The Amish Nanny

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Joseph turned to Clara. “Is this true?”

She nodded. The women in her family seemed surprised by the news.

“You aren’t?”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“When did this happen?” they asked one after the other without giving her a chance to answer.

When they grew silent, Clara said, “We finished all the yarn yesterday. I thought I mentioned it last night. Maybe I didn’t.”

“There’s a lot you haven’t mentioned,” the youngest of her sisters quipped with a sharp look in Ethan’s direction.

Ethan climbed down from his wagon and approached Clara. She took a quick step back. He stopped where he was. “Perhaps we could discuss this in private?” he asked.

She glanced at her family and then nodded. She detached Lily from her neck and smiled at the child. “This is my sister Betsy. She will take you to meet some of our lambs. Would you like that?”

His niece looked uncertain. He prayed she wouldn’t start crying again. She sniffed once. “Can’t you show them to me?”

Clara lowered the girl to the ground. “I must speak with your onkel, but I will join you in a little while. Okay?”

“Okay.”

That was far easier than he had imagined. The young woman came forward and took Lily by the hand. “We have lots of sheep and some baby kittens, too. Would you like to see them?”

A smile lit Lily’s face. “I love kittens.” She took Betsy’s hand and went willingly. Her brothers tagged along after them.

It was a relief to see Lily acting normal again. Clara had a wondrous effect on the child. Ethan glanced at her. She met his gaze briefly and nodded toward the side yard. “Come this way.”

He followed her to a group of chairs arranged in a semicircle beneath the spreading branches of an elm tree. She took a seat in the shade. He sat in the chair beside her. She leaned away from him and crossed her arms tightly over her middle. “Thank you for not telling my family how I spied on you.”

“A thing that is forgiven should not be mentioned again.”

“I wasn’t sure that you had forgiven me.”

She was such a timid creature. She barely spoke loud enough for him to hear, but he didn’t move closer. He didn’t want to frighten her. It was amazing that she had found the courage to eavesdrop on him. It proved she would put the needs of a child above her own comfort. There was more to Clara Barkman than met the eye.

“Lily has been inconsolable since you left. I’m serious about the job offer. I need someone to look after the children while I’m working. I haven’t been logging since my brother, Greg, and his wife died. I need to get back to work or I won’t be able to feed my family. I can’t take them with me. It’s too dangerous to have them around chain saws and falling trees.”

“I can understand your concern.” She looked up then, and he was struck once more by how pretty she was.

Her skin was smooth and tanned by the sun. Her eyebrows arched like slender wings over her bright blue eyes. They gave her a slightly inquisitive look. He hadn’t noticed before because she was always looking down. Her hair, neatly parted in the center and swept back beneath her white kapp was blond with reddish highlights that reminded him of his teams’ shiny coats. It was easy to imagine her hair glistening in the sunlight, too. How long would it be if she let it down?

He had no business thinking such things about a maiden. Only God and a husband were allowed to gaze upon a woman’s crowning glory.

He realized he was staring when she blushed and dropped her gaze again. He hadn’t come to gawk at her. He was here to convince her to accept his job offer. He couldn’t handle the children alone. He was willing to admit that now. Clara might be the straw he was clutching for, but he was growing desperate.

“If you would consider the job, you should know I occasionally have to take work that’s too far away for me to get home at night. In that case, you may stay with the children at my place, or if you’d rather, you can bring the children home with you. I can’t pay you until I deliver a load of logs to the sawmill, but after that it will be a weekly wage. What do you think?”

“You wish to hire me as your kinder heedah?”

“Ja, as a caregiver for the children.”

She tipped her head to the side. “I had not thought of taking such a job myself. I know many young Amish girls work for the Englisch as nannies or for other Amish families as mother’s helpers.”

Ethan said, “The job would include some housekeeping chores, too. If that’s acceptable?”

“I’m not sure I can take the job although it’s very kind of you to offer. I have applied for the teaching position at Walnut Creek school. The bishop and the school board will be interviewing candidates in a few weeks. If I am chosen, I will have a lot of preparations to make before school starts in September.”

He hadn’t considered that she might have another job lined up already. “Would you consider working for me until you know for sure the teaching position is yours? Even a few weeks will give me time to find someone else.”

“I expect I owe you that much.”

He shook his head. “You don’t owe me anything.”

“I had such unkind thoughts about you. It was wrong of me.”

“And you have my forgiveness. Forget it. If you want the job, it’s yours. If you need time to think it over, could you please decide before I have to pry Lily away today? I’m not sure I can take another day of tears.”

She smiled at that. It was only the tiniest curve of her lips, but it showed a dimple in her right cheek. It reminded him of Jenny. She had deep dimples in both cheeks that appeared every time she smiled. She used to smile at him and make his heart leap, but her smiles were all for someone else now. He swallowed hard against the tightness in his throat.

“Don’t you have a family member who could help with the children?” Clara asked.

It was his turn to stare at the ground. “Greg was my only sibling. I have two aunts, who live in the community where we grew up in Indiana. One is willing to take Lily. The other one is willing to take Amos. My aunts are in their sixties. Neither of them is willing to take all the children and keep them together. Since Micah will be in school, they think I should keep him. He has a reputation for being something of a troublemaker.”

“Well earned, I’m sure. I can understand why you don’t want to split them up. I can’t imagine being separated from my sisters. It would be heartbreaking.”

