“I reckon we’re about tied.”
Nick pointed to the ground. “I want both of you to put your axes down and answer a few questions.”
One rolled his eyes at his brother. “Told you that you didn’t fool him, Moses.”
“You should hush, Atlee.” They both laid their axes aside.
Nick stepped closer and towered over the two of them. “No, I want you to keep talking. A week ago on Thursday night, a buggy with a cracked rim on the left rear wheel drove up to Ada Kauffman’s place and left a baby on her doorstep. I don’t think you know how much trouble you are in. You had better tell me everything I want to know.”
Atlee looked at Miriam. “The baby was all right, wasn’t it?”
“Where is her mother?” Nick demanded.
The two boys looked at each other. Atlee said, “I told you it was a bad idea.”
“Like you wanted to bring it home and say, Levi, look what we found while we was over to Millersburg without you knowing it? We’d be chopping wood until Christmas.”
Nick growled, “Anything your brother would do or say will pale in comparison to spending time in jail. Where is the mother?”
Atlee spread his hands wide. “We don’t know. We sneaked out after Levi went to bed and took the buggy into Sugarcreek. We left the buggy there and went to see a movie in Millersburg with some Englisch friends.”
“Friends?” Nick arched one eyebrow.
Atlee said, “Girls we met a few weeks ago at a hoedown. One of them has a car.”
Moses said, “After the movie we came straight back to the buggy and home.”
“Well, we meant to come straight home,” Atlee conceded.
“We didn’t know the baby was in the buggy until we were almost to the Kauffman place.”
Miriam held up one hand. “Wait a minute. Someone put the baby in your buggy while you were at the movies?”
The twins nodded. Miriam tried to wrap her brain around what they were saying. “You don’t know who did it?”
“No, honest we don’t,” Atlee insisted.
“How did you boys know that I was a nurse?” She glanced between their faces.
They looked at each other and shook their heads. Moses said, “We didn’t.”
Nick stepped closer with a fierce scowl darkening his face. “I don’t believe you.”
Atlee’s eyes widened in fear. “It’s true. We left the buggy in the parking lot at the convenience store. On the way home, we stopped when we heard the baby crying. Who would give us a baby? We didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t take it home with us, cause then Levi would know we’d been sneaking away. Moses knew Ada Kauffman didn’t have grandchildren. We thought she might like a baby, and her farm was the closest.”
Nick turned away and ran a hand through his hair. “This is unbelievable.”
“It’s the truth.” Atlee looked ready to cry.
Nick paced across the grass and came back. “Hannah’s mother didn’t choose a safe place for her. She stashed her in the back of a buggy in a parking lot. We’re lucky she didn’t pick a trash can instead. These two just dropped her at the closest farm. This is child abandonment and child endangerment with reckless disregard for the baby’s safety. I’ve wasted more than a week of investigation time.”
Miriam pressed her hands to her moth. “Oh, that poor, poor woman. She must be dying inside since no one returned with her child. How terrible it must have been to wait for someone who never came, and now she has no idea where her baby is or even if she is safe.”
Chapter Ten
Nick struggled to rein in his anger and frustration. He had no one but himself to blame for the situation. He had allowed his feelings for Miriam to override his sense of duty and his better judgment.
Atlee Beachy and his brother Moses fidgeted as they waited for him to say something. He let them wait. All he had to show for a week of investigative work was a pair of scared sixteen-year-olds worried that they were going to jail or that their brother would be mad.
They had every right to worry. He did, too. They had all helped cover up a crime, but he was the one who should’ve known better.
“What do we do now?” Miriam asked.
He looked into her beautiful green eyes so filled with concern. Any second now, she was going to realize that Hannah had to go into protective custody. She was an abandoned child in need of care. The law was very clear on what he had to do.
He said, “We can’t keep waiting for her Amish mother to reappear. Unless she reports her baby as missing, our hands are tied.”
