[2016] The Precious Amish Baby

by Faith Crawford

  Eli had told her once that it was the work of the Devil. She wasn’t sure about that, but hadn’t argued with him. Personally, she felt it was a good thing to protect herself and her children from anything that would connect them with what the world was doing. Eventually, it would lead to other problems and temptations that might not be good for them. And it certainly wouldn’t help them draw closer to Gott. Anything that put her salvation and the salvation of her children at stake was not worth it.

  So she didn’t argue with him.

  The Osgood community was thriving, by the look of it. The houses were large, the land was well-kept and the gardens looked like they were flourishing. She was impressed. It gave her pleasure to look out over the fields and watch the horses, cows and other farm animals roaming about. She enjoyed working on the farm. She loved all types of animals.

  Although it was nearing the end of the day, she could see lanterns swinging as men and boys walked around the farms, tending to evening chores. The women and girls would be inside, preparing the dinner feast and taking care of the smaller children. She had Martha on her lap and leaned over to speak softly in her daughter’s ear, pointing across one of the fields.

  “Look, Martha. See the puppies? See the kittens?”

  Martha squealed in delight, clapping her small hands. “Puppy!” She bounced on Mary Ruth’s lap. “Puppy, puppy, puppy!”

  Mary Ruth giggled. The Bishop and Miriam gave Martha wide smiles. “Will you be getting one for your little miss, Mary Ruth?” Miriam asked.

  Mary Ruth nodded. “Ya, as soon as I am settled in. If Samuel will allow it.”

  The Bishop snorted with laughter. “Oh, you won’t have any trouble there, Miss Mary. Samuel has four dogs and several cats. I think one of the cats just had kittens. They also have a rabbit or two and some of those little rodents that kinder like to care for.”

  “Guinea pigs?” Mary Ruth supplied.

  “Ya, I think that is it. They may have mice, too! His kinder are very good at taking care of their pets. They will teach Martha well.”

  “That sounds wunderbaar, Bishop Wittman.”

  “Ya. I do think you will be happy, Mary. I would not have suggested this move if I didn’t think you would be happy,” he said. It was the first time Mary Ruth had ever heard any type of genuine affection in the Bishop’s voice. It filled her with warmth and she smiled, casting her eyes out over the land.

  “Are we close to Samuel’s farmhaus?” she asked.

  “Ya. We are coming up on it now. See out there?” he pointed ahead of them to the left. Mary Ruth leaned a little to look around him and saw a large white house with blue shutters. There appeared to be several people on the front porch. They were waiting for her. It made her feel strange inside. She swallowed and pressed her lips together, nervously.

  Miriam reached back and patted her on the knee. “It’s going to be fine, Mary Ruth. We will stay with you tonight and leave in the morning. You will be happy here. Samuel is a kind, gut man driven by his love for Gott. You will not be unhappy with him.”

  Mary Ruth hoped so. She didn’t know how Miriam could be so sure. But she absorbed the woman’s energy and positivity, using it to keep her confidence up.

  As they were approaching the farmhouse, Mary Ruth looked beyond the house to the horizon where she was dismayed to see what looked like dark clouds filling the sky. The sky was not clear as they had been traveling, but she wasn’t bothered by the clouds she saw then. She had been hoping the whole time that they would go away from the bad weather.

  She wondered about the rain. There had been so much of it. And traveling across the entire state and into another one hadn’t seemed to make a difference. It was disheartening. She didn’t want to be trapped in the rain forever.

  “When you meet Samuel and his kinder,” the Bishop drew her attention away from the storm clouds that were growing and gradually covering the moon. “You must remember that the older boys will not be used to having another frau taking the place of their mudder.”

  “I do not want to take the place of their mudder,” Mary Ruth said. “I do not want them to feel that way.”

  “Nevertheless, they will. I know the boys and they are stubborn. I’m sure they have become used to not having a mudder in the house. Samuel has also learned to run the household without a frau in the midst. Other than his dochders, of course. But they are not older and do not understand as well as the boys.”

