by Gail Sattler
One day, he would fall in love with a woman like Adelle.
Eight
Adelle hummed “Joy To The World” as she gently swayed Rachel in her arms, but the carol soothed her own spirit more than it calmed the baby.
The only Christmas decoration, the lone foil star hanging from the blinds, reminded her just how sparse the cabin was this year and that not only were the Christmas decorations absent, so was her family.
But, at least she was spending Christmas with another Christian.
Without warning, Rachel made a strained little grunt, and stiffened. Instantly Adelle knew what just happened.
She stood and laid Rachel on the quilt, which now seemed to be a permanent changing area. She didn’t look up as she spoke. “Since she needs changing, after I’m done I’m going to feed her and see if I can put her to sleep. Then I’m going to go to bed, too. I think it will be a busy night for me, so I’m going to get some sleep while I have the chance.”
Dennis checked his wristwatch, twisting his arm until he could see the time in the limited lighting. “You’re probably right. I think Raymond is ready to fall asleep, so I’ll hit the sack, too. Good night.” His last word trailed off, like he was going to ask a question. Adelle turned her head to look at him.
He looked straight into her eyes and whispered, “Thank you.”
❧
Adelle opened her bleary eyes to the sound of a baby’s cries. She struggled to get her bearings in the dark as she rose to her feet and followed the glow. She’d lost track of whose feeding it was, since this was the fourth or fifth time she’d been awakened to nurse. Although it was nearly daylight and nearly eight hours of nighttime had elapsed, she was as exhausted as if she hadn’t slept. Every time she finally managed to doze off, she was awakened again. She’d never been so exhausted in her life.
Adelle dragged her feet all the way to the living room.
As before, Dennis was in front of the playpen, leaning to pick up whoever was crying. At first, she had told him not to get up, but they soon learned that if the crying baby was picked up quickly, the other baby might stay asleep. So far, the plan had worked. However, soon it would be daylight. She didn’t know what time Raymond woke up in the morning, but Rachel seldom slept past 7 a.m.
When daylight arrived, both babies and Dennis were awake and alert, but Adelle felt like she’d been dragged through the mill. She nearly fell asleep feeding Rachel until the growing aroma of food nudged her awake. As soon as Rachel was done, Adelle nearly ran into the kitchen, where she found a plate filled with two fried eggs and a piece of bread alongside a glass of juice. Dennis had also set out a napkin for her.
“I took a guess on making coffee in this percolator. It’s not ready yet, and I’ve never done it this way before. And sorry about the bread. I couldn’t think of a way to make toast without destroying it. I really am not a very good cook. I couldn’t find any bacon, either.”
“You look like you’re doing fine.”
He grinned, and Adelle’s heart did a little flip-flop. She was sure it was because she was over-tired.
“Thank you for the juice, but I’m supposed to drink milk while I’m nursing.” She began to open the fridge, but Dennis appeared beside her.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I remember Harv telling me that Katie couldn’t drink milk because of the thing with Raymond. She could get away with some milk in her coffee, but not much more.”
Adelle knew that while she was nursing she wasn’t supposed to eat things like onions or cabbage, so she supposed it only made sense to include milk in the list when Raymond was lactose intolerant.
“I’m sorry, Adelle. I seem to be saying that a lot lately.”
“Don’t worry about it. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
“Let’s eat while it’s still warm. Better yet, let’s eat before anyone starts crying.”
Adelle thoroughly enjoyed the eggs for breakfast. She almost asked Dennis if he ate like this every morning, but stopped herself. If he said he wasn’t a good cook she suspected the only reason he did this was so she could avoid her usual breakfast of milk and cereal.
Dennis sighed at the pile of dirty dishes. “I don’t know which is more scary. Doing the dishes or watching the babies.”
“They both seem happy for the moment. Let’s do the dishes together to get it over with quickly.”
Adelle had never shared the chore of cleaning the kitchen with a man. She found it strange.
By the time they finished, the coffee was ready. So, they moved the babies and retired to the couch.
Dennis checked his wristwatch. “About this time, I would normally be on my way to church. I can’t remember the last time I missed a Sunday service.”
“Same.”
“How long have you been a Christian, Adelle?”
“I guess about six years. A friend took me to a Christian outreach program for young adults on Sunday nights. I initially went because of the music. Then I started paying attention to the words we were singing. I couldn’t help but notice the joy of the people there and I wanted what they had. I accepted Jesus into my heart not long after that. How about you?”
“I was born and raised in a Christian home. I made my decision at a youth group meeting when I was in my early teens.”
“I guess that’s why I try to help in those programs, because of the ministry there.”
He smiled. “Same.”
They both turned to look at the foil star at the same time. Dennis let out a wistful sigh, and she wondered if he was thinking about everything he missed in his home congregation. “You know what we should do? We should have a small prayer and worship time here, just the two of us.” Adelle glanced down at the babies in their car seats on the floor, then back up to Dennis. “Well, I guess technically it’s four of us.”
“I’d like that.”
“Great. What should we sing?”
