In Time for an Amish Christmas

by Samantha Price

  She looked around not knowing where the store was and then she saw a sign pointing down a side road. Looking closer she saw it read, "Amish Arts and Crafts." Since it was the only sign for an Amish store, she figured that had to be it. She started walking that direction.

  Outside the store were small pieces of Amish furniture, and in the window was a rocking horse surrounded by an assortment of wooden toys. They sat on an Amish quilt, and another Amish star quilt was a stunning backdrop for the window display. With one arm, she pushed the door open and was immediately enveloped in warm air.

  A woman came out to meet her and Heidi immediately recognized her. It was Faith, an old friend of hers from before she’d left the community.

  Chapter 5

  "Heidi, Derek told us how you hit your head. Are you all right?" She leaned over and kissed Heidi on the cheek, and then smiled at Michael, who was now fast asleep.

  Heidi giggled. "I'm fine. He tends to overreact. I've just been to the doctor and he says I'm okay."

  Faith kept staring at Michael. "That’s good. And here he is. Can I have a hold?"

  "Sure." Heidi passed the baby over.

  Faith cradled the baby in her arms and swayed her body to and fro, looking like she’d done that many times before. "You've just been to the doctors, just now?"

  "Jah. We’ve just come from there now. Derek’s bringing toys in."

  "Ah, good. I’ll just let Ben know he's coming in. How many boxes has he got?"

  "He just said a few. I’m not sure how many that means." Heidi guessed her friend had married Derek's older brother.

  Faith fetched Ben from the back room and on his way out, he nodded hello to Heidi. Then Derek appeared at the doorway carrying two boxes, one on top of the other. Derek passed the boxes to Ben and went back to the buggy for more.

  "Where are the girls?" Faith asked Heidi.

  "They’re at Mamm’s today. We’re fetching them later."

  Derek came in with another box in time to overhear the conversation. "We're heading off to get them soon and then staying for dinner."

  A cold shiver ran through Heidi. She was about to come face-to-face with the parents who’d cruelly cut her off as though she’d never existed. How could she face them? In this life, though, they hadn't disowned her because she’d done everything expected of her. She had married her childhood sweetheart, she kept a nice home, had babies and supported her husband in his work. In her opinion, the real test of a parent’s love was always being there no matter what. She was nervous about what she'd find when she saw them.

  "How many more boxes have you got, Derek?" Ben asked him.

  "Two more."

  When customers came through the door, Faith passed the baby back to Heidi. Heidi wandered around at the back of the store looking at all the items. Christmas always used to be such a happy time and all the items she saw reminded her of the gifts she’d received as a child.

  When the customers were gone, Faith said, “Heidi, how about you come for dinner tomorrow night?”

  “That would be lovely, but I’ll have to check with Derek first.”

  Derek walked into the room, again overhearing what Heidi said. “Check with me about what?”

  “Dinner tomorrow night,” Faith said. “At our haus.”

  “That’s fine with me.”

  Heidi smiled at Faith. “We’d love to come.”

  “Good. We’ll look forward to it.”

  Just then a group of people filled the store. They looked like they were from a tour bus.

  “Okay, are you ready?” Derek asked her.

  She swung around to look at her husband. “Jah.”

  They waved goodbye to Ben and Faith who were both busily preparing to serve all the customers.

  “They look like they’re going to be run off their feet,” Heidi said.

  “They get busier than that. That’s why they’re going to need me here.”

  “I’m okay; you should help them now if you want.”

  “I will, but not today. I just want to make sure you’re okay first. If you still don’t want to be left on your own tomorrow, they’ll find someone else.”

  Don’t want to be left on my own? Was she having some kind of a breakdown? She shook her head. “I keep telling you I’m fine.”

  They headed back to the buggy, and as they drove away, Derek said, "Do we need any food now that we’re so close to the markets?”

  "I don't think so. We’ve got enough food for the time being." She felt smugly pleased with herself for checking the food situation earlier in the day. They didn’t have much meat, but perhaps the family preferred not to eat much. Then it dawned on her that they may not be able to afford much meat, and they might be on a strict budget.

  "Should we take something to your mudder's for tonight?"

  She swallowed hard. She wasn’t ready to see her parents again. "I suppose we could get a cake, or something."

  "Cakes are always a good idea. And then we can get you one of your caramel lattes with the three shots of caramel for the drive home."

  She giggled at the kind of coffee she liked. It sounded awful. "That sounds good." She liked caramel, but not in her coffee. Maybe she needed the energy from all that sugar in this life. It occurred to her that if this life was real, that meant she was able to cross between alternate universes, so why had she never done it before? Or, was there some other explanation?

  Derek looked down at Michael in her arms. "Sleeping again? What a gut life he has."

  Heidi giggled. "Eating, sleeping, and being carried around. It is indeed a gut life."

  "You're sounding a lot brighter."

  "Jah, I’m feeling good." As they both looked at the road ahead, she worried about her older children. How easy would they be to look after? She reminded herself that most Amish children were well-behaved. They were always raised strictly.

