Jan Drexler - The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart

“Well?” Guy set the filters in their place and attached the big onion-shaped hopper on the top of the cream separator.

“Are you serious about learning Deitsch?” She handed him the clean steel buckets that would hold the separated milk and cream. Guy started the slow, heavy crank, getting the separator up to speed before he poured the milk into it.

“Of course I am.” He lifted the first pail and poured steaming milk into the hopper. “At least, I am if you’re going to teach me.”

Judith leaned on the table, watching until the twin streams of milk and cream came out of the spouts and into the waiting buckets.

“I’ll be happy to do it, if you really want to learn. You’ll need to speak and read Deitsch well if you’re going to join the church.”

Guy poured the second pail of milk into the top of the separator, then continued cranking at the slow, steady speed the machine required. The look in Hannah Kaufman’s eyes as she laughed at him last fall still stung. The only reasons to learn Penn Dutch were so he wouldn’t be laughed at and so he could fit in better with the crowd. He hadn’t thought about joining church. Becoming one of them.

“I don’t need to join the church to fit in around here, do I? The other guys my age haven’t joined.”

“Some of them have.”

Glancing at her face, her pink cheeks told him that he had been too blunt. She was disappointed in him.

“It just isn’t for me.” He tried to make his voice sound casual. The pink had spread to the end of her nose.

“You don’t have to join church,” she said, clearing her throat. “But being able to understand what folks are saying will make living in the community easier. Like when you go to the Singings or to the church meetings.”

He cranked the separator in silence. She wasn’t laughing at him. It seemed like she really wanted to help him. The bonus was that getting Judith to teach him Pennsylvania Dutch meant they would spend time together. Time he could spend learning to know her, getting close to her. Becoming a friend.

“When would we do this?”

Her face brightened. “I thought we could get together after supper, unless you still have chores to do then.”

“Naw, David gives me the evenings off.” He let the separator slow as the last of the milk emptied out of the hopper. “Were you thinking of starting tonight?”

“We can begin tonight, but it’s going to take more than one evening. It will take weeks for you to pick up the basics.”

That brought a grin he couldn’t hide. Weeks spent in Judith’s company? He set the pails of skim milk and cream aside and put the empty milk buckets under the separator’s spouts. He dumped a bucket of hot water into the hopper and let it pour through all those disks and filters, rinsing out any milk that lingered.

“Okay, I’m game.”

“Wonderful-gut!” She started for the door. “I have a children’s book we can use to begin with. Come over after supper, when Eli is in bed for the night. Around seven o’clock.”

Judith smiled then, her joy catching him by surprise. She truly wanted to do this, which meant only one thing. She liked him. He felt his own smile spreading across his face.

“I’ll be over after supper, then.” He grinned. “It’s a date.”

As Judith let the door close behind her, Guy went back to his work, but the grin slid off his face. He was looking forward to spending time with Judith, but what was he expecting to get out of learning that Penn Dutch stuff? It was one thing to live with the Masts and work for them. It was something completely different to become one of them.

He pushed away the warm feeling that started whenever he thought of belonging here. Truly belonging here. That would never happen. He had learned long ago not to get his hopes up. The Masts, as much as they seemed to like him, had never really made him part of their family. It seemed if you weren’t born Amish, you’d always be an outsider.

Besides, when Pa came for him...

Guy shook his head, chasing the stale hope away.

Once the room was clean and tidy, ready for the morning’s milking, Guy picked up the small pail of cream, leaving the skim milk to feed to the hogs the next day.

If David and Verna had adopted him when he was younger, it would be different. He would have learned the language, grown up with the other boys like Luke Kaufman and been a true part of the community. But that hadn’t happened, and it wouldn’t. Judith was wrong. He would never be Amish.

Chapter Three

That evening, Guy showed up at the back door right at seven o’clock. He was grinning when Judith opened it, but the smile disappeared when he saw Eli hanging onto her skirt.

“Am I too early?”

She shook her head. “You’re right on time. I’ve just had one of those days.” She picked up her nephew and led the way into the kitchen. “Eli didn’t sleep well last night, and then had a short nap this afternoon. Annie says he is getting some new teeth.”

Guy took a seat at the table where she had set a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for each of them.

“I didn’t know you were going to feed me,” he said, glancing at the book she had also laid on the table.

“My brother was always hungry for a snack, no matter how soon it was after a meal. I thought you might be the same way.”

Eli laid his head on her shoulder, watching the strange man in their home.

“I’ll never turn down a cookie.” Guy reached for one, then stopped with his hand hovering over the plate. “Why is he staring at me?”

Judith shifted Eli on her lap. “Probably because we’re speaking English. He doesn’t understand what we’re saying.” She held a cookie in front of the little boy. “Gleischt du Cookie?”

Guy laughed as Eli put the cookie in his mouth. “I guess I don’t need Dutch lessons, after all. I know you just asked him if he wanted that cookie.”

Eli held the bitten cookie toward Guy. “Cookie?”

“I’ll get my own, thank you.” Guy held a cookie up and looked at Eli. “Cookie.”

Judith frowned at Guy. “You should only speak Deitsch during your lessons.”

He winked at her. “Then how will Eli ever learn how to speak English?”

She had to smile back at his brown eyes twinkling in the lamplight. She pushed the book toward him.

“I thought we could use this to learn some of the names of common objects...”

He halted her speech with a raised hand. “I’m not going to do this if you’re going to talk like a schoolteacher.”

“All right. No schoolteacher talk.” She opened the book in front of her and Guy scooted his chair closer to her. So close that she could feel the warmth of his forearm resting on the table between them. She tightened her left arm around Eli.

The first page had a drawing of a boy holding an apple. “I know what that says,” Guy said. “Apple. The word sounds the same in both Dutch and English.”

“You’re right, Appel sounds the same. But what does the whole sentence say?”

Guy stared at the words with a frown. “I don’t know.”

Judith read the words. “Der Buh gleicht der Appel. Er esst der Appel.”

“Wait. You’re going too fast.”

“I thought you said you could read it.” Judith grinned as his face grew red, then she regretted it. She squeezed his arm as she leaned toward him. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh at you.”

He regarded her with those brown eyes. “I don’t like to be teased, but I know you didn’t mean any harm.” He looked down at her hand, still resting on his shirtsleeve. “I do like the way you apologize, though.”

The twinkle was back.

“Cookie?” Eli asked, looking up at her.

“Ne. No more cookies.”