by Mary May
“Oh God, what did I eat?” she moaned.
Gideon waited until he thought she had finished with that unpleasant business before he came into the bathroom. He studied her a little closer. Mothers had always fascinated him; being a spirit that was created instead of born, he didn’t quite understand the bond between a mother and child. Children seemed awfully loud and messy to him, worse than a battlefield with their crying, yelling and in general being noisy. Plus they smelled funny. He watched as she brushed her teeth and splashed water on her face. She sat on the side of the bathtub holding her head in her hands. “It’s a tummy bug, that’s all; probably one of the students had it,” she assured herself. “I’ll be better tomorrow.”
Gideon raised a brow at that comment. “I wouldn’t bet the farm on that,” he thought. She then got up and walked into the bedroom still muttering something about clueless parents that sent sick kids to school. Gideon decided she was ok, so he started looking around the home that Charlie was going to be born into.
The house wasn’t much to look at. It seemed Charlie’s parents lived on a modest income. The house had worn furnishings but they were clean. He could see pictures of the woman with a man smiling at him from dozens of pictures placed around the living room. He walked over to the wedding photo that held the prominent place of honor on the mantle. The woman was smiling into the camera, but the man had eyes only for his young bride. Gideon wondered who Charlie was going to look like. The woman was short and curvy with dark brown hair that fell in curls down to her shoulders and sparkling blue eyes. The man wasn’t very tall but he made up for that with a broad chest and shoulders. His dark blonde hair fell across his forehead and nearly hid his hazel eyes.
He went to another picture, this one taken on vacation by the looks of it. The woman was carrying bags into a hotel room that had a beach front view. It appeared the man was standing on a balcony above her from the angle the picture was shot. She was sticking out her tongue and laughing. Another picture was captured at a baseball game; they were both wearing New York Yankees caps and sunglasses. Again they were all smiles.
They seemed to be very much in love and happy together. Gideon was relieved that Charlie would have loving parents. If they were that loving toward one another, they would surely be good parents, he reasoned. He walked over to a framed document; it was their marriage license, he realized. Luke Allen Blakely and Sabrina Maria Avila were married June third, 2009. Gideon looked around and spotted a calendar. It was now January 21, 2010. They had been married less than a year. He hoped they wouldn’t be too upset with the arrival of a baby so soon into their honeymoon period.
The sound of another car pulling into the drive pulled him away from studying the pictures and he walked over to the window. It appeared the man, Luke, was home from work. He came in the front door and dropped his jacket and keys on the front table. “I’m home, babe!” he called out.
Sabrina spoke from the bedroom. Gideon couldn’t make out what she said; it sounded like she had her head buried in the pillow. He followed Luke in the bedroom and sure enough she had her head face down in her pillow. “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you sick?” he asked. Luke reached out and turned Sabrina over. Her face was pale and her eyes were red from being sick.
“I think I got a tummy bug at school,” she said.
“Poor baby, can I get you anything?” He felt her forehead,” You don’t have a fever.”
“I’m sure I will feel better by morning,” she insisted.
The next morning found Sabrina back over the toilet losing her Cheerios. The morning after that she lost her waffles then her oatmeal and her scrambled eggs. After the fifth morning of sprinting to the bathroom, she came to the conclusion it wasn’t a tummy bug. Staring at the little white stick with two pink lines, Sabrina did something new; she lost her lunch instead of her breakfast.
Gideon watched as Sabrina paced the living room. “Honestly, how upset could he be??” she would ask herself. She looked at the clock on the wall; it was ten minutes until Luke got home. “Oh! How am I going to tell him I’m pregnant?” Gideon was startled because she was staring right at him when she spoke; he thought she could see him for a second. But then she paced back to the couched and sat down. “A baby, we are going to have a baby.” She smiled as she said those words over several times. Each time she spoke them, her smile got bigger.
When Luke finally walked in the door she hurled herself into his arms. “A baby! We are going to have a baby!” Luke swirled her around the living room a couple of times.
