The Amish Nanny

Taking her hands away from her mouth, the little girl pouted. “Oh, you found us.”

“What are you doing under there?” Clara whispered. She could hear Ethan calling for them from the upstairs.

“We’re playing hide-and-seek. We’re hiding from Onkel Ethan.”

That was exactly what Clara wanted to do. She heard his footsteps pound down the stairs. Now was her chance to run. “Micah, check out back,” he yelled.

No! If Micah was out back, she couldn’t pass him without being seen, and he was certain to recognize her.

In a few seconds, Ethan would be on the front porch. He was sure to check along this side of the house. He would find her snooping like a thief outside his home. How would she explain herself?

She couldn’t. There was only one choice.

She smiled at the two children and pleaded, “May I join your game?”

They nodded. She quickly wiggled into the opening and held her breath as the front door banged open above her.

Chapter Two

Ethan came out onto his front porch and stood with his hands on his hips as he scanned the yard for the missing children. How could they disappear so quickly? He couldn’t keep an eye on them every minute. How did mothers manage when they had half a dozen or more to keep track of every day?

He’d seen both Amos and Lily less than an hour ago. They had been playing on the swing set in the backyard until he sent them inside to clean their rooms. In the meanwhile, he’d gone out to care for his horses. Then he had been sidetracked by Faith Lapp and her pretty, shy friend Clara.

He called for Amos and Lily again but got no answer. Where should he search first? The barn? The henhouse? The creek? Where would a five-year-old and a four-year-old decide to go without telling him?

“Do you see them?” Micah asked as he came jogging around from the back of the house.

“Nee. Do you have any idea where they might be? Did they go with you to the Lapp farm?” He would send Micah back to the neighbors and enlist their aid if he couldn’t find the children soon.

Please, Lord, don’t let anything have happened to them.

“I went by myself. I didn’t want them tagging along,” Micah said.

“Are you sure they didn’t follow you?”

The boy shrugged. “I guess they could have, but I didn’t see them.”

“You go check the henhouse and the other outbuildings. I’ll check the barn. Maybe they’re playing up in the hayloft and can’t hear me calling.”

“I thought you wanted me to go to my room.”

Ethan scowled at his nephew in renewed annoyance. “After we find your brother and sister.”

“They’re probably just hiding from you.”

That took Ethan aback. “Why would they hide from me?”

“Because they like to play hide-and-seek.”

“Since when?”

“Since always. You just never pay attention to them.” Micah jumped off the porch and strode toward the henhouse.

Ethan raked a hand through his hair. The boy was right. He paid attention to his horses and to his work. He loved his brother’s children, but he didn’t know them. He headed toward the barn and prayed the two little ones hadn’t gone to the Lapp farm. He really did not want to face Faith and Clara again with more of his wayward children in tow.

* * *

Through the white painted latticework that bordered the porch, Clara watched Ethan enter the large red barn that stood fifty yards east of the house. The moment he was out of sight, she wiggled backward from beneath the porch. She motioned to the two children to come out, as well. “The game is over now. Your onkel is worried because he can’t find you. I want you both to wait for him on the porch steps.”

The little boy frowned and shook his head. “He didn’t say alle alle achts und frei.”

How could he call for everyone to come in because they were free? The poor man wasn’t aware that the game was on. How long would the pair have remained hidden? She didn’t want Ethan to find out. “I will say it. Alle alle achts und frei.”

“We won.” Lily beamed as she crawled out. She was covered with dirt and cobwebs. Her brother followed her in a similar state. Clara suspected that she looked the same.

“Ja, you won. You found the perfect hiding place.” Were these little ones scared of Ethan? Was that why they were hiding?

Clara brushed them off as best she could and glanced toward the barn. There was no sign of Ethan, but he could reappear at any moment. “Why were you hiding from your onkel?”

“’Cause we like to play hide-and-seek.”

“Why didn’t you tell him you were playing with him?”

“I told him I wanted to play hide-and-seek,” Amos said, but his gaze was on his bare toes.

“And what did he say?” she prompted.

“He said to clean our rooms,” he admitted.

“We did and then we hid,” Lily added with a grin.

