Chapter 3
- 1. The Albrecht Legacy An Amish Legacy Challenge Chapter 2 Hello and welcome back to the Albrecht farm. The last time we visited Elijah, he relocated to the plot of land his late Uncle left him in order to start his legacy. His neighbors welcomed him to the neighborhood, but the visit was cut short when a woman amongst the English, Allison, wandered onto the farm. Elijah began courting Allison, and soon married in an untraditional manner. After a few months, Allison gave birth to triplets, two girls and a boy. Now, let’s see what’s going on now.
- 2. Allison rose from her sleep suddenly, startled from the horrible dream she had experienced. “It’s only a dream….that’s all,” she said, trying to reassure herself. She looked over at her sleeping husband and smiled. Her life was complete. A loving husband, and three beautiful children….something she never thought she would have. Unfortunately, the nightmares started after the birth of the triplets, and Allison couldn’t understand why.
- 3. It may have had something to do with the fact that, from dawn until dusk, Allison was constantly caring for the needs of her growing toddlers, neglecting her own needs. She was lucky if she managed to make a small pot of macaroni for herself and her husband.
- 4. When she finally managed to take a long overdue bath, she slipped in quickly, forgetting to remove her bonnet. That just shows how tired she really was.
- 5. “I know you can do this, Noah, walk to Papa!” “Ok…I will twy!” Elijah tried more to help his wife with the children when he wasn’t working at the feed store or tending his crops. He knew Allison was having a hard time right now, but he was sure things would get better as the children got older.
- 6. A month later, Allison slept a dreamless and peaceful sleep for the first time in two years. She took advantage of her sleep, not even noticing her husband curling up beside her. Life was good.
- 7. Mary and Noah never got along. They were always fighting over everything, from toys to food. Although Noah was quite nice and easy going, he still fought with his older sister. “Gimme! I’m hungwy!” “No! It’s mine! Mommy!!!” “Gimme!” “No!”
- 8. Eventually Noah won, leaving Mary in tears.
- 9. Noah smiled as he watched his sister cry. This was how boys were supposed to act right? Well, he didn’t care, he was hungry and Mary was the easiest target.
- 10. Autumn came around, and the first crops of the year were ready to harvest. Elijah wasn’t happy with the quality of the eggplants, but without the proper fertilizer, one couldn’t expect five star produce. He sighed as he picked the vegetables off of the vine. “I know I can do better than this. I hope I can get a discount on the fertilizer from the feed store. Can’t expect to make a good living off of these.”
- 11. Since the toddlers were becoming more independent, Allison found a small amount of time to practice the sewing patterns she picked up from the other women in town. She was hoping to join the quilting circle within a year, so practice was a priority for her.
- 12. Mary was Elijah’s secret favorite. She always ran to her father for hugs and kisses when he came back home from work. “Time for bed, butterfly. Sleep well.” “But I don’t wanna nap!” “Naps are good for you. It helps you grow Now, go to sleep.” Mary stayed awake for a little while, but eventually fell asleep out of boredom.
- 13. Allison backed away from her project and sighed. This was the ninth potholder she messed up. “What is wrong with me? I know how to do this!” She said aloud, her voice echoing off of the empty house walls. Her hands throbbed from being in one position for so long, and her back was sore. But she decided to press on until she got it right. Since fabric was expensive, she couldn’t afford to mess up anymore.
- 14. After a few hours, she was able to concentrate on her work, and actually made some very impressive potholders. Allison hoped she would gain her bronze sewing badge soon.
- 15. More years passed, and soon Rebecca, Mary, and Noah were attending the local schoolhouse. Rebecca always brought friends home from school, showing off the horses and playing catch.
- 16. The triplets gathered around the dinner table, talking excitedly about school. All except for Noah, of course. “Tomorrow we are going to have a spelling contest,” Mary said, gulping down the hot soup. “I know, and I am going to win, I studied extra hard,” Noah replied. Rebecca looked at both of them, but continued to eat.
- 17. “I am going to win, because I am better with words than you are, and I got high marks on last week’s spelling test.” “Can we at least have a tie then?” “Maybe…I will think about it.” “C'mon…”
- 18. Rebecca still kept to herself about the whole thing. In her opinion, she didn’t care if she won or not. She was just happy to be in a contest.
