Kitabı oku: «The Amish Teacher's Dilemma»

Chapter One

“We are in agreement. Eva Coblentz, the position is yours. Do you have any questions for us? Now would be the time to ask them.”

Eva gazed at the stern faces of the three Amish church elders sitting across the table from her. She should have a dozen questions, but her mind was oddly blank after hearing the news she had been praying for. The teaching job was hers. She wouldn’t have to return home in defeat.

She wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. The men were all staring at her expectantly.

She gathered her scattered thoughts. “I’ve no questions at the moment, Bishop Schultz. I’m grateful for the job.”

“Very goot, then.” He nodded once.

She inclined her head toward the other men. “I would like to thank the school board for giving me the opportunity to teach at New Covenant’s first Amish school.”

She had the position. One that would support her for many years, God willing. Joy and relief made her giddy. Was she grinning like a fool? She wanted to jump for joy. She lowered her eyes and schooled her features to look modest and professional.

But a tiny grin crept out. She had the job! She could do this.

She glanced up. The bishop gave her a little smile then cleared his throat. “The house and furnishing will be yours to use as you wish.”

“Danki.” A job and a home. A huge weight lifted from her chest. Her brother Gene was going to be shocked. He had discouraged her wild plan to travel to Maine alone as a foolish whim. Only her younger brother Danny understood her need to go. Gene said she would be back begging for a place to live in a matter of weeks, but she wouldn’t.

The bishop gathered his papers together. “I think we can adjourn, brothers.”

The meeting was being held in her future classroom. The building itself was so new it still smelled of cut pine boards, varnish and drying paint. Dust motes drifted lazily in the beams of light streaming through the south-facing windows that lined the room. The wide plank floor didn’t show a single scuff mark, and the blackboard’s pristine condition begged her to scrawl her name across it with chalk. It was a wonderful place to begin her teaching career.

“You do understand that this is a trial assignment,” the man seated to the left of the bishop said. She struggled to recall his name. Was he Samuel Yoder or Leroy Lapp? The two had been introduced to her as ministers who shared the duties of overseeing the Amish congregation along with the bishop, but she had been so nervous their names didn’t stick with their faces. They were men in their fifties or sixties with long gray beards, salt-and-pepper hair and weathered faces.

“I do understand that my contract will be on a month-by-month basis until I complete a full school year.” She had the job, but could she keep it? She had never taught before. She wasn’t sure what would be expected of her. Her school days were far behind her. What if she wasn’t any good at teaching? What if the children didn’t like her?

The man beside the bishop sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I have taken the liberty of writing out a curriculum.” He pushed a thick folder across the table to her. “We expect modest behavior at all times. You must be an example to our kinder.”

“Of course.” So no jumping for joy. She had the feeling her actions would be watched closely by this man.

“Not everyone is suited to life in northern Maine. Our winters are harsh,” the same man said, giving her a stern look.

She decided he was Samuel Yoder, the newly elected school board president. Well, it got mighty cold in Arthur, Illinois, too, and that had never kept her from her duties.

She lifted her chin slightly, not wanting to appear overly bold or prideful as she had been accused of being in the past. “I plan to remain in New Covenant for many years. I’m not one who gives in to adversity easily. I rely on Gott for strength and He has not forsaken me.”

“That is as it should be. Isn’t that so, Brother Samuel?” Bishop Schultz tried again not to grin, but a corner of his mouth tipped up. She liked him a lot.

Samuel Yoder’s frown deepened. The man to his right grinned widely. He had to be Leroy Lapp. “You may count on my wife and me for any assistance getting settled in here.”

“Danki.” Eva started to relax for the first time during her interview. A loud banging started outside the windows. It sounded like someone hammering on metal.

“Das haus is acceptable?” Leroy raised his voice to be heard over the racket.

“Ja, it’s a fine house.” It was the perfect size for her. A small kitchen, a sitting room with wide windows, a bathroom with modern plumbing and two bedrooms. In the backyard was space for a garden and a large blackberry bush loaded with fruit. She would have a home all to herself. Would it feel lonely? She could always get a cat.

