by Jo Ann Brown
“I wish I could believe that.”
“I can stop back later to play with her, if you want.”
“Don’t you have work on the bridge?”
He shook his head. “The road crew is going to move barriers into place on either side of the bridge today, so we have to stay away. I’d be glad to help here.”
“We’ll manage,” she said as she took the cloth from him and turned toward the sink.
He didn’t reply, and she sensed rather than saw his hand stretch out toward her. She held her breath. As shaky as her emotions were, if his fingers settled on her shoulder, she might change her mind about being able to handle the changes in her life. If she let Daniel into her life again and came to depend on him remaining in it, even as a friend, she was opening herself to heartbreak again.
His hand drew back, and she was startled by how her relief was mixed with disappointment. Had she lost her mind? She should be grateful he hadn’t touched her. If he had, she feared she would have whirled and thrown herself into his arms. She couldn’t do that.
Not now.
Not ever.
Chapter Five
The Hunter’s Mill Creek covered bridge sat empty between the concrete barriers that had been set into place to keep vehicles from crossing it. Water had gathered in puddles near the entrance where wooden deck boards had been dented by years of traffic.
Daniel gazed at the bridge as he drove past it. He couldn’t wait to get started. Except for one guy, he’d worked with everyone on his five-man crew before and knew they’d do their best on the job. The one person he’d hadn’t worked with was the county supervisor’s son, and the teenager was using the job to fulfill his volunteering requirement for high school graduation.
A motion caught Daniel’s eyes, and he looked at the Lambrights’ house. As he turned his horse Taffy toward it, he realized how he’d been avoiding glancing at the house. The questions Jeremiah had asked him the night before last resonated through his head. But no answers did.
I need Your guidance to help make sure I don’t hurt Hannah again, Lord.
He repeated the prayer as he drew his buggy to a stop in front of the Lambrights’ house. The door opened. He was surprised when only Hannah and an obviously angry Shelby came out. Shelby was dressed, for the first time, in at least some plain clothes. Beneath the coat she’d had with her in the basket, she wore a navy blue dress and white pinafore with her dark socks. Her shoes were still a garish pink. She looked adorable.
But Daniel frowned. Where was her—their great-grandmother?
Unlatching the door on the passenger side as they approached, he shoved it aside. He held out his hands for Shelby who beamed as she caught sight of him. Her stiffness softened when he lifted her from Hannah’s arms. Murmuring to the toddler, he saw the hopelessness in her sister’s eyes. He tried to imagine his younger sister Esther acting as Shelby did when she was a boppli and refusing to have anything to do with him. He would have been heartsick...as Hannah was.
Daniel set the toddler on his lap as Hannah climbed into the buggy and shut the door. Her black bonnet made her hair look like spun gold and her brown eyes darker. But he couldn’t help noticing the gray arcs under her eyes.
“Did Shelby stay awake with teething pain?” he asked.
“No. She slept, but Grossmammi Ella had a tough night. She can’t stop thinking about what my daed has done, but she refuses to believe it.” She clasped her hands on her lap. “She kept me up all night insisting her grandson was a gut man.” She grimaced. “More than you wanted to know, I’m sure.”
He struggled not to smile. Her expression matched Shelby’s when the little girl tasted something she didn’t like. “Is Grossmammi Ella coming with us?”
Hannah shook her head. “Barry Jones is here.” She pointed to the small ranch house farther along the creek road. “He and his family live over there and farm the pastures across the road. He keeps an eye on Grossmammi Ella when I have to be away, and she doesn’t want to go. He thinks she’s amusing, and she thinks he’s okay...for an Englischer.” A faint laugh slipped out. “Those are her exact words, ‘He’s okay...for an Englischer.’”
“I guess I’d better not ask what your great-grandmother says about me.”
Hannah’s eyes began to twinkle again. “A wise decision.”
“Is it so bad?”
