Читать книгу Gifts Of Love - Crystal Stovall - Страница 11

“I t looks like we are a family. At least for tonight,” Jessie said as she stored the personal items she’d picked up at her home in her father’s car and headed to David’s house. Her father, who’d taken a cab home, had arranged for her car and David’s to be towed to the garage, and a nurse had loaned her a car seat for Isabel.

“We’re doing great,” she said to the sleeping toddler. “We’re doing just fine. This is going to be a piece of cake.”

Then she hit a pothole she hadn’t seen in the dark, and the unexpected jolt woke Isabel, whose pout quickly escalated into a full-blown cry.

Jessie tried to soothe the child with songs and soft-spoken promises, but nothing quieted her. And then Jessie made the big mistake—she told Isabel that before she knew it, her Daddy would be home from the hospital. The mention of David’s name upped Isabel’s cries by yet another decibel and started her begging for her “Dada.”

Unnerved by the desperate sobs, Jessie made two wrong turns before she pulled into David’s driveway. As she parked the car in the garage, she momentarily rested her forehead against the steering wheel and wondered if she’d agreed to more than she could handle.

Her prayer was quick and to the point. Lord, please help me comfort this child. If I can survive a tornado, surely I can survive Isabel’s bedtime.

As soon as Jessie carried Isabel through the doorway, the child stopped crying. It was almost as if she knew she was home, and just for a second, Jessie felt the same peaceful familiarity.

But that was silly, she thought. She’d never been in David’s home before. She had her own home, less than a half-mile away, that she loved.

Having no time to waste on trivial thoughts, Jessie went straight to the kitchen, where she prepared a small bottle of milk for Isabel, just as she’d seen her sister Maria fix on many nights for her nephew. In the nursery, the milk quieted Isabel, and the child slipped off to sleep as Jessie gently rocked her.

When she was certain Isabel slept soundly, she placed the child in the crib. Please, Lord, keep Isabel safe through the night.

Leaving the nursery door slightly ajar, Jessie shuffled down the hallway. With everything under control, she took a quick shower. After changing into a nightshirt, she collapsed on the living room sofa and, too tired to find a bed, instantly fell asleep.

Less than a half-hour later, Isabel’s cries woke her. Too softhearted to let the toddler cry herself to sleep, Jessie took her from the crib and cradled her in her arms. Entering the nearest bedroom, which she assumed was David’s, she and Isabel crawled into the king-size bed and cuddled beneath the comforter.

As Isabel slowly calmed down, Jessie loosened her embrace and allowed her own thoughts to roam. Inching down the bed, she rolled onto her side so she could study Isabel in the moonlight. She pressed the toddler’s tiny hand against her own, marveling at the beauty of her delicate fingers. As she listened to the child’s peaceful inhale and exhale, she decided she’d never heard anything so magical.

Swallowing hard, Jessie prevented the old dream from surfacing. She would never give birth to a child of her own. She would never know a moment like this. So in the silent house, she decided to accept this special gift.

When the telephone rang, she almost didn’t answer it. But then it occurred to her that her parents or David might need to contact her.

“Hello,” David said. “I know it’s late—”

Though the telephone had awakened Isabel, she didn’t cry. “I’m glad you called. Isabel and I are lying in bed,” she said. Then, thinking he might prefer his daughter to be in her own bed, she quickly added, “But if you would like, I’ll put her back in the crib.”

“If she’s happy where she’s at, leave her. I hate to admit it but I’ve spoiled my girl. She loves napping in my bed.”

Jessie felt the heat of her blush and was thankful David couldn’t see her. Lying in his bed while talking to him on the telephone suddenly seemed intimate. She shook the thoughts from her head and instead asked him how he was doing.

He sighed. “I hope to come home tomorrow. I tried to tell the doctors there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just a little sore.”

Sensing he’d told her all he wanted to, Jessie didn’t press him for more specific answers. Having just met, he didn’t owe her a detailed diagnosis.

Isabel reached for the telephone with both hands, and Jessie said, “I think your daughter would like to speak to you.”

“Please, put her on.”

His loving tone warmed Jessie. Placing the telephone against Isabel’s ear, she smiled, as Isabel jabbered and slobbered over the mouthpiece. Lowering her head, Jessie shared the telephone with Isabel, listening as David sang a familiar lullaby to his daughter.

“She’s sound asleep,” Jessie whispered, as he started a new verse.

“That’s a relief,” David said.