Clara glanced toward the barn again. She had to get going. “Next time, you must make sure he knows he is playing the game before you hide.”

“We will,” Lily said with a nod.

Clara smiled at her. “Promise you’ll stay on the porch until your onkel returns?”

“We promise,” Amos said.

Lily nodded solemnly. “Will you come and play with us again?”

“Maybe, but today is our little secret, right? We won’t tell anyone about our hiding place.”

“We won’t tell,” Amos assured her.

“Danki.” Clara couldn’t waste any more time. After checking and not seeing Ethan or Micah, she scurried around the corner of the house and ran across the lawn into the cornfield. She pushed through the thick green leaves and between the stalks as she rushed on. Even when she reached the road, she didn’t slow down until she was a good half mile away from the farm.

A stitch in her side finally brought her to a halt. She looked back as she struggled to catch her breath. There was no sign of Ethan Gingerich. She was safe.

Grateful to escape from an extremely embarrassing situation of her own making without being discovered, she breathed a silent prayer of thanks. Just the thought of Ethan finding her lurking under his porch made her cringe. She wouldn’t have had to worry about keeping her dignity intact because she would have died of embarrassment on the spot.

It would have served her right to be found hiding like a mongrel dog. She had doubted the goodness of Ethan Gingerich. To do so was wrong and showed the weakness of her faith. It was something she strived to overcome with prayer, but she had a long way to go.

Not all men were like her uncle and the ruthless man he tried to make her marry. Ethan wasn’t cruel. He might not know how to handle the children, but he wasn’t unkind to them.

She glanced over her shoulder once more and began walking quickly toward her grandfather’s sheep farm. She hadn’t told the children her name. She had to pray they wouldn’t figure out who she was and tell Ethan about her actions. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to face him again for a long, long time.

* * *

When Ethan came out of the barn after checking every hiding place he could think of he saw Lily and Amos sitting on the front steps of the house. They were safe. He strode toward them, his relief quickly turning to frustration and annoyance. He had wasted a large part of his morning dealing with first one child and then the others.

He stopped in front of the steps and crossed his arms. “Where have you been? Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

Lily and Amos exchanged guilty glances. Amos said, “We heard you.”

“Why didn’t you answer me?”

“That’s not the way to play the game,” Lily explained.

Ethan gave her a stern look. “Exactly what game were you playing? Give Onkel Ethan gray hair?”

Lily shook her head. “I don’t know that game.”

Ethan drew a hand down his face to wipe away his grin. He struggled to keep a firm tone. “Were you playing hide-and-seek?”

She smiled brightly. “Ja, and we won.”

Amos grinned, too. “You never found us.”

“The next time you decide to play hide-and-seek you must make sure that I know you’re playing.”

The smile vanished from Lily’s face and she sighed heavily. “That’s what our friend said.”

Amos elbowed her in the side. “That’s a secret.”

Her eyes widened and she clapped a hand to her mouth. “I forgot,” she mumbled.

Ethan glanced around for another child but didn’t see one. “Was there someone else playing with you? Who was it?”

Amos pressed his lips into a thin line and folded his arms tightly. Lily glanced at him and did the same.

Baffled by their refusal to answer him, he stared at their set faces. Should he demand they tell him who else was playing with them? Did it matter? It did if a child was hiding somewhere and his or her parents didn’t know where. He would have to try a different tactic.

He glanced at the position of the sun in the sky. “It’s almost lunchtime. Are you two hungry?”

“I sure am.” Amos jumped to his feet.

“Me, too. Can we have macaroni and cheese?” Lily asked.

“I reckon that’ll be as good a meal as any.” It was something he could fix without much fuss. Thankfully, the children hadn’t tired of it.

“Yum!” Lily’s big grin sent warmth shooting through his chest. She was an adorable child. She looked so much like her mother. It was up to him to see that she grew into a modest and devout woman, too. The thought filled him with dread. He had no idea how to accomplish that feat.

“Will your friend want some, too?” he asked, casually glancing around again for another child.

“She’s gone home,” Lily said, heading toward the door.