- 19. One morning, Mary went to the bathroom to get ready for school, only to see her mother getting ill. “Mama? Are you ok?” “Yes I’m fine-blllaarrrggh!......Don’t worry about me it’s probably bad milk or something.” “Should I get Papa? I think he can help you.” “No, just go get ready for school ok?” “Ok….”
- 20. Allison spent the next few hours vomiting and bathing. Eventually, she became so tired that she collapsed on the bed and didn’t wake up until the triplets came back home from school.
- 21. Allison recovered long enough to help Rebecca with her homework. Since Rebecca already knew some of the work, she didn’t have to say too much, Elijah, on the other hand, had to pretty much talk constantly. “Now make sure you write the correct letter on each space, starting with the vowels right?” “Yes, Papa.”
- 22. She figured out why she had been so sick as she tended the horses one winter evening. The horses became startled as Allison let out a small squeak, watching her stomach pop out suddenly. “Oh my…this was not expected. This is very good news though. Better than food poisoning. I must tell Elijah immediately!” The Smoky nodded his head in agreement before walking off to graze.
- 23. Noah became more and more playful and less grouchy as time went on. One of his favorite games was bad guy, good guy, and usually Rebecca was his partner in crime. “Bam bam! I got you! Put your hands up, you are going to jail!”
- 24. “You have to chase me first! I won’t give up so easily! Catch me if you can!” They ran around the house until Elijah scolded them and sent them to do chores.
- 25. Elijah’s friend Pao, came home with him most evenings to join the family for dinner. Since he was pretty much a family friend, he decided to put his feelings out there. “Mrs. Albrecht, I must say this is a lovely meal.” “Thank you, Mr. Mellon.” “You are quite welcome. You see, I have something to talk to you about. I noticed you had daughters, and, since I have never married, I would like to get your permission to court one of them as soon as they come of age. I am quite the hard worker, and my new farm up the road is fully functional.”
- 26. “I do realize you are a hard worker, Mr. Mellon, but this is something that you should discuss with my husband. He makes those sort of decisions.” “Ok, I will ask him. Thanks.”
- 27. So, Pao waited for Elijah to come down for dinner. “Elijah, how are you?” “Fine, fine…and yourself?” “Good. Elijah, I want to speak to you about your daughters, particularly Mary. I was wondering if you would allow me to court her when she comes of age. I am a respectable man, and as you know, I have a very successful farm down the road.” “Yes, you are such a hard worker. I wouldn’t mind, but of course, Mary will have to also agree.” “Of course.”
- 28. Allison rose one winter evening to sharp pains in her back and stomach. As soon as she stood, her water broke and she screamed in pain. “Elijah! The baby is coming! Wake up!” “zzzz…whatisit….Baby? Oh goodness!”
- 29. Elijah rose up from the bed, traces of sleep still swimming around his head. Allison’s screams brought him back to reality. “Hold on, I’m coming. Lay down on the bed and I will fetch the sister next door.” “Ok…please hurry!”
- 30. Seven hours later, Joshua Gabriel Albrecht was born. Joshua had Elijah’s hair and eye color, and Allison’s skin tone. He stopped crying as son as Elijah cuddled him.
- 31. Unfortunately the third bedroom was still under construction, so they had to set up Joshua’s nursery in the hallway. Elijah put Joshua to bed while Allison recovered, then put more wood in the furnace so the whole house would stay warm for the rest of the night.
- 32. Noah had been wishing for snow for ages. The winter brought nothing but strong, bitter winds ad frozen ponds. But no snow. He wished he could build snowmen and forts and sled down the hills. “Why won’t it snow? I want to go sledding soon and make snowmen.” “I dunno….just keeping praying for it. Perhaps that will help.” “I hope so. Winter will be over soon, and I want to see snow before its all over.”
- 33. The next morning, Noah’s wish was granted. Rebecca woke up and looked out of the window. She noticed small white flakes spinning and dancing in the air before it landed on the ground and window sill. She smiled and quietly cheered as she continued to peer out of the window.
- 34. Several minutes later, Mary and Noah looked at the snow. Noah smiled. “I hope it snows enough to go sledding.” “Yes, I hope so too. I want to make a snowman!” “Let’s get dressed so we can go outside.” They washed up for the day and ran outside to play before breakfast.
