[2016] The Precious Amish Baby

by Faith Crawford

  “I… I,” she at first stuttered. Then she said firmly, “I think that we should shop for the groceries together. You know where all the shops are and where to get the best prices. We can escort Melissa back to the group and then come back to town.”

  Aidan and Melissa exchanged glances. Melissa looked furious, her face was flushed with anger. Aidan looked pensive, glancing at Cara. His face was a mask. She was unable to see what he was thinking.

  They accompanied Melissa to the group and then returned to town. They purchased enough groceries to last them for two days and then headed home.

  At the farm, Cara asked Aidan, “Why aren’t we engaged yet?”

  Aidan looked at her with a startled facial expression.

  “Well, I haven’t had the time or the extra money to purchase a ring, yet. I thought that I would save enough money to build a mill. I would like to work as a farmer and employ people at a mill. I have seen that there is a demand for another mill in this area. The miller always has so much work that he takes a long time to grind my wheat.”

  Cara felt sad. She believed Aidan, but she thought there was more to it than that. She knew that Aidan was a good-looking young man who did not seem to have decided yet whether he wanted to have her as his wife.

  She thought, Perhaps he is still testing me, as we have not known each other for long. But can he not see that I am a very hardworking and loyal person, and would make a very good mother to his children? He obviously feels sure of me, otherwise he wouldn’t have risked interacting with Melissa in my presence. Perhaps he wants to get to know both me and Melissa, to see who would make a better wife. I have to find out everything about Melissa, to know where her weaknesses lie.

  As a woman, Cara instinctively felt that Melissa would, in the long run, never make a faithful wife. Whereas she would. Cara knew that this was her biggest advantage over Melissa. But would Aidan realize it?

  Cara sat at the dining table, her head in her hands, with a thoughtful facial expression.

  “A penny for your thoughts?” asked Aidan.

  “Oh, I was just thinking about what I should write to my friend Alva in Boston about our adventures here as gold miners.” Cara then went to get pen and paper and wrote for an hour.

  Chapter Seven

  Two months later, the group was busy mining, when a young man approached them. He was tall with brown curly hair and green eyes, muscular and broad-shouldered.

  “Hello,” he said. “My name is Sean. I would like to join your group.”

  “Welcome Sean,” said Aidan, shaking his hand. Sean shook Aidan’s hand in a firm masculine grip. “Mining is hard work. I hope you are willing to put in a fourteen-hour day,” Aidan said.

  “I understand that it takes many hours of hard work nowadays to find a small amount of gold,” replied Sean.

  Aidan showed Sean the ropes.

  “We use a sluice box, this long contraption here. The gravel is shoveled into the sluice box and we pour water over it. The gold and pebbles settle in riffles.”

  Cara noticed that the women in the group were all surreptitiously glancing at Sean. She had no interest in him, as her heart was with Aidan. Sean smiled at one of the women who smiled back.

  Later that day, Sean said, “I was very lucky at the beginning of the gold rush. I found a large nugget near Sutter’s Mill.”

  Cara noticed Melissa’s ears perk up. She gazed with a lot of concentration at Sean. She even went up to him and asked him about his find.

  “Where did you find the nugget?” she inquired.

  “On the banks of the American River, about a ten-minute walk downstream of Sutter’s Mill. I was panning for gold there,” Sean answered.

  “Would you show it to me?” Melissa asked.

  “Why certainly,” said Sean. “I put it in a vault at the bank. Maybe next week we can go to town and I will show it to you.”

  Melissa’s eyes sparkled with anticipation while Aidan glanced at her with a worried facial expression.

  Cara’s spirits rose and she cheerfully dug into the gravel, shoveling it onto the sluice box.

  The following week, Melissa and Sean went to the bank to look at the large gold nugget. When they came back, they were holding hands and her eyes were full of excitement. One look at them could tell everyone that Melissa only had eyes for Sean. Cara noticed that Aidan looked crestfallen. “That is a much larger nugget than the one that Aidan found two months ago. It certainly has a wonderful luster,” Melissa said with enthusiasm.

