Love in Plain Sight

As nanny for her nephew, Judith Lapp’s finally part of a vibrant, joyful Amish community instead of living on the outskirts looking in. But teaching her neighbors’ Englischer farmworker to read Pennsylvania Dutch wasn’t part of her plan. And the more time she spends with Guy Hoover, the more he sparks longings for a home and family of Judith’s own.

Guy figured he would never be truly accepted by his Amish employers’ community—even though the Mast family treats him like a son. But Judith’s steadfast caring shows him that true belonging could be within his reach...if he and Judith can reconcile their very different hopes—and hearts.

JAN DREXLER enjoys living in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband of more than thirty years and their four adult children. Intrigued by history and stories from an early age, she loves delving into the world of “what if?” with her characters. If she isn’t at her computer giving life to imaginary people, she’s probably hiking in the Hills or the Badlands, enjoying the spectacular scenery.

Also By Jan Drexler

Love Inspired Historical

Amish Country Brides

An Amish Courtship

The Amish Nanny’s Sweetheart

The Prodigal Son Returns

A Mother for His Children

A Home for His Family

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

The Amish Nanny’s Sweetheart

Jan Drexler

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08252-5

THE AMISH NANNY’S SWEETHEART

© 2018 Jan Drexler

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

—Matthew 7:24–27

“Are you serious about learning Deitsch, Guy?” Judith asked.

“Of course I am.” He poured steaming milk into the hopper. “At least, I am if you’re going to teach me.”

“I’ll be happy to do it, if you really want to learn. You’ll need to speak and read it well if you’re going to join the church.”

“I don’t need to join to fit in around here, do I?”

Glancing at Judith’s face, her pink cheeks told him that he had been too blunt.

“You don’t have to,” she said, clearing her throat. “But understanding what folks are saying will make living in the community easier. We can begin tonight, but it will take weeks for you to pick up the basics.”

That brought a grin Guy couldn’t hide. Weeks spent in Judith’s company? Time he could spend learning to know her, getting close to her. Becoming a friend.

“Okay, I’m game.”

Judith smiled then, her joy catching him by surprise. She truly wanted to do this, which meant only one thing. She liked him. Guy felt his own smile spreading across his face...

Dear Reader,

This story is close to my heart. I loosely based the hero, Guy, on a real person—my grandfather. I never met the real Guy, who passed away several years before I was born, but his story is one I had to share.

Born in 1902, Guy’s life changed dramatically when he was five years old. His mother gave birth to a daughter and died of complications soon after the delivery. Faced with raising three very young children on his own, their father placed Guy and his younger brother in an orphan asylum and put his newborn daughter up for adoption.

It was a hard life for a young boy. When he was old enough to do farm work, he was hired out to farmers in the area as an indentured worker. Abuse of various forms were part of his life, while the father who had left his sons in the orphanage traveled from job to job, never able to provide a home for them but never signing away his parental rights. From 1908 to 1926, Guy lived and worked in thirty-two different homes.

But, as in every story of redemption, God stepped in. Early in his young adulthood, Guy dedicated his life to serving the Lord. He met my grandmother, and they married and had five children, including two sons who became ministers.

The year after Guy’s death, Grandma wrote, “He wanted love and respect, but most of all he wanted a home and security, something he hadn’t had since his mother died.”

Everything else that happened in this story, including Guy’s father being a criminal, is fiction. But the heart of the story, Guy’s longing for a home, a place where he belonged, is true.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Connect with me on Facebook or Goodreads, or on my website, www.JanDrexler.com.

Blessings,

Jan Drexler

To my dear aunt, Waneta Bundy,

who sowed sunshine wherever she went.

Soli Deo Gloria

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Bible Verse

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Extract

Chapter One

LaGrange County, Indiana

February 1938

“You’re sure you want to do this?”

Judith Lapp grinned at her brother-in-law, Matthew Beachey, as she climbed into the buggy. “I’ve been looking forward to going to a Youth Singing for years. Why would I refuse this chance now?”

Matthew’s grin echoed hers as he turned the buggy onto the road leading to the Stoltzfus family’s farm. “That’s just what your sister would say.”

As the horse trotted down the snowy road, the cold February air pressed close inside the buggy. Judith pulled her shawl more tightly around herself and tucked the heavy lap robe under her legs. A shiver made her teeth chatter, but she didn’t care. All those years growing up on the farm near Shipshewana, she had never gone to a Singing. Of course, she hadn’t been old enough to go until the last few years. Even so, she and Esther would never have gone if their older brother, Samuel, had had his way. Living at the edge of the Amish community, just like she had when their father had been alive, Judith had never felt welcome among the young people her own age.

But then, last fall, their lives had changed. Samuel had met Mary. The couple had wed in September, and Esther had moved next door to live with Mary’s sister and their aunt. Judith had joined them until she moved to Matthew and Annie’s home last week to help care for their growing family. Not only was she delighted to become reacquainted with Annie after their years of separation, her oldest brother, Bram, lived in the same community, and she was learning to know him again, also.

A tingling started in Judith’s toes and she tapped them on the buggy floor to warm them. Matthew’s shoulders were hunched, and he had pulled his chin into the collar of his coat like a turtle.

Dear Matthew. It had been his idea for her to live with him and Annie after the twins were born. Such wiggly, red, crying babies! Judith’s job was to fix meals and care for Eli, her eighteen-month-old nephew. She shivered again, but whether it was from the cold or happiness, she couldn’t tell. She had to pinch herself every morning to convince herself that her new life wasn’t just a dream.

Matthew turned the horse into the Stoltzfus farm lane and Judith leaned forward as they approached the large white farmhouse. A dozen or more buggies were lined up along the edge of the lane in front of the barn, the buggy shafts resting on the ground. Lights from the house shone onto the snow, and through the windows Judith could see a crowd of young people milling around inside the Stoltzfuses’ big front room.

Her grin grew wider. These girls would be her new friends. And, perhaps, some evening a young man would ask to drive her home from the Singing. A fine, upstanding Amish man who was looking for a bride to share his life with. Finally, the night she had longed for was here.

The barn door opened and closed in a beam of light as one of the young men led their horse into the warm shelter. Ahead of them, silhouetted against the lantern light from the barn, someone walked up the lane toward the house with his hat perched on the back of his head the way an Englischer would wear it.

“Is that Guy Hoover?” She nudged Matthew’s elbow. “I know I’ve seen him before.”

“It looks like it might be. He lives with the Masts on the farm across the road from us.”

“That’s right. He brought some milk over on Friday.” His smile had been enough to make her like him right away. “I don’t remember seeing him at meeting this morning, though.”

“He was there, but the Masts left before dinner. David said one of their cows wasn’t doing well this morning, and he wanted to get back to her.”

Judith smiled at the young man as the buggy passed him. He might have returned her greeting, but she couldn’t tell with his face wrapped to the eyes in a wool scarf.

“I’ll be back to pick you up at ten thirty,” Matthew said as he pulled his horse to a stop at the end of the walk leading to the house.

“What if some fellow asks to take me home?” Judith couldn’t resist teasing Matthew.

“Tell him he’ll have to wait. It’s my privilege tonight.” He helped her take the robe off her lap as she slid the buggy door open. “Have fun.”

“I will,” she said, but her attention was on the icy walk leading to the kitchen door.

Guy reached the back step the same time she did.

“It’s sure cold tonight, isn’t it?” His words were muffled by his scarf.

“Ja. Very cold.” She shivered, anxious to get into the warm house.

He pulled the scarf down, revealing a pleasant face and ready smile. “Do you remember me? Friday I saw you when I brought milk to the Beacheys.” He spoke in a mixture of Englisch and Deitsch words, turning his sentence into a jumble.

“For sure, I remember.” She remembered how his brown eyes had widened and then crinkled into a grin when she answered the door.

“In a hurry, you were...” He stumbled on the Deitsch words and switched to Englisch. “You were in a hurry on Friday.”

Judith changed to Englisch, too, as she reached the door. “You didn’t stay long, either.”

Guy opened the wooden storm door and followed her into the washing porch. “You surprised me. I didn’t know anyone but Annie would be there.”

“And then Eli was crying...”

“Those babies were, too.”

Judith unwound her scarf from her neck. “They always cry, but I don’t mind. There is nothing sweeter than a new baby, and the twins make things twice as much fun.” She glanced through the glass window of the kitchen door. The room beyond was crowded, and even though she longed for its warmth, she wished she had an excuse to stay here and continue visiting with Guy. She wondered why he didn’t seem comfortable speaking Deitsch, but how could she ask that question?

Suppressing a shiver, Judith settled for a smile. “It was nice seeing you again.”

Guy unwrapped his own scarf with one hand as he held the door open for her, then she was swept into the crowded kitchen.

Two girls stood between the door and the big kitchen stove, talking with each other, but turned to greet her.

“I’m so glad you came,” one of them said. “We met at church this morning. I’m Waneta Zook.”

“Ja, Waneta, I remember. It’s so good to see you again.”

“This is my friend Hannah Kaufman.”

“I saw you at meeting,” Hannah said. Her smile was friendly and welcoming. “You came with Matthew Beachey, didn’t you?”

“He’s my sister’s husband. I came to live with them last week.” Judith started to say how thankful she was that Matthew and Annie had opened their home to her, but Hannah’s face lit up.

“You’ve come to help Annie with the twins? What fun!”

Judith smiled as she untied her bonnet. “They are so sweet, but all they do is eat, cry and sleep. Annie keeps busy with them while I watch Eli and take care of the house.”

Waneta led the way to a back bedroom where Judith laid her shawl on top of a pile of other shawls and coats on the bed and set her bonnet on a table. She felt to make sure the hairpins were still holding her Kapp secure and ran her hand down her skirt to smooth out any wrinkles, then she followed Waneta and Hannah into the big main room. She found a spot against the wall with the other girls and watched the group of boys lounging along the opposite side.

