[2016] The Precious Amish Baby

by Faith Crawford

  He thought of Ms. Isabella Eagan and then, on a whim, decided to pass by the Justice of the Peace’s office and see whether they could get married that very afternoon. Ray was eager to have a wife, and he wanted the official deed done that very day.

  Initially, his idea had been to wait a couple of days getting to know each other. He needed his luck to change as fast as possible and he knew that, with Isabella as his wife, it would surely change. Ray had observed a trend amongst the men who had struck it rich—each of them had a wife. He was determined to up his chances, even though it meant marrying a girl he did not know.

  The office of the Justice was pretty crowded, with men crowding in the front office, manned by a tired looking woman. It took longer than Ray had expected but, by the end of it, he and Isabella were booked to be married within the hour. Ray glanced at the clock in the train depot and realized that he was half an hour late. He ran the last few steps that led him to the platform. It had emptied out and there was no one on the platform except for himself. A stab of disappointment clawed at him until he spied a waiting room further on, and he headed there.

  Inside, a young woman sat serenely, her hands folded neatly on her lap. She looked up at him and his blood quickened. For a moment, he was rendered motionless. Her eyes, forest green with flecks of gold, bore into him questioningly. Ray took a deep breath and walked to her.

  “Waiting for someone?” Ray said.

  She looked him up and down, her golden-brown curls falling on her forehead. Ray wanted nothing more than to twirl those curls in his fingers.

  “Yes,” she said, in an accent that reeked of class. “I’m waiting for a Mister Ray Barger.”

  “I’ll be—” Ray started to say, and then caught himself.

  He felt as though he had lost his footing. He had not expected such a beautiful girl and, more so, such a lady. She sat looking at him expectantly while he took in her bonnet, her pale pink dress and her light, expensive coat.

  “Well?” she prompted him.

  Ray inhaled deeply and then grinned. “You found him. I’m Ray Barger. Very pleased to meet you.”

  It was her turn to be shocked. Her eyes widened and she seemed flustered, as if she did not know what to say. She smoothed the skirts of her dress and stood up. She wasn’t tall and only went up to his shoulders. She smiled, but Ray could see that it was almost forced.

  “What is it?” he finally said.

  “Oh, nothing at all. Just surprised, that’s all,” she said, her earlier confidence gone.

  “What did you expect?” Ray said, puzzled. “I hope I haven’t disappointed you.”

  “No, not at all,” she said. “It was a long journey and I suppose I’m a little tired.”

  Chapter Three

  Isabella had to half-run to keep up with Ray. There was no time to take in the town, but Isabella could tell they were on the main street. She held on to her skirts, avoiding the worst of the mud and droppings on the road. She had expected a small town, but Fairview was a large town, the road packed with mule trains, wagons, carts and roaming cows and pigs.

  Ray stopped in front of a building and frowned when he saw how far behind she was.

  “I apologize,” he said. “I didn’t realize how fast I was walking. I suppose it’s my eagerness to have you as my wife.”

  “Wife?” Isabella, breathing fast from the walk, gazed at Ray open-mouthed.

  “Yes, isn’t that why you’ve come?” Ray said, his eyes dancing with merriment.

  Isabella saw nothing amusing about the situation. She was yet to get used to Ray, let alone become his wife. Standing facing each other, Isabella studied Ray. She looked at his creased white shirt, its top buttons open, and his denim, which was not the cleanest, and frowned. It had shocked her that he would pick up his fiancé from the depot dressed so casually.

  Still, she could not ignore the pull of his boyish looks, with his deep-set cobalt blue eyes and perfectly shaped nose. Her eyes strayed to his full lips and her belly fluttered.

  “What do you say? Shall we do this?” he asked, his eyes blazing with intensity.

  Isabella looked down at her pink dress, now creased, and then at Ray’s casual outfit.

  “We are not attired for a wedding ceremony,” Isabella remarked.

