The Amish Nanny's Sweetheart. Jan Drexler

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СКАЧАТЬ more comfortable in the community. Maybe he could put down roots here. Buy a farm. Raise a family. He let his thoughts flow to a home and family like Matthew Beachey’s, with a girl like Judith as his wife and children growing along with their love for each other. Guy shook his head with a laugh. That dream was far beyond the reach of an outcast like him.

      * * *

      Judith turned the ham frying in the cast-iron skillet then checked the potatoes with a fork. Dinner was nearly ready, and just in time. She could see Matthew heading toward the house for his noon meal.

      “Ach, Judith, you’re a blessing!”

      Annie stood in the kitchen doorway, rocking and bouncing as she held a fussy Viola in her arms. Or was it Rose? Judith couldn’t tell the two babies apart yet. They both looked like Annie, with wisps of red curls growing on their soft, pink heads. Meanwhile, Eli squirmed, trying to get down from his perch on her left hip.

      As she set him on the floor, she waited until he had his balance before letting him go on a headlong dash toward his mother.

      “You never told me what a job it is to try to cook with a toddler underfoot.” Judith opened the oven door to check on the green bean casserole. She had quickly learned that this dish was one of Matthew’s favorites.

      Annie knelt to put her free arm around her son. “And soon enough there will be three of them running around the kitchen, all wanting to help.” She smiled as she pulled her son close and kissed his cheek.

      Judith took four plates from the cupboard and set them on the table, watching Annie. Even though her sister hadn’t slept much last night, with the babies awake and crying at all hours, Annie still kept her good humor. Her face looked tired, though, and Judith was afraid she might fall asleep at the dinner table.

      “When I put Eli down for his nap, I’ll take care of the girls so you can get some sleep this afternoon.”

      Annie’s eyes widened. “Would you? I don’t remember when I last slept for more than a few minutes at a time.”

      Matthew’s feet stamped in the porch outside the kitchen door, Judith’s signal to finish setting the table.

      She smiled at Annie as she laid the silverware next to the plates. “I’d love to take care of them for a while. Tiny babies are so sweet.”

      Annie cooed at Viola, who was still fussing. “They are sweet, but exhausting.” She kissed Eli’s brown curls as Judith lifted him into his tall stool at the table. “I don’t know what I would do without you here.”

      Judith pulled out a chair so Annie could sit down next to her son. “If I wasn’t here, someone else would help you. There are plenty of girls in the church who would have been glad to come.”

      “Did you get to know any of them at the Singing on Sunday evening? I didn’t have a chance to ask you about it yesterday.”

      Judith drained the potatoes. She was serving them boiled, since she hadn’t had time to mash them. She added a lump of butter to the pot and shook salt and pepper over them.

      “I had met Waneta Zook at the morning service, and she introduced me to Hannah Kaufman. There were others there, but I don’t remember all of their names.”

      She set the green bean casserole on the table and put the ham on a serving plate. Just as Matthew came in, still damp from washing up on the porch, she dumped the potatoes into a dish and set it on the table. She sliced a loaf of bread while Matthew greeted his family, then she put it on the table and stepped back to evaluate her work.

      “Ach, the peaches. I forgot to get them from the cellar.”

      “It’s all right,” Matthew said, pointing to her chair. “I’m too hungry to wait for them.”

      After the prayer, and when Judith had gotten the peaches and put them on the table, she sat down next to Eli. Annie had cut up some potatoes and a few green beans and put them on his plate, but they were already nearly gone, so Judith cut some ham into bites for him.

      “What were you girls talking about when I came in?” Matthew asked, taking a second helping of the casserole.

      “Judith’s first Singing. I was asking if she had made any new friends.”

      Matthew grinned across the table at her. “I thought I saw a couple boys buzzing around her when I picked her up.”

      Judith felt her face heat. “I had a great time, and I hope I can go to the next one. Waneta Zook is such a nice girl.”

      “Guy Hoover seemed to think you were pretty nice, yourself.” Matthew teased her as much as he did his wife.

      “Guy is nice,” Judith said. “He was easy to talk to.” Not like Luke Kaufman. She spooned a few peach halves into her sauce dish.

      “What did you think of our young people?” Annie asked. Matthew had finished eating, and Annie handed the baby to him.

      “I’m looking forward to getting to know more of them. Reuben Stoltzfus kept everything going, and we sang some hymns, and some new songs I had never heard before.” Judith buttered a slice of bread and cut it into pieces for Eli. “I didn’t know it would be so much fun.”

      When they had all finished eating, Matthew read from the Christenflicht, the book of prayers that sat with his Bible on the edge of the table, then went back out to work. By that time, Rose was fussing in the other room and Annie went to care for both babies. Judith washed the dishes while Eli played with a spoon and pot on the floor. After a few minutes, Annie came back to sit at the table while she ate another dish of peaches.

      “The girls are both asleep,” she said, licking her spoon. “I put them in their cots in the front room.”

      “That will be fine.” Judith finished the dishes and sat with her sister for a bit of a rest. “I’ll put Eli down in a few minutes, and you’ll all have a nice long nap.”

      Annie scraped the last of the peach juice from the bottom of her dish and Judith put it in the dishwater she had saved.

      “I don’t suppose we have any cookies?”

      Judith cringed as she got them from the top of the icebox. “I should have remembered to get them out earlier so Matthew could have some.” Eli climbed on her lap to eat his, leaning against her and watching his mother.

      “He can have his when he comes in before the afternoon chores,” Annie said, brushing a crumb off her skirt. “And now that it’s just us, tell me about the boys.”

      “Boys?”

      “I’m sure you met more boys than Guy Hoover. Which did you like best?”

      Judith thought about Luke’s blazing blue eyes, squirming a little as she remembered how small she had felt as he had loomed over her. “What do you think about Luke Kaufman?”

      Annie leaned her chin in her hand. “He’s very popular with both the fellows and the girls, but I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

      “Why not?”

      “I’ve seen young men like that put too much store in what others СКАЧАТЬ