Sarah's Orphans (15 page)

“I can't fathom what's going through that child's mind.”

“We've had a lot of different children over the years.”

“I always assumed they were distant family.”

Mary Beth smiled. “They felt like family.”

“Why did you never tell anyone about your being Bridge parents?”

“It was a small thing we were doing, and not something we wanted to brag about. There seemed no need to share the children's story. It was only necessary to love them for a time until they could find their forever home—whether that was back with their natural parents or with an adoptive family.”

“You never wanted to keep them? For your own?”

“Oh, they claimed my heart, some more than others, if that's what you're asking. But Levi and I knew from the beginning that our role was to provide a smooth and safe transition, not a permanent home.”

“Would it even be possible?” Sarah paused mid potato. “Could I be a Bridge parent? And if I manage to do that, would they allow me to keep the children, either temporarily or…or permanently?”

“I don't see why not. It's true that you have an unconventional home.” Mary Beth picked up her mug of tea, long gone cold, and sipped it. “You've been through a lot in the last few years, Sarah. The DHS, Department of Human Services, won't hold that against you. If anything, it proves your resilience.”

“But…we've had to accept help from the church just to get by.”

Mary Beth waved away that concern. “Andy will turn your place into a productive farm. He's a
gut
worker, and the land will produce if it's cared for.”

“Then there's the fact that they're not Amish, and we're not Hispanic.”

“Other Amish have adopted before. There are other concerns, much more important than if you share the same ethnic background or how much money you make.”

“Such as?”

“Can you provide a safe, healthy home?”

“
Ya
, of course we can.”

“You'll have to pass a background check, and everyone in the house will need a physical exam.”

“Why?”

“The state wouldn't want someone who is physically unable to care for children to take on such a task.”

“Can't they tell that by looking at us?”

“Not always.”

Sarah didn't know what to say to that. She focused on finishing with the potatoes, quartering them when Mary Beth indicated she should. She rinsed them again, placed them in a pan, covered them with water, and set the pan on the stovetop. It stilled something inside her to know that she'd helped to prepare the children's meal.

She peeked back into the living room. Both Mateo and Mia were asleep on the couch.

In response to her unanswered question, Mary Beth said, “It will take a while for them to recover both physically and emotionally. Being abandoned, at that age, is not an easy thing.”

When she sat back down at the table, Sarah said, “I know something about being abandoned.”

“For sure and certain you do. I'm sorry about your mother.”

“The worst part? It's easier without her.”

“And that is not how things should be, but we make the best of what we're given.” Mary Beth put aside her crocheting, walked around the table, and sat down beside Sarah. Reaching for her hands, she held them, squeezed them, and spoke in a calm voice. “The question at this point isn't whether you can be a Bridge parent. If
Gotte
has chosen that path for you, He will make it possible. I want you to search your heart. Are you doing this to heal something inside of you? Or are you doing it for the children?”

“Maybe both?” Sarah's voice sounded incredibly small, even to her own ears.

“That's certainly possible, but you won't always be a twenty-three-year-old woman raising her
bruders
. Andy and Henry and Isaac and Luke will all be on their own within a few years. What you're taking on, especially if you're considering permanent placement, is for the rest of your life. Be sure that's what you want, and that it is what
Gotte
has called you to.”

“And if it is?”

Mary Beth's smile eased an ache deep in Sarah's heart. “We will pray that
Gotte
makes smooth the path before you.”

CHAPTER 29

P
aul's purchase of the Fisher place closed on Friday morning. The real estate agent claimed it was the fastest sale he'd ever brokered. As for Paul, he was simply relieved that the legalities were done with and he could get to work in earnest.

He didn't need any help moving in, as he only had a duffel of clothes to take with him and a few items Rebecca had found in their storage room. So he was surprised when he and Rebecca and Joseph drove out to the place in Joseph's buggy and found a line of tractors and buggies in the yard.

No one had gone inside. Men, women, and even children were milling around, waiting on their arrival. Indeed, they weren't sure if Paul would be living in the house or the barn.

“The barn,” he admitted. “At least there the rain won't come through the roof.”

There was much backslapping and congratulations, offers of help and suggestions for contractors. Paul couldn't explain that he wanted to do the work himself, to do it slowly, and watch life come back into the neglected place. So he thanked them for their suggestions and accepted slips of papers with names and phone numbers, but he doubted he would be contacting anyone.

Once he opened the door to the barn, the women fairly swarmed the place, stocking the shelves in the office with food, placing new sheets on the cot, leaving extra bedding and towels in the bathroom. Half the women cleaned while the other half unloaded items and put things away.

“I didn't expect this,” Paul confessed to his brother.

“
Ya?
The women enjoy helping an old bachelor settle down.” With a wink, Joseph followed Paul around the barn to look at the old tractor. They were soon joined by Andy and Luke.

“Henry couldn't come,” Andy explained. “He's working a shift at the restaurant in town, but he's already looked at it. Says it will take a bit of work to get it going, but that it is fixable.”

“I suppose tractors are like horses.” Joseph tapped a rusty spot on the tractor Paul had acquired along with the purchase of the property. Sitting next to it was the bed of an old white Ford pickup that could be attached to the tractor. “Once you make up for the years of neglect, they will last you a long time.”