“Possibly.” She tilted her head toward him and smiled. “Or maybe it isn’t bad, and you’d be in danger of a swelled head.”
“Ouch!”
Shelby gasped and patted his arm, concern on her face.
Daniel tried again not to laugh, but it was impossible when Hannah was smothering a giggle behind her hand. “I’m fine, liebling,” he assured the little girl. “I’ve got to remember how literally they take everything at this age.”
“She seems to understand a lot.”
“I agree.” He shifted the toddler onto the seat between them.
“As irritable as this little one has been today, it’s for the best that my great-grandmother didn’t want to come along.”
“Dealing with one stubborn Lambright woman at a time is enough, ain’t so?” His smile faltered when Hannah glowered at him as Shelby tried to crawl onto his lap. Now he’d done it! He’d hoped to make her feel better about Shelby’s continuing antagonism toward her. Instead she must have assumed he meant Hannah was the stubborn one. In truth, she could be as obstinate as her great-grandmother or little sister, but he’d wanted to make her smile, not feel worse.
Not the best way to start the day.
“I don’t mind holding her,” Daniel said.
Another mistake, he realized, when the kind smiled and relaxed against him as soon as she sat on his knee again. Beside him, Hannah’s expression went as quickly from vexed to hurt.
Help me help her, he prayed, though in his heart, he knew she’d mistrust everything he did until he proved to her that he wasn’t the careless young man he’d been when they were walking out. He didn’t know how to convince her.
* * *
Hannah turned the last page in the stack of papers requesting information about Shelby’s health history. It hadn’t taken long to fill them out because she knew nothing about Shelby’s mamm’s pregnancy or health history. As for her daed’s, Hannah didn’t know much about him either. She’d been too young to ask about such things before he left.
Rising to carry the clipboard to the front desk at the Paradise Springs Health Center, she glanced at Daniel and Shelby. The toddler was giggling as he played another game of peekaboo with her. She hadn’t heard Shelby laugh since... Well, since the last time Daniel had come to the house.
The two of them looked as if they belonged together. How sad that after years of wishing for a sibling, she got one who despised her!
Hannah walked to the blue plastic chair that was set against the wall like the others along both sides of the waiting room. It was a comfortable space with light brown carpet and sheer curtains on the pair of windows overlooking Route 30, the road that bisected Paradise Springs. Two other people waited to see the doktorfraa. The elderly man was sneezing, and a younger man was coughing and blowing his nose. She hoped whatever they had wasn’t contagious. The only thing she could imagine worse than having a toddler who cried whenever she came near was having a sick toddler who cried whenever she came near.
As she sat, Hannah picked up a magazine, shuffling the pages. Her attempts to read were stymied each time the little girl chortled with delight. She should be grateful that Daniel entertained Shelby, but she couldn’t help wondering what would happen when the bridge project was finished and Daniel didn’t visit any longer. She didn’t want Shelby hurt as she’d been when his attention had turned from her to other young women.
“Shelby Lambright?” called a nurse from a nearby doorway.
; “Here.” Hannah jumped to her feet. She reached for the kind, but Shelby threw her arms around Daniel’s neck.
“I can go with you if you don’t mind,” he said, glancing around the room.
Knowing he didn’t want to make a scene, Hannah nodded. She followed him along a short hallway.
When the nurse went into a room to the right, she smiled at them. “You two have an adorable little girl,” the nurse said after checking Shelby’s height and weight.
“Danki,” Hannah said at the same time as Daniel did. When she glanced at him, he looked away, but she noticed the tops of his ears were red. She wanted to ask why. Now wasn’t the time.
Following the instructions the nurse gave before leaving, he set Shelby on the paper-topped examination table. He stepped aside while Hannah undressed the kind until she wore only her diaper.
The door reopened, and a slender redhead walked in. Dr. Montgomery wore her stethoscope around her neck and an open white lab coat. She was carrying a manila file. Smiling, she said, “Hello, Hannah. Is this Shelby?”