Micah ambled across the yard and stopped beside Ethan. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets. “I see you found them. Are you going to give them a spanking?”

Lily spun around looking horrified. She held her hands over her backside. “I don’t want a spanking.”

Ethan shook his head. “No one is getting spanked. But Micah is going to his room to think about what he did wrong today. After lunch, you little ones can go play on the swings, but I don’t want you to leave the backyard without telling me. Is that understood?”

They both nodded solemnly, but he had to wonder as he held open the door for them just how long they would remember his instructions.

* * *

Clara sat in Faith’s workroom on Saturday morning and spun the final carding of fleece into fine strands of yarn. She glanced out the window, but the branches of the tree overhanging the alpacas’ pen were empty. The animals grazed peacefully beneath it.

She hadn’t mentioned her meeting with Ethan or her return visit to his farm to her family. She preferred to forget about her foolish behavior and put it behind her, but she constantly found herself wondering how Ethan was doing. Not that it was any of her business. Still, even knowing that didn’t keep thoughts of him at bay. He needed help with those children. She hoped he wasn’t too proud to ask for it.

Faith came in from the kitchen. “Are you finished already?”

“That is the last of it.” Clara stopped the wheel and handed a spindle full of white alpaca yarn to Faith.

Faith took it and added it to an overflowing basket. “I’m glad to be done, but I am truly going to miss your company, Clara. I never would have finished in time without you. These orders can go out tomorrow.”

Faith’s husband, Adrian, came in holding their three-month-old daughter, Ruby. “Micah Gingerich is here. He says that you have chores you want him to do?”

“Indeed I have.” Faith sprang to her feet and marched out of the room.

Adrian laughed. “Never mess with that woman’s child or her alpacas.”

Clara held out her arms. “May I hold Ruby for a while? I will miss the time I’ve spent with you and with Faith, but it is this little one that I shall miss the most of all.”

He handed the sleeping baby to her. “I had better go see what jobs Faith is assigning to Micah. It’s always best when the grown-ups present a unified front.”

Clara held the baby close as Adrian left the room. She would miss being here more than she cared to admit. She loved babies. The Lord had found a beautiful way to begin people. Children were a constant reminder of God’s love and grace in the world.

Clara’s one great sadness was that she would never hold a babe of her own. The idea of marriage was utterly repugnant after her treatment at the hands of her would-be fiancé. No, she would remain single. She took a seat in the rocker and cuddled the baby until Faith returned.

Smiling, Faith crossed the room. “I’ll take her now.”

“Are you sure I can’t take her home with me?”

Faith propped her hands on her hips. “I could let you, but you’ll bring her back about three o’clock in the morning.”

“My sisters and I have raised a dozen bottle lambs on our grandfather’s farm this spring. I think we could manage this little lamb, too.”

Faith lifted the babe from her arms. “I’m sure you could. You will have babes of your own someday. Is there any young man in our community who has caught your fancy?” Faith asked with a quick peek in Clara’s direction and a knowing smile.

“Nee, marriage isn’t for me.” Clara looked down and didn’t elaborate. Oddly, Ethan’s face popped into her head. He needed a wife to look after his children.

Why should she think of him now?

Faith took a seat in the chair beside her. “I know some of your story, Clara. I know you escaped marriage to a brutal man by running away on your wedding day.”

Clara looked up, startled. “How did you find out?”

“Your sister Lizzie told me about it.”

“It was by the grace of God and by my sister Lizzie’s determination to save me that I was spared a life of hopelessness and pain.” Clara laid a hand to her cheek as she remembered the painful slap of Rufus’s heavy hand striking her.

Faith nodded. “Lizzie was very brave to travel all the way from Indiana to Hope Springs on her own. She was determined to find a place for you and your sisters to live. We are all thankful that she convinced your grandfather to take you in.”

“No one is more thankful than I am. Lizzie is the brave one. I could never have done what she did. If Rufus Kuhns had been determined to marry her instead of me, I wouldn’t have been able to save her.”

“You don’t know that,” Faith said gently.

“Ja, I do.”

“Is it true that Lizzie is going to marry your grandfather’s hired man in the fall?”