“Are you going to buy a horse and buggy?” Luke asked.

“One day, but money's tight at the moment.”

“No doubt you'll want to get your crop in first,” Joseph said. “
Gotte
will provide, Paul. Never fear.”

They walked back outside, and Paul found himself looking for Sarah.

He'd heard from Rebecca what had happened to the Lopez children. His sister-in-law was one of the few who knew the bishop and his wife were licensed foster parents—Bridge parents they were called. She had hurried over to the bishop's house after Paul had told her about walking in on the laundry fiasco and discovering the two small children. It had been her idea that the bishop intervene and offer support if necessary. Paul doubted it took much convincing. Levi seemed the type to offer a hand whenever one was needed.

A passel of children had accompanied the women, and they were now playing tag in what had once been a horse pasture. He noticed Mateo in the middle of the children, but no sign of Mia. He turned and nearly bumped into Sarah. Mia was plastered to her side.

“I wanted to thank you,” she said, glancing down at Mia and adjusting her coat. She looked everywhere but directly at him. “For helping the day you stopped by.”

“You're welcome, of course.” He didn't know what else to say. Though they were to be neighbors, he hadn't quite been able to figure out Andy and Sarah and their odd family. He'd never known a family to be abandoned by their sole surviving parent before.

Because he couldn't think of a thing to say to Sarah, Paul squatted down so that he was level with Mia. “How are you?”

He expected her to hide her face in Sarah's coat. Instead, she stepped closer to him, put one hand on each side of his face, and said, “Up, please.”

It broke the tension between Sarah and Paul as they both laughed. He raised the little girl up in the air. She squealed and clung to his neck.

“She seems taken with you.”

“
Ya
? I always thought children were afraid of me—too ugly.”

Sarah's eyes widened, but she didn't counter his uncharitable description of himself. Now that he thought of it, he sounded like a teenage fool fishing for a compliment. He cast around for something else to say.

“They're staying with the bishop and his wife?”

“For now.” Sarah's chin raised a fraction of an inch. “I began my training earlier this week.”

“Training?”

“To be a Bridge parent.”

Mateo called to Mia, and she squirmed to be released.

“No hiding,” Sarah called after her.

Paul took off his hat and resettled it on his head. The day was sunny and unseasonably warm for the second week of February. Some of the children had even taken off their coats.

“A Bridge parent. So you want to be a foster home?”

“What I want is Mateo and Mia to stay with me, at least until their mother returns.”

“What if she doesn't return?”

“We'll deal with that later.”

“But you need to have a plan.” Paul glanced around, as if he might see someone he could pull over, someone who could talk sense into this woman.

“My plan is to do what
Gotte
has called me to do.”

“Such as raising your
bruders
?”

A clear look of defiance flashed over Sarah's features. “You think I can't do both?”

“I don't understand why you'd want to do both.”

Sarah opened her mouth to argue. He didn't give her the chance.

“They're
gut
kids, Sarah, but surely
Gotte
doesn't expect you to take on so much.”

“Is that so? Because I'm pretty sure the Bible tells us to look after the orphans.”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Nowhere does it say to do so only when the road is easy.”

“It certainly won't be,” he muttered, but she wasn't listening. Nope. He'd hit a nerve in Sarah Yoder's heart, and she was now as prickly as a porcupine.

“I may not have the most money or the cleanest house, but at least they won't be living in a barn.”

Instead of being offended, Paul had to resist the urge to laugh. As if he would bring children to live in his barn. His home might not be ready to live in for some time, but he was a bachelor and fully expected to remain so.

As for Sarah, he had to admit that his neighbor made a pretty picture, especially when she was angry.

But he didn't say any of that, because she had stomped away, gathering up her brothers, and saying goodbye to Mateo and Mia. She never once turned to look at him.

CHAPTER 30

T
he next ten days passed in a flurry of activity. Sarah made a good dent in the twenty-seven hours of preservice training required by DHS. Twice she hired a driver to take her to Tulsa for all-day classes. When she tried to pay the woman, she'd been informed that Bishop Levi had already taken care of the charge. She completed about half of the classes on the computer at their small library. At first she'd been filled with trepidation as she sat in front of the monitor. Rebecca had accompanied her and patiently explained how to use the device. The librarian even stopped by to offer help.

“It's only that it feels wrong.” Sarah worried the strings of her prayer
kapp
.

“To use the computer? Phooey. There are reasons for our rules, Sarah, for our
Ordnung
. It's not necessarily because something is bad. Sometimes it's only that we don't want a thing in our homes, distracting us from our family. But computers can be useful at times.”

“I suppose,” she mumbled, still unconvinced.

“Many of our men use them to read the latest in weather prediction or crop rotations. And I've known more than one woman who stops by when she is hankering for a new recipe.”

“There are recipes? On here?”

“
Ya
. You can even find Amish recipes.”

That made her laugh, and suddenly she wasn't intimidated anymore.

Rebecca helped her to navigate to the DHS website and log on to the Resource page with the password Tommy Cronin had given her. She'd seen the social worker twice now, and though he seemed impossibly young and…well,
Englisch
…she did believe he had the children's welfare at heart.