Jesse happened to glance her way. He spoke to her father and started walking toward her. He stopped in front of her and tipped his head slightly to the side. “Are you okay?”
Ask him about it.
She shook her head. “I am going to lie down.”
He took her hand. “Your fingers are like ice.” He curled his large hand around hers.
Jesse held her hand as they walked up the stairs to her room. Tradition dictated that the couple would spend the night at the home of the bride’s parents and help clean up from the festivities the next day. It wasn’t going to be a traditional wedding night.
Jesse stopped outside her bedroom door. “Should I send someone up to stay with you?”
“Nee, go back down to our guests. Just because I can’t be there doesn’t mean you should miss it. I’m sorry your mother didn’t come.”
“Perhaps we can visit her after the baby is born.”
Gemma nodded. “I would like that.”
“You didn’t get overly tired, did you?”
Was he truly concerned for her? “I feel perfectly fit, and I’m sorry I’m being sent to my room by the mean midwife. I know she has my best interest at heart.”
Jesse laughed out loud. “I dare you to call her that to her face.”
“I think not. It’s good to see you smiling, Jesse. Are you happy?”
“I have a lot to smile about.”
“You and my daed looked to be getting along well.”
“I know you and he have had your differences, but Leroy is a generous man.”
“In what way?” Please tell me the truth.
He cupped her chin in the palm of his hand. “He has gifted me with his lovely daughter. She is mine to have and to hold for the rest of our lives. Here’s to many more smiling days for both of us.” He bent down and kissed her as thoroughly as she had wanted to be kissed by him for a long time. It didn’t quiet the doubt flooding her mind.
“Did you get what you wanted, Jesse?”
He looked puzzled. “What?”
“Did you get what you wanted? My father offered you land to marry me, didn’t he?”
His brows grew together in a fierce frown. “What are you asking?”
“Did you marry me to get the land you wanted so badly?” Her hands grew even more ice-cold. The silence stretched so long she thought she would scream.
“Is that the kind of man you think you married?”
She raised her chin. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“First tell me why you would think the worst of me? What have I done to destroy your trust?”
“I want an answer, Jesse.”
Sadness filled his eyes. “So do I.” He turned away.
She wanted to call him back but couldn’t. What if she had been wrong to accuse him? Why couldn’t he give her a simple answer?
“I’m going back to my place tonight. I think it best I stay there,” he said. “Good night, Gemma.”
She turned away and went into her room. She shut the door and leaned against it as tears welled up in her eyes. What had she done?
Chapter Fourteen
Jesse jerked upright out of a sound sleep. Roscoe stood beside the bed, howling a long drawn-out wail.
“What is wrong with you? Go lie down.”
Roscoe slunk from the room. Jesse dropped back to the mattress and pulled his quilt up to his chin. Without his hound howling in his ear, he caught the sound of a siren in the distance. He sat up again. Was it coming closer? Roscoe raced to the front door and started barking. Jesse rolled out of bed and quickly pulled on his clothes. He hitched his suspenders over his shoulders and reached for his coat. “Quiet.”
Roscoe stopped barking and Jesse heard the clatter of hooves galloping up his lane.
He pulled open his front door just as Ivan reined his horse to a halt. The boy hadn’t taken time to put on a saddle. He slid from the horse’s bare back and hurried to Jesse. “It’s Gemma. Dinah says to come quick. I’ll hitch up your buggy.”
“Don’t bother. Will your horse carry double?”
“I’ve never tried. You take him. I’ll bring your buggy.”
“Fine.” Jesse sat down and pulled on his boots. He gave a quick look around, found his wallet and hurried out the door. Ivan was still holding the horse’s bridle. Jesse swung up onto the animal, who shifted uneasily under the unfamiliar weight. “Easy, boy.”
Ivan handed him the reins and Jess headed the animal out the lane. He hadn’t ridden bareback since he was a kid. If the horse dumped him, he would be sorry he hadn’t taken a buggy instead. Reassured by the knowledge that Ivan would be coming behind him soon, he pushed the horse to a gallop on the snowy roadway.
Gemma must have gone into labor. How was she? Was the baby okay, or was it already too late? He prayed that God would spare both of them.
He shouldn’t have been so angry with her. He could have easily said he turned down her father’s offer, but would she have believed him? That she had questioned his honor and his motives hurt deeply, but none of that mattered now. She had to be okay.
He saw the flashing red lights of the ambulance reflected off the snow up ahead before he turned onto the highway. The siren stopped. They must have reached the Lapp farm. His horse tried to make the turn into Michael’s lane and almost unseated Jesse. He was able to regain control and keep the animal on the highway, but he slowed his headlong gallop. The ambulance crew didn’t need to pick up another patient.
Jesse drew the horse to a stop in front of the Lapp house. One of Gemma’s cousins, he couldn’t remember the young woman’s name, took the horse’s reins. “I’ve got him. Go on in.”
“How is she?”
“I don’t know.” She led the skittish horse away.