Hannah leaned close to speak into her ear. “After the singing, I’ll have to introduce you to my brother. He’s that handsome one over there.”

Judith looked in the direction Hannah indicated. The young man was tall, and as good-looking as Hannah said. He glanced in her direction as he talked with some other boys who gathered around him, but Guy caught her attention as he stood off to the side, staring at her. He wore the same plain clothes that the other boys wore, but somehow, he looked out of place.

Before she could ask Hannah if she knew Guy, one of the older boys announced that it was time for the Singing to begin. As the girls took their places on one side of the long table in the middle of the room, the boys scrambled to sit across from the girl of their choice. Judith watched to see who would sit across from Waneta. The spot remained empty until a tall young man came in late.

“That’s Reuben Stoltzfus, Waneta’s beau,” Hannah said, whispering into Judith’s ear. She giggled as a young man sat across from her.

“Who is that?” Judith whispered back.

“Reuben’s brother, Ben.”

Hannah looked everywhere except in Ben’s direction. Judith didn’t dare look to see who had taken the seat across from her. She had never had much to do with boys, since she and her sister Esther hadn’t attended the Singings in their home district of Shipshewana. She didn’t know if she should say hello, or if she should acknowledge his presence at all. She watched Hannah, who finally looked across the table at Ben, blushing as she gave him a smile.

Judith dared to look at her partner. She drew a breath of relief when she saw it was Guy. His dark brown eyes crinkled as he grinned at her. She could only give him a brief smile before she looked down at her lap. The boys chose to sit across from a girl they were interested in, according to what Annie had told her about the Singings. But was Guy interested, or had he sat there because no one else did?

She took a songbook from the stack that was passed along the table and dared to meet his gaze again just as a voice called out the first song number. She fumbled with her book until she found the right page, knowing he was watching her all the time. The group started singing and she struggled to join in the unfamiliar tune. She glanced up again and was relieved to see that he was concentrating on the songbook.

Holding her book in front of her face, Judith squeezed her mouth shut tight to keep from giggling. She was at a Singing, and a boy was sitting across from her. So, this was what it was like to be grown up. She dared to peek at Guy again, but he was still concentrating on the book in front of him. She suppressed a little quiver that went from her middle all through her, then turned her eyes back to the words of the song. It was a hymn, but not one from the hymnal they used on Sunday mornings, the Ausbund.

The tune became more familiar as they started the second verse and she joined in. As she did, she could hear a clear tenor humming the tune without singing the words. It was Guy. He frowned at the book in his hands. If he didn’t speak Deitsch well, perhaps he couldn’t read it, either. Judith lost her place in the song as she let her imagination fill in the empty pieces of Guy’s story without success. She would just have to get to know him better if she wanted her questions answered.

* * *

Guy Hoover couldn’t believe that the seat across from the new girl had remained open long enough for him to claim it. But now, he told himself, he had to quit staring at her. It didn’t matter if she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. She would think he was some kind of fool if he didn’t get hold of himself.

Running a finger inside the too-tight neckband of his shirt, he stared at the songbook in his hands. He hadn’t wanted to come to the Singing tonight. He hadn’t been to one since Hannah Kaufman had laughed at his attempt to talk to her in Pennsylvania Dutch. Three months had passed since then, but the sting of her rejection had kept him away from any gathering of the community’s young people. Tonight, though, Verna Mast had pushed him out the door.

“Go have some fun,” she had said. “David has you working so hard all through the week that you deserve to spend some time with folks your own age on a Sunday evening.”

Folks his own age, yes, but the fellows treated him like the outsider he was. They knew his past, that his pa had abandoned him at the orphanage. That he was an unwanted mongrel, not worth their bother. That he was only a hired hand.

David and Verna had never made him feel that way, though. They were good people.

He sneaked a glance over the top of his songbook. Judith’s soft blue gaze, as soft as her voice had been as they talked outside, met his, then dropped to her book.

Looking down at his own music, Guy gave up trying to sing. He could speak a little bit of the Pennsylvania German, but not enough to follow the words on the pages. He knew the tune, though, and hummed along with the singers while his mind wandered.

He let his thoughts drift to the first time he had seen Judith. David had sent him to the Beachey home with a pail of milk and he had knocked on the kitchen door the same as every other time. But when Annie’s sister had opened the door...

Guy felt a foolish grin slide over his face and glanced across the table just in time to see Judith’s red face before she lifted her songbook to hide it. His grin took over. With some planning, he might be able to talk to her some more before the end of the evening. Perhaps he would even be able to walk her home.

At that thought, his stomach churned like a windmill. Judith sat next to Hannah, and he could imagine what Hannah was saying about him. Why couldn’t folks let the new girl get to know him on her own, without gossiping?

After the group had sung several songs, Elizabeth Stoltzfus announced that refreshments were ready. Guy noticed that several of the fellows were coming out of the kitchen with cups of punch for the girls. This would be his opportunity to talk to Judith, but he saw that Luke Kaufman was already at her side with a cup. As he offered it to Judith, she smiled up at him.

Luke Kaufman.

Guy pushed away from the table and made his way to the kitchen. If she was interested in Luke, then she would never even look at him.

As he reached the table filled with sandwiches, John Stoltzfus thrust a plate toward him. “Glad to see you here tonight, Guy.”

Guy nodded at the older man, the father of Benjamin and Reuben. John had always welcomed him whenever he was in the Amish community.

“Denki.” Guy switched to English. “Thank you for hosting the Singing.”

“Of course.” John spoke in English, too. “You know that whoever hosts the morning church services also hosts the Youth Singing in the evening.”

“All the same, thanks.” Guy took a thick sandwich spread with ground ham and then one with egg salad.

“Don’t miss the pie,” John said. “Elizabeth makes the best pumpkin pies.”

“I know.” Guy slid a piece of pie onto his plate, then moved around the table to stand next to John, out of the way. John’s wife, Elizabeth, was the best cook he knew of, other than Verna. “I’ll probably have seconds if there are any pieces left.”

John grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll keep one back for you, if you’d like. Although you look like the Masts’ table has been agreeing with you.”

Guy nodded as he took a bite of the ham sandwich. He had worked for David Mast every summer since he was nine, and those summers had filled his winter dreams with memories of Verna’s delicious cooking. When he turned eighteen last year and could no longer live at the Orphan’s Home, David had offered him a regular job, including room and board. He had jumped at the offer.

“Verna’s cooking is a sight better than—” Guy stopped. He didn’t need to remind John or the others in the kitchen of where he had lived most of his life. “Her cooking is delicious.”

The short refreshment break was nearly over, and while Guy finished his first piece of pie, the kitchen emptied as the others drifted back into the front room. John cut a second helping of pie for him, and Guy couldn’t refuse.

“How are things going? David speaks highly of your help on the farm.”

Guy raised his eyebrows as he swallowed a bite of pie. “You wouldn’t know it to hear him some days. It seems I can’t do anything right.”

Especially yesterday. He had driven the wagon too close to the corner of the shed and had spent the rest of the afternoon whitewashing the scraped siding.

John grinned. “I’m sure my boys think that about me, sometimes.” He shrugged. “But how else will you learn to be a good farmer?”

Guy stared at the plate in his hand. Is that what David was doing? Teaching him to be a farmer?

“I’m not sure that’s what I want.”

John scraped the last crumbs of his pie into a pile with the back of his fork. “Don’t be too quick to decide. Ask for God’s direction.”

Guy nodded. “Sure.” Ask God. That’s what Verna would tell him.

“Meanwhile, soak up all you can from David’s teaching. You never know when those skills will come in handy, whether you stay on the farm or not.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Guy took his plate to the sink. He didn’t know how long he’d be living with the Masts. David had never said anything about him staying on past this year. But then, he never had the other years, either.

“David loves you like a son. You know that, don’t you?”

Guy glanced at John as he went back into the front room to join the Singing again. He had gone over this time and again in his head, ever since the first summer he had stayed with the Masts. David and Verna seemed to like him, but after all these years, they had never adopted him, and he knew why. He wasn’t Amish. He wasn’t good enough for them.

* * *

Judith leaned away from Luke until her back touched the wall. His hand rested next to her head as he loomed over her. She had to look up at an uncomfortable angle to see his face, but it was worth it. Luke Kaufman was one of the cutest boys she had ever seen and popular with the other fellows.

“How long will you be staying with Matthew’s family?” Luke’s blue eyes held hers in a steady gaze as he took a sip of punch.

“Quite a while. At least until the twins are a few years old, I think.”

He glanced away as a girl’s laughter rose above the conversations in the room, then focused back on her.

“Did you leave a lot of friends behind in Shipshewana?”

Judith shook her head. She and Esther hadn’t done much socializing before their brother Samuel got married.

Luke leaned even closer. “Not even a boyfriend?”

“Ne, no boyfriend.” Judith felt her cheeks flush hot. Were all boys this bold?

“Then you’ll have to let me be your first beau.” He smiled, but his eyes smoldered. “I’ll take you home from the Singing tonight.”

Judith pressed her lips together to keep from giggling. Luke leaned even closer to her, making her even more nervous, but she couldn’t move away with the wall right behind her. “You must already have a girl you’re interested in.” She turned her punch glass in her hands, not daring to take a drink. She was shaking so much inside that she would spill the punch down the front of her dress, for sure.

He shrugged. Even his shrugs were smooth and self-assured.

“No girl to speak of.” He lifted one of her Kapp strings with his finger. “Not now.”

She couldn’t stop the nervous giggle from escaping again. “Then, there was a girl?”

“No one special.” Luke breathed the words as he leaned even closer. He smelled of soap and something else that Judith couldn’t identify. Something smoky and bitter. His gaze slid from her eyes to her mouth and her stomach flipped over.