“I know that, you silly goose; been waiting on you to figure it out!” Sabrina looked at him…stunned.
“How did you know?”
Luke smiled and said, “I’ve never known a tummy bug to last over a week and hit primarily in the morning.”
“But aren’t you upset? What about our plans? This isn’t supposed to happen for another five years!” she wailed.
Luke chuckled, “Brina, baby, do I look upset?” She looked into his eyes and found only joy in those hazel eyes.
“Really?” she asked. “You’re okay with this?”
He gently set her on the couch and knelt down in front of her. “Sabrina, we can make all the plans we want, but when the Good Lord decides it’s time for us to have a baby, who am I to argue?” He pulled her into a hug and whispered, “We are going to have a baby!”
The next several weeks were a whirlwind of activity around the Blakely household. Parents and in-laws were all told the good news. The first doctor’s visit confirmed the due date of September 10, 2010. Gideon had never seen two happier people. Okay, to be fair, he had never had much to do with people period, but he felt that these two had to be above average in their happiness. One reason he thought was they had a very close and comfortable relationship with the Lord. They were both very active in the church and turned to the Lord over every decision both small and large. He was glad that Charlie would be raised in a home where the love of Christ was so openly displayed and valued.
He paused a minute, wondering when he had nicked named her Charlie. Then he remembered back to the trip through the departure chutes and that little giggle he had heard from the little bundle. Yes, that’s when he decided her parents could call her Charlotte if they wanted, but he knew she was Charlie…
Gideon paced the doctor’s office small waiting area. He could go into the examination room with Sabrina, but he felt that was too obtrusive. He was close by if she needed him. This was her twenty week examination, when they would do an ultra sound and see if they could determine the sex of the child. He already knew Charlie was a girl so this visit held little interest to him; he took the time to study the women in the waiting room. Most had that glow of happy expectation, but a couple of them just looked depressed. He wondered about their lot in life that would make them sad about a new baby. He then wondered if actual Guardian angels had more skills or abilities to see into the thoughts of the women. When one of the ladies grabbed her phone and started ranting to the poor soul on the other end, he decided he was glad he couldn’t.
After making sure Sabrina was decently covered, Gideon walked back to the examination room where Sabrina was lying on a table. A doctor was using a wand type instrument to see into her womb. Gideon looked at the screen and tried to make sense of the gray shifting images. He couldn’t even tell the baby was human much less what the sex was; good thing he already knew. The doctor smiled and said, “Here we go, right here.” He was pointing to a spot on the screen. “Do you see this right here?” Gideon and Sabrina both peered at the screen, turning their heads this way and that way trying to see whatever it was the good doctor was pointing out.
Sabrina caved in first, “I’m sorry. I can’t tell what that is.” She smiled helplessly at the doctor.
“What that is… is a boy!” The doctor announced! “A boy?” Sabrina and Gideon both exclaimed at the same time.
Sabrina looked overjoyed while Gideon just looked skeptical. “I think you missed the mar
k on this one, doc,” he thought.
Sabrina was humming happily to herself while she drove back home. “Oh, Luke will be so excited!” she couldn’t wait to tell him the news. She decided she would tell him over their special dinner date later that night.
“You look like the cat that ate the canary,” Luke commented on their way to the restaurant. “How did the doctor’s visit go today?” he asked.
“Oh it was just fine; the doctor said the baby was progressing right on schedule.” Sabrina couldn’t keep the smile out of her voice.
Gideon sat in the back seat wondering how they were going to react when Charlie was born and was most definitely not a boy.
Luke looked over at her. “Ok, out with it, blue eyes; you never could keep a secret. What are you smiling about?”
“Oh, Luke, it’s the most fabulous news! I’m just about to burst trying to keep it in!”
Luke laughed. “Out with it, woman!”
Sabrina laughed. “It’s about the baby! I found out today we are having…”
The sound of screeching tires and a blast of an air horn interrupted her sentence. Gideon leaped into action throwing himself between Sabrina and the Mack truck that had just blown through the red light.
