A Home for Hannah (8 page)

“I believe she’ll come back for Hannah. I just wish we could locate her and find out what kind of trouble she is in.”

“You’re a practical woman. You have to know that women who leave their babies in a safe haven are unlikely to return for them. I don’t know of a single case in Ohio where custody was returned to the biological mother.”

“How many of those women were Amish?”

“No one knows. The point of the Safe Haven Law is to give mothers anonymity. Frankly, while the intention is good, I think the law has one big flaw.”

“Fathers?”

“Exactly. Hannah’s father has the same rights as her mother does. We don’t know if he knew about this decision or not. I don’t like the idea that a mother can give away her child without the father’s consent.”

“The world is full of deadbeat dads who could care less what happens to their kids. Many of them can’t be bothered to pay child support.”

“There are many, many more men who would give anything to see that their children have good lives.”

Nick would be one of those men, she decided. Mark would’ve been one if he had lived. Thinking about him made her sad but she didn’t feel angry anymore. It was odd, because the anger had consumed her for so long. She felt empty without it. What would she find to replace it?

Nick said, “At least we know that Hannah will go to a loving family, even if her mother doesn’t return. There are good people waiting to adopt a baby like her.”

“I will be sorry to see her go.”

“But you’ll be able to get a decent night’s sleep when she does,” he said with a grin.

“There is that.” She tipped her head to the side and stared at her dog. “Bella is the one who’s going to be brokenhearted.”

“You’ll have to adopt a puppy for her.”

“Ha! You do want to punish me, don’t you? What makes you think a new puppy would be any less trouble than a baby? I could always adopt two and leave one on your doorstep.”

“It wouldn’t work.”

“Why not? Don’t tell me you’d take a helpless puppy back to the pound.”

“No. However, among all my nieces, nephews and cousins, I wouldn’t have any trouble finding a better home than my apartment.”

Miriam knew that Nick was the oldest in his family. He had three younger sisters. She’d never met them, but he used to talk about them—make that complain about them—the way teenaged boys talked about their sisters. She was suddenly curious about his life. She asked, “What are the three terrors up to these days?”

Nick gave a bark of laughter that disturbed Hannah and made her whimper. He soothed her with a little bouncing, and she settled back to sleep. “I haven’t heard them called that in years. They were the bane of my existence when I was growing up. Fortunately for me they didn’t like the country or Amish living and refused to spend summers with Grandma Betsy. Summers were my great escape.”

Miriam raised her foot to rest it on the rocker seat and wrapped her arms around her knee. She remembered waiting for him to return, eager to see him again and hear about everything he’d done in the strange
Englisch
world. “You never had much good to say about your sisters.”

“True. Happily, I’ve learned to like them a lot better now that they have their own homes and aren’t keeping me out of the only bathroom for hours on end. I never did understand why it takes a girl so long to get ready in the mornings. Multiply that by three, and you know I had like six seconds to get ready for school every day.”

Miriam hesitated before asking her next question. Nick’s home life had been difficult after his father’s death. He had confided many things to her when they had been friends. Before she heaped all her anger and guilt on him. “How is your mother doing?”

“Better some days, worse other days. I know dad loved her, I know she loved dad, but they couldn’t make it work. She wasn’t cut out to be a big city cop’s wife. She hated his job. After he was killed, she couldn’t stand the guilt. She believed it was her punishment for leaving the Amish.”

“I know you once said she was abusing prescription drugs. Is she still?”

“I don’t think so, but I’m not there every day. My youngest sister lives close by. She seems to think Mom is doing okay. I know that having grandchildren has been good for her.”

Miriam gazed at Hannah. “My mother would love grandchildren. That’s why I’m worried she is getting too attached to Hannah. I don’t want it to break her heart when the baby has to leave.”

“As much as you love kids, I’m surprised you haven’t married and had children.”

She cocked her head at him. “Don’t think it’s because I haven’t had offers. I just haven’t found the right guy.”