Her eyes widened and he knew the reality of the situation was sinking in. He would have to take Hannah away from her and her mother.
His heart ached for the pain he knew she was going through. The pain he was causing.
He laid a hand on her shoulder. “We don’t know that Hannah’s mother is even Amish. The note didn’t say that. We only assumed it.”
He had a crime scene that spread from one end of his county to the other. After so long, he could only pray he’d find some leads to follow.
“Are we in trouble?” Moses Beachy’s voice cracked when he spoke.
“Yes!” Nick snapped as he spun back toward them. He was tempted to haul them down to the station just to make himself feel better, but it probably wouldn’t help.
He said, “I am going to impound the buggy and have a forensic team go over it with a fine-tooth comb. Hopefully, there is still some evidence left. Are you sure you didn’t see who left the baby?”
They shook their heads. “All we saw was a bad movie,” Atlee said.
Glaring at the boys, Nick said, “I should take you both in for child endangerment. Did it even cross your minds that you should notify the authorities when you found her?”
“We did think about taking her to Bishop Zook,” Atlee admitted.
Miriam laid a hand on Nick’s arm. “It won’t do any good to arrest them.”
“It will make me feel better.”
“But it won’t get us any closer to finding Hannah’s mother.”
“The odds of us locating her now are next to nothing. Even if she came back, as she said she would, her baby wasn’t there and she didn’t report her as missing. Atlee, Moses, go tell your brother that someone from the sheriff’s office will come to pick up the buggy. And tell him why.”
They took off leaving him alone with Miriam. She said, “This is all my fault. I should’ve let you start an investigation right away.”
“There is enough fault to go around.” He headed toward his truck. She followed behind him. Opening the driver’s-side door, he picked up his radio and started giving instructions to the dispatch desk. When he finished, he looked up to see Levi Beachy striding toward him with two chastened boys at his heels.
Levi stopped beside Nick. “My brothers have told me what they did. They wish to help in any way they can.”
“I want them to separately write out what went on the entire time they were gone from home. One of my deputies will be out later to question them. If they think of anything else that might help, I want you to call me.”
“Ja, it will be as you say.” Levi spoke to his brothers in quick Pennsylvania Dutch. Nick didn’t understand all the words but he recognized the tone. The twins were going to be chopping wood until long past Christmas.
When they left, Nick turned to Miriam. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he said, “I need to go pick up Hannah.”
“No. Isn’t there something you can do? Some way she can stay with us?” Her eyes pleaded with him to agree. He was going to give her one more reason to hate him.
“I’ve got no choice in the matter, Miriam. I’m sorry.”
* * *
Miriam could see that it would be useless to argue with Nick. She’d opened her heart to Hannah and now she was paying the price. Why had she done something so stupid when she knew how much it hurt to lose her?
Nick said, “Get in. I have to get rolling on this.”
He was angry and he had every right to be upset. He loved Hannah, too. This couldn’t be easy for him.
Miriam went around the SUV and climbed in. As soon as she clicked her seat belt, he sped out of the parking lot and onto the highway. He didn’t slow down until he reached her mother’s lane.
When he stopped in front of her house, she hesitated to get out. “Mother is going to be upset. She’s become so attached to Hannah. That baby has become the grandchild she never had.”
He bowed his head and closed his eyes. “I know. I don’t want to do this.”
“Is there a chance she could be returned to us?” Miriam was ready to grasp at straws.
He shifted in his seat to face her. “Now that we know her mother abandoned her, she won’t be put up for adoption anytime soon. Efforts have to be made to locate family and see if there is anyone suitable to take her. Her placement will be up to Child Protective Services and Judge Harbin.”
“I’m sorry, Nick.”
He looked toward the house. “We should go in.”
“I know.” She didn’t move.
Miriam sat beside him in silence for a few more minutes. He finally opened his door and put an end to their procrastination. Miriam followed him to the house with lagging steps.
