Amish Midwives Read online

  He scrubbed his hand down his face. Surely he was losing his mind!

  “Aidan!” He looked up to see Rosetta walking toward him carrying a tray stacked with empty serving platters.

  “Hi, Rosetta.” He took in her pretty smile and eager expression.

  She adjusted the tray in her hands. “Did you have a gut week?”

  “I did.” He leaned back on the barn wall. “It’s starting to feel like home again. How was your week?”

  “Our bulk foods store stays busy during the day. At night I’m working on some quilts to sell at an upcoming auction.”

  Aidan smiled as she talked on about the quilts—their colors, patterns, and sizes.

  “Do you think I can bring you and your parents a meal this week?” she suddenly asked.

  Aidan stood up straighter, surprised by the subject change. “Sure,” he said. “I don’t see why not.”

  Her smile seemed as bright as the afternoon sun. “Great! Then how about Thursday?” They agreed on a time and then she nodded toward the house. “Well, I’d better bring these platters to the kitchen.”

  As Aidan watched Rosetta walk away, worry settled over him. He hoped he hadn’t given her the wrong idea by agreeing to supper. The last thing he needed was her expecting him to ask her to be his girlfriend. Although Rosetta was a sweet and kind maedel, he wasn’t certain he was ready for another commitment. Not to mention his confusing thoughts about Kristina.

  But maybe his father was right that he and Rosetta could forge a lasting relationship. He just had to get to know her and see where God led them.

  He let that thought settle as he turned back toward the barn. Just then, Kristina walked out carrying two coffee carafes.

  “Kristina,” Aidan said, taking a step toward her. But when he took in the dark circles under her eyes, alarm gripped him. “Is everything all right?”

  She tilted her head. “Ya. Why?”

  “You look exhausted.”

  “I had a late night. I delivered a boppli over in White Horse, and I got home after one.”

  “Did everything go okay with the birth?”

  “Ya.” She nodded. “It was her first, and first bopplin usually take longer. But the boppli girl and mamm are fine.”

  “Gut.” He nodded and they both stared at each other for a moment. His mind again whirled with what-ifs. If they had married, would God have blessed them with children of their own by now?

  She held up the coffee carafes. “Well, I should get back to it. The kitchen isn’t going to clean itself.”

  “Maybe we can have lunch again sometime.”

  “Ya. Maybe.” When she smiled at him, his insides warmed.

  As she walked away, he felt his heart ache for her friendship and possibly even more. But deep down, fear cornered him. If he tried to get close to her, she could tear his soul apart yet again.

  * * *

  “Gude mariye!” Aidan announced Thursday morning when he stepped into the kitchen, the delicious aromas of coffee, eggs, bacon, and freshly baked biscuits causing his stomach to growl. How he enjoyed his mother’s breakfasts more than his usual bland morning meal of oatmeal and a banana.

  His parents echoed the greeting as he sat down between them. They bowed their heads in silent prayer before filling their plates with the scrumptious food.

  “Let’s make a supply run today,” Dat said, buttering a biscuit. “I have a list over there.” He pointed his knife toward the counter.

  “Sounds gut. I can call our driver after breakfast. I’d like to stop at the library, too, if we have time. I want to pick up a few books.” Aidan scooped some egg into his mouth.

  “I was thinking of making a pot roast tonight,” Mamm said.

  “Oh. I forgot to tell you that Rosetta is bringing us a meal tonight.” Aidan snapped his fingers. “She left a message yesterday confirming she’ll be here around five thirty.”

  “Really?” Mamm held her mug suspended in the air. She shared a shocked expression with Dat.

  “Isn’t that nice,” Dat said.

  “She offered at my first service since being back, and I told her I was just settling in. When she asked this past Sunday, I couldn’t bring myself to say no. I thought it would be nice to have a freind.”

  Mamm reached over and touched Aidan’s hand. “See, I told you it would be gut to come home. And now you’re back less than a month, and you’re already dating.”

  “Oh no, that’s not what this is about!” Aidan shook his head.

  “You never know,” Dat said. “Your mamm and I were freinden first.”

