[2016] The Precious Amish Baby

by Faith Crawford

  If she had known her mother, Fiona imagined she would have been like Mrs. Irwin. Warm and kind and chatty. She thought of the children asleep in their bedrooms and felt a fresh wave of sympathy. Mr. Burk did not seem like the kind of father who warmed up to his children. How they must miss their mother!

  She had not been present at dinner, as Mrs. Irwin had told her to take the day to settle herself in. Fiona had taken a walk around the ranch and was amazed by its size. There were hundreds and hundreds of cattle grazing in the fields, and men on horseback trotting around the pastures.

  Chapter Four

  Derek rode on his stallion to the corral where the calves were getting branded. He stood at the edge and watched as each calf was lassoed by the front feet and brought down. Another ranch hand jumped on its head to keep it down and then the third branded it. The ground was covered by a light layer of snow but the air was not cold.

  They were in luck, Derek thought. The Chinook wind was blowing, rendering the air warm, almost as though it were spring. Eliza had loved the warm salt laden air that blew from the ocean. The thought came suddenly, as did most thoughts of Eliza. They had learned to sneak their way into his consciousness when he was not on guard.

  The thawing of the snow meant that he could put in a few hunting hours later in the day, Derek thought, pushing away thoughts of Eliza. Derek turned round his horse and headed to the Western pastures. He spotted the herd and a rush of pride swelled in his chest. The ranch boasted three thousand heads of cattle at the minimum, and each season new calves were added to the herd.

  After giving a cursory glance and seeing that all was well, he circled the pasture fence. As he was about to turn away he saw a lone heifer, swinging her head and stamping her feet. Derek galloped in her direction, and when he got close he dismounted his stallion.

  To his dismay, he saw that the animal was filled with porcupine quills. Derek reached into his pocket and took out a pair of pliers. Then he stealthily approached the heifer and brought her down to the ground. Though young, the heifer was strong, but Derek had caught her by surprise and she willingly surrendered to her head being held down.

  Derek deftly extracted the quills from her nostrils and mouth, the heifer groaning and trying to get her head free. Finally, they were all out, and when Derek got off the animal hobbled to the rest of the herd. He gave a thumbs up to one of the ranch hands and mounted his horse.

  He spent the rest of the morning seeing that the work scheduled for that day was under way. The fence on the Eastern pasture was being repaired and he saw that the two maintenance men were hard at work. He galloped to the part they had already done. Derek nodded. The fence would hold. There was nothing that angered him more than a badly built fence.

  It meant extra work, rounding up cows and redoing the fences in the thick of winter, an unpleasant and time-consuming job. Derek enjoyed his morning routine when he went around the ranch and decided which work was slow. Later on, he went to help. He headed for the sprawling barn where the calves were kept.

  Two men were busy feeding the calves milk from bottles. It was rather cold inside the wooden structure, and Derek approached one calf and stuck his fingers in its mouth to feel its temperature.

  “Not too bad,” Derek said to himself. In winter, the worry always was that internal organs of the calves would freeze. They had lost a lot of calves this way in the past and Derek liked to check the calves himself during the cold months.

  Derek pulled up the sleeves of his coat and jacket and proceeded to feed the calves. It was peaceful in the barn and his mind strayed to the girl he had hired as a housekeeper. In normal circumstances he would not have hired her. But he badly needed someone to mind the girls and see to the running of the house.

  He had been taken aback when she first appeared at the door. He had been glued to her big, hazel eyes, deep set and widely spaced from each other. While she was not beautiful in the classic sense, but she had an arresting face and perfect features. Her neck was long and slim, and though her lower lip had quavered her shoulders had been thrown back and she had matched his stare.

  The day passed by in the blink of an eye as Derek made up for the days when he had been forced to stay home and mind the girls. He missed his midday meal, and made it back home just as dusk was setting in. He left his muddy shoes in the mud room and climbed the stairs two at a time. The master bedroom had an adjoining bath and running water. He cleaned himself up and then went to his office on the ground floor. Moments later, Derek’s concentration was wholly immersed in his record books as he put in new entries.

