The Baby Next Door

by Vannetta Chapman

  Dear Reader,

  Have you ever regretted a past decision?

  Grace Troyer regrets the casual relationship that resulted in her pregnancy and subsequent banishment to Ohio. But she doesn’t regret the blond-haired daughter who brings joy to every day of her life.

  Adrian Schrock thinks he is happy raising exotic animals and conducting Englisch tours. In Adrian’s life, things are black-and-white—his opinion of how the world works is simple and clear. Knowing this about him, Grace doesn’t think he’ll be able to digest the truth of her situation and still care for her.

  But people can change. Grace is more mature than the young woman who too easily fell in love and lost her way. And the depth of Adrian’s feelings for her are stronger than his beliefs about the world. If it means that he must learn to see that some things aren’t simple and clear, that some things are quite complicated, then he’s willing to do that.

  I hope you enjoyed reading The Baby Next Door. I welcome comments and letters at vannettachapman@gmail.com.

  May we continue to “always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

  Blessings,

  Vannetta

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  The Amish Teacher’s Wish

  by Tracey J. Lyons

  Chapter One

  Miller’s Crossing

  Chautauqua County, New York

  Sadie Fischer should have known better. After the rains they’d had this past week, the hillsides were muddy. She probably should have stayed on the main road. But, nee, she was in a hurry to see her friend Lizzie Burkholder and to deliver the latest supply of quilted pot holders she had made for the store Lizzie ran with her husband, Paul. A schoolteacher here in Miller’s Crossing, Sadie helped her mamm with small quilting projects during the summer months when school was not in session.

  As she hurried along the old cow path shortcut through the field at the bottom of the hill below the Englischer’s church, Sadie was glad her students couldn’t see their teacher now. It hadn’t taken long for her haste to catch up with her. A few steps onto the path, and her feet started sinking into the soggy earth. She always chided her students for trying to take shortcuts in their schoolwork. She couldn’t help but smile, thinking how they’d be the ones wagging their fingers at her now.

  Looking down, she grimaced. Her feet were almost ankle-deep in the murky water. The soles of her shoes were caked with mud. Her mamm would have her doing the dishes for months if she caught her in this predicament. Oh, Sadie could almost hear her mamm scolding her now, reminding Sadie to pay attention to where she was going.

  Of all her siblings, Sadie was the most talkative and the most distracted. In her mamm’s words, she was a blabbermaul. She couldn’t help being chatty. As the youngest, she’d learned at an early age to speak up in order to be heard over the din of her sisters and brothers. She had three of each. When the others were busy with chores, she’d also learned how to fend for herself and to take shortcuts.

  Clinging tightly to the bag filled with the pot holders, Sadie attempted to lift one leg and then the other out of the sloppy mess. She hoped she could make her way out of this quagmire and back to the main road.

  “Oh, dear,” she murmured, looking down to where the mud now bubbled around her feet. Her movements only caused her to sink farther into the soft ground.

  Blowing out a breath, she looked around for something to grab hold of. Spotting a low-hanging tree branch a few feet away, she thought she might be able to grab hold of that and pull herself out. Although, she’d need to find a safe place to put her bag. Lifting her arm, she flung the bag high into the air, watching it land on a dry spot in the field a few feet away from the cow path.

  Next, she stretched her right arm as far as she could for the branch, her muscles straining against the effort. The leaves tickled her fingers, and her heartbeat kicked up. She was so close to getting out of this mess. She had the first bit of the branch in her hand when suddenly it snapped free, sending her backward. Sadie let out a yelp as she fell with a splash into the mud.

  “Nee! Nee!”

  She sat there looking down at her blue dress now covered in mud, the cool wetness seeping through the fabric. A honeybee buzzed around her head. Without thinking, she swatted at it, splashing more mud up onto her prayer kapp. She wanted to cry. But crying wasn’t in her nature. However, getting out of the many messes she always seemed to end up in was.

  Once again, she looked around for something she could grab hold of to pull herself out of this muck. When she couldn’t find anything, it seemed like the only thing to do might be to give up what remained of her pride and crawl out onto the drier part of the field. She made a face at the idea of getting even dirtier. Still, she was just about to give it a try when she heard the sound of a wagon.

  Craning her neck, she spotted a long work wagon coming up over the rise in front of the church.

  She waved her arms in the air and shouted, “Help! Help!”

  At first, she wasn’t sure the driver could hear her, so she yelled louder. “Help! I need help!”

  She sent up a prayer of thanksgiving as the wagon pulled to a stop in the church parking lot. A man jumped down from the wagon. He was too far away for her to tell if she knew him. He stood with a hand shielding his eyes from the sunlight, looking out over the field. Maybe he couldn’t see her.

  Sadie waved her arms over her head, hoping to catch his attention. “I’m over here! Over here!”

  She breathed a sigh of relief when he began to run toward her. By the time he got to her, she had only managed to dig herself even deeper into the mud. That’s what she got for trying to get up on her own.

  “Miss, are you all right?”

  “Ja. I’m just stuck in this mud pit.” She tried to laugh but couldn’t quite manage it.