  Mamm nodded. “She’s a sweet maedel, and she’d be gut for you.”

  Aidan lifted his mug. It was useless to try to argue with his parents. He buttered a biscuit and took a bite. Oh, his mother made the best biscuits!

  “You should definitely give Rosetta a chance,” Mamm continued between bites of bacon. “I don’t think she’s dated much, but she’s a lovely maedel.”

  Dat picked up his mug as he turned toward Aidan. “It’s unhealthy to be alone. Plus, you’re not getting any younger. You need to find a fraa and settle down. I told you we’ll move into the daadihaus, and you and your new bride can fill the haus with kinner.”

  “That would be wunderbaar.” Mamm touched her chest.

  “Hold on now.” Aidan held up his hand. “This is just a friendly supper. Please don’t start planning my wedding or making bopplin clothes.”

  “You never know.” Mamm sang the words.

  Aidan bit back a groan as he chewed a piece of bacon.

  They ate in silence for several moments before Mamm’s expression suddenly brightened. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that I talked to Kristina on Sunday before the service. I found out she’s not dating anyone.”

  Mortified, Aidan gasped as he leaned forward on the table. “You asked her?”

  “You weren’t going to, so I asked for you.” She pointed at him.

  “Mamm,” he began slowly, “tell me you didn’t mention me when you asked her.”

  “Why would I mention you?”

  Dat studied Aidan over his coffee mug. “Are you interested in dating Kristina again?”

  Aidan shook his head. “If it didn’t work out the first time, what would make the second time around any different?”

  Dat nodded and then took a sip of coffee.

  As Aidan turned his attention back to his breakfast, he recalled how happy he and Kristina had once been. Could they ever find that happiness again?

  If not, could he possibly find that happiness with Rosetta?

  * * *

  Aidan met Rosetta at the back door at five thirty. He had showered, freshened up, and changed into clean trousers and a crisp, blue shirt before she arrived.

  Now he stood on the back porch and smiled at her as she balanced a casserole dish and a portable pie plate in her hands while her driver backed his van down the rock driveway.

  “May I help you with something?” The delicious smell of lasagna wafted over him as he took the casserole dish from her.

  She looked pretty in a red dress that complemented her dark eyes and hair. “Danki. I hope you like lasagna.”

  “It’s my favorite.”

  “Oh, gut.” Her smile brightened. “And I made peanut butter pie for dessert.”

  He gave her a mock look of suspicion. “Have you been spying on me?”

  Her smiled faded, and her face clouded with concern. “No.”

  “I’m teasing you. Peanut butter pie is my favorite too.”

  “Oh!” She gave a little laugh that sounded nervous. “I remembered how much you liked peanut butter when we were in youth group. Kristina used to always pack you peanut butter sandwiches when we went to the lake.”

  Aidan was struck by that. Rosetta had been paying attention to his preferences—and as far back as their youth group days? What did that mean? He shook off the thought and opened the door wide. “Please come in.”

  “Danki.” She stepped into the mudroom, and he took the pie plate from her as she pulled off her sweater and hung it on the hook.

  Then Aidan followed her into the kitchen, where Mamm set four drinking glasses on the table beside the plates.

  “Hi, Rosetta,” Mamm said.

  “It’s nice to see you, Freda. Do you need any help?”

  “Oh, no,” Mamm said. “You’ve already done the hard work of bringing us a meal. Go ahead and make yourself at home.”

  Dat crossed to the sink to wash his hands. “Hello, Rosetta.”

  Rosetta gave him a wave and then lingered by the table as if unsure of where to sit.

  “Rosetta brought us a lasagna casserole and a peanut butter pie,” Aidan said as he set them on the table.

  “Oh, you brought Aidan’s favorites. How thoughtful.” Mamm glanced over at Aidan and winked.

  “Sounds appeditlich.” Dat sat in his usual spot.

  Aidan gestured toward a chair. “Rosetta, would you like to sit across from me?”

  “Danki,” she said, settling into her seat.