“Ja,” Hannah replied to the doctor who oversaw Grossmammi Ella’s care. “She’s my little sister.”
The doktorfraa glanced at Daniel.
He cleared his throat and said, “I found Shelby on the front porch at the Lambrights’ house.”
Dr. Montgomery’s brows arched high. “You’re going to have to give me a lot more information.”
Hannah shared an abridged version of the events earlier in the week. If the doktorfraa was shocked, no sign of it was visible on her face. She opened the file and began to read.
Dr. Montgomery’s professional smile vanished when she looked up from the sheaf of papers. “Is this the only medical history you have for her? It’s nothing.”
“I know,” Hannah said. “I don’t know much about my parents because I was young when my mamm died and my daed left. And Shelby has a different mamm.”
“Do you know whether she’s been immunized?”
“No.”
The doktorfraa sighed. “I guess the best thing to do is examine her and determine how she’s doing. We’ll use today as the baseline and build her medical history from this point forward. But as far as her immunizations, my recommendation is we start them all over again as if she were a newborn.”
“That’s safe?” Daniel asked.
“Much safer than taking the chance of her not having the full complement. This way, she won’t get sick from something that can be prevented.” She turned to Hannah. “Do you agree?”
Shock riveted her. The question was a stark reminder of how Shelby’s life would be affected by every decision Hannah made. Hannah had to be more than sister to the little girl. In so many ways, she was going to have to be Shelby’s mamm, too.
“I want what is best for her,” she replied.
Dr. Montgomery nodded, put down the file and asked Hannah to lift Shelby to the floor. Hannah did, releasing the kind the moment Shelby was steady on her feet. Having the doktorfraa see how the toddler cried if Hannah stayed close too long would create questions she wanted to avoid answering...because she had no answer.
Shelby seemed to think the examination was a game. Dr. Montgomery pulled a dog puppet from her coat pocket and used it to talk to Shelby. The little girl giggled, excited, as she obeyed requests to walk and take a small ball from the doktorfraa.
Hannah set the toddler back on the table while Dr. Montgomery scribbled some notes on the page.
“I’d say your guess she’s about a year-and-a-half old is accurate,” said the doktorfraa. “Shelby can walk, though she’s a bit wobbly. She recognizes her name, and it appears she’s trying to repeat sounds she hears. Those are skills most children with Down syndrome should have mastered by 18 months.” She pulled a handheld computer out of her other pocket. Tapping it, she paused to read something on its screen. “Is she able to suck through a straw?”
“Ja,” Hannah replied.
“Does she know your names and her own?”
“She knows her own. I’m not sure about ours.”
The doktorfraa smiled as she raised her stethoscope and blew on it. “We can’t expect too much when she’s been with you a few days. She recognizes people after they leave the room?”
“Ja.”
“Good.”
The room grew silent while Dr. Montgomery listened to Shelby’s heart, then let the kind hear her own heartbeat through the stethoscope. While Shelby was preoccupied, Dr. Montgomery checked her ears, throat and eyes. The little girl giggled when her stomach was palpitated.
“Ticklish, aren’t you?” Dr. Montgomery said.
Shelby giggled more, and Hannah heard Daniel smother a chuckle from where he sat at the side of the room. She knew envy was wrong, but she couldn’t help wishing again she had the connection with her little sister that he did. Except when Hannah rocked her to sleep, Shelby tolerated her if nobody else was around. Nothing more.
Straightening, the doktorfraa said, “Her heart sounds excellent, which is good news. So many children with Down Syndrome have heart issues.” She smiled at Shelby who grinned. “However, I saw some signs of frequent ear infections. Those can lead to a hearing loss. Have you noticed she’s having trouble hearing?”
“She hears everything,” Hannah said with a smile. “Not only in the house, but outside. Whenever a truck goes past, she rushes to look out.” Hesitating, she knew it would be unwise not to share everything with the doktorfraa. “I think it’s because Daed may have been driving a truck when he left her at our house.”
