[2016] The Precious Amish Baby

by Faith Crawford

  Alexis had something to do with this. She was sure of it.

  She heard the outer door open and slap shut. It didn’t sound like a heavy door. She spun around and hopped back to the mattress as quickly as she could, dropping onto it and closing her eyes just in time. The door was thrown open and someone came in. She guessed the person stood there staring at her for a moment before closing the door again.

  Martha peeked through her eyelashes. The person was not still in the room with her. She didn’t move this time, just continued to lay there, worried and anxious about what was going to be done to her, and what would become of her.

  ***

  Martha fell into an exhausted, anxious sleep. Her dreams were filled with tension, anger and fear as she ran from an unseen monster through fog and woods, splashing through water. She felt pain all over her body.

  She woke up to hear the sound of the front door to the shack opening and closing. Then she heard the distinct sound of Alexis talking to a man.

  “Hey, baby,” she said in a sultry voice. “Look what I’ve got.”

  “That’s not what I sent you for. Where’s the gold watch and the cufflinks?”

  “I…I didn’t get those yet. I liked this necklace and matching bracelet more. They belonged to Michael’s mother. I know they are worth a lot of money but I want to keep them.”

  “We’re not keeping any of his junk. It’s all being sold and you know it. We want the money, not the merchandise. You know how this works, Lexie.”

  “But I want to keep these two pieces, Sammy! I like them! And I’m the one doing all the hard work here.”

  “Oh, you are, are you?”

  Martha heard a chair squeak across the floor and snapped her eyes shut as the door to the small room was thrown open. “Looks like I’m doing way more hard work than you babysitting.”

  Martha heard Alexis gasp and the door slammed. She peeked out but the two had not come in the room.

  “What have you done? Why did you bring her here? Why did you tie her up like that? Oh, Sammy, I didn’t want her to get hurt or Michael to get hurt.”

  “You knew what might happen if you came back here, Lexie!”

  “I didn’t know that Michael was planning on getting remarried! That was a surprise to me! Last I heard he was still pining for me! I can’t help it that she was here.”

  “She was interfering in the plan.”

  “I didn’t think so. She never did anything to me. She didn’t confront me or stop me from taking anything from the house. I don’t even think she knew what I was doing. She never looked like she knew. I wish you hadn’t brought her here. And she has blood in her hair! Did you hit her?”

  “I had to, she was struggling. It was her own fault.”

  “Oh, Sammy.” Alexis sounded like she was going to cry. Martha had to give her a little credit for standing up to Sammy, but she had gotten herself into the situation with him and now Martha was in danger. He didn’t sound like a pleasant man to be around. Martha wondered how a woman with Alexis’ obvious looks and intelligence could get involved with such a man.

  “I don’t want this to carry on any longer.” Sammy lowered his voice to a growl. “We are going to make our move tomorrow afternoon when the servants are on their town trip.”

  “It’s too soon!”

  “We have to now,” Sammy replied. “I am not babysitting for long. I don’t want her here either, but it’s her fault for being in the wrong place. You can have her jewelry, too.”

  “But now that you’ve taken her, you…you can’t just…let her go.” Alexis was frightened. Martha could hear the terror in her voice. “What…what are you going to do with her?”

  Martha’s heart pounded in her chest when she heard a gun cocking. Chills ran up her entire body. “The only thing that can be done. I’m not gonna get caught, Lexie. I’m not going back to that prison. I did my time in there. Now I’m gonna have my revenge.”

  Martha squeezed her eyes together to keep the tears from coming out. If they came in and saw her crying, they would know she’d overheard and they might kill her right away.

  “But…why are you…keeping her alive now then?”

  “Dunno.” Sammy replied. “Maybe to use as a bargaining chip. Maybe ol’ Michael will pay to have her back.”

  “Oh, Sammy, I…I don’t want Michael hurt. What about Emma?”

  “You should have thought about him and the kid before we came here. You were all fired up and willing when we was together in town a couple months ago. Now you gettin’ cold feet. Well, it ain’t gonna change my mind, Lexie. I’m going through with it. I’m gonna get that money he’s got in that vault and I’m gonna get those two paintings he’s got and I’m gonna live high on the hog from now on. I ain’t goin’ back to prison!”

  “Can’t we just take the stuff and leave them here?”

  “That girl in there is gonna talk. You know she is.”

  “But we can’t just kill her, Sammy! We can’t!”

  “When you come up with a way to wipe her memory, you let me know. Otherwise, I’m gonna use her for what I can and then do what I want with her. You got me?”

  “I don’t want you to kill anyone, Sammy! That will get you put back in prison, for sure!”

  Martha jumped when she heard the sound of a loud smack. Alexis cried out and the tears streamed from Martha’s eyes.

  “Don’t give me orders, woman. I give the orders here. You go back to that house and you get me them cuff links and that watch.”

  “I can’t take the watch when he’s wearing it, Sammy.” Alexis was crying.

  “Find a way. Get out. Go on, you heard me.”