  A gentle knock on the door sounded and he looked up in irritation.

  “Yes?” he barked.

  The door creaked open and the new girl poked her head in. Her face was crimson as if she had come running. His eyes lowered further down and ran over her womanly curves, which showed she was indeed twenty-one as she had told him.

  “Mrs. Irwin says dinner is ready,” she said, a quiver in her voice betraying her nervousness.

  “Dinner is always at seven,” Derek responded. “I don’t need you to remind me.”

  If he hadn’t seen it, Derek would not have believed that her skin could turn more pink than it already was, but it did. Their eyes met, and to his horror he saw that hers had filled with tears. Before he could say anything, she turned and fled.

  “Oh, Eliza,” Derek moaned, letting his head drop into his hands.

  He missed her every single day and moment. The only thing that got him through the day was work. Guilt gnawed at his insides. He knew that wherever Eliza was, she was disappointed in him. She had loved her daughters and they too had adored her.

  From the beginning, Derek had believed that raising the children was the lady of the house’s domain. But he hadn’t figured on losing her in childbirth and then being left with three girls to raise alone, who were more or less strangers to him. They too viewed him as a stranger, and with the passing of their mother he had no idea how to comfort them.

  He had thrown himself into his work and blotted out the image of the little girl who had slipped from her mother’s body with no heartbeat. Derek had been in a daze in the months following Eliza’s death. Mrs. Irwin prompted him when something needed to be done and he had rarely seen the girls. Since Eliza’s death they had taken to having their meals in the kitchen table with Mrs. Irwin and the housekeeper.

  Eliza had been the buffer between him and the children, and with her gone the four of them had drifted apart. When his wife was alive she had encouraged him to spend time with the girls, but even then he had not had much to say to them. Perhaps it was a result of being brought up as an only child by a widowed father.

  Whatever it was, Derek had always seen females as an alien species. He had loved Eliza, although it was with a kind of detachment. But she had understood and took the part of him that he could give. With a sigh, he stretched his form and stood up. He went to the formal dining room, where Mrs. Irwin had already laid out his dinner.

  He sat down in the big room, said a short blessing on the food and systematically ate the steak and potatoes. From the kitchen he heard the voices of the girls, and once they broke out into laughter. The sounds made him feel lonelier than ever.

  On the other hand, his heart lightened to hear his daughters laughing. On the few times when they met, they always seemed so solemn. As little as he knew about girls, he did know that they liked to giggle, and his girls rarely did. Perhaps the new housekeeper would turn out alright and stay a while.

  Derek knew his bad temper was the cause of his housekeepers’ resigning. He couldn’t help it. He had always had an impatient streak, but with Eliza gone, it had got worse. He thought of the new girl again. What was her name? He searched his mind but nothing came up. Her face was clear as crystal in his mind, but no matter how hard he tried he could not recall her name.

  He would ask Mrs. Irwin later. He switched his mind to the tasks for the following day. Derek knew the temperatures would drop during th
e night. The calves and heifers needed to be checked for frozen limbs, and the cattle brought into the barns for feeding. With winter about to reach its peak the grass would turn to sharp blades of ice, but the ranch had large stocks of baled hay for the coming months. Work doubled up during winter as the animals had to be fed and watered indoors.

  Chapter Five

  The younger girls giggled and even Emily managed to crack a smile, making her face glow with beauty. Fiona braced herself again for a jump and managed to touch the tip of the buffalo berry tree.

  “You look like you could do with some help,” a deep voice said.

  Fiona whipped round and blushed furiously when she came face to face with Derek. He wore a look of amusement. Fiona stepped to the side.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  She went to stand with the three girls and they watched as Derek easily brought down the branch by stretching out his hand. He broke it off from the tree and laid on the ground, rich with buffalo berries. With shrieks of glee they descended on it, plucking the tiny red berries and carefully placing them in a straw basket.

