Chapter 1.
Deborah Fisher was pinning out the washing with Jenny, her younger sister, while she looked forward to a visit from their older sister, Elizabeth. Elizabeth had left the family home two years ago to marry Peter Yoder, and in a few months they were expecting their first child.
“I was just about to get that one,” Jenny said with a giggle as they both reached for the same towel.
“You have to be quicker.”
“What time did Elizabeth say she was coming?” Jenny asked, looking over her shoulder at the road in front of the house.
“She didn’t really say a time. You know what she’s like; she takes no notice of the hour of the day. She’ll be here when she feels like it.”
“I know. I wonder if she’ll change when she’s a mudder.”
“Maybe. She'll have to get the children to school on time.”
“I can’t wait until the boppli’s born. I’ll be an aenti.”
"So will I.” Deborah wondered how long it would take her to become a mother. It would be good to have a niece or a nephew, but being a mother would be so much better. She longed for that day to come. Firstly, she’d have practice taking care of a newborn by helping her sister as much as she could. Secondly, she'd need a husband.
With Elizabeth now living with her new husband, things were a lot quieter in the family home, but their fourteen-year-old younger brother, Joshua, kept things interesting. He was always getting himself into some kind of trouble or other.
“I can’t wait until you get married, too.”
“I need someone to be interested in me first,” Deborah said.
“I want to have a lot of nieces and nephews.”
Deborah giggled as she reached for another towel in the basket by her feet. “I’ll do my best, but I’m not … I might never marry. You might even marry before I do.”
Jenny’s jaw dropped open. “I’m only fifteen. No one marries at my age and I don’t even like anyone.”
“I didn’t mean you’d get married now. What I meant was when you’re eighteen or something you’ll marry and I’ll be still looking to find someone who appreciates me. I hope not, though.”
“Your pimples have gone now if that’s what you’re worried about, and you don’t even have any scars from them like some people do.”
Deborah didn’t need to be reminded about all the awful eruptions that had once covered her face. “That’s something, I guess.” She looked down at herself. “But I’m a lot bigger than other girls, if you haven’t noticed.”
“You’ll get a man who loves you just as you are.”
Deborah smiled at her sister’s words. That was her hope. She desperately wanted to have someone to love and to care for, but how could she do that when no men came near her? How could they find out what her personality was like? She knew it was looks that attracted a man to a woman, and then it was her personality that kept him there. Her family loved her; surely, she’d find a man who loved her too.
She was eighteen already and had never been asked out on a date, never even gone on a buggy ride. That was due to her being a large girl, she knew that, and there was nothing she could do about it. Most of the time her size didn’t bother her and she didn’t want to lose weight just to attract a man. On the other hand, maybe she should if she wanted to marry. It was an ongoing mental struggle that plagued her daily. That one true special man, the one God had created just for her, would love her in any package she came in—wouldn’t he?
Suddenly, a wet towel landed across her black lace-up boots. She looked up to see that Jenny had just dropped it.
“It’s Elizabeth!” Jenny ran off to greet Elizabeth and Deborah was left to pick up the wet towel and pin out the last of the washing.
Sometimes Deborah felt like the mother. With their mother being the community midwife, she was often out of the house for several hours at a time. Their father worked long hours on the dairy farm he owned with his brother. Deborah was often left in charge of the everyday chores that kept the household running.
When Deborah finished with hanging out the washing, she picked up the basket, placed it on her hip, and walked toward her older sister.
Elizabeth was just securing the buggy while Jenny talked to her non-stop. Deborah’s gaze immediately fell to Elizabeth’s rounded belly.
“You’re getting so big,” Deborah said as soon as Jenny had stopped talking to take a breath.
Elizabeth finished securing the horse and touched her stomach with both hands. “I am, aren’t I?" she said with a laugh. "I’m sure I’ve gotten bigger just in the last couple of days.”
“You have. You’re huge,”
“Is Mamm home?”
“Nee, she’s not back yet. She’s assisting at the birth of an Englisch woman who wanted to have a home birth.”
“Let’s go inside.” Jenny grabbed Elizabeth’s arm and started walking.
“Okay. Is there anything to eat? I’m starving.”
Deborah followed the two of them into the house.
“We had pot roast last night and there’s plenty left over. I could make you a toasted sandwich,” Jenny said.
“Perfect.”
Deborah placed the laundry basket into the laundry room and then sat down at the kitchen table with Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looked around. “Where’s Joshua?”
“He’s gone to work with Dat for work experience,” Deborah said.
Elizabeth nodded. “That will do him good. Keeping him out of trouble. Anyway, I’m here to talk about you.”
“Me?” Deborah asked.
“Jah, I found a job for you, if you’re still looking for one.”
“Really? Where?”
“Not far from here. Very close by, actually. It’s looking after two children.”
Deborah was thrilled. She loved children. “How old are they?”
“Two girls, six, and eight.”
She took a wild guess. “You mean Nathan Beiler’s dochders?” Nathan Beiler was a widower, but had been engaged to Elizabeth’s best friend, Marta, going on two years.
