Silver Bells

by Raney,Deborah

  But Becky didn’t seem offended. “You don’t know, Michelle. But you get some pretty good clues pretty quick. And just so you know, I got those clues with Mack…and I ignored them.”

  “Really?” Michelle found a slender thread of hope in her friend’s words.

  “Mack…” Becky hung her head. “He shoved me around plenty before we said ‘I do,’ and he showed his selfish side plenty often. I should have seen it, but you know, that’s how my dad was with my mom—before she kicked him out. I wish I could say I didn’t know better, but deep in my heart, I knew. I just made the mistake of thinking that being with a guy like Mack would be better than not having a guy at all. I wasn’t sure I’d have another chance, not being pretty. And, well, I wasn’t popular like you—”

  “Becky! Who told you you weren’t pretty?”

  “Mama pretty!” Eden parroted.

  Becky laughed and kissed her daughter’s cheek, but then she turned serious. “I have a mirror, sweet friend. I don’t need anyone to tell me.”

  “Well, you need to return that mirror to wherever you bought it, because it lies! You are a beautiful woman. And not just on the outside.”

  Becky looked away, as if she’d never heard that concept. It broke Michelle’s heart. Who had been so cruel to this attractive woman that she could look into a mirror and not see the truth? Then and there, Michelle made a promise to herself that she would do everything in her power to encourage Becky and help her to realize what a beautiful woman she was, what gifts she had to give. If only she could have become friends with Becky before she took up with someone like Mack.

  Becky looked up, wearing a shy grin. “Enough about how stunningly gorgeous I am. Back to the subject at hand. Rob Merrick. Look at how he is with Eden, Michelle.”

  “Rob?” Eden perked up at his name. “I see Rob?” she asked over a mouthful of pizza.

  “Not today, sweetie. Some other time.” She turned back to Michelle. “How can you doubt for one minute that Rob would make a great daddy?”

  “I know. I can’t.”

  Becky cocked her head. “Has he ever laid a hand on you?”

  “Only in a good way.” Michelle grinned and felt her cheeks heat. “And I mean that too. He’s been a perfect gentleman.” Remembering the darkroom kisses, she wasn’t so sure her mother would have called his behavior gentlemanly, exactly. But although Rob had made no secret about the fact that he was looking forward to the privileges of marriage, and though they were both tempted in that way every time they were within two inches of each other, he had treated her with respect in every way.

  “You’re a lucky woman, Michelle. You have everything going for you. Look at how you grew up. Your parents are amazing. I still can’t believe what they’ve done for me.”

  Michelle nodded, agreeing. A week ago, Mom and Dad had bought a top-of-the-line telephone for Becky, arranged to have it hooked up, and paid a year’s worth of phone bills.

  “You don’t bring all the baggage Mack and I did into marriage,” Becky said. “You grew up with a living example of what marriage is supposed to look like. Believe me, that puts you at an advantage right off the bat. And neither one of you has a selfish bone in your body, so—”

  “Well, I don’t know about that.” Michelle shook her head. “I’ve been known to want my own way from time to time.”

  “That’s just human nature. But I’ve seen you. Don’t fool yourself, Michelle Penn. When the chips are down, you do what’s right. Rob too. You guys will be just fine.” Tears welled in her eyes and she turned away.

  “Becky? What’s wrong?” Michelle felt awful. It had to be hard for Becky to watch her happiness with Rob and then face the reality of her own situation. “I’m sorry. Here I am going on and on…. I’m being totally thoughtless.”

  But Becky waved her off. “No, it’s not that. Not at all. I just feel bad that watching me and Mack has made you leery of marriage. I’m so afraid it’ll be that way for Eden too.”

  Michelle jumped up and put her arms around Becky. “What Eden is going to see is a woman who did everything she could to make a good life for her daughter. It’s not your fault, what Mack did to your family. Don’t ever think that. You’re one of the bravest women I know.”

