Sarah's Orphans

by Vannetta Chapman

  “I love Mateo and Mia as much as my own bruders, but if she truly wanted to be their mother, if she could provide them a safe home, it wouldn’t be my place to keep them here.”

  “All we can do is offer grace and forgiveness as we’re commanded.” Mammi stood, walked over to Sarah, and placed both of her hands on her shoulders. She bent over so that they were eye to eye. Sarah could clearly see the dear woman’s map of wrinkles branching out from her eyes, across her forehead, down her cheeks.

  “What you just said? That shows you’ve truly learned to love Mateo and Mia, and that you’re willing to put their well-being above what you want. That, Sarah, is what a parent is supposed to do.”

  Mammi walked out onto the porch, leaving Sarah staring at Mia, who was clutching her Plain doll close to her heart as she slept.

  Thirty minutes later they were seated at the kitchen table for lunch. Sarah enjoyed hearing her brothers discuss the crops, their chickens, even how Dusty seemed to have perked up over the last few days. The last thing they needed was to have to replace the buggy horse. Not to mention how much they would miss the gelding if anything happened to him. He was as much a family pet as the yellow cat Mammi insisted on feeding.

  The men had trooped back outside, and Sarah was beginning to run dishwater in the sink when there was a knock on the door.

  “That must be Tommy.” Mammi nodded toward where his car was parked. “Go and speak to him in the living room.”

  Sarah invited him inside. As he walked in, she saw their sitting room as he must see it. No more clothes piled on the couch. No issues of the Budget scattered across the floor. It was a classic image of a Plain home—clean, uncluttered, welcoming. But what did that matter if she couldn’t even keep the children safe? That question echoed through her mind every few minutes.

  It had been her fault. She should have been more careful.

  Tommy didn’t waste any time getting down to business. He opened his messenger bag and pulled out a folder. From the folder he removed an eight by ten glossy photo. “This is Elisa Lopez, Mateo’s and Mia’s mother.”

  “Why am I just now seeing this?”

  “Because you need to now. Normally there is no interaction between Bridge parents and birth parents, at least not at this stage of the process. I know how carefully you are looking after the kids, but it’s hard to do so if you don’t know what or who to look for.”

  She studied the photo. Elisa had brown hair and dark eyebrows. Her eyes looked exactly like Mateo’s, and the smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks reminded Sarah of Mia. She seemed young, incredibly so.

  “Should you see her, you’re to contact the police immediately. Send someone to the phone shack and keep the children inside until authorities arrive.”

  “She has no rights to her own children?”

  Tommy studied her for a moment before answering with an observation of his own. “Many Bridge parents feel strongly that birth parents don’t need to be near their children, that it’s the parents’ fault the children are in such a dire situation.”

  Sarah thought of what Mammi had said. “Ya. I understand that perspective, and certainly the most important thing is for Mateo and Mia to be safe. But what I’m wondering is…does that mean she will never see her children again? Because she’s made a mistake—”

  “Several,” Tommy said softly.

  “Ya, several mistakes, especially taking them last night. But does that mean she gets no other chances? What if Mateo and Mia…” She brushed at the tears slipping down her cheeks. “What if they want to see her? They’re frightened now, but when they’re older, then…well, then they might feel differently.”

  Tommy wrote something in his folder, and then he put the picture in the folder and the folder in his bag. Finally, he sat forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together. “Mateo and Mia will always have a right to see their mother if they wish and if it is safe. However, Elisa will have to prove that she’s taken the necessary steps to change her lifestyle. She’ll have to show that she can provide an adequate living arrangement. We will help her, but she has to be willing to make the changes.”

  Sarah nodded, relief flooding her heart. She wanted Mateo and Mia with her forever, but she didn’t want to be responsible for severing a bond as natural as that of a mother and child. She didn’t want to have that on her conscience, burdening her soul. She didn’t want to be the person who had refused to give Elisa Lopez one more chance.

