by Leigh Bale
Abby reached to pet them, unable to stop herself. “Ach, how precious. How old do you think they are?”
“Their eyes are open, but they’re wobbly when they walk. I’d say they’re about two weeks old, which fits with when Amber stopped coming to the house at night. No doubt she’s been busy tending to her babies.”
Abby’s maternal instincts kicked in. “They’re weak. Who knows how long it’s been since they were fed last.”
“Ja, if they don’t eat soon, they won’t make it. Babies this young can’t last long without food.”
“You’re right. Please, let me help them, Jakob. They’ll make good barn cats and catch lots of mice. I can take care of them and finish all my chores, too. They won’t be any trouble at all, and I’ll keep them out of your way. I promise.” She peered at his face, awaiting his reaction.
His forehead crinkled in confusion. “You don’t need to defend them to me, Abby. Of course we’ll take care of these babies. Do you expect me to just let them die?”
She realized her mistake. This was not her brother she was talking with. “Ne, of course not. I... I wasn’t sure what you thought.”
“I would never do anything to hurt these kittens, unless I couldn’t prevent it.”
Of course not. He wasn’t cruel, like Simon. His reassurance bolstered her courage and she took the white kitten from him, cuddling it close to her chest. “Does Ruby have any doll bottles?”
“I don’t think so.” He turned, searching the barn until he found a wooden crate.
“What about a medicine dropper? I can feed the babies with that,” she said.
“Ja, I believe we have a small dropper. And some old towels we can put in the bottom of this crate.”
“Would Naomi mind if we take the kittens inside the kitchen where it’s warm? The best place would be right next to the woodstove,” she said, hoping she wasn’t pushing his patience too far.
“Ne, Mamm wouldn’t mind at all. In fact, I think she’ll be happy that we found Amber’s babies.”
Carrying the crate and striped kitten, he headed toward the house with Abby following behind. She snatched up the basket of eggs along her way. As they crossed the yard, she was touched by Jakob’s kindness. Simon would have yelled and screamed. He wouldn’t have wanted to be bothered by a couple of orphaned kittens. He would have even forbidden her to care for them. She knew, because it had happened once before, and she’d been heartsick over the loss.
Even though Jakob had been kind to her, Abby kept forgetting that he was of a different caliber from her brother. And for just a moment, she wished things could be different between them.
* * *
“Ach, the poor dears,” Naomi cried when she found out what had happened.
“It’s a blessing that you found them in time,” Dawdi Zeke said, peering over his great-granddaughter’s shoulder.
Ruby snuggled the white kitten close to her pinafore, her eyes filled with tears. “You won’t let them die, will you, Daed?”
“We’ll take gut care of the babies, but their lives are in Gott’s hands.” Jakob handed a dropper he’d found in the medicine cabinet to Abby after removing the final splinter in her finger using his mamm’s tweezers.
She’d already placed a pan of goat’s milk and a little Karo syrup on the stove to warm. After washing the dropper and sterilizing it, she handed it to Naomi. The older woman cuddled the white kitten in the crook of her left arm. The poor animal was too weak to even struggle. After sucking milk into the dropper, Naomi introduced it to the kitten’s mouth. At first, the baby resisted and milk dripped onto its fur. Naomi persisted and the kitten soon caught on. It suckled the milk greedily. They all stood around, watching with amazement. Finally, the baby’s stomach was round and taut. The kitten yawned, its pink tongue curling back in its little mouth.
While Abby cleaned and sterilized the dropper a second time, Zeke took the full kitten and placed it gently in the nest of warm towels in the crate beside the stove. The baby curled up and almost instantly fell asleep.
“See there. That’s a good sign,” he said.
“We’ll need something more than a medicine dropper to feed these hungry babies. I think we need to go into town to the feed and grain store and see if we can buy a couple of nursing kits. I’ve seen them there before,” Jakob said.
