Marie E. Bast - The Amish Baker

* * *

Caleb turned Snowball into the driveway and headed toward the barn. He couldn’t understand the change in the bu . Jacob had whistled almost the whole way home.

“Daed, I liked working at the bakery. Sarah said I did a gut job.” When the buggy stopped, Jacob hopped out. “I’ll start chores.”

He stared after his sohn . What had gotten into him? Perhaps he had eaten too many cookies today and the sugar was giving him a burst of energy.

While he led Snowball to a stall, an image of Sarah fought its way back into his mind. He tried to forget about her smile, about how her small frame had felt in his arms, about how her hair had smelled of peach blossoms. But he couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

She was a widow. Did she mention that so he’d know? Nein. He was sure that was not possible. She only mentioned it because her ehemann had made her the bears. Yet a small part of him wanted to think that she wanted him to know.

All week long, Jacob stayed in a gut mood. He did all his chores on time and without one complaint. He cleaned his room without Caleb having to ask. In fact, he never saw the bu sitting once, only at mealtime and in the evenings. Amazing!

At 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, Caleb knocked on Jacob’s bedroom door to wake him for chores, and he was surprised to find him dressed and ready to help with the milking. Usually he had to pry the bu out of bed. Evidently Jacob was smitten with something at the bakery. Caleb ran a hand through his hair. But what?

The work? Hard to believe.

Sarah? He wouldn’t be interested in girls at his age. Yet he did believe Jacob still missed his mamm . Sarah had praised the bu for doing a gut job, as Martha often had. Maybe he needed to do that more, as well.

Jacob helped hitch Snowball to the buggy, then was the first one to hop in the buggy. The closer Snowball got to town, the faster he trotted and the faster he got his treat of oats.

Caleb’s heart rate also increased the closer they got to Kalona. He rubbed his sweaty palms across his thighs. It was too soon for him to think about a frau .

* * *

Sarah couldn’t resist a smile when the bakery door opened. “ Gut mornin’, Jacob. Ready to work again?”

He nodded. “Daed had errands to do and will stop back later.”

“Gut.” Sarah swiped her hands together to dust the flour off and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “This is Hannah Ropp. She works with me in the bakery.”

“Nice to meet you, Jacob.” Hannah smiled. “So, you’re going to spend your Saturday with us? Datt is wunderbaar . We can certainly use the help around here.”

“Nice to meet you, Hannah.” He hung his hat, rolled up his sleeves and dug in to the dirty pans stacked in the sink.

“A man of few words—I like datt ,” Hannah teased.

Sarah finished making the apple pie, sprinkled the top with cinnamon and sugar and then set it in the oven beside the other three pies. She glanced at Jacob, who was busy scrubbing the jelly roll pan. “Jacob, what would you like to do when you grow up? Farm like your daed ?”

“Be a baker like you.”

Sarah paused. She hadn’t expected that. “Jah?” She turned toward Jacob. “You could come and work with Hannah and me. We’d like that, wouldn’t we, Hannah?”

“Of course we would.” She laughed.

“My daed was a baker, Jacob. This was his bakery. I worked here every day after school, helping him.” Sarah finished kneading the dough, set the mound of wheat bread into a pan, covered it and set it off to the side to rise.

“After Mamm died, the bakery was the place Daed, my brother Turner and I worked together as a family. After Daed and my husband, Samuel, died, the bakery, Hannah and our customers became my family. Turner took over Daed’s woodworking shop. Now he’s too busy to stop by much.”

“I didn’t think I’d seen Turner in here lately.” Hannah tossed her a curious look.

“ Jah. He usually stopped in for a roll and coffee a couple of times a week, but not lately. Maybe he had extra woodworking orders with summer and the Englischers’ wedding season close.”

Jacob finished washing pans, swept the floors and then trotted to the front and wiped off tables. He laughed with Sarah and Hannah when a lull in customers permitted it.

Sarah snatched little glances of Jacob as he worked. He was a wunderbaar little bu , and she enjoyed his company. “Jacob, did your mamm bake you cookies?”

“ Jah , Mamm was a gut baker. She made all kinds of cookies and pies. On my birthday, she’d make me a cake. She made a quilt for my bed. It had squares on it and each one had a different-shaped leaf made out of autumn-colored fabric. When I was sick one time, she sat up all night beside my bed.” His voice cracked and he wiped a tear from his cheek.

Sarah’s heart wept as she sensed Jacob missed his mamm and craved the attention of a mother figure. She had experienced that before when other kinner in her church had lost a parent. Perhaps she could fill the void for Jacob in some way.

Maybe his daed didn’t see Jacob’s need to confide in a woman. On the other hand, maybe he did and that was the reason why he agreed to bring Jacob to work with her in the bakery.

Late morning, Caleb pushed open the bakery door, and Sarah met him at the counter. “Would you like a cookie and a cup of coffee before you head home?”

“ Datt would be nice. Would you sit with me at a table for a few minutes?”

“ Jah. I have a little time. Especially now since I have two good workers in the bakery.” She said it in a voice a bit louder than normal and glanced over her shoulder at Jacob to see if he had heard.

She caught the little smile pulling at the corners of Jacob’s mouth as he tried to hold it back.

Her heart stuttered at Caleb’s nearness. She handed him a cookie on a plate, poured two cups of coffee and then followed him to a table. When she sat, her gaze met his. His sage-green eyes held hers as tightly as his two strong arms had last Saturday. A rush of warmth flooded her cheeks as she remembered that moment.

“I hope Jacob helped some. He’s a small bu and has his limitations.”

“Jacob is a fabulous worker. He washed pans, mopped the floor, cleaned tables, loaded trays on the cart and pushed it out front. He’s a great help and strong, too. Does he do a lot of work at home?”

“His sister, Mary, who’s thirteen, does the housework. Jacob works outside, mostly in the garden. When he gets older, he’ll farm with me.”

“I see. Is that what he wants to do?”

“What boy doesn’t want to work alongside his daed ?” Caleb’s smile reflected a fatherly elation.

“ Jah , indeed, but sometimes kinner want to go their own way and try something new.”

Brushing off the temptation to enlighten him that Jacob preferred the bakery to farming, she sipped her coffee and held her tongue. It wasn’t her place to do so, and besides Jacob could change his mind. It might just be a novelty for him to work in a bakery. Something different than cleaning a dirty barn.

Jacob and Hannah both let out a laugh.

“I haven’t heard him laugh since his mamm died. It’s doing him gut to come and work here.”

“Hannah and I enjoyed having him.” She turned and faced the kitchen. “Jacob, your daed is here for you.”

Jacob strolled to the front of the bakery and stopped at the end of the table.