The Amish Bachelor's Baby. Jo Ann Brown
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to her. Before Caleb’s sister, Miriam, had mentioned that Leanna seemed intrigued by her brother, Annie had been thinking...
No, it didn’t matter. If Leanna had set her heart on him, Annie should remind him how wunderbaar her sister was. She’d do anything to have her sister happy again.
“Gute nammidaag,” Annie said as she came out of the pen, being careful no goat slipped past her.
“Is it still afternoon?” He glanced toward the western horizon, where the sun touched the mountaintops.
“Barely,” she laughed. “I’ve been catching up with chores before working on supper. Would you like to eat with us this evening?”
“Danki, but no.” Caleb clasped his hands behind him.
Annie was puzzled. Why was he uncomfortable? Usually he chatted with everyone. While he traveled from church district to church district in several states, he’d met with each of the families now living in Harmony Creek Hollow and convinced them to join him in the new community in northern New York.
“What can we do for you?” she asked when he didn’t add anything else.
“I wanted to talk to you about a project I’m getting started on.”
Curiosity distracted her from how the icy wind sliced through her shawl, coat and bonnet. “What project?”
“I’m opening a bakery.”
“You are?” She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.
A bakery? Amish men, as a rule, didn’t spend much time in the kitchen, other than to eat. Their focus was on learning farm skills or being apprenticed to a trade.
“Ja,” he said, then grimaced at another blast of frigid air. His coat was closed to the collar, where a scarf was edged with frost from his breath. “I stopped by to see if you’d be interested in working for me. The bakery will be out on the main road south of the turnoff for Harmony Creek Hollow.”
She set the sock carousel on a barrel. “You want to hire me? To work in your bakery?”
“I’ve had some success selling bread and baked goods at the farmers market in Salem. Having a shop will allow me to sell year-round, but I can’t be there every day and do my work at the farm.” He shivered again, and she guessed he was eager for a quick answer so he could return to his buggy. “Miriam told me you’d do a gut job for me.”
His sister, Miriam, was one of Annie’s best friends, a member of what they jokingly called the Harmony Creek Spinsters’ Club. Miriam hadn’t mentioned anything about Caleb starting a business.
“It sounds intriguing,” Annie said. “What would you expect me to do?”
“Tend the shop and handle customers. There would be some light cleaning.”
“Will you expect me to do any baking? I’d want several days’ warning if you’re going to want me to do that.”
He frowned, surprising her. It’d been a reasonable request, as she’d have to rearrange her household obligations around any extra baking. Asking Leanna would be silly. Her sister could burn air, and things that were supposed to be soft came out crunchy and vice versa. Nobody could quilt as beautifully as her twin, but the simplest tasks in the kitchen seemed to stump her.
“You’ve got a lot of questions,” he said.
Don’t ask too many questions. Don’t make suggestions. She doubted Caleb would treat her as her former boyfriend had, deriding her ideas until he found one he liked so much he claimed it for his own.
His frown faded. “I may need you to help with baking sometimes.”
“Will you expect me to do a daily accounting of sales?”
“Ja. Aren’t you curious how much I’m paying you?”
She rubbed her chin with a gloved finger. “I assume it’ll be a fair wage.” She smiled. “You’re not the sort of a man who’d take advantage of a neighbor.”
His wind-buffed cheeks seemed to grow redder, and she realized her compliment had embarrassed him.
Apologizing would cause him more discomfort, so she said, “Ja, I’d be interested in the job.”
“Then it’s yours.” His shoulders relaxed. “If you’ve got time now, I’ll give you a tour of the bakery, and we can talk more about what I’d need you to do.”
“Gut.” The wind buffeted her, almost knocking her from her feet as she reached to keep the sock carousel from sailing away again.
“Steady there.” Caleb’s broad hands curved along her shoulders, keeping her on her feet.
Sensation flowed out from his palms and riveted her, as sweet as maple syrup and, at the same time, as alarming as a fire siren.
“Danki,” she managed to whisper, but she wasn’t sure he heard her as the wind rose again. It made her breathing sound strange.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
When she nodded, he lifted his hands away and the warmth vanished. The day seemed colder than before.
Somehow, she mumbled that she needed to let her twin know where she was going. He wrapped his arms around himself as another blast of wind struck them.
“Hurry...anna...” The wind swallowed the rest of his words as she rushed toward the house.
She halted in midstep.
Anna?
Had Caleb thought he was talking to her twin? She’d clear everything up on their way to the bakery. She wanted the job. It was an answer to so many prayers, for God to let her find a way to help her sister be happy again, happy as Leanna had been before the man she loved married someone else without telling her.
Leanna was attracted to Caleb, and he’d be a fine match for her. Outgoing where her twin was quiet. A well-respected, handsome man whose gut looks would be the perfect foil for her twin’s. But Leanna would be too shy to let Caleb know she was interested in him. That was where Annie could help.
God, danki for giving me this chance to bring joy back to Leanna’s life. I won’t waste this opportunity You’ve brought to me.
As she was sending up her grateful prayer and rushing to the house, she reminded herself of one vital thing. She must be careful not to let her own attraction to Caleb grow while they worked together.
That might be the hardest part of the job.
* * *
One task down, a hundred to go...before he started tomorrow’s list.
Caleb glanced at the lead-gray sky as he moved closer to the heat box on the buggy’s floor, shifting his feet under the wool blanket there. The clouds overhead were low. Snow threatened, and the dampness in the air added another layer of cold. He hoped the Wagler twin wouldn’t remain in the house much longer. If he wanted to get home before the storm began, the trip to the bakery would have to be a quick one.
He hadn’t been sure when he went over to the Wagler farm if he’d get a ja or a no to his job offer. He had to have someone to help at the bakery.
But is she Annie or Leanna?
He hadn’t been sure which twin he was talking to. His usual way of telling them apart was that Annie talked more than Leanna, but without both being present, he hadn’t known. Not that it mattered. He had to have someone help at the bakery because he had his farmwork, as well.
After almost two years of traveling and recruiting families for the Harmony Creek settlement, he finally could make his dream of opening a bakery come true. He’d turned over the community’s leadership when the Leit ordained a minister and a deacon. It’d been