Samuel Yoder leaned toward her. “Our children have attended the local public school up until now. Some will find the change to a one-room schoolhouse difficult. I hope you can handle the situation.”

Was he trying to scare her away? She looked down. “I will pray for guidance.”

“We’ll leave you to inspect your new school.” The bishop rose and the other men did likewise.

Eva realized she had forgotten one important thing. “Bishop Schultz, could some bookshelves be added to this classroom?”

“I don’t see why not. How big and where do you want them?”

She looked around the room and settled on the perfect place behind her desk. She crossed the room. “Here. About six feet long and three shelves high. I want the smallest child to be able to reach them all.”

“It will take a lot of books to fill that much space.” Samuel’s dour expression showed his disapproval. “We don’t have the budget to buy so many.”

She grinned at him. “Oh, you don’t have to buy them. I already have them. My brother will ship them here for me.” A job, a house and with the arrival of her beloved books she would have everything she needed to make her happy.

The men exchanged glances, shrugged and filed out after lifting their black hats from a row of pegs near the door. The clanging outside continued.

Her new school.

Eva savored the words. She had spent the last of her savings to get here, and here she would stay no matter what her brother or Samuel Yoder thought. She got to her feet and turned in a slow circle with her arms held wide. This was her new life. Her new career. Her way to serve the Lord in the newly formed Amish settlement of New Covenant, Maine.

At thirty years of age she would no longer be dependent on her older brother to provide for her. She could make her own decisions now. From the time she was fifteen she had been living off the charity of her brother Gene. Charity he gave grudgingly. She’d kept house and cared for their elderly grandparents who lived in the daadihaus, or grandfather’s house, next to the main home, tasks Gene’s wife, Corrine, claimed she couldn’t do because of her poor health. She had all she could manage taking care of her three boys.

It wasn’t that Eva had been treated badly. She hadn’t been. Mostly she had been ignored. Like the extra cots Gene and Corrine kept for guests. Never thought about until they were needed. She hadn’t minded. It gave her more time to read. Books took her everywhere and anywhere. Each evening she would read to her grandparents who had both suffered from failing eyesight. Mostly she read the Bible and the newspaper to them but after her grandfather took himself off to bed Eva would get out one of the novels her grandmother enjoyed as much as she did. Eva treasured the memory of those evenings.

Rather than risk losing Eva to marriage, her brother Gene had steered away every would-be suitor except one persistent fellow. Eva had quickly learned she couldn’t talk to a man who didn’t love books as she did. She wasn’t disappointed when he stopped seeing her.

“Marriage isn’t for everyone,” her grandmother had told her. “Gott must have other plans for you. He will show you in due time.”

When her grandparents had gone to their rest within a month of each other, Eva had been at a loss to fill the void in her life until she saw a newspaper ad for an Amish schoolteacher in Maine. Somehow, she knew it was meant for her. God was showing her a new path. She’d never taught school, but Amish schoolteachers received no formal training. She would learn right along with her students. It had taken all the courage she could muster to answer that ad and to tell her family she was leaving.

Clang, clang, clang.

The hammering outside grew louder. She scowled at the open door. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to compete with this much noise when she was trying to teach. She moved to the window to locate the source of the clatter. Across the road she saw a man pounding on an ancient-looking piece of machinery with steel wheels and a scoop-like nose on the front end.

The man was Amish by his dress, not one of the Englisch neighbors that vastly outnumbered the Amish in their new community. He wore a straw hat and a collarless blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing muscular, tan forearms. He wielded the heavy hammer like it weighed next to nothing. His broad shoulder strained the fabric of his shirt.

She saw the school board members get into their buggies and drive off. They waved but didn’t stop to speak to the young man.

When he had the sheet of metal shaped to fit the front of the machine, he stood back to assess his work. Eva couldn’t see any imperfections, but he clearly did. He knelt and hammered on the shovel-like nose three more times. Satisfied, he gathered up his tools and started in her direction.

She stepped back from the window. Was he coming to the school? Why? Had he noticed her gawking? Perhaps he only wanted to welcome the new teacher although his lack of a beard said he wasn’t married.