  Martha could hear shuffling as Sammy pushed Alexis out the door. The woman was sobbing and begging him to let her wash her face first and brush her hair. He told her to do that stuff at the ranch where all her precious luxuries were. Seconds later, Martha heard the sound of her horse’s hooves galloping past the window and away from the little shack.

  She held her breath when the door to the room opened, hoping that her face was not reflecting the anguish and fear she felt. When it closed without the man coming into the room, she pressed her face into the mattress and cried.

  ***

  “She must be somewhere.” Michael was beginning to feel frightened for his fiancé. He couldn’t imagine where she had gone. He, Morgan and the rest of the staff had searched the grounds without finding a trace of her. She wasn’t in the barn and the horse she’d chosen for herself was still in his stall.

  Tammy stayed with Emma while they searched. She’d tried to make the whole thing a game, telling the child that Martha was playing hide and seek and that’s why her daddy and the staff were searching for her. Emma wanted to play, too, so, much to Michael’s satisfaction, she and Tammy went through the house, room by room, calling out for Martha.

  Morgan and Michael walked through the garden, peering out through the arches to the woods that stretched beyond it into the distance.

  “Where could she be, Morgan?” Michael asked in a choking voice. His throat was tight and his heart was hammering in his chest.

  Morgan shook her head. “I don’t understand it, Mr. Martin. All of her clothes and personal belongings are in her room. She didn’t take her horse and there’s no way she would just leave on foot and leave all of us behind. She loves you and she loves Emma. She wouldn’t just leave.”

  “What if Alexis has driven her out? That woman…she’s ruining my life!”

  “We can’t think about it like that, Mr. Martin.” Morgan said. “We must concentrate on what we know and what we know shows us that she didn’t leave…on her own.”

  Michael stopped walking and looked down at Morgan. “Do you…think she…who would have taken her? Do you think she’s been kidnapped? Why would anyone want to take her away? What would be the purpose in that?”

  Morgan shook her head. “There are many dangerous characters around, sir. Maybe someone wants some of your money? They will perhaps co
ntact you about how to get money in exchange for her.”

  “Who would do that? Why would they take her?”

  Morgan shook her head again. “I don’t know, sir. I really don’t know. It was a thought. I admit, not a very nice one. But it’s all I can think of because she’s…she’s just gone and no one can just vanish. Oh sir, you don’t suppose an animal…”

  It was Michael’s turn to shake his head. “No, Morgan. There aren’t any animals big enough to drag a woman away like that. There would be signs. We would know. There’s nothing that will do that in these woods. No bears. No big cats. Nothing.”

  “I don’t know, sir. I just don’t know.”

  Chapter Eight

  Alexis slid off her horse. She hid behind a tree and looked around it cautiously. She peered around the back area of the house. There didn’t seem to be anyone around. She was so frightened. She knew that if anyone saw her, they were going to know something was up. She didn’t know how long Sammy had kept Martha in the shack but she felt certain the woman would be missed by now. They had to be looking for her.

  She wondered if any of them realized that she too had been gone for a time. Slowly, she turned and climbed back up on the horse. She pulled on the reins, leading the horse slowly down the pathway, through the grass and up to the back of the house to one of the doors. She wanted to be as quiet as possible. She needed to go inside and change and wash her face.

  The image of Martha tied up and lying on the mattress at the shack made her heart hurt. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt. She just wanted some of the money, jewelry and expensive items she’d left behind when she ran off with Sammy all those months ago. It had been almost a year now and she wanted the luxuries she had once had when she was with Michael.

  Before she’d hatched the plan with Sammy, she’d actually been considering leaving him and coming back to Michael. Not for her daughter and certainly not because she loved Michael. She hadn’t loved him when she married him, nothing had changed since then.

  She just wanted to live comfortably. It had been only stress and struggling since she’d left with Sammy.

  She tied the horse to the post and slipped in through a back door. She hid behind a pillar that separated the hallway from the foyer, seeing that Tammy and Emma were walking through the foyer to reach the double doors that led to the study.

  “Do you think she might be hiding in here, Emma?” Tammy was asking.

  “Let’s look!” the little girl responded, bouncing on her small feet. She reached up but was unable to grasp the door knob with her small hands. Tammy turned the knob gently and opened the door. Emma poked her head in, leaving her tiny body on the other side. She was clutching one of her dolls under arm and it was hanging at an awkward angle. “Marta!” Emma said. “Marta Momma!”

  There was no response.

  “Let’s go in and search,” Tammy suggested. Emma pushed the door open more and disappeared into the room.

  When they were both in the room, Alexis moved on silent feet through the foyer to the stairs. She went up two at a time, holding her skirt up as high as she could so that it wouldn’t brush the floor and make any noise. Once she was safely inside her room, she stripped the dress she had been wearing off and dropped it on the floor. She was left in her pantaloons and a white undershirt.

  She poured some of the water from a pitcher into the basin on the counter and splashed the water up on her face. She used a soft, dry towel from the pile that sat next to the basin to dry it. She looked up in the mirror, feeling desperate to reapply some of her make-up.

  She went back to the bed and sat down to remove her stockings.

  Her door opened and she grabbed the dress to hold it up in front of her. When she saw it was Michael, she dropped it again and made herself smile at him.