“That’s right. Marta has to go away to look after her grossmammi and she wants to make sure the girls are looked after. Nathan said she can find someone to fill in for her.”
At first Deborah was delighted that Marta would put so much trust in her, but she could tell by her sister’s face that there was more to this than she was letting on. “What’s really going on? Marta has never particularly liked me. She’s barely even said two words to me in her whole life.”
Elizabeth noticeably gulped. “She’s a little worried that Nathan has never set the date for their wedding. She wonders if he’s truly committed to her.”
Now the job offer made more sense to Deborah. “And she’s worried that a prettier girl might turn his head, is that it? But if she replaces herself with someone ugly and fat like me, she can look after her grossmammi and have nothing to worry about?”
“Deborah! Nee, not at all.”
There was no conviction in Elizabeth’s voice and Deborah knew she’d guessed Marta’s plan. “It sounds just like that to me, and I won’t do it.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked straight ahead.
“It will pay the same as any other full-time job.”
She whipped her head back around to look at Elizabeth. “I'd be paid—money?”
“Jah, of course, silly.”
That made a big difference to Deborah. She knew she’d need money to support herself just in case she never married. Joshua would inherit their father’s share of the dairy farm, that was already set in stone. Elizabeth was already married to a wonderful man, and her younger sister was so sweet and beautiful there was no doubt in Deborah’s mind that Jenny would be married by eighteen. The last thing Deborah wanted was to be poor and unmarried and to be forced to live with one of her siblings' families, tucked away in a dark back bedroom. No! She would save her money—squirrel it away so she could live with dignity in a home of her own. It didn’t even matter if it was small, even a one bedroom cottage would do. She’d make a life for herself, be independent and be happy.
“What do you say?” Elizabeth asked.
“Well, I have been looking for a job and since I can’t do anything in particular, that hasn’t been easy. Is the job mine if I want it?”
“Jah, Nathan said that Marta can find someone to replace her for when she’s gone. He trusts her completely to make a good choice.”
“You told her that already,” Jenny said as she joined them at the table.
Elizabeth frowned at Jenny. “Where’s my toasted sandwich?”
“It’s under the grill. I had to cut the meat and then make the sandwich. Don’t be so impatient. Does Nathan pay Marta, his own fiancée?”
“That’s a nosy question,” Elizabeth said.
Deborah was glad Jenny had asked that question because she was wondering about that herself.
“If you must know, Nathan tries to make her take money for all the cooking and cleaning and looking after the children she does, but she won’t take any money. She’d be doing it all if she was married to him, anyway.”
“Why aren’t they married by now, then?” Jenny asked.
“Just between us sitting here, that’s what Marta’s worried about. She’s hoping that time away will make him miss her.”
“So her grossmammi isn’t really sick?” Jenny asked.
“Nee, Marta wouldn’t be that conniving. She is really sick.”
“Ah, I get it, and she’s the only one in her whole extended and large family available to go and look after her.”
Elizabeth shook her head at her younger sister and Deborah too could smell the plot a mile away. Whether Marta’s grandmother was sick or not, Marta was trying to push Nathan into setting a date for the wedding. Secondly her plot was to free Nathan of any temptation or distraction caused by having a pretty woman under his nose every day. That’s why she was chosen. It was clear that Marta was hoping Nathan would miss everything about her. “You told Marta I can cook and clean, didn’t you?”
“I said all good things about you and that’s why she’s offered you the job.”
“Are you sure it’s all right with Nathan?”
“I’m positive.”
“What kind of things would I have to do?”
“Nathan leaves for work early. You’d have to be there before he leaves, then cook the children breakfast, walk them to and from school. Then just do a bit of housework while they’re away and then cook the evening meal. As soon as Nathan comes home you can leave.”
Deborah slowly nodded. “It’s good that he lives close by. I can even walk there. But I’ll ride my bike and that’ll be even quicker. When would I start?”
Elizabeth turned to Jenny. “Don’t burn it.”
“I’ll get it out now.” Jenny jumped up from the table.
“Tomorrow morning?”
“That soon?”
“I kind of told her that you’d do it. Only because I was sure you would. I know you love children, and you were looking for a job. Just make sure you’re there early.”
“Is Marta going to be there tomorrow to show me what to do?”
“She said she’d write out a long list and leave it for you. Nathan will be there when you get there. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Jenny placed the toasted sandwich in front of Elizabeth.
“Denke, Jenny, this looks wunderbaar.”
Deborah watched Elizabeth bite into the sandwich as if she hadn’t seen food for days. It was interesting to watch her sister turn into a mother. Now she’d know what to expect if her turn ever came.
She was nervous about the next day, but it sounded like the perfect job for her even though it was only temporary. Besides that, it would give her work experience to enable her to get the next job.
Deborah'd had a secret crush on Nathan from the time she was a young girl. She was a little upset when he married Sally, and from there she’d put him out of her mind. Not long after Sally had their second child, she developed a terminal illness and from the time she was diagnosed to the time she died was only six months. Grace wasn’t even one at the time that Sally died.
Now Nathan and Marta had been dating going on two years. Marta said they were getting married, but no one knew when.
