The Amish Baby Finds a Home

by Barbara Cameron

  “There, see? Mamm is here just like I said she’d be.” She looked at Emma. “He woke up crying. He never does that.”

  “He was a little fussy this morning. I thought he might be teething but when I rubbed my finger across his gums I didn’t feel anything.”

  Emma held out her arms and John fell into them. She touched her lips to his forehead. “He’s a bit warm. I hope he’s not coming down with something. Since my shift is almost over, we’re going to go on back to the motel unless you need anything else from me.”

  “That’s fine. You let me know if John is sick and you need anything.”

  “I will. I don’t have a cell phone but there’s a phone in our room.” Emma tucked him into his stroller.

  “I have the number.” She waved at John. “Bye-bye, sweetie. Hope to see you tomorrow.”

  When he gave her a wan smile she frowned, worried that he was indeed not feeling well. After a glance at the clock on the wall and a quick sweep of the shop to make sure she had no more customers, she walked over to the door, flipped the sign to Closed, and locked the door. As she turned, there was a rap on the door. She smiled when she saw it was Gideon and let him in.

  “You’re a little early.”

  “It was slow all afternoon because of the rain.”

  “Same here.” She closed the door. “Then it got busy briefly. I’ll get my things together. Emma just left. John was acting like he wasn’t feeling well.” She got her purse from the back room and then stepped behind the counter to get her bank deposit.

  It wasn’t there. She bent down and searched the shelves, remembering she’d shoved the deposit into her lunch tote when she couldn’t find the bank deposit bag.

  The tote was gone.

  She straightened and stared at Gideon, stricken. “My money’s gone!”

  Gideon frowned at the panic in her voice. “It’s not in your purse?”

  She shook her head. “I was making out my bank deposit and John started crying just as four or five customers walked in. I got distracted and shoved the envelope with the money into my lunch tote under the counter instead of putting it back in the register.”

  Gideon walked around the counter. “Maybe it fell down, got shoved behind something.” He knelt and searched the shelves himself, then stood. “It’s not there. Let’s walk around the store, make sure it isn’t on the floor somewhere.”

  “Bank envelopes don’t walk away on their own,” she said, looking miserable.

  But she walked with him anyway and looked on the floor and checked the back room. When they still didn’t find the money, Gideon stepped forward and put his arms around her. “It’s allrecht. Everything is going to be allrecht.”

  “But the money!” she said in a shocked whisper. “It’s gone!”

  Then, as if she realized what they were doing, she pulled back and stared at him.

  “How much was it? You said you’d made out the deposit slip.”

  Hannah walked back to the counter and found the slip of paper she’d added up the cash and credit receipts on. She sighed as she handed it to him. “I suppose it could have been worse. It was a slow day. And I gave Emma an advance in cash.”

  “That was kind of you.” Gideon frowned. “I wonder if Eli has given her any money for expenses.”

  There was a sharp rap on the door. Hannah was surprised to see Officer Tate, one of the local police officers, through the window. She opened the door. “Yes?”

  The woman held up Hannah’s lunch tote. “Lose something?”

  “Where did you find it?” Hannah asked as she took it with shaking hands.

  “In the parking lot. Your name was inside.” Her eyes narrowed. “Something wrong?”

  Hannah bit her lip, looked at Gideon, then back at the officer. “Yes but—” she broke off.

  “Do we need to speak privately?” the officer asked, glancing at Gideon.

  “No, Gideon didn’t do anything, if that’s what you mean,” Hannah rushed to say. “We just discovered someone stole money from me today. I guess when they went behind the counter looking for a purse they took the lunch tote.”

  She looked inside it, then shook her head, and looked rueful. “Silly for me to think anything would be in it.”

  “I’d like to make out a report,” Officer Tate said, as she held up a hand. “I know the Amish don’t want to prosecute, but we need a record of any crimes happening in the area to try to prevent them from happening again.”

  Hannah nodded and held the door open for her to enter. “We only have a few minutes, though. Our ride will be here soon.”

  They sat at the quilting table and Hannah went over what she remembered, told the officer how much had been taken, and described the teenaged boy who’d come into the store with the women. The officer wrote down the description.

  “I’m sorry I can’t remember more about him.”

  “This is good. There are security cameras outside some of the stores. We can pull the video. Did the teen seem to be with one of the women?”

  “I thought one of the women in the group that came in was his mother,” Hannah said. “I mean, males rarely come into the shop, and this was the first teenager I think I’ve seen visit.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them. “I remember looking over and seeing him standing near the counter but he didn’t have anything in his hands I needed to ring up. Normally I would have gone over and asked if he needed any help, but John woke up and he was crying.”

  “John?”

  “My part-time worker’s baby. He’d been taking a nap in the crib there.”

  “Did any of the women stand out to you?”

  Gideon watched her frown then bite her lip. “It’s probably nothing.”

  “Just tell me. You never know what’s important.”

  “This one woman asked for metallic thread. I remember I was looking at the teenager and she seemed to walk into my field of vision. I tried to look over her shoulder. But she got closer, too close to me, and made me feel a little uncomfortable.”

  “Can you describe her?”

  She shook her head. “Sorry.”

