A Family for Christmas

by Irene Brand

  After Evan prayed God’s blessing on the meal, they gave their attention to the food for a while, then Evan said to Wendy, “Uncle Gavin has spent the past five winters in Florida.”

  “Oh! In what part of Florida?” Wendy asked.

  “I go to several different places, so I can see more of the state. I always wait until after the first of the year to go, but with this kind of weather, I wish I’d gone earlier.”

  “Uncle Gavin, we couldn’t get along without you here for Christmas,” Olivia protested.

  “Well, don’t worry. I’m not planning to leave until this weather improves. I drive down,” he explained to Wendy, “so I can have my car. Evan says you live in the Jacksonville area.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then I’ll make it a point to see you this winter—maybe even take you out to dinner, if Evan doesn’t object.”

  “I’ll consider it,” Evan said as Marcy and Olivia cleared the table for dessert.

  It troubled Wendy that the family took her close relationship with Evan for granted. They knew she and Evan weren’t officially engaged. If the rest of her visit continued to prove how inadequate she would be as Evan’s wife, they might never be.

  Evan was puzzled by his family’s attitude, too. He had thought they would oppose his marriage to a non-believer, but he remembered what his mother had said when he’d told her about Wendy’s lack of faith. “If it is God’s will for you to marry Wendy, He’ll provide a way.” No doubt his mother had spent a lot of time praying for Wendy’s salvation, as he had himself.

  For the next two days, Wendy didn’t see Evan alone, and once she got over being sorry for herself, she realized how difficult it would have been for Hilda and the girls to have weathered this problem without Evan around. She understood now why Evan had to come home.

  Chapter Nine

  The family room was warm, and the light from the lamps and candles made it the most homelike place Wendy had ever been. Marcy and Olivia found a corn popper and prepared to pop corn over the open fire.

  Evan stood on a ladder and searched a cabinet for some board games they’d played as children. He found a Bible trivia game. He shoved it aside because he didn’t think Wendy knew much about the Bible, and he didn’t want to embarrass her.

  “What about playing Chinese checkers?” he said. “We need a game we can all play together.”

  Wendy had played Chinese checkers with her grandparents, and playing with the Kessler family did make the evening hours pass quickly.

  When they finished their fifth game, Evan said, “I can’t play anymore. I’m going to the barn and check on things before I go to bed. Want to go with me, Wendy?”

  “It’s too cold for you to go out,” Marcy said to Wendy.

  “Not if you put on your heavy coat and boots,” Evan said. “The ground is frozen now and covered with ice. You won’t get muddy, but we will have to be careful.”

  “I’ll go,” Wendy said.

  Evan held her coat and tied on the boots she’d bought. He took a red woolen scarf from a rack and wound it around her head. Her long black hair hung over her shoulders. He’d always thought that the fashionable clothes she wore had added to her beauty, but tonight in this ragtag outfit, she seemed more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.

  The ice storm had passed, but the damage it had caused wouldn’t be repaired for a long time. “Be careful,” Evan cautioned as they stepped outside. He carried a large flashlight in his left hand. “We’ve cleared a path to the barn, but there still might be slick spots. Hold on to my arm.”

  When they were about halfway between the house and the barn, Evan turned off the light and put it in his pocket. “I’m sorry we had the storm, but occasionally I do enjoy being in total darkness. We rarely have it completely dark anymore, since we have to keep lights burning for security reasons. When I was a kid, I loved to go outside any season of the year and enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of the night.”

  Wendy had never known such darkness or quietness. She shrank against Evan, and his left arm pulled her close to him. “I’ll turn the light on, if you’re afraid.”

  “No,” she said, looking overhead, surprised at the millions of stars blinking down at them. As her eyes adjusted, she realized it wasn’t completely dark at all. A whitish light gleamed around the horizons, and in the east, a distinct glow could be seen.

  “The moon is ready to pop over the hills to the east. If you’re not too cold, let’s watch the moon rise.”