Someone clapped their hands to get everyone’s attention. “It’s time to take your seats.” Reuben Stoltzfus’s voice carried over the rest of the sounds in the room, but Luke didn’t move.

“Let me take you home tonight. Meet me at the end of the lane.”

Judith found herself nodding, but then remembered her promise to Matthew and turned the nod to a shake.

“I can’t. Matthew said he was coming for me.”

“When he sees that you’ve already gone, he’ll understand.”

Judith shook her head again and ducked under Luke’s arm to head back to her seat. “Ne. Matthew said that he wanted to take me home this time.”

“I’ll get my way.” He tugged on the Kapp string again and gave her a heart-stopping smile. “Count on it.”

As Judith slid into her seat next to Hannah, the other girl grabbed her hand.

“I saw you talking to Luke. Did you like him?”

Judith glanced down the table toward Luke. He was laughing with the fellows sitting on either side of him. Their conversation during the break had been unsettling, but she wasn’t sure why. She hadn’t had much experience talking to boys.

“He is nice, I guess.”

Hannah squeezed her hand. “I knew you’d think so.”

Reuben called out the number for the first song, and the group had nearly finished it before Guy took his seat again. He looked in her direction, then at his songbook. Judith kept watching him. He stared at the book, but didn’t join in the singing.

The next song was a fun one. Each verse was about two people who had a hole in their bucket, and at the end it repeated the lines from all the previous verses. By the time they reached the twelfth verse, everyone was laughing so hard they couldn’t keep singing. Everyone except the young man across the table from her.

After the rollicking fun, someone suggested a quick break. Judith stayed in her seat this time, not wanting to be cornered by Luke again.

A few minutes later, a cup of punch appeared on the table in front of her. She looked up to see Guy smiling at her.

“Denki,” she said.

He made his way around the end of the table to his seat and took a drink of his punch. Judith leaned toward him, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn’t hear their conversation.

“Why didn’t you sing with us?”

Guy rubbed the side of his nose. “I don’t talk Deitsch well, and I can’t read it.”

“So why did you come to the Singing?”

“I don’t know.” He looked miserable.

“You have a nice voice. I heard you humming along with us earlier.”

A shadow of a smile flashed at her. “Do you mind if we speak English?”

She switched languages, just as he had. “No.” She gave him a mock frown. “But you won’t improve your Deitsch if you don’t use it.” She laid her hands on the table and leaned closer to him. “Why don’t you know how to speak like us?”

“I wasn’t raised here—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the next song was announced. This one was a round, and it took concentration for Judith to keep up with her part. Half of her thoughts were on Guy, though. How could he not know Deitsch?

At ten o’clock, the singing was over. Luke and some of the other boys rushed out the door, but the girls stood in groups to chat. With a half hour to wait for Matthew, Judith started helping a few of the young people who were collecting the songbooks.

She had picked up a small stack when she met Guy coming around the other side of the table with his own hands full of books.

“I’ll take those for you,” he said.

Judith handed him the books she had gathered. “You’re speaking English again.”

Guy shrugged. “The Penn Dutch is too hard. Everyone here understands English, so why should I learn it?”

“You’d fit in with the other fellows better. Don’t you want that?”

“I’m not sure they want me around.”

“You should give it a try.” Judith stepped closer to him. “All you need is someone to teach you.”

He glanced around, then ducked his head toward her. “Could you teach me?”

He was serious, his eyes locked on hers, waiting for her answer.

“I’m not sure I’d be a very good teacher, but I could try.”

“Maybe we could get together this coming week?” He grinned. “If you can ever get away from those babies.”

Judith frowned. Did he dislike children that much? “Those babies are the reason I’m here, and I don’t want to get away from them.”

“C’mon, I was only teasing.” His cheeks turned red.

Judith grinned back at him. “I’m glad you were, because I love Annie’s children. All three of them.”

“So, when can we start the lessons?”

“I’ll have to check with Annie, first.”

He nodded and thumbed at the corners of the songbooks in his hand. “I saw you talking with Luke Kaufman earlier. Is he taking you home?”

If any boy was taking a girl home, it was supposed to be a secret, except for the girls who had steady beaus, like Waneta. Even Judith knew Reuben would be taking her home. But Guy looked at her with such intensity when he asked the question that she had to give him an answer.

“No.” She shook her head. “He asked, but Matthew is coming for me.”

“Whew,” Guy said. “I’m glad.”

He picked up a few more songbooks that someone had left on a chair and Judith followed him. If he was asking to take her home, he had a strange way of doing it.

“Why are you glad?”

“No reason.” He gave the books to Benjamin Stoltzfus, then turned back to Judith. “Except that maybe I can get a ride with you and Matthew?”

He wiggled his dark eyebrows up and down as he asked, and Judith found herself laughing at him.

“For sure, you can. Matthew will be here at ten thirty.” She glanced at the clock. “I had better get my bonnet and shawl. Meet you by the back door?”

“Yeah. I’ll wait for you there.”

As Judith went toward the kitchen, she glanced back. Guy had picked up the end of one of the benches, ready to help Benjamin carry it out to the church wagon. After talking with Luke at the break, she had been breathless and feeling a little bit like she was dabbling in deep, unknown waters. But that exchange with Guy...it had been more like talking to a friend she had known for a long time.

Hannah was in the bedroom, putting on her bonnet. Her black shawl was already wrapped around her shoulders.

“You’re ready to go home?” Judith asked, reaching for her own bonnet.

“Ja.” Hannah peered into a small, round shaving mirror fastened to the edge of the towel rack on the washstand, pinching her cheeks to bring some color into them. “Luke asked me to remind you that he’ll be waiting for you at the end of the lane.” She turned to Judith with a smile. “He has a brand-new courting buggy and can’t wait to try it out.”

“But I told him that Matthew was coming for me. I don’t need a ride.”

Hannah laughed. “No girl ever needs a ride!” She grasped Judith’s hand. “My brother is looking for a wife, and I have a feeling you’re just the girl he’s been waiting for. If you step carefully, you and I could be sisters before you know it.”

Judith withdrew her hand. “I’m not ready to be married. This is my first Singing, and I want to get to know other people before I settle down to one fellow.”

Hannah picked up a pair of mittens from the bed and pulled them on. “If Luke is set on you, there will be no changing his mind.”

“I’m still not going to let him take me home. Matthew asked to be the one to do it on my first night out, and I want to go home with him.” Judith found her own mittens tucked in the folds of her shawl. “Besides, Guy Hoover is going to ride with us.”

Hannah faced her. “Guy Hoover? You don’t want to get involved with him.”

“Why not?”

Hannah shook her head, her face set in a frown. “He isn’t one of us. Never has been, and he never will be. He’s an outsider.” She turned toward the door, then gave one last shot. “He doesn’t belong here.”

Judith’s fingers chilled as if she had plunged them into a snowdrift. Hannah’s animosity toward Guy was shocking, and not what she had expected from her new friend.

If Guy was an outsider, that explained why he didn’t know Deitsch. Judith tugged her mitten on. New friend or not, Hannah was wrong. She would do everything she could to help him feel welcome in the community.

Chapter Two

Spring was in the air on Tuesday morning as the weekend’s cold spell gave way to warmer breezes and fitful sunshine. Guy turned the team at the end of the field, then threw the lever to start the manure spreader’s gears as they made another pass. When David had given him this early-spring job of fertilizing the fields, Guy had chosen to do these acres first. Why? He grinned to himself as he drove the horses toward the fence on the other end. Because from here he could watch the Beacheys’ farmyard across the road.

He had only seen Judith once since the Singing two days ago. Just a glimpse, but he knew she was there. Ever since he had said goodbye to her when Matthew let him off at the end of the Mast lane that night, the only thing on his mind was to see her again.

Judith. Even her name sang in his mind.

He shook his head at himself, frowning. Why would he think he had a chance with her? The prettiest girl around, and new in the community, to boot. The boys were going to buzz around her like bees in a flower garden.

Guy turned the horses at the other end of the field and started back across. There, finally, he was rewarded with the sight of a figure in a blue dress and black shawl. She carried a basket and headed toward the chicken house. And disappeared. He hadn’t even seen her face, so he knew she hadn’t seen him.

After two more trips along the length of the field he saw her again. This time, she had let the shawl slip back from covering her head and held it loosely around her shoulders. She carried a basket full of eggs in her other hand as she picked her way along the wet path to the house. With her white Kapp gleaming in the bit of sunshine that had made its way through the cloud cover, she was a lovely sight. Blue eyes, he remembered. Dark blue and thoughtful. She dodged a mud puddle with a graceful step, hurried the rest of the way to the house and disappeared behind the closed door.

He stared at the door. Hannah Kaufman had brown eyes, full of laughter and beautiful. At least, he had thought so until he found out the laughter was at his expense. He had no business getting mixed up with an Amish girl, even though Judith seemed kinder and friendlier than Hannah. He didn’t belong here, and he wasn’t planning to stay. If Pa showed up—

“Guy! What in the world are you doing?”

Startled by David’s shout, Guy slammed back to reality. The horses had pulled the spreader off the straight track he thought they were on and were headed toward the barn.

“Sorry!” he called, and waved in David’s direction as he guided the horses back to the middle of the field. At least no one would notice his distraction, the way they would if he had been plowing. He shook his head as he thought about the ribbing he would have gotten if the crops had grown in crooked rows.

He finished the field and headed toward the barn to pick up another load of manure. Without a word, David met him at the manure pile and started shoveling. Guy joined him, eyeing his expression to gauge his mood.

David was a good boss, and had always been more than kind to him, but even David could get riled. He expected the best work from Guy, just as he expected it from himself. Mistakes were always fixed, sloth was never tolerated and attention to the task at hand was demanded. Guy had broken that last rule too often, and he waited for David’s reprimand.