  Gideon got up and walked over to the shop window when he heard a horn honk. “Our ride is here.”

  “I just feel so stupid,” Hannah said with a sigh as she rose.

  “You’re not stupid,” Tate said. “Someone took advantage of a moment when you were distracted. I hope we can catch the thief so we can redirect him, get him on the right path.”

  She closed her notebook and stood. Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew a business card and handed it to Hannah. “Please call me if you remember anything else. I won’t pressure you to prosecute if we find the person who did this. I’ve worked in this town for four years and I do understand you don’t want to prosecute. But I’ll be trying to find him to see if I can get your money back.”

  “Thank you.” She followed the officer to the door and said her goodbyes. Gideon trailed after her and waited for her to lock up. Then they both walked over to the van and got in. Liz leaned over the seat and looked at them as they sat in the second row of seats. “You folks okay? I saw Officer Tate come out of the shop.”

  “Someone stole money from Hannah today,” Gideon told her.

  “They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Liz demanded quickly.

  Hannah shook her head. “I put my bank deposit envelope under the counter when some customers walked in, and when John woke up, he distracted me. I didn’t lock up the deposit bag.”

  “Where is the little guy?” she asked as she turned, checked traffic, and pulled onto the road.

  “He’s with his mother. She’s helping me part-time.”

  “Liz, I’m getting off at Hannah’s house,” Gideon told the driver.

  “No problem.” She turned her attention to traffic. Gideon took Hannah’s hand and squeezed it. He frowned at how cold it felt. And he noticed that she was trembling, too. She held herself straight and tried to act like she was fine but clearly
she wasn’t.

  She turned and smiled at him, then they looked ahead and saw one of their fellow passengers standing on the sidewalk waiting for the van. Liz pulled over and stopped so Martha could get in. She said a brief hello to everyone and took a seat.

  And so it went, the stops for the Amish men and women who relied on their driver to get them to and from their jobs. It was usually quieter on the way home. The passengers were tired after a long day of work, a day that had begun before dawn and wouldn’t end for hours yet. There was supper to cook, chores to do, familyes to tend to.

  When they finally arrived at Hannah’s house and got out, Liz called “Take care” before she drove off.

  Hannah turned to Gideon. “Staying for supper?” she asked him with a rueful smile.

  He remembered the last time he’d asked Liz to let him off at Hannah’s. That was when he hadn’t wanted her to face her mudder’s questions after she took care of John. But no way would he have had her face an uncomfortable questioning about who John was and why Hannah was taking care of him alone.

  “I just want to make schur you’re allrecht,” he told her. “I’m not inviting myself over for supper.”

  She smiled at him but it didn’t quite meet her eyes. “I’m fine, really.”

  Mary stood watering the pots of flowers on the front porch. “Gut-n-owed, Gideon. Are you staying for supper?”

  Gideon glanced at Hannah. “Danki, Mary. I didn’t plan on inviting myself.”

  “Since when do you need an invitation?” she asked. “Come on, I’m about to put it on the table.” She opened the front door and walked inside.

  “You’re going to tell them, aren’t you?” Hannah asked him.

  He took her hand. “Nee, you are. It’ll make you feel better to have their love and support.” He touched his forehead to hers and looked deep into her eyes. “You have mine. You’ll get through this. It’s a part of business.”

  She sighed. “Danki.”

  They climbed the steps to the porch. “You haven’t had something like this happen.”

  “Nee, but I’ve had shoplifters. And the roof leaked last year and damaged part of my stock, remember? And—”

  Chuckling, she held up her hand. “Allrecht, I get the point.”

  Relieved that he’d chased the sad look from her eyes, he gestured for her to precede him inside as he held the door open. “I wonder if your mudder made those wunderbaar biscuits of hers.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Emma paced the small motel room with John crying fitfully in her arms.

  John almost never cried. He almost never turned down his favorite strained pears either. She finally dug into her diaper bag and found the baby thermometer. Schur enough, he had a fever.

  He’d been sick only once since he was born and when that had happened, some baby Tylenol had brought the fever down quickly.

  So she measured out the dosage and got him to take it, then gave him some juice. But the fever still wouldn’t go down.

  When she was back in Ohio she’d had her friend with her, and even though she’d never had a kind, Grace had been so gut about keeping her calm.

  Emma felt so alone as she sat with John in the motel room and waited for the fever to break.

  She sang to him but he fussed. She walked him and he fussed. She even turned on the small portable television to distract him, but it didn’t soothe him. Finally she climbed into bed, settled him onto her chest, and piled pillows around them in case he rolled. Maybe he’d sleep this way.

  When she woke a few hours later John’s forehead felt cool. Relieved, she drifted back to sleep and slept until the alarm went off. She sat up slowly, not wanting to wake him. Tiptoeing to his crib, she laid him in it and went into the bathroom to shower. When she came out he was waking and acting fussy again. She checked his temperature. It was up again. She soothed him by talking to him as she dressed quickly.

  Then she lifted him from his crib and gave him another dose of Tylenol, following it up with a small bottle of juice while his bottle warmed in a pan of hot water. He needed a diaper change, but she figured she’d do it after he ate because he’d be less fussy.