  Fiona could feel Derek’s eyes on her and her movements became stiff and labored. He had an odd effect on her. Despite her fear of him, he made her blood race when he was nearby or when she spied him watching her.

  “Ouch, my finger,” Emily cried out.

  Fiona dashed to her and took her forefinger. It had a tiny prick and a drop of blood. She felt Derek next to her. He smelled of sweat and sweet manure. Her heart beat faster and her fingers trembled.

  “The thorns are very sharp. Be careful, girls,” Derek said, taking Emily’s finger.

  “Go and wash it under running water,” Fiona told her, and then turned to the other two girls. “Take your time when picking the berries, alright?”

  “Father,” Harriet, the six-year-old, said, her oval-shaped face upturned to her father, “would you pick the berries with us?”

  Fiona held her breath. In the two weeks she had been at the ranch she had noticed that Mr. Burk and his daughters were not close. They were rarely together, and the girls never went to seek him when he came back home from his work on the ranch.

  “Alright, but you’ll have to teach me how to do it,” he said.

  The smile on Harriet’s face could have lit a fire. The youngest, Emma, stayed close to Fiona, as she always did, sometimes hanging on to the skirts of her dress. She now edged to her father, as Harriet instructed him on picking the berries in a way that did not crash them.

  “Can’t we just throw them in, seeing as they’ll be crushed after this?” he asked, and the girls broke into giggles.

  “Even so, father, we must take care they don’t break,” Harriet told him. “Ms. Fiona said so.”

  He looked up to her with a twinkle in his eyes. They exchanged a smile. Fiona’s legs turned to water. She needed to get out of there.

  “Ms. Fiona is going to teach us how to make Buffalo berry jelly,” Emma said, speaking up for the first time.

  Her father ruffled her hair. “That sounds enjoyable.”

  “It will be,” Emma confirmed. “Do you want to make it with us?”

  Mr. Burk chuckled. He really did have the most beautiful pair of teeth, Fiona thought. When he laughed, the stern look left his eyes and they softened into a warm, light gray color.

  “I’m afraid I can’t. Perhaps another time?”

  “Excuse me. I’ll just go and check on Emily,” Fiona said.

  Fiona was huffing by the time she had crisscrossed the pastures and reached the back door. She stood for a moment to catch her breath. Mr. Burk discomfited her and she had no idea why. The sudden change had also caught her off guard. He had never been interested in their frolics before today.

  Fiona knew her face had colored. It was one of the disadvantages of being fair skinned. Mrs. Irwin was sure to note it, and so she dashed through the kitchen and into the hallway that led to the linen room.

  “Was that you, Fiona?” she heard Mrs. Irwin’s voice follow her.

  Fiona closeted herself in the linen room and spent the next forty minutes folding linen. She examined her feelings to find out what the matter was with her. Fiona could find no reasonable explanation for her behaviors when Mr. Burk was within the vicinity.

  She left the safety of the linen room reluctantly when she heard the girls’ voices. They enjoyed doing things with her and she, in turn, was getting to know each of them. Emily was beginning to warm up a little to her and the two younger girls, well, they were just wonderful children, a joy really.

  Mrs. Irwin had told her how much she had done for them but Fiona knew they had done more for her. She thought of Donald Newton and the farm once in a while, but it was more of a fading memory than the torturous, painful emotion of what might have been.

  “All ready?” Fiona said briskly, as she walked into the kitchen.

  “Yes,” they chorused.

  “Now, first we must thank Mrs. Irwin for letting us use her kitchen,” Fiona said.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Irwin,” the girls’ obediently said.

  “Ta-ta, I’ll leave you to it, then, and go and rest my old bones for a few minutes.”

  “Now, the first thing we need to do is scrub our hands clean,” Fiona said, and the girls scrambled to the sink to wash up.

  While they cleaned up she gathered the things they would need to make the jelly.

  “Let’s clean them up first,” Fiona instructed. “You do that, Emily, while Harriet, Emma and I stem them.”