Jessie silently agreed, unwilling to let David know she found temporary motherhood a little more taxing than she’d anticipated. Taking care of her eighteen-month-old nephew for a few hours at a time while he napped or played was a totally different experience from being in charge of a child’s needs around the clock. The magnitude of the responsibility she’d taken on had begun to sink in.

“If you feel up to it, maybe you could tell me about Isabel’s morning routine,” Jessie suggested.

“She generally wakes up around seven, and she’ll need to be fed and changed. And you’ll want to give her a bath and brush her teeth. You’ll find her play clothes in the third drawer of the dresser, diapers in the closet, and she likes hot cereal with bananas and milk for breakfast. But I should warn you, she wears as much oatmeal as she eats.”

Feeling overwhelmed, yet determined to conquer the morning routine, Jessie switched on the bedside lamp, grabbed a pen and paper and began scribbling notes.

“Just give her a sponge bath in the morning. There’s a small plastic tub and sponge on the bottom shelf of the changing table.”

“I can give her a bath,” Jessie insisted, lest David think he’d made a mistake trusting his daughter’s care to her. Besides, how difficult could it be to give a toddler a bath?

“Elaine will be there at nine, so as soon as she arrives—”

“Elaine?”

“Elaine Marshall. Isabel’s nanny. I’m sorry, in all the confusion I didn’t realize I never mentioned her. She’s been out of town visiting her sister. She lives in an apartment over the garage.”

Of course, Isabel had a nanny. Jessie had seen the stairway in the attached garage earlier in the evening, but she hadn’t given it any thought. It also explained why David hadn’t been eager to ask either his sisters or his parents for help.

“Well, that’s great. As soon as Elaine gets here, I’ll leave for the hospital.”

David paused. “Listen, Jessie, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but there’s no reason for you to come to the hospital. You’ve already gone beyond the call of duty. And believe me, you can’t know how much I appreciate your help. You give the words Good Samaritan a whole new meaning.”

Though she thought the comparison was exaggerated, Jessie appreciated David’s sentiment. “I have to come to the hospital, anyway,” she said. Then she explained about the borrowed car seat and that her father had arranged to have both of their cars towed to a local garage.

“I’m so amazed at how a disaster can bring out the best in people.”

“Yeah,” Jessie echoed. “If a person didn’t believe God watched out for them, a night like tonight certainly would change their mind.”

When David lapsed into silence, Jessie swallowed hard. For some reason, in those few seconds, she felt his pain and confusion. Instinctively, she knew losing his wife had challenged his faith in ways she’d never experienced. She wanted to say something meaningful, to assure him that even in the most difficult times, God would never desert him. And she should know.

But before she could come up with an encouraging response, David said, “The nurse just came in. Do you have any more questions about tomorrow morning?”

“No,” Jessie said. “Don’t worry about your daughter. Get a good night’s rest and concentrate on getting well.”

“Thanks to you, I feel like I can do that.”

“Good night,” Jessie said. As she held the receiver tightly, she realized she didn’t want the conversation to end. She wanted to know more about this man who’d risked his life to save his daughter’s.

“Good night,” David said. Then, with a surge of energy, he added, “Jessie’s blue bunny was in the car…”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure my father will collect your belongings from the car.”

“And Jessie,” David added, “tonight was a miracle.” And he hung up.

Reluctant to break the connection, Jessie listened to the silence until the telephone company’s automatic recording came on the line.

She closed her eyes, but sleep eluded her. Now that she was certain David and Isabel were both settled, she could let herself think about the tornado. Over and over, she relived the minutes she’d spent huddled beneath the overpass with David’s arms anchoring her in the tremendous wind. She recalled the deafening chug, the sting of gravel on her skin and the way she’d gasped for breath in the damp, swirling air.

And while time would eventually polish the rough edges off these memories, she knew one instant would always remain sharp and clear—the moment David had let go. She would never forget his piercing scream, nor the way she’d instinctively reached for Isabel. Her body trembled with fear at what could have been.

Snuggling next to Isabel, she believed without a doubt she’d been in the right place at the right time. God had dropped this child into her arms.

Thank you, Lord, for this miracle, Jessie prayed, and then closed her eyes and slept.

An early riser, Jessie eased from the bed at 6:00 a.m. Isabel had slept without waking, and she showed no sign of stirring soon.

Uncertain whether she should leave Isabel in the bed alone, Jessie retrieved her laptop from the living room and settled into an overstuffed chair in the corner of the master bedroom. Angling the screen so the glare wouldn’t disturb Isabel, Jessie maintained a clear view of the child. She placed a pillow over the computer to muffle the initial modem sounds. Once online, she went immediately to giftsoflove.com.

