Her Amish Child

“We found her on our porch night before last,” she said, her tone low and calm, her gray eyes stormy with emotion. And resolve.

Josiah’s heart beat too fast. He took in a breath. “Found her?”

Naomi nodded. “Ja. Someone left her in a basket with a few supplies and a note. We got her all fed and cleaned up and we called in the bishop this morning. He agreed she could stay here for a few days to see if her mother returns. If that doesn’t happen, we might need to bring in the authorities. We can’t harbor a baby that might not be Amish.”

“Josie—my sister—is still Amish. She has just lost her way.”

Raesha’s head came up, her gaze full of determination. “Eat your food, Mr. Fisher. It’s growing cold.”

Josiah bit into a biscuit, his stomach roiling but hunger overtaking him. Then he took a sip of the strong coffee. He knew they were waiting for him to say what was on all of their minds.

“The bonnet,” he finally said. “Could I take a look at it?”

Raesha glanced at her mother-in-law. Naomi nodded. Carefully, she lifted the dainty little knit cap from the baby’s head and handed it over to Josiah. Then she rubbed her fingers through the baby’s dark curls, her eyes full of sweet joy.

Josiah’s heart did something odd. It slipped and stopped, then took off beating again. This woman holding that baby—it was a picture he would always remember. Raesha looked up and into his eyes. The warmth from the baby’s head was still on the soft threads of the little bonnet. He clutched the soft, warm fabric while the woman holding the baby watched him in a calm, accepting way.

Then he glanced down at the pink bonnet, his eyes misting when he saw what he’d been looking for. “There,” he said, a catch of emotion clogging his throat. “My mamm stitched my sister’s initials in the tiny cap. DJF. Deidre Josephine Fisher. She did the same with all of our clothes but never made a big deal out of it in front of others since our father did not approve of showing off. Said it made them even more special because they were made with a mother’s love.”

Rubbing his fingers over the tiny worn cap, he added, “Josie loved that little hat and kept it hidden in her dresser drawer. After the fire, she found it and made sure we took it with our other things to Ohio.” Holding tight to the worn knitted wool, he said, “She took it with her when she left.”

Raesha let out a sigh that sounded like a sob. “Are you saying you think little Dinah could be your niece?”

Josiah’s eyes held hers. “Her name is Dinah?”

“We found the note,” Naomi explained. She stood and walked to where a basket sat on a counter. Then she brought him a white piece of paper.

Josiah read the note, blinking back tears of both relief and grief. “My grandmother’s name was Dinah,” he said. “My sister, Josie, left Ohio two years ago and wound up in Kentucky. She was engaged to an Amish boy there. A gut man from what she told me. But I got word she’d broken the engagement and left. That was over a year ago.”

Josie’s sudden departure from Kentucky had rattled Josiah to the core. She had written that she loved it there and she was very happy. He should have gone to Kentucky with her but he had work to do. They lived off their relatives’ kindness and Josiah felt obligated to stay and pay his onkel back. But then Josie had gone missing and one of his cousins had accused Josiah of not doing his share of the work. His family had become tired of his leaving to search for Josie.

Now he felt hopeful for the first time in the last year of searching for his sister. Josie could still be nearby.

“I hired a man to help me search,” he explained.

“And did this man find anything?”

“He is supposed to get in touch with me when he does. He knows I’m here. He is from this area and came highly recommended.”

He hated to hurt Raesha any further but he had to believe what his eyes were telling him. “Ja, I do think this bobbeli could be my sister’s baby. I heard Josie might be headed this way and one reason I came back to Lancaster County was so I could search for her here.”

Holding the bonnet tight in his hands, he looked at Raesha. “I might not find my sister but if this is her child, I’ve found something very precious.” Then he handed the bonnet back to Raesha, their eyes meeting. “But I have to believe my sister hoped I would find her baby and that’s why she left the child with you.”

* * *

Raesha stood and took the cap back from Josiah Fisher, a great tear rending her heart. While she felt for him, she couldn’t let him take this babe. He seemed to be a reasonable man. She prayed he’d listen to reason and not demand to take Dinah with him. “We will have to decide how to handle this.”