Inside, Ada was rocking Hannah and singing a lullaby. She looked up with a happy grin. “She is such a charmer. She smiled at me. I don’t believe she is sick. The doctors are wrong about that. They are wrong about things all the time.”
Miriam crossed the kitchen and knelt beside her mother’s chair. “Mamm, there is something we need to tell you.”
Ada’s grin faded. “What is it, Miriam? You look so serious.”
Nick stepped up. “We went to see Levi Beachy, the buggy maker.”
Ada held Hannah closer. “Does he know something about our baby’s mother?”
Miriam nodded. “It was his buggy that left the mark on our lane. His brothers took the buggy without his knowledge.”
“Boys will be boys. The twins are in their rumspringa. So why did they come here?”
Nick said, “They drove to Sugarcreek and met some friend who took them to see a movie. While they were there, someone left Hannah in their buggy. They don’t know who it was. When they realized what had happened, they were near your lane and decided to leave Hannah with you.”
Miriam laid a hand on her mother’s arm. “Hannah’s mother may not be Amish. She won’t be coming for her. She doesn’t know where she is.”
“That is goot. Hannah can stay with us, ja?”
“No, Mamm. Hannah can’t stay with us anymore. She has to go with Nick. She must go with the Englisch. It is the law. They will find a wonderful home for her with parents who will love and care for her.”
“I can love and care for her.” Ada pressed the baby against her chest so tightly that Hannah began to fuss.
Nick dropped to one knee beside the rocker. “I’m sorry, Ada. She must come with me. Please let me have her. Don’t make this any harder.”
“No. You can’t take my boy away from me and then take this baby, too. It isn’t right.” She began to sob.
“It’s all right, mother. It will be okay.” Miriam gently
took the baby from her mother’s arms. She rose to her feet and carried the baby to her crib.
“Ada? Ada, what’s wrong?”
Miriam turned around when she heard the panic in Nick’s voice. Her mother was slumped in her chair holding her left arm across her chest. Her face was ashen colored, and twisted into a grimace of pain. Miriam hurried to her side. “Mamm, are you all right?”
“I can’t...get my breath,” Ada gasped.
Nick jerked his phone from his pocket. “I’m calling 9-1-1.”
Miriam laid a hand on her mother’s forehead. Her skin was cool and clammy. Grasping Ada’s wrist, she felt a weak irregular pulse. It wasn’t a good. She looked up at Nick. “Tell them to hurry.”
Miriam felt her mother’s pockets until she located a small vial of pills. Pulling it out, she shook one into her palm. “Take one of your nitroglycerin. It will help with the pain.
When her mother had done as she asked, Miriam jumped to her feet and raced into her mother’s bedroom. She grabbed the oxygen canister and mask from closet and returned to the kitchen as quickly as she could. Turning on the oxygen, she placed the mask gently over her mother’s face. “Try to take deep slow breaths.”
Nick snapped his phone shut. “The ambulance is on its way. They should be here in twenty minutes.”
This was her worst nightmare coming true. She was going to watch her mother struggling for breath and die waiting for an ambulance to reach their rural home.
Nick said, “It will be quicker if we take her and head toward them.”
Without waiting for her to agree, he lifted Ada from her chair. Galvanized into action, Miriam grabbed the oxygen tank and followed behind him as he carried her mother to his SUV. Miriam opened the door to the backseat and climbed in. Nick gently laid her mother on the seat with her head pillow on Miriam’s lap.
He said, “I’ll get Hannah.”
Miriam cupped her mother’s face. “You’re going to be fine, mother. We’ll get you to the hospital in no time.”
Ada tried to speak. Miriam had to pull the mask away from her face to hear what she was saying.
“I am in God’s hands. His will be done. I love you, child.”
“I love you, too.”
A few minutes later, Nick raced out of the house with the baby in her carrier. As he opened the passenger’s side front door, Miriam said, “She can’t ride up front.”