Hannah began fussing and squirming in his hold. He said, “I think she’s getting hungry. It’s been almost three hours since she last ate.”

Miriam sprang to her feet. “I’ll go get her bottle ready.”

She entered the house with a sense of relief. Their conversation had taken a personal turn that she wasn’t quite ready for. It was one thing to have him talk about himself, it was another thing to expose her own life to his scrutiny.

* * *

Nick adjusted Hannah’s position to his shoulder and patted her back gently. “Did you see how quickly she shot out of here when I started asking personal questions? Note to self—no matter how much I would like to know about Miriam’s life, don’t press, wait for her to volunteer that information.”

At least she wasn’t glaring daggers at him every chance she got. Something was different this afternoon. Her mood had softened. Perhaps having a baby in the house brought out her gentler side. Whatever was going on, he hoped it didn’t change soon. He liked being able to spend time in her company without feeling like he was barely tolerated.

He glanced up as she came out of the house with a bottle in her hand. She self-consciously tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled slightly as she held out the formula.

The trouble with spending time with Miriam was that it made him wish for more. More of her time, more of her smiles, more of everything she cared to share.

“I can feed her if you want,” she offered.

“That’s okay, I’m already damp.” He took the bottle from her hand and tried to shift the baby into a more upright position. Miriam bent down to help just as he leaned. Her face was inches from his. Close enough to kiss if he leaned forward a bit more. And he wanted to kiss her.

The timing was all wrong, the situation was all wrong, but he wanted to kiss her. It took all of his self-control to hand her the bottle, adjust the baby in his arms and lean back. He glanced at her to see if she had noticed his interest. Color bloomed in her cheeks. She gave him the bottle and took a step back.

Keep it casual. Don’t blow it.

He could give himself good advice but he wasn’t sure he could follow it. He cleared his throat. “I hope we have better luck finding our mystery buggy during the farmers market tomorrow.”

Miriam took a seat in her chair and stared straight ahead. “I think we’ll see a lot of the same ones. If I knew when the next singing was being held we could check out more of the young men’s buggies.”

“I know a lot of them like the open-topped buggies for courting. You saw a closed-top buggy.”

“I’m sure what I saw was a standard variety, black, Ohio Amish buggy.”

“It’s too bad there isn’t something to help us tell them apart.”

“That’s the point of all the Amish driving the same style. Uniformity, conformity, no one stands out above their neighbor.”

“I understand that, but I can still wish for license tags.”

“Well, unless the numbers had been three feet tall and could glow in the dark, I wouldn’t have been able to see them, either. It was dark and the lane is a quarter mile long.”

“I’m not faulting you for a lack of description. I’m frustrated by the fact that I can’t do more.”

“Are you sorry that we let you in on this?”

“Yes, and no. I know that Hannah is being well cared for. I just wish I could bring the power of my office into the hunt. If I considered this a straight child abandonment, my office could offer a reward for information. We could have law enforcement officers going door to door. We could make it hard for this young woman to hide. While I’ve alerted the local hospitals and clinics to be on the lookout for a woman with postpartum complications and no baby, all I’m really left with is checking buggy wheels. It’s not high-tech police work.”

“You like your job, don’t you?”

“I do, but it’s not for everyone.” Hannah had finished her bottle. Nick sat her up to burp her. She gave a hearty belch for such a tiny baby, but all of her formula stayed down.

Miriam got up and reached for her. Nick handed her over reluctantly. He had no more reasons to hang out on Miriam’s front porch.

“I’m glad we let you in on this, and I’m glad you came by today. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Why don’t I pick up you and your mother tomorrow? We can cruise the market together.” He waited, hopeful that this new, softer Miriam would agree.

“That sounds fine.” She hesitated, as if she wanted to say more, then simply nodded goodbye and walked into the house.