  Mary Ruth felt a stab of apprehension. She didn’t want any of the children feeling badly toward her.

  “I’m sure that they will treat you with respect and will not be a bother to you. But you must realize that they will be set in their ways. It is best not to be too much of a disciplinarian until they know you better.”

  “I have not been the mudder of teenagers before.” Mary Ruth said, quietly. “I don’t know that I’m much of a disciplinarian to begin with.”

  “Keep it in mind,” he said simply.

  She nodded. “Ya. Danki, I will.”

  Chapter Three

  She was right about the people on the porch being there to meet her. It wasn’t just Samuel and his children. It was the whole family, including Samuel’s two sisters, three of their daughters and Samuel’s parents. She was shaky from all the attention she expected.

  Samuel’s children were all there. When the buggy pulled to a stop in front of the porch steps, the two smallest, who looked to be about 3 and 5, came running to meet them.

  “Hallo!” they called out, doing a little dance by the buggy. “Hallo, hallo, hallo!”

  Mary Ruth laughed as she stepped down from the buggy, holding her daughter on her hip, looking down at Martha’s face. Her eyes had grown wide and she had a huge smile on her little face. Mary Ruth rubbed the tip of her nose on Martha’s cheek affectionately. “Look, Bobelli, it’s your new friends to play with.”

  Martha almost came out of her hands when she leaned over to be set on the ground. She wanted to dance with the children, too. Mary Ruth looked up to see the rest of the children and the adults coming down the steps. Most of them were smiling. As the Bishop had just mentioned, the older boys looked somewhat apprehensive and cautious. The oldest kept looking at his father and back toward her and her companions.

  Samuel approached her with one hand out. She took it and he closed it in both his hands. His brown eyes were sparkling and his smile was warm and genuine. “Gut evening, Mary Ruth,” he said. His voice was deep and rumbling. She rather liked it. It made him seem very strong and confident.

  “Gut evening, Samuel.”

  “We are glad to have you here. We have been looking forward to your arrival.”

  “Danki. I am glad to be here.”

  “Let me introduce you to everyone.” Samuel turned and held his hand out to each person as he said their name. “Here’s my vadder and mudder, Ira and Joan King. My schweschders, Lillian, Rhea and Anna. They are all married with their own kinder. They have brought each a dochder and Lillian also brought her 5-year-old son, Abram. I suspect you will meet their husbands at some point, but they were unable to come due to the chores that needed to be done before it was too dark.”

  Mary Ruth nodded at each of them, smiling.

  “Here are my kinder. The oldest here is John. He’s 14. Then we have Isaac, who is 12. My dochders, Naomi, Margit and Sarai. They are 9, 7 and 3.”

  Mary Ruth leaned over and gave each of the girls her hand, shaking it once formally before moving on to the next child. Sarai and Abram had been the first children to greet her with their dance and their “Hallo”s.

  “Hallo, all of you.” Mary Ruth said, pleasantly. “I am Mary Ruth. This is my dochder, Martha. We are so glad to be here.”

  Abram came forward and wrapped his small arms around her waist, surprising her. She looked up at the boy’s mother, who was grinning. “He does that all the time. Especially with people he instantly likes. You must have done something right!”

  Mary Ruth laughed. “All I did was stand
here.”

  Abram looked up at her. “I’m so glad to see you, Aunt Mary Ruth! And you’ve brought another schweschder for us to play with too!” He suddenly looked very serious. “You are a very gut woman, aren’t you?”

  Mary Ruth tried not to laugh aloud when he looked so serious. “I truly am blessed,” she said lightly.

  “We are blessed to have you here, Mary Ruth,” Samuel’s sister, Lillian, said. “I apologize for Abram. He has yet to understand the concept of gut or appropriate manners.”

  “It’s not a problem at all,” Mary Ruth laughed. She leaned down and gave the little boy a hug.

  “All right, Abram, don’t crowd her. Let’s go inside. I think it’s going to rain soon.”

  Mary Ruth picked up Martha and looked at the clouds above them.