Maybe that was it. Amish teachers were single women. Perhaps he wanted to meet the new unmarried woman in the community. The sooner everyone understood she wasn’t husband-shopping, the happier she would be.

She glanced around the room. Should she meet him by the door? That seemed too eager. Her eyes settled on the large desk at the front of the classroom. She should look as if she was ready for the school year to start. A professional attitude would put off any suggestion that she was interested in meeting single men.

Eva hurried to the desk, pulled out the chair and sat down as the outside door opened. The chair tipped over backward, sending her flailing. Her head hit the wall with a painful thud as she slid to the floor. Stunned, she slowly opened her eyes to see the man leaning over the desk. “I’m fine. I’m okay,” she said, wondering if she spoke the truth.

He had the most beautiful gray eyes she’d ever beheld. They were rimmed with thick, dark lashes in stark contrast to the mop of curly, dark red hair springing out from beneath his straw hat. Tiny sparks of light whirled around him. “You need a haircut.”

Had she said that out loud? She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t see him, but the stars were still floating behind her closed eyelids.

“I’ve been meaning to fix that chair. Just haven’t gotten around to it yet. A haircut is at the bottom of my list of stuff to get done.” His voice was smooth, husky, low and attractive. She kept her eyes shut, hoping he would speak again.

“Are you all right? You can’t be comfortable like that.”

At the hint of amusement in his voice Eva’s eyes popped open. She was lying on her back with her feet still hanging over the front of the chair. “I’m not comfortable. Would you kindly help me up?” Unless she ignobly rolled one way or the other out of the chair, she wasn’t going anywhere. The wooden arms had her boxed in.

He grabbed the back of the chair, dragged her out from behind the desk and sat her upright with one arm as if she weighed nothing at all. She looked at the long scratches the process left on the floor. It wasn’t pristine anymore.

“I’m Willis Gingrich. Local blacksmith.” He squatted beside her and grasped her wrist with one hand while easily holding her chair upright. “Can you tell me your name?” It took her a few seconds to realize he was checking her pulse.

The warmth and strength of his hand on her skin sent a sizzle of awareness along her nerve endings. “I’m Eva Coblentz. I am the new teacher and I’m fine now.” She pulled away from him.

Willis let go of her arm. Her pulse was strong if a bit fast. She didn’t seem to have suffered any serious damage.

The new teacher was a slender woman wearing a gray dress with a white apron over it. She had eyes the color of green willow leaves in the early spring. They regarded him steadily as if she saw more than his grubby face or his soot-and sweat-stained clothes. Her direct gaze was oddly discomfiting. “I suggest we find you a more stable place to sit, Eva Coblentz. Can you walk?”

“Since I was eight months old. Of course I can walk.”

The color was coming back into her face. Her snippy remark proved her wits weren’t addled even if there was a slight tremor in her voice. She stood, took a deep breath and headed to a nearby bench along the wall, rubbing the side of her head as she walked. “Is this one safe or are there other surprises in store for me?”

She had some spunk. He liked that. “Want me to try it first?” He sat, bounced up and down a couple of times and stood. “Feels okay to me.”

She sank onto the bench with a sigh and pressed one hand to the side of her head. “I have collected quite a goose egg.”

He frowned. “Seriously? I thought your hair would have cushioned the blow.” Amish women her age had hip-length hair folded up inside their kapps.

“I must have turned my head to the side. It’s behind my ear.”

He had been too quick to laugh off her fall as a minor incident. He needed to assess her injury. He held out his hand. “May I?”

She nodded and began pulling out the hairpins that held her heavily starched white kapp in place. Her neatly pinned honey-brown hair remained in a large, tight bun.

He gently felt the area she indicated. She did have a good-size goose egg behind her ear. “Is your vision blurry? Do you feel dizzy?”

“Nee. I feel foolish. Does that mean anything?”

He grinned at her. “Only that you’re human. Sit still. I’ll get some ice to put on that knot. I just live across the road.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary.”

