Lenora Worth - Her Amish Child

When she heard a knock, Raesha jumped. Her nerves were sorely rattled today.

“I’ll see who it is,” she said, nervous energy bouncing off her.

Raesha opened the door to find Josiah Fisher standing there, wet and shivering in the wind, his hat dripping a pool of water on the porch rug.

“Josiah,” she said on a surprised gasp. “ Kumm inside.”

Why was he back so soon? Why did he look so wonderfully good, his dark eyes moving over her in shades of doubt? He had broad shoulders and a sturdy build. Why was she even thinking such things while he stood there in the damp air?

He stepped inside and she shut the door, her arms gathered against her stomach. “Did you need something?”

“I’m sorry to bother you again but it’s going to take longer than a day to fix up the house. I was headed back to the inn after I went into town to load some wood, but Mr. Hartford at the general store said you sometimes rent out rooms. I was wondering if I could possibly rent the grossdaddi haus out back. It would help me so much to be near my place and I can visit with Dinah some, too.” He paused, his head dipping down. “If that would be all right.”

His expression held a longing and a need that Raesha couldn’t deny.

But could she tolerate his being so close to Dinah?

And so near to her?

Josiah took off his hat and hung it on a peg Naomi indicated by the door. Then he sat at the kitchen table while the woman took Dinah with her and Raesha into another room to discuss whether or not they could rent the grossdaddi haus to him. He hadn’t thought this through and now he regretted blurting out his proposal to Raesha.

She obviously didn’t want him around. Did she find him revolting and unappealing or was she afraid he’d take the babe away in the middle of the night?

He’d been so frantic earlier while loading boards at the general store. With the weather turning bad and the idea of either sleeping in a cold house with a burned-out roof on one side or taking his buggy back the fifteen miles to get another room at the inn since he’d given up the one he had, Josiah had voiced his worries to Mr. Hartford.

That’s when the kindly storekeeper had suggested this solution. “The Bawell ladies are kind and they have often opened their home to those in need. They make money off their millinery shop and sell other items there—mostly for the tourists who come through. But they need all the income they can find. That’s a mighty big place.”

Josiah stood and stared out the wide window over the sink. Such a pretty spot, too. He barely remembered the Bawells but then, he’d tried to put his memories of Campton Creek behind him. He did remember that their son, Aaron, maybe a year or so older than Josiah, had spoken to him often at church gatherings and such. Raesha must have come along after Josiah and Josie had moved away.

A big mistake, that. His feisty younger sister had started acting out when she reached her teen years. He’d hoped she’d sown all of her wild oats during her rumspringa but Josephine Fisher was determined to see the world outside their small settlement. He still didn’t know if she’d ever been baptized.

But he did believe his troubled sister had been running from something.

Well, she’d seen the world all right. His heart bumped at the weight of seeing that bobbeli that only reminded him of his failure as a brother. Was the man she’d been engaged to the father of that baby? Or had she strayed?

If Dinah was even her child, of course.

He’d come back here to salvage the farm and maybe sell it to help pay back his cousin’s kindness. But he’d done that only in hopes of finding Josie. But if she’d been here and left this child with these kind women, she’d also done her homework.

What better place to abandon a baby?

He wondered if she’d come home, thinking to open up the house and instead, alone and afraid, had found it wasn’t livable. Had she dropped off her child in a fit of despair?

Could she still be in the area?

He’d reached Nathan Craig, a man known for tracking down missing Amish. Nathan had already talked to several people who’d seen a young woman fitting her description and carrying a baby. But she could easily blend in here among the other younger women. Someone could be hiding her. He didn’t know and now he had other things to consider. The house repairs and, possibly, an infant niece.

Thinking he’d leave and not bother these women again until they all went to the community center tomorrow, Josiah turned to leave.

“Josiah?”

He pivoted at the door to find Raesha standing at the edge of the big long living room. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was aggravated and cold and hungry earlier. Never mind me asking about staying here. I do not think that’s wise.”

“We don’t mind,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure. “I will have to clear it with the bishop and we’d lock the door to the long porch that connects the grossdaddi haus to this house. We don’t use that way much now so it’s usually locked anyway. We tend to go out the side door by the shop.”

“I would not harm you or bother you,” he said, hope gaining speed again. “I won’t show up on your doorstep again. I just need a place close by while I rebuild my house.”

“I understand,” Raesha said. “It makes sense and we do often rent out equipment and the occasional room. We often have relatives visiting for long periods and they find the grossdaddi haus comfortable.”

“I don’t want to impose.”

“It’s no bother,” she said. “But we will have to consider what to do if Dinah is truly your niece.”

“I had planned to sell the place, but I wouldn’t want to take her away.” He paused. “I told my onkel and cousins I’d be back. I borrowed traveling money from my onkel and one of my cousins is angry with me.”

Raesha’s expression softened at that. “I’m sorry to hear of your hardship. Maybe you can send them the money even if you decide to stay. It might take longer to pay off but at least they’d know you mean to do so. Once you have your house in order she—Dinah—would be right next door.”

He grabbed at hope. And he’d be right next to Raesha. “You could visit her often.”

“And watch her if you need us.”

They seemed to be reaching a truce of sorts.

Josiah gazed at the woman across the room, their eyes holding with a push and pull that reminded him of a rope tug.

“I did call Mr. Craig. People have seen someone matching her description in town and the woman was carrying a baby. But no one can be sure.”

“Then there is hope that she will return,” Raesha said. “I pray God will give us insight.

“If your sister comes back, we will do what we can for her,” Raesha said, her tone soft and quiet. “You can still do what you set out to do and Naomi and I will continue on.”

Josiah nodded and rubbed his face. “This is a gut plan, ja ?”

“That remains to be seen,” Raesha replied. “Meantime, you are here and it’s storming out there. You will stay for supper.”

“I will?”

She smiled at the surprise in his question. “If you are so inclined.”

“I’m inclined,” he said. “Whatever’s simmering on that stove smells mighty gut .”

“Then sit by the fire and I’ll go and tell Naomi we have reached an agreement. We will discuss the details after supper.”

“You are a very forceful woman,” he said, moving across to the welcoming heat coming from the woodstove.

“I am a woman on my own with a mother-in-law I hold dear and with way more property than I can handle. I’ve learned to be forceful. Some frown on that, however.”