The Amish Baby Finds a Home

by Barbara Cameron

  “Jamie’s assured me I won’t be seeing him again,” Officer Tate said. “So thanks again for your help, Ms. Mattson.”

  She nodded briefly, then took Jamie by the arm and they left the shop.

  “I think Jamie’s probably grounded until he’s thirty,” the officer told Hannah.

  “I can’t believe this,” Hannah said. “Thank you for your help.”

  She grinned. “Happy it turned out well.” She turned and glanced around the shop. “That cute baby not working today?”

  “Later,” Hannah told her with a smile.

  “I might have to stop in then.” She started for the door, then turned. “Just to establish good community relations with the juveniles.”

  Hannah laughed and watched the officer leave, then she walked into the back to put her lunch tote in the refrigerator and lock her purse and the bank envelope in a file cabinet. She found herself smiling. She hadn’t had such a nice start to her day since the first day she’d opened her shop.

  She couldn’t wait to tell Gideon her good news.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Hannah, wilkumm!” Leah cried when Hannah and Gideon walked into the kitchen that evening.

  The two women embraced and began chattering as Hannah handed her a small bag from her shop and took off her jacket and bonnet.

  “For me?” Leah grinned.

  “Just something I thought you’d enjoy.”

  “Hi, Gideon, how are you?” he asked, as Eli had done the night before when he’d been ignored in favor of John. “‘Gut to see you.’”

  Leah just laughed and invited Hannah to sit at the kitchen table. She took a seat beside her, began untying the fabric strip Hannah had bound the handles with, and reached inside. When she pulled out a plastic bag filled with squares of fabric printed with baby animals she stared at it for a long moment.

  “So many women are buying these kits to make baby quilts for their kinskinner I thought you might like to make one for John.”

  Leah teared up. “Oh, Hannah, what a thoughtful gift! Danki!”

  She pushed aside the plate in front of her and began laying some of the fabric squares on the table. “These are adorable.” She pressed her fingers to her trembling lips. “It’s just beginning to hit me that I have a grosssohn.”

  She looked up. “Gideon, isn’t this sweet?”

  Gideon bent down to kiss her cheek. “It is.” He looked at Hannah. “Very sweet.”

  He took off his jacket and hat, hung them on pegs, and walked over to check out what was in the roasting pan at the back of the stove, although he had a pretty gut idea from the scents. He lifted the lid. Pot roast with potatoes and carrots. Mmm. His favorite. He put the lid back on then peeked in the oven. A pan of rolls were browning nicely.

  His mudder was so busy chatting with Hannah she didn’t even chide him for opening the oven the way she usually did when she was baking.

  “Mamm? Hannah? Coffee?”

  They both shook their heads and didn’t skip a beat talking. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table to drink it. After he’d finished he reached over and picked up the wooden spoon his mudder had given John to play with the night before and idly tapped it on the tray.

  “Very funny, Gideon,” his mudder said. “Hannah, I think Gideon is feeling neglected.” She reached over and ruffled his hair.

  Gideon ducked his head and winced. “Mamm!” When he glanced over at Hannah she was laughing.

  The oven timer buzzed. Leah got up, turned it off, and used mitts to pull the pan of rolls out. She set them on top of the stove.

  Hannah rose and busied herself getting the pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator, moving about the kitchen with the ease of familye.

  Gideon knew he should offer to do something, but he was enjoying the sight of Hannah in the room. She looked so right here…in the room he’d heard people call the heart of the home. Certainly this one had been for his familye all his life.

  His glance slid to the dawdi haus and he remembered his conversation with his mudder that morning before work. She’d said she was moving in there because her sohns were marrying soon, and he’d been dubious that he and Hannah would be. If only he and Hannah hadn’t been interrupted by the police officer…He wanted to talk to Hannah about their relationship.

  “Gideon? Are you ready for supper or too busy daydreaming?” his mudder teased.

  “Hmm?” He realized both women were both staring at him. “Where’s Eli?”