Relieved to speak of something else, Clara smiled. “Ja.”

“Carl King seems like a good man.”

Clara bit the corner of her lip. “I think he is.”

“You think, but you aren’t sure?”

Was she that transparent? Over the past few months, as the women had worked side by side in the bright and cheerful room, Clara had shared some of her life and had learned some of Faith’s story, as well. Faith’s first husband had been an abusive man. She had been a widow when she moved to Hope Springs.

Clara looked up and gazed intently into Faith’s eyes. “How did you know that Adrian wouldn’t turn out to be cruel, too? Weren’t you afraid?”

Faith smiled gently. “Of course I was. I felt as you do. I thought I would never be able to trust another man, but Adrian changed all that the first time he touched my face. There was so much gentleness in that touch. I knew he would never hurt me. I understand your fear, but there are good men, kind men, men who spend a lifetime loving their wives and being helpmates. You will find one.”

The very idea of submitting to a husband turned her insides cold. “My head tells me what you say is right, but I don’t feel that way. And this conversation has no point because there is no one interested in courting me. I should be getting home. I told Lizzie that I would help her finish canning corn this afternoon.”

“I understand. I’ll pray for you, Clara. I will pray that God has someone special in mind for you.”

Clara gathered her things together. “Pray that I get hired as the new schoolteacher. That’s what I truly want to do. I want to teach and take care of dozens of children. I can’t imagine a more perfect job.”

“Okay, I’ll do that, too. I’ll see you again at the Sunday’s service.”

The two women kissed each other’s cheeks, and Clara left the room. Outside, she saw Micah carrying a large armload of alfalfa hay toward the alpacas’ enclosure. She crossed the yard toward him. “Good day, Micah. I’m glad to see you have come to do chores as you promised.”

“My onkel promised I would come. I didn’t.”

His sullen expression worried her. “Your onkel was right in this. Your punishment could have been much worse.”

“Worse than the whipping I took? I doubt it. A lot you care. You’re the one who got me in trouble.”

“You got into trouble all by yourself, Micah. You have no reason to blame me. I seriously doubt that your onkel Ethan gave you a whipping.”

“He did. The minute you left he...he paddled me so hard I couldn’t sit down for hours.”

Clara folded her arms over her chest. “You are a very poor liar, Micah Gingerich.”

“I am not!”

She arched her eyebrow. “You’re not a poor liar? Then I reckon that makes you a good liar.”

He scowled at her. “I’ve got to go feed those stupid animals.” He trudged away without looking at her again.

She shook her head and muttered under her breath, “Poor Ethan. You really have your hands full with this one.”

How would he manage? It was painfully clear the boy was determined to tread the wrong path. Such defiance in one so young did not bode well for the family.

As she watched Micah enter the corral, she saw him spread out the hay, then slowly reach his hand toward one of the babies in the group who had come close to investigate. The hopeful expression on Micah’s face told her he liked the alpacas even if he wouldn’t admit it.

The baby stretched his nose toward Micah. The tentative exchange was cut short when Myrtle alerted the rest of the herd with a shrill whistling sound. The baby and all the others scampered away from Micah to the opposite side of the corral. He kicked the hay at his feet and stomped off.

Clara left the Lapp farm and walked toward her grandfather’s home. As she followed the winding country road, she couldn’t stop thinking about Micah’s attitude and Ethan’s inability to connect with the boy. Was there some way she could help?

She didn’t see how. Her job with Faith was finished for this summer. She wouldn’t be back to see how Micah faired with his week of chores unless she simply came for a visit.

Since the Gingeriches were members of a different church congregation, Micah wouldn’t attend the school where she hoped to teach. If she got the job, and if he were one of her students, she would have some contact and influence over him, but she couldn’t see a way to spend time with the troubled boy as things stood now.

She was crossing the small bridge that spanned Cherry Creek just beyond Ethan’s lane when she heard a familiar giggle. She stopped and peered over the railing. Lily and Amos were knee-deep in the muddy water below her. She quickly looked around for Ethan, but he was nowhere in sight.

She leaned her arms on the railing. “What are you doing?”

