Читать книгу Amish Christmas Twins - Shelley Shepard Gray - Страница 22

Chapter 16

Christmas Day, one year later

The house was in complete chaos, and the fact that it was Christmas Day had nothing to do with it.

Sitting on her bed with her brand-new book in her lap, Jemima Kurtz wished for nothing more than one whole hour of peace and quiet. Unfortunately, it didn’t look as if this wish was going to come true anytime soon.

First, Roy had come into her room and hadn’t wanted to leave. Now baby Christopher was crying in his crib down the hall. Yet again.

“I wonder what’s going on now?” Roy asked.

“We’d better go check,” Jemima said, leading the way to the twins’ room.

“Mamm, Chris is crying again!” Roy yelled as they went.

“I can hear him!” their mother yelled back. “Go pick him up, Roy.”

Roy did just that, but he wrinkled his nose. “Mamm, I think his diaper is dirty!” he said as Chris wriggled and cried even louder.

“We both know what the answer to that is, Roy!” Daed called from down the hall. “Do it now, if you please.”

Roy groaned. “Do you want to change him?” he asked Jemima hopefully.

“I do not.”

“Come on. Please?”

“Nee. You change the babies’ diapers less than anyone else in the house.”

“Fine.” He turned and walked to the changing table as if he was walking the plank. “Come on, Chris. Let’s get it over with. But, Jem, stay here, wouldja?”

She knew better than to do that. If she was in “helping” distance, Roy would have her taking care of Chris in less than two seconds flat.

Instead, she darted out of the twins’ room and headed downstairs. Even from the dining room, she could still hear Roy complain upstairs about Chris’s stinky diaper. Thinking that her bruder was acting a bit like a baby himself, she started setting the table with all the plates and silverware that E.A. had put out.

In the kitchen, Elizabeth Anne was basting the turkey. “You sure got down here fast, Jem,” she teased.

“I just realized that I promised you I’d set the table.”

“Hmm.”

Realizing she was caught in her fib, Jemima put down the last fork and joined her by the stove. Little Merry was resting in a bouncy seat on the kitchen table, no doubt watching every move E.A. made with wide eyes.

Honestly, Jemima couldn’t believe how different two twins could be. While Chris was curious, loud, and demanding, Merry was quiet, attentive, and usually content. She always seemed happiest when one of them placed her in a spot where she could easily observe everything around her.

The twins were even different at night. Then they switched places. The moment either Mamm or Daed set Chris in his crib, he went to sleep—as if he was exhausted from his busy day.

Merry, on the other hand, became not very merry at all once she was in her crib. She fussed and whined whenever she was put down for the night. She liked to be in the midst of things and always acted as if they were hurting her feelings when it was bedtime.

Mamm looked up from the saucepan she was stirring on the stove. “Roy couldn’t talk his way out of that diaper change, hmm?”

“Not this time. I told him that he didn’t change enough diapers around here and then hurried downstairs before he could pester me even more.”

“Jemima, you are sounding a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

“Maybe.” When E.A. raised her eyebrows, she sighed. “Okay, probably. But, honestly, I wasn’t as harsh as I could’ve been. Roy would pass on the babies every time one of them cried if I let him.”

E.A. laughed. “I suppose you might have a point, though there have been times when I wouldn’t mind passing on a baby for a few minutes myself. Taking care of two seven-month-olds can be exhausting, ain’t so? Sometimes even Will and me yearn for a tiny break.”

Jemima walked over to Merry and kissed her forehead. “Our twins are draining, but they are worth it. They’re adorable.”

Merry responded by kicking out her feet and smiling.

After playing with her tiny sock-covered feet for a minute, Jemima sat down at the table.

Then she noticed that E.A. was smiling at her. “Uh-oh. What did I do that was funny?”

“Not a thing. I was thinking how you are pretty wonderful, too. Both you and Roy are.” E.A. washed her hands and then moved next to Jemima. “When I think of all the changes you kinner have gone through, it boggles my mind. I’m proud of you.”

Jemima knew what her adoptive mother was thinking about. They all really had been through a lot in the last year.

A few weeks after Christmas, Melanie had come to the house and escorted them to a judge’s office. There he’d interviewed both Jemima and Roy separately and talked about adoption with them.

Roy never would tell E.A. what he told the judge, but Jemima had started crying when she told the man in the black robe about Dan and Shirl. He’d been so kind and patient, she had started talking a lot. A whole lot.

Before she realized it, she’d told him about how different things were with Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz. She’d even shared how she sometimes woke up in the middle of the night afraid that she would be back with one of her former foster families.

The judge had listened intently, asked a couple of simple questions, and then walked her to his chambers door with a kind smile and pat on the head. Jemima hadn’t been sure what to think of that, but she took it to be a good sign.

One month after that, she, Roy, Melanie, and Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz had gone to the courthouse together. They’d all held hands while the judge talked a lot. Then, when he called them a real family, Jemima had burst into tears. That had been okay, though, because E.A., Will, and Roy had cried, too.

E.A. sat down next to her. “Uh-oh, did I say something wrong?”

“Hmm? Oh, no. Not at all. I was just thinking how different this year is from last Christmas.”