  They worked in companionable silence, and once in a while someone spoke up to comment on their progress. Fiona felt peaceful looking at the girls, their foreheads creased in concentration. She thought of Mr. Burk and how he made her feel. She knew that she was warming up to him. In the last couple of days he had changed, as if he was starting to come out of a shell.

  Fiona knew she must keep how she felt for Mr. Burk a secret. No one must ever know. If it got out then she would be the laughing stock of Peak’s Point. A housekeeper in love with the master of the house! Still, she could admire him from a distance, Fiona concluded.

  That evening, Mr. Burk surprised them all by walking into the kitchen during dinner time. Mrs. Irwin had retreated to her quarters, where she liked to have her meals. It was just Fiona and the girls.

  “It is mighty lonely in the dining room alone. May I join you?” he said, and proceeded to sit down on one of the chairs.

  He smiled at Fiona, and she blushed furiously.

  “So, are we having the jelly for desert?” he asked.

  “Yes, father,” Harriet replied. “I can’t wait for you to try it. Ms. Fiona is just lovely for teaching us and she says we can do this a lot. You know, learn to cook different dishes, as we are all young ladies.”

  “Me more so. I’m six years old and I ought to know how to cook,” Harriet offered, in the solemn way she had of speaking.

  “We’re all lucky to have Ms. Fiona here with us. She has managed to cheer all of us up.”

  Mr. Burk caught her eye. He means that I’ve cheered him up too! Fiona thought she would burst from happiness and a tiny seed of hope. She read something else in his eye apart from gratitude. It was exciting and frightening to think of it.

  Then she thought of her bad luck with gentlemen. What if she was reading too much into his friendliness? She excused herself and proceeded to serve the dessert amid exclamations of how wonderful it smelt. She and Mr. Burk seemed to communicate with meaningful looks, and as the evening wore on she felt in her bones that there was something brewing between them.

  Usually Fiona went to bed at the same time as the girls, while Mr. Burk closeted himself in his office. That evening, however, he sat in the drawing room and the girls bid him goodnight. Fiona served him his customary evening cup of tea.

  “I dislike having my tea alone. Might I interest you in a cup of tea? We could sit on the porch and watch the stars,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.

  Fiona felt inordinately shy. She wa
nted to say ‘no’, that it was unheard of for the master of the house to share his tea with his housekeeper. But her whole self rebelled against the idea and she so wanted to be with Mr. Burk. Surely a few minutes would not hurt.

  “I’d like that,” Fiona said simply.

  She returned to the kitchen, poured her tea into a mug and joined Mr. Burk out on the porch. Fiona took care to leave one chair between them. There were no stars but the moon was out, weaving in and out of the dark skies.

  “Isn’t it peaceful?”

  “It is that, Mr. Burk,” Fiona replied.

  She felt his eyes on her and her face grew hot. She grasped the mug tighter between her hands, afraid that her trembling fingers would let go.

  “I think it’s time you called me Derek, at least in private,” he said.

  “Alright, Mr.…Derek?” Fiona stuttered.

  Derek laughed and she did too, the tension between them disappearing.

  “I used to dread nights such as these ones,” Derek begun, “when the moon was out and you can see every movement even in the darkness. She loved sitting out here.”

  Fiona knew he spoke of his departed wife.

  “I like it now,” he said. “I want to thank you for how well you take care of the girls. It’s brought me a lot of peace to see them so happy.”

  “Thank you,” Fiona said. “They’re wonderful children.”

  She could hear the creak of his chair as he shifted his weight.

  “My Aunt Meredith, she’s really my godmother, but I call her Aunt, will be coming to visit next month.”

  Fiona’s eyebrow rose. She hadn’t known that Derek had loved ones out of Colorado.

  “Do you have other family?” she now asked, suddenly curious to know everything about him.

  He shook his head. “My parents are gone now. They died a year after I married, both within a year of each other. They left the ranch to me, though by then there were only a few cattle. It was primarily a farming ranch with wheat and barley grown for sale.”