It came when the spreader was filled and ready for the next field.

“You weren’t driving the team back there, they were driving you.” David leaned on his shovel, his gaze on the front acres. “What were you thinking about?”

Guy shot a glance toward the Beachey house. The first thing he had learned that summer when he was nine, his first summer with the Masts, was that David could always tell when he tried to skirt the truth.

“I saw that new girl come out of the house.”

David let the shadow of a grin show. “I guess a girl is a fair distraction for a fellow your age, but don’t let it happen again. When you’re driving a team, they need your full attention.”

Guy climbed onto the seat of the spreader and clicked his tongue as a signal to the horses. He didn’t have a view of the neighbor’s house from the back field, but his mind went off on its own thoughts, anyway. Keeping the team on track, he focused on the fence post at the far side.

David had taught him that if he picked a point and kept his eye on it, his path would always be straight and true. Almost everything David taught him had more than one meaning. He had made it clear that Guy needed to have a goal for his life and to keep his eyes on that. He was an eddy in a stream, David had complained. Always doing, but never going anywhere. But Guy just couldn’t find that centering point.

When the horses reached the fence post, he turned them around and lined up the next goal, the crooked tree by the farm pond, just beyond the fence.

At nineteen years old, he still had no idea what he wanted out of life.

No, that was wrong. He knew.

He had known ever since Pa had taken him to the Orphan’s Home on his fifth birthday. He still remembered the green suit Mama had made and how the wool had made his neck itch. He remembered the smell of the Home. The putrid odor that lingered in the dormitory rooms and drifted down the stairs. The crying that echoed in the hallways.

“I’ll come get you when I find work,” Pa had said as he crouched in front of him, smoothing the collar of the green suit. “It may be a while, but they’ll take good care of you here.” And then Pa had patted his shoulder and left, trotting down the sidewalk back to the old dusty black automobile.

Guy had waited for his return, and the years of aching emptiness had about killed him.

He knew what he wanted out of life. He wanted a father who never left his boy behind. He wanted a mother who didn’t die. He wanted his family.

But that was a dead-end dream.

The next time Pa had come back, on an early-spring day three years later, he had smelled of alcohol. A woman had been with him.

“Dressed in floozy clothes,” Mrs. Bender, the matron at the Home, had said with a sniff.

The fancy woman had taken one look at him and poked Pa in the shoulder. “That ain’t your kid. He looks nothing like you.”

Then she had leaned close to Guy, grabbing his chin and turning it one way and then the other. “Nothing like you.”

She had released his chin from her icy stick fingers and lit a cigarette, walking toward the shiny burgundy-colored car waiting by the road. “It’s him or me, Sugar Daddy,” she had called over her shoulder as she climbed into the front seat.

Pa had shrugged his shoulders, his eye on the woman and the car. “She won’t be around long, and then I’ll be back for you.” He had straightened his striped jacket and settled his hat more firmly on his head. “You see how it is, don’t you, Sport?”

Pa had come by to visit a few times after that, showing up every couple of years. Twice he’d had different fancy women with him. Another time he had shown up on foot, dressed in torn clothes and dusty shoes that were cracked and showing Pa’s bare feet through the peeling leather. Every time, he had left with the same promise of coming back to get him. Guy only needed to be patient until Pa’s ship came in.

But Guy had learned that Pa’s promise was nothing but straw. Easily made, easily broken.

The horses had stopped with their noses at the fence, and Brownie turned his head to look back at Guy.

“All right, all right. Hold your horses.” Guy shook off the memories and grinned as he turned the team around to start the next pass down the field. Horses holding their horses. If he’d still been at the Home, he’d have told that joke to the other boys as they shivered on their cots waiting for the lights-out call to drift up the long stairway. But he no longer belonged there. Too old for the Home, he was on his own.

He looked at the big white house at the edge of the barnyard. David and Verna’s place wasn’t home, either, no matter how welcome they tried to make him feel. He wasn’t theirs and never would be. He didn’t really belong anywhere.

The memory of Judith’s quiet glance sent a cool stream of peace through him. Maybe, just maybe, she could help him belong. The Penn Dutch lessons should help him become more comfortable in the community. Maybe he could put down roots here. Buy a farm. Raise a family. He let his thoughts flow to a home and family like Matthew Beachey’s, with a girl like Judith as his wife and children growing along with their love for each other. Guy shook his head with a laugh. That dream was far beyond the reach of an outcast like him.

* * *

Judith turned the ham frying in the cast-iron skillet then checked the potatoes with a fork. Dinner was nearly ready, and just in time. She could see Matthew heading toward the house for his noon meal.

“Ach, Judith, you’re a blessing!”

Annie stood in the kitchen doorway, rocking and bouncing as she held a fussy Viola in her arms. Or was it Rose? Judith couldn’t tell the two babies apart yet. They both looked like Annie, with wisps of red curls growing on their soft, pink heads. Meanwhile, Eli squirmed, trying to get down from his perch on her left hip.

As she set him on the floor, she waited until he had his balance before letting him go on a headlong dash toward his mother.

“You never told me what a job it is to try to cook with a toddler underfoot.” Judith opened the oven door to check on the green bean casserole. She had quickly learned that this dish was one of Matthew’s favorites.

Annie knelt to put her free arm around her son. “And soon enough there will be three of them running around the kitchen, all wanting to help.” She smiled as she pulled her son close and kissed his cheek.

Judith took four plates from the cupboard and set them on the table, watching Annie. Even though her sister hadn’t slept much last night, with the babies awake and crying at all hours, Annie still kept her good humor. Her face looked tired, though, and Judith was afraid she might fall asleep at the dinner table.

“When I put Eli down for his nap, I’ll take care of the girls so you can get some sleep this afternoon.”

Annie’s eyes widened. “Would you? I don’t remember when I last slept for more than a few minutes at a time.”

Matthew’s feet stamped in the porch outside the kitchen door, Judith’s signal to finish setting the table.

She smiled at Annie as she laid the silverware next to the plates. “I’d love to take care of them for a while. Tiny babies are so sweet.”

Annie cooed at Viola, who was still fussing. “They are sweet, but exhausting.” She kissed Eli’s brown curls as Judith lifted him into his tall stool at the table. “I don’t know what I would do without you here.”

Judith pulled out a chair so Annie could sit down next to her son. “If I wasn’t here, someone else would help you. There are plenty of girls in the church who would have been glad to come.”

“Did you get to know any of them at the Singing on Sunday evening? I didn’t have a chance to ask you about it yesterday.”

Judith drained the potatoes. She was serving them boiled, since she hadn’t had time to mash them. She added a lump of butter to the pot and shook salt and pepper over them.

“I had met Waneta Zook at the morning service, and she introduced me to Hannah Kaufman. There were others there, but I don’t remember all of their names.”

She set the green bean casserole on the table and put the ham on a serving plate. Just as Matthew came in, still damp from washing up on the porch, she dumped the potatoes into a dish and set it on the table. She sliced a loaf of bread while Matthew greeted his family, then she put it on the table and stepped back to evaluate her work.

“Ach, the peaches. I forgot to get them from the cellar.”

“It’s all right,” Matthew said, pointing to her chair. “I’m too hungry to wait for them.”

After the prayer, and when Judith had gotten the peaches and put them on the table, she sat down next to Eli. Annie had cut up some potatoes and a few green beans and put them on his plate, but they were already nearly gone, so Judith cut some ham into bites for him.

“What were you girls talking about when I came in?” Matthew asked, taking a second helping of the casserole.

“Judith’s first Singing. I was asking if she had made any new friends.”

Matthew grinned across the table at her. “I thought I saw a couple boys buzzing around her when I picked her up.”

Judith felt her face heat. “I had a great time, and I hope I can go to the next one. Waneta Zook is such a nice girl.”

“Guy Hoover seemed to think you were pretty nice, yourself.” Matthew teased her as much as he did his wife.

“Guy is nice,” Judith said. “He was easy to talk to.” Not like Luke Kaufman. She spooned a few peach halves into her sauce dish.

“What did you think of our young people?” Annie asked. Matthew had finished eating, and Annie handed the baby to him.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know more of them. Reuben Stoltzfus kept everything going, and we sang some hymns, and some new songs I had never heard before.” Judith buttered a slice of bread and cut it into pieces for Eli. “I didn’t know it would be so much fun.”

When they had all finished eating, Matthew read from the Christenflicht, the book of prayers that sat with his Bible on the edge of the table, then went back out to work. By that time, Rose was fussing in the other room and Annie went to care for both babies. Judith washed the dishes while Eli played with a spoon and pot on the floor. After a few minutes, Annie came back to sit at the table while she ate another dish of peaches.

“The girls are both asleep,” she said, licking her spoon. “I put them in their cots in the front room.”

“That will be fine.” Judith finished the dishes and sat with her sister for a bit of a rest. “I’ll put Eli down in a few minutes, and you’ll all have a nice long nap.”

Annie scraped the last of the peach juice from the bottom of her dish and Judith put it in the dishwater she had saved.

“I don’t suppose we have any cookies?”

Judith cringed as she got them from the top of the icebox. “I should have remembered to get them out earlier so Matthew could have some.” Eli climbed on her lap to eat his, leaning against her and watching his mother.

“He can have his when he comes in before the afternoon chores,” Annie said, brushing a crumb off her skirt. “And now that it’s just us, tell me about the boys.”

“Boys?”

“I’m sure you met more boys than Guy Hoover. Which did you like best?”

Judith thought about Luke’s blazing blue eyes, squirming a little as she remembered how small she had felt as he had loomed over her. “What do you think about Luke Kaufman?”

