Partners

by Grace Livingston Hill

It was like a little family, the three people gathered about the little child, and the nurse watched everything wistfully, for was she not having to go away and leave the baby just as she was beginning to love him, just as she was loving the whole family!

  Then suddenly Rand hurried down to see if his orders were being carried out, and while he was gone Dale and the nurse created a charming table with the Christmas roses in the center. Rand came back with the doctor, and then the waiters arrived with the dishes and trays, the nurse finished feeding the baby, and the guests sat down to the table and enjoyed the feast.

  And after the turkey and mince pie and ice cream had been enjoyed, and the doctor had gone over the baby and pronounced him in fine shape, then suddenly it was time for the nurse to go. Rand sent for a taxi, gathered up her belongings, accompanied her to her boarding place, and left her, promising to return there and see her to her train.

  The doctor had stayed with Dale to give her a few last directions about the baby, and before he left Rand arrived back. The doctor looked at the two with a broad genial smile.

  "I don't just know how to tell you two what I think of you," he said. "I thought you were rare people before, but after today's response to the trying situation, I put you on top of all the young men and women I know."

  "Well, now, that's nice!" said Rand. "I can't just understand how we attained all that excellence, but I appreciate your applause. But, may I inquire just what you suppose anybody would do in a situation like that? Would you have expected us to lock the nurse in and refuse to let her go?"

  The doctor grinned.

  "There are plenty of people I know who would have stormed around and deducted some of her pay, or maybe held her to finish out her week at least. I've seen many of that kind in my experience. But then, of course, the very fact that you're taking care of this little foundling child this way, treating it exactly as if it were your own, sets you in a class by yourself."

  "Oh, no!" said Rand. "I don't believe there are any Christian people who would do that, not many, anyway."

  "Christians! Oh, well, I don't know so much about them, but I've seen a lot of so-called ones that would have excuses galore for getting out of a thing like this. Why, man, this is a life work you've undertaken!"

  "I trust so!" said Rand solemnly, with a kind of radiance in his face. "We want it to be that!"

  "Oh, yes!" said Dale, lifting a glory-look to the doctor.

  The doctor stood there looking at them with growing wonder in his eyes, and something almost reverent mingled with his admiration.

  It grew almost embarrassing to them, the look he gave them, until Rand in a matter-of-fact tone said, "Doctor, if this little chap continues to improve at the rate he's doing now, how long do you think it will be before we dare move? I'd like to get my family into a more convenient home before Christmas if it's at all possible, but of course we don't want to run any risks."

  The doctor came down to practical things at once.

  "Oh! Move?" he said sharply. "How far do you want to take him? Out of the city?"

  "Oh, no," said Rand, "just into a larger, sunnier apartment. There's a place around on the next avenue in the Curtiss Building where I have found an apartment that is much more suited to our needs for the rest of the winter. My wife hasn't seen it yet, but I'm sure she will prefer it. It's much more conveniently arranged, and the service is better."

  "H'm!" said the doctor frowning and looking down at the sleeping baby. "Well, I suppose he might be moved that far in two or three days now. We'll see how things go tomorrow or the next day. If he doesn't have any more setbacks he ought to be able to weather it pretty soon. How about a nurse? Are you going to get along without one for a while?"

  "Yes," said Dale smiling. "I can perfectly well take care of him now."

  "Not altogether!" said Rand firmly. "There will be times when we'll both have to go out at the same time of course, and eventually we'll have to have someone, but I thought we could take our time. We've been waiting to see if you knew of the right nurse. Or should we continue to have a regular nurse now for a few weeks? We want to do the right thing of course."

  "Well," said the doctor thoughtfully, "I do know two or three good nurses who might be right for you, but they're out on cases just now. If you could get along for another week, perhaps even only four or five days, I think I could find you just the right one."

