One Child

by Barbara Cameron

  Smiling, he shook his head. “I can’t promise that. God’s in charge. If it’s his will, it will stop soon.”

  She sighed. “You’re right.” Turning, she picked up the book lying open on the table beside the bed.

  “What are you reading?”

  She hesitated for a moment and then held it up. It was a book about what to expect during pregnancy. “I thought it might help me help Kate.”

  “And has it?” he asked. “What does it say about Kate’s symptoms?”

  Sarah glanced at the doorway. “At first I thought it might just be tension. Then I thought it was just the back pain women suffer at the end sometimes, or Braxton Hicks contractions. The bones in the pelvis soften a little, and the uterus starts contracting so it’ll be easier for her when the time comes for the baby to be born.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “Ya. But I’m afraid I just want it to be that. You know. Practice contractions.” Taking a deep breath, she voiced the fear she’d been holding inside. “David, I’m scared the storm won’t let up, and she’ll have her baby here.”

  David’s breakfast threatened to come back up. He tried to block the memories that came rushing up, memories he’d managed to tamp down for a long time, of how helpless he’d felt when Sarah had miscarried. The doctor had said she was fine, that it was an early miscarriage and there was no reason she wouldn’t get pregnant again. She’d healed quickly—at least her body had.

  Deliberately, he forced away the memories. “We can’t do this,” he told her firmly. “Nothing’s happened yet. Nothing might. And Kate’s not going to lose her baby.” He reached out for her other hand and clasped it.

  “I know.”

  “Worrying won’t help.”

  She nodded.

  “If we worry, we insult God. He knows what he’s doing.”

  She pulled back and smiled tremulously. “Then why didn’t he have Kate get stranded at a hospital?”

  “Because maybe she’s not going to need one. Maybe she needed your calmness these past hours, and when she leaves, she’s going to go home and not have the baby until her due date.”

  “I don’t feel calm now, David. I’m scared.”

  David lifted her chin and made her look at him. “You need to be calm for her. Be Serene Sarah.”

  She laughed and shook her head.

  “We should pray,” he told her.

  She drew in a shaky breath, then let it out. Nodding, she let him draw her over to sit on the side of their bed. They clasped both hands and bent their heads, and David led them in a prayer for Kate and her baby.

  When they finished, he looked up and saw Jason standing in the doorway.

  Jason blushed. “Er—I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt.”

  “It’s all right. We were just finishing.”

  Their guest seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment. “I—you were praying, weren’t you?”

  David nodded.

  “For Kate?”

  David looked at Sarah and then back at Jason. “Yes.”

  Jason visibly struggled for words. “Thank you,” he said at last.

  David walked over to lay a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Your wife and your child are safe in his hands, Jason. You must believe that. You need to stay strong and be there for her.”

  “Yeah, the Lamaze coach said something like that. The last part, I mean.” He sighed. “Listen, I didn’t mean to intrude, but Kate was asking for Sarah.”

  Sarah got up. “Is her back feeling any better?”

  Jason shook his head. He looked helplessly at the window. “Do you think if we prayed, God would make it stop snowing?”

  David and Sarah exchanged a look.

  Sarah looked at him kindly. “Why don’t the three of us pray to remember that he’s here with us and all is well?”

  “Okay. That’d work. Right?”

  Kate looked up when Jason and Sarah entered her room. Her lips trembled. “You were gone a long time.”

  “Sorry, baby,” he said and bent to kiss the top of her head.

  Sarah moved to stand beside the bed. “Jason said your back is still troubling you.”

  She grimaced and moaned a little. “And these stupid contractions, or whatever they are. I wish we could make them stop until we can get to someone to check them out.”

  If they stopped, then how could anyone check them out? Sarah wondered. But she wasn’t going to ask. Kate was feeling so miserable, it was no wonder she didn’t make sense. “May I?” Sarah asked, holding out her hand.

  “Sure.”

  Sarah bent down and touched Kate’s abdomen. Beneath her fingers there was a tightening, a movement, a sort of rhythmic contraction.

