The Amish Midwife - By Mindy Starns Clark Page 0,110

by his comments about the people praying for Caroline. But the truth was, until recently I might have said the same.

“Did he give you this bag?” she asked, holding up my purse. “It’s a Coach, right?”

I was dumbfounded. “Really? You know what a Coach is?”

“Ya,” she answered. “You’d be surprised at what Amish women know about.” She put it down on the console between us. “It’s nice,” she said. “The purse. So is Sean.” Her voice held a hint of teasing. “Are you two courting?”

I smiled. The word was so old fashioned. So innocent. “No. And we’re not dating, either. I guess you could say we’re just friends.” Of course I was lying. I was contemplating moving to Baltimore, for goodness’ sake.

“How about you?” I asked. “Is anyone courting you?”

Ada blushed. “No,” she answered. “And I’m not dating anyone, either.” She gave me a sly smile and then burst out laughing. I had to laugh with her as I thought of Will Gundy stopping by to visit her while her parents were gone. Maybe we were both lying. Then again, his wife had only been dead three months. Perhaps his interest in Ada was strictly neighborly.

Once the laughter stopped, she asked me about Marta and the case against her. After I told her everything I knew, Ada said she wondered if Lydia’s death had anything to do with her poor health.

“Pardon?” No one had said anything about Lydia being in poor health.

“Ya,” Ada said. “She used to have spells. She was an eighth grader, and I had just started at school. I was sickly myself, so I noticed that sort of thing.”

“What was the matter with her?”

“I don’t know exactly, but she would get tired and have to sit, although she never drew attention to herself. Then, when she was older and out of school, there was a period of time where she didn’t get out much at all, not even to church. The rumor was she was very ill.”

As I came to a stop at the light in Willow Street, Ada gazed out the window at the strip mall. “I wondered if having the twins was too much for her, even though she had them in the hospital. And then she got pregnant again so soon.”

No one had said anything about Lydia going to the hospital to have the twins. Surely she hadn’t had a C-section. If she had, Marta would have insisted she have the next baby in the hospital too, although there were midwives who did deliver a vaginal birth at home after a C-section.

“What does Marta say?” Ada asked.

“Not much. Just that she didn’t do anything wrong.”

Ada sighed. “That’s what Will says too.”

The light turned green and I accelerated. “Do you see him much?” I blushed as soon as I spoke. After all, the man’s wife had died only a few months before.

“You saw him that one day, ya?” Now it was Ada’s turn to blush.

I nodded.

“He was driving by and thought he would stop by to visit Daed. He didn’t know my parents were gone.”

I turned off the main highway onto the country road that led to Klara’s farm.

“He just talked about his girls. How they’re doing.” Her gaze drifted out the window. “He said next time he’ll bring them by. I’d like that,” she said, her voice soft. “I’d like that a lot.”

Given Ella’s interest in Ezra, it looked as though both my cousins—or whatever Ada was—were falling for a Gundy brother.

I thought through that family tree again. Alice gave birth to Nancy, who married Benjamin and gave birth to four kids: Will, Hannah, John, and Ezra.

Will married Lydia, who gave birth to three kids: Christy, Mel, and Mat.

Hannah married Jonas, gave birth to Rachael, and was expecting another baby soon.

John married Sally, who was currently expecting their first child.

Ezra. Well, and then there was Ezra—wild, charming, motorcycle-riding Ezra. I didn’t know whether to smile or cry. Would Ella someday be around the big dining room table feasting and laughing with the Gundys too, alongside him? Or maybe Ada, alongside Will?

Again, I felt a twinge of jealousy.

Marta showed up at the cottage that afternoon, explaining that a woman from her church had dropped her off. I was alarmed, afraid Caroline had taken a turn for the worse, but Marta assured me that the church had rallied and another woman was staying the night and caring for Simon the next morning. She said Caroline was getting better, and they hoped she would be discharged the