“We should consult someone at the Campton Center,” Naomi said, her hands holding tight to her coffee cup. Then she looked at Josiah. “A few months ago, Judy Campton, an Englischer whose husband descended from the founders of Campton Creek, became a widow. She still lives in the Campton house in an apartment over the garage with her friend and assistant, Bettye, but she has opened her big home to the Amish as a community center where qualified Englisch can help us with certain issues. We now have doctors and lawyers and other experts available for no charge there. Even counselors. All volunteers.”

Raesha watched Josiah’s face and saw his eyes widen. The man was handsome but the intensity in his brown eyes scared her. “Are you saying someone there can counsel us on this situation?”

“Ja,” Naomi replied. “Now that we know you might be related to Dinah, we will also seek advice again from the bishop. We already love little Dinah and we will protect her until we know the truth.”

Raesha tugged the baby close, the sweet bundle already embedded in her soul. “We will do the right thing but until we can talk to someone, Dinah remains here with us. She will be well taken care of, I can tell you that.”

Josiah came out of his chair and put his hand in the pocket of his lightweight work coat and then shoved his hat back on, his eyes full of a troubled regard as he studied her and the baby. “I will call my investigator. I’ll have him search for proof.”

“If she had the baby in a hospital, there would be a record,” Raesha said. “Maybe even a birth certificate.”

“That would certainly show proof,” Naomi said. “But most Amish don’t have official birth certificates. You might check with midwives in the surrounding counties and communities.”

Josiah scrubbed a hand down his face. “I do not mean to snatch the child away. I am thankful that she is safe and warm, whoever she belongs to. But that little cap has my sister’s initials stitched in the lining.”

“It could be someone else’s initials,” Raesha said, sounding defensive in her own mind.

“I don’t think so,” he replied. “My mamm went against our father’s wishes to make pretty things so she could sell them to help our family. But some she kept. It’s clear to me the baby hat belongs to my sister and this child looks like my sister. The note said she was Amish. How can it not be so?”

“It very well could be so,” Raesha echoed, torn between her own heart’s desire and doing the right thing for the baby. “We will have to find out what needs to be done to prove your claims.”

Then she softened her stance, hoping to make him understand. “We have taken in lots of young relatives through the years. We are both widows and I am...childless. We will keep Dinah fed and warm and you can visit her anytime you want, ain’t so, Mammi Naomi?”

Naomi bobbed her head. “She could not be in a better place for now. What do you know of children, Josiah?”

His dark eyes flared with regret. Shaking his head, he looked at Raesha again. “I know nothing much about children except my sister, but I have no kin left around here. I need to find Josie and hope she’ll change her mind about giving up her child. Little Dinah could be my only close relative and she’ll need to know that one day.”

“Then we will work together to figure this out,” Raesha said, standing her ground. They all knew he couldn’t take care of a bobbeli right now. “As I said, you are wilkum to visit Dinah.”

He studied the baby again. “May I hold her? And then, I’ll leave. But I’ll be glad to go with you to the Campton Center, both of you. We should all be there to talk with someone.”

Raesha indicated she agreed. “Then it’s settled. We could go later this afternoon. We have a girl who comes to watch the shop when we have to be away.”

“I have much to do today,” he said. “But I will make time for this. I plan to stay in the house if I can get it fixed up before winter sets in. I need to find lumber and supplies and get the back bedroom fixed, at least.”

“Maybe we should wait,” Raesha suggested. “Maybe the mother will come back.”

“I still need to call the man I hired,” he said. “I’ll give him this new information and ask him to talk to hospitals and to check as many Amish communities as he can.”

“We have a phone in the shop,” Raesha said. “Meantime, we have supplies enough for this little ball of energy. I have learned how to make homemade baby formula since she can’t be nursed.”

“I will consult with the bishop regarding your information,” Naomi said to Josiah. “I hope he will agree we need to protect the child first and worry about the rest later.”

“I’d feel better if we brought in a midwife,” he added as Raesha carefully handed him the baby. “To make sure she is well.”