  “It doesn’t matter, Isabella. Won’t we still get our certificate? Besides, we don’t have to do everything by the book. This way, we’ll always remember our wedding and laugh about it.”

  He was convincing, but a part of her found it utterly wrong to not make a ceremony out of it. Weary from the long journey, Isabella eventually nodded and Ray grinned at her. She followed him into the office, crammed with people. When their turn came, they were led to a back office, where a bored-looking man took them through their vows.

  They left the office exactly five minutes after they had entered. If you blinked then you would have missed the ceremony, Isabella thought. She felt the same as she had when she walked in as a single woman, but she could see that the ceremony had moved Ray. He tucked her hand into his arm and seemed to beam nonstop.

  The one thing Isabella noticed about Fairview was that there were many more men than women. The town stood atop a hill, and surrounding it were stretches of grassland. Further on, smoke seemed to come from the hills. It was a curious town, almost as if its growth had occurred accidentally.

  “Welcome home,” Ray said, and stopped in front of a rundown building with a sign identifying it as a boarding house.

  Isabella glared at Ray, stony-faced. He had failed to mention that he lived in a boarding house. He looked down at her and, sensing her displeasure, shrugged his shoulders.

  “I know it’s not what you expected, sweetheart, but the bed is comfortable and the food is alright.”

  Her features did not soften.

  “That is, until we get our own home,” Ray stuttered.

  Her muscles relaxed then and, with a sigh, she followed Ray in.

  “Ms. Harriet, I’d like you to meet my wife, Mrs. Isabella Barger. Isabella,” Ray said, turning to her, “this is Ms. Harriet; she takes care of us here in the boarding house.”

  “For a fee, of course. Too little, if you ask me,” Ms. Harriet quipped.

  Isabella gaped at the woman with orange hair piled on top of her head and immediately liked her.

  “They eat too much, including your husband,” Ms. Harriet said.

  Isabella giggled and stuck out her hand to shake Ms. Harriet’s. Rather than letting go, Ms. Harriet held on to Isabella’s hand and then flattened it out to inspect it. Remembering the state of her hands, Isabella wanted to grab it back and fold it into a fist.

  To her surprise, Ms. Harriet nodded in approval.

  “You’re used to hard work. You’ll do well here,” she said, in a dismissive tone.

  “Come, Isabella. I’ll show you to our quarters,” Ray said.

  “Quarters?” Ms. Harriet said after them.

  The screech of Ms. Harriet’s laughter followed them up the stairs. Isabella could hardly see in front of her. The stairs were badly lit and she was glad when they came to a hall, which had a window at the end which lit it somewhat. With a flourish, Ray opened the door and stood to the side, head bowed low to let her enter.

  Isabella giggled but, as soon as she entered the room, her laughter dried up. She could not believe her eyes. Surely a person did not live in this room? Clothes littered every space on the floor, mugs peeked from under the bed and the beddings were filthy, the bed unmade and more clothes on top of it.

  “I’m sorry; I didn’t have much time to tidy up. It’s a little messy, isn’t it?” Ray said, clearly unperturbed.

  “A little messy?” Isabella screeched.

  “Hey, take it easy, sweetheart. It can be fixed, you know. A little bit of folding here and there.”

  Isabella closed her eyes and told herself to calm down. Without another word to Ray, she began cleaning up the dirty clothes and stacking them in one corner. The state of the bed sheets
made her want to weep. There was no way she was sleeping on those sheets, but by God’s grace, she had brought some sheets with her.

  “I thought maybe we should go for a meal to celebrate?” Ray said quietly.

  Something in his voice made her look up at him.

  Isabella nodded. “Alright. I’ll just clean myself up. Where’s the bathroom?”

  Chapter Four

  Ray felt as if he could fly as he and Isabella traversed up the mountains, following in paths almost covered by towering trees. The last week had been an eye opener for him. He saw Montana in a new light. Spring was giving way to summer and the flowers had blossomed. Ray spotted a tree heavy with chokeberries.