Nick walked out to his vehicle. He opened the door of his SUV but hesitated before getting in. He knew it was a selfish thought, but he hoped Hannah’s mother stayed out of sight a little longer.

Without Hannah to bring them together he’d have no excuse to spend time with Miriam.

Chapter Seven

A
heavy morning shower didn’t put a damper on the first market day of the spring. The small town of Hope Springs was bustling with wagons, buggies, produce buyers and tourists. Nick turned off Main Street onto Lake Street.

The regular weekly market had been held on Friday afternoons in a large grassy area next to the town’s lumberyard. After a recent meeting of the town council, the day had been changed to Tuesday in an effort to draw in tourists from the other area markets held on the same day. The striped canopies of numerous tents were clearly visible, as were dozens of buggies lined up along the street.

Nick had been to the market numerous times. It was one way to meet and get to know the often reclusive Amish residents of his county. Today, he wouldn’t be looking over homemade baked goods or cheeses. He’d be watching for anyone with a marked interest in Hannah as well as for their mystery buggy.

After he found a parking place, he got out of the vehicle and opened the door for Ada. She had been in good spirits on the ride to town, as was her daughter. Amish families looked forward eagerly to the weekly trip to town. Much of the day would be spend visiting and shopping with friends and family.

Ada said, “
Ach,
there is Faith Lapp with one of her alpacas. They are such cute animals. I must get some of her yarn to make Hannah a blanket.”

Nick looked to see if her nephew Kyle was with her. He wanted speak to the boy and find out how he was adjusting to his new Amish family. Nick had had the unhappy duty of removing Kyle from his aunt’s home when an overzealous and uninformed social worker insisted Faith’s plain home was an unsafe environment. Fortunately, Judge Harbin, the family court judge, was familiar with the Amish and knew that Kyle would be raised with every care.

It took Nick several long moments to locate the boy. He was dressed in a wide-brimmed straw hat, dark pants and a white shirt beneath a dark vest. He was standing in a group of boys in almost identical clothing. They were laughing and patting the young black alpaca that Kyle had named Shadow. From the look on the young boy’s face, Nick knew he was settling in well.

Miriam had Hannah out of her car seat and was settling her into a baby carrier that kept her snuggled against Miriam’s chest. Nick said, “That’s a nice little rig.”

“She seems much more content when she is being held or carried upright. Amber brought it by yesterday after you left. It works wonders, and it lets me keep my hands free.”

Nick surveyed the field. “Which end of the street do you want to start on?”

“First, I’d like to visit the tent where the quilts are being displayed.”

Nick frowned at her. “There won’t be any buggies in that area.”

“I know, but I brought the quilt Hannah was wrapped in. I’m hoping someone will recognize it. I also wanted to say hello to Rebecca and Gideon Troyer. You know Rebecca’s story, don’t you?”

“Sure. I was one of the people bidding on her quilt last November when she was trying to raise enough money to have her eye surgery. Of course, Gideon outbid us all and ended up with a wife as well as a fine quilt. We are all thankful for God’s mercy in restoring Rebecca’s sight.”

Ada said, “I think the bigger miracle was Gideon’s return to the Plain life after being out in the world for so many years. It was a blessing to his family and our community.”

Miriam couldn’t get the strap of the snuggle harness to fit comfortably. Nick said, “Here, let me help you with that.”

She turned her back to him. He swept aside her hair to see where the strap was twisted. Her hair whispered across his wrist and bunched like the softest silk in his hand. He paused, captivated by the sensation.

“Can you get it?” she asked.

“Yup. Just a second.” He straightened the strap and let her hair slide through his fingers. If he lived to be an old, old man, he wouldn’t forget the softness of it.

“Why don’t we split up? Nick, you can take mother to buy yarn, and I’ll go say hello to Rebecca and Gideon. We can meet back here and start checking buggy wheels.”

“I think it would be better to stick together,” he said.

Miriam gave him a funny look. “What difference does that make?”