Raesha looked to Naomi. The older woman nodded. “I’ll go and get word to Edna Weiller. She lives around the bend. I’ll send one of our shop workers over for her.”

“Denke.” His big hand touched Raesha’s when he took Dinah into his arms. Their eyes met and held, causing a keen awareness to envelop her in a warm glow.

“There you go,” she said to hide the swirl of disturbing feelings pooling inside her stomach. “Dinah needs to know we will provide for her. She’ll need to know her uncle, too.”

“If I am truly her uncle,” he said, a soft smile on his face as he stared down at the sleeping baby, “I will take good care of her and raise her as my own.” Then he handed her back to Raesha. “But maybe I will find my sister and then she can explain all of this—especially how she came about having a baby in the first place.”

* * *

“I expect she did it the natural way,” Naomi said later that day, shaking her head while she rocked Dinah. “If she no longer considers herself Amish, she might not be able to return to the old ways. But if she wants to return, she will have to confess all. Josiah seems to want to find her, regardless.”

She paused, her brow furrowing. “His mention of his father brings back some memories. Abram Fisher was very strict and a stickler for following the Ordnung.”

“There is a reason we have a rulebook,” Raesha replied. And yet her heart went out to Josiah and his lost sister. The lost sometimes did return. She prayed he’d find the girl, but that meant Dinah would have to go back to them.

Your will, Lord. Not mine.

Naomi gave Raesha one of her serene stares. “Abram went beyond the rulebook.”

“What do you mean?”

Naomi lowered her voice. “He was not above using his physical strength to make his point.”

“You mean, he abused his family?”

Naomi nodded. “Sarah never spoke of it, but the proof was in the many bruises we saw. She had a black eye once and said she’d fallen and hit the floor too hard.” Gazing down at Dinah, she added, “We mustn’t speak of this, of course.”

“No. We mustn’t,” Raesha agreed, her heart hurting for Josiah and Josie. No wonder neither of them had stayed here.

Earlier, Edna Weiller had come by and looked over little Dinah, examining her from top to bottom. “This child seems fit as a fiddle,” the stout woman announced, her blue eyes twinkling while she danced Dinah around. “And probably much better off now that she is with you two.”

“We are going to try to find her mother,” Raesha had explained. Then she told Edna about Josiah.

Naomi had talked to Bishop King earlier. “The bishop thinks we’re doing everything in the right way. But he expects us to alert the authorities if the woman doesn’t return in a week or so, to find out what we should do.”

“You’ll need proof on this Josiah being related,” Edna said. “If no proof is found, the Department of Child and Family Services will want to place her with a foster family until they find proof that the mother can’t be located or that Josiah Fisher is truly her onkel. The sooner you turn her over, the sooner you could have her back. Or he will, at least. But it’ll be a long shot and he might be required to go through foster training. Just warning you, but I don’t think it will come to that.” Her gaze softened. “Gott segen eich.”

God bless you.

“Denke.”

Edna handed the baby back to Raesha. “I can ask around amid the midwives. See if any of them know of this child being born.”

“That would be helpful,” Naomi said.

Troubled after Edna left, Raesha scrubbed down the house, made a chicken casserole for supper, and washed a load of clothes and brought them in to finish drying since the sky had darkened and a cold rain seemed to be on the horizon.

But she still couldn’t get Josiah Fisher out of her head.

She wanted to not like him. But something had happened to her when he’d held that baby. Raesha’s heart had felt as if she’d just fallen off a cliff. On the one hand, she prayed the baby wasn’t his niece. But there was no denying the strong possibility. Even so, she might not be able to keep the child.

She didn’t know which would be worse. Watching a stranger remove Dinah from their home or watching Josiah take the baby away but knowing Dinah was right next door. If he stayed on the old farm. What if he took the child back to Ohio?

Well, if he did stay here, Raesha could catch glimpses of the child and watch her grow up. Maybe with a new mamm if Josiah found a suitable wife. He obviously wasn’t married since he had no beard and she didn’t see a wife lurking about.

