are terrible, but at three he’s wearing mei patience thin.”

  “Mei nephews were that way too.”

  Grace’s sister-in-law Susan agreed. “Mitch still tests the depths of mei patience.”

  Nathan finally stopped fighting her and relaxed. He batted his long lashes and pointed at the other children. “Sei se gut.”

  “That’s better. Nau, if I put you down, do you promise to be a gut boy?”

  “Jah,” he peeped.

  She lowered him to the floor and watched as he scurried over to where the children were building a tower with small wooden blocks.

  “He’s a strong-willed child. Sometimes it takes all mei strength to hold him down.”

  “A husband would cure that problem,” Grace whispered. “He’d set little Nathan straight.”

  Two of the younger teen girls, Alice and Beth, approached Mattie and Grace. “We’ll watch Amanda so you can sew,” Alice said.

  Catherine Zimmerman arrived. Her two-year-old daughter, Jenny, trotted over to Amanda, and the two girls went with the teens to the back room to play with the other children.

  Grace’s aenti Erma directed Catherine, who was cradling her one-month-old son, to an empty chair at the table. “I’ll bring you a cup of decaffeinated tea. Mattie, would you like kaffi or tea?”

  “Kaffi sounds gut, danki.”

  Erma disappeared into the kitchen and, a few moments later, returned with the drinks.

  The bishop’s wife, Mary, looked up from her quilt block. “Have you decided when you’re going back to Ohio, Erma?”

  Erma and Grace exchanged smiles.

  In unison, the women in the room stopped stitching and looked up.

  Holding her hand over her belly, Grace shared her news. Congratulations and well-wishes rang out, and several of the women shared their pregnancy experiences. Mattie’s thoughts drifted to when she found out she was pregnant with Nath
an and then again with Amanda. Andy was speechless both times.

  Mattie’s throat swelled. Not wanting her melancholy to put a damper on Grace’s good news, she stood. “I forgot mei sewing basket in the buggy.” She excused herself from the table and rushed to the door. Her lungs constricted. Inhaling short gasps of air, she clutched the banister railing.

  The screen door snapped. “Mattie?” Grace came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  Mattie sniffled. “Don’t make me cry, Grace. I’ve been so emotional lately, weeping one minute and singing and bouncing off the walls the next. Someone might think I’ve either gone mad or am early menopausal.”

  Grace laughed. “You’re only twenty-eight.”

  Mattie wiped her eyes and chuckled. “You’re probably right. I’m going mad.”

  “It’s understandable. You miss Andy. And you’ve had a rough time these past few days.”

  Mattie took in a big breath and released it slowly. “I’ll meet you inside in a few minutes.”

  Worry lines formed on Grace’s forehead.

  “I’ll be all right,” Mattie insisted. “I just need a minute or two. And I really did leave mei sewing basket in the buggy.”

  Grace gave Mattie’s arm a gentle squeeze, then released it. “I’ll see you in the haus.”

  Mattie stood, clutching the railing awhile longer. Her prayers lately about having the ability to move forward seemed to go unanswered, mere breaths in the wind, but she lifted her gaze to the blue sky. “Lord, will mei heart ever mend? Will I find contentment and true joy again?” She watched the cottony clouds float across the pasture and sighed with the peaceful reminder that God had answered her prayer about Nathan’s health, and now that he was getting the medicine, the blisters in his mouth should go away. The heaviness in her chest disappeared as she ambled across the yard to her buggy. She grabbed the sewing basket and the larger basket she had packed with herbal products and returned to the house.

  Once she entered the room, the women’s chatter stopped midsentence, their needles stalled midstitch.