  “That you are. Here, let me help you up.”

  When he moved closer, Sadie realized she’d never seen him before. The depth of his hazel-colored eyes struck her—hues of blues, greens and browns all mixed together. His fine cheekbones were cut high on his face, and his hair was a touch lighter brown than most of the men’s around here. She also noticed he wore his suspenders fastened on the outside and not on the inside of his pants like the men in her community.

  A million questions flew through her mind. Where had he come from? Why was he here? Was he just passing through Miller’s Crossing? And if so, where was he headed?

  He raised an eyebrow, his mouth pressing into a thin line. “Miss, I don’t have all day to stand here while you make up your mind about staying or letting me help you out of your predicament.”

  Surprised by the abruptness in his voice, Sadie replied in her best schoolteacher voice, “There’s no need to use that tone with me.”

  He drew back his shoulders. “Es dutt mir leed.”

  Sadie narrowed her eyes, wondering if his apology was sincere. His gaze softened a bit. “I accept your apology.”

  The wetness was seeping into her skin, and she looked down at the mess she’d made of herself. When she looked back up, she found the stranger extending his hand to her.

  She hesitated, then took hold of it, surprised as his large hand swallowed hers in a firm grip. She let out a yelp as he tugged her up to stand beside him on the dry grass.

  Sadie felt his warmth against her side and took an acceptable step backward. It wouldn’t be proper for her to be seen out in a field, alone, with any man, especially with someone she didn’t even know. She imagined the scolding she’d get from the elders who ran the school if they coul
d see her now. No doubt not unlike the one she would get from her mamm when she saw the mess Sadie had made.

  Due to her reputation within the community for being, what some would consider, too outgoing, Sadie had struggled to convince the board to let her teach the students in the first place. With no one else available for the last year, they’d reluctantly agreed to let her take over on a temporary basis. But with summer and harvest time nearing an end and still no permanent teacher found, Sadie had been given another chance to prepare for the upcoming semester.

  She hadn’t seen teaching as a lifelong endeavor, more as something to hold her over until she met the man who would become her husband. However, while all her friends had married off to eligible men in Miller’s Crossing, Sadie had been left with suitors who were either too old or too young. So, for now, she was content to focus on her students. Though she knew it was wrong to think of them as hers, it was hard not to feel that way when she had no husband or kinder of her own yet.

  Although if her parents had their way, Sadie would be forced into a courtship with Isaiah Troyer. The man was older than her, a widower with no children. She had no desire to be involved with him even if her vader thought they could be a gut match.

  She knew the right man was out there. She just had to be patient in finding him.

  Pushing those thoughts aside, she rubbed her hands together and thanked the tall, lanky man at her side. “Danke. If not for you, I might have had to crawl my way out.”

  His eyes took on a deeper brown hue as he folded his arms across his chest and looked down at her. “Then it’s a gut thing for you I came along when I did.”

  “Ja.”

  “I’ve got to be in town for an appointment. I can drop you someplace if you’d like.” He studied her for a moment. When she hesitated, he shrugged and turned away.

  “Ja, a ride would be nice. If you wouldn’t mind,” Sadie said. Hurrying to pick up the bag of pot holders, she followed him.

  Halfway to the wagon, he paused so she could catch up. “Dare I ask why you were stuck in the mud?”

  She blinked up at him. “I...um...I was taking a shortcut to my friend’s house. And as you can see, that didn’t end well.”

  “Am I taking you there?”

  Sadie knew she needed to change out of her wet clothes before she did anything else. The pot holders would have to wait. “Nee. You can take me home.”

  They walked the rest of the way to the wagon in silence. Pausing alongside it, she put her hand on the seat to hoist herself up.

  “Do you need help getting up?”

  “Nee. I can do it,” she assured him.

  But when she put her wet foot up on the step, it slipped off, throwing her backward. If not for the grace of God, she might have landed on her backside again. She managed to right herself just in time.

  The stranger rushed to her side, but Sadie waved him off. While she may have needed help getting out of the mudhole, she could handle getting into a wagon on her own.

  “I’m fine.”

  Nodding, he walked around to the other side of the wagon and climbed up.

  Sadie scraped her shoe across the dirt in the parking lot to give the sole a little grit, then managed to get up onto the seat without any more mishaps. Settling a respectable distance away from him, she pulled her skirt in close, hoping to keep the seat free from the mud.

  Blowing out a breath, she looked over the vista spreading out below the church. The view always filled her with hope and happiness. In her mind, this was the prettiest place in all of Miller’s Crossing, even all of Chautauqua County, New York. Her family’s Amish community had settled here back in the middle of the last century. Her ancestors had come from Ohio, leaving scarce farmland to make a living here.

  Sadie wiggled around on the seat, trying to ignore the fact that the mud was beginning to dry. She looked down at the floorboard where drips of mud were falling off her shoes.

  “I’m afraid I’m making a mess of your wagon.”

  The man didn’t respond. He nudged the single workhorse along with a flick of the leather reins. He appeared to be focused on the roadway and not her. Only now did she notice the way his eyes were narrowed as if he were in deep concentration, and there were grim lines around his mouth.