  “It was clear all day,” Lillian said as she took Abram’s hand. “You must have brought the rain with you, dear.” She smiled when she said it but Mary Ruth wasn’t pleased. She was tired of the stormy weather. She wanted to see the sunshine again.

  ***

  The family had truly prepared a dinner feast for her. After a time, Samuel’s sisters’ husbands arrived and joined them. The children were placed in another room, where a separate long table had been put specifically for them. Mary Ruth was seated next to Samuel and served her plate along with the men, who were served first. The women sat down to eat when the men and children were served.

  “In honor of our new arrival,” Samuel said, lifting his hand in the air. “I will say a bede of welcoming. If you will all bow your heads and join hands.”

  The family did as he suggested.

  “Gott, we say Danki for this new schweschder who has come to join our familye. Danki for the blessings you give to us. Danki for the promise of salvation we have received. And also for this delicious food we are about to eat. We are eternally grateful. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

  The family said “Amen” in unison and several began to eat almost immediately as if they hadn’t had enough to eat in days.

  Anna Graber, Samuel’s youngest sister, sat down next to Mary Ruth. While conversations were started all around, Anna turned to Mary Ruth and said quietly, “So how are you doing? We don’t know a lot about your situation, but I do know that you’ve recently lost your husband. Are you feeling well?”

  Mary Ruth wasn’t quite sure what she meant. Did she know about her pregnancy? Or was she talking about her emotional well-being?

  “I am doing well,” she nodded in response. “I keep my Biebel near my bed and consult it when I become down in spirits.”

  Anna nodded. “That’s wunderbaar, Mary Ruth. Should you ever need to talk to someone, I am here to listen.”

  “Danki.”

  “Velcuum. Also, have some brot. I made it especially for you.” Anna smiled, taking a big piece of bread from the basket in the middle of the table and placing it on Mary Ruth’s plate. “You will love it, I’m sure.”

  “Danki!” Mary Ruth smiled.

  “Ya. I run a bakery near the town. The people there love it and I get many compliments. I’m anxious to see what you think.”

  To satisfy her almost-sister-in-law, Mary Ruth tore off a corner piece and put it in her mouth. It was as if the bread melted in her mouth. She was delighted with it. “Mmmm. Ya, Anna! Seiss! Delicious!”

  Anna’s smile lit up her face. Her light brown eyes sparkled and Mary Ruth noticed she had two distinguishable, cute dimples on her cheeks. “Danki!” she exclaimed. “You will have to make some for me more often.”

  Anna nodded. “I will! I am glad you like it! We do want you to be comfortable here! So you understand, we typically say a silent prayer before eating. I am not sure if that’s how it was in your community.”

  Mary Ruth nodded. “Ya.”

  “All right. And we will be having church services at our haus this Sunday. There are many gatherings throughout the week where you will be able to meet more of the people in the community.”

  “Danki. I am grateful. Do you live in a farmhaus nearby?” Mary Ruth picked up her fork and pulled a bit of meat from the chunk of roast on her plate. Anna nodded. She didn’t answer until she put a forkful of corn in her mouth, chewed it and swallowed.

  “Ya. We, that is Mark and I, have the haus just down the road to the East. Lillian and Andrew are to the West. On the other side of them and just behind is where Maemm and Datt are and Rhea lives in the haus behind them with Charlie. She will be having another Bobelli in the Spring. It will be her fourth Bobelli!”

  “Oh?” Mary Ruth looked at Samuel’s middle sister. She had no clue if the Bishop had told Samuel or anyone else in the family that she would also be having a baby. She had to assume he didn’t or Anna would have mentioned that it would be about the same time as she would give birth.

  “Ya. She and Charlie are very excited!”

  “I imagine so!” Mary Ruth put more food in her mouth and listened as Anna went on.

  “I am sure you will soon be comfortable here. Do you have a profession or something that you do to contribute?”

  “Ya. I am very good at quilting. I have made some beautiful quilts in a short time. I enjoy it and I’m gut, so I am very fast.”

  “That’s wunderbaar! I will be sure to put your name in the quilting circle so that you can join the rest of us ladies who participate.”