  “For now she is not allowed contact with them until she is evaluated by DHS. What she did yesterday was wrong. It wasn’t your fault or Mateo’s fault…it was Elisa’s fault. We’ll do everything within our power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  CHAPTER 56

  Paul stayed away from the Yoder household the first full day the kids were back. He told himself they needed time alone, but his eyes kept drifting toward their farm, his mind kept wandering to thoughts of the entire family, but especially to Sarah.

  On Thursday afternoon the piglets were delivered, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist any longer. He snatched up the newspaper Rebecca had given him and grabbed the keys to the tractor. He could walk, but he wanted to be able to bring Isaac and Mateo back to see the piglets. He didn’t think Sarah would want them walking.

  Sarah surprised him though.

  “Careful walking on the road,” she called after Luke, Isaac, and Mateo. All three had insisted on going as soon as they heard the news.

  She shook her head and sat back down in the rocker chair where she’d been hand-sewing a new dress for Mia.

  “Seems they’ve all grown since I saw them last.”

  “Two days ago?”

  “Ya, I’m sure Mateo is an inch taller, and Luke looks more like a man than a boy.” He laughed at himself and then nodded toward her sewing. “I thought the ladies brought you plenty of clothes.”

  “They did, but…well, I had some material left from my dress and thought Mia would like something new.”

  “I’m sure she’ll love it.” Paul cleared his throat. “It surprises me a little that you’re letting them walk to my place. I was worried that after what happened—”

  “That I would try to keep them under my wings?” She tucked her chin and glanced up at him, reminding him comically of his mother. Sarah Yoder was nothing like his mother. Or was she? Physically they were certainly very different. Paul’s mother was tall and heavy from years of birthing children and cooking for a large family. But their attitude and demeanor? Both had a healthy dose of common sense, didn’t mind showing their emotions, and were hard workers. Yes, they were more alike than he had realized.

  Sarah had returned her attention to her project, though she was still answering Paul’s unasked question. “I can’t keep my eyes on them all the time. If anything, the last week has taught me that. But Mateo…he’s a smart boy. He’ll be more careful now, and I can trust him whether he’s alone or with Mia. He’s a gut boy. He’ll watch out for his schweschder, just like he did Tuesday night.”

  “While we’re on the subject of the other night, Rebecca sent this over for you.” He held up the paper, folded to show the front page story.

  He knew Sarah recognized Elisa immediately because she dropped her fabric into her lap and reached for the newspaper. “I didn’t know they were going to print anything about it.”

  “The story was written by your friend Chloe.”

  He’d read it through several times himself, but he listened as Sarah read it aloud.

  On Tuesday evening an Amber Alert was issued for two children taken from a Cody’s Creek home.

  Sarah glanced up at Paul. “She doesn’t mention their names?”

  “Nein. It’s not allowed to put the names of young children in the newspaper. Not unless their parents approve it.”

  Sarah nodded and continued reading.

  Taken by Elisa Lopez, the children were recovered unharmed several hours later and returned to the Yoder family.
Sheriff Bynum from the Cody’s Creek Police Department would like to extend his sincere thanks to those who called in tips and facilitated the return of the children.

  She continued reading silently for a moment, information about Elisa’s car, a description of her companion, and a brief history of Amber Alerts and how many were issued each year. Shaking her head, she returned the paper to Paul.

  “You don’t want to keep it?”

  “Nein. I’d rather not dwell on what happened.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought you’d want to see it.”

  “I am glad you brought it. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s only that I think we have to move on.”

  “Well, at least local folks will have seen Elisa’s photo.”

  “And they’ll have a description of the car.”

  “If she’s spotted anywhere in the area, I’m sure they’ll call it in.” Paul finally sat in the chair next to Sarah. He wasn’t sure that she’d want him to stay, but she seemed to be enjoying their conversation almost as much as he was. It occurred to him that she had little chance to talk to many other adults except her brothers and Mammi.