Jesse strode into the house. Everyone was up and milling in the living room. Leroy stood by the staircase, looking upward. Jesse laid a hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”
“We heard her cry out. Dinah ran upstairs and then shouted for me to call an ambulance. We forgot Gemma had a phone. I ran down to the phone shanty and made the call. It seemed to take them forever to get here.”
“Can I go up?”
“The ambulance fellow said to keep the area clear. I think you should wait here. I’m so sorry for the way I treated her when she first came home. You were right. I didn’t treasure my own child as I should have.” He turned away, wiping tears from his eyes.
It was the longest fifteen minutes of Jesse’s life. Finally, the men in uniforms appeared at the top of the stairs with a stretcher and quickly made their way down. Jesse caught sight of Gemma’s pale face. Her freckles stood out in sharp contrast against her white skin. Her eyes were closed. “Gemma, it’s Jesse. I’m here. You’re going to be fine.” He didn’t know if she could hear him.
One of the men held an IV bag in his teeth as he maneuvered the stretcher off the stairs. Michael appeared beside Jesse. He took the bag and held it high.
“Thanks, buddy. Is the husband here?”
“I’m her husband. How is she?” Jesse asked, fearing the answer.
“We’re gonna have to talk on the way. You can ride with us.”
Leroy and Dinah held on to each other as the stretcher went past them. “Send us word,” Leroy said as Jesse met his gaze.
“I will as soon as I can.”
Bethany pushed a cell phone into his hand. “Esther’s number is in here. Contact her and she’ll get a message to us.”
After Gemma’s stretcher was secured, Jesse got in beside her and the driver quickly closed the doors. The siren came on as the ambulance drove down the lane.
“What can you tell me about your wife’s condition?” One of the men was listening to her heart while the other one was waiting for Jesse’s answer.
“She has a partial placenta previa.” Jesse did
some quick math in his head. “The baby is twenty-nine weeks gestation.”
He continued to answer questions when what he really wanted was answers of his own. “How is the baby?”
“We still have fetal heart tones, so that’s good. Your wife is losing a lot of blood. She will likely go straight into surgery for a cesarean when we get to the hospital. They aren’t equipped to care for premature babies for an extended time. If needed, a helicopter will be on the way from Bangor, and your baby will likely be transferred to the neonatal unit there.”
Jesse nodded, trying to take in the information being given to him, but his eyes were glued to the machine over her head with bouncing lines moving across it. He knew it was Gemma’s heartbeat, but he had no idea if it was normal.
He took hold of her limp hand. Her fingers were cold. He wanted to tuck them inside his shirt to warm them. It was a helpless feeling, knowing everything was out of his control.
The ambulance pulled into the emergency bay and the back doors were pulled open. Gemma was unloaded and wheeled into the hospital. He tried to follow but he was stopped by a security officer. “Your wife is being well taken care of. I need you to step over to the counter and give us some info.”
Jesse gave them all the information he could. When he was finished, a volunteer took him to the surgical waiting room. He was the only one in it. Suddenly the pressure and worry of the day caught up with him. He sat abruptly on the couch as his legs gave out. They had to be okay. Both of them. He needed both of them.
Please, Lord, show mercy to my wife and to her child. They are in Your hands. Guide those who care for them that they may do Your will.
He sat and prayed silently for the two most important people in his life.
About twenty minutes later, he heard a commotion. He stepped to the door to check the hallway. Several people in hospital garb walked by. The piece of equipment they were pushing turned out to be an incubator. They went past him and through the doors leading to the surgery area.
It was a good sign that they needed an incubator, wasn’t it? There wasn’t anyone he could ask. Another twenty minutes went by and the group came out again. One of the women smiled at him. “Are you Jesse Crump?”
“I am.”
“Would you like to meet your daughter?”
“Is she okay?” Joy nearly choked him.
“Come see for yourself.”
He walked timidly toward them, not knowing what to expect. The woman moved aside so he could see into the incubator. He stared at Gemma’s baby through the clear top. She was amazing. And beautiful. He had never seen such a tiny child. His finger was thicker than her scrawny legs. Her head was covered with thick brown hair that had a red tint to it.
“She has so much hair for an early baby.”
“In my twenty years as a delivery nurse, I’ve never seen a preemie without a head of hair.”
He smiled as he gazed at Gemma’s daughter. Her face was heart shaped with a tiny bow mouth. There were wrinkles on her forehead that made him think of Gemma when she was angry. Taped to the side of her face was a clear tube with prongs that fitted in her nose.
The baby’s eyes were closed. He couldn’t tell their color, but her eyelashes were long and curved where they lay against her cheeks. Awed by the wonder of this new life, he knew without a doubt that she was God’s greatest gift to him.
“You look like your mother,” he told her.
She opened her eyes and blinked owlishly. Then she let out a hearty wail, letting the world know she had arrived. A wonderful warmth filled his chest as he fell head over heels in love with the most beautiful child he had ever laid eyes on.
He spoke to the doctor without taking his eyes off his child. “Is she going to be okay?”
“The steroids your wife received allowed her lungs to mature. She’s getting a small amount of oxygen, but she is doing amazingly well for her size. She weighs three pounds and five ounces.”
“A sack of sugar weighs more,” he mused.