  “Danki.”

  Anna nodded. “We are very close in our community. It is not just our family here but we are all very close to our brudders and schweschders here in Osgood. Samuel and the rest of us, we have three more brudders but they chose to leave the community and live in the towns. All three of them went on their Rumspringa and did not return.”

  “Oh, I am sorry to hear that.”

  Anna shrugged. “They have been in touch and are doing fine. It is a shame they are not interested in continuing with Gott’s true way of living and purpose for our lives. But we all must make our own path in this world. We continue to pray for them.”

  “I do hope they find their way home someday.”

  Anna’s eyes softened and her smile made her face relaxed and pretty. “Oh Danki, Mary Ruth. You are a sweetheart.”

  Mary Ruth blushed and looked back down at her food.

  “Are you monopolizing the guest of honor, Anna?” Samuel leaned over and grinned at the two of them.

  Anna chortled softly. “I was under the impression you were chatting with the Bishop, my brudder.”

  Samuel raised his eyebrows. “You have caught me. That is just what I was doing.”

  The three of them laughed and Bishop Wittman smiled at them.

  “I believe you will find Mary Ruth to be a most compatible member of the community. She is faithful and kind. She cares much for her dochder and will care for your kinder as if they were her own, I am sure.”

  “Oh ya!” Mary Ruth nodded. “I get along well with the young ones. I had six younger brudders and schweschders of my own to care for and never had a problem.”

  The Bishop nodded. “She is patient and quiet. You will find her to be a good frau, Samuel.”

  “Ya, I am sure.” Samuel gave Mary Ruth a smile. “But she is not a part of my property, Bishop Wittman. We are a family here. We are just mer familye all through this community. We get along well and I’m sure she will be happy here.”

  He smiled at Mary Ruth. She could hear her Martha laughing in the other room and turned to smile through the open doorways, catching sight of her little daughter running around the table as Samuel’s daughter, Sarai, the three-year-old, chased her.

  “I think our dochders are going to be friends forever.” Samuel leaned toward her again, one side of his lips lifted in an easygoing smile. She turned her eyes to him and felt a warm, pleasant energy run through her when she looked into his eyes.

  “I do, too,” she said, softly.

  Chapter Four

  Every family in the community was attending the service. In the two weeks since her arrival, Mary Ruth had grown close to A
nna, Samuel’s youngest sister. She was the most open of the women, talking to Mary Ruth as if she’d known her all her life. Mary Ruth was grateful for this, as she did not have much of her own family left. She had watched her two living sisters leave the faith and one sister had died when they were very young. Her two brothers, who had remained in the faith, she had left behind when she had married Eli and gone to live with him in his community.

  It was nice to feel close to someone that way again. Anna was like a protective bird, wrapping her wings around Mary Ruth and taking away her fears.

  Samuel did a good job of that, as well. The night after her arrival, Mary Ruth sat down with Samuel on the front porch, sipping hot tea. She’d decided she needed to tell him about her pregnancy.

  “Samuel, may I be open with you?” she’d asked in a quiet voice.

  “I sincerely hope that you always are open and honest with me, Mary Ruth. I don’t want you to be unhappy here with me.”

  “I must tell you, ime familye weg. I will have a Bobelli in the Spring. About the same time as Rhea will have her next child.”

  He nodded, raising his eyebrows. “Seiss liebchen, do you think that this is something Ebenezer would not have told me? He would not hide such a thing from me, considering the circumstances of your coming here.” He smiled at her. “You have nothing to worry about, Mary Ruth. This is your family now and we welcome all of Gott’s children, no matter how small. It is yet another miracle from Heaven to honor your late husband.”

  Relief had swept over Mary Ruth. Samuel had taken one of her hands and cupped it in between his. “We will take care of you, Mary. I believe all will be well, despite the tragedy that brought you here to us. In time, we will grow close and you will not feel uncomfortable around any of us.”

  “I look forward to that, Samuel. I look forward to my heart healing and not aching so much. I know it’s been months but I still feel like it all happened yesterday.”