The Amish Nanny (48 page)

When I scooted off the edge, the moment stretched out even longer. I was falling and unafraid. Then he caught me, his arms gently slipping under
mine. He held me for just a fraction of a second longer than he should have, and then he let me go.

“Thank you,” I stammered, stepping away. I took the flashlight from Giselle and turned it toward Daniel.

His face was solemn, but then he smiled and turned his gaze from me to Will. “Do you plan to catch me too?” he joked.

Will laughed and stepped aside, and in a moment Daniel jumped, landing on his feet beside us. I avoided his eyes.

The two men made a seat with their hands and scooped Giselle up. I led the way out of the cave, holding the walking stick and my flashlight. As we veered to the right, away from the falls, a gust of wind blew through and the spray came toward us. I ducked as a splash of water soaked the side of my face and coat.

Daniel chuckled. “You've been baptized.”

I didn't share his amusement as I swiped at my icy face. But as we retraced our steps down the slippery path, I did wonder if the Anabaptists had baptized each other in the waterfall.

I realized that the day was dawning, so I turned my flashlight off and slipped it into my pocket. There were now several inches of snow on the ground, and more still falling. My already soaked shoes grew even wetter as I broke the trail, and between that and my wet clothes, I began to shiver uncontrollably.

When we reached the creek, Will and Daniel let Giselle down, and then Will hoisted her onto his back again. Daniel crossed first, and then Will started over, slow and steady, deliberately jumping from rock to rock. He stumbled a bit just before he reached the other bank but caught himself and stopped. I took a deep breath, as I imagined he did too. He hoisted Giselle up a little higher, and then in a single leap he landed on the other side. I meant to follow him, but I couldn't. The cold and fatigue of the night had finally caught up with me.

Giselle slid off Will's back, and Daniel steadied her. Will looked at me and then bounded back onto the first rock. “Ada,” he called out. “Are you all right?”

I couldn't answer. I tried to shake my head but my whole body shuddered against the cold.

Will leaped the rest of the way across in a single, fluid movement. “Come on,” he said. I dropped the stick but couldn't budge. He unzipped his jacket and wrapped me up inside of it, pulling me close with his arms. I leaned against him until the shaking stopped and I could get a normal breath.

“Now, climb on my back,” he whispered gently.

“No, I'm fine. I'm not the one with the injury.” I pulled away out from under his coat and then gasped at the cold air that immediately rushed in where his warmth had been before.

“Just climb on my back and hold on, Ada. I'll get you there.”

No longer resisting, I slid around behind him and he hoisted me up.

“See?” he told me. “You're as light as a feather.”

Leaning forward, I wrapped my arms around the front of his shoulders, palms flat against the rock hardness of his chest.

With his first step, my hood draped back, and the snow fell against my
kapp
and face. The flakes were coming faster and faster now. Will had to be getting tired, but he was still sure and solid. I bounced as he landed on each rock. He would pause a moment and then leap again. I kept my eyes on Giselle and Daniel on the far bank, not daring to look down. As we got closer, I could see that her face seemed to be softening with each step. By the end her eyes met mine with a wistful smile. Will's last leap landed us on the bank, and I slid to the ground quickly, still shaking.

“You're freezing,” he said.

“We're almost there,” I answered, my teeth chattering. “I-I can make it.”

The men made a chair again for Giselle, and we hurried as fast as we could, cutting down toward the cottage. When we reached it, I stepped ahead and opened the door quickly, my hand shaking on the knob.

“Morgan!” Will called out. “We need your help.” He turned toward me then. “Get out of your wet clothes and into your nightgown. Then crawl into bed beside Christy. Morgan can climb in too.”

I stumbled into the entryway after the others.

“Let's get Giselle in her room and straight under her blankets,” Will said to Daniel. “She's not soaked like Ada.”

I stepped into the office, and by the light of the hall grabbed my long underwear, fuzzy socks, and warmest nightgown. Then I closed the door and quickly changed, shaking nearly uncontrollably as I did.

Sliding in next to Christy I grabbed the extra blanket off the end of the bed, and pulled it on top of myself. Then I urged her in her sleep toward the wall, gently, so I could share the spot already warm from her body. I stayed as close to her as I could without waking her up, hoping Morgan would get here soon.

“Ada?” Morgan whispered. I turned to see her standing hesitantly in the doorway. “Will told me what happened. He said to come climb in next to you and help you get warm.” She pulled the door shut behind her and moved toward the bed. “I put on some water for hot tea,” she added. “That might help. But shouldn't we get you in a hot bath or something?”

Blinking, I could barely make out her features in the faint morning light.

“N-no,” I said, my teeth clicking together. “This is the b-best thing to do r-right now. Though the t-tea is a good idea also.”

Sliding into the narrow space behind me, Morgan positioned herself as I directed, pressing against my back and using her arm to warm my shoulders.

“I get it,” she giggled, “Christy and I are making an Ada sandwich.”

“
Ya
. The b-best way to recover b-body heat is to add s-some more b-bodies.”

We were quiet then for a few minutes as I slowly felt myself thaw out. Soon the chattering of my teeth had stopped, and I almost felt human again. Glancing over my shoulder at Morgan, I noticed a strange expression on her face and I asked her what she was thinking.

