The oldest boy, the spokesman for the youngsters, added another thought. “We could do the reading of Luke inside, then we could sing O Little Town of Bethlehem as everyone marches to the barn. That way neither the audience nor the performers will have to be in the cold very long—except Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.
“But baby Jesus is my doll,” a girl missing two front teeth said. “Dolls only pretend to get cold.”
Martha nodded. “You children win. We’ll use the barn. When everyone gets there and sees Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, you’ll say your lines, then we can sing Joy to the World in our loudest and best voices.” Martha emphasized “best” voices, because she warned Ingrid that the children confused powerful singing with shouting.
When the children left, Sidney pointed the two ladies toward the sofa, and his wife and their guest issued a loud sigh and sank into the plump cushions.
“Sidney will bring us coffee and cookies. He knows how these practices wear me out. He’s a good husband. I may keep him for another thirty-five years.” Martha reached for Ingrid’s hand. “Don’t be in a hurry to leave us.”
Ingrid’s eyes misted. She’d hadn’t cried for years, yet recently, her eyes had been like a well-primed pump. “I’d like a husband some day, and I’d love to have a devoted marriage like you and Sidney have.”
“I’ve been praying for you. I got a funny feeling when you told me about that Mr. Finsson who was dropped on your front porch.”
“Ladies, I’m going to bed. Those kids wore me out.” Sidney’s eyes twinkled with merriment as he placed the tray with gingersnaps and milky-colored coffee on the table in front of them.
* * *
Following the same route Walter had taken with Ingrid, Caleb arrived in Joy late afternoon on Christmas Eve. He knocked on the door of the white house with the green shutters, the one Walter described as the place he’d left Ingrid.
“I’m looking for Ingrid Larkin,” Caleb said to the slender lady who answered the door. His words seem to wreathe her face in light.
“Of course you are. Caleb, isn’t it?” Martha grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. “She’s gone to a neighbor’s house to sew wings on angel costumes.”
“She’s here?” Caleb expressed his surprise as he stomped his feet on the rug to get rid of the snow. “She’s not at her uncle’s?”
“Her uncle moved to St. Louis. Ingrid’s been staying with me and my husband. I’m Martha Ansel. Ingrid’s a rare woman, but you probably know that.” Martha helped him out of his coat. “I’ll put this in another room. I think you should surprise Ingrid.”
“I’m not sure she’ll even want to see me.” Caleb nodded to a man who struggled to get up from a living room chair.
“But you want to see her, or you wouldn’t have come all this way.” Martha moved toward her husband and offered a steadying hand.
“I want both of you to know that I’ve come to ask her to marry me, but I don’t know if she’ll have me.” Caleb’s shoulders and head drooped as he stared at the floor.
“Don’t be so blue. It’s Christmas time, the time of miracles.” Martha placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “This is my Sidney. Sidney, this is Ingrid’s friend, Caleb Finsson.”
Caleb shook hands with the man. “Thank you for taking care of Ingrid.”
“Caleb, we don’t have time for chatting. Let’s make a plan.” Martha led Caleb and her husband to the kitchen table.
Over sugar cookies and coffee, Caleb confessed his hopes for a reconciliation with the young widow he’d caused so much trouble. “I never meant to cause her any difficulty. I chose her address on a whim.”
“Maybe it wasn’t your whim, maybe God directed you to list Ingrid’s address on your work card.” Martha popped up and down, taking cookies out of the oven and putting more in as they talked.
“If you’d mentioned God guiding my life a month ago, I would have laughed.”
Martha stopped in the middle of her motion of transferring a cookie to a platter. “And now?”
“Now, I believe God has been working on me for years. Finally, I’m willing to listen to his voice. He’s spoken to me through my boss, through Ingrid, through Joan and Albert’s boys, even through a stranger I met in a church. How could I have been so blind? Or foolish?”
“I’m sure the angels in heaven are rejoicing for your repentance.” Martha resumed her work and soon two platters were full.