Abby handed the cleaned dropper to Naomi. “I can pay for whatever we need.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Naomi said as she took the striped kitten from Ruby. The baby mewed pathetically. “We will buy the nursing kits, although I think it’ll take all of us to keep these newborns fed. I suspect they’ll need to eat every hour or so for the time being. They’re very young.”
“How do you know what to feed them?” Ruby asked Abby, watching with wide eyes as her grandmother fed the baby.
“My sister-in-law taught me. We found an orphaned kitten on our farm once...” Abby’s voice drifted off, a sad look in her eyes.
Jakob wondered if the kitten had died. Something about her voice and the way she’d begged him to let her care for the babies led him to guess that Simon hadn’t been too supportive. It would be foolish to let an animal die if you could do something to save it. On a farm, all the animals served a purpose and helped with the prosperity of the place, even barn cats. But Simon wasn’t the type of man to care, which might account for why his farm had never done very well.
“Goat’s milk won’t be enough. It will only tide the babies over until we can go into town and buy some kitten formula at the pet store,” Abby said.
Ruby looked at her father, the ribbons on her kapp bobbing with her head. “Can you go now, Daed? We have to get the babies some gut food or they’ll die.”
Jakob smiled, wanting to reassure his daughter. “Don’t worry. I’ll go this afternoon, when I pick Reuben up from school. The goat’s milk will work fine until then. In the meantime, I need to go outside and plant corn. But I’ll return in time to go into town.”
Ruby threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. “Danke, Daedi.”
He kissed her cheek, delighted by her tender heart. She was so much like her mother. Over the top of her head, he saw the gratitude shining in Abby’s eyes. For some reason, he wanted to prove to her that he wasn’t like her brother. That he was a better man than that.
Without its sibling and mother’s warm body to keep it company, the white kitten began to cry. Abby picked it up and held the baby close.
She giggled. “Its fur tickles my nose.”
“Let me see,” Ruby said.
Abby lowered the kitten so that the girl could rub her face against its fur. Ruby squealed with delight, and they all laughed. Jakob stared at Abby, mesmerized by the way her smile made her blue eyes glitter.
“It has a yellow spot on its head,” Ruby said.
“Ja, it’s the same color as your mudder’s daffodils. Maybe that would be a good name for the kitten,” Abby suggested.
Ruby nodded. “Ja, I’ll call this baby Daffy. Mamm called her daffodils the daffies.”
“Daffy.” Abby said the name, as if trying it out on her tongue. “It’s perfect. I like it.”
“So do I,” Dawdi Zeke said.
“Reuben can name the other kitten,” Ruby suggested.
“That sounds fair,” Naomi said.
Jakob watched them all. Abby’s eyes glowed with happiness. Sunlight filtered through the window, highlighting wisps of golden hair that had come free of her white kapp. He was surprised that she would suggest they name one of the kittens after Susan’s flowers, but he was fast learning that Abby was both generous and compassionate. She didn’t seem to feel threatened by Susan’s memory at all. And her laughter did something to him inside. Something he didn’t understand. When they’d been out in the barn and she’d confided how she’d acquired fast reflexes, her admission reaffirmed his
desire to shield her from harm. There was no way he could ever refuse her request to care for the kittens. In fact, he wondered if he could refuse her anything.
“I’d better get out to the fields,” he said.
“I’ll come help,” Abby said.
“No need yet. Bring the smaller seed wagon out in a couple of hours. By then, I’ll be ready to refill the hoppers.”
She nodded, reaching for the eggs she’d gathered. He knew she would clean and put them in the well house, to keep them cool. Naomi would use many of them for her baking, but they would sell the remainder to the country store in town. Another cash crop that brought funds into the household.
“I’ll help out here. I may be shaky, but I can still hold a baby kitten,” Dawdi Zeke said. A deep smile creased the elderly man’s face as he watched the striped kitten sleep.