  She glanced at the window. The curtains were closed to keep the chill out, but she knew that it was still snowing hard outside. The only thing she could do was keep Kate calm until the weather changed.

  Sarah showed Kate the book she held in her other hand. “This book is gut for telling women what they should expect at each stage of their pregnancy.”

  “I have that one, too!” Kate exclaimed.

  “I was reading up on Braxton Hicks contractions,” Sarah hurried on. “I think that’s what you’ve been having.”

  “Then I sure have been getting a lot of practice,” Kate muttered.

  “Sometimes a woman’s body needs it, I suppose,” Sarah said. “I had a friend who had false labor. Twice her husband took her to the hospital, and twice they were sent back home. When she finally went into labor, the nurses at the hospital told her the third time was the charm.”

  Kate shifted and tried to smile. “You want to believe that this is Braxton Hicks or false labor or whatever. I do too.”

  Sarah took her hand and squeezed it. “I just want you to feel better and, when it’s time to have your baby, to have it where you’re most comfortable. And I don’t think that’s in my home.”

  Kate squeezed her hand back. “You do make me feel better.” She lowered her voice. “Too bad you can’t be my birth coach.”

  “Jason would be disappointed.”

  Sighing, Kate nodded. “He’ll be there. I’m just not sure how much support I’ll get from him.”

  “Expect the best from him, and he might just surprise you, Kate.”

  “He’s trying. He brought me tea and rubbed my back for a long time. And he sat with me.” She traced the pattern on the quilt with her finger and smiled. “We talked about what to name the baby. We’re sort of getting down to the wire now, and we haven’t agreed on a name.”

  “You said it’s a boy?”

  “Yeah.” She reached over to the bedside table to retrieve a small book from her purse. “I’ve been looking through this book like crazy, trying to come up with a name.”

  “May I see that?”

  “Sure.” Kate handed it to her.

  Sarah flipped through the pages. “We don’t have that many names we use here. First names, I mean. So we have a lot of people with the same names.” She handed the book back to Kate. “To avoid confusion in school, we say Anna B. and Anna S. and so on. There aren’t that many different last names here, either, since we don’t have a lot of people coming into our community from outside. I suppose if I had two children with the same first and last names, I’d ask if they had a nickname they wanted to use.”

  She leaned over Kate’s shoulder and looked at the list of the most popular names for the previous year. “I’ll bet there are children with the same first name in Englisch schools too, since some names are always more popular in your world too. See, Jason was one of the top names last year, so there will be a lot of little Jasons in school soon!”

  “At least we don’t have to come up with both a boy’s name and a girl’s name like they had to do before ultrasounds. I really like Aidan. Or maybe Jordan.” She bit her lip and frowned. “Or Christopher.”

  Sarah smiled. “‘Bearing Christ inside.’”

  “Huh?”

  “That’s the m
eaning of Christopher.”

  Kate looked up the name. “You’re right. How’d you know that?”

  Now, why had she done that? Sarah asked herself. “I’ve seen the book. Kate, you didn’t eat anything at breakfast. Are you feeling hungry at all?”

  “A little bit,” Kate admitted.

  “I’ll go fix you something. I’ll bring you a tray.”

  “Thanks, but I think I might get up and come to the table. My back is feeling a little bit better, and maybe walking will help it.”

  That was gut news, thought Sarah.

  When she walked into the kitchen, David and Jason were huddled over David’s sample binder. Was it her imagination that they jumped apart guiltily?

  “How’s Kate?” Jason wanted to know.

  “Better, I think. I’m fixing her something to eat.”

  The men exchanged a glance. “How about another game of checkers?” David asked Jason.

  “Sure, that’d be great.”

  “No cheating,” David warned him.

  “No problem.”

  The men were both smiling as they left the room.

  After she got Kate settled at the table with scrambled eggs and a biscuit, Sarah went to ask David and Jason if they wanted coffee.