  He stood behind Wendy and wrapped both arms firmly around her waist. The wind was cold against her face, but she felt a warm glow spread through her, and she gloried in this moment they shared together. She could have stood for hours wrapped, not only in his arms, but in the warmth of his love.

  The skyline changed slowly and gently to a tinge of pink dusky rose before the large yellow orb floated into view and started its ascent of the heavens. The stars became obscured in the gorgeous display of the rising moon.

  “It’s beautiful, Evan. And everything is so quiet. Thanks for asking me to come with you. I’ve missed being with you today.”

  He laughed fondly. “Why do you think I asked you? I know there isn’t anything very fascinating about a dairy barn, but I couldn’t think of any other excuse to have you to myself for a few minutes.”

  Evan checked the cows that had bedded down in a covered shed area behind the barn, and ran his flashlight around the interior of the barn. “You’re very thoughtful of your livestock,” Wendy said as they returned to the house.

  “They’re our responsibility, but also our livelihood. Their milk production will be low because the milking hours will be off schedule, but that’s part of farm life. Our income is never as sure as it would be in other vocations.”

  He wanted Wendy to be aware of the negatives as well as the positives of country living.

  The family had all gone to bed when they returned to the house. “I’m going to sleep on the couch,” he told her, “because it’s supposed to be zero tonight, and I want to keep the fire going.”

  He walked upstairs with her, lighting her way with the flashlight. The bedroom that had been so warm and welcoming the other nights now seemed cold and uninviting. Evan splayed the light around the room, and she noticed that someone, probably Hilda, had placed a candle on the bedside table.

  “You have a flashlight, don’t you?” Evan asked.

  “Under my pillow.”

  “If you’re afraid, I’m sure Olivia will gladly share her bed with you.”

  “No, I’ll be all right.”

  He kissed her, then said, “Mom put extra blankets on your bed, so you’ll be warm enough.”

  The room was cold, and when Wendy took off her shoes and socks and stepped on the floor, she hurriedly put her socks back on and rolled under the covers without removing her sweatpants and shirt. She was soon warm enough, but with all of her extra clothing and the added blankets, she could barely move, and turning on her side was a real challenge.

  She had hoped that this trip to Ohio would prove that being a farmer’s wife wasn’t bad at all. The traumatic events of the past few days had convinced Wendy that she didn’t have the stamina to be Evan’s wife. She doubted that Karl Kessler would ever be strong enough to pursue his normal activities, and if it was up to Evan to become the permanent manager of Heritage Farm, she had no future with him.

  She would have to tell him so. She didn’t want to hurt Evan, but she couldn’t ruin his life by marrying him and then finding out she couldn’t be the kind of wife he needed. Besides, she had her own aspirations. Was she willing to give up her dream of teaching to be a housewife and mother?

  Her spiritual doubts bothered Wendy, too. In this house she’d experienced hospitality at its best, and she believed the kindness Hilda had shown to her had been motivated by Christian love. She wasn’t the kind of bride Hilda would want for her son, yet she’d shown Wendy love as Wendy had never known it before. Wendy supposed her mother loved h
er, but it had been years since she’d said so, nor had Wendy told her mother she loved her.

  In the Kessler house, love wasn’t necessarily defined by words—it was an emotion that filled the whole house. Evan deserved that kind of love from his wife. Was she capable of loving her husband and family with a sacrificial love, as Hilda had done? She’d rarely thought about becoming a mother. Her childhood experiences hadn’t encouraged her to want children of her own. Yet marriage and children were synonymous in the Kessler family.

  Electric power was restored four days before Christmas. That same day, Hilda received a phone call from the hospital saying that Karl was being discharged. A few hours later he came home in an ambulance, protesting all the way.

  The family had rented a hospital bed and placed it in the family room so Karl could be in the center of their activities. Olivia had made a huge Welcome Home, Daddy poster and hung it over the entrance to the house. Marcy drove into town and bought a set of helium balloons and hung them on the head of his hospital bed. Hilda ordered a large bouquet of flowers and placed them on a table beside the bed.

