The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart

“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.”