  “Hello, there, honey. What are you doing in here?” She stood up and moved to stand in front of him. “Looking for little me? What can I do for you?” She tried to give him a sexy smile, but she remembered what she looked like and knew she had to look very awkward.

  He wasn’t fooled. He could tell that she was afraid. He knew that she couldn’t be afraid of him. He’d never done anything to make her afraid of him.

  “Where have you been, Alexis?”

  She turned away from him. “I don’t know what you mean. You saw me take a ride on my horse. I just got back.”

  “I know you went for a ride,” he admitted, coming in and closing the door behind him. “But I didn’t see where you went. And now we can’t find Martha. I saw you coming back, you know. I saw you going toward the back of the house. Why didn’t you take the horse to the stable? What are you hiding?”

  Alexis made sure her face was turned away from Michael. She didn’t want him to see how frightened she really was. She saw a flash of Martha lying on the mattress and her throat tightened as she held back tears. She cleared her throat and sighed, walking to her dressing table. She sat down and began to reapply her makeup.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just wanted to change first before I took the horse back to the stables. I’m not…hiding anything.”

  Michael was behind her in two strides. He stared at her in the mirror and she tried to ignore him. She knew he was furious. She lifted her powder puff and slapped it against her face, sending puffs of powder all around her in a small cloud. She breathed it in and coughed a little.

  Michael could restrain himself no longer. He knew she was hiding something. He had been around her long enough to know. He grabbed the back of her hair, which was done up in a French braid, and pulled her head back. Her eyes widened and she stared at him in the mirror. He lowered his head and growled in her ear.

  “Where is Martha? What have you done with her?”

  “Maybe…maybe she left on her own,” Alexis replied weakly. She felt Michael’s hand tighten around her braid and it pulled on her hair, sending pain signals through her scalp. She squeaked.

  “She’s not left on her own,” he snarled. “You’ve done something with her and I want you to tell me what you’ve done and where she is. I want you to tell me right now.”

  Tears filled Alexis’ eyes. “I…I didn’t do anything…to her…Michael…I swear I didn’t. It was…it was Sammy who took her. She…she’s okay…she’s not dead.”

  Michael felt fear race through his body. He released Alexis and forced her to stand and face him. “Where is she?” he raged, shaking her. “Where is she? You take me to her right now! Right now!”

  “All right.” Alexis sobbed. “All right but…Sammy will…he has a gun…he’ll shoot you both! He’s very dangerous.”

  Michael could barely control his anger. He wrapped one strong hand around her slender arm and dragged her behind him as they went out her bedroom door. She cried out. “I can’t go out there like this! I have no clothes on!”

  Michael looked down at her. “You must be under the impression that I care! You tell me where she is or I will drag you out into the open this way! Where is she??”

  “She’s…Sammy’s got her tied up in the room in the old gamekeepers shack out on the edge of your property. It’s not too far on horseback but I don’t want to walk there looking like this! Please, Michael, don’t make me go outside with no clothes on!”

  Michael shoved her back into her room. “I’m going to get my woman! You get your clothes on and get out of my house! If you ever return, you will be shot for trespassing! Do you understand me? You even try to get the judge or your uncle out here on me and you will regret it! Do you hear me? Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Alexis sobbed, folding up on her knees and covering her face with her hands. “I’m sorry, Michael, I’m…”

  He slammed the door in her face, then turned and saw that Tammy and Emma were watching. Tammy was holding the little girl against her legs and Emma had her face pressed into Tammy’s skirt. Tammy’s eyes were open wide and frightened.

  “Oh, sir!” Tammy was trying not to cry.

 
; “I’m going to get Martha. You two go find Morgan and George and get the rest of the staff. You will all escort Alexis and her things off my property. If she gives you any trouble at all, don’t hesitate to enforce the issue any way you see fit.”

  “Yes, sir.” Tammy swallowed hard, watching as he stomped down the stairs and out the back door.

  ***

  He rode as quickly as he could to the gamekeeper’s shack, slowing down only when he got within viewing distance. He stopped the horse a few yards away and tied it to a strong looking tree branch. He crept as slowly and quietly as he could to the shack. There were only two rooms to the whole place. He came around the building and peered over the sill into the one bedroom. His heart raced when he saw Martha curled up on the mattress, her eyes closed, her face tear-streaked and frightened.

  It made him even angrier. He pulled his gun from its holster at his side and very slowly cocked it back so that it would be ready for use if he needed it.

  The door was around the corner. He peeked around quickly. There was no one on the small front porch. The steps leading up to it were broken and he wasn’t about to go all the way around anyway. He stepped up onto the porch, pressing his back against the side of the house, slowly making his way to the door.

  Once he reached it, he took one step out, turned and kicked the door in. He lifted his gun and pointed it at the man in the room. Sammy had been sitting at the table and he jumped to his feet, knocking the chair backwards as he did so. He reached to his side and grabbed his own gun but not before Michael fired two shots, hitting Sammy both times, once in his upper right chest and the other in the middle of his forehead. Sammy fell backwards, crashing over the chair and falling dead to the floor.