  When Karl was wheeled into the house on a gurney and transferred to the bed, he looked at the faces of his happy family and all of the welcome-home gifts. His eyes filled with tears, and he shook his head.

  “You should…have put me…in a nursing home until…I can…take care of myself.”

  “Not as long as I’m able to look after you,” Hilda said firmly.

  “But…I’m going…to be…a lot of trouble.”

  “We know that, and I’ll hire help to take care of the housework if I need to, but I’m taking care of you.”

  “Why don’t you…call off the family…gathering on Christmas night? The family…will understand.”

  “I’ve got three young ladies to help me do everything.” Hilda bent over him and the look of tenderness in her eyes as she kissed her husband brought tears to Wendy’s eyes. “Karl, don’t you understand what a loss it would have been to all of us if you’d died? We love you. If you weren’t here, none of us would enjoy Christmas. We have even more reason to rejoice this year.”

  He lifted his good arm and pulled her close. For a moment they stayed cheek to cheek, and a sob rose in Wendy’s throat. If she married Evan, would she have this same kind of love?

  Now that Karl was home and installed in the family room, there wasn’t any place for Evan and Wendy to have any privacy. It was too cold for them to spend much time outside, and the farmwork was keeping Evan busy most of the time. When he kissed her good-night at her bedroom door the second night after his father came home, he said, “I wish I could see more of you. I’m sorry it’s working out like this. I thought we could have a lot of time together. Your two weeks will be up before we’ve had any quality time at all.”

  “Would I be any help in the barn? I could go to work with you.”

  Evan didn’t know offhand what she could do, but he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity.

  “That would be great. You could stay as long as you like, and then come to the house.”

  “Call me when you get up tomorrow morning.”

  Wendy felt as if she’d just gone to sleep when Evan tapped on her door and woke her the next morning. She forced herself out of bed, washed her face and hands, put on her clothes and staggered down the steps to the kitchen.

  Evan had a cup of coffee and a sweet roll waiting for her. Staring at him with bleary eyes, she was half-annoyed to see him looking as fresh and energetic as he did in the middle of the day.

  Yawning widely, she said crankily, “How can you look so perky this early in the morning?”

  She hadn’t combed her hair, she didn’t have on any makeup and she had her sweatshirt on backward. He smothered a smile because he knew if she saw his amusement at her appearance, she’d probably refuse to go with him. And although he didn’t expect she would be much help, he wanted her company. These past few days in almost constant companionship with Wendy had reemphasized more and more how much he loved her. He had only one reservation about Wendy becoming his wife—would she ever believe as he did? Should he marry her if she wouldn’t raise their children in the Christian faith? Would he break with Kessler tradition and marry her regardless of her religious views?

  Evan helped Wendy into so many clothes that she could hardly move. He pulled a hat over her head and handed her a pair of heavy mittens. Although the coffee hadn’t done much to rouse her, when Wendy stepped outside and got a jolt of below-zero air, she woke in a hurry.

  “How cold is it?” she asked through chattering teeth.

  “Five below zero,” Evan said as he hustled her along the cleared path to the barn.

  Tears formed in Wendy’s eyes as she accepted the hopelessness of a future life with Evan. She couldn’t live in a climate like this. Tears trickled down her cheeks, making little frozen rivulets on her face. But she didn’t want Evan to see so she swiped them away with a mitten before they entered the dairy barn.

  Despite their uncertain future, she was ready to help Evan. He asked her to carry a bucket of warm water and follow him as he sanitized the cows’ udders before applying the milking machines. But he had a sudden inspiration, and he took her to the calf barn.

  There were about fifty calves in little individual stalls, some only a few days old. “Aren’t they cute?” she said.

  “We have to take the calves away from their mothers soon after they’re born, and we feed them by hand.” He took a large bottle from a shelf. “Would you like to feed them? I could show you how to mix the milk and other ingredients. You can feed them while I do the milking.”