He had spent weeks learning first-aid skills before moving his brothers and sister from Maryland to the far north of Maine where medical help might be long in coming. This was the first chance he’d had to use the knowledge he’d learned from a retired fireman turned potato farmer who lived in the next town.

“Ordinarily, I take a woman at her word, but this time I have to disagree. Sit still. I’ll be back in a few minutes and you will stay right here. Understood?”

“I will stay,” she repeated, closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. Her color was a little pale. Was she really okay?

Something about her prompt agreement troubled him. He was torn between the need to get the ice and a reluctance to leave her alone.

She opened one eye to peek at him. “I thought you were going to get ice?”

“I’m waiting to see if you plan to obey my orders or if you’ll take off as soon as I’m out of sight.”

Both her eyes opened wide and then narrowed in speculation. “You must have sisters.”

“Just one. She doesn’t like to do as she is told, either.”

“Very well. I promise to stay here until you return.”

“That is exactly what I wanted to hear.”

Willis hurried out the door and down the school steps. His house was only about fifty yards across the way. He barged into his own kitchen, startling his little six-year-old sister Maddie, who was coloring at the kitchen table.

“Willis, you scared us.”

Maddie was the only one in the kitchen. He figured the us referred to her imaginary friend. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“Bubble says that’s okay. She wasn’t really scared. Do you like her picture?” Maddie held up a sheet of white paper.

“It’s a blank page, Maddie.”

His half sister and her two brothers had only been with Willis for a few weeks. He still wasn’t used to sharing a home with them, let alone with Maddie’s imaginary friend who required a place at the table and was always being stepped on or sat on by someone. Had he made a mistake by moving the children so far from everything they had known? He thought living with a family member would be best after losing their parents, but what if he was wrong?

It wouldn’t be the first time. Normally, his mistakes didn’t affect anyone but himself. Now there were others who might be hurt by his failures. The lingering fear that he couldn’t properly care for his siblings often kept him awake at night. He tried to put his trust in the Lord, but he wasn’t good at giving up control.

He grabbed a plastic bag from the box in a drawer beside the propane-powered refrigerator and then pulled the ice tray out of the freezer. He began emptying the cubes into the bag.

“Willis, you hurt Bubble’s feelings. Tell her you like her picture.”

A knock at the door stopped him before he got into another discussion with his sister about the existence of Bubble. He opened the door and saw Craig Johnson, the farmer he had promised the potato digger would be ready for today. The man’s red pickup truck and a black metal trailer were sitting on the road.

“Goot morning, Mr. Johnson. I’m sorry but I’m not quite done with it.”

“I need it now. My farm auction starts at two o’clock and I won’t get any money for a broken digger that’s still at your shop. You’re new here and I took a chance on you instead of using a machine shop in Presque Isle. I won’t pay for something that’s not fixed.”

“I understand.” Willis couldn’t afford to lose business if an unsatisfied customer started telling his friends how unreliable the new Amish blacksmith was. He could only put out one fire at a time. He turned to his sister. “Maddie, where are Otto and Harley?”

“I don’t know.” She held her hand to the side of her mouth and whispered into the empty air. She turned back to him and shrugged. “Bubble says she doesn’t know.”

Neither of his brothers were turning out to be much help. He held out the bag of ice. “Take this and a kitchen towel up to the school and give it to the new teacher.”

Maddie’s face brightened. “My teacher is here?”

“Ja, and she got a bump on her head so hurry. I’ll be there soon.”

Maddie got down from the chair, pulled out the one next to hers and helped her invisible friend out of it. “Let’s go meet our teacher.”

She took the towel and ice bag and rushed out the door. Willis led Mr. Johnson to the potato digger he had been working on. “Once I get the bolts in and check that it is level, I will help you load it.”

“Okay, but make it snappy. I don’t have all day.”

Willis watched his sister long enough to make sure Maddie crossed the road safely and went into the school. He would have to see about the new teacher once he was done here. He hoped Maddie wouldn’t tell Eva Coblentz about her imaginary friend or what a poor job her brother was doing at raising her. He prayed his little sister would be too shy to say a single word, but he knew he was going to regret sending her alone.