“I want to be able to watch the people watching you and Hannah.” He wanted to walk by her side and pretend they were friends again.

“Okay, alpaca yarn, quilts, once through the market and then buggy wheels?”

“Sounds fine. It’s too bad it rained. Your lipstick marks will have been washed off all the slow-moving-vehicle signs. We’ll end up rechecking dozens of the same ones.”

Miriam giggled, a light, free sound that made his heart beat faster. “It’s waterproof lipstick. It should still be there.”

He shook his head. “Waterproof. A man learns something new every day.”

Nick kept a close watch on Miriam as she moved through the crowds. There were a number of people who stopped to admire Hannah, but no one seemed overly interested, or out of the ordinary, except for a pair of Amish teenage boys who followed them but never approached her.

Nick said to Ada, “Do you know those boys?”

She looked to where he indicated the pair looking at hand-carved pipes. “Do you mean the Beachy twins?”

“Beachy? Which family do they belong to?” Since almost all Amish were descended from a small group of immigrants, there was very little diversity in their names. There were dozens of families with the same last name in his county.

“They are Levi Beachy’s younger brothers. He is the carriage maker in Hope Springs. He rented the business from Sarah Wyse’s husband shortly before he passed away.”

“Yes, I remember that.”

Nick said to Miriam, “I believe I’ll have a word with the twins. Walk on and I’ll catch up with you.”

As Miriam and her mother made their way down the row of tents, Nick dropped back and approached the boys from behind, taking care to keep out of their line of sight until he was standing only a step away. “You two seem awfully interested in Miriam Kauffman’s baby. Care to tell me why?”

The boy spun around, their eyes going wide at the sight of the sheriff towering over them. One stammered, “W-we don’t know what you mean.”

“I’m asking what is your interest in that baby? Is one of you the father?”

He doubted they could look more surprised if he’d suggested that they could fly. “
Nee,
we’re no one’s
daed,
” they exclaimed together.

“Are you willing to take a DNA test to prove that?”

The boys looked at each other. One said, “We’re not so good at taking tests. We’d rather not.”

Nick folded his arms and clapped a hand over his face to hide his grin. “What are your names?”

The one on the right said, “I’m Moses, and this is my younger brother, Atlee.”

Atlee elbowed him. “Younger by five minutes ain’t hardly enough to mention.”

Nick put a stop to what was clearly an old argument. “Why are you following Miriam?”

“Is that the baby that was left on the porch step?” Atlee asked.

“You answer my question first.” Nick used his most intimidating tone.

“We were wondering what she would charge to drive us to Cincinnati,” Moses said.

Atlee looked at him quickly, but then nodded. “Yeah, Cincinnati.”

Nick considered their story. They looked to be about the right age to be on their
rumspringa,
the time following an Amish teenager’s sixteenth birthday when they were allowed to experience the forbidden outside world prior to taking their vows of faith. Many learned to drive cars, but those who couldn’t afford them would hire drivers to take them into the cities. “So why not just ask her?”

Moses looked at his feet. “She’s so pretty.”

Puppy love—that was all Nick needed. “Samson Carter will quote you a fair price on a trip that far.”

The boys nodded. Atlee said, “But he ain’t so pretty. Is that the baby that was left on the stoop?”

“It is. What do you boys know about it?”

“Only what we heard. Is the baby okay?” Atlee asked. Moses looked as if he’d rather be anywhere else.

Nick relaxed. “She’s fine as far as we can tell. If you boys hear anything about a girl people thought might be pregnant but then didn’t have a baby, I’d sure like to know about it. Now, beat it.”

He didn’t have to say it twice. The boys dashed away without a backward glance.

After coming up empty at the quilt tent and spending another fruitless hour of searching through the buggies, they called it quits. Nick, Miriam and Ada returned to his vehicle. With Hannah secured in her car seat, Nick started the vehicle and headed toward Miriam’s house.