  “Feed them like they’re babies?”

  “Yes. Think you can do it?”

  “I’d like to try.”

  He mixed up a batch of the milk for her, filled one bottle and left her alone. She went to the first stall and eyed the calf warily. The calf wanted his breakfast. He bawled lustily and butted his head against Wendy when she stooped beside his stall as Evan had told her to do. She was pushed off balance, but caught herself before she fell backward. She extended the bottle toward the calf, and he grabbed it in his mouth. In a matter of a few minutes, she refilled another bottle and moved to the next calf. She’d fed ten calves by the time Evan finished his job and came to help her.

  Her clothes and shoes were filthy, but Wendy had a high sense of satisfaction as her feet dragged slowly on the way to the house. Evan had praised her work, and she did believe she’d been a help to him.

  Chapter Ten

  Perhaps Hilda understood their need to be alone, because after Wendy and Evan showered and ate their breakfast, she asked if they’d do some shopping for her. The days they’d been without power, as well as the extra time it took to care for Karl, had delayed her Christmas preparations.

  As they drove into town, Wendy said, “Can I do some Christmas shopping before we go back to the farm? I want to buy some gifts for your family.”

  “Hasn’t Mom explained our gift-giving customs?” he asked with a grin.

  She shook her head.

  “Our parents taught us when we were kids that there’s more to Christmas than receiving. They buy us one gift each, and a gift for each other. The cost of the gifts have increased through the years, but it’s still one gift each. We children have never given anything to each other that cost money, unless it’s something we make and we need to buy the materials to make it.”

  “That seems very strange to me. My mother always bought gifts for me—probably more than she could afford.”

  “Daddy and Mom spend a lot of money, too, but it’s always for people who need it more than we do. Each year, they look for two or three projects where their money can be used wisely to take Christmas to others. It’s a family project now—all five of us decide whom we should help. As much as possible, these are anonymous gifts.”

  “Didn’t you mind at Christmas when you were a child and your friends received lots of gifts and you got only one?”

&
nbsp; “Sometimes. Marcy pouted about it every Christmas for years. But we had all we needed throughout the year, besides a lot of luxuries, most of which we paid for. Our parents paid us for work we did around the farm, and we could buy things ourselves. I paid for my first car, and the ones I’ve had since then. Marcy bought the car she’s driving to college.”

  “What kind of work did you do?”

  “Fieldwork for me in the summer, and I took one year off from college to computerize our records. Daddy isn’t into computers, and he paid me well for that year’s work,” Evan said, his mouth twitching with humor. “I’ve earned the money I have. The girls helped in the garden. They cleaned the house. Also, we had 4-H projects, showing calves or other animals at the local fair. We accumulated quite a lot of prize money on our animals and showmanship.”

  “Your life and mine have been so different.”

  “Dad and Mom put this emphasis on giving rather than receiving because God gave His Son to redeem mankind from their sins. If it hadn’t been for His coming, we wouldn’t have Christmas anyway. I hope you won’t be disappointed in us, but our emphasis at Christmastime is on celebrating Jesus’ birth and the gift of our family.”

  “But what could you give that doesn’t cost any money?”

  “You know that big red scarf you’ve been wearing when we go outside?”

  She nodded.

  “Marcy made that for me one Christmas. She bought the wool, but she knitted the scarf. Last year, Olivia gave me a card, promising to write to me every week while I was in Florida. Dad has a woodworking shop, and he’s made a lot of gifts through the years. I’m not the craftsman he is, but I tinker around with wood sometimes. Last year, I made jewelry boxes for my sisters. It didn’t cost any money, because I used scraps of cedar out of Dad’s stockpile. I made Dad a pencil holder one year, and a napkin holder for Mom. It’s amazing how many things you can give that don’t cost any money.”

  “Since I’m not a Kessler, I can buy some gifts. I especially want to buy some flowers for your parents. They can consider it a thank-you gift for their hospitality if they object to Christmas gifts.”