“Denki.” Esther’s reply was breathless.
Martha arranged the cool cotton wash cloth on her schweschder’s head and walked to the window. From the second story window she could see much of the Hostetlers’ farm. There was no sign of Moses.
Martha wondered why Esther was suffering so poorly with morning sickness when Hannah had no morning sickness at all – it hardly seemed fair. At hearing her schweschder groan she turned around. “Do you want something, Esther?”
“Nee, I just don’t want to feel sick anymore.”
Martha thought being that sick day after day would be awful, but surely it would be all worth it in the end to have a boppli to hold in her arms. Martha shrugged. She dare not offer Esther any food; she had done that once already with disastrous results. Jacob had warned her never to mention food until lunch time and never in the morning.
Esther stirred again. “Denki for coming to look after me, Martha.”
“I’m glad to be of help.” Martha was indeed glad to be of help to Esther, but she was frustrated that she could not do any work on her business while she was away looking after Esther. There were so many things that she should have been doing. She had to return calls to the wholesaler to get quotes for buying her ingredients in bulk and then there were the packaging people to deal with. She had tracked down a place in California that made the foils that she wanted for her cream centers. There were so many loose ends and so many things to do. She took a deep breath which was bordering on a sigh and sat on Esther’s bed, leaning over her to straighten the wash cloth that was threatening to slip off Esther’s face.
“That’s fine, just leave it. I like it over my eyes.” Esther’s voice was weak.
Martha knew that morning sickness was a normal part of pregnancy for many women, but she couldn’t help but worry if the baby was all right. How will the baby get nutrients if Esther is hardly eating? she thought. I hope that I never have morning sickness. It was hard for Martha to see Esther so sick. It brought back bad memories of when they had the buggy accident and all her schweschders were injured. That was a hard time for the whole familye and it was the cause of their mudder disliking the Hostetlers, but now, with Hannah having had twins, her mudder had made her peace with her in-laws, the Hostetlers.
Martha smiled as she recalled how Noah and Hannah had finally gotten married and now had two beautiful bopplis, a boy and a girl.
Esther's voice broke into her daydreaming. “You don’t have to sit here with me on the bed, Martha.”
“Okay, I’ll go and get the midday meal ready for when Jacob comes home.”
As soon as the word meal came out of Martha’s mouth, she knew she had said the word she was warned never to say – and the effect was instant.
Esther flung the wash cloth from her head and lowered her head over the bucket – again.
“I’m sorry,” Martha said in a very small voice.
Once Esther’s head was back on the pillow again, Martha said, “I’ll go now.”
Esther did not reply and Martha tiptoed out the door.
As soon as Martha entered Esther’s kitchen, she immediately felt at home. The kitchen was large and very much like the one in which she had been raised. The kitchen in Sheryl's apartment was far smaller.
There were three loaves of bread, which Jacob said had been brought over this morning freshly baked by his mudder, Katie Hostetler. Mrs. Hostetler was delighted to have two kinskinner already, with Hannah's twins, and with another on the way thanks to Esther. She had promised to bring over some beef stew the following day. Mrs. Hostetler was a kindly woman, and even more sympathetic as she herself had experienced severe morning sickness when carrying all four of her sohns.
Martha decided to make shoo-fly pies, and as there were plenty of apples, Martha thought she'd also make apple pies, and lots of lattwaerig, sweet, creamy, apple butter which would then be on hand for Jacob and Esther to spread on bread.
“How is she, Martha?”
Martha looked up to see Jacob standing in the doorway, his face white and drawn, and full of concern. “She’s sleeping now. Last time I checked on her, she said that the nausea had gone and she was exhausted.”
Jacob's face filled with relief. “Jah, the nausea seems to go around noon. The doktor said that morning sickness can last all day and night, and that the term 'morning sickness' is somewhat of a misnomer, but in Esther's case, it actually does only last the morning. That said, sometimes it does come in another wave around dinner time if she smells meat cooking.”