  “The article will put people on alert. That is a gut thing, but the publicity? We could do without that. I want the children to have a normal life, and they can’t do that if they’re in the newspaper.”

  “Spoken like a true Amish mamm,” he teased.

  Instead of rising to the bait, she gave him another look. This one caused Paul’s hands to sweat. He thought about leaning forward, about kissing her, and then those thoughts were interrupted by the banging of the front door.

  Mia ran across the porch, clutching something in her hand. She squatted down in front of him and smoothed out a sheet of paper that had become quite rumpled. “Paul! Look what I drawed.”

  “What you drew,” Sarah corrected.

  “What I drewed.” Mia climbed up onto Paul’s lap, clutching the paper. “That’s you—”

  “With the big head?”

  “That’s Sarah.”

  “Our arms are longer than our legs.”

  “That’s Mia!”

  Mia had drawn herself between the two larger stick figures, who were each clasping one of her stick hands.

  “Very gut drawing,” Paul said.

  “And Mateo, Andy, Henry, Luke, Isaac.” She pointed at a different blob with each name. They were drawn to the side, standing together in a large group with a giant sun beating down on them.

  In truth the image struck a chord deep in Paul’s gut. Did Mia think that they were a family? Did she think he and Sarah were more than friends? He supposed she had no way of knowing what a real family, a normal family, looked like. To her, it would seem natural for him to leave and reappear every few days.

  “I forgot Mammi.”

  Sweat broke out on his brow as she scrambled off his lap.

  “Mammi! I need cwayons!” She was gone with another bang of the door.

  “She’s talking more these days, but still working on the r sound,” Sarah said. “I’m sure she’ll get it eventually.”

  Paul wanted to invite Sarah to see the piglets. He wanted to sit beside her on the porch until the sun set in the western sky. He wanted to stay.

  Instead, he mumbled an excuse about needing to check on the boys. But as he drove his tractor back down the lane, he was thinking about a little stick girl, holding hands with a stick mommy and stick daddy.

  CHAPTER 57

  Mateo and Isaac hadn’t wasted any time getting into the enclosure with the pigs, though Luke warned them they had best not get dirty. In the end, he couldn’t resist and joined them.

  “I thought they would be bigger,” Mateo confessed.

  “Still plenty heavy.” Isaac was trying to scoot one off his lap. The pig happily rolled over on to its back, apparently waiting for a tummy rub.

  “How old are they, Luke?”

  “About six weeks. Paul said they were weaned at twenty-eight days.”

  Mateo nodded wisely. He wouldn’t have known what weaning was a month ago, but he and Isaac had been reading Brian’s books. It was plain enough from the pictures that weaning meant the piglets no longer received their mother’s milk.

  “Will they grow up to have piglets of their own?” he asked.

  “Nein. Paul bought these for slaughter.”

  “I like bacon, but I don’t think we should talk about it here.” Isaac’s voice was so serious that they all started laughing.

  The piglets squealed at the sound and took off like a flock of geese, trundling across the pigpen.

  “It is important to remember that they’re not pets.”

  They all turned around in surprise at Paul’s voice. Mateo had been focusing so hard on the piglets he hadn’t even heard the tractor.

  “Ya, but…we should take good care of them. Right?” Mateo thought they were about the cutest things he’d ever seen—all pink and chubby with curly tails and little brown ears.

  “Of course we will. They’re our responsibility now.”

  “We’ll give them the best life a pig can have.” Isaac jumped up and stuck his hands in his pockets, and then he remembered that they were covered with mud and jerked them back out.

  “We will do that. People have to eat, but we can still be kind and be gut stewards of what Gotte has given us.” Paul waved at the enclosure. “So what do you think? Does it meet your approval?”

  “Sure it does.” Mateo reluctantly pushed his piglet away, and it took off after the others. “You have a covered area with lots of straw.”

  “So they won’t get cold.” Isaac nodded in approval.