  Aidan and Mamm also sat, and after a silent prayer, Dat cut into the casserole and then passed the dish around the table.

  “This is fantastic,” Aidan said.

  Rosetta’s cheeks flushed bright pink as she looked down at her plate. “I hope you like it.”

  “How are your folks?” Mamm asked.

  “They’re well. We’re all busy at the bulk foods store.”

  “Rosetta is working on quilts to sell at auction,” Aidan announced.

  Aidan enjoyed his meal while his mother asked Rosetta questions about the quilts. With a nervous smile on her face, Rosetta responded between bites of casserole.

  Once their plates were clean, Mamm cut the peanut butter pie and served the slices,
along with mugs of coffee.

  “My, my, my, this pie is wunderbaar,” Dat announced.

  “It’s just sweet enough,” Aidan agreed.

  Rosetta gave Aidan a warm smile that seemed to hold a promise. “I’m so glad you like it.”

  A wave of panic overtook Aidan as he studied Rosetta’s pretty face. At that moment, he could feel how much she cared for him, but he wasn’t certain he could ever like her in the same way.

  But his parents’ words from earlier suddenly filled his mind. Perhaps he should give Rosetta a chance, as Mamm had suggested. And Dat was right when he said Aidan wasn’t getting any younger. The idea of spending the rest of his life alone terrified him. Maybe Rosetta was the woman God had intended for him to marry.

  “Did you know how much Aidan loves peanut butter?” Mamm asked.

  “I remember how often he ate it at youth gatherings,” Rosetta said.

  “Is that so?” Mamm gave Aidan a pointed look.

  Aidan shrugged. “It’s true. I love peanut butter.”

  “I never forgot that.” Rosetta’s expression became intense. “I remember a lot from those days.”

  Aidan nodded, but questions filled him. If she had paid so much attention to him and his preferences, was it because she had nursed feelings for him all of these years? Or were her memories of the other young men from their youth group just as strong?

  After they finished the pie, Rosetta helped wash the dishes before following Aidan out to the porch. He shivered in the cool, early April evening air as they sat down beside each other on the swing.

  “It’s colder out here than I thought.” He pushed the swing into motion. “Do you want to go back inside?”

  She shook her head. “I love the smell of the evening air.”

  “I do too.” Aidan breathed in the fresh scent of moist earth and the animals nearby just as a dog barked somewhere in the distance. “Do you like working at your parents’ store?”

  She pushed the ties from her prayer covering over her shoulder. “I enjoy helping the customers. I meet nice people every day, and we have interesting conversations.”

  “That sounds fun. The cows don’t say much.” He grinned.

  She laughed a little too loud and too long, and then she turned toward him. “I hope this doesn’t sound forward, but I’m so glad you’re back. I was bedauerlich you left.”

  He blinked at her, shocked by this new information. “Danki.”

  Rosetta looked down at her lap. “You never noticed me when you were with Kristina, but I always noticed you.”

  Aidan bit his lower lip as guilt swamped him. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m here now, and I would love to be freinden with you.”

  “I would like that too.” And it was the truth. A friend was just what he needed right now. “I’m not ready to date yet, but I’d like to get to know you.”

  Her smile was warm and inviting. “That sounds perfect.”

  He settled back on the swing as a vision of Kristina filled his mind. He wondered what she was doing tonight, but then guilt nipped at him. If Rosetta knew where his thoughts were, it would break her heart. And he didn’t want to hurt Rosetta the way Kristina had hurt him.

  * * *

  Later that evening, Aidan and Rosetta sat together in his buggy as he took her home. Aidan smiled over at her, and a strange feeling took hold of him. It had been a long time since he’d sat beside a woman in his buggy.

  When they arrived at her parents’ two-story redbrick house, he halted the horse and then turned toward her. “Danki for the appeditlich meal. I had a lovely time.”

  “Gern gschehne. I did too.” She picked up the serving dishes from the floor of the buggy. “I’ve always dreamt of having supper with you, and I’m grateful that it finally happened. Maybe we can do it again sometime?”

  “That would be nice.”