  Becky wiped her tears and offered a forced smile. “Thanks, Michelle. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “And I don’t know what I’d do without you. So that’s settled, okay?”

  “Okay.” Her smile turned genuine.

  “Now what do you say we eat this pizza before it gets cold?”

  Becky’s smile morphed into a grimace, and she wrapped her arms around her middle. “I’m not feeling so hot all of a sudden. I think I’ll pass on the pizza for now.”

  Michelle studied her. “Is everything okay with the baby?”

  Becky stumbled to the sofa and eased into one corner, wincing. “Ooh! If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was a contraction.”

  “Was it? Could you be in labor?”

  “I doubt it. Eden was almost a week late. And they say it’s usually the same with— Oww!” She rubbed her belly thru the fabric of her maternity blouse.

  “Okay, now you’re scaring me.” Michelle found it difficult to catch her breath. “Stay here. I’m calling my mom.” She went for the phone in the kitchen.

  “Michelle—”

  The urgency in Becky’s voice made her turn.

  “I think…you’d better call the hospital instead. My water just broke.”

  Chapter 41

  Rob checked the clock again just to be sure it was working. But the steady, quiet tick told him it was. And it was after ten. Where was Dad? It wasn’t like him to stay at work this late. Especially not on a Sunday night. And so close to Christmas.

  He went to the phone in the kitchen and dialed Dad’s extension at the Beacon. No answer.

  He waited another twenty minutes and called again with the same result. It was probably nothing, but he had an odd feeling about this. He grabbed his car keys off the kitchen counter and headed for the garage.

  Entering the back door of the Beacon office, Rob called for his father. No answer.

  He flipped on lights as he walked through the newsroom to Dad’s office. A small lamp burned dimly on the edge of his desk, but Rob thought Dad left that one on all the time.

  He unlocked the door, feeling a little guilty, even though Dad had given him a key to his office years ago. Nothing seemed amiss inside, so he relocked the room and started for the break room.

  He turned on the hall light and almost tripped over his father’s prone body.

  “Dad!” He knelt beside him, grabbing his wrist to feel for a pulse. Relief surged through him the instant he detected a beat. It was thready, but it was there.

  He patted his father’s cheeks gently, trying to rouse him. When he got no response, he shrugged out of his jacket and wadded it into a pillow beneath Dad’s head. That done, he ran to the nearest phone and dialed the hospital’s emergency number.

  It seemed like forever before the ambulance came, but when the technicians administered oxygen and Dad finally stirred a little, Rob felt better. He rode in the ambulance, holding tightly to his father’s hand until they made him let loose.

  Rob couldn’t remember a time in his life—ever—when his father had not been in complete control. To see him so vulnerable and weak now shook him to his core. He sent up a stream of prayers that consisted of a few words repeated over and over. Please don’t take my dad. Help him, God. Please.

  Once in the ER, the techs made Rob stay in the waiting room while they worked on Dad, first on a gurney in the hallway and then on a bed in one of the exam rooms.

  With his head in his hands, Rob begged God to spare his father’s life. He didn’t know how God felt about bargains, but in the same breath he promised that if God would answer his desperate prayer, he would do everything in his power to mend his relationship with his dad. He’d spent too many years resenting a man who’d surely
done the best he could to be both father and mother in the midst of his own grief.

  “I’m sorry, God. Forgive me,” he whispered, not caring if anyone heard. It was time to put the past behind and––if God saw fit to grant them more time together––to learn a better way to be a son to his father.

  When the doctor finally came out to talk to him, his words were more encouraging than the grim look he wore on his face. “It doesn’t look as though there’s been permanent damage to the heart, but we’ll run more tests tomorrow before we can say for certain. We’ll get him settled in a room shortly. You can probably see him there in a half hour or so. You can expect him to be here for at least four or five days, depending on what the tests reveal tomorrow.”