That thought made Raesha rescrub the counter.

“Ach, you’ve done enough. Stop and rest here with Dinah and me,” Naomi said, her words low while she smiled down at the sleeping baby.

Dinah had been fussy earlier. Raesha would make the short drive to the general store tomorrow since a baby’s needs never ended. For now, they had enough formula to get through the next couple of days. Raesha would have preferred mother’s milk, but that wasn’t an option. She would buy more supplies to make a more natural formula for little Dinah.

“Stop spluttering and talk to me,” Naomi called again.

She and Dinah sat by the heating stove since the day had turned chilly. The afternoon skies looked stormy and the wind blustered around the house. They’d opened the shop for a few hours but had not had a lot of visitors. So they closed the front early and left the workers in the back to their tasks.

People knew to knock on the front door if they needed to pick up an order. They also took orders to the Hartford General Store in town, the closest thing they had to a Pennsylvania Dutch market. Mr. Hartford, an Englischer, sold a lot of Amish wares on consignment and paid them as needed.

When she heard a knock, Raesha jumped. Her nerves were sorely rattled today.

“I’ll see who it is,” she said, nervous energy bouncing off her.

Raesha opened the door to find Josiah Fisher standing there, wet and shivering in the wind, his hat dripping a pool of water on the porch rug.

“Josiah,” she said on a surprised gasp. “Kumm inside.”

Why was he back so soon? Why did he look so wonderfully good, his dark eyes moving over her in shades of doubt? He had broad shoulders and a sturdy build. Why was she even thinking such things while he stood there in the damp air?

He stepped inside and she shut the door, her arms gathered against her stomach. “Did you need something?”

“I’m sorry to bother you again but it’s going to take longer than a day to fix up the house. I was headed back to the inn after I went into town to load some wood, but Mr. Hartford at the general store said you sometimes rent out rooms. I was wondering if I could possibly rent the grossdaddi haus out back. It would help me so much to be near my place and I can visit with Dinah some, too.” He paused, his head dipping down. “If that would be all right.”

His expression held a longing and a need that Raesha couldn’t deny.

But could she tolerate his being so close to Dinah?

And so near to her?

Chapter Three

Josiah took off his hat and hung it on a peg Naomi indicated by the door. Then he sat at the kitchen table while the woman took Dinah with her and Raesha into another room to discuss whether or not they could rent the grossdaddi haus to him. He hadn’t thought this through and now he regretted blurting out his proposal to Raesha.

She obviously didn’t want him around. Did she find him revolting and unappealing or was she afraid he’d take the babe away in the middle of the night?

He’d been so frantic earlier while loading boards at the general store. With the weather turning bad and the idea of either sleeping in a cold house with a burned-out roof on one side or taking his buggy back the fifteen miles to get another room at the inn since he’d given up the one he had, Josiah had voiced his worries to Mr. Hartford.

That’s when the kindly storekeeper had suggested this solution. “The Bawell ladies are kind and they have often opened their home to those in need. They make money off their millinery shop and sell other items there—mostly for the tourists who come through. But they need all the income they can find. That’s a mighty big place.”

Josiah stood and stared out the wide window over the sink. Such a pretty spot, too. He barely remembered the Bawells but then, he’d tried to put his memories of Campton Creek behind him. He did remember that their son, Aaron, maybe a year or so older than Josiah, had spoken to him often at church gatherings and such. Raesha must have come along after Josiah and Josie had moved away.

A big mistake, that. His feisty younger sister had started acting out when she reached her teen years. He’d hoped she’d sown all of her wild oats during her rumspringa but Josephine Fisher was determined to see the world outside their small settlement. He still didn’t know if she’d ever been baptized.

But he did believe his troubled sister had been running from something.

Well, she’d seen the world all right. His heart bumped at the weight of seeing that bobbeli that only reminded him of his failure as a brother. Was the man she’d been engaged to the father of that baby? Or had she strayed?

If Dinah was even her child, of course.

He’d come back here to salvage the farm and maybe sell it to help pay back his cousin’s kindness. But he’d done that only in hopes of finding Josie. But if she’d been here and left this child with these kind women, she’d also done her homework.

