The Amish Nanny. Patricia Davids
to the trip. When it was almost time to leave, Clara went out to gather a few fresh sweet corn ears to take along as a gift. As she was gathering the corn, she heard a wagon approaching along the lane.
She came out of the corn patch with her armload of ears to see who it was just as an enormous pair of draft horses trotted past. She clamped her lips closed on a shriek and managed to stand still, although her arms trembled enough to make her drop a few ears.
When the wagon was past, she realized it was Ethan at the reins. He hadn’t seen her. All the children were seated beside him. She followed the wagon to the house.
Her grandfather had come out to meet the visitors. “Guter mariye. Welcome to my home.”
“Good morning. I’ve come to speak to your granddaughter.”
Joe regarded the group on the wagon with a slight smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. “Which granddaughter? I have four.”
“I wanna...see...Clara,” Lily said with a catch in her voice. Was she crying?
Clara hurried around to the side of the wagon. “Lily, what’s wrong?”
“Clara!” Lily threw herself off the wagon seat and into Clara’s arms. Ears of corn flew everywhere as Clara caught her. Lily wrapped her arms tightly around Clara’s neck and held on for dear life.
Greta, Betsy and Lizzie came out of the house to meet the visitors. They stood on each side of her grandfather. Clara wanted to send them all back inside, but she couldn’t think of a reason to do so. There would be a wagonload of questions about this visit from a stranger and his children.
Ethan looked worn to the bone. “I can’t get anything done! She’s been like this since you left yesterday. She cried herself to sleep. She started crying the minute she woke up. Nothing I’ve tried will make her stop.”
Lily’s sobs were tapering off to hiccups. Clara cringed at Ethan’s frustrated tone. She hadn’t meant to make things harder for him. Now he had one more reason to be angry with her. “I’m so sorry.”
Her grandfather moved to her side. “What has my granddaughter to do with your child’s unhappiness?”
Her face burning, Clara held her breath as she waited for Ethan to tell everyone about her appalling behavior.
Ethan watched the color drain from Clara’s cheeks. She cast him an imploring look before she dropped her gaze.
Did she think he had come to chastise her in front of her family for spying on him? Far from it. He wasn’t sure what to make of her behavior yesterday, but he needed her help.
He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake.
“Mr. Shetler, your granddaughter came to my farm with Faith Lapp a few days ago to tell me my nephew Micah had been up to some mischief. Yesterday, she found my two youngest playing in the creek alone and brought them home. It seems the children are in need of a better caretaker than I have been. Lily, my niece, has taken a great liking to Clara. I’ve come to offer her a job.”
Everyone looked at Clara. She didn’t say anything, but she shot him a grateful glance before looking down again. She relaxed a little and pushed her hands into the pockets of her apron.
“My granddaughter has a job. She works for Faith Lapp,” Joseph said.
“It’s my understanding that Clara doesn’t work there anymore.”
Joseph turned to Clara. “Is this true?”
She nodded. The women in her family seemed surprised by the news.
“You aren’t?”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“When did this happen?” they asked one after the other without giving her a chance to answer.
When they grew silent, Clara said, “We finished all the yarn yesterday. I thought I mentioned it last night. Maybe I didn’t.”
“There’s a lot you haven’t mentioned,” the youngest of her sisters quipped with a sharp look in Ethan’s direction.
Ethan climbed down from his wagon and approached Clara. She took a quick step back. He stopped where he was. “Perhaps we could discuss this in private?” he asked.
She glanced at her family and then nodded. She detached Lily from her neck and smiled at the child. “This is my sister Betsy. She will take you to meet some of our lambs. Would you like that?”
His niece looked uncertain. He prayed she wouldn’t start crying again. She sniffed once. “Can’t you show them to me?”
Clara lowered the girl to the ground. “I must speak with your onkel, but I will join you in a little while. Okay?”
“Okay.”
That was far easier than he had imagined. The young woman came forward and took Lily by the hand. “We have lots of sheep and some baby kittens, too. Would you like to see them?”
A smile lit Lily’s face. “I love kittens.” She took Betsy’s hand and went willingly. Her brothers tagged along after them.
It was a relief to see Lily acting normal again. Clara had a wondrous effect on the child. Ethan glanced at her. She met his gaze briefly and nodded toward the side yard. “Come this way.”
He followed her to a group of chairs arranged in a semicircle beneath the spreading branches of an elm tree. She took a seat in the shade. He sat in the chair beside her. She leaned away from him and crossed her arms tightly over her middle. “Thank you for not telling my family how I spied on you.”
“A thing that is forgiven should not be mentioned again.”
“I wasn’t sure that you had forgiven me.”
She was such a timid creature. She barely spoke loud enough for him to hear, but he didn’t move closer. He didn’t want to frighten her. It was amazing that she had found the courage to eavesdrop on him. It proved she would put the needs of a child above her own comfort. There was more to Clara Barkman than met the eye.
“Lily has been inconsolable since you left. I’m serious about the job offer. I need someone to look after the children while I’m working. I haven’t been logging since my brother, Greg, and his wife died. I need to get back to work or I won’t be able to feed my family. I can’t take them with me. It’s too dangerous to have them around chain saws and falling trees.”
“I can understand your concern.” She looked up then, and he was struck once more by how pretty she was.
Her skin was smooth and tanned by the sun. Her eyebrows arched like slender wings over her bright blue eyes. They gave her a slightly inquisitive look. He hadn’t noticed before because she was always looking down. Her hair, neatly parted in the center and swept back beneath her white kapp was blond with reddish highlights that reminded him of his teams’ shiny coats. It was easy to imagine her hair glistening in the sunlight, too. How long would it be if she let it down?
He had no business thinking such things about a maiden. Only God and a husband were allowed to gaze upon a woman’s crowning glory.
He realized he was staring when she blushed and dropped her gaze again. He hadn’t come to gawk at her. He was here to convince her to accept his job offer. He couldn’t handle the children alone. He was willing to admit that now. Clara might be the straw he was clutching for, but he was growing desperate.
“If you would consider the job, you should know I occasionally have to take work that’s too far away for me to get home at night. In that case, you may stay with the children at my place, or if you’d rather, you can bring the children home with you. I can’t pay you until I deliver a load of logs to the sawmill, but after that it will be a weekly wage. What do you think?”
“You