  Consumed with guilt, Rob thanked the doctor and headed for the lobby, where the nurse had said he could find a pay phone. This never would have happened if he hadn’t quit the Beacon, piling on Dad not just physical stress, but emotional too. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to his father.

  Rob spotted the pay phone just inside the entrance to the lobby. He hated to wake Michelle so late, but he knew she would want to know.

  Who are you kidding, Merrick? Yes, Michelle would want to know about his father, but Rob was calling because he needed her. He needed her arms around him, her gentle touch, her sweet smile. He needed her with him, pure and simple.

  He dialed her apartment and relief seeped into his taut muscles even at the sound of the phone ringing on her end. It rang three times. Four. But then, on the fifth ring, he heard her voice calling his name. That’s weird. It almost sounded like she was in the room with him.

  He held out the receiver and looked at it, trying to figure out what was going on.

  “Rob?”

  He turned to see her standing in the middle of the lobby, holding a sleepy-looking Eden in her arms.

  He wasn’t sure he’d ever been so glad to see two people in his life.

  * * *

  “What are you doing here?” Rob’s forehead furrowed, and his eyes were dull. The PA system urgently paged a doctor with an unpronounceable name.

  For one horrible moment, Michelle thought Rob’s appearance might mean that something had happened with Becky. But how would he have known she was here?

  “Becky’s in labor,” she said, unable to curb the smile that had been stretching her mouth ever since she’d said good-bye to Becky at the labor room door. “But…what are you doing here?”

  “It’s Dad. They think he’s had a heart attack.”

  “Oh, Rob!” She rushed to embrace him, and he wrapped strong arms around her, sandwiching Eden between them.

  They waited together in the waiting room, Rob updating Michelle on what the doctors had said about his father. “They’re doing some tests tomorrow, and he’ll probably need at least a stent put in, but they think he’s going to be okay. But it’ll be awhile before he can come back to work. I’ve already decided. I’m calling the Eagle tomorrow and giving my notice.”

  Michelle nodded and tried to curb the joy that news filled her with.

  They invented games to entertain Eden and found the games to be an equally good distraction for the two of them.

  When Eden finally grew drowsy, they took turns holding and rocking her until she slept.

  Chapter 42

  Rob and Michelle arranged a sofa and a couple of chairs to carve out their own private little corner in the empty waiting room. They took turns entertaining Eden and catching catnaps.

  With the help of medication, Mr. Merrick was sleeping well. Every half hour or so, Michelle went to ask the nurse for an update from the labor room.

  “She’s progressing just like she should be, honey. But these things sometimes take hours, days even. You may as well go on home. We can call you when she gets closer.”

  There was no way Michelle was going to leave. And besides, the company she was keeping was altogether pleasant.

  Midnight came and went with still no baby. Eden awoke with a second wind, but she finally wound down again an hour later and drowsed on her little blanket that Michelle had spread on the sofa.

  She and Rob had been talking quietly off and on about nothing in particular, but after a few minutes of silence, she felt Rob’s eyes intent on her. She looked up at him and smiled. “What?”

  “Just look at us, Mish. We’re playing house here.” He nodded toward Eden, who’d finally fallen asleep with her head on Rob’s lap. “We’re both wishing she was ours—or at least that we had one like her—and we’re both wishing we had a claim on each other.”

  She stared at him, dumbfounded.

  His eyes challenged her. “Am I wrong?”

  “No,” she stuttered. “But—I didn’t think men thought that way.”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised how men think.”

  She giggled. “I like it. My stupid brother would never play house with me.”

  He pulled a face. “Well, don’t think I’m going to start dressing up Barbie dolls or anything.”

  She laughed but stopped when she saw him watching her with an enigmatic smile. “What?”

  “We both have a lot of growing up to do, but is there anything that says we can’t do that together?

  She looked skeptical. “Do you think that’s wise?”

  He tried to convince her. “We’ve already made strides. We both know where our weaknesses are and what we need to work on. We’re both asking God to help us become what He wants us to be.”