Martha immediately swung around to the schnitz und knepp on the stove. “Oh dear, I have a lot of pork in with the dried apples and dumplings.”
Jacob waved her concerns aside. “That should be okay; there’s about five or so hours in the afternoon when she's fine.”
“Thank goodness. So you must be really excited and looking forward to the boppli.”
Jacob's face lighted up. “Jah, we’re so blessed to be having a boppli so soon after we married. I'm so worried about Esther being sick, but the doktor said it happens to lots of women. Even the midwife said she'd had very bad morning sickness herself with all her kinner.” Jacob pulled out a chair from the dining table in the kitchen and sat down. “So how are you going, Martha?”
Martha was enjoying her busy day with Esther because she didn’t have time to think of her own problems. Although her new job meant that she didn’t have to think about trying to find a new place to live and she didn’t have to think about her savings getting lower and lower, she felt somewhat alone in the strange and bustling world of the Englischers. “I’m fine.” Martha laughed, but even she was aware that it was not joyous laughter; it was more of a forced cackle. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” she repeated, not too convincingly.
“You sure now? I know it can’t be easy in the Englisch world by yourself with no one to rely on when you’re used to having the community around.”
“Jah, I’m noticing now that I’ve left, just how gut it is to have the community; they’re like one big familye.”
Jacob smiled at her, but his face looked worn and worried. “If you need anything at all - anything, you know Esther and I are here to help you, don’t you?”
“Jah, denki, Jacob.”
Jacob gave the table a slap with his hand. “Now I’d better go and see how my fraa is doing.”
“Lunch won’t be long. Sorry I didn’t have it ready in time.”
“You’re doing a wunderbaar job, Martha.”
Martha smiled to herself as Jacob hurried up the stairs to see Esther. They are truly a gut match, she thought. Esther is very blessed.
Both her schweschders had been blessed to marry such wunderbaar menner and they were both Hostetlers, and bruders at that. Her friend, Mary, had teased her that she would marry another of the Hostetler boys. Martha considered Mary a little cruel, and at any rate, her mudder might not be happy if another of her dochders married a Hostetler. Her mudder did appear to be fine with the Hostetler familye now, and Martha did not want to do anything to jeopardize that.
Martha always knew she would get married some day, but getting married and being sick in a bed like Esther was for most of the day, was not something she wanted to do anytime soon. Besides, unlike her schweschders, she had career goals. Her chocolate business was going to become a global brand; she was sure of that. Then after she achieved success, she would think of marriage and bopplis, but not before then.
As Martha stirred the gravy on the gas stove, she compared the Amish life to the Englisch life she’d known so far. The Englisch life was fast paced and exciting, whereas the Amish life was slow, and seemed to be the same everyday. Martha was glad to have some color in her life at last.
Martha served the mashed potatoes with noodles and vegetables on the table and just as she had laid it all out, Jacob came down the stairs.
“That was gut timing; it’s ready.”
“Denki, Martha.”
“Is Esther well enough to eat?”<
br />
Jacob shrugged. “She said she would try to eat a little. Mamm says it’s best if she tries to eat.”
“Excellent, I’ll take some up to her.”
As Jacob ate his food, Martha fixed Esther some food on a tray.
“Lemonade too – she likes lemonade," Jacob said. "There’s some in the cooler.”
“Oh gut, she needs to keep her fluids up. She said that’s what the midwife told her.” Martha poured the lemonade into a glass, placed it carefully on the tray with the food and carried it upstairs.
“How are you now?”
Esther was sitting up a little higher propped up by pillows. “Oh, I’m sorry to be such a bother. This reminds me when we were all hurt from that buggy accident.”
Martha placed the tray carefully on her lap and placed the lemonade on the nightstand. “I know.” Martha giggled. “I was just thinking that myself.”
“I don’t like to be a bother.”
“Nonsense, it’s no bother at all. Besides you might come and help me if I am like this in a few years.”
Esther smiled and said, “Of course I will.”