  A smile could make those disappear.

  “I’m Sadie Fischer.”

  * * *

  Keeping his hand steady on the reins, he said, “I’m Levi Byler.”

  In all his days, Levi had never seen a young lady looking such a sight. Mud covered most of her, and streaks of dirt ran through the loosened strands of her blond hair. A smudge of mud was drying on her chin. He had to hand it to her. Most women he knew would be crying right about now. But Miss Fischer sat there smiling at him like nothing had happened.

  Her light blue eyes seemed to take in the sight of him. Levi swallowed. He knew better than to be sucked in by a woman’s ostensibly innocent smile. He struggled to ignore the ache in his chest. The hurt of his recent breakup was still too fresh. On most days since that horrible time, he managed to go about his business quietly, but then there were days like today. He’d taken a wrong turn on his way to Miller’s Crossing and ended up on this road.

  He was coming to help his cousin Jacob Herschberger with his shed business and to heal his broken heart. Levi hoped that lending his expertise as a craftsman would not only be useful to Jacob but also aid in his own healing. He figured if he kept his hands busy, then his mind wouldn’t wander to the past.

  Pushing those thoughts aside, he stole a glance out of the corner of his eye at the woman sitting next to him. He supposed it was a good thing he’d come along when he did, otherwise there was no telling what would have happened to Miss Fischer.

  “Where are you headed?” she asked.

  Concentrating on the unfamiliar road ahead, Levi did his best to ignore the soft, friendly lilt of her voice. Her tone reminded him of the woman who’d broken his heart.

  Keeping his answer simple, he replied, “I’m going to help out a family member.”

  “Does this person have a name? I know all of the Amish families around here.”

  His emotional situation was not her fault, so Levi answered, “Jacob Herschberger.”

  “Oh, his wife, Rachel, is a cousin to my best friend, Lizzie Burkholder. Lizzie is from the Miller family, the same ones who first settled this area. She and her husband, Paul, have a furniture and art store in Clymer,” Miss Fischer went on. “Lizzie does beautiful watercolor landscapes. I wish I had half her talent. The only thing I can make are quilted pot holders from my mamm’s fabric scrap pile. I sell them at Lizzie’s store. That’s where I was heading when I got sucked into the mud.”

  She paused and Levi thought she might be taking a break, but in the next breath she asked, “So, you’ll be working on Jacob’s sheds?”

  “Ja.”

  “That’s a gut thing. I know he’s been looking for help. He and Rachel have a small house on the other side of the village, close to his shop. Where are you traveling from?”

  Levi gave her a sideways glance, wondering if she ever stopped talking. “A district near Fort Ann,” he said, keeping his answer short hoping to satisfy her curiosity.

  “Oh. That’s a long trip for a horse and wagon. I haven’t been anyplace other than Miller’s Crossing, and of course the village of Clymer.”

  “I came in on the bus.” He didn’t feel it necessary to tell her that he’d picked the horse and wagon up in the village. Levi wasn’t interested in anything beyond getting her to where she needed to be in one piece.

  “That was smart of you.”

  “Miss Fischer, you still haven’t told me where you’d like to be dropped off.”

  “I’m afraid my mamm is going to be upset when she sees me looking a mess and returning home with the bag of pot holders. You can leave me at the end
of my road if you’d like. That way you won’t have to hear her scolding me.”

  “In order for me to do that, you’ll need to tell me where the end of your road is. I do need to be somewhere,” he said in a soft tone, hoping to coax directions out of her.

  “It’s not that late in the day.” She gave him a small smile. “But you are right. I’m the one troubling you, not the other way around.”

  He waited for a second, raised an eyebrow and asked again. “Miss Fischer, the directions to your house?”

  “Ja.” She pointed straight ahead. “Just over that rise, right on the other side of that cow fence, you will find my driveway.”

  Levi’s patience was wearing thin. Perhaps it was the long trip he’d taken added to meeting this woman and wondering about his new job. With the pain of his past still fresh in his mind, he just wanted to be left alone. He didn’t want to worry about Sadie Fischer. He wanted to selfishly drown in the sorrow of his heartbreak for a bit longer.

  But his past had nothing to do with Sadie. She had needed help and he’d come along at the right time. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave her alone on the road. Levi didn’t feel like being friendly, but he wouldn’t leave someone in distress either.

  He pulled up to her drive and looked over at her. The spark seemed to have left her. Her shoulders sagged as she turned to hop down from the wagon seat.

  He started to apologize, and then suddenly it wasn’t her face he was seeing. Nee, it was the face of the woman who had shunned him.

  Levi blinked. The pain of betrayal welled up inside him again. No matter how sweet Sadie Fischer appeared to be, no matter how much she might need someone to be a buffer between her and her mamm, he had to protect his heart. He simply could not allow himself to be drawn in again.

  Over her shoulder, he saw a long tree-lined drive leading to her family’s property and in the distance the roofline of a house. The better side of him—the old Levi—was starting to feel a bit of remorse for his short temper.