Annie leaned her chin in her hand. “He’s very popular with both the fellows and the girls, but I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve seen young men like that put too much store in what others think of them. Pride can be a real danger.”

Judith nodded, taking the remains of Eli’s cookie out of his hands before he dropped it. He was sound asleep.

Humility was a sign of a true Amish person, but falling into the sin of pride was too easy.

“What about Guy?” Annie said, munching on the last half of her son’s cookie. “He seems like a nice young man.”

“He asked if I would teach him Deitsch. Do you know why he doesn’t know the language already?”

“He didn’t grow up Amish. He’s been working for the Masts since before I married Matthew and moved here. It wasn’t until last year that he moved onto the farm, though.”

“Why? Did he live with his parents before?”

Annie shook her head. “He’s from the Orphan’s Home. He doesn’t have any parents, except for the father who took him to the home when he was a little boy.”

“He’s part of the community, though, isn’t he?” Judith pushed away the memory of Hannah’s face when she claimed that Guy would never be more than an outsider.

“Verna hopes he will choose to be baptized and join the church. If they had been able to adopt him, it would have been much easier for him, and them, too. They have no children of their own, but they love Guy and treat him as a son.”

“Does he want to join church?”

“I don’t know. It isn’t something that happens often, you know, an outsider joining the church. That’s why it would have been easier if David and Verna had been able to adopt him when he first started spending his summers with them as a young boy.”

“Why didn’t they adopt him then?”

Annie stifled a yawn. “I think Verna said his father never signed the papers to release him. But if you teach him Deitsch, it will make it easier for him to fit in. When do you think you’ll start the lessons?”

“I was thinking about some evening this week.”

“That sounds fine. After supper, the twins go down for the night, and so do I. Once Eli is in bed, your time is your own.” Annie pushed back from the table. “I’m going to lie down. Are you sure about taking care of all three children this afternoon?”

Judith tipped her chin toward the sleeping Eli in her lap. “Of course I am. I’ll wake you if I have any problems.”

Annie made her way to her room as Judith carried Eli upstairs to his bedroom across the hall from her own. She laid him on the bed and removed his shoes before she covered him with a warm quilt. She looked out the window as Eli shifted in his sleep, settling into what she hoped would be a long nap. This window faced the road and the Mast farm on the other side.

She wasn’t lonely, but Annie was busy with the babies, and Judith missed the hours she and Esther, her other sister, had spent talking when she was still at home. She needed a friend, and Guy promised to be a good one. At least, she thought he would be from the little time they had spent together.

Guy was right. He needed to learn Deitsch and she could teach him. She had a picture book she had brought to read to Eli, and she could use that to teach him a few words. A warm feeling spread when she thought of the hours they would need to spend together as he learned her language. Their friendship would deepen, and perhaps turn to... Judith felt her cheeks heat in the chilly room.

She frowned, keeping her thoughts stern. There would be no romance during her lessons with Guy. He wanted to learn, that was all. She shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Besides, he wasn’t Amish. It didn’t matter how attractive or friendly he was, she could never let him get any ideas about wooing her.

Unless he was planning to join the church.

Judith gave her upper arms a brisk rub to chase the chill away, then checked to make sure Eli was covered and warm in his bed. As soon as she found a moment, she would walk over to the Mast farm and see when Guy wanted to start his lessons.

* * *

Guy had just finished the afternoon milking and was carrying the warm pails to the dairy in the corner of the barn when Judith opened the door.

“Verna told me you were here, but she thought you’d still be milking.”

“I just finished, even though the ladies aren’t done eating yet.” Guy pointed an elbow toward the two cows still munching on their supper of timothy hay. “It’s a surprise to see you here.”

“I came over to ask you something.”

Judith followed him into the dairy and watched in silence as he set the milk on the bench, then shrugged off his barn coat and hung it from the hook on the wall. He watched Judith from under the shock of hair that always fell over his eyebrows as he started assembling the cream separator. He tried to catch her eye, but she seemed distracted. She stepped forward to help him sort the dozens of rings and filters, chewing on her bottom lip.

“Well?” Guy set the filters in their place and attached the big onion-shaped hopper on the top of the cream separator.

“Are you serious about learning Deitsch?” She handed him the clean steel buckets that would hold the separated milk and cream. Guy started the slow, heavy crank, getting the separator up to speed before he poured the milk into it.

“Of course I am.” He lifted the first pail and poured steaming milk into the hopper. “At least, I am if you’re going to teach me.”

Judith leaned on the table, watching until the twin streams of milk and cream came out of the spouts and into the waiting buckets.

“I’ll be happy to do it, if you really want to learn. You’ll need to speak and read Deitsch well if you’re going to join the church.”

Guy poured the second pail of milk into the top of the separator, then continued cranking at the slow, steady speed the machine required. The look in Hannah Kaufman’s eyes as she laughed at him last fall still stung. The only reasons to learn Penn Dutch were so he wouldn’t be laughed at and so he could fit in better with the crowd. He hadn’t thought about joining church. Becoming one of them.

“I don’t need to join the church to fit in around here, do I? The other guys my age haven’t joined.”

“Some of them have.”

Glancing at her face, her pink cheeks told him that he had been too blunt. She was disappointed in him.

“It just isn’t for me.” He tried to make his voice sound casual. The pink had spread to the end of her nose.

“You don’t have to join church,” she said, clearing her throat. “But being able to understand what folks are saying will make living in the community easier. Like when you go to the Singings or to the church meetings.”

He cranked the separator in silence. She wasn’t laughing at him. It seemed like she really wanted to help him. The bonus was that getting Judith to teach him Pennsylvania Dutch meant they would spend time together. Time he could spend learning to know her, getting close to her. Becoming a friend.

“When would we do this?”

Her face brightened. “I thought we could get together after supper, unless you still have chores to do then.”

“Naw, David gives me the evenings off.” He let the separator slow as the last of the milk emptied out of the hopper. “Were you thinking of starting tonight?”

“We can begin tonight, but it’s going to take more than one evening. It will take weeks for you to pick up the basics.”

That brought a grin he couldn’t hide. Weeks spent in Judith’s company? He set the pails of skim milk and cream aside and put the empty milk buckets under the separator’s spouts. He dumped a bucket of hot water into the hopper and let it pour through all those disks and filters, rinsing out any milk that lingered.

“Okay, I’m game.”

“Wonderful-gut!” She started for the door. “I have a children’s book we can use to begin with. Come over after supper, when Eli is in bed for the night. Around seven o’clock.”

Judith smiled then, her joy catching him by surprise. She truly wanted to do this, which meant only one thing. She liked him. He felt his own smile spreading across his face.

“I’ll be over after supper, then.” He grinned. “It’s a date.”

As Judith let the door close behind her, Guy went back to his work, but the grin slid off his face. He was looking forward to spending time with Judith, but what was he expecting to get out of learning that Penn Dutch stuff? It was one thing to live with the Masts and work for them. It was something completely different to become one of them.

He pushed away the warm feeling that started whenever he thought of belonging here. Truly belonging here. That would never happen. He had learned long ago not to get his hopes up. The Masts, as much as they seemed to like him, had never really made him part of their family. It seemed if you weren’t born Amish, you’d always be an outsider.

Besides, when Pa came for him...

Guy shook his head, chasing the stale hope away.

Once the room was clean and tidy, ready for the morning’s milking, Guy picked up the small pail of cream, leaving the skim milk to feed to the hogs the next day.

If David and Verna had adopted him when he was younger, it would be different. He would have learned the language, grown up with the other boys like Luke Kaufman and been a true part of the community. But that hadn’t happened, and it wouldn’t. Judith was wrong. He would never be Amish.

Chapter Three

That evening, Guy showed up at the back door right at seven o’clock. He was grinning when Judith opened it, but the smile disappeared when he saw Eli hanging onto her skirt.

“Am I too early?”

She shook her head. “You’re right on time. I’ve just had one of those days.” She picked up her nephew and led the way into the kitchen. “Eli didn’t sleep well last night, and then had a short nap this afternoon. Annie says he is getting some new teeth.”

Guy took a seat at the table where she had set a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for each of them.

“I didn’t know you were going to feed me,” he said, glancing at the book she had also laid on the table.

“My brother was always hungry for a snack, no matter how soon it was after a meal. I thought you might be the same way.”

Eli laid his head on her shoulder, watching the strange man in their home.

“I’ll never turn down a cookie.” Guy reached for one, then stopped with his hand hovering over the plate. “Why is he staring at me?”

Judith shifted Eli on her lap. “Probably because we’re speaking English. He doesn’t understand what we’re saying.” She held a cookie in front of the little boy. “Gleischt du Cookie?”

Guy laughed as Eli put the cookie in his mouth. “I guess I don’t need Dutch lessons, after all. I know you just asked him if he wanted that cookie.”

Eli held the bitten cookie toward Guy. “Cookie?”

“I’ll get my own, thank you.” Guy held a cookie up and looked at Eli. “Cookie.”

Judith frowned at Guy. “You should only speak Deitsch during your lessons.”

He winked at her. “Then how will Eli ever learn how to speak English?”

She had to smile back at his brown eyes twinkling in the lamplight. She pushed the book toward him.

“I thought we could use this to learn some of the names of common objects...”

He halted her speech with a raised hand. “I’m not going to do this if you’re going to talk like a schoolteacher.”

“All right. No schoolteacher talk.” She opened the book in front of her and Guy scooted his chair closer to her. So close that she could feel the warmth of his forearm resting on the table between them. She tightened her left arm around Eli.

The first page had a drawing of a boy holding an apple. “I know what that says,” Guy said. “Apple. The word sounds the same in both Dutch and English.”

“You’re right, Appel sounds the same. But what does the whole sentence say?”

Guy stared at the words with a frown. “I don’t know.”

Judith read the words. “Der Buh gleicht der Appel. Er esst der Appel.”