  “Wunderbaar.” She hesitated for a moment as if expecting something and then she wrenched the buggy door open. “Gut nacht.”

  “Gut nacht,” he echoed before she pushed the buggy door closed and walked up the back porch steps.

  As Aidan guided his horse home, he smiled. It felt great to have a friend.

  But when the horse turned onto the road that led to his farm, his thoughts wandered back to Kristina. Why was a woman like her single? Why wouldn’t she want to find a husband to care for her?

  Then guilt plagued him once more. Why did his heart still worry about Kristina, the woman who had crushed his heart, when sweet Rosetta obviously cared for him? It wasn’t fair of him to encourage Rosetta when he knew to the depth of his soul that his heart was still stuck on someone else.

  But at the same time, he longed to see if his relationship with Rosetta could be something real that wouldn’t end in heartache.

  He blew out a deep gush of air and glanced up at the sky as the sun began to set, sending an explosion of orange, red, and yellow above him.

  “Lead me on the right path, Lord,” he whispered. “And guide my heart. I don’t want to hurt or use Rosetta when I know I still care for Kristina. Help my heart find its true course—the direction you will it to go.”

  Seven

  Kristina sat in Anna Marie’s kitchen the following Tuesday while Anna Marie’s three sons played with toy cars, rolling them around on the worn, off-white linoleum floor.

  After pulling her supplies from her tote bag, Kristina turned to a new page in her journal. “How are you feeling?”

  “The same.” Anna Marie sighed and then rested her hands on her protruding belly. “I’m not sleeping well because I can’t get comfortable, but that’s how it is at this stage.” She turned to the boys. “Do you think I’ll deliver earlier than my due date since they were all early too?”

  Kristina nodded as she made notes. “It’s possible!”

  “I heard something that might interest you,” Anna Marie said.

  “Oh?” Kristina continued to write in her journal.

  “Rosetta King brought Aidan supper last week.”

  Kristina froze and then swallowed as she looked up at Anna Marie’s wide smile. “Who told you that?”

  “Lydia Ruth told me when I saw her at the grocery store yesterday. She said Freda told her that Rosetta brought over a lasagna casserole and a peanut butter pie for supper last Thursday.”

  “Peanut butter is his favorite,” Kristina whispered as memories welled up and dragged her down like an undertow. She recalled the hundreds of times she’d made him peanut butter sandwiches and pies when they went on picnics. The pen in her hand shook.

  “What else did Lydia Ruth say?” She regretted the question as soon as it leapt from her lips. She didn’t want details, but at the same time, she couldn’t help herself. What was wrong with her?

  “They ate supper and had pie and coffee with his parents before they went out to sit on the porch swing together. Then he took her home.” Anna Marie’s face glowed as if she loved every morsel of the gossip she shared. “Lydia Ruth said Freda thinks they got along well. Aidan’s parents are encouraging him to get to know her. After all, he’s thirty-two and still not married. Can you believe that? As handsome as he is, he should have found a fraa by now.”

  Jealousy coiled like a snake in Kristina’s belly. But she had no right to be jealous of Rosetta. After all, Rosetta and Aidan made sense together. They would make a great couple.

  Kristina pressed her lips together as she tried to suffocate the feelings warring inside her. But the regret lingered there, a sick feeling sweeping through her.

  “Isn’t church at your haus on Sunday?” Anna Marie asked. The sudden subject change nearly gave Kristina whiplash.

  “Ya, it is. I have to work in the garden, and then Marlena and I need to get some cleaning done.” Kristina closed her journal and set her pen on top of it.

  “It is a lot of work to host church.”

  “That’s true.” Kristina glanced over at the three boys as they continued to push their cars around the floor. She couldn’t erase the image of Aidan and Rosetta on the porch swing together.

  Did they hold hands? Did he kiss her? Did he ask her to be his girlfriend?

  Stop it!

  “Should we set another appointment?” Anna Marie asked.

  “Ya, that sounds gut.” Kristina and Anna Marie agreed on a date, and then Kristina said goodbye to the boys before walking to the door. “I’ll see you on Sunday.”