  One of the other miners, Harry, made a comment to Aidan.

  “It looks like those two have found each other, doesn’t it. I think that Melissa is a very ambitious young lady and knows a good prospect when she sees it. I’ve known her for a while now, so I know her personality. As a matter of fact, I knew her in the days before she joined this group when she worked as a can-can dancer and waitress at Jim’s Saloon,” he said, winking at Aidan.

  Aidan’s eyes grew large with the realization that he had nearly been taken for a fool. It was as if a veil had been lifted and he now understood that Melissa had only shown an interest in him because she had seen him find the large nugget of gold two months ago.

  Hadn’t she shown an interest in him that very day? She now had only shown an interest in Sean because he had boasted about a gold nugget that he had found, he thought.

  That evening, Aidan took Cara in his arms in the farmhouse.

  “Cara I am so sorry that I kept you waiting with regard to our engagement. I have to admit that I first wanted to get to know you better to see if you would make a good wife and mother. I now think that I should have simply trusted in your abilities. I know that you loved me before the gold rush before I found the large nugget of gold. I know that you truly love me for who I am. I am afraid of losing you, Cara,” he said with his head bowed.

  Aidan then went down on one knee and said to Cara.

  “Cara, darling, love of my life, will you marry me?”

  Cara stood there with tears of joy in her eyes. The moment that she had yearned for with all of her soul all her life had finally come.

  “Aidan, yes, I will marry you!” she said.

  She felt relieved, all tension flowing away from her. Now she knew that no woman could come between her and Aidan. She flung her arms around Aidan and kissed him passionately.

  Aidan gave her a gold ring with a small diamond in it.

  “I had this ring made about a month ago after you had asked me why we weren’t yet engaged.” Aidan had purchased the ring back then, although he had still been undecided between the two women at the time.

  Cara looked at the ring with wonder. The small diamond sparkled, reflecting the candle’s flame. The gold was lustrous and very yellow. It could only have been 24 karat gold.

  “We should have the wedding six months from now. You will make such a beautiful bride, Cara,” Aidan said.

  Cara threw her arms around Aidan again and kissed him for a long time.

  “Oh Aidan, this is something I have been dreaming of all my life! I shall forever cherish this moment.”

  They hugged and embraced in the evening sun shining in from the farmhouse window. The wind rustled in the trees and Cara thought back to her girlhood in Ireland and how she had had no idea that she would one day be sitting in a beautiful adobe farmhouse in California, betrothed to a young man who had also come half-way around the world from the emerald isle.

  Aidan interrupted her thoughts.

  “We have not been finding much gold. I think that shoveling gravel is no longer as profitable as farming. You and I should go back to tilling the fields and baking bread. We should sell produce to the miners in town. And I am wealthy enough now to be able to purchase or build a mill.”

  “I agree with you fully,” said Cara.

  Chapter Eight

  The next six months were spent hard at work. Aidan and Cara wanted to establish a family as soon as they got married and they needed to build a nest that would be ready to
receive young ones. They purchased a baby bed and toys. They also bought pots and pans for Cara, so that she would be able to cook for the child. Cara sent as much money home as possible and supplemented her income with sewing so that she and Aidan could also afford to have a child or two. Her family in Ireland was doing well in spite of the famine, thanks to the money and crates with food sent to them every two weeks from California and once a month from Uncle Liam in Boston.

  The day of the wedding, a Saturday, dawned with a bright sun in the sky. Cara and Aidan woke up with a feeling of great anticipation. They had invited Alva, Uncle Liam and James to the wedding. Their families in Ireland could not be expected to make the long trip to America, but had been promised a daguerreotype of the bride and groom in their wedding outfits.

  The group of miners had also been invited, the pastor, the miller, some friends of Aidan from town and from neighboring farms and of course Charlie, their neighbor. Alva and Uncle Liam had to take two months off from work. They had come to California via a Northerly route, via the Great Lakes. Aidan had paid for their passage.