  Instead of playing checkers, they were once again huddled over David’s sample book. And if Sarah wasn’t mistaken, they were looking at baby furniture.

  Jason looked up and started flipping the pages when he saw Sarah approach. “Oh, hi. David’s showing me the stain colors for the mantel.”

  Sarah hesitated, not certain what to say. “That’s gut.”

  “He does wonderful work.”

  She nodded and looked at her husband, but he didn’t meet her eyes. Strange, she thought. It was as if the two men were being . . . secretive? David never acted that way.

  “Kate okay?”

  “She’s having something to eat.”

  “I think I’ll see how she’s doing, get some coffee.”

  David opened his mouth and then shut it. Sarah sat down opposite him in the seat that Jason had vacated. “What’s the big secret?”

  “Jason wants to have me make something for Kate and have it be a surprise.”

  “She already knows about the mantel. She asked you to make one, remember?”

  He nodded.

  Sarah shook her head in disbelief as she stared at him. “Are you keeping secrets from me?”

  “If I tell you, you’ll tell Kate.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “No?”

  “No.”

  “You don’t know how to keep a secret.”

  She wished that she didn’t. But she couldn’t tell him that. “I won’t tell Kate.”

  “Won’t tell Kate what?”

  Sarah jumped and turned to see Kate standing there, munching on a biscuit.

  “That Sarah got you a Christmas present,” David said.

  Sarah shot him a look, but he just lifted his shoulders. Sighing, she shook her head. He hadn’t lied.

  Kate grinned. “You didn’t! You didn’t need to do that!” Then she tilted her head as she studied Sarah. “How did you get me a present without leaving here?”

  “I had something I thought you’d like.”

  “What is it?” Kate demanded, grinning like a kid. “Can I have it now? It’s Christmas!”

  Laughing, Sarah nodded. “Sure. It’s in the kitchen.”

  “Ooh, a food gift! I love food gifts!” Kate followed her back into the kitchen and watched as Sarah went to the pantry and drew out the present she’d wrapped just hours ago.

  “You can unwrap it, but it’s not something you can eat now. You have to take it home and make it. But it’s easy,” she said quickly when Kate looked doubtful.

  Kate popped the last of the biscuit into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed it. She ripped open the paper, revealing a pottery crock with a recipe card tied to it. “Friendship Bread” was written on a card attached. “Oh, it’s a recipe!”

  “There’s a starter dough for you to make the bread,” Sarah explained. “You don’t use all of the starter, so you can give it to a friend with the recipe and they can make the bread, too. A friend gave it to me, and I’m giving it to you, and you can give it to one of your friends. So it gets passed on and on and on.”

  “That is so sweet!” Kate said, her eyes growing moist. “I’ll remember you when I make it, Sarah!” She rose to hug Sarah, bending awkwardly. “I have to show it to Jason.”

  “We’ll put it in your bedroom for when you leave later.”

  Kate glanced at the window, and her face crumpled. “Oh, Jason, no! Look!”

  Jason looked at the window, then back at Kate. “Sweetheart, it’ll be all right. I’m sure it’s going to die down again real soon.”

  Tears ran down Kate’s face. “I can’t do this anymore, Jason. I can’t do this anymore.”

  Gathering her into his arms, he looked at Sarah and David over her shoulder. “Shh, calm down. You need to stay calm.”

  “I know,” she sniffled against his shoulder. “I know. But I’ve been trying, and I’m just so tired of worrying.”

  He kissed her temple. “Then don’t worry. Everything is going to be just fine.”

  “You can’t promise that.”

  “Yes, I can,” he said firmly, setting her from him so that he could look into her eyes. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  She stared at him. “You can’t promise that,” she said again.

  He touched his forehead to hers. “I would give my life for you and the baby. But it’s not going to be necessary. Nothing bad has happened. And as soon as we can, I’m going to take you to the nearest emergency room to be checked out, okay?”

  Kate’s breath hitched. “Promise?”

  “That’s a promise I can keep.” He kissed her again. “Now, would you like me to carry you back to bed?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want you in traction when I deliver the baby.”

