The Amish Midwife - By Mindy Starns Clark Page 0,131

my surprise, she responded by denying everything, claiming instead that I had designs on her, that I was—how did she put it?—playing out my own fantasies by conjuring up lies regarding her with other men.” Again, this sweet fellow’s cheeks colored brightly.

“The best defense is a good offense,” James offered, and after a moment Alexander’s eyes widened and then he began nodding vigorously, as if James had just handed him the missing piece to a lifelong puzzle.

“That is it exactly. By making such claims about me, Giselle may have been able to avoid the real issue for a while, but, unfortunately, by so doing she also planted doubts in the mind of my wife.”

“And that was his second mistake,” Klara added with a huff. “Not telling me then, either.”

Much to my surprise, Alexander nodded.

“You are right, Klara. At that point I should have told you everything. I was wrong, but my motives were pure. Truly, I wanted to protect you.”

“Protect me? From what?” she sneered.

“From the uglier things of this world. From the nature of Giselle’s sin. From the knowledge that even as God seemed to have chosen not to bless you and me with a child, in His unique wisdom He had not withheld that same blessing from your unmarried sister.”

Klara’s mouth worked silently for a moment, again making her look like a fish. The cold truth of her husband’s words seemed to shut her up, at least temporarily, and I was glad.

“After talking with the bishop about the situation at length,” Alexander continued, speaking now mostly to Ada and me, “I followed his advice and spoke to Mammi about it. She already had her own suspicions about a pregnancy, and once she learned that Giselle had a lover, those suspicions were confirmed. I told Mammi everything I knew and had no more involvement after that.” Glancing at Klara, he added, “Except, of course, to defend myself against Giselle’s insinuations. And Klara’s response to them. Over and over for the rest of my life.”

After an awkward silence, James turned to Mammi, whose sobs had quieted at last.

“Can you tell us what happened next? Did you confront your daughter? What made her decide to give the baby up for adoption?”

Mammi looked back at him helplessly and shook her head, though whether she was unwilling or unable to speak I wasn’t sure. After that, to my surprise Marta cleared her throat and picked up the story.

“I wasn’t quite twelve when all of that was going on, but I can tell you how things went from my perspective.”

We nodded at her.

“I remember a lot of drama, a lot of fighting. Giselle yelling at Mammi and slamming doors. Klara screaming at Alexander and sometimes even making him sleep in the barn. Once, I overheard a whispered conversation between Alexander and Giselle myself. Even though I knew it was none of my business, I listened anyway. I don’t remember the specifics, but I do recall that I never heard anything to justify Klara’s suspicions about the two of them. Mostly, I remember feeling bad for Alexander, because he was sweet and Giselle wasn’t herself at all, she was so mean to him. She had a sharp side to her, one that came out when she felt cornered. She hated hearing when she’d done something wrong, even if she knew it was true. Like James said, Giselle’s best defense had always been to go on the offense. And so she did. With a vengeance.”

“You can say that again,” Alexander mumbled.

“Anyway, around here things only got worse, not better. Personally, what I hated most was all of the gossip. It just about drove me nuts. Everyone wanted to know who the father was, but even though there were plenty of rumors, Giselle would never confirm or deny any of them, not even to her own sisters. At some point the church leaders got involved. They started coming here and trying to talk some sense into her. Like Mammi, they wanted Giselle to confess and repent, to put an end to her reckless rumschpringe, and to join the church. They suggested she get married—to someone Amish, of course—and let him raise the child as his own, regardless of the actual paternity. To that end I know she had several prospects, but she wasn’t interested. Instead, she dug in her heels, told everyone to leave her alone, and turned her back on God and the church.”

Marta sounded bitter, but as she spoke I felt pity surging within me