- 35. Later that day, Elijah decided to start teaching Noah how to tend for the farm, since this farm would be his responsibility once he became an adult. He started by showing him how to brush down the horses and check for bugs and wounds, and also check the hay for freshness. “You have done a good job son. How about you brush down the foals while I go inside for a moment. I won’t be long.” “Alright Papa.” “Don’t scare the horses though ok?” “I promise.” Noah grinned as he watched his father walk away.
- 36. Ten minutes later, the whole family went rushing towards the horses. They heard a loud scream and Elijah had a bad feeling something horrible happened to Noah. He thought about his parents’ fatal accident as he got closer and closer to the stables. His heart raced, then stopped as he saw the horrible image in front of him.
- 37. Noah was sprawled on the ground, unconscious. Mary started to cry, thinking her brother was dead. “Papa., what happened to Noah? Is he dead? Did the horsies kill him?” “He’s not dead, Mary. He’s in a deep sleep. I don’t know what happened but we will find out.” Elijah wrung his hands with worry, then snapped out of it and kneeled down beside his son. He needed to get Noah in fast before frost bite set in.
- 38. He checked his pulse. It was steady but a little weak. Elijah gently picked him up off of the ground and huddled him close as he carried him inside. He hoped that it was just a small injury, and that he wouldn’t have to go to the hospital in town.
- 39. After Allison washed Noah’s face and hands, and took off his winter coat, Noah tucked him into bed and put more wood in the furnace to keep him warm. “Oh son, I don’t know what happened to you, but I hope you come out of this unharmed.” Elijah sat with Noah for a couple of hours before going downstairs. Noah did not wake up that night.
- 40. The next morning, Noah woke up with a throbbing headache. He rubbed his eyes, but drew his hand away quickly and winced. He looked around to see his mother sitting in the corner. She rose as he climbed out of bed. Allison looked down at him and tried to hide the shock that spread across her face. “ ‘Morning, Mama. What happened? How did I get up here?” “Noah, you had an accident yesterday. Papa brought you up here and made sure you were ok. Do you remember what happened?” He tried to rub his eye again, since everything looked so blurry and fuzzy. It didn’t help though, so he gave up.
- 41. “All I remember was, I tried to brush Smokey but he bucked and I fell off of the stool. I don’t know what happened after that. Mama, why does my eye hurt so much? Everything is fuzzy, I can barely see anything out of it.” Allison became worried. She thought his bruise was just that-a bruise. But now she worried that Noah lost his eyesight there. “You have a bruise on your eye, but…but it will get better. You just have to take care of it.
- 42. Noah joined the family for breakfast shortly after. Elijah told the girls beforehand not to say anything about any bruises or scrapes they might see. He didn’t want Noah to be scared and stressed out over what happened to him. So, Mary and Rebecca did their best to pretend they didn’t see the nasty bruise on their brothers face. “Papa…I can’t really see out of this eye,” Noah said, pointing at the injured eye. “Close your good eye….now..how many fingers am I holding up?” Noah squinted his bad eye, but his vision got worse. “I don’t know, I can’t see it…four?” “No….I think I am going to have to call brother Henry over here to look at you. This could be very serious.” Henry was his good friend, and he found out that he actually studied medicine a little bit from home. So he could be of some help.
- 43. Elijah quickly dialed the numbers to Henry's farm. It was still pretty early in the morning, so he hoped that Henry was still in. “Brother? Yes it’s Elijah. I have a favor to ask you…yes….my son, he had an accident yesterday and now he can’t see out of one of his eyes….yes, can you come over?...you can? Good. Thank you so much…ok I will be expecting you soon. Goodbye.” Elijah sighed as he hung up the phone. He prayed that Henry would be able to help Noah.
- 44. Elijah saw Henry from the window and rushed out to meet him. “Brother, thank you for coming. I appreciate you help.” “No problem, brother Elijah. I came as quickly as I could, so excuse me for not wearing my jacket.” “No worries….let’s go inside.”
- 45. Henry approached Noah and noticed the swollen eye immediately. He was instantly worried. “Noah, how are you feeling?” “I’m doing ok, sir. My head hurts a lot and my eye isn’t working so well.” “Are you feeling dizzy or faint?” “No…just my head hurting.” Henry did a couple of simple tests with Noah to see if he could figure out if the loss of eyesight would be temporary or permanent.
- 46. When he was done with the tests, Noah looked up at him. “Do you think I will go back to normal? I want to be able to get well.” “I hope so, son. I will have to talk to your father and see what we can do. In the meantime, try not to play rough and keep things away from your face ok?” “Ok, thank you sir.” “You are quite welcome.”