  “He went into town to eat with Emma and John.” Leah tucked the quilt squares back into the bag. “I can’t wait to get started on this.”

  She rose, set the bag on the nearby bench, and began putting the food on the table.

  Gideon waited for his mudder to question Hannah about her relationship with him. But just like the previous night, Leah simply carried on a friendly conversation and seemed eager to catch up with her female guest.

  So he enjoyed the meal and the time with the two women he loved and considered himself a lucky man indeed.

  “You were kind of quiet tonight,” Hannah said when he walked her home.

  “Couldn’t get a word in edgewise,” he told her with a grin and dodged her elbow aiming for his ribs. “Seriously, I think Mamm enjoyed her time with her schweschder but she missed you.”

  “And you.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe. Her first day home I thought she would knock my head against Eli’s. Said we were bickering.”

  “Were you?”

  “Ya. It was his fault, of course.”

  “Of course,” she said. Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “What were you telling him to do?”

  She knew him too well, he thought. “I just want him to take responsibility for John.”

  “I know. I think he is.”

  “Not enough. Eli needs to think about Emma’s reputation in our community. And John doesn’t deserve to be labeled as a child born outside marriage.”

  “Now who’s the slow bruder?”

  “Why you—” he began. But she surprised him by taking off running. He had no trouble catching her. She was fast but he was faster. He caught up with her at the front of her house and lifted her in his arms and spun her around and around.

  “Stop!” she cried, laughing. “You’re making me dizzy!”

  “I’ll show you dizzy,” he growled. He stopped and bent to kiss her.

  He didn’t know how long they might have stood there kissing, but the front door opened and light spilled out. Gideon groaned as the family dog bounded out barking.

  “Sam! You hush!” she cried.

  The dog quieted and rushed up to them.

  “Hannah? Is that you?” her dat called.

  “Ya, Daed. Gideon just walked me home.”

  “Gut-n-owed, Gideon!” the man called.

  “Gut-n-owed, Lester!”

  “Hannah, bring Sam in after he’s done his business, allrecht?”

  She winced. “Schur, Daed.”

  Lester went back into the house and shut the door. Sam, a medium-sized dog of indeterminate breed, pushed his nose against Gideon’s hand until he petted him, then he bounded off into the front yard.

  “Well, there’s a mood breaker,” Hannah said. “I guess I’d better be going inside.”

  Gideon clasped her hands in his. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

  She smiled. “Me too. It was a nice evening. I’ll see you in the morning like usual.”

  “Ya,” he said. “Like usual.” He kissed her quickly before she could move, then watched her walk away from him.

  Tomorrow is another day, he told himself as he turned to walk home. Maybe tomorrow you’ll have that talk with Hannah and plan your future. Tomorrow.

  * * *

  After she shared morning coffee each workday with Gideon, Hannah usually hurried to her own shop. But the next day she found herself walking slowly and enjoying looking in the windows of the shops between theirs.

  The jewelry shop generally
didn’t interest her. After all, the Amish didn’t wear jewelry. But this morning a ray of sunshine glanced off the display of engagement rings and caught her eye. She stopped to look at them sparkling in their little black velvet boxes.

  Had it been her imagination that Gideon had seemed more romantic last night? Reluctant to leave her at her home after he kissed her and swung her in that dizzying embrace?

  There was no doubt in her mind that their relationship had deepened this past year, especially after she opened her shop. And even if he proposed immediately they couldn’t marry until harvest was over, and that was still months away.

  This morning he’d started to say something but then they got interrupted by the mail carrier arriving early with a package. Then he’d gotten a phone call from an Englisch friend who maintained a website selling toys on the internet. He’d looked frustrated when she said she had to go open her shop but a customer knocked on his door at that moment, so he’d nodded and reluctantly said goodbye.

  “Morning, Hannah!” Micah Green, the jewelry store owner, paused at her side, his keys in hand. “See anything you like?”