  Cara had worked hard to prepare the feast. There was roast beef with gravy and mushrooms and potatoes aplenty and red wine. Cara had baked a wedding cake with lemon icing and had purchased the figure of the groom and bride from a bakery in town. The wedding was to be held at the church in Coloma and then the guests were to be fed at the farmhouse, out in the orchard. Aidan had placed tables in the orchard for the guests and had set up a large sunshade made of canvas over the tables.

  Aidan and Cara were dressed and ready at 8 AM. They rode into town and went to the church. The pastor welcomed them and told them where they were to stand in church.

  The guests started to trickle in. Everybody was in their Sunday best. The miners had taken a day off from mining, as they usually mined on the weekends as well. The guests shuffled around, finding seats, and then waited expectantly for the bride to appear. The music struck up in the church, and the choir sang, “Here comes the bride, all dressed in white…”

  Cara stepped daintily down the aisle, dressed in a white lace wedding dress with a white lace veil, Uncle Liam leading her by the elbow. She had made this dress herself over the course of six months. The dress hugged her hips and showed off her curvaceous figure to perfection. Aidan looked at her coming down the aisle with great emotion, his eyes a deep blue. How beautiful she looked, his soon to be wife…

  Cara took her place next to Aidan. Her tears of joy flowed freely, and she dabbed her eyes a few times. They looked at each other happily.

  At one point while the pastor was still speaking, the wooden church door creaked open and a woman stepped into the church. All heads turned to view the newcomer.

  Cara said in horror, “It’s Melissa!”

  Melissa came forward and before anyone could stop her she said in a loud, brassy tone:

  “I know that Cara worked in a brothel in Boston, Aidan, you should know that. You know very little of her life in Boston. She only claims to have been a maid there.” Cara stared at Melissa in horror, frozen to the spot.

  Alva stood up and spoke in a boisterous, ringing voice.

  “Excuse me, but I have known Cara since I met her on the boat crossing the Atlantic from Ireland. I worked with Cara as a maid in Mrs. Martin’s house in Boston. Write Mrs. Martin a letter, Aidan, and she will reply to you that Cara was her maid. Heck, write to Cara’s pastor in Boston, or to Mrs. Martin’s pastor and they will agree that Cara worked as a maid. And here is Cara’s friend James, he too can vouch for her character”

  James spoke convincingly too.

  “Aidan, I have known Cara since I met her on the ship from Ireland. She is a nice country girl, with a heart of gold. She would never lie to you. She worked as a maid for Mrs. Martin. I got her the job as a maid, myself.”

  Aidan finally spoke up.

  “I believe the woman whom I have chosen to accompany me on my life’s journey. I have judged her character to be that of a gentle, honest soul. I do not believe any of Melissa’s lies.”

  Melissa’s face reddened with fury. Some of the male miners took her by each elbow and hurriedly escorted her out of the church. She looked back, shaking her fist.

  “Well I hope that the two of you have only bad luck!” she spat, angrily.

  “Hah, I was right to think that Melissa has a very bad character and is an inveterate liar,” Aidan muttered.

  It took a few moments for everyone to get back to the spirit of the wedding. Cara still looked flustered, but she was very relieved that Aidan did not believe Melissa, and that Melissa had been chased away.

  After a while, giving the flock a chance to settle, the pastor continued.

  “Do you, Aidan O’Connor, take this woman, Cara Sullivan, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

  “I do,” Aidan said with masculine firmness, gazing lovingly at Cara.

  “Do you, Cara Sullivan, take this man, Aidan O’Connor, to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

  “I do,” said Cara joyfully, her huge blue eyes brimming again with tears of emotion, as she gazed at Aidan.

  Her life flashed before her eyes at that moment, as she thought of her family in County Cork and of how she had first seen Aidan through the window of the inn. She thought of how he had hugged her and swept her off her feet.

  Cara heard the pastor say, “You may now kiss the bride.”

  Aidan leaned towards her and kissed her lovingly. They held the kiss for a few seconds while everyone clapped joyfully.

