Ella had been soothed about Shelby’s arrival because Hannah assured her great-grandmother the kind wouldn’t be with them long. She let Grossmammi Ella believe that Hannah’s daed would return straightaway to collect Shelby.
The situation wasn’t made easier because the elderly woman’s hearing was failing as fast as her memory. The toddler’s cries could slice through concrete, so the noise must be extra jarring for Grossmammi Ella who missed many quieter sounds. No wonder her nerves were on edge.
Hannah whispered an almost silent prayer of gratitude that Grossmammi Ella and the kind were still asleep. She doubted the peace would last long, and she needed to figure out what she absolutely had to do that day. She guessed most of her day would be focused on her abruptly expanded family. For the first time in a week, it wasn’t raining, so Daniel would want her to check the hive.
She sighed. That would be difficult because she couldn’t leave either her great-grandmother or the toddler alone. Though the covered bridge was down the road only a couple hundred feet, going would mean taking Grossmammi Ella and Shelby with her unless someone was at the house to keep an eye on them. She’d ask Daniel to do that while she went to figure out what she’d need to move the bees.
Maybe Daniel would have answers about her daed when he returned. His brother Amos ran the grocery store, and he may have heard something. It was even possible Daed had stopped at the store at the Stoltzfus Family Shops. No, that was unlikely. Why would he go where someone might recognize him?
Oh, Daed, why didn’t you knock on our door? I would have listened to you, and perhaps Shelby wouldn’t be distressed with me if she’d seen you and me together.
There weren’t answers, which is why, during the night while she walked the floor with Shelby, trying to get the little girl to go to sleep, Hannah had known Daniel’s suggestion to get Reuben’s advice about contacting the police was gut. The police had ways of obtaining information no plain person did. She had to concentrate on what was best for Shelby.
With a sigh as she put ground kaffi into the pot on the propane stove, she reminded herself, until she learned how to take care of the toddler and removed the bees from the covered bridge, Daniel would be part of her life. That should last only a few days; then he’d be gone again. Gut, because she didn’t want to let herself or her great-grandmother or Shelby become dependent upon him. She’d do as she promised Daniel, and then she’d go on with her life without him.
As she had before.
A cup of fresh kaffi did little to wake Hannah. She was halfway through her second one when she heard faint cries upstairs. Putting the cup on the counter, she hurried to the toddler’s room.
Shelby was standing in the crib Hannah had wrestled down from the attic last night. Grossmammi Ella kept everything, and Hannah was glad the old crib was still in the house. Shelby’s diaper was half-off, and big tears washed down her face. The sight of the forlorn kind made Hannah want to weep, too. Again she had to fight her exasperation with her daed. Being angry wouldn’t help her or Shelby.
“Hush, little one,” she crooned as she gathered the kind into her arms, hoping Shelby would throw her tiny arms around Hannah’s neck.
Instead the toddler stiffened and screeched out her fury. Hannah longed to tell her everything would be okay, but she wouldn’t lie to her little sister, though she doubted the toddler understood her. So far, it seemed Shelby comprehended simple words and phrases in Englisch. Nothing more, and Hannah hadn’t been able to decipher her babblings.
Daed probably wouldn’t have spoken to her in Deitsch, and it was unlikely Shelby’s mamm knew the language. Or would she? Who was Shelby’s mamm?
In the chaos of yesterday, Hannah hadn’t given the toddler’s mamm much thought. Where was she? Did she know her kind had been left alone on the front porch? Most important, Hannah thought as the little girl leaned her face against her shoulder, would Shelby’s mamm want her back?
All questions she couldn’t answer. What she could do was get Shelby cleaned and fed.
Hannah soon had the little girl, despite Shelby’s attempts to escape, in a fresh diaper and clothes. Another pair of pink overalls. She wondered if those were all Shelby wore. Her white shirt today had pink and blue turtles on it. Hannah needed to make clothes for the little girl, but the pressing matter was diapers. She had only about a half dozen on the dresser.
She came down the stairs with Shelby and saw Grossmammi Ella was awake and in the kitchen waiting for her breakfast. Exactly as she did every morning, but this day was different.
Putting Shelby in the high chair she’d found in the cellar, Hannah handed the toddler some crackers to keep her busy while she scrambled eggs for them. That seemed to quiet the kind who focused her attention on breaking crackers into the tiniest possible pieces.
Hannah gave her great-grandmother a kiss on her wizened cheek. “Gute mariye, Grossmammi Ella,” she said with a smile. “I hope you got some sleep.”
“Some.” She stared at the table.
“Let me get you some kaffi and toast while I make a gut breakfast for us.”
The old woman frowned at Shelby who was dropping minuscule pieces of cracker on the floor. “How long will that kind be here?”
“I told you last night. I’m not sure. I’m sorry she kept you awake.” She went to the stove and pulled a cast-iron frying pan from beneath the oven.
“She doesn’t belong here.”
“What?” Hannah turned, shocked. Grossmammi Ella had always been fond of kinder. Many church Sundays, her great-grandmother was the first to volunteer to hold a fussy boppli on her lap or watch over a little one so older siblings could join in a game after the service. “She may be my sister.”
“I don’t believe you! Your daed would never cast away his daughter like that.”
“He did me.” The words came out before she could halt them.
Her daed was a sore subject between her and Grossmammi Ella. The old woman believed Isaac Lambright would return someday and confess his sins before the congregation. Hannah wondered how her great-grandmother could continue to believe that after fifteen years. Hannah’s anger and grief at being left behind herself had been brought to the forefront by Shelby’s abandonment.
Dear Lord, show me the way to forgive my daed as You taught us. I can’t find a way in my heart to grant him forgiveness after what he’s done.
“Don’t forget what’s in God’s Ten Commandments. A kind should honor her daed and mamm.” Her great-grandmother’s scowl deepened.
“Ja.” She broke eggs into the frying pan and took out her frustration on them by stirring them hard. She did her best to keep the commandments, but her daed’s selfish actions made respecting him difficult.
I’ll try harder, Lord. Help me remember what’s important. She glanced over her shoulder as Shelby flung out her hands. A shower of cracker crumbs went everywhere, into the little girl’s hair, onto the floor, onto the table...onto Grossmammi Ella who abruptly smiled and handed the toddler another cracker. That delighted Shelby who babbled with excitement.
Hannah wanted to wrap her arms around them both and hold them close. The days to come wouldn’t be easy, but for her family, she’d try her hardest.
* * *
“Komm in, young man,” called a wavering voice when Daniel peeked around the front door of the Lambrights’ house after no one responded to his knock. “Don’t just stand there.” The voice took on a reproving tone. “Komm in.”
Daniel did, giving his eyes a moment to adjust to the interior after the bright early morning sunshine. Unbuttoning his coat, he didn’t take it off. He doubted he’d be staying long. He shifted his hold on the bag holding the shampoo and diapers he’d bought at his brother’s store.
A very old woman sat by the window. She was almost gaunt, and her