  "Oh, we can!" said Dale. "I'm sure we can. And by that time we'll likely know just what it is we want, anyway. We haven't really had a chance to get adjusted to things yet, because we've left everything to Nurse Hatfield, especially while the baby was so very sick."

  "Well, Hatfield's all right, of course. Sorry she had to leave you this way."

  "Yes, we'll miss her," said Dale, "but we couldn't think of wanting her to stay away from her poor mother. We'll be all right."

  "Yes, I guess you will," said the doctor, looking at her with unqualified admiration. "You would have made a good nurse yourself, you know."

  He went away, and then at last they turned to each other with a look of utter joy on their faces.

  Chapter 18

  The baby was very good that night. He seemed to like the gentle hands that handled him, the pleasant way his food was administered. And when he was full he gave a tentative kick or two, feebly, as if just to test his power, and dropped off to sleep again.

  "Do babies always sleep so much?" asked Rand as he saw the eyelids droop slowly down on the cheeks.

  "I don't know," said Dale. "There are a great many things I don't know about babies."

  "For a person who doesn't know, you've managed to do pretty well, I'll say. You've taken over the nurse's job like a professional. Say, has it struck you that the little fella is filling out a lot? I'd hardly recognize him for the same little mite that I found in Lady Beck's entrance hall, would you?"

  "No, I don't believe I would," said Dale happily. "And his hair is definitely curly. My! I like that! He'll be lovely, I'm sure he will."

  "Well, if he is, I'm sure I'll get jealous," grinned Rand.

  "You dear!" whispered Dale softly, putting her lips against his hair and nestling close.

  Rand enfolded her in his arms and drew her down beside him in the big chair.

  "Say, isn't this wonderful!" said Rand. "Just ourselves, and no nurse around! To have you all to myself at last! It seems somehow as if it couldn't possibly be true that I am yours and you are mine!"

  "And to think that just a few short days ago we didn't know each other at all!" said Dale. "Just picked up a lot of oranges together for a minute or two and then scarcely saw each other again for several weeks."

  "Well," said Rand bringing her cheek down to rest on his, "I had you in the back of my mind ever since. That's right, I did! You had golden lights in your eyes, and a special little curl in the whiteness of your neck that stayed with me, and lured me. That's right, you did! I noticed it the first time I saw you. Where is that curl? Ah! There it is. Turn around here and let me touch it. I always wanted to curl it around my finger. How soft it is. It feels just as I thought it would. I shall play with that curl a great deal, beloved. Shall you mind? Because I like you a lot, and I like that little curl."

  "Well, and you had red light in your hair and a dear grin on your nice lips," said Dale. "It made me like you at once. I felt safer somehow, and more content, because you belonged in that house, though I didn't suppose I would ever have any closer acquaintance with you than picking up those oranges. But do you know when I really fell hopelessly in love with you, so it was impossible to get you out of my mind?"

  "No, when?" he asked with bated breath.

  Dale's voice was very low and solemn as she answered, "It was the night that you knelt down and prayed for the baby. The night I saw that reverent look on your face and that holy light in your eyes. Then I knew you could stand the test that my mother had told me about. You might not ever care for me of course, but I knew you belonged to God, and it filled my heart with peace."


  "That's what makes you so different from other girls," he said tenderly, awed by her thought of him. "You care about things of that sort, and most other girls don't. I don't think I've ever known a girl before who did, except my mother. And she wasn't a girl of course. Have you always cared?"

  "Yes, in the back of my mind I have. I didn't always work at it much," she laughed self-consciously. "You see, after Mother died and things got pretty fierce I began to think God didn't care about me anymore, and I didn't always go to church. I got away from God. I only prayed half-heartedly, and I didn't read my Bible much, at least only very hurriedly, not enough to really take in what I read. It's very easy to do that when you get your heart filled with worry."