  She laughed and shook her head. “The sun lit up your display just now. I couldn’t help but stop and admire it.”

  “Got some nice engagement rings. They’re still selling well even though most of the June brides have theirs already. How’s business?”

  “Good. Katie Ann’s starting her own bakery, so I took on a new part-time helper. She’ll be working a few hours for Gideon now and then as well.”

  “Sounds great.” He glanced to his right. “Looks like you already have a customer waiting.”

  “I do,” she said, experiencing a sinking feeling in her stomach when she saw the familiar figure standing by the door of her shop. Ruby was a nice woman, but she was the bishop’s wife. Hannah had the feeling she was in for an uncomfortable conversation. “Have a good day, Micah.”

  “You too, Hannah.”

  She closed the distance and smiled as she unlocked her shop door. “Guder mariye, Ruby. How is Abram?”

  “Much better. First time I’ve been to town since he fell ill with the flu.” She walked inside and glanced pointedly at the portable crib by the quilting table. “Heard you had a new helper.”

  “Ya. Emma Graber.” Hannah turned the sign on the door to say Open and walked over to put her things under the shop counter.

  “We heard she was back in town.”

  Hannah met Ruby’s gaze directly. “If you want to speak to Emma she’ll be in this afternoon, after lunch.”

  “I won’t be in town that long,” Ruby told her as she wandered over to finger a fabric on a nearby display table. “I can’t leave Abram alone that long until he’s back on his feet.”

  “I’ll tell her you stopped by.”

  Ruby nodded. “Please do. I’d love to talk to Emma.”

  She picked up a bolt of fabric and walked over to the cutting table. Hannah went over to join her. “I thought she’d be at her house. But her mudder said she wasn’t.”

  Hannah smiled. “How many yards do you need?”

  “Four.” She pulled over a chair and settled herself into it as Hannah measured and cut the material. “Where is she staying?”

  “I’d rather you ask Emma that.” She folded what she’d cut, wrote out a slip, and pinned it to the fabric. “Do you need matching thread or anything else?”

  “Thread.”

  They walked over to the display of thread, and after great deliberation Ruby chose a spool that matched the fabric.

  “It’s gut that you are being a friend to Emma and her”—she paused delicately—“unforeseen blessing. But our faith says her boppli cannot enter into the congregation of the Lord.”

  Hannah knew well the verse she referred to and felt a spurt of anger. No boppli deserved to be considered less because his birth hadn’t happened within marriage.

  Ruby laid her hand on Hannah’s. Her thin face creased in a friendly smile. “I don’t mean to sound judgmental. But please get Emma to talk to Abram and me. We must help her and the dat marry within the church and abide by the Ordnung.”

  Long after Ruby took her purchases and left the shop, Hannah thought about what she’d said. While this bishop was less stern than some of his predecessors had been, she knew that Emma would be shunned if she didn’t marry Eli. And if the church members found out who John’s dat was, Eli would be shunned as well.

  She sighed. Shunning wasn’t meant to be a punishment but a way to lead those straying from the path back to their salvation.

  Customers kept her busy for the next several hours. When she was finally able to sit down and work for a few minutes on the new wedding ring quilt she’d decided to make, her stomach growled. She retrieved her lunch tote from the refrigerator in the back room and sat at the shop counter to eat her sandwich.

  Emma and John came in a short time later. John looked happy and waved his arms as Emma wheeled him inside in his stroller.

  “You’re early.”

  “We thought you might like company for lunch.” Emma pushed the stroller over behind the counter. John bounced and grinned when he saw Hannah. She put her sandwich down and picked him up.

  “I’m so glad to see you!” she told John as she sat down on the stool and settled him on her lap.

  “We didn’t mean to interrupt you eating.”

  Hannah shrugged. “I can finish in a minute.” She kissed John’s cheek. “How is he feeling?”

  “Gut. We both slept all night last night.”