He laughed to himself, and looked out the window. “My first thought was ‘White Christmas’ but that’s not exactly suitable for worship. How about ‘Joy to The World’?”
Adelle hummed the first note. He joined in and they found their pitch. She always enjoyed Christmas carols, but when Dennis harmonized in his rich, deep baritone, she was enthralled. They picked a few more carols, ending with “Silent Night,” then sang a couple of contemporary choruses they both knew.
They sensed together when it was time to stop singing and pray. Dennis gently brushed her hand as though asking permission to touch her. In response, she grasped his fingers to let him know it was okay. He smiled, gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and bowed his head. Adelle did the same.
His prayer touched Adelle’s heart. First he praised Jesus for coming to earth knowing what was going to happen to Him. He thanked Him for paying the ultimate price and sacrificing His own life to bring salvation to sinful humanity. He thanked God for the safety and shelter of Adelle’s family’s cabin. Then, he thanked God that he’d been stranded, because he’d been forced to make personal decisions which he might not have made had he been at home.
Adelle’s throat clogged and she fought back tears at his heartfelt thanks to God for the way she picked him up as a stranger, and for being able to care for all Raymond’s needs.
When he was done, she had nothing to add because she didn’t think she could speak without breaking down, so she simply mumbled an “Amen.”
Right on cue, Raymond began to fuss, providing an excuse to break contact.
Adelle wasn’t doing anything special, she was only doing what needed to be done. When she was going through the heartache and tribulation of the court trial and the events leading up to it, and then the birth of her fatherless baby, she knew many of the people in her church were praying for her. She needed their prayers and appreciated them greatly.
This was different. No one had ever prayed about her like Dennis had, and she didn’t know how to handle it.
Dennis picked up Rachel while she disappeared into the bedr
oom with Raymond.
In the light of day, and since her brain was more alert now than in the middle of the night, she studied him as he nursed. He was a darling baby. Raymond wasn’t fussy and he had settled right in to her without squirming in the arms of this “stranger.” She found herself getting rather attached to him, despite the unique circumstances that forced them together. Already she knew she’d have a hard time saying, “good-bye.”
Dennis was waiting for her when she returned to the living room. “I think we forgot to bathe them this morning.”
“You’re right.”
Adelle bathed Rachel first, then supervised as Dennis bathed Raymond. He did well, and she was proud of him.
She waited while he searched through all the pockets of his diaper bag.
He sighed and tossed it aside. “I’m out of diapers.”
Adelle gave him one out of her diaper bag, and he cringed as he dressed his boy in a pink diaper. When he fastened the diaper, without the aid of any duct tape, he looked up and gave her a very sad smile. “Thank you, Adelle.”
“Please, quit thanking me for everything. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a diaper. You’re making me feel funny, you’ve thanked me so often for every little thing.”
“Sorry.”
She buried her face in her hands. “And quit saying you’re sorry, too.”
“Oops.”
“Forget it. Now let’s make lunch. I’m hungry.”
Dennis insisted on making sandwiches, claiming it was something he actually could do in the kitchen with some degree of proficiency. Frankly, Adelle hadn’t seen anything wrong with what he’d done with last night’s supper, or today’s breakfast.
Rachel had her lunch after they ate theirs, and promptly fell asleep. Adelle couldn’t stop yawning as she laid Rachel into the playpen.
“Why don’t you have a nap, Adelle? You look like you could use it. I’m sure I can find something to occupy my time without getting into much trouble.”
From what little she knew of Dennis, she imagined the likelihood of him getting into trouble anywhere, either here or at home, was negligible.
She smiled through another yawn. “I think I’ll do that. Catch you later.”
❧
Dennis had almost finished tying the last knot when he heard the bedroom door creak open.
“What in the world are you doing?”
He jumped to his feet and stood in front of his creation. “Nothing.”
She craned her neck to the side, so he shuffled over a few inches, trying to block her view.
“That doesn’t look like a nothing, but I can’t tell what it does look like.”
Dennis shuffled again so she couldn’t see it.
While Adelle and Rachel were sleeping, Raymond had also fallen asleep, leaving him with nothing to do in the little cabin. Thinking about it being Christmas Eve Day reminded him that he had missed his own company’s Christmas party, as well as many of the festivities at his church, when he took off to Hinton to be with his brother.
He thought of his nine-foot cedar tree at home, decorated with hundreds of ornaments, colored blinking lights, and shiny tinsel. That made him think about driving around at night to see the outdoor Christmas lights in his community.
The cabin held no signs of Christmas, save the lone foil star that Adelle had made. It distracted him. It taunted him. It called out to him. It dared him to do more.
And so he had. At least, he’d tried.
He had wandered through the cabin, first trying to overcome his uneasiness and guilt over snooping into what didn’t belong to him.
Just as he feared, he didn’t find anything that inspired him. Feeling like a failure, he stood in the silence of the small cabin staring out the window, watching the never-ending snow pile up on the pine trees. In the end, he couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t find anything inside. But, he knew what he could do outside.