  "I guess it would be. Probably that's very much what was the matter with me. I joined the Church when I was fourteen, but it never meant much to me. It was only a form, a ceremony, which gave one respectability and a certain amount of prestige with God. That's about all. Mother was sweet. I know she was a true Christian herself, but I think she considered that I was safe because I had at last joined the Church. I remember the day I united with the Church. It meant a lot to her, and I remember being a bit surprised that she felt so, because really it hadn't meant so much to me. Not as much as when I entered high school. But we always went to church of course, while I was at home. It was when I came up here to my job that I stopped going, and I haven't thought much about it since, until God sent that baby and you to startle me into knowing what I was doing. I guess you have to keep in practice in religion as well as in anything else."

  "Yes," said Dale thoughtfully, "I remember hearing a preacher say once that one of the necessities of the Christian life was that the Christian should walk 'in the light.' I remember the verse he quoted: 'If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.' I think it was that verse that was somewhat responsible for my finding our minister and the little chapel. I was very blue one night, and I realized that I had got away from the path my mother taught me, so I started out to find some Christian fellowship, and God led me to the chapel. How surprised I would have been if I had been told that very soon after I would be married in that same chapel. I found Christian fellowship that night and went home with a lighter heart to bear the loneliness. I realized at least to a certain extent, that I had been starving my spirit by staying away from Christian fellowship and the message of God."

  "It seems," said Rand seriously, "that there are a great many things I have to learn. I can see it is going to make a big difference in my life. It was a great thing God did for me when I had been so indifferent to Him, sending you two into my life. I wouldn't think I would have been worth it to Him. He took a lot of trouble for me, and I've got to bear that in mind all my life, and walk softly before Him. Isn't that a phrase from the Bible? I seem to remember hearing it somewhere. I know when I heard it read in church I always used to think of the times when I had sneaked off to go skating without permission and had to sneak in again and get my wet stockings and shoes changed, and came in clean and innocent looking to 'walk softly' before my mother so she wouldn't know I had gone off without telling her. But now I can see a different thought. It has more the idea of trying to please, doesn't it, because of all He has done for us? But say, oughtn't we to be getting settled for the night so this little chap won't be disturbed?"

  ***

  It was the next morning just before Rand left for the office that they spoke about the new apartment.

  "I suppose we could get along here all right for a while, and not worry about moving until the baby is well beyond any question," said Dale. "Wouldn't that be better? We are fairly comfortable here."

  "We could," said Rand, thoughtfully, "but I believe he would get well quicker over there, and it would be a hundred percent easier for you. The rooms are large and have lots of sunshine, and there is a tiny laundry beside the bathroom. The kitchen is larger, too. There's a sunny alcove for the baby where he wouldn't hear every noise and be disturbed while he is sleeping, although goodness knows he seems to be able to sleep through anything. But I'd like you to see it as soon as we can manage to get out together, for I think you'd like it, and I don't want to run any risk of losing it. It seems to me the right place for the present, and the price is right, too."

  "Oh, well," laughed Dale, "we don't need to worry about price just now, as long as my miraculous fortune lasts. That's probably what it was sent for."

  "Is that so?" laughed Rand. "Think again! I'm the man of this house, not my wife, and it is my fortune that pays for where we live, not your private money!"

  "But I thought we were partners," said Dale, with wistfulness in her eyes. "It's just my dowry that I brought with me. Isn't that what you call it? My share of the general fund?"

  "Well, of course we're partners, but there are some things a man ought to look out for, and besides, if we're partners, we've got to agree on what the monies under our control shall be spent for, haven't we?"

  "Yes," said Dale, smiling back. "All right, go ahead and get the most expensive mansion you can find. I'm satisfied!"

  He grinned back.

  "That's all right, Dale. I don't want to be extravagant, even if we have got more money in the offing than we ever expected to have. I've been saving too many years and going without things to get a home for my mother to want to blow it all now. You needn't worry about me. I'll be amenable to reason when we get you and the kid fixed in comfort. Now, is there anything else before I go? Sometime you and I have got to get out and do a little Christmas shopping. So if the doctor knows of a safe nurse who could look after the kid for a couple of hours now and then, tell him to send her."