  He laughed and hugged her. “I can carry you. You’re not as heavy as you think.”

  “Not as heavy as Shamu anyway.” Kate turned to Sarah. “I know it sounds crazy, but do you know what I’m craving right now?”

  “No, but if you tell me, I’ll see if we have any on hand. Pickles? Ice cream?”

  “Nope. Christmas cookies. I want Christmas cookies.”

  Laughing, Sarah brought a plate to the table and lifted the plastic wrap that covered it. “We just happen to have Christmas cookies. Lots of them. I couldn’t seem to stop baking this past week.”

  “Got in the Christmas spirit, huh?” asked Kate, chomping the head off a gingerbread man.

  “Yes,” Sarah said, smiling at David. “I did.”

  Chapter Nine

  David could feel the mood of the other three slipping over the next hour.

  Jason had gone back to his pacing. Kate was sitting, looking moody as she stirred a cup of tea. Sarah cooked and cast concerned glances at the others when they weren’t looking.

  David stood looking out the window and wondered what he should do. What he could do. He couldn’t make the weather better or the snowplow show up. He couldn’t make Kate feel better.

  Members of his church did not believe in proselytizing or witnessing their faith. It was not the way of the Plain people.

  But he wondered if he had let Sarah down. Each time that Kate or Jason had needed to be assured that all was well, Sarah had, in her own quiet way, demonstrated that she truly believed it would be. She believed it but didn’t just say it. She had found ways to reassure and comfort their guests.

  At breakfast, when Kate had stormed from the kitchen, David had let Sarah be the one to speak to Jason. Women knew more about this kind of thing, he’d told himself. All through this past year he’d tried to step outside his grief and remember that he needed to be a strong man spiritually, not just physically, for both of them. He wasn’t so sure he’d suc
ceeded—or if the prayers he’d said for them both had finally worked. Now, in the last day and a half, Sarah seemed to be finally coming out of her grief and stepping toward healing.

  She’d wondered aloud if there was a reason, a higher purpose, for the visit of this Englisch couple to their home. It showed so clearly that she was trying to rely on God. He’d had little to do with that, thought David. And what had he done since these strangers at arrived at their door? Had he helped Sarah enough, as a man who should be demonstrating spiritual leadership in the home?

  He knew the answer. He’d tended to the mundane practicality of getting the couple to the home, and then Sarah had not just taken on the burden of their physical comfort but tried to provide emotional comfort as well.

  As she glanced over and saw him watching her, she sent him that quiet, loving smile that always warmed his heart. He smiled at her, too, and hoped that she felt his love.

  Turning from his reverie, he took a deep breath. “I know you’re upset that the snow hasn’t stopped, and plows aren’t here yet,” he told Kate and Jason. “But it’s morning, and we’ve gotten through the worst of it, through a worrisome night.”

  Jason glanced at Kate, and she nodded.

  “This could die down at any moment,” David went on, looking at Sarah. “The snowplows could be on the way.”

  “He’s right,” Sarah said.

  “So maybe we could just cheer up a little on a day like today?” he asked. “We’re warm; we’re safe. We have all the food that we could want to eat. We should be grateful, ya?”

  Jason grinned at him. “Ya,” he echoed, rubbing his wife’s shoulders with his hand.

  “David had a wonderful idea, Jason. He thinks we should put a sign in the front yard so that the first road crews to come this way will stop at our house.”

  “That’d be super! Kate, isn’t that a great idea?” Jason jumped up. “Where’s the stuff to make the sign?”

  “I have some plywood in the basement.” David was nearly run over by Jason, heading toward the door to the basement.

  “We’ll be down there,” David said a little unnecessarily. The sound of Kate laughing warmed his heart.

  Once downstairs, David lit a battery-operated lantern and poked around in a pile of lumber. He lifted out a square of plywood that was about two feet by two feet. “We can nail a stake to it, paint a message on it, and put it out in the front yard.” He rummaged among the scraps of lumber.