  He seemed happier after he was fed and after a quick bath felt cooler when she dried him, dressed him, and put him down for his morning nap. She frowned as she sat on the bed and watched him sleep. As the youngest in her family she hadn’t helped take care of her siblings. Maybe if she had she’d have felt more confident about her parenting skills.

  She sighed and got up to fix herself a cup of coffee. She ate the second to last of the granola bars in the box and decided she’d make a trip to the grocery store soon. Then she made the bed—a habit too ingrained to allow her to leave it for the motel staff to do. After propping herself up with pillows she used the remote to watch the television with the sound turned low. It was an unaccustomed treat. She hadn’t had a rumschpringe before she got baptized. Having a super-strict dat meant there had been no looking at the Englisch world to decide if she liked it or wanted to stay in her community and be baptized.

  But today she was too distracted to enjoy the drama she knew was called a soap opera, although she didn’t know why. She changed channels. The game show she watched for a few minutes didn’t catch her attention. People were doing all manner of silly antics to win prizes. The noon news was depressing with its stories of so many bad things going on in the world.

  When John woke he seemed better, so she fed him and dressed him for their afternoon. After strapping him in his stroller she set off for the quilt shop.

  Hannah smiled when she walked in. “I wasn’t schur you’d be in today. How is John?”

  “We didn’t have the best night but I’m hoping he just has a mild cold,” she said. “I checked his gums again, but he doesn’t seem to be teething.” She frowned as John rubbed his ear. It was the second time he’d done it since they came.

  “Hi John,” Hannah said as she bent down to stroke his cheek. “Emma, he feels warm.”

  “Oh no. He was fine when we left the motel.” She pushed the stroller over to the quilting table so she could sit and dig out the thermometer. Schur enough, his fever was back. “I really wish I could ask my mudder for advice.”

  Then she bit her lip. “Nee, I can’t do that,” she said quickly when she saw the question in Hannah’s eyes.

  Hannah glanced at the clock on the wall. “Today’s Friday. Rebecca takes a quilting class this afternoon. I’m schur she’d be glad to look at John when she comes.”

  “That would be wunderbaar.” Emma sighed. “I was thinking that I’d feel a lot more confident as a mudder if I’d taken care of siblings, you know?”

  “It can’t be easy to be a first-time mudder.”

  Emma checked the clock and decided it was time for another dose of medicine. John took it but then fussed until she picked him up and walked him around the shop. She bounced him on one hip as she straightened some displays and felt guilty that she wasn’t doing enough.

  “Maybe I should go. Doesn’t seem right for you to pay me when it’s slow.”

  “We’re fine. It may be another slow day because it’s looking cloudy again.”

  The bell over the door tinkled as it opened and a police officer walked in. She held some papers in her hand and smiled at Hannah before her glance shifted over to Emma.

  “Well, I don’t believe we’ve met,” she said. “I’m Officer Tate.”

  “Emma Graber. And this is my son, John.” She jiggled him when he didn’t respond with his usual smile. “He’s not feeling well today.”

  “Sorry, John.” She turned to Hannah. “I think you might like to hear my news.” She handed Hannah the paper she carried. “This is the young man who took your money yesterday.”

  Emma gasped. “You were robbed?”

  “It wasn’t that dramatic,” Hannah assured her quickly. “He took it from under the counter when I was distracted.” She looked at the officer. “I hadn’t had a chance to tell Emma yet. She just came in.
”

  “The good news is that I located this young man,” Tate said. “I’ve already paid him a visit and had a little chat with him. He was surprised I found him. But we buy the yearbooks of the local schools, so it was just a matter of looking through them. He was a bit…cocky about what he’d done. Seems to think you won’t press charges.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Well, I chatted with him in front of his mother. It’s the law since he’s a juvenile. She wasn’t the woman you described, the one who asked you about thread and you felt might have been trying to distract you. So I suspect she’s having a talk with her son now and I’m hoping he’ll be returning the money. And staying out of trouble.” She smiled.

  “Well, that would be nice on both counts.”

  “You let me know if he shows up.”

  “I will. And thanks.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “I’m so sorry that happened,” Emma said after the officer left.

  Hannah nodded. “Danki,” she said, then glanced at the door as it opened again. “Rebecca! I was hoping you’d be coming to class.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it. Cassie Martinelli should be here soon, too.”

  “We’re a little concerned about John,” Hannah told her. “Could you take a look at him?”

  “Schur.” She set her quilting tote down on the counter and looked at Emma. “What seems to be the problem?”

  “He’s acting fussy and running a bit of a fever,” Emma told her. “He just started rubbing at one of his ears.”

  Rebecca glanced at Hannah. “Do you mind if we use the back room? It’ll give us a little privacy.”

  “Go right ahead.”

  They walked to the back room, where Emma handed John to Rebecca and then dug into her diaper bag for her thermometer. “He had Tylenol about two hours ago.”

  Rebecca sat in a chair, put John on her lap, and took his temperature. “A hundred and one.” She asked about his health history and immunizations as she undressed John and checked him for rashes and any injuries. “You haven’t seen a doctor here since you arrived, have you?”