Martha did not add that it would be a great many more years before she would have bopplis. She was sure that she was the only girl in the community who did not want lots of bopplis. Nee, she was a career woman and two bopplis were as many as she wanted. She might even have an Englisch husband and he would definitely not be a Hostetler. Martha wanted to chuckle at her thoughts, but held her laughter in.
Moses Hostetler was a gut friend and if she wanted to marry an Amish mann, he would make a fine husband, but Martha wanted more out of life than any other Amish girl she knew.
“Is Jacob still here?” Esther asked.
“Jah, he’s downstairs eating.” Martha picked up the cold wash cloth off the bed to take downstairs. “Do you want me to go get him?”
“Nee, he’ll come and see me before he goes back to work.”
Martha nodded. “Do you want me to stay for a few days?”
“Nee, I’ve got Mamm coming tomorrow. She's staying until I feel better. Mamm said that she had morning sickness just like I have, and when she got to fourteen weeks - bam! She woke up one morning and it was gone, and never came back. It was like that with all four of us, although Mamm said her morning sickness wasn't as bad as mine.”
"I didn’t know that." Martha was surprised to hear. Their mudder rarely talked about anything personal. Nevertheless, Martha was relieved, relieved that her mudder was going to look after Esther and relieved that she could finally get back to the huge pile of work that was waiting for her. She was even looking forward to seeing Gary Wright.
After Jacob ate what appeared to be a mountain of food, he said goodbye to Esther and made his way back to work.
“What are you doing, Martha?”
Martha swung around from the sink where she was washing the dishes, to see Esther standing there, and a little color was back in her face. Martha quickly pulled out a chair from the table for Esther. “Sit here. Do you feel any better?”
“Jah, I always feel better at this time of day and then I think that I’m never going to be sick again. Then it starts again in the mornings.” Esther pulled a face. “Sometimes cooking smells make me a little nauseous as well.”
Martha patted Esther on the shoulder. “I’ll make us a meadow tea.” She was grateful to have this quiet time with her schweschder. Since Esther had married Jacob they had hardly spent any time together at all and it was the same since their oldest schweschder, Hannah, had married. “Your boppli and Hannah’s bopplis will all be a gut age to play together when they get older.”
Esther patted her tummy, which was barely any bigger than normal. “Jah, Jakob and I want to have quite a few kinner.” Esther looked up at Martha. “What about you, Martha?”
“Do I want kinner?” Martha turned away from her to tend to the tea.
“Jah, or do you just want to sell your chocolates?” Esther chuckled.
“You must be feeling better if you’re able to laugh at me.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll be serious. I know you want kinner, but do you want to have many?”
“I’ll have to find a mann first, but I would like to have only two or three kinner, not a whole bunch.”
Esther nodded, and there was a twinkle in her eye. “I’ve hardly had any time to talk with you, but I remember you did mention that you’d met a nice Englischer. Is there anything happening with him?”
“We’ve been out a couple of times, so we’re just taking things slowly.” Martha found it hard to speak to any of her schweschders about dating an Englischer. They had never been on rumspringa so they would never be able to understand the things that she was going through or what it was like to date an Englischer. Englisch menner were so different to Amish boys.
“I see. That’s probably best. But what about Amish boys? Surely there’s a nice Amish boy that you like?”
Martha set the cup of meadow tea in front of Esther and sat opposite her. “Nee, there are no Amish boys I like, not in that way.”
“Hmm. I thought you'd say that." Esther looked up at Martha and chuckled. "I didn’t even know that I liked Jacob; it was just something that seemed to happen all of a sudden, even though I'd known him nearly my whole life. Don’t let an opportunity pass you by, Martha."
1 Thessalonians 2:13.
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
Chapter 4 .
Martha sat opposite Gary Wright, her neighbor in the upstairs apartment, at a restaurant. She had taken Sheryl's advice, and told Gary she was having dinner with him "just as a friend." She didn't want to give Gary the wrong idea. He was a handsome Englischer and seemed nice, if not a little unusual, and she had always wanted an Englischer boyfriend, but she had never dated before and knew that the Englisch dated differently from the Amish.