The door to the tool shed was nearly buried in snow. He didn’t have clothes suitable for digging through the deep cold to uncover the door, so he couldn’t gain access to an ax. Therefore, he had slogged through the drifts to the outer edge of the forest and started breaking branches off the trees. He had no idea what the temperature was, he only knew he’d never been outside in such dire cold in his entire life, but determination and vision kept him going.
While he fought with the branches, just like in his experience at the car, the snow kept falling on top of him—only this time, in far greater volume. Snow made its way under the collar of his leather jacket and melted down his back, which was not a pleasant sensation. Likewise, with his arms raised and yanking on the branches until they snapped, so much snow had gone up into his sleeves that his arms were numb.
Since he didn’t have boots, the snow had caked into his sneakers and soaked his socks, and, once again, he couldn’t feel his toes. His fingers were numb just from pulling on the frozen branches.
Nothing stopped him until he had enough branches for the project he envisioned.
When he had piled up as many pine branches as he could carry, he trudged back inside. By then he was half frozen. He pulled off his icy wet sneakers and socks, and changed out of his wet clothes into new jeans and the last clean shirt in his suitcase. After he laid everything on the floor close to the woodstove to dry, he pulled the best log out of the pile of firewood, sorted his broken branches, picked the dental floss out of his travel bag, and began his project. He had almost been finished when Adelle awoke.
He stood back, no longer able to hide his pathetic attempt. He had tried his best, but his imagination and his vision had far exceeded his talent.
Dennis sighed. “It’s supposed to be a Christmas tree.”
Nine
“Well, now that you mention it, it kind of looks like a Christmas tree. . .if I use my imagination.”
He could tell she was being kind. He said nothing.
“I think all it needs are a few decorations. Honest.”
She was being really kind.
“Seriously, Dennis. You had a good idea. And it’s better than nothing.”
Now she was being more accurate. Although his substitute tree wasn’t much better than nothing. He sighed and turned to appraise his creation. “I don’t know why I thought I could do this. I think I’ll pull it apart and throw the branches in the fire. I couldn’t cut down a real tree because I couldn’t get into the tool shed for an ax. I thought if I poked holes in a piece of firewood it would be like putting an artificial tree together, but I couldn’t get deep enough holes without my drill.”
She stepped closer, squinting as she studied it. “How did you get the branches to stay on like that?”
“I tied them on.”
She stepped closer still. “With what?”
“I couldn’t find any string, so I used my dental floss.”
She covered her mouth with both hands. He could tell she was trying not to laugh, but she wasn’t very successful.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” he mumbled.
He noticed that she stopped laughing when she saw his wet clothes laid out near the woodstove. “Oh, Dennis! You must have frozen yourself in order to do this!”
“I’m warm now. Everything will dry.”
She stepped up to his makeshift Christmas tree and leaned down to touch it. “It’s kind of short, but considering what you had to work with I think it’s a wonderful tree. It just needs a little help. You know, like the poor little tree in the ‘Charlie Brown’s Christmas’ special.”
He found himself starting to believe her.
“Oh, I know what our first decoration will be!”
Dennis watched as she untied her foil star from the cord for the blinds and tucked it into the top branch. It didn’t fit right on top, and since it was all scrunched up, it wouldn’t sit straight.
“That makes it look worse.”
“Nonsense. This is just the beginning. Let me see what Aunt Min has around here. I’ll bet there are lots of th
ings we can use to make decorations. I did VBS for a week this past summer. And if there’s anything that teaches you, it’s to make crafts out of things that are cheap and easily available.”
Dennis followed her around as she peeked into every cupboard.
“We don’t really need the foil for cooking, so we can use it for decorating.”
“I guess.”
“When I was a kid, we used to string popcorn. I know Aunt Min has popcorn somewhere. I have a sewing kit in my purse, so that’s something else we can do. You just have to promise not to eat the popcorn.”
“Aw. Too bad. I like popcorn.”
She smiled at him over her shoulder. Something funny happened in Dennis’s stomach and he wondered if he was hungry or what.
“It’s not very good to eat because there won’t be any butter or salt on it.”
Suddenly his throat became tight. He had to force the words out. “I was just kidding.”
“Here it is. I’ll get a pot and the oil. Do you want to pop it, or shall I?”
“I think I’ll pass.”
“Let me guess. You can’t pop popcorn unless it comes in a little bag that you put in the microwave for five minutes.”
He grinned. “How did you know?”
She mumbled something unintelligible under her breath. He thought it best not to ask her to repeat it.
Adelle poured a little oil into the pot, turned on the burner, and was just about to dump in the popcorn when Raymond woke up. Raymond’s crying naturally woke Rachel, indicating the temporary end to their decorating spree.
Dennis parked himself on the couch and cradled Rachel in his lap while Adelle disappeared into the bedroom to feed Raymond. While she was gone he studied the pathetic tree and tried to think of something else they could do to decorate it. Not a single thing came to mind. He leaned back and sprawled little Rachel over his chest and resigned himself to the idea that a few strings of popcorn would be sufficient embellishment.
When Adelle returned, they swapped babies so that they each had their own again. He hugged Raymond and patted his fuzzy little head.
