The Amish Teacher's Dilemma and Healing Their Amish Hearts by Patricia Davids (all ebook reader .txt) 📕

touches on the end-of-year program while she took bites of her ham sandwich. And that’s when she looked up and saw something amazing. Instead of teasing the younger boys, Caleb had invited little Sam and Andy over to join him and the older boys in a game of Life on the Farm. Sam didn’t speak but he participated silently and smiled when he did something right. The other children encouraged him, acting the way she expected them to.

Becca smiled to herself, realizing maybe she could be a good teacher after all. Last week, she’d felt as though she were a failure. That she never should have come to Colorado. But what she had done with Caleb Yoder had been a big achievement. Maybe she could make it as a teacher after all.

Now, if she could just figure out how to help Sam speak again, she would be truly happy. This afternoon, she would drive the little boy home and offer him some tutoring. She’d be sure to spend a little extra time bouncing ideas off Jesse as to how to help his son as well. She prayed that he wouldn’t resist and would take her advice well. And maybe during their conversation, she could find out what had caused Sam to cry that morning. She just hoped Jesse hadn’t been cruel to his son. She liked Jesse. She really did. She just wished he was more sensitive to his son’s needs.

By four o’clock that afternoon, Becca and Sam hadn’t arrived at the house and Jesse was ready to go find them. He stumbled on his way out of the back shed and headed toward the barn. Even though it was still early, the sky was overcast with a cluster of gray clouds. Maybe the roads had iced up already. It was certainly cold enough. He didn’t know how good a driver Becca was and started to worry.

He led Jimmy, his road horse, out of the barn. Taking a deep inhale of fresh air, he tried to clear his muddled mind. A blaze of panic almost overtook him. The horrible feeling of being out of control and losing everything that was good in life. And he couldn’t do a single thing to stop it from happening. Maybe Becca hadn’t been paying attention and went off the road. Maybe she and Sam were lying hurt somewhere in a ditch...

The jingle of a harness brought his attention and he looked up. Becca’s horse and buggy pulled into the graveled yard. Jesse saw her and his son sitting on the front seat, both of them bundled up against the frigid air. Becca held the leather lead lines with her gloved hands, seeming alert and attentive as she drove with confidence.

“Danke, Lord. Danke for bringing them home safe.” Jesse whispered the prayer of gratitude beneath his breath.

They were here. He could stop worrying. At least until Becca had to drive to her farm in an hour or so.

“Hallo!” she called as she hopped out of the buggy.

She reached back to help Sam down. The boy rested his little hands on her shoulders without hesitation. And that’s when Jesse noticed his son seemed to trust his teacher quite a bit.

“Were you going somewhere?” she asked, looking at his horse as they walked over to greet him. Her blue eyes were bright and alive, her cheeks and nose pink from the chilled temperatures. He could see each of her exhales like a puff of smoke on the frosty air. And looped over one arm, she carried a rather large basket covered by a clean cloth. Probably her school books for tutoring Sam.

He nodded, leaning against Jimmy’s front shoulder. For some reason, he felt extra tired today, though he’d never admit it to Becca. “Ja, I was getting ready to go and find you. Now that you’re here, I’ll put your horse in the barn until you’re ready to leave.”

Without being asked, Sam helped his father. Becca stood near the wide double doors, watching silently as they stabled her horse and offered it some water.

“It’s barely four o’clock,” she said. “I don’t know why you were getting ready to komm and find us. School gets out at three thirty and I had to make sure all the scholars were picked up by their eldre and secure the building before I could leave...”

He turned to face her and her eyes widened and she gasped. “Jesse! What happened to you?”

Feeling confused, he reached up and touched his forehead where he discovered a giant bump forming there.

“It’s nothing. I was working to repair one of the walls in the back shed and took a fall off the ladder a little while ago.” He reached for the halter to lead Jimmy back inside the warm barn too.

Becca and Sam followed after him. The boy didn’t speak but took hold of his father’s elbow, his face creased with concern. Jesse could tell Sam was worried about him.

“Geht es dir gut?” Becca asked.

“Ja, I’m all right,” he reassured them both. “The fall just knocked the wind out of me. I didn’t realize I’d hit my head until just now.”

He released Jimmy back into his stall and shut the door. No wonder he had a mild headache and had been disoriented a few minutes earlier. But now, he could feel his mind clearing and realized he’d been stunned by the fall.

“Let’s go inside the house. It’s too cold out here,” Becca said.

She still looked anxious and for some crazy reason that touched Jesse’s heart like nothing else could. It had been a long time since someone had fretted and cared about him.

Even though he still had cows to milk and chickens to feed, he didn’t argue with her. He wanted something warm to drink and then he’d finish his evening chores.

They went inside the back door, the warmth of the potbellied stove engulfing them. Though this house and the surrounding corrals and outbuildings needed tons of repairs, at least the old stove worked well