  “Do you know why we have the lower area filled with water and mud?”

  “Because pigs don’t sweat,” Mateo and Isaac said in unison.

  Luke rolled his eyes, but Mateo could tell that he was enjoying this as much as they were. They spent the next few minutes walking around the pen as Paul showed them what he’d done to accommodate the little creatures.

  He’d attached a water trough to a sliding bracket on the side of the fence. “So we can move it up as they get taller.”

  “Why not just put it on the ground?” Luke stuck his hand in the water and then shook it dry.

  “My dat raised pigs every year. No matter how we secured the water trough to the ground, the pigs would uproot it, spilling it. I might be in the field and not notice. If that happened, they could be without water all day.”

  “A pig’s body weight is one half water.” Isaac had practically memorized that book. He’d been quoting it to Mateo for over a week.

  “Correct. If they don’t have access to clean water, they can get very sick.”

  “What will you feed them?”

  “Mammi said she would start a slop bucket. Can I count on you two to bring it over every day?”

  In answer, Mateo and Isaac high-fived one another.

  “The majority of their diet will come from grain. We’ll need to measure and watch each day. We don’t want to waste it, but we want them to have all they need.”

  All three boys sat down on top of the fence rail, and Paul stood beside it.

  “There’s going to be enough work here for all three of you. I’ll admit to you right now, it’s hard work. You have to scoop out the manure each day.”

  Luke glanced at Mateo and Isaac. When they both nodded, Luke asked, “And you’re going to share the money with us?”

  “I will. One pig will provide meat for the winter for your family, and one will be for mine—for me and Rebecca and Joseph.”

  “What about the other eight?” Isaac asked.

  “We’ll sell them to neighbors. I can put up a sign at the store. Half the money will go to you boys, and I’ll keep the other half.”

  Again Isaac looked at him, and Mateo could feel his head nodding. He’d never actually earned money before. Maybe he could help Sarah with their fall school clothes. He and Isaac had even talked about using the money to purchase some goats. There were a lot of diff
erent things they could do with their half of the money. Even split in thirds, it would be more than he’d ever had. The possibilities sometimes kept him awake at night.

  “We’re in,” all three boys said simultaneously.

  “Will you ever let them out of the pen?” Mateo asked.

  “Actually, I was hoping you boys could help me with that.” Paul showed them a fenced cattle pen that as yet had no cattle. “The grass will come up good in here. I need to add some fencing around the bottom so they won’t get out. Want to lend a hand?”

  Of course they did. Luke claimed he needed to get back to the house and take care of Dusty’s stall, but Mateo and Isaac stayed. They handed Paul nails, made sure there weren’t any gaps in the fencing, and then promised to come back the next day to see how the piglets liked it.

  “I’m counting on you two. I have fields to take care of, but with your help, we should be able to provide these piglets with a nice place to live.”

  Mateo and Isaac promised they would help, and then Paul told them they should get home before dark. “You don’t want to keep Sarah or Mammi waiting.”

  It was Isaac’s idea to cut across the field rather than go by the road. Mateo thought that maybe it was to avoid cars. Was there even a chance that his mother would try to come back again? Mateo didn’t think so. He was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be seeing her for a long time, and while one part of him felt sad about that, another part—a bigger part—was relieved.

  Isaac insisted that he go over the fence first. “Just step in my hands and hold on to that post.”

  “How are you going to get across?”

  “I’ll climb up. I’ve done it plenty of times.”

  Maybe he had. Maybe what happened next was simply because they were in a hurry. Mateo had landed in the weeds on his backside, laughing and standing up, trying to brush off the pieces of grass. Unfortunately, the grass was stuck to the mud he’d managed to splash on his clothes earlier.

  He was thinking of that, and of how he would offer to clean them in the sink so Sarah wouldn’t have to, when he heard the tear of fabric. He looked up to see that Isaac had ripped a hole in his pants across the entire seat.