- 47. Henry asked Elijah to step outside with him. He wanted to talk privately, away from the children. “Brother, I am sorry to say this, but, from what I can see, Noah won’t regain his eyesight completely. The bruising will heal, but it looks like the horse kicked him in the face, which may have knocked him out. I suggest you take him into town to the hospital if things get worse with him.” Elijah sighed. His worst fear was coming true. “Alright, I will keep that in mind. Thanks for coming by.” “Anytime brother, anytime.” The two men said goodbye, and Elijah was left alone with his thoughts.
- 48. Noah insisted to help his Papa with the new crops despite his injury. After whining for about an hour, Elijah agreed and they set out to plant the new seeds he brought home from work, and use the fertilizer as well. “Make sure you don’t swing the hoe too much,” Elijah advised. “Yes, Papa. I won’t.”
- 49. In between all of the family issues that they were going through, Joshua grew up into an adorable toddler, looking almost like his older brother Noah, but a lot nicer and quieter. Allison was truly proud of all of her children. But she knew that Joshua would be the last, since she really wanted to concentrate more on her sewing skills and tending the home.
- 50. The triplets also grew up into beautiful teenagers. Mary grew up with the tendency to flirt with all the boys in town, which she knew would bring shame and embarrassment to the family. She decided to keep it to herself for as long as possible.
- 51. Rebecca would rather make as many friends as possible. Boys were the last thing she ever thought about. She also hoped to make enough friends to be considered the most popular and friendliest girl in town.
- 52. Noah’s bruise was healing quickly, but it followed him into teen hood. He grew up with the desire to deal with the finances of the household, and to bring even more wealth to the farm. He hoped he would make the farm even more successful when he became an adult.
- 53. Mary settled into her new role in the house quickly, cleaning the house without being asked, much to Allison’s delight.
- 54. Rebecca helped out more with Joshua so her Mama could have more time with sewing. She didn’t mind taking care of her younger brother, and hoped that she too would become a mother one day.
- 55. Noah continued to help with the farm, even though his eye was giving him problems, and sometimes he couldn’t see what he was doing. He worked around that by keeping his bad eye closed when his vision started to act out.
- 56. The girls always enjoyed a reading session after school, after their house chores were done, of course. Mary’s taste in literature was shunned, even by her mother, while Rebecca enjoyed reading mysteries and action novels. “”why won’t you read something more beneficial, Mary? Those books are full of sin!” “Oh,hush Rebecca. There is nothing wrong with learning how to act with your husband. Maybe you should take a few notes.” “Whatever, Mary. If Papa sees that book he is going to swat you.”
- 57. As promised, Elijah brought Pao home to meet Rebecca. He had already told Rebecca of the visit, and reminded her to be polite to her guest. She reluctantly agreed as they sat down to a simple game of Don’t Wake The Llama! “Miss Albrecht, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Pao said she sat down. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” she replied, looking away as she spoke. She honestly didn’t think Pao was appealing, but she decided to get to know him first before judging. Perhaps he could be a good husband, she thought as they talked.
- 58. Unfortunately, she couldn’t help but shudder every time she looked in his direction. She hoped that, if she didn’t think that she could get along with Pao, that her Papa wouldn’t be upset with her. She played the rest of the game in silence, listening to Pao ramble on about his farm and his future businesses.
- 59. Noah heard some noise outside and rushed to call the police. He hoped they would make it in time to investigate, in case there was a burglar out there or something. “Police? There’s an intruder at our house, yes he’s there now! Please come quick!”
- 60. The burglar stole the water tank, which was something very necessary. With no running water, Elijah will have to dig a well until they could afford to reconnect the water supply.
- 61. The intruder escaped, and the police offered no condolences as they left. It took them 45 minutes to arrive, and by that time the burglar was long gone. “I failed my family!”He cried, dumping the garbage bag on the floor. He resolved to be a better protector for the family.
- 62. I will leave you all with a funny picture of Mary scolding her brother for soiling his diaper. She woke up in the middle of the night just to do this lol….looks like she may not be a good mother later on….. All CC comes from cool creators from TSR, MTS2, parsimonious and all of the other sites I can’t remember right now sorry. Stay tuned to the next chapter, coming up soon! Thanks for reading!