  When they walked into the markets, Heidi saw little had changed in the time she’d been gone. Even many of the stallholders were the same, except older. She stayed back a little, and followed Derek until he stopped at a cake stall. Heidi’s mouth watered as she looked over the varied assortment of frosted cakes and pies.

  "I'll let you choose." Derek said, seeming to be just as lost in the array of cakes as she was.

  "There's too much choice.”

  “Hmm. It’ll have to be between the chocolate mud cake and the peach pie."

  Heidi said, “What about apple? I say we should go with the apple pie because that’s Dat’s favorite."

  “Don't you think that’ll make your mudder sad?"

  "Why would it make her sad?"

  She looked into Derek’s face and gasped. She realized that her father was no longer with them. It had never entered her head that one of them might have died. She could feel the tears welling behind her eyes.

  Before the tears spilled down her cheeks, she handed Michael over to Derek. Then she remembered; the restrooms were on the other side of the markets. Without a further word, she hurried to find them. She walked on and on, trying to keep the tears contained. Finally, she reached her destination and pushed the door open.

  As soon as she closed the stall door behind her, the tears ran down her face. She grabbed a handful of tissue to blot the tears. It’d been years since she’d seen her parents. and to learn that one of them had died seemed impossible. It didn’t seem real. This life was getting weirder by the minute and too far removed from her normal life to feel comfortable.

  So many questions ran through her mind. Is that why her parents hadn't contacted her? Because her father had died and Mamm didn’t know how to tell her? And why hadn't anyone else told her? She didn’t even get the chance to go to his funeral.

  After crying for a solid five minutes, she blew her nose, unlocked the door of the toilet cubicle, and looked in the mirror above the washbasin. Her face was flushed red and her eyes were swollen. It was obvious she'd been crying. After she washed her hands and splashed cold water on her face, she knew she
’d have to leave the restroom and face Derek. He’d want to know why she didn’t know about her father.

  She pushed the door open and was faced with Derek, holding the baby and a box.

  She smiled at him.

  "Better?" he asked.

  She pressed her lips together and nodded.

  He had the baby securely in one hand and with the other, he held up the white box by its string. "I got the chocolate cake."

  She swallowed and nodded. "Good choice."

  "Come on, let's go home."

  She kept her head down as they walked out of the farmers market. On the way home Derek asked the question she’d been waiting for. "Why didn't you remember your vadder had died?"

  With her head hung low, she said, "I can't answer that."

  "But the doctor said you were okay, jah?"

  "That's right."

  He shook his head. "I don't know how that could be." He glanced over at her. "Did you tell him everything?"

  "Jah."

  "I should've come in with you."

  "He mentioned I might have a slight concussion. That’s why he said if I feel nausea or get excessively sleepy, I should call the paramedics. I haven't felt like that at all apart from the general sleepiness, and that’s only because of the lack of sleep I've been getting lately." She glanced at Derek hoping she hadn’t been speaking too quickly.

  "But he's been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now."

  "I'm still catching up," she said. “Are we going to Mamm’s now?"

  "I thought we’d go there at around five."

  "Good idea." She would have a few hours to herself to figure out what was going on before she met her mother again. It wouldn't be the same without her father there.

  “Oh, we didn’t get your coffee.”

  “Don’t worry about that. That’s the last thing—”

  “Nee, I know how much you enjoy them. We’ll stop at the little café you like on the way home.”

  “Denke.” She glanced at him. No one had gone to that much trouble for her over anything. It was nice to have a man to look after her. Derek was just as attentive now as he’d been when they were courting so many years ago. If only she’d realized what she was walking away from. It was comforting to know that he hadn’t changed after marriage.

  He parked the buggy and then hurried in to get her take-out coffee while she and Michael remained in the warmth of the buggy. She could get used to this life. It was nice to be free of the constant worry and pressures of the real estate business. There was always some drama unfolding or some pitfall to be avoided.

  He climbed back into the buggy and put the drink in a little holder next to the heater.

  “A cup holder!”

  He glanced over at her. “Jah.”

  “That’s such a convenience.”

  He remained quiet and took hold of the reins.

  Chapter 6

  When they arrived home, she walked into the house realizing that Derek hadn't even locked the door. It was such a different place to live than where she was from. Michael was fast asleep again and Heidi managed to lay him down in the crib in the living room without waking him. Derek had come into the house behind her carrying her coffee.

  She took it from him. “Denke.” After she had a sip, she had to pretend she enjoyed it. It was lukewarm and way too sweet, and the caramel drowned out the coffee flavor. “Delicious,” she said.

  "Will you be okay if I do some work in the barn?"

  "Sure." After Derek walked outside, she sat on the couch with the coffee in one hand and holding her aching head in the other. It wasn't the bump, it was hurting because she was thinking so much about what was happening to her. There was the possibility that she'd gone mad and created that whole other life she had in New York City.

  Derek walked back into the house. “I’ll fix this fire first.” It had just about gone out. “And you left this in the buggy.” He handed her the baby's bottle.

  She giggled. “I don’t know what I’m doing at the moment. Denke.”

  Derek rearranged the logs on the fire, and added another. He stood up and dusted his hands. “That should do it for a while.”

