Patricia Davids - Amish Christmas Joy

Joy opened the box and picked out two elephant-shaped cookies. She looked at Leah. “Do you want one?”

Leah held out a hand. “May I have a lion?”

“Okay, sure.” Joy extracted two of them, laid the pair in Leah’s palm and gave her an endearing grin.

Children with Down syndrome were normally happy, gregarious individuals. Leah loved that about them. “What shall we give your daddy?”

“A bear,” Joy said quickly.

Leah glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His daughter’s remark caused a reluctant grin to tug at one side of his mouth. “Is that your way of telling me I’m as grumpy as an old bear?”

Leah leaned over to see Joy’s face. “Is your daddy grumpy?”

“Sometimes.” Cookie crumbs sprayed from her lips. She handed him three bears.

“I get grumpy sometimes, too,” Leah admitted. “So do you. What made you so upset a little while ago?”

The child bowed her head. “I don’t know.”

“I think you do. Your daddy can’t fix things for you if he doesn’t know what’s wrong.”

“He wants me to go away.”

“That’s not true,” Caleb said quickly.

“I wanna go home and be with Nana. I want Mama to come get me and take me home. She’ll never find me here.” She laid her head on Leah’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

Leah glanced to Caleb for an explanation. He shook his head slightly. Whatever the story was, he didn’t want to recount it in front of the child. Another awkward minute of silence passed.

Joy sat up and cupped Leah’s face with her hands. “I’m sorry I was bad.”

Leah’s heart turned over. What a sweet child. “You are forgiven. You will like your grossmammi when you meet her, and she will love you.”

Joy tipped her head to the side. “What’s that?”

“Grossmammi? It’s the Amish word for grandmother.”

“Oh. What’s an Amish?”

Leah chuckled. “I am Amish. We are a Plain People who believe in remaining separate from worldly things and living a simple life so that we may live close to God and each other.”

“You’re not plain. You’re pretty.”

“So are you.” Leah gave her a quick hug. “But I need to be going. It’s getting late. I have a long walk home.”

“Don’t go!” Joy threw her arms around Leah’s neck and held on tight.

“Joy, stop that. She has to go.” Caleb tried to pull her arms loose.

“No,” she sobbed, and held on tighter.

“Stop. You’re hurting me. Let go and we will talk about it,” Leah said firmly.

Joy slowly released her grip. “I’m not bad.”

Leah waited for Caleb to say something, but he seemed at a loss for words. She took Joy’s hands and met her gaze. “No one said you are bad. However, your behavior just now was not very nice.”

“I want you to be my friend. I don’t want you to go away.”

“I am your friend, but I have to go home. You have to go meet your grandparents.”

Caleb spoke at last. “Let me give you a lift home. It’s the least I can do after all your help.”

Leah could see Joy was on the verge of another breakdown. She hated giving in. It wouldn’t teach Joy self-control if she got her way with her tantrums. Still, Leah didn’t want to be the cause of another episode. She hadn’t forgiven Caleb for the way he had treated her sister, but ignoring someone in distress, especially a child, wasn’t something she could do. Allowing Joy a chance to calm down might make their parting easier. “That’s kind of you to offer, Caleb. Danki.”

“Great.” His relief was almost comical.

Leah put her hand on the door handle. “I left a bag of groceries on the bench in front of the store. Could you get it for me, Joy?”

“Okay. You won’t go away before I get back, will you?”

“I will wait right here.”

“Put your shoes and coat on first,” Caleb said.

Joy climbed in the backseat, pulled her sneakers and jacket on, then climbed over Leah to get out.

Caleb relaxed as he watched his daughter run to pick up the grocery bag. “You’re very good with kids, Leah. How many do you have?”

“An entire school full.”

He scowled for a second and then smiled. A warm and genuine smile that smoothed the lines of worry from his brow. He was handsome in a rugged way that many women would find attractive. She refused to be one of them. A kind heart was more important than a handsome face.

“I assume that means you’re a teacher?”

“Ja, at Walnut Valley School.”

“The same one we attended as kids? That’s got to feel strange.”

“Not so much. Do you mind if I ask what happened to Joy’s mother?”

His scowl reappeared. “To make a long story short, Valerie and I were together for a year after I left here. One day, I came home and found a note telling me she was leaving. It wasn’t until the next day I found out she had cleaned out our bank account and left me with a pile of debts that took me three years to pay off.”

His life hadn’t been easy out among the Englisch. Leah found small comfort in the thought. Her life hadn’t been easy, either.

“I didn’t hear from her again until she turned up at my door in the middle of the night a month and a half ago. She had Joy with her. She told me I was Joy’s father. She went out to smoke a cigarette and never came back.”

He had been abandoned the same way he had abandoned her pregnant sister. The irony wasn’t lost on Leah, but she saved her pity for Joy.

She looked out the window to see what was keeping her. A horse and buggy had pulled up in front of the store. Joy stood transfixed by the sight. A woman and a young girl got out. Leah recognized Karen Dresher and her young sister, Anna Imhoff. Anna was eleven and one of Leah’s brightest students.

Caleb continued speaking. “My attorney helped me track down Valerie’s stepfather. I learned Joy’s grandmother raised her until her death a few months ago. Valerie came and went over the years. She took Joy with her a few times but always brought her back. The kid’s had a rough life.”

“No wonder she was terrified when she woke and you were gone. She needs stability, a sense of home and security. You are right to return to your family. Among us you will both find acceptance and peace.” Leah meant her words, although she knew it would be difficult for everyone involved, particularly her sister, to accept Caleb back into the family.

Outside, Karen and Anna were talking to Joy. Anna was encouraging her to pet the horse’s nose. Leah smiled and waved to them. Karen waved in return.

“I’m hoping Joy will find acceptance here, but the Amish life isn’t for me,” Caleb said.

Leah whipped around to stare at him in shock. “After all your child has been through you mean to abandon her, too? How can you be so heartless?”

To think she had spared one ounce of pity for him. She fumbled for the door handle, determined to leave before she said more. He leaned across the seat and grabbed her arm to stop her.

Chapter Three

“It isn’t like that. I’m not dumping her off the way her mother did.”

Caleb needed all the help he could get. He couldn’t let Leah leave thinking less of him than she already did. If that was possible.

As a teacher, Leah would be an important part of Joy’s life in the Amish community, second only to his parents if they agreed to raise her. He wanted Leah on his side. On Joy’s side.

Leah stopped trying to open the door and glared at him. “What is it like?”

He let go of her arm. “I put a great-paying job on hold when Joy arrived in my life. I’ve tried to give her what she needs, but my one-bedroom condo isn’t exactly set up for family living. I’ve come back where I know I’m not welcome because I want Joy to have a home. A place she will always belong. A place where she will be loved and valued.