Jan Drexler - The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart

Guy stared at the plate in his hand. Is that what David was doing? Teaching him to be a farmer?

“I’m not sure that’s what I want.”

John scraped the last crumbs of his pie into a pile with the back of his fork. “Don’t be too quick to decide. Ask for God’s direction.”

Guy nodded. “Sure.” Ask God. That’s what Verna would tell him.

“Meanwhile, soak up all you can from David’s teaching. You never know when those skills will come in handy, whether you stay on the farm or not.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Guy took his plate to the sink. He didn’t know how long he’d be living with the Masts. David had never said anything about him staying on past this year. But then, he never had the other years, either.

“David loves you like a son. You know that, don’t you?”

Guy glanced at John as he went back into the front room to join the Singing again. He had gone over this time and again in his head, ever since the first summer he had stayed with the Masts. David and Verna seemed to like him, but after all these years, they had never adopted him, and he knew why. He wasn’t Amish. He wasn’t good enough for them.

* * *

Judith leaned away from Luke until her back touched the wall. His hand rested next to her head as he loomed over her. She had to look up at an uncomfortable angle to see his face, but it was worth it. Luke Kaufman was one of the cutest boys she had ever seen and popular with the other fellows.

“How long will you be staying with Matthew’s family?” Luke’s blue eyes held hers in a steady gaze as he took a sip of punch.

“Quite a while. At least until the twins are a few years old, I think.”

He glanced away as a girl’s laughter rose above the conversations in the room, then focused back on her.

“Did you leave a lot of friends behind in Shipshewana?”

Judith shook her head. She and Esther hadn’t done much socializing before their brother Samuel got married.

Luke leaned even closer. “Not even a boyfriend?”

“Ne, no boyfriend.” Judith felt her cheeks flush hot. Were all boys this bold?

“Then you’ll have to let me be your first beau.” He smiled, but his eyes smoldered. “I’ll take you home from the Singing tonight.”

Judith pressed her lips together to keep from giggling. Luke leaned even closer to her, making her even more nervous, but she couldn’t move away with the wall right behind her. “You must already have a girl you’re interested in.” She turned her punch glass in her hands, not daring to take a drink. She was shaking so much inside that she would spill the punch down the front of her dress, for sure.

He shrugged. Even his shrugs were smooth and self-assured.

“No girl to speak of.” He lifted one of her Kapp strings with his finger. “Not now.”

She couldn’t stop the nervous giggle from escaping again. “Then, there was a girl?”

“No one special.” Luke breathed the words as he leaned even closer. He smelled of soap and something else that Judith couldn’t identify. Something smoky and bitter. His gaze slid from her eyes to her mouth and her stomach flipped over.

Someone clapped their hands to get everyone’s attention. “It’s time to take your seats.” Reuben Stoltzfus’s voice carried over the rest of the sounds in the room, but Luke didn’t move.

“Let me take you home tonight. Meet me at the end of the lane.”

Judith found herself nodding, but then remembered her promise to Matthew and turned the nod to a shake.

“I can’t. Matthew said he was coming for me.”

“When he sees that you’ve already gone, he’ll understand.”

Judith shook her head again and ducked under Luke’s arm to head back to her seat. “Ne. Matthew said that he wanted to take me home this time.”

“I’ll get my way.” He tugged on the Kapp string again and gave her a heart-stopping smile. “Count on it.”

As Judith slid into her seat next to Hannah, the other girl grabbed her hand.

“I saw you talking to Luke. Did you like him?”

Judith glanced down the table toward Luke. He was laughing with the fellows sitting on either side of him. Their conversation during the break had been unsettling, but she wasn’t sure why. She hadn’t had much experience talking to boys.

“He is nice, I guess.”

Hannah squeezed her hand. “I knew you’d think so.”

Reuben called out the number for the first song, and the group had nearly finished it before Guy took his seat again. He looked in her direction, then at his songbook. Judith kept watching him. He stared at the book, but didn’t join in the singing.

The next song was a fun one. Each verse was about two people who had a hole in their bucket, and at the end it repeated the lines from all the previous verses. By the time they reached the twelfth verse, everyone was laughing so hard they couldn’t keep singing. Everyone except the young man across the table from her.

After the rollicking fun, someone suggested a quick break. Judith stayed in her seat this time, not wanting to be cornered by Luke again.

A few minutes later, a cup of punch appeared on the table in front of her. She looked up to see Guy smiling at her.

“Denki,” she said.

He made his way around the end of the table to his seat and took a drink of his punch. Judith leaned toward him, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn’t hear their conversation.

“Why didn’t you sing with us?”

Guy rubbed the side of his nose. “I don’t talk Deitsch well, and I can’t read it.”

“So why did you come to the Singing?”

“I don’t know.” He looked miserable.

“You have a nice voice. I heard you humming along with us earlier.”

A shadow of a smile flashed at her. “Do you mind if we speak English?”

She switched languages, just as he had. “No.” She gave him a mock frown. “But you won’t improve your Deitsch if you don’t use it.” She laid her hands on the table and leaned closer to him. “Why don’t you know how to speak like us?”

“I wasn’t raised here—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the next song was announced. This one was a round, and it took concentration for Judith to keep up with her part. Half of her thoughts were on Guy, though. How could he not know Deitsch?

At ten o’clock, the singing was over. Luke and some of the other boys rushed out the door, but the girls stood in groups to chat. With a half hour to wait for Matthew, Judith started helping a few of the young people who were collecting the songbooks.

She had picked up a small stack when she met Guy coming around the other side of the table with his own hands full of books.

“I’ll take those for you,” he said.

Judith handed him the books she had gathered. “You’re speaking English again.”

Guy shrugged. “The Penn Dutch is too hard. Everyone here understands English, so why should I learn it?”

“You’d fit in with the other fellows better. Don’t you want that?”

“I’m not sure they want me around.”

“You should give it a try.” Judith stepped closer to him. “All you need is someone to teach you.”

He glanced around, then ducked his head toward her. “Could you teach me?”

He was serious, his eyes locked on hers, waiting for her answer.

“I’m not sure I’d be a very good teacher, but I could try.”

“Maybe we could get together this coming week?” He grinned. “If you can ever get away from those babies.”

Judith frowned. Did he dislike children that much? “Those babies are the reason I’m here, and I don’t want to get away from them.”

“C’mon, I was only teasing.” His cheeks turned red.

Judith grinned back at him. “I’m glad you were, because I love Annie’s children. All three of them.”