“Wait. You’re going too fast.”

“I thought you said you could read it.” Judith grinned as his face grew red, then she regretted it. She squeezed his arm as she leaned toward him. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh at you.”

He regarded her with those brown eyes. “I don’t like to be teased, but I know you didn’t mean any harm.” He looked down at her hand, still resting on his shirtsleeve. “I do like the way you apologize, though.”

The twinkle was back.

“Cookie?” Eli asked, looking up at her.

“Ne. No more cookies.”

Eli pointed at the book. “Appel?”

“He’s got it right,” Guy said. “He’s a smart kid.”

“Er ist schmaert.”

“That’s what I said.”

“So say it in Deitsch. Er ist schmaert.”

Guy repeated after her, then pointed at the book again. “Read this again, slowly, and I’ll try to catch it this time.”

Judith read the sentences again, one word at a time, and Guy repeated each word after her.

“Now, what does it mean?” he asked.

“It means, ‘The boy likes the apple. He eats the apple.’” Eli relaxed against her, his eyes heavy. “I’m going to take him up to bed. You practice those sentences while I’m gone.”

By the time Judith returned, Guy had turned to the next page, where the picture showed the same boy petting a cat.

“Don’t get too far ahead, now.”

“But I’m smart, just like Eli. I can read this one, too.”

Judith sat in her chair, leaning back with her arms folded, doubting that he could read any of it. “Go ahead. Let me hear you.”

Guy recited a few words, but the only one she recognized was “cat.” She shook her head, trying to keep a stern look on her face.

“Sorry, that wasn’t right. Let’s go back to the first page.”

They worked together until Guy could read the sentences with the correct pronunciation, and then she had him recite the different verb forms until the cookies and milk were gone.

Guy ran his fingers through his hair. “Can we stop now? I feel like I’m back in school.”

“In a way, you are. It isn’t easy learning a new language. I remember my first days at school when we could only speak English. I had older sisters and brothers who spoke it a little at home, but I was still lost.” Judith closed the book. “That’s enough for tonight, though.” She looked at him. “Do you think you learned anything?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll be saying ‘I like apples, you like apples, he likes apples’ in my dreams.” Then he caught her gaze with his. “But yes, I learned something.”

Judith shifted in her seat. He was staring into her eyes. “What did you learn?”

“Amish girls can be awfully pretty.”

Her face burned, remembering that Matthew was in the next room, reading a magazine, and could hear every word. “I’m sure you noticed that before. There are a lot of pretty girls around here.”

“Not as pretty as you.”

“You’re flirting with me.”

Guy leaned his chin in his hand, elbow propped on the table. “Of course.”

“But you came over for your Deitsch lesson, not to flirt.”

“The lesson is over now, isn’t it?”

Judith couldn’t keep a giggle from erupting, even though she covered her mouth. He leaned back in his chair, grinning. When he lifted his eyebrows in an exaggerated way, she giggled even more.

“You’re going to get us in trouble,” she said between gasps for air.

“I’m not doing anything. You’re the one making all the noise.” He raised his eyes and pretended to whistle.

“Stop it.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she nearly fell off her chair, she was laughing so hard. She grabbed his arm. Unable to speak, all she could do was shake her head.

Guy took her hand and leaned toward her. “I’ll only stop if you do one thing.”

She hiccupped as the giggles subsided. “What?”

“Let me kiss you.”

All silliness disappeared at his words. “You can’t be serious,” she whispered, hoping Matthew hadn’t heard what he said.

The twinkle had left his eyes as his gaze focused on hers with their faces inches away from each other. The only sound was the clock in the front room ticking away the seconds.

Guy drew back and smiled. “Naw, not really.” His rough fingers caressed the hand he still held. “But someday? Maybe?”

She couldn’t look away from his warm brown eyes, soft and hopeful in the lamplight.

“Maybe,” she said. “Someday.”

Just then the clock struck eight and Matthew’s feet hit the front-room floor with a thud. He cleared his throat to make sure they had heard him.

“That’s my signal to head home.” Guy rose and took his coat and hat from the hook by the back door. “Thanks for the lesson. When do we get together again?”

“Is tomorrow night too soon?” Judith opened the back door for him. “We could meet together most evenings, and that will help you learn quicker.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” Then he gave her one last wink as he put his hat on and let himself out the door.

Judith’s knees shook as she leaned against the door, but she couldn’t keep from smiling. In spite of the awkward moment when he had asked to kiss her, it had been a fun evening. The hours until tomorrow night stretched in front of her.

Matthew looked in from the front room. “Guy went home?”

“Ja, for sure.” Judith picked up the plates and glasses and took them to the sink. “He understood your signal that it was time for him to go.”

Matthew grinned. “I have to practice pushing suitors out. I can’t imagine what it will be like when Rose and Viola grow to courting age. Thanks for letting me practice on you.”

He left as Judith washed and dried the few dishes. Courting? Is that what Matthew thought she and Guy were doing? Is that what Guy thought they were doing?

She hung the dish towel on the rack over the stove. There would be no courting from Guy until he said he wanted to join the church, and that wouldn’t happen until he knew Deitsch a lot better than he did now.

* * *

Guy shoved his hands in the waistband of his trousers as he trudged down the Beacheys’ farm lane toward the road and the Masts’ farm. He shouldn’t have done that. Shouldn’t have asked for a kiss. Judith wasn’t that kind of girl.

Pa would have done it, though. At least, he figured Pa would have gone ahead and kissed her. The girls Pa had brought around would expect him to act like that. Girls like the one in the floozy dress with a bright smile that looked like brittle painted porcelain. Girls that had hung on Pa’s arm and ignored the boy Pa had come to see. The girls that had kept Pa from taking Guy away with him.

Pausing at the end of the lane, Guy looked back at the quiet house he had just left. There was nothing brittle about Judith. When she’d held Eli on her lap and smiled at the little boy, something had tugged at his heart. A long-forgotten memory of his own mother? All he remembered were soft kisses and gentle hugs. Had she held him with the same joy he had seen in Judith’s face when she held Eli?

He bent his head against a northeast wind promising snow in the morning. It looked like the brief warm spell they had enjoyed was over.

When he reached the house, he let himself into the kitchen quietly, but David and Verna were still up, sitting at the table. They both turned as he entered.

“Did you enjoy your time with Judith?” Verna held out her arms to him for the quick hug she gave him every time he came into the house.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and sat in his chair. Verna passed a plate of cookies toward him.

“We had a good time.” He grinned at the memory of Judith’s laughing fit. “I’m going over again tomorrow night.”

Verna gave David a look and folded her hands in her lap. Guy knew what that meant as well as David did, and waited for the talk Verna wanted them to have.

David cleared his throat. “Are you, um, interested in Judith?”

Guy looked at Verna’s worried face and back at David. “She’s a nice girl, but we’re not dating.”

The older couple exchanged looks again.

“Then why are you spending so much time together?” Verna’s voice was laced with worry.

“She’s teaching me Pennsylvania Dutch.”

David leaned over the table. “You’ve never wanted to learn it before. What makes the difference now?”

Guy shrugged. “I feel left out of the other fellows’ conversations. They speak Dutch when I’m around, even though they know I don’t understand it well. I guess I just want—” His voice faltered. What did he want?

Verna took his hand. “You want to be part of the community? You want to join us?”

“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?” A pounding started in his ears. “It would have been different if you...” Should he say it? He had never asked why the Masts had chosen not to adopt him.

David’s fist clenched, his head bowed. “It would have been different if we had been able to call you our own son.” His eyes were moist as he looked at Guy. “If we had been able to adopt you when you first came to us, then you would have grown up speaking Deitsch and knowing our ways. But we only had you a few months a year, and then you went back to the world.”

Verna squeezed his hand, her voice a whisper. “That was so hard, every fall, sending you back to the orphanage.”

“But why didn’t you adopt me? Other kids from the Home were adopted.”

David swallowed and exchanged glances with Verna again. “Your father never relinquished his family rights. He never released you to be adopted.”

Guy frowned, bitterness rising up in his throat. “So he just left me at the Home.”

“Don’t think too harshly of him,” Verna said.

“Forget it.” Guy pushed back from the table. “All he’s done is ruin my life.”

“Guy, don’t let this fester.” David folded his hands in front of him. “You need to forgive him and go on with your life. The fact that you’re learning Deitsch shows that you’re ready to become part of our church, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know what it means.” Guy sighed. “I hate not belonging anywhere.”

“You belong here.” David took Verna’s hand. “You belong with us. We love you as if you were our son. You’ll always have a home here.”

“But I’m not really your son. I’m just a farm hand. I’m not Amish, and I never will be.”

Verna sniffed as the three of them sat in silence. David’s head was bowed, his eyes closed. A different kind of bitterness filled Guy. Not the anger at Pa, but regret that he had caused the old couple pain.

“If you feel that way,” David finally said, “there isn’t anything we can do about it.” He looked up and met Guy’s eyes. “The decision is up to you. You can be our son, or you can be our hired hand. We’ll still think of you as nothing less than one of the family.”

Guy glanced at Verna’s bowed head and the couple’s clasped hands, then headed upstairs to his bedroom.

His bedroom.

He padded over to the dormer window in his stocking feet. That first year, when he was nine, this had become his favorite spot. David had built a small chest for him and set it under the window, and Guy had spent hours sitting here, gazing out at the house across the road, watching the birds, looking for foxes in the moonlight... At the Home he had nothing, but here, everything he looked at was his own. He sank down on the chest and drew his feet up, crossing his legs as he looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time.

His bed. His dresser. His chest that had held all the treasures he couldn’t take back to the Home. This was his refuge.

On the bad nights at the Home, he would lie in his narrow cot and dream of this room. Summer and freedom couldn’t come soon enough. Every year, David and Verna had welcomed him...home...as if they had missed him as much as he had missed them.