“So she’s looking for him?” Dr. Montgomery’s easy smile vanished. “Poor little munchkin. It’s hard enough to think of an adult being dropped into a new life without an explanation, but it’s got to be more difficult for a toddler who can’t understand why. I’m glad that she has you and your great-grandmother, Hannah.”
“She’s unsure around us.” Honesty forced her to add, “Around me especially.”
“Give her time. She’s known you less than a week.” Dr. Montgomery’s smile widened. “Young children are eager to love anyone who treats them with kindness. Shelby has lost everything and everyone she’s known, so she needs time to adjust. I suspect you’ll see great changes in her over the next few weeks. Shelby may come to believe she was blessed the day she was left on your porch.” She grinned as Shelby turned a tongue depressor over and over in her hands, examining every bit of it. “A child with Shelby’s challenges is welcomed as a gift from God among you plain people.”
“She is a gift,” Hannah said, watching as Shelby began to gnaw on the wooden stick, concentrating on the area where her tooth was coming in. “A special gift.”
The doktorfraa ran gentle fingers over Shelby’s silken hair. “Her disabilities, though we can’t know the scope of them at her age, can be met now with physical therapy and occupational therapy.”
“Isn’t she young to worry about what she’ll do when she grows up?” asked Daniel.
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Montgomery said, puzzled. “What did you say?”
He looked at Hannah who was glad he’d asked the question she’d been thinking. She motioned for him to go ahead, and he said, “I’m wondering why she needs to worry about an occupation when she’s barely more than a boppli.”
The doktorfraa smiled. “Occupational therapy isn’t about getting a job. It’s about helping Shelby strengthen the physical function she has. Learning fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.”
“Isn’t that physical therapy?” Hannah asked, keeping a hand against Shelby’s back so the little girl didn’t tumble off the table.
“Physical therapy—or PT, as we call it—is used to help a patient deal with injuries or weaknesses to the muscles.” She chuckled. “Don’t worry. You’ll learn the difference. Most patients and their families confuse the tw
o at first. However, the therapists know their fields well, and they’ll help Shelby. In addition, I’d like to have her evaluated to determine how much speech therapy she’ll need. Does she speak any words?”
“No, though she makes a lot of different sounds and seems to believe we should understand what she means.” Hannah chuckled. “And she’s training us well because we’re beginning to figure out what she means with some of the sounds.”
“Excellent.” The doktorfraa made some more notes, then said, “All that’s needed is her first round of shots.” She picked up a folder from the cabinet at one side of the room. “The schedule for childhood shots is listed here as well as information on how most children react to the shots.”
Hannah took it. When her little sister cried as she was given several shots, Hannah’s attempts to comfort her as she re-dressed the toddler were futile. Shelby continued to cry as Dr. Montgomery handed her a sticker and told her she was a brave and gut girl.
The tears stopped when Daniel put the sticker on her white pinafore. Shelby kept gazing at the bright red kitten. Babbling, she giggled when he pretended to pet the cartoon cat. The toddler kept touching it while Hannah carried her to Daniel’s buggy, but began to whimper and suck her thumb as soon as they were seated. Before they left the parking lot, the little girl had fallen into a fitful sleep on Hannah’s lap.
“Danki, Daniel, for coming with us today,” Hannah said beneath the rumble of rain that fell in big, oily drops that sounded like acorns dropping onto the roof of the buggy.
“I told you I’d help you when I could.”
“I know, but I wanted to thank you.” She let her gaze follow the stern line of his profile as he steered the buggy through the heavy rain. “Won’t you accept my gratitude?”
“I don’t like being obligated.”
“I know, Daniel. I probably know that better than anyone.”
He looked away from the road, letting his horse follow it toward the covered bridge and her house. “You do, don’t you?”