Chapter 3
Gideon found himself pacing a doctor’s office waiting area for the second time that day. Only this time it wasn’t the OB/GYN office but the ICU unit in the county hospital. In the other room, Sabrina lay on the bed looking entirely too pale and still for Gideon’s comfort. He had never seen so many tubes and wires hooked up to one small human before. The constant fast beat of the monitor around Sabrina’s stomach told Gideon that Charlie’s life force was still strong, but if Sabrina died then so would little Charlie, and that would mean that Gideon had failed.
The doctors and nurses all spoke in hushed tones and checked her charts and IV’s. One doctor in particular kept coming in and listening to Sabrina’s chest. He would shake his head and tell the nurses to stay vigilant and to stay close. Gideon knew he should probably go to where they were keeping Luke; he somehow felt that he owed Sabrina that much, so he checked on her again then went to find the morgue.
Gideon found the morgue down on the bottom floor of the county hospital. Luke lay on the gurney still covered in blood and wearing the torn clothing he had on earlier. Apparently they hadn’t had a chance to clean him up yet. The hospital was staffed by caring nurses and doctors, but they were woefully understaffed.
Gideon placed his hand over Luke’s still chest. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He wished he could have saved Luke, too. When the Mack truck slammed into the driver’s side of their SUV, Gideon only had time to protect Charlie and Sabrina. He heard the doctors say that Luke was killed on impact and never knew what hit him. Small comfort, Gideon thought. It bothered him greatly that Luke wasn’t going to be a part of Charlie’s life now. He would have been a great father. Already he would lay his head near the tiny bump and speak words of love and encouragement to the baby.
Gideon bowed his head and sent up a prayer to the Lord, the first one he had uttered since he started this assignment. “Lord, was this my mistake? Was I lax in my duties? How will Sabrina be able to face this without Luke?” He thought of how excited they were about the baby; they were starting to fix up the nursery. Sabrina had purchased the crib and it was still in a box waiting for Luke to put it together. He wondered who would do that for her now. Who would get up and fix her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the middle of the night or rub her back when it was sore?
Gideon whirled around and punched the brick wall behind him. What was the point of loving someone only to lose them like this? He once more placed his hand on Luke’s chest and then turned and walked away.
Sabrina struggled to breathe; it felt like someone was sitting on her chest. She pried her eyes opened a little at a time, blinking slowly to try and bring everything into focus. She slowly moved her eyes around the room, seeing the IV’s and the monitors surrounding the bed she was lying on.
What happened, she wondered? She tried to remember. The last thing she could remember clearly was finding out that the baby was a little boy. The baby! She moved her hands slowly to the small mound and was relieved to feel it was still there. She could hear the baby’s heart monitor so she thought he must be ok. Where was Luke? Was he hurt? He must be hurt or he would be here with her. She tried to speak, to call out for him, but something was in her mouth, down her throat! She could feel the panic start to rise up in her heart. She lifted her hands to feel what was in her mouth, when she felt a strong warm hand cover hers.
“Shhh... it’s a tube to help you breathe; you were in a bad accident,” a comforting male voice advised her. She looked around trying to see who was speaking. “Just rest, Sabrina; Charlie needs you to be strong for her.” The warm hand stroked over her forehead in rhythmic motion and soon Sabrina felt sleep claim her.
The next time Sabrina woke, she felt less fuzzy-headed. She gazed around the hospital room looking for Luke. The room was empty except for her and the room full of machines and monitors. She laid her hand on the tiny mound.
“You ok down there, baby boy?” she asked. Apparently the baby heard her because it gave a surprisingly strong kick. Sabrina gasped. That was the first kick! “Oh, thank you, Jesus!” She had felt little flutters and slight movements, but that was definitely the first solid kick. She laughed; surely the baby must be fine to be able to kick his mama like that. She couldn’t wait to tell Luke and to see if the baby would do it again soon so he could feel it.