“That I guess I should have realized that the Amish would know how to get warm. Without electricity or a gas line or anything, your houses must get plenty cold.”

I was about to explain how we heated our homes without using public utilities when a soft knock was heard at the door, and then Will stepped inside.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“Much better.”

He nodded, pleased with my answer, and then he told Morgan that the water had boiled before he disappeared again.

She slipped from the bed to go make tea, and a few minutes later she returned with a mug in her hand. I scooted up just a little, pulling the covers up to my chin, and took it from her.

“Oh, Ada.” I couldn't make out her eyes in the dim light, but her voice sounded as if she was fighting back tears. “What if something had happened to you?”

“It didn't,” I said. I sipped the hot tea and sighed as warmth spread inside of me too. “Though I guess it was pretty stupid of me to go out there alone.”

“You can say that again.”

I heard Will's voice in the hall, and then Morgan slipped out to join him. Putting my mug on the end table, I wiggled back down under the covers. After a while the door opened all the way, and Will stood there again.

“How's Giselle?” I asked.

“She's is in a lot of pain but warming up. We're going to take her into the hospital in just a minute. Do you think you need to come along and be seen by someone too?”

“No, I'm fine,” I told him. And I was.

“Let's check your extremities, just to be sure.”

Humoring him, I climbed out of the warm bed and came to the doorway, holding out both hands and then each foot in turn to show that they were all bright pink but nothing more. “See?”

His eyes went from my hands to my face and lingered there. I was still freezing, but the shiver I felt in that moment had nothing to do with the cold.

I wasn't sure where Daniel had gone, but guilt surged through my veins as I broke my gaze with Will. “I…uh…I'd like to see Giselle before she goes,” I said. Then I stepped back to the bed, grabbed the extra blanket, and wrapped it around my shoulders as I headed to her room, moving past Will without looking at him.

“Ada,” Giselle said as I came through the door. Her ankle was propped up with a pillow, and she was covered with blankets and quilts. Her stocking cap was off, and her hair stuck up around her head like a halo.

I stopped beside her bed, and we talked about her ordeal for a moment. Then I asked why she had been in the cave at all.

“I used to go there when I first started weaving. I would take a sketchbook and work out my designs by flashlight. Sometimes I would explore. It was the one place I'd let myself remember.” She took a deep breath. “I used to go to the Mennonite church too. The cave and the church.” She shook her head. “But then I made a vow that I didn't want anything to do with the past anymore. It was too hard. I couldn't get my mind to leave it once it
landed there. So I stopped going to both places for years and years—until yesterday. I thought I'd sit and sketch by my flashlight for a while and then go down to the church.”

“Why?”

“Because I finally remembered what I did with the letters. I took them there, years ago.”

“To the church?”

She nodded. “In the back room. I think.” She shrugged. “I was in such a fog back then, but I feel as if I remember carrying in the wooden box when no one was around and sliding it into someplace dark and tight.”

“Where, exactly?”

She shrugged, eyebrows lifting. “I wish I could tell you, Ada. I hadn't thought about those letters in all these years. It took me a while to recall that I used to go down to the church at all.”

A rustling sound was heard in the hall, and then Daniel and Will were at the door, excusing themselves for interrupting.

“We should get going, Giselle,” Will said. “Daniel and I are going to carry you to the car, and then Morgan and I will take you to the hospital.” He directed his attention to me. “And you need to get back in bed.”

In a quiet voice, I asked Giselle if she would tell Daniel what she told me. She nodded that she would. I brushed past the two men, holding the blanket tightly.

Christy stirred again when I crawled back in beside her, but she didn't awake even though the morning light was now streaming through the window.

I was no longer cold, but for some reason I began to shiver again. I wrapped myself more tightly in the covers and closed my eyes. As I drifted off, I couldn't be sure what was making me tremble. The thought of what would have become of Giselle if I hadn't checked the cave?

Or the memory of my body wrapped around Will's, leaping fearlessly into the night?

T
he sound of knocking woke me. I wrapped the blanket around me again and went to answer it. Daniel stood on the stoop, his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“It's melting,” he said. Sure enough, the eaves were dripping and the pathway was slushy. Still, the landscape looked like a winter wonderland. I breathed in the crisp mountain air.

He nodded up the hill. “George said he'd give us a ride to the church so we can look for the letters, and then he'll take Christy on to the hospital.” He went on to say that George had talked to Will and Giselle's ankle was broken, but at least she wouldn't need surgery. The doctor would cast it sometime this morning.

Smiling in relief that Giselle's injury wasn't as bad as it could have been, I said that Christy and I would come up to Amielbach as soon as we were ready.

As I started to close the door, Daniel blurted out, “Alice is being discharged, so George is making arrangements for you to get home.” His words came out in a tumble, and then he turned and headed back up the path before I could even respond.

A half hour later, as George drove us toward Langnau, he told us he'd finished making our flight arrangements. “You leave tomorrow afternoon.”

Christy began to chatter excitedly about going by plane, but I could only stare out the window in silence. Not only did I have to make a decision in the Daniel matter, but we also had to find the property agreement and get the judge to clear the title by four o'clock today. Time was running out, in more ways than one.