What better place to abandon a baby?

He wondered if she’d come home, thinking to open up the house and instead, alone and afraid, had found it wasn’t livable. Had she dropped off her child in a fit of despair?

Could she still be in the area?

He’d reached Nathan Craig, a man known for tracking down missing Amish. Nathan had already talked to several people who’d seen a young woman fitting her description and carrying a baby. But she could easily blend in here among the other younger women. Someone could be hiding her. He didn’t know and now he had other things to consider. The house repairs and, possibly, an infant niece.

Thinking he’d leave and not bother these women again until they all went to the community center tomorrow, Josiah turned to leave.

“Josiah?”

He pivoted at the door to find Raesha standing at the edge of the big long living room. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was aggravated and cold and hungry earlier. Never mind me asking about staying here. I do not think that’s wise.”

“We don’t mind,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure. “I will have to clear it with the bishop and we’d lock the door to the long porch that connects the grossdaddi haus to this house. We don’t use that way much now so it’s usually locked anyway. We tend to go out the side door by the shop.”

“I would not harm you or bother you,” he said, hope gaining speed again. “I won’t show up on your doorstep again. I just need a place close by while I rebuild my house.”

“I understand,” Raesha said. “It makes sense and we do often rent out equipment and the occasional room. We often have relatives visiting for long periods and they find the grossdaddi haus comfortable.”

“I don’t want to impose.”

“It’s no bother,” she said. “But we will have to consider what to do if Dinah is truly your niece.”

“I had planned to sell the place, but I wouldn’t want to take her away.” He paused. “I told my onkel and cousins I’d be back. I borrowed traveling money from my onkel and one of my cousins is angry with me.”

Raesha’s expression softened at that. “I’m sorry to hear of your hardship. Maybe you can send them the money even if you decide to stay. It might take longer to pay off but at least they’d know you mean to do so. Once you have your house in order she—Dinah—would be right next door.”

He grabbed at hope. And he’d be right next to Raesha. “You could visit her often.”

“And watch her if you need us.”

They seemed to be reaching a truce of sorts.

Josiah gazed at the woman across the room, their eyes holding with a push and pull that reminded him of a rope tug.

“I did call Mr. Craig. People have seen someone matching her description in town and the woman was carrying a baby. But no one can be sure.”

“Then there is hope that she will return,” Raesha said. “I pray God will give us insight.

“If your sister comes back, we will do what we can for her,” Raesha said, her tone soft and quiet. “You can still do what you set out to do and Naomi and I will continue on.”

Josiah nodded and rubbed his face. “This is a gut plan, ja?”

“That remains to be seen,” Raesha replied. “Meantime, you are here and it’s storming out there. You will stay for supper.”

“I will?”

She smiled at the surprise in his question. “If you are so inclined.”

“I’m inclined,” he said. “Whatever’s simmering on that stove smells mighty gut.”

“Then sit by the fire and I’ll go and tell Naomi we have reached an agreement. We will discuss the details after supper.”

“You are a very forceful woman,” he said, moving across to the welcoming heat coming from the woodstove.

“I am a woman on my own with a mother-in-law I hold dear and with way more property than I can handle. I’ve learned to be forceful. Some frown on that, however.”

He smiled. “I’m not one of them.”

She inclined her head, her eyes going dark gray in the glow from the gas lamps. Then she turned and went into the other room to get Naomi.

* * *

Raesha let out a deep breath. “It’s settled.”

Naomi watched over Dinah. They’d found a huge straw basket that would make do for a bassinet for now and covered it with blankets so Dinah would be comfortable and safe. It sat by Raesha’s bed. She had a comfortable room that held the bed, two side chairs and a large but simply made armoire that had stored her clothes along with Aaron’s. His were gone now, donated to someone in need.

The room seemed cheerier with the big basket on the floor, a baby sleeping inside.

Naomi rose from the chair she’d taken near the baby’s bed. “Gut. Our neighbor is in need. We will help him as we can.”