Abby filled a basin with warm water, and Jakob forced himself to turn away. He longed to stay right here and enjoy this quiet interlude with his familye, but there was work to be done. He couldn’t spend the day ogling baby kittens with Abby.
Chapter Eight
In exactly two hours, Abby hitched up Tommy, the familye’s chestnut gelding. Naomi was hanging laundry on the line and had a batch of bread in the oven. Abby waved as she pulled away from the barn.
Jakob had already stacked bags of seed corn in the back of the small wagon. His thoughtfulness pleased her. Simon would have made her lift the heavy bags.
As she headed toward the fields, she could see Jakob driving four Belgian draft horses hitched to a four-row planter. Standing on the platform, he wore his straw hat as he glanced over his shoulder often to ensure the seed corn was dispensing correctly. With his strong hands holding the lead lines, he moved the big horses at an even pace, the furrows long and straight. As her wagon bumped over the uneven ground, she couldn’t help admiring Jakob’s muscular back and arms.
She pulled off to the side of the field, leaving him enough room to turn his team around. When he reached the end of the column, she noticed a perplexed frown on his face.
He pulled the Belgians to a halt, then hopped down and went to peruse the machinery. He bent over and fidgeted with one of the seed units for a moment, then released a low huff of air. He stood straight and shook his head, holding something in his hands.
Abby jumped down and joined him.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
He whipped his hat off and wiped his brow with his forearm, then held up a chain that was blackened with oil. “Ja, one of the drive chains broke. This is a new field and very rocky ground. I can’t finish planting until the chain is replaced.”
She could see the frustration etched across his face. No doubt he was eager to finish the planting, but that might not happen today.
“What can I do to help?” she asked.
He glanced upward at the position of the sun. “It appears we’ll be going into town now. Things might move faster if you rode with me. While I get the replacement chain, you can get the nursing kits and formula for the kittens. Then we can pick up Reuben from school on the way back. If I can get the chain replaced today, I can finish planting tomorrow.”
She paused, surprised that he would invite her to ride into town with him. No doubt Ruby would prefer to remain at home to tend the kittens. But Abby quickly reminded herself that this was just work. Jakob needed her help, nothing more.
“Of course I’ll go. I’m happy to help,” she said.
He walked around the corn planter so he could unhitch the team. She didn’t need to ask why. It would not be prudent to leave the horses standing out in the hot sun while they made the long trip into town.
As he undid the chains on the tug lines, one of the horses thrust his left hind foot back, striking Jakob on the back of his lower leg. It happened so fast that neither of them saw it coming.
“Oof!” The man dropped to the ground like stone, his straw hat falling off his head.
“Jakob!” Abby raced to his side, frightened that he’d be trampled by the horses.
She pulled on his arms until he was a safe distance away from the giant Belgians. He lay flat on his back, his eyes closed, a grimace of agony on his face as he pulled his injured leg up toward his chest.
“Are you all right?” She touched his pale cheek with one hand, praying that he wasn’t injured seriously.
“Ja, I... I think I’m all right.” His voice sounded tight and breathless as he struggled to sit up.
She helped him, her gaze lowering to his leg. “Ne, you’re hurt.”
Gritting his teeth, he rolled up his pant leg and rotated his calf to show an ugly red mark in the shape of a horseshoe across his flesh. It was swelling right before their eyes.
“You’re going to have a nasty bruise,” she said.
“Ja, Billy clipped me good this time. He has a nasty habit of doing that. I was in too big a hurry and let my guard down,” Jakob remarked, breathing heavily.
“Can you stand?” Abby asked, reaching her arm around to support his back. She caught his scent, a subtle mixture of horses and Naomi’s homemade soap made with coconut oil.
He nodded and gritted his teeth as he stood with effort. When he tried to put weight on his injured leg, a guttural groan came from his throat. He faltered, holding on tight to Abby.
“It might be broken,” she said.
“Heaven help us if it is. I’ve got to get these fields planted. I can’t be laid up right now.” His voice sounded roughened by fear and pain.