“Do you think Ingrid will forgive me?” Caleb looked into Martha’s kindly face.
“She might.”
“I hope she will forgive me, because I plan to ask her to become my wife.” Caleb rubbed his chin. “My life has been filled with changes in the month of December, some bad.” He held up his bandaged hand to indicate the bad. “Most good, Ingrid is the good.”
Martha beamed her approval. “We’re just a little town, and we like to watch over our own. Even though Ingrid’s only been here a week, we consider her a part of our community. You’ll be under scrutiny.”
“I’m not surprised she’s made her way into the hearts of everyone in town. She has such a generous and loving spirit. I don’t deserve such a woman, but I hope she’ll take pity on me and say yes to my proposal of marriage.”
Martha shook her head. “I have an idea that might get you two together in an unconventional way. Ingrid’s going to be Mary in our pageant tonight . . .”
Sidney interrupted and spoke for the first time. “And I’m giving you my Joseph costume.”
* * *
Ingrid glanced at the starry sky as she made her way from the house to the barn. The bitingly cold air smelled sweet and clean outside, and she was grateful for the shelter of the barn and the limited warmth generated by the bodies of the cows and horses. Ingrid slipped into her place and removed her coat, but draped it around her shoulders.
When she heard the first strands of O Little Town of Bethlehem, she placed the coat on the floor behind her. Where was Sidney? She needed Joseph by her side to complete the tableau.
The door creaked, and Joseph slipped into the barn closing the door behind him. This Joseph stood straighter, was taller than Sidney was, and he looked at Ingrid with a twinkle in his eyes.
Ingrid drew in a sharp breath. “Caleb Finsson?”
“I’m playing the part of Joseph, who adored his betrothed Mary.” Caleb took his place behind Ingrid and placed loving hands on her shoulders. He whispered in her ear. “I’d like to be your betrothed, and then your husband. I want to care for you all the days of your life, Ingrid Larkin.”
“Caleb, how did you find me?” Ingrid stared into the face of the man she never expected to see again.
“Determination, and now that I’ve found you, I don’t want to let you go. I’ve found the joy I’ve been searching for all my life in this little town in western Illinois. You are my joy.” Caleb touched her cheek and leaned to kiss her when the door to the barn opened and the pageant participants and the community of worshippers fanned around the manger area.
Ingrid knew her happiness radiated for all to see, as she reached up to place her hand on Caleb’s bandaged one, lightly touching the wound that had brought them together.
He was her promise of joy, a promise of a shared life of love. She scarcely heard the words of the children as they recited their lines.
When Martha began Joy to the World, townspeople and pageant cast of shepherds, sheep, angels, and wise men joined in one big circle with Joseph, Mary, and the baby in the center. Together, the participants voiced their gratitude for God’s great gift of love to the world, his only Son.
Ingrid and Caleb, surrounded by the people of the little town of Joy, sang in their loudest and best voices.
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Growing up in White Deer, Texas, a small town that boasts one blinking light, Linda Baten Johnson won blue ribbons for storytelling, and the dream of making up tales to entertain was born. One of her favorite volunteer assignments was in a
National Park where she and her husband got to live in a lighthouse.
Please visit her website at www.lindabatenjohnson.com.
OTHER BOOKS BY LINDA BATEN JOHNSON
Mystery at Desolation Point
The Friendship Train of 1947
Homer the Racehorse written with Katherine Loughmiller
Her Christmas Cowboy
Healing Scars (Orphan Train Bride Series)
Recipe for Love (Harvey House Bride)
Forget Me Not
Magnolia Morning
Cocoa and Christmas Crackers
Merci Train Wedding Gown
Rich in Love
The Missing Groom
The Matchmaking Widow
It Adds Up to Love
Kathleen’s Vision (Orphan Train Riders)
Tiny’s Emancipation
Henry Goes to Texas
Elsie and the Hurricane
Searching for Joy Page 7