  “But how do we know what that is, Rob?”

  He thought for a moment. “I think we know by the gifts he’s given us. One of those gifts is you, Mish. I don’t even want to think about a future without you.”

  “Then don’t.”

  He cocked his head. “Do you mean that…the way I think you mean it?”

  She made sure Eden was safe on the sofa on the other side of Rob then she scooted close to him, reaching up to caress his stubbled cheek. “I mean it with all my heart, Rob Merrick. I don’t know what took me so long to see the light.”

  “Michelle…how is it you’re always turning worst days of my life into best days?”

  “I could have sworn it was the other way around.”

  “Never.” He gave her an impish grin. “Well, maybe sometimes.”

  “But not anymore. I promise.”

  The smile he gave her in return filled her with joy.

  “Hey,” he said, eyeing the clock over the nurse’s station. “Almost two a.m. Do you know what day it is?”

  She shook her head, frowning.

  “December twenty-fourth. Christmas Eve.”

  “That’s right. It is! Becky was hoping for a tax deduction. She got a Christmas present, too.” She reached behind her to pull the blanket up around Eden’s shoulders. “We’ll have to see if we can find something in the gift shop to celebrate.”

  “I wonder if they have diamond rings there.” Rob sounded dead serious.

  “You’d better not be—” She stopped short, seeing a doctor in green scrubs ambling down the corridor smiling. She rose and started to gather Eden in her arms, but Rob nudged her out of the way.

  “I’ll bring her. You go find out the news.”

  “Okay, but—” She grinned. “About that diamond?”

  “Yes, ma’am?” The eyes that had been dull just a few hours earlier now sparked with life.

  She poked his chest with one finger. “I’ll hold you to that, buddy.” She turned on her heel and hurried to meet the doctor. But at the nurse’s station, she turned back to see if he was behind her.

  He was. With Eden in his arms, his shoulder cradling her head, and his cheek nestled against the toddler’s jet-black hair. It was about the sweetest sight she could imagine—outside of the day when it would be their own precious child he carried in his arms.

  Epilogue

  “Look, Eden. Look what Rob got for you!” Michelle shook the fluffy white bunny and rubbed its red suede nose on Eden’s button nose. The litt
le girl giggled and made a face.

  Eden’s cheesy grin prompted an identical one on Rob’s face. It was good to see the stress lines ease from his handsome face.

  “Do you want to go see your baby brother?”

  Eden hugged the stuffed bunny and brightened. “Baby!”

  “That’s right,” Rob said. “You got a new little brother, didn’t you?”

  “Not all that little,” Michelle said. “He was nine pounds four ounces.”

  Rob’s eyes grew wide. “That’s a full-grown football player right there.”

  “Oh, you!” She administered a playful slug. “Enough about football.”

  While Eden took her bunny to the child-sized table in the corner of the waiting room, Rob winked and dug into the pocket of his jeans. “I got something for you too.”

  “You did?” She frowned. “I hope it’s not chocolate.”

  “Even better.” He opened his hand and presented what looked, at first glance, like a wad of foil. Grinning, Rob dropped to one knee.

  Michelle inspected the misshapen lump he held out to her. It did look a little like the diamond ring he’d promised her last night. On closer inspection, she saw that the band was fashioned from a shiny foil gum wrapper. And it held a sparkly, rather impressively-sized “diamond” that looked suspiciously like a hunk of the rock candy they’d bought in the gift shop earlier. She laughed and let him slip the concoction onto her finger.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, looking down at him and making her voice supremely genuine. “I’ll treasure it all my life.” She couldn’t have been more sincere about that part.

  Rob looked appropriately sheepish, though. “It’ll have to do until I can find the real thing, but Merry Christmas, Mish.”

  She smiled up at him. “I can be patient.”

  “I’m not sure I can.” He let her pull him to his feet and kissed her again. A kiss that held all the promises she’d ever dreamed of and then some.