Had he ever thanked them? He had spent so much time waiting for Pa to keep his promise that he had neglected what he had here with David and Verna.

The Masts had never made any promises other than to love him, and even tonight they reaffirmed that promise.

But Pa had never kept his promises, and it was time Guy faced that fact. Pa’s promises had broken as easily as spring ice on a mud puddle. Why hadn’t he seen the truth sooner? He had wasted time and energy waiting for...

A sigh escaped, ending in a sob. He bent his head on his knees and closed the door on that place in his mind that had held fast to a straw promise all these years.

* * *

On Wednesday morning, during the twins’ nap, Annie made bread while Judith ground ham for Matthew’s favorite sandwiches. Judith had brought Eli’s blocks into the kitchen, and he sat under the table, playing with them.

“I didn’t stay awake long enough to say hello to Guy last night.” Annie turned the dough out onto the bread board and started kneading it. “Did you two have a good time?”

“We did,” Judith said, smiling at the memory of how silly they had been. She paused the grinder to cut some more of the ham into the smaller chunks that would fit into the hopper. “But Guy didn’t seem to want to learn anything. He kept saying it was too much like school.”

“I thought you said he wanted to learn Deitsch. It seems like he would apply himself to the task if he really wanted to.”

Judith’s face grew warm at the memory of the look in his eyes when he said he wanted her to kiss him. “Maybe learning Deitsch isn’t what he really wants.”

Annie stopped her kneading. “Do you think he’s interested in you?”

“He shouldn’t be, should he? I mean, he hasn’t joined church, and I’m not going to keep company with anyone who isn’t at least considering it.”

“Maybe you can be a good influence on him.”

Judith fed more pieces of ham into the grinder and turned the crank. She didn’t want to get her hopes up about a future with Guy. Not yet. Not until she knew he wanted more than just a fun time together.

“What do you know about the Kaufman family?” She had turned away from Annie, but heard the small disapproving sound she made.

“I’ve already told you what I think about Luke.”

“But what about the rest of his family? Hannah seems nice.” Judith chewed her lower lip. Hannah was very friendly to her, but her comments about Guy made Judith cautious about a true friendship with her.

Annie put the ball of dough into a bowl and covered it with a clean, damp dishtowel. “Let’s see.” She washed her hands at the sink, staring out the window at the winter-brown fields still covered with snow in the shady places. “Luke’s father has a large farm between here and the county line. Their family has lived in the area since the middle of the last century. They were some of the first Amish settlers who came to Indiana from Pennsylvania.”

“And they’re well liked in the community?”

“Ach, ja.” Annie sat on a chair at the kitchen table.

Eli held a block out for his mother to see, then pounded it on the floor. “Block, block, block.” Then he looked at Judith and grinned.

She grinned back at him. She was growing to love this little boy more each day.

Annie sighed and stretched her back. “The Kaufmans have been leaders in the church for years, according to what Matthew has told me. Luke’s daed is one of the deacons. Why are you asking about them?”

Judith leaned her back against the kitchen shelf, facing her sister. “I think Luke is interested in me.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The way he acted at the Singing. He singled me out to talk to, and he wanted to take me home. Hannah said his courting buggy was new, so I know he wanted to show it off to me.”

“Would you welcome his attentions?”

Judith stared out the window. Luke was handsome, and the family was well established, according to what Annie said. But could she face the future with Luke, knowing how uncomfortable he made her feel? That might change as she got to know him. After all, he had the means to support her and a family, and there was no question about his daed’s commitment to the Amish faith.

Luke was the kind of suitor she had always dreamed of. A man who could change the course of her life.

Judith sat in the chair facing Annie, wiping her hands on a towel. “I don’t want to end up like Mamm, working too hard and never having enough.”

Annie’s face paled. Eli climbed into her lap with a block in each hand, and she made room for him, but her brows puckered. “You mean you don’t want to marry someone like our daed? You want someone who can provide well for you?”

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful or that I’m not honoring Daed’s memory...but I didn’t like him very much.”

Annie grasped her hand. “You and Esther had it the worst of all of us, I think. I remember that his drinking became a lot worse after Mamm died.”

Judith nodded. “I only remember him being angry those last few years, and we could never please him.” She pressed her lips together before more complaints about Daed slipped out.

“I don’t blame you for wanting a different kind of life.” Annie squeezed her hand, then released it to help Eli slide off her lap and onto the floor again. “But they were happy once. Mamm really did love him.”

“Before he started drinking.”

“She loved him, even then.”

Annie fell silent, and Judith watched Eli stack one block on top of another. Annie was right. Their parents had loved each other at one time. But was love enough to make a happy marriage?

“Still, I don’t want to end up poor and living on the edge of the family and community.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being thankful for what the Good Lord provides,” Annie said, her voice quiet.

“But don’t you think a marriage has a better chance of being happy if there’s enough money to live on?” Judith went back to the meat grinder. She had ground all the ham and she needed to wash the grinder before the gears became crusty and hard to clean. “The Kaufman family is well-to-do, from what you said.”

“But Judith, just because Luke’s family has a good farm doesn’t mean he would be a better husband than anyone else.”

“Don’t you think it’s worth getting to know him better?”

Annie shook her head. “He’s broken more than one heart already.”

Judith let Annie’s comment settle in her mind. She didn’t have enough experience to tell what kind of man was the right one to marry, but Annie and Matthew seemed happy together.

She sat down at the table again, next to her sister. “How did you know Matthew was the right man for you to marry?”

Annie smiled. “First of all, he made me laugh.”

Judith grinned, remembering nearly falling off her chair the evening before.

“But most important, he showed me how much he loved me.”

“You mean he whispered mushy poems in your ear?” Judith wrinkled her nose at the thought of some boy’s moist lips next to her ear, breathing words of love.

“Ne, nothing like that,” Annie said, laughing. She sat back in her chair and looked at the ceiling as she went back in her memories. “He remembered that I like the piece of cake from the very middle of the pan and always made sure I got that one. He let me win when we played games with his brothers and sisters. He always gave me his hand to help me in and out of the buggy.”

Annie leaned forward, cupping the top of Eli’s head in a loving caress. “Matthew has always put my needs and our family’s needs before his own comfort. He works hard to provide for us and never complains.”

They sat together for a few minutes while Judith thought about Annie’s description of her husband. A swelling rose in her throat...a longing for someone to cherish her in that same way.

A cry from one of the babies drifted from the bedroom. “I think someone is hungry again.” Annie started toward the kitchen door, then turned back to Judith. “Don’t go chasing Luke. He’s not the man I’d want my baby sister to marry.”

Judith smiled, hoping to reassure her sister. “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”

She let the pieces of the grinder soak in warm, soapy water while she chopped onion, celery and pickles to mix into the ham spread.

“Me?” Eli said, tugging on her skirt.

“For sure.” Judith lifted him into his chair at the table and spread some of the ground ham on a bit of cracker. “What do you think?”

Eli opened his mouth and she popped the bite in, then he scrunched up his face into a smile. He nodded and patted his tummy as he swallowed. “More? Eli more?”

Judith prepared another cracker for him, grinning as he opened his mouth like a little bird.

“You love ham spread as much as your daed does, don’t you?”

“Da?” Eli held his hands up. “Da here?”

“He’s working now, but he’ll be in for dinner.”

Eli kicked his feet against the chair. “Go Da. Down. Go Da.”

Judith glanced out the window. The weather was cold and cloudy, but it hadn’t started snowing yet.

“After I finish my work, we’ll go out and see what Daed is doing.” She wiped off the little boy’s hands and put him back down with his blocks, then started washing the dishes.

As the suds swirled around the parts of the meat grinder, she considered Annie’s words. She thought Matthew was the perfect husband. Guy seemed to come close to that ideal, the way he made her laugh. But he was only a hired hand with no prospects, and she wasn’t about to live the rest of her life as the destitute wife of a man who wasn’t even Amish.

Chapter Four

Guy shifted his feet, waiting just inside the kitchen door for Verna to get ready. She had asked him to carry a basket to the Beacheys’ this morning for the quilting, but first she had taken her time putting the donuts in the lined basket and covering them with a towel. Then she had disappeared into the back bedroom. He finished his second donut and reached for a third, careful to replace the towel covering the warm treats.

Leaning against the doorframe, he savored the donut as he thought about Judith. After a week of Penn Dutch lessons, Guy felt a bit overwhelmed. Too many words sounded the same, and even though she tried not to, Judith often giggled at his mistakes. But she was a good teacher, and he was learning little by little.

Even Verna was in on the game. She had stopped talking to him in English as soon as she had learned about the lessons. That was frustrating, but no matter how much he pretended he didn’t understand her, he had to admit that he knew more now than he had that first evening. At breakfast, Verna had asked what he wanted on his toast, and he had been able to ask for and get apple butter. A few days ago, he thought he had asked for apple butter, but Verna had given him a dish of applesauce.

Was his Dutch good enough to ask Judith to go with him to the next Singing?

“Are you ready to go?” Verna asked as she came back to the kitchen, setting her bonnet in place. She wore her thick black cape and her heavy winter shoes.

Guy missed some of the words in her question, but caught the meaning. “Ja, for sure.”

Still munching on his donut, he took the heavy basket in his other hand and followed her out of the house and down the lane toward the road.

“Even with that sharp north wind, you can tell spring is coming,” Verna said, lifting her face toward the sunshine.

“It smells...” Guy struggled to come up with the word he wanted. It was one of the new ones on the vocabulary list Judith had given him the night before. He made a guess. “Frish?”

“Ja, fresh.” Verna took a deep breath. She pulled her cape closer around her and hurried down the lane. “But chilly.”