Abby didn’t need to ask why. They had a few days’ leeway, but if they didn’t get the crops planted, they would have nothing to harvest and no livelihood for the following year. Other men might be able to help, but their Amish community was not large and everyone was busy planting their own fields.
“Don’t you worry,” she said. “No matter what, we’ll take care of it somehow. If nothing else, I’ve planted fields on my own before. I can do it again.”
For some reason, she wanted to reassure him. She knew how it felt to be desperate and alone, and she didn’t want Jakob to feel that way when he was in pain.
He jerked his head up in surprise, a jagged thatch of hair falling into his eyes. “Your brother made you do the planting alone? Without his help?”
She couldn’t resist showing a wry smile. “Ja. Knowing Simon, are you really so surprised?”
He pursed his lips with disapproval but didn’t respond. With her aid, he hopped over to the small wagon, and she helped him pull himself into the seat. After retrieving his hat, she scampered up beside him and drove them to the house. Within minutes, she’d raced inside to tell Naomi what had happened. They asked Ruby to stay in the kitchen, to watch the kittens. There was no sense in making Jakob hobble into the house if they had to take him to the clinic in town. He remained in the wagon while Naomi inspected the burgeoning bruise. It had spread and was already turning an angry black color.
“That mean ole horse. You ought to get rid of him, Jakob. He nearly broke your vadder’s arm once,” Naomi said as she gently touched the tight skin with her fingertips.
“Billy isn’t mean—he’s just skittish. He’s still the strongest horse on the farm and we’re not getting rid of him,” Jakob replied between gritted teeth.
“Ach, I still wish you’d trade him for another, gentler horse,” she said.
Jakob didn’t reply. His jaw was locked, his hands clenched. Abby could tell he was in terrible pain, yet he spoke with complete calm, his voice soft and even.
“Do you think his leg is broken?” Abby asked.
Naomi shook her head. “There’s no way of knowing for sure. It could have just bruised the bone, or torn the muscle. With the fields needing to be planted, we can’t take the chance. You better drive him into town for an X-ray.”
Without a word, Abby unloaded the heavy bags of seed corn from the bac
k of the wagon. The gelding certainly couldn’t travel quickly into town while pulling such a heavy load. She had just finished the chore when Zeke appeared from the dawdy haus.
“What’s going on?” he asked, shambling over to them.
They quickly explained.
“Why didn’t you call me to help unload the seed corn from the wagon?” Zeke asked Abby.
“There was no need. I’m strong enough,” Abby said. It hadn’t been easy, but she knew the work would hurt him much more than it would hurt her. She didn’t want to do anything to endanger the elderly man’s health.
“I’ll bring the Belgians in from the field,” Zeke said.
“Ne, I’ll fetch them,” Naomi said. “Abby will take Jakob to the doctor and pick Reuben up on their way home. You stay here and help Ruby with the kittens. If it starts to rain, gather in the laundry.”
Since there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, Abby doubted the laundry hanging on the line was in any danger of getting rained on. Naomi seemed to know that the simple chore gave Zeke something to occupy himself.
Naomi took off toward the fields before Zeke could argue. As he hobbled toward the house, Abby could hear him grumbling something about getting old, losing respect and being consigned to women’s work.
Women frequently drove large teams of horses while their men baled hay. But Naomi wasn’t young anymore either, and Abby hated to make her bring the draft horses in from the field. But Naomi had given them no choice. And Abby couldn’t help wondering why everyone seemed to want her to go with Jakob instead of letting Naomi drive him into town.
Taking the leads into her hands, Abby slapped them against Tommy’s back. Jakob braced his wounded leg against the seat, but his stoic expression told her that he was hurting. To take his mind off the pain, she distracted him with chatter.
“Danke for letting us care for the kittens. They’ll grow fast and we’ll be able to wean them within a few weeks,” she said.