Sheryl had advised her to allow Gary to pay for her, and although Martha had thought that was not a good idea, Sheryl said that was the way it was done. Sheryl had even insisted that Martha borrow her clothes. Martha felt a little uncomfortable in the sky blue, sleeveless, double belted dress which clung to her figure. It was a little above her knees but thankfully had a modest neckline. It showed off far more skin than Martha was comfortable with, but she was determined to look like an Englischer. Sheryl had informed her that it was a Calvin Klein dress, but Martha had no idea what that meant. Sheryl had even insisted that she borrow a pearl necklace and matching pearl earrings. Martha had tried to refuse on the basis that they were too expensive, but Sheryl had assured her that they were cheap and fake.
Sheryl had done Martha's hair with an instrument that Sheryl called a curling iron, and had done her make up. Martha was afraid she would look like a clown, but gasped with delight when Sheryl finally allowed her to look in the mirror. Her long, chestnut hair fell about her in waves, and the makeup was subtle. In fact, it didn't look so much like make up, more like an even skin tone and glowing skin. Martha allowed herself a small prideful moment; after all, she was living as an Englischer now.
Martha turned her attention back to Gary, who was studying the menu. He was more handsome when he wasn't speaking, as he loved to pull silly faces or make exaggerated expressions when he was talking.
Gary looked up and saw Martha watching him. "I'm paying for you, Martha, if that's okay?" When she nodded and thanked him, he added, "And you don’t have to pick the cheapest thing on the menu to be polite. That's what I did when I was a student and people paid for my dinner." Gary laughed loudly and slapped one hand on the table, causing other patrons to turn and look at him.
"So what do you do, Gary?" Martha asked. "Are you a musician, or do you do something else?"
Gary looked affronted. "No, I wouldn’t make money out of music; that wouldn't be right. I'm an accounts executive."
"Oh." Martha had no idea what an accounts executive was, but it did sound impressive. Gary was dressed better than usual tonight too, not in the same shabby clothes he wore around the apartment. Well, why would he wear the same clothes all the time? she scolded herself. Moses wears farm clothes most times, but he wears good clothes to church meetings. Still, Martha didn't care what someone wore; it was what was inside that counted.
If only Moses was an Englischer, Martha thought. She'd had a crush on Moses for years, but was determined to make her way in the Englisch world. She knew that Moses would never leave the Amish. He wouldn't even go on rumspringa, despite the fact that his oldest bruder, Noah, had. Moses said he was just wasn't interested.
Sitting there, Martha could not help herself making comparisons between the two men. Gary was pale and slender, and had soft hands. By contrast, Moses was broad-shouldered, tall and thick set, with big muscles from all his farm work. Moses set her heart aflutter, whereas Gary had no effect on her whatsoever. Still, one of the television shows that Sheryl made her watch said that women take a while to be attracted to a man. Martha was determined to give Gary a chance.
Martha looked around the restaurant. There were as many Englischers here as there were Amish eating in a shift after a Singing, but here, men and women were eating together. Instead of gas lighting, there was electric lighting which was turned down to promote a cozy ambience, but it still felt harsh to Martha. There were heavy, gilt mirrors everywhere, and Martha felt herself looking at them constantly. She had barely seen a mirror in her entire life, and it seemed that the Englisch world was full of mirrors of every shape and description.
The wall behind Gary was glass and presumably designed to afford patrons a clear view of the wine cellar. Martha's community didn’t drink, although people on rumspringa were allowed to drink. Martha didn’t feel comfortable drinking so declined when Gary asked her if she'd like some wine.
"You don’t mind if I drink then, do you?" Gary asked.
"No, of course not." Martha was relieved that Gary didn’t ask her any questions about not drinking.
The Amish Millers Get Married BOXED SET Books 1-3 (Amish Romance Book Bundle: The Way Home, The Way Forward, The Narrow Way) (Boxed Set: Amish Millers Get Married) Page 18