At the edge of town his radio crackled to life. He pulled over to listen. The dispatcher was asking for a unit in the Hope Springs area to respond to a domestic disturbance call. A neighbor had called in a report that a woman was being beaten. As each of his deputies replied, Nick realized he was the only one in the vicinity. The address the dispatch gave was only a few blocks away.

He glanced at Miriam. “I have to respond to this.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Just stay in the car.” He shared his intentions with his dispatcher, turned his SUV around and flipped on his lights and siren. In a matter of minutes, he was pulling up to a ramshackle house on the far edge of town.

The clapboard structure had been white once, but peeling paint and bare boards had turned it a dull gray. The yard was devoid of grass, but a tricycle and several toys leaned against the rusting chain-link fence. Several of the windows were covered with aluminum foil. Two others boasted broken shades but no curtains.

A young woman in jeans and a blood-spattered yellow T-shirt sat on the steps with a towel pressed to her face. There was no sign of her attacker. Nick handed the keys to Miriam. “If anything happens, if you feel unsafe at all, I want you to get out of here. There are deputies on the way for backup, so don’t worry about me.”

She grasped his arm. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

He opened the door and got out of the vehicle. Turning to her, he said, “Lock the doors and do as I say.”

Miriam’s first impulse was to assist the young woman. She couldn’t sit by and do nothing when someone was so clearly in need of medical assistance. She took the keys from Nick. “I’m a nurse. I can help.”

He shook his head. “Not until I know it’s safe.”

The words were no sooner out of his mouth than the screen door of the home banged open. A thin man with slicked-back hair started yelling at the woman. “Look what you’ve done now. You brought the cops down on us. How could you do this to me?”

The woman scrambled out of his way. Nick closed the vehicle door and approached the scene. “Stop right there, sir. I’m Sheriff Nick Bradley, and I just want to talk to you.”

The man threw his hands up in disgust, spun around and reentered the house before Nick could stop him. The woman collapsed on the bottom step still weeping. Nick approached her and asked, “Are you all right?”

“Don’t take him to jail. My husband is just upset because he’s been out of work so long. He’s been drinking today, but he almost never drinks. I’ll be okay. Honest, I cut my head when I fell.”

Nick didn’t take his eyes off the door. “Does he have any weapons in the house? Does he have a gun?”

“We don’t have anything like that. I’m sorry someone called you. I’m fine, really I am.” She tried to stand, but her legs gave out and she plopped back. She tried a second time and succeeded, but she wobbled. Nick reached out to help steady her.

From along the corner of the house, Miriam saw the husband approaching with a long thick piece of wood in his hand. He was out of Nick’s line of sight.

In that instant, she saw a terrifying scene beginning to unfold. The man rounded the corner of the house with the club raised over his head. Nick was in danger. Miriam pushed open the door and yelled, “Nick, watch out!”

Nick caught sight of the man an instant before it was too late. From his crouching position, he launched a sideways kick that landed square in the middle of the man’s chest. His heavy boot connected with a sickening thud. The husband tumbled backward, the board dropping from his hand.

Seconds later, Nick straddled him using an arm lock to hold him down while he snapped on a pair of handcuffs.

Miriam’s heart started beating again. Nick was safe. The emotions she’d kept bottled inside exploded into her mind. She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out. She cared about Nick. Deeply.

The wife started screaming hysterically for Nick to let her husband up. It was clear Nick had all he could handle. Miriam had to help. She jumped out of the car and rushed to the wife, placing herself between her and Nick. She grasped the woman’s arms and held on.

“It’s all right. He’s going to be all right. Don’t make things worse for him. Calm down.”

Nick growled, “Miriam, get back in the car.”

“Everyone take a deep breath. This doesn’t have to end badly if everyone keeps their cool.”

A movement at the window shade in the house drew Miriam’s attention. The frightened faces of two small kids looked out on the scene. She forced the woman to focus on her. “You’re scaring the children. You don’t want that, do you?”