Lily looked up at her and grinned. She held a huge frog in her hands. The front of her dress was covered in mud and slime “See what I caught?”

“I see. That’s a beautiful frog.”

Amos was creeping toward the bank with his hands outstretched. “I’m going to get me one, too.”

He launched himself toward the shore. The bullfrog that was his target leaped over his head and disappeared into the muddy depths of the creek.

Clara tried not to laugh. “Where is your onkel?”

“He’s got a sick cow,” Lily said. “He told us to go play.”

“Do you think that he meant to go play in the creek? You are both very muddy.”

Amos looked from the front of his clothes to his sister’s sopping dress. “He didn’t say not to play in the creek.”

“I’m certain this is not what he had in mind. Come out of there.”

“Can I keep my frog?” Lily asked hopefully.

“I think he will be happier if you leave him in his own home.”

Amos waded to her side. “Let him go. We can catch him another time.”

“Okay.” She didn’t look happy about it, but she put him back in the water and giggled as he quickly swam away.

The children climbed up to the road beside Clara. Lily reached for her hand. Clara flinched slightly but grasped the child’s muddy fingers. Lily grinned at her. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Clara Barkman.”

“Have you come to play with us again?” She gave a beaming smile that melted Clara’s heart. What an adorable child she was.

“I’m just going to walk you home.”

“We didn’t tell about our hiding place,” Amos assured her.

“That’s good. Of course, if your onkel asks about it, you must tell him the truth.” She didn’t want the children to lie to cover up her foolishness. If Ethan found out, she would face the consequences.

Right now, she had two very muddy, wet children to deliver to his door. She wasn’t looking forward to their meeting.

Chapter Three

“Come on, Olga. You can do it. Just push a couple more times.”

Ethan had spent the better part of three hours helping his cow deliver her first calf. The calf had been turned wrong. It had been a monumental struggle to get it into the correct position. For a few tense hours, he thought he might lose them both. As it was, Olga was tiring after laboring all night. He pulled on the calf’s front legs to help ease it out into the world. He wasn’t sure it would survive, but he wanted to save both of them.

“Mr. Gingerich, may I have a word with you?”

He jerked his head around to see Clara Barkman standing outside the stall. Now what? Was Micah in trouble again? “I’m a little busy at the moment.” He pulled harder on the front legs of the calf when he felt the cow straining.

“Your two littlest children were playing down at the creek.”

“So?”

“They were in the creek.”

He scowled at her. “Are they okay?”

“They are fine. Muddy from head to toe, but fine.”

The calf came free, and he lowered it to the straw. “Come on, little one. Breathe.”

It was a small heifer. She struggled weakly. He quickly cleared the nostrils with his gloves. Her tongue was purple. It didn’t look good for her.

“I’ll take care of the children,” Clara said.

“Fine. Hand me that blanket.” He pointed to the corner of the stall. She slipped in and handed him the coarse bundle of fabric. “Danki.”

He wrapped the calf in it and began to dry her, rubbing vigorously to stimulate her breathing. She began to respond with deeper breaths and finally a weak bawl. The next time he looked up, Clara was gone.

He worked to get the calf breathing well then standing, and finally he guided her to her mother’s udder for her first meal. When she latched on and began to nurse, he let out a sigh of relief. It looked as if she was going to be okay.

He watched them for a while to make sure mother and daughter were bonding and doing well, then he left the stall and walked up to the house. He didn’t see Clara or the kids, but the sound of shrieks led him to the backyard.

Both his nephew and niece were sitting in a large blue plastic tub of soapy water and splashing each other. Clara was wringing out one of Lily’s dresses at a second tub. She shook it open and carried it to the clothesline, where a row of dresses, shirts and pants already waved in the hot summer breeze.

Lily saw him first. “I caught a frog, Onkel Ethan. It was a big one. Amos didn’t catch any. Clara made me let it go.”

There was still a trace of mud on her head. He squatted beside the tub and picked up the sponge that floated between them. He gently rinsed her hair. Clara stood beside the clothesline with her gaze fastened to her feet and her hands clasped in front of her. He said, “That sounds like an exciting adventure. Are you supposed to go to the creek alone?”