He was tempted to tell her about his childhood. That was odd. He never spoke of it. Instead, he said, “My brother and his wife would want them to stay together. I know that as sure as I’m sitting here. I took the children without a second thought, but I had no idea how difficult it was going to be.”

“You are blessed to have them.”

Her wistful tone gave him hope. “I know that I am, and I want to raise them as Greg and his Mary would have liked.”

She nodded. “I will discuss your offer with my grandfather. If he agrees, I’ll look after the children until I find out if the teaching job is mine or not.”

“And if the school board chooses someone else?”

“Why don’t we wait and see how it goes until then. Do you think Micah will object to having me there?”

“Micah objects to everything these days. He’ll get over it.”

“I don’t wish to cause more trouble for the two of you.”

“If you agree, there won’t be any trouble at all.” He hoped and prayed that would be the case, but with Micah, he never knew.

* * *

“I don’t think you should take the job.” Greta folded her arms over her chest.

Back inside the house, Clara and two of her sisters were seated at the kitchen table while their grandfather spoke to Ethan outside. Betsy was still down in the barn with the children.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Clara glanced toward the door. What was Ethan telling her grandfather? She didn’t think he would relate how she spied on him, but she hated not knowing.

Greta scowled as she shook her head. “There is something not right about him.”

“You’re imagining things,” Lizzie said. “I didn’t see anything wrong with him.”

Greta straightened in her chair. “It was the way he looked at you, Clara.”

“How did he look at me?” Had she missed something? So often her gaze was fastened to her shoes. It wasn’t modesty. It was apprehension that kept her from looking life in the face. It seemed that she was always afraid.

Greta leaned her forearms on the table. “I don’t know how to describe it. It was like he couldn’t take his eyes off you. Besides, if you thought he was a nice fellow, why didn’t you mention meeting him? Not once, but twice.”

It was time to fess up. “I didn’t say anything because after Faith and I took Micah home, I went back to spy on Ethan.”

“Why?” Greta asked.

“To see if he was as cruel to Micah as our onkel was to us. I’m ashamed to admit that I eavesdropped outside his window. I was nearly discovered, but I hid under his porch like a scolded dog. It’s not an easy thing to confess.”

Lizzie began to giggle. “I would have given a lot to see that. You are always so proper, Clara. I can’t imagine you crawling under a porch. You never did things like that even when we were children.”

“With good reason. There was dirt and cobwebs. A lot of cobwebs. It is not something I intend to repeat.” She was still embarrassed by the incident, but she could see how Lizzie found it amusing.

Lizzie folded her hands on the table. “I think you should take the job. I think taking care of his children for a few weeks is the perfect way to see if you are cut out to be a teacher.”

Clara cocked her head to the side. “Why wouldn’t I be cut out to be a teacher?”

“I’m not saying that you aren’t. I’m just saying it is something you’ve never tried. It might be worse than crawling under a porch.”

“I doubt that,” Clara said as she suppressed a shudder.

Lizzie’s grin widened. “It will give you a chance to find out if you like taking care of children before you commit to doing it for a year.”

“You seem to forget that I took care of all of you for years. Especially Betsy.”

Lizzie shrugged. “Taking care of younger sisters is a far cry from taking care of a whole school.”

Greta shook her head. “I still think it’s a bad idea. We don’t know Ethan Gingerich. He hasn’t been in this community for long, and he isn’t a member of our church. I just think it’s a bad idea.”

Lizzie brushed aside her objections with a wave of her hand. “We haven’t been here long, but we were welcomed with open arms. We should not do less.”

“I haven’t made up my mind,” Clara admitted.

Lizzie rose to her feet. “You should pray about it. In the meantime, we have a supper to finish putting together. Those baskets won’t pack themselves.”

Her sisters stood and went about preparing for an afternoon of visiting, but Clara remained seated at the table. What should she do?

* * *

Ethan endured Joe Shetler’s scrutiny without flinching. He knew his request was an unusual one. As a single man, having Clara, a young single woman, working in his home might be frowned upon by some.

Joe pushed the brim of his straw hat a little higher. “I’ve heard that you are a logger.”

Ethan nodded. “I am. I have worked for a few of your neighbors. I can give you their names and you can ask them about me.”

“I have a stand of old walnut trees that could use thinning, but it’s up above the lake. The ground is steep in places.”

“My teams can work just about anywhere that a horse can stand. I’d be happy to take a look at your trees and see if it’s feasible to log some of them out. Old-growth walnut brings a nice price at the sawmill. The cabinetmakers love it.”

“I might have you do that. Where are your people from?”

This was more along the line of questioning that Ethan expected. “My family hails from southern Indiana. I moved here two years ago. I bought a place out on Cherry Creek Road.”

“Do you still have family in Indiana?”

“Two maiden aunts, who think I should be married and bring it up every chance they get.” He didn’t mention his estranged mother, who still lived there. Some things were best left in the past. “I came here looking for a little peace and quiet. You know how women can be.”

Joe chuckled and jerked his head toward the house. “I had thirty years of peace and quiet, but that has gone by the wayside. I have four granddaughters and a new wife in my house.”

“My condolences.”

Joe gave a sharp bark of laughter and slapped Ethan’s shoulder. “That’s a good one. Most people offer their congratulations.”