“She can in this vehicle. I can turn the passenger side airbag off. Don’t worry, Miriam, I won’t let anything happen to her.”
He slammed the door, raced around and got in behind the wheel. The engine roared to life as he sped out of the yard and down the lane with Bella running behind them barking madly.
Chapter Eleven
It was the longest ride of Miriam’s life. Nick tore down the highway with lights and siren blazing. There was nothing she could do but hold her mother’s head, keep the oxygen mask on her face, tell her that everything was going to be okay and pray that she wasn’t lying.
Please, God, please let her be okay. She loves you so much, but please don’t take her away from me.
They met the ambulance ten minutes after leaving the farmhouse. The paramedics were efficient, competent and sympathetic. The roadside transfer went smoothly. Miriam tried to summon her nursing expertise, but she couldn’t. At the moment, she wasn’t a critical care nurse, she was a terrified woman whose mother might be dying.
Once her mother was inside the ambulance, hooked up to an IV and on a heart monitor, Miriam was able to relax a little. She could read and analyze the information the equipment provided. Not knowing what was happening was the hardest part.
It wasn’t until the ambulance crew started to close the doors that she realized Nick was standing outside with Hannah in his arms.
Tears sprang to Miriam’s eyes. Was this the last time she would ever see the baby? She prayed, not for herself, but for the child she loved.
Please, Lord, if it is Your will that she go away from me, hold her in Your hand no matter where she goes in her life.
She met Nick’s gaze. “Can you follow us to the hospital?”
“Of course.” He nodded to the driver who closed the door blocking them from her sight.
The remainder of the trip to the hospital was a blur for Miriam as she concentrated on her mother’s pale face, her ragged breathing and the green blip steadily crossing the surface of the portable monitor.
In the emergency room, her training started to kick in again. She shared her mother’s recent cardiac history with the attending physician and was pleased when he immediately consulted her cardiologist. Her mother was transferred to the coronary care unit after her doctor arrived at the hospital. It wasn’t until Ada was taken for a heart catheterization procedure that Miriam had
time to think about Nick and Hannah.
She found them in the waiting room outside the intensive care unit. Nick was feeding the baby and didn’t see Miriam. Her carrier sat on the floor at his feet. He was alone in the room except for the infant he held.
His monologue of baby talk had Hannah enthralled. The baby couldn’t take her eyes off him. Miriam smiled at his antics. He was so cute. Parenting seemed to come naturally to him.
He tipped Hannah’s bottle to give her the last drops, then set it aside. Lifting her to his shoulder, he patted her back gently until a loud unladylike burp was heard.
“That’s my girl,” he cooed as he settled her in the crook of his arm and dabbed at her chin.
“I leave you alone for thirty minutes and already you’ve taught her to belch like a sailor.” Miriam walked into the room and took a seat across from him. The minute she sat down she realized how tired she was.
“How’s your mother?” Nick asked.
“She’s stable for the moment, they’ve taken her downstairs for a heart catheterization. Her doctor suspects that one of the blood vessels in her heart has closed off. He’s going to try to put a stent in to keep it open. I knew this might happen, I thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn’t.”
“You did everything you could.”
Looking back, she realized it was true. She’d done everything she could under the circumstances. The outcome was up to God and Ada’s doctors. Miriam held out her hands for Hannah. “May I?”
Nick gave the baby over. “She finished her bottle, but I haven’t changed her yet.”
“Leave the tough stuff for me, that’s so like a guy.”
“Hey, if you had shown up five minutes later, it would have all been done.”
“Sure. Sure.”
“That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.” His teasing
was just what she needed. He had a knack for reading her mood and finding a way to lighten it. She loved that about him.
The thought startled her. She gazed at him intently. He was focused on Hannah and didn’t seem to notice her scrutiny. He had changed a lot from the young man she once knew. His eyes were bracketed with small crow’s-feet, and laugh lines were carved into his cheeks. He smiled a lot. She loved that about him, too.
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