She heard the door open and a nurse walked over to her bed. “How are you feeling, Mrs. Blakely? You gave us quite a scare,” she said. She got busy checking Sabrina’s vitals and her IV levels.
“I’m not sure how I feel, to tell you the truth,” Sabrina finally answered. “Where is my husband? Can he come and see me now?”
The nurse carefully avoided looking at Sabrina. “I’ll check with the doctor,” she said then left the room.
Sabrina was getting an uneasy feeling. “Dear Lord, please don’t let Luke be hurt too badly,” she prayed. Gideon didn’t think he would have the strength to stay and watch when she found out about Luke’s death.
A few moments later the door opened again and the doctor came in. He was an elderly gentleman with a shock of white hair and kind brown eyes. He came up to the bed and laid a gentle hand on Sabrina’s shoulder. “I’m Doctor Royal, Mrs. Blakely. Are you in any pain?” he asked.
“No, I’m not hurting anywhere; I was just asking the nurse about my husband…can I see him? Was he hurt in the accident?” Sabrina searched the doctor’s face for some clue about Luke. He looked around then pulled over a stool close to the bed and sat down. He gently took Sabrina’s hand and bowed his head for a moment.
“Mrs. Blakely, how much do you remember of the accident?” he asked.
Sabrina thought for a moment. “I remember we were going out to eat, and I was fixing to tell Luke about the baby being a boy...but that’s it. The next thing I remember is waking up here.” She whispered, “Luke’s hurt badly, isn’t he?”
Gideon could see the tears welling up in her blue eyes. He couldn’t think of a single thing he wouldn’t give up sparing her this. He felt an unknown rage well up inside him at God. “This didn’t have to happen!” he thought. You could have prevented it or if a true Guardian had been present instead of me, Luke may have been saved. He walked as close to the bed as he could and placed his head on her arm, trying to offer her what comfort he had to give.
The doctor spoke, “Mrs. Blakely, a Mack truck ran a red light and smashed into the driver’s side of your SUV at close to fifty miles per hour. I’m very sorry, but your husband was killed on impact.”
Gideon watched as Sabrina seemed to close in on herself. She covered the bump that was Charlie with both hands as if to keep the baby from hearing the tragic news. The silent flow of tears that cascaded down Sabrina’s pale cheeks was the hardest thing he had ever had t
o watch. There was a catch in her voice when she asked, “Was it painful… did he… feel it?” her voice was so soft Gideon could barely make it out.
“No, he didn’t feel anything. I promise you, it was very quick,” he said.
Sabrina covered her face. “Thank You, Jesus, for that… “She sobbed.
Gideon was stunned. She just found out her husband was killed and she was thanking God it was at least quick?
“The baby is fine, but you sustained some serious injuries that had us concerned, and you’re still a long way from recovery. The worst was actually from the seatbelt. It ruptured your liver and you had to have surgery to repair it. You also have a compound fracture of your left leg and a concussion where your head struck the window on your side of the SUV. Honestly, Mrs. Blakely, it’s a miracle you survived at all. No one should have survived that accident.” The doctor paused for a moment and just let her absorb all the information he had given her. “Mrs. Blakely, is there someone we can call for you, a relative or your pastor?” Sabrina just shook her head, “No, I don’t want to see anyone right now,” she said softly. “I’ll call my mother tomorrow.”
The doctor nodded. “If there is anything at all that we can get for you, or if you start to be in pain, please let someone know. Someone will be right outside your door. “Sabrina nodded, and then the doctor left, closing the door quietly behind him.
Gideon wanted to follow the doctor, wanted to be anywhere but where he was…
He heard a pitiful sound that he had never heard before, it almost sounded like a wounded animal, but it was so faint…He looked down at the small woman that had just been dealt a sorry hand. Her whole body was shaking from the force of her sobs; she had fisted the sheet in her hands like she was trying to keep from jostling the baby too much with her crying. She was saying something. He leaned closer, trying to hear what she was saying, and what he heard broke the heart that he didn’t know he had….