  "Christmas shopping!" said Dale laughing. "I guess we could skip that this year, couldn't we? We've got enough else to do. And the baby is far too young to expect it."

  "No, ma'am! I'm not going to have that kid remember that the first Christmas we didn't provide him any presents or a tree or anything! You wouldn't want that, would you?"

  "Don't be silly!" said Dale, with twinkling eyes. "We'll get up a Christmas he will like, without shopping for it. Don't be in such a hurry to rush the season."

  "Okay!" said Rand, coming back to kiss her again before he finally took his leave.

  "Something to come home to!" he murmured, looking down into her eyes. "This is going to be great!"

  It was a busy, happy morning for Dale. The baby was awake and smiling, actually smiling, and he greeted her with a genuine crow, louder and sweeter than any he had yet given.

  "You darling!" she said as she stood over him for an instant looking down.

  Then he crowed again and beat a quick little tattoo with both small first. But she noticed with joy that the fists were no longer actually scrawny. They were not exactly chubby yet, but they were shaped and graceful, and it was noticeable that he was much stronger and more energetic than he had been the day before.

  She prepared for the baby's bath and breakfast much as if it had been a birthday party she was expecting, and as she went about assembling bathtub, towels, washcloths, soap, and lovely-smelling powder she chirruped to the baby, till he entered into the spirit of the thing himself and began to crow back to her and flap his little hands in joy. It was as if he knew that he had passed from the hands of the hospital nurse into the loving hands of a mother.

  It was beautiful to her to hold him on the blanket on her lap. It reminded her of the days when she was playing dolls. She exulted in each tiny gain in flesh, and touched the roseleaf skin delicately. It seemed as if the baby enjoyed it, too, and looked up to her face and cooed and gurgled at her, and once again he smiled, just a little wavering smile. His two dimples flashed out and disappeared and gave his face a lovely expression, with a dawning beauty of form that filled her with delight.

  When the doctor came she had him snug in his crib, fed and happy, gurgling softly to himself, while she went swiftly around the room gathering
up the towels and soap and putting things to rights.

  "Well, I should say you're doing very well," announced the doctor as he stood looking down at the fragile little child. "He looks as if he really might grow up to be a solid bit of humanity after all."

  Then he asked keen questions and finally sat back as if entirely satisfied.

  "Well, I've found a woman I think may be a help to you, if you want her. She's been a practical nurse in her time, and I used to say I'd rather have her than any modern trained nurse. She really has a knack with her, and she loves babies. She isn't very strong, can't lift heavy patients anymore. And has to take it a little easy. By rights she ought to be in her daughter's home being taken care of, but her son-in-law is rather a wild number and doesn't want her around, and she's too proud to stay around and be a burden, so she's looking for a quiet place where she can be of use and earn at least her board. I think she'd be all right. At least, you could try her out for a few days and see what you think. I know she's a good faithful woman, and you can depend on whatever she says. She knows a lot about nursing, and you'd find she'd be glad to take hold in the kitchen, too. She can cook a tasty meal when she tries."

  "Why, that sounds wonderful!" said Dale. "Where can we see her?"

  "Oh, I'll send her over this evening if that will be convenient for you. She's calling me up around seven. She's coming off the case of an old lady who broke her arm, tonight, and I happen to know she's no place to go, so it will be all right if you want her to begin at once."

  "Thank you so much, Doctor. That sounds good. We'll be looking for her. It will be a great help. You think it would be safe to leave the baby with her in a day or two when he has had a chance to get used to her?"

  "Oh, yes, there's nothing she couldn't manage. She's brought up seven children of her own, besides a lot more of other people's children. They only thing is she's a bit lame herself and won't make much of a showing if you want to doll her up and send her out in the park with the baby next summer."