  She didn’t want to start off the afternoon with awkwardness but figured it was best to let Emma know about her morning visitor. So she told Emma about her conversation with Ruby.

  “I wondered what took her so long to stop by,” Emma said wryly. “I’ve kind of lived in a little bit of a bubble working here. I knew the bishop wouldn’t come to a quilt shop.” She sighed. “Well, Eli and I will have to talk about it.”

  “You shouldn’t have to do it alone. Talk to Abram alone, I mean.”

  “Nee, I shouldn’t.”

  Emma was helping several customers when the shop phone rang a while later. Hannah picked it up and was surprised to have Emma’s mudder ask to speak to her.

  “It can’t be Mamm,” Emma whispered when Hannah told her who was on the line. “She wouldn’t speak to me when I went by our house.”

  “It is.” She pushed the receiver into Emma’s hands.

  “Mamm?” Emma said. Hannah saw her lose all the color in her face. “Ya, I’ll be right there.”

  She hung up the phone and turned to Hannah. “My dat’s had a heart attack. My mudder wants me to come to the hospital.”

  “You must go. I’ll watch John for you.”

  “How am I going to get there?” The normally calm Emma wrung her hands.

  “I’ll call Liz and see if she can drive you.”

  She watched Emma check John’s diaper bag while she made the phone call. After she hung up, Emma showed her John’s thermometer and medicine. “He hasn’t had a fever since he went to the doctor, but just in case the dosage is circled on the bottle and I wrote down the directions—” she began.

  Hannah patted her shoulder. “He’ll be fine.”

  Minutes later Emma was gone. No sooner had she walked out when the shop door opened and it seemed like a bus had dropped off a large group of customers. John chose that moment to spit up the strained carrots Emma had fed him.

  “Oh my,” Hannah said as she surveyed him. What a day this was turning into. First the uncomfortable visit with Ruby, and now this.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Gideon figured he’d surprise Hannah with a box of pastries and iced coffees from the coffee shop.

  She wouldn’t be expecting him now. But Eli had come into town on errands and stopped by the toy shop, so Gideon had asked him to watch it so he could take an afternoon break.

  “Maybe Emma can take a break here with me,” Eli suggested with a sly smile.

  “
We’ll see,” Gideon said, wondering if Eli had an ulterior motive when he stopped by. “That’s up to Hannah, not me.”

  When he walked into the quilt shop he stopped in his tracks and stared at all the women milling around.

  “What’s going on?” he asked a harried-looking Hannah as she rang up a sale, a fretful-looking John balanced on one hip.

  “A quilt guild from another town,” she told him, giving him a quick glance before smiling at her customer. “That’ll be $55.94.”

  “Where’s Emma?”

  “Familye emergency,” she said tersely.

  “I’ll be right back.” He carried the bakery box and drink holder into the back room, set them down on the table, then returned to the front of the shop.

  “Young man, do you know where the pinking shears are located?” a woman asked him.

  “Right this way,” he said, leading her to the selection.

  “My, you’re so helpful,” she complimented him. “My husband doesn’t even know what they are.” She considered the choices. “I guess that’s what comes from being married to the owner, eh?”

  He smiled, unsure how to answer. She’d obviously come to the conclusion Hannah was his fraa after seeing her with John. He waited as she took her time choosing. He wouldn’t have known what pinking shears were, but he’d helped Hannah set up her shop and she’d explained the reason for the strangely toothed scissors.

  “Can I help you with anything else?” he asked politely while wishing he could hurry her along and get back to Hannah. She obviously needed help up front.

  “Thimbles. I collect them.”

  “Hannah has a nice assortment over here,” he said, guiding her to them. “Some are practical and some are meant to be decorative for collectors.” Mudder’s Day was coming up. Maybe he should think about getting his mudder the one with the violets painted on it. His mudder loved violets.

  “I love this one with daffodils. Perfect for my collection,” she said and placed it in the basket on her arm. “This has been such a lovely stop on our tour.”

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with. I’ll be at the front of the shop.”