  They could only walk in single file as the path was narrow, and when Ray stopped and looked up at the tree, Isabella had to stop too.

  “See that? Those are chokeberries,” Ray said, turning to face Isabella, his finger pointing up to the clusters of black berries in the bushes.

  Her face glowed from the walk and her breathing came out fast as if she had been running. Ray grinned. Isabella was not a woman used to walking long distances. He felt infused with joy he could not explain, but he knew some of it was due to Isabella. They were now living as man and wife, and he liked the comfort of having someone to talk to and wake up with.

  “I have never seen them before,” Isabella said.

  “I’ll get some for you and we can have a bit of a rest,” Ray said.

  He climbed up the tree and, when he had a handful, he looked down at Isabella.

  “I’ll throw them down and you can catch them in your shawl.”

  She looked at him and then at her pristine cream shawl. Then she slipped it off her shoulders and held it out. Ray threw a few bunches and they landed perfectly on her shawl. A few split and the juice from them spread on the white cloth. Isabella scowled at him and he laughed. She was a pretty little thing and he would have done anything for her.

  Look how she had turned his room in the boarding house into a homely looking place, his clothes arranged neatly in the chest of drawers. After picking a couple more, Ray jumped down from the tree.

  “I know just the very spot where we can rest,” he told her.

  Ray led the way away from the path, parting the overgrowths of the bush with his hands so that they would not scrape Isabella. Finally, they came to an opening and Isabella gasped when she saw the little creek with clear water flowing down the rocks.

  Flowers grew at the edge and insects buzzed around them.

  “Oh, this is just lovely,” Isabella said, sitting herself down on a rock.

  “I used to like coming here to think,” Ray confided, finding a grassy patch to sit on.

  Isabella cocked her head to one side. “Think about what?”

  Ray laughed. What an odd question, but then again, Isabella was a special girl and no one was luckier than he was.

  “Men think about a lot of things,” he said vaguely and then got a sudden urge to tell Isabella everything. “There’s an expedition of a group of men in a couple of weeks. There’s said to be a lot of gold in the west of the mountains.”

  “You’re thinking of going with them?” Isabella asked.

  “That’s how I earn my bread, sweetheart. Prospecting for gold, one never knows. And especially now that I have you, I’m bound to strike it lucky this time.”

  He noticed she was frowning. He sighed. The parting would be difficult for him, as well, but the truth was that if he did not work, they would soon run out of money. He explained this to Isabella and she nodded, but did not pursue the conversation further.

  Ray popped one berry into his mouth, its bitter taste filling his mouth. He took another, stretched and beckoned for Isabella to open her mouth. She kept her lips tightly sealed and shook her head rapidly.

  “Come on, give it a try,” Ray coaxed until, finally, she parted her lips.

  Right there and then, he wanted to kiss her, but he contented himself with watching her mouth movements as she chewed on the berry. She made a face.

  “A little sour, isn’t it?” she said, and then instantly popped another into her mouth.

  They spent a delightful afternoon exploring the woods and the open prairie beyond that. Isabella was thrilled when they spotted a herd of buffalo far off in the open grassland.

  “Can we get closer?” she asked.

  Ray laughed and shook his head. “They don’t like it when people get too close to them and, if they have young ones, they can trample you.”

  They returned to town in the early evening. The sky emitted a soft blue glow that seemed to light the town, so that it appeared almost magical. Ray saw that Isabella had stopped and he retraced his steps. She stood in front of a ‘for rent’ sign on the door of a restaurant.

  “It’s owned by Mrs. Price,” Ray explained. “Sadly her husband passed on a few months ago, and I hear she wants to return to Pennsylvania to her people.”

  “The restaurant is in a good location,” Isabella said, her voice solemn.

  “It is. She lives in an apartment on top of the restaurant.”

  Isabella’s eyes glistened. Then Ray understood the direction of her thoughts. They had not spoken of the future and he had assumed that Isabella would stay at the boarding house while he went on his expeditions. Her interest in the restaurant gave him something to think about.