“We are taking her to Bangor to the NICU there. We don’t have room for you on the helicopter, but we can arrange transportation to get you to the NICU today. She is ten weeks premature, but all her vital signs look good at the moment. A lot will depend on how well she does in the next forty-eight hours.”
“We should get going,” the nurse said. “Would you like to hold her hand before we go?”
He nodded. She opened one of the round windows in the side. Another nurse gave him some foam to rub on his hands. When it was dry, he reached in and touched his little girl. He laid his finger on her palm and she immediately grabbed hold of him. “You’re strong. God be with you. I’ll see you soon. Don’t forget me.”
The nurse closed the window. “Barring any serious complications, I like to tell the family to expect their baby to go home close to her due date.”
“She might be in the hospital another ten weeks?”
“Give or take a few days, yes. Babies don’t grow and mature any faster outside Mom than they do inside.”
He would certainly need help from his community and others to cover her hospital bill, but he was not worried about the money. He would pay what he could. The bishop would collect alms to cover the rest. If it was more than the community could provide, a call would go out to all Amish communities to render assistance.
He looked at the doctor. “How is Gemma?”
“She lost a lot of blood, but they were able to stop the bleeding. She may be in the hospital for several days longer than normal.”
The elevator doors opened, and he watched as they wheeled Gemma’s daughter inside.
“Does she have a name?” the nurse asked.
He and Gemma had not discussed a name for the child. It seemed odd now to think how seldom Gemma had spoken about the baby. He glanced at the door. Did the baby look like her father? Only Gemma could answer that question. He hadn’t given much thought to Robert, but he did now. Somewhere there was a man who didn’t know that he had a daughter. One who hadn’t been given the chance to see his beautiful child. If Gemma was right, the man willingly gave up any claim to his baby. Jesse would pray for him.
He looked at the nurse. “I will let her mother decide on a name.”
“That’s fine. I left some paperwork on Mom’s chart. It has our contact information. Feel free to call and check on your daughter anytime of the day or night.”
The elevator doors closed. He rubbed a hand over his face. The baby was okay. That was what everyone would want to know. Now he needed to see his wife.
He went back to the waiting room and got out the phone Bethany had given him. He dialed Esther’s number. She answered on the second ring. He spent the next ten minutes updating her and having her relay messages to Gemma’s family. When he hung up, a young man in green scrubs came into the waiting room. “You must be Jesse Crump.” He held out his hand. “I am Dr. Brentwood. I have just finished surgery on your wife.”
Jesse shook his hand. “How is Gemma? Can I see her?”
“She had a rough go of it, but I anticipate a full recovery. She needed several units of blood. Your wife will be in recovery for the next two hours. You’ll be able to see her after that.”
“Thank you, Dr. Brentwood. I appreciate everything you have done.”
Knowing that he had two hours to wait, Jesse went in search of a cup of coffee and something to eat. When he reached the lobby, he saw a green van stop outside. A half-dozen women wearing Amish clothing began getting out. He recognized Gemma’s mother and her cousins who had attended the wedding.
Two of them carried large quilted bags over their arms. Dinah caught sight of him and hurried toward him. The other women followed her. They crowded around, asking about Gemma.
“She is in recovery. She will be there for another two hours. After that, she will be moved to a room. We will be able to see her th
en.”
“Where can we wait?” one of her cousins asked.
He showed them to the waiting area. Dinah opened the bag she carried and withdrew several wrapped sandwiches. “I thought you might be hungry.”
Someone else produced a thermos of hot coffee and disposable cups. He drank the coffee and tried to eat a sandwich, but he was too worried about Gemma. Her baby had been whisked away in a helicopter before she had even laid eyes on her. He knew that would be upsetting.
“Did you see the baby before they took her away?” Dinah asked.
“I did.” He proceeded to tell them about Gemma’s baby. He remembered her weight, but he didn’t remember being told how long she was. They plied him for information until Dinah gently asked them to let him swallow a bite of his sandwich.
The time passed more quickly with company. He was surprised when a nurse came out to tell him he could see Gemma. He bolted out of his chair and followed her.
She lay on pristine white sheets. He thought her color was better than when she had left the house on the stretcher, but she was still pale. And beautiful. Tears filled his eyes as he pulled up a chair beside her bed. “Gemma. Open your eyes. Can you hear me, darling? It’s Jesse.”
* * *
Gemma heard Jesse’s voice, but she couldn’t make her eyes open. There was something important she needed to know. Something she had to ask him. She struggled again to open her eyes and he was there.
“Jesse?” Her voice came out scratchy and hoarse.
“Time to wake up, sleepyhead.”
“Not yet.” She drifted off for a few seconds and then opened her eyes wide. “The baby?”
“She’s fine.”
“A girl?”
“We have a dochtah.”
“A daughter. You said it would be a girl. Where is she?” Gemma tried to raise her head. It was too heavy. She let it fall back. “Can I see her?”
“I’m afraid you can’t see her yet.” His voice held an odd quality that scared her.
“Why not? Why can’t I see her? What’s wrong?” She struggled to rise.
Shelter from the Storm Page 15