Stuffing the last bite of the donut into his mouth, Guy pulled his chin down into his coat and followed her.

Buggies were coming from both directions on the road, all heading toward the Beacheys’ house.

“This is the first quilting at Annie’s since the twins were born,” Verna said as he caught up with her. “Everyone is coming to see the babies, so there will be a crowd.” She lifted her hand and waved to a buggy full of women coming from the north. “There is Annie’s sister Esther with the ladies from Shipshewana. Judith will be glad to see them.”

Guy walked behind Verna as she headed toward the door and followed her in, holding his hat in his hand. As he set the basket on the kitchen table, he searched for Judith in the crowd of women. When he finally found her, she gave him a quick wave and headed in his direction.

She said something, but he couldn’t catch the words. He shook his head and pointed to his ears, feeling more uncomfortable by the minute as he realized he was the only man in the entire house.

Judith grabbed his sleeve and led him out to the washing porch. It was sheltered from the breeze but not heated.

She shivered. “You can’t stay here.”

“Ja, I know.” He licked his lips. “I wanted to ask you if—” Now that it came to it, he found his knees shaking. “If I could take you to the Singing on Sunday night. I don’t have a courting buggy, but we could walk. It’s only at Deacon Beachey’s, in the next mile.” He cringed as his sentence drifted from Dutch to English.

Judith’s face took on a slight frown. “I will walk there with you, but this doesn’t mean we’re going together.”

Guy gave up on the Dutch. “You mean, it isn’t a date.”

“That’s right. I’m not ready to keep company with anyone, but I’ll be glad to walk with you. As a friend.” She put her hand on the doorknob, ready to join the others in the kitchen. “Matthew is out in the barn. I’m sure he’d like some manly company today.”

“Yeah.” Guy put his hat back on.

Judith opened the door, disappearing into the sea of Kapps, and anything he might have said was lost in the noise.

He stood back to let another group of women into the house, then he headed toward the barn. He thought he had been clear, that he wanted to take Judith to the Singing, but had he said it wrong? Or maybe he had misunderstood their evenings together when he thought she liked him. Maybe Matthew could solve the puzzle.

Guy found Matthew in the barn loft, forking clean straw down into the horses’ stalls. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called up to him. “Hello!”

Matthew peered over the edge of the loft. “Guy. Good to see you. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Three more clumps of straw drifted down into the stalls, then Matthew came down the ladder and shook Guy’s hand.

“What brings you here today?”

Guy grimaced, trying to catch Matthew’s words. It seemed that everyone was bent on making sure he learned the Penn Dutch.

“I carried a basket over for Verna.” He grinned as a phrase came to him. “The house is packed with chickens.”

Matthew rubbed his chin. “Chickens?”

“Chickens. Ja. A house of chickens. Talking.”

“I see. You mean it’s a hen party in the house.”

Guy shook his head, giving up. He switched to English. “Yeah, that’s what I mean. A hen party.”

“You’re right about that.” Matthew sat on a bench and motioned for Guy to join him. “How are the Deitsch lessons coming?”

“I don’t know if I’m ever going to learn this.” Guy rubbed at a stain on his trousers with his thumb. “It’s too hard, and I don’t think I’m smart enough.”

“Du bischt schmaert.” Matthew grinned at him. “You are smart. Judith says you’re picking it up quickly.”

“But the words keep getting mixed up in my head. Like the chicken-house thing. Why couldn’t I remember to say it right?”

Matthew shrugged. “Learning a new language is hard.”

“But all of you speak two languages. Three, if you count the German the ministers use for Sunday preaching.”

“We learned to speak Deitsch from birth. Hoch Deutsch, High German, isn’t much different, and we’ve heard that from when we were babies, too. And we learn Englisch when we go to school, when we’re still young. If I was trying to learn, say, French or something, I’d have a hard time, too.”

“Maybe.” But Guy doubted that Matthew would have trouble learning anything if he put his mind to it. “I have another question for you, though.”

Matthew took off his hat, running his fingers through his hair. “Sure. What is it?”

“Why doesn’t Judith want me to take her to the Singing next week?”

“Did she say she wouldn’t go with you?”

“She said she’d walk with me, but not like if we were going together.”

“You mean, she doesn’t want to be more than friends.”

Guy nodded. “I’m not sure she even wants to be friends.”

“She does, but she’s still young. She doesn’t want to be tied down, yet.”

“Going to the Singing with me won’t tie her down.”

Matthew stood, clapping Guy on the shoulder. “You might not think so, but Judith is different. Until last year, her world didn’t go much farther than her back door. She wants a chance to be a girl and have some fun with the other young people.” He picked up a broom and started sweeping up loose bits of straw. “Be patient with her, and let her take her time.”

“Sure.” Guy frowned. He could understand that Judith didn’t want the others to think they were dating.

“I wouldn’t worry about another fellow horning in,” Matthew said as he swept the straw into a pile. “You have the advantage of seeing her almost every day. When the other boys start buzzing around, she’ll remember who her friends are.”

Guy waved a goodbye to Matthew as he started back toward the Mast farm and the chores waiting for him there. Matthew was right, as long as one of those friends didn’t end up being Luke Kaufman.

* * *

Judith was at the door to greet Esther as soon as Guy went out to the barn. Even though it had only been two weeks since they had seen each other, Judith felt like it had been forever. Esther must have felt the same way, from the strength of her hug. But they couldn’t linger, because Mary, Ida Mae and Aunt Sadie were right behind her.

“How does it feel, taking care of those babies all day?” Esther asked as she untied her bonnet.

“Annie has charge of the babies.” Judith took Mary’s cloak from her and put her hand out for Ida Mae’s.

Ida Mae handed her shawl to Judith, then helped Sadie with her wraps. “I’m sure you get your turn at holding them and changing diapers, though.”

Esther laughed. “I can just see Judith changing diapers.”

“Then get ready to be surprised,” Judith said. “Eli still wears diapers, too. And all of those diapers need to be washed every day.”

Sadie moved past the girls, leaning on her cane as she went. She patted Judith’s arm. “I know you’re a wonderful-gut help to Annie.”

Judith and Esther carried the cloaks and bonnets into the bedroom while the others went into the front room where the quilting frame was set up.

“Now that there’s just us,” Esther said, “you can tell me. How are you doing?”

Esther’s eyes were fixed on Judith’s face, concerned.

“You were right. It is a lot of work taking care of a house full of people and babies up to our ears.” Judith smiled to relieve Esther’s worries. “But Annie and I work together well, and we have a lot of fun in the midst of the work. I had forgotten how cheerful she is.”

Esther smiled. “She’s much happier since she married Matthew.”

“And the babies make her even happier, if that could be possible.”

“So, who was that boy you were talking to?”

Judith felt the blood rush to her cheeks. “What boy?”

“That handsome young man who headed for the barn as soon as we walked toward the house.”

It was just like Esther to jump to conclusions. “He’s the neighbor’s hired hand. He carried a basket over for Verna.”

“I know I saw him talking to you.” Esther grinned. “I’d say you’re sweet on him, the way you’re blushing.”

“He’s a friend.”

“Is that all?”

Judith looked straight into Esther’s eyes, dark blue, just like her own. “Ja, that’s all. I’m teaching him Deitsch, and so we’ve spent some time together. But I’m not ready to settle down to one boy. The Singing next week is only my second one, and I plan to have fun with the other girls.”

Esther tapped a forefinger on her pursed lips as Judith’s face turned even warmer.

“I think there’s more to him than you’re saying. Did he ask to take you to the Singing?”

Judith sighed, giving up. “How can you always guess my secrets?”

“Everything shows on your face.” Esther pushed the pile of cloaks aside and perched on the edge of the bed. “Tell me all about him. What is his name? Where is he from?” She covered her mouth as an idea struck her. “He isn’t one of those bachelors from Illinois or Ohio who has come to look for a wife, is he?”

Sitting next to Esther, Judith was determined to answer her sister’s questions as quickly and simply as possible. “He’s not from anywhere. He lives right here in LaGrange County. His name is Guy Hoover, and he works for the Masts.”

“He has family around here, then?”

Judith shook her head. “He’s from the Orphan’s Home.”

“What Amish family would allow a child to go to an—” Esther broke off, then whispered. “He isn’t Amish, is he? I didn’t think Hoover sounded like an Amish name.”

Judith shook her head. “That’s why he wanted me to teach him how to speak Deitsch, so he would fit in better around here.”

“Then he must be wanting to join church?”

“Not from what he says, but who knows what will happen?”

“Are you going to the Singing with him? He asked you, didn’t he?”

Judith picked a bit of lint off the quilt they were sitting on. “He asked, and I told him we could walk together, but we’re not courting.”

“Why not?”

“Two reasons.” Judith ticked them off on her fingers. “One, he isn’t Amish.”

“But he could be, right?”

“I’m not going to keep company with anyone who isn’t Amish.”

“I would, if he was part of the community. It isn’t much different than seeing an Amish boy who isn’t baptized yet, is it?”

Judith shifted on the bed. She hadn’t thought of that.

“Two, I’m not going to pay attention to only one boy. Not yet.”

Esther nodded. “All right. I can understand that, because I feel the same way. I don’t want to tie myself down just yet. There will be plenty of time for that later.”

Judith laced her fingers around one knee. “Unless the right boy comes along. How is Thomas Weaver?”

“He still only has eyes for Ida Mae.”

Ever since Ida Mae had moved from Ohio with Mary to live with Aunt Sadie, the most popular boy in the Shipshewana church had ignored all the girls except her.

“Have you gone to any of the Singings in Shipshewana, yet?”

Esther nodded. “We’ve had two since you moved, and both of them were a lot of fun.”

“Does anyone special take you?”

Esther grinned. “You know how protective our brother is. Samuel made me promise to only ride with him for the first few times.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.