  That evening at dinner, he broached the subject. He had learned one thing about Isabella in the last several days. One had to coax things out of her.

  “You want the restaurant, is that it?” Ray asked her, boring into her from across the table.

  She nodded.

  “Well, I have some money put away for the expedition. If you’re really sure that you’re up to running such a business, I can give it to you,” Ray said.

  “I couldn’t take your money!” Isabella cried out. “What about your expedition?”

  “There will be others in between, and we can always save up again.”

  And to his surprise, he felt alright with parting with his hard-earned money so that Isabella could have her business.

  Chapter Five

  The happiest day for Isabella was when she and Ray moved their meager belongings from the boarding house down the street to the apartment above the restaurant. She had spent the last two days scouring the floors of the restaurant and moving upstairs to clean the five-room apartment. It had a small kitchen, a front room with a window that overlooked the street and two bedrooms, as well as a washroom.

  “Not much in the way of furniture,” Ray commented, eyeing the two rickety chairs and uneven table.

  “Time will take care of that,” Isabella said cheerfully. Nothing could mar her joy.

  Ray dropped their trunks on the floor and, in one movement, reached for her hand and pulled her to him.

  “This makes you happy, then?” he asked.

  Isabella nodded. “Yes, it does. Thank you so much.”

  He leaned in and kissed her mouth, and Isabella found herself responding. She had never imagined in her wildest dreams that it could be this way between a man and a woman. Ray lifted her off her feet and the wooden floor creaked so hard that he immediately put her down.

  “We might find ourselves in the restaurant,” he said, and they laughed.

  “We open for business tomorrow,” Isabella said, clapping her hands together. “Which reminds me, after we finish unpacking I need to check that we have all the supplies in the kitchen.”

  “My, one would find it difficult to believe that you grew up amongst servants,” Ray said.

  Her joy dissipated a little and sadness filled her heart. She had told Ray about her childhood and how her Uncle and Aunt had tricked her into giving up all her father’s property. He had wanted to go to West Virginia immediately to reclaim Isabella’s property.

  Seeing the effect his words had on her, Ray was immediately contrite. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to drench up sad memories.”

  “It’s alright. I j
ust miss my parents so much sometimes,” Isabella said, allowing Ray to draw her into his arms.

  “No one will ever hurt you again,” Ray murmured into her hair.

  There was no time to arrange their clothes, and so Isabella left them in the trunks. There was so much to do and so little time. Ray had arranged for a woman by the name of Martha, a widow with three children, to help Isabella out in the restaurant.

  She would do the bulk of the cooking, with Isabella’s help of course. Isabella and Ray went downstairs and found Martha waiting outside the door to the restaurant. Their own entry to the apartment was a door on the very end of the building and, if you were not looking for it, you would miss it.

  Martha was stick thin and her face had premature lines around the eyes. They lit up when she saw Ray. Ray introduced them and, for a moment, Isabella was at a loss about what to ask her. She had never come close to running any business. Nor had she ever employed anybody.

  Ray had been a brick, helping her with painting a new sign for the inn name. They had both agreed that Fairview Inn was a good name. The sign itself was white and the words a deep black, with a picture of a steaming meal stuck to one side.

  Ray, on noting her silence, took over.

  “Have you cooked in a restaurant before, Martha?” he asked her, his tone gentle.

  “Yes, I have. Back in New York, before the Mister decided we were to come to Montana, I worked in my Aunt’s restaurant as a cook.”

  She wrung her hands as she spoke, and Isabella knew that she would have taken her on anyway. This was a woman who badly needed a job.

  “How many children do you have?” Isabella asked, even though she knew the answer.

  “Three. There’s Aaron, Beatrice and Elizabeth.”

  Her whole demeanor changed when she spoke of her children.

  “We open the restaurant at seven in the morning, so you’ll need to be here by six. Can you manage that?” Isabella asked.

  She nodded profusely. “Yes, absolutely, ma’am. I live not too far away from here.”