This was her baby.

Three years ago, she’d started the Internet bridal gift registry with a modest inheritance left to her by Grandmother Angie. Though her parents had urged her to buy mutual funds, Jessie had decided to risk it all on a business of her own. She’d had no doubts her grandmother, an adventurous woman herself, would have approved.

In the beginning, Gifts of Love had been an uphill struggle. Instead of staying in the larger metropolitan area of Dallas-Ft. Worth where she’d lived after graduating from college, she’d decided to move back to her hometown of Springfield, Missouri. But after working around the clock, six days a week, she could finally declare giftsoflove.com a success.

As the homepage loaded, Jessie felt a familiar surge of adrenaline. Impressed by the new pages that the evening shift had designed and uploaded, she noted only a few areas that needed fine-tuning.

When she finally glanced up at the clock, over an hour had passed. Shutting down her laptop, she hurried to get dressed before Isabel awoke. She even considered calling David to tell him the night had gone smoothly. Chances were, he was awake. Everyone knew no one ever got quality sleep in a hospital.

She picked up the receiver, then, feeling foolish, set it back down. After staring at the telephone for another minute, she quickly punched in the hospital number before she could change her mind.

“Hello,” David answered, sounding wide awake, much to Jessie’s relief.

“I thought you might like to know your baby slept through the night.”

“That’s good. I was worried she wouldn’t be able to settle down.”

“And how did you sleep?” Jessie asked as she fingered the telephone cord. Not until she spoke did she realize how eager she’d been to hear his voice and to know he’d improved.

“Fairly well. However, I feel like…” In the background, she heard the shuffle of sheets as David shifted his weight on the bed, his discomfort great enough to interrupt his words. “…a dump truck ran over me.”

Though Jessie didn’t say anything, she assumed David would be out of commission for longer than he might be willing to admit.

“Oh,” she said, “Isabel’s waking up.” Moving to the bed, she held the receiver next to the sleepy child’s ear. As soon as Isabel heard her father’s voice, she smiled and stretched. Jessie shared the little girl’s satisfaction and decided to treasure these special moments God had given her.

Jessie was prepared for the look of surprise when she walked into David’s hospital room later that morning with Isabel balanced on her hip.

“Hi, Pumpkin,” David called out to his smiling daughter, while his eyes asked why Isabel wasn’t at home with Elaine.

When David inched to one side and patted the bed, Jessie securely positioned Isabel between her father’s chest and arm. However, she remained close to the bed, just in case the toddler started to squirm.

“Elaine’s been delayed, hasn’t she?”

As Jessie explained that Elaine’s sister had fallen that morning and Elaine was taking care of her sibling’s twins, empathy shone from David’s brown eyes. “You made the right decision in telling her to stay,” he assured her. “I would have told her to stay in Kansas, too.”

He kept shaking his head. “I can’t believe this is happening to Elaine’s sister. She’s had a rough time lately.” Looking directly at Jessie, he added, “Sometimes, I really have to wonder what God is thinking.”

Jessie merely shrugged and offered a tight smile. This wasn’t the moment to volunteer her personal insights about God’s timing.

Shifting his gaze to Isabel, David relaxed a little. “The bright side is that I get to see my little girl. I wasn’t certain you could bring her to my room.”

Jessie’s smile widened and she touched her fingertips to her lips. “I’m not certain whether it’s allowed, either. We just walked in like we belonged here.”

“With you in charge, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Briefly, she met his gaze, surprised by how much his respect meant to her. However, she wasn’t about to spoil her image and confess that his neat brick home looked like a disaster zone. By the time Jessie had cleaned up the dining room and kitchen floors, Isabel had dumped the box of toys in the living room, plus she’d knocked over a potted fern and rubbed dirt into the carpet. And while she’d talked to Elaine on the cordless telephone, Isabel had followed her curiosity into the nursery, grabbing at anything within reach. Jessie had stayed one step behind the crawling toddler, but it still amazed her how much chaos Isabel had created before she scooped her up.

“The doctor is going to make me stay another night.”

David grasped her hand, forcing her to meet his gaze again. This time she knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

“You’ve done so much already. Don’t even think about offering to watch Isabel today.”

“I don’t have to think about it,” Jessie assured him. “In fact, I insist on staying with Isabel. We’re a team now. You can’t separate us. Besides, it’s only for one more night.”