  “It looks good.”

  “I won’t be far if you need me.”

  “I know.”

  He leaned over and kissed her on her forehead and then headed out the door.

  Heidi gazed into the fire and then looked down at her black lace-up boots. She’d dreamed a life quite opposite to the one she had—a life where she wore stilettos and perfectly-fitted designer clothing. She raised her hand to her kapp. Even the short spiky haircut she had in her other life was the polar opposite of the long hair she had now.

  If this was her real life, wouldn’t she’d have some memory of her father’s death? It would be hard going to her old home and not having Dat there. She sat still, pondering her situation until she heard Michael stirring. Once he was fully awake, she changed his diaper and noticed the clean diaper bundle was low. She made a mental note to do washing tomorrow if she was still there. She'd seen a gas-powered washing machine in the mud room. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to scrub and wash the diapers by hand, but disposables would’ve been even better.

  After she prepared a bottle to take along for Michael, she spent a little time doing some more poking around and looking in cupboards in the kitchen. Then she heard Derek walk into the house.

  He poked his head around the kitchen door. "We should leave now. If you’re not feeling up to it, I can get the girls and we’ll bring you back a cooked meal."

  "I'm feeling fine, truly."

  "Good. Your mudder’s expecting us to stay for the evening meal."

  Heidi nodded, turning to get Michael and her things. "Did you get some more toys made?"

  "I just did some finishing touches and loaded some more boxes ready to take in tomorrow."

  "I'm ready to go."

  "Let's go then," he said.

  They got back into the buggy and traveled to her mother's house, which wasn't that far.

  When she walked into the house with Michael in her arms, two young girls ran at her calling out, "Mamm!" They were the cutest little girls she had ever seen. They were wearing matching lilac-colored dresses, white aprons and stiff white prayer kapps. They reached up trying to hug her and the smaller girl grabbed her around one leg and held on tight.

  With Michael in Heidi’s arms, she could only give them one-armed hugs.

  "Where is Mammi?" she asked them.

  "She’s in the kitchen. Come on." The girls headed back to the kitchen and Heidi followed.

  Her mother was there smiling at her and she walked over to her mother and gave her a hug. Mamm was so in love with Dat, and to lose her husband would've devastated her. Even though she was cranky with her mother she still held her tightly. Mamm had aged, but not too badly. Her face was a little more lined, her complexion a little sallow, and there was considerably more white in her hair.

  "Are you better now?” Mamm asked. “Is there anything wrong? You haven’t hugged me like that for years.”

  "I've just missed you, that's all."

  Derek walked into the kitchen and the girls ran to him. After he said hello to them and took a moment for hugs, he said to his mother-in-law, "Heidi's been to the doctor and he said she’s okay.” He took Michael from Heidi.

  “Good.” Her mother looked back at her and eyed her suspiciously, and then spoke to the girls. "Molly and Jessica, both of you, go and set the table."

  Derek stood in the doorway of the kitchen while Mamm looked Heidi up and down. “You look tired. Go sit in the living room before you fall down. You don’t look well to me." She looked up at Derek. "Are you sure the doctor said she's all right?"

  "I'm fine, Mamm, and you can talk to me. You don’t have to talk to Derek about me when I’m here in front of you."

  "The doctor said she might have a slight concussion," Derek said.

  "It's not life-threatening or anything like tha
t. Please, don't make a fuss.”

  “Off to the living room with you," her mother said.

  Remembering it was no use arguing with her mother, she turned and walked out of the room, and Derek, with the baby, followed close behind. They sat together on the couch by the roaring fire.

  Heidi stared into the flames remembering how she used to sit there beside her father years ago. It wasn't the same being in the house with him gone. Besides that, it felt like the foundations of her life had been weakened and that filled her with unrest and uneasiness. She didn't even know how he’d died. Did he have a lingering illness, or was his death sudden, or by accident? She couldn't even ask questions. Then she could no longer hold back the tears.

  "Heidi, what's wrong?"

  "I’m sad about my vadder." She spoke quietly and wiped her eyes, so her mother wouldn’t see her upset.

  "We all miss him," Derek whispered

  She glanced at him wondering if he'd grow impatient with her. When she saw his kind loving eyes, she knew she didn't deserve him. "Why do you put up with me?"

  He smiled. "That's what I'm here for. We help each other. When one’s down we lift the other up. It might be me down next week." She wiped her eyes and then her older daughter saw her and came running over. "Why are you crying, Mamm?"

  "Don't say anything. I don't want Mammi to know I'm crying."

  "Why?"

  “Because I’m sad about your grossdaddi dying and if she sees I’m upset, she’ll get upset.”

  The girl pulled out a small handkerchief from her sleeve. "You always tell me to carry a clean handkerchief and the first time I use it is to give to you."

  “Denke.” Heidi smiled at the cute girl as she wiped away her tears.

  Seeing her sister with her mother, the younger one ran over and the older one pulled her aside and whispered something to her. The younger one then looked at her mother through big round eyes and walked over. "Remember you told us he’s with Gott? He's not sad, he's happy. And he's looking down on us with Jesus and they’re both smiling."