  The wedding guests filed out of the church. Outside they milled around and shook Aidan’s and Cara’s hands, congratulating them. Everyone then mounted their horses and rode out to Aidan’s farmhouse.

  There Uncle Liam and Alva set to work, heating the wedding feast. Cara and Aidan remained outside dressed in their wedding finery, talking to the guests. The roast beef was brought outside in tureens, steaming. Red wine was poured into crystal glasses. After the lunch, the sated guests had just enough room for the lemon wedding cake.

  It was brought outside from the pantry, where it had been kept cool with blocks of ice.

  “Melissa will certainly be the talk of the town. Her behavior is abominable,” said one of the miners, a man named John.

  “Yes, in fact, Melissa worked as a can-can dancer at a saloon. She obviously is jealous of Cara. I think she tried to throw herself at Aidan and was rebuffed. Apparently, Sean is no longer interested either.”

  “Well, Melissa is a beauty,” said John, “but obviously has not developed a good moral character. Perhaps her good looks have made her vain and immoral.”

  The afternoon wore on with superficial conversations as the sun sank in the sky. The air was full of the perfume of oranges as doves cooed in the eaves of the farmhouse. The guests threw a few crumbs to the cheeky sparrows that marched about on two little feet in the orchard, cocking their heads and gazing questioningly at the guests.

  Soon the dusk came on and the guests decided that it was time to leave. Cara and Aidan bade them goodbye in turn. The guests once again congratulated Cara and Aidan and bade them a happy wedded life.

  “Are you going on a honeymoon?” asked John.

  “Yes,” said Cara. “We will be staying at a resort in Southern California for our honeymoon in about a week. Once Liam, Alva and James have all returned to Boston.”

  After the guests had left, Cara, Alva, Liam and James cleared away the remains of the meal and washed up.

  They then sat around the dining table in the living room and discussed the day’s events.

  “I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Melissa,” said Cara. “I thank you so much Alva and James for standing up for me and saving my reputation and my wedding.”

  Aidan interjected.

  “Rest assured that I wouldn’t have believed Melissa anyway.”

  They talked for about ten minutes about Melissa, until Uncle Liam spoke up.

  “I have some good news. Alva and I are also to be marri
ed. The wedding will be next year.”

  “Oh Uncle Liam, Alva,” said Cara delightedly, kissing both of them on the cheek. “That is the most wonderful news!”

  After an hour spent in friendly chat in the cozy dining room, everyone went to bed. Cara went to her own bed, as she and Aidan wanted to wait till the honeymoon to consummate their marriage.

  ***

  A week later, Cara and Aidan bade their guests farewell, who returned to Boston by the same Northerly route they had taken on their trek to California.

  Cara could hardly believe that the time had finally arrived for her honeymoon with Aidan. She and Aidan had been happily anticipating it for six months. They packed their bags and rode their horses for a day to the inn where they had rented lodgings. The inn was a resort in the Spanish hacienda style, with palm trees next to a beautiful pool in the central courtyard. Vines with clematis climbed up a trellis. Cara and Aidan purchased swimsuits from the inn’s little shop. They dove into the water, as the day was hot. Aidan admired Cara’s voluptuous figure in a swimsuit.

  After the swim, they retired to their room. It was there that they finally consummated a passion that had been ignited the day that they had met at the inn in Coloma. Cara was inexperienced, of course, and Aidan was not very experienced himself. But they learned more as the days wore on, and spent a blissful, euphoric week at the resort.

  Nine months later Cara was already with child. Her belly grew and grew to an enormous size, as she ate and ate, especially bread with butter and honey. Aidan would rub her belly and feel their unborn child’s kicks and movements.

  The day that Cara gave birth at the nearby hospital, the doctors were surprised when there was not just one baby, but two. Cara gave birth to identical twins. She and Aidan were utterly astounded by the birth. Delighted they named the twin girls Avril and Ana.

  ***

  Ten years later, Cara and Aidan could be seen working hard on their farm, the two girls growing up on the farm and going to a nearby school. The girls helped out on the farm daily.