Claire's Hope: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Love's Enduring Promise Book 3)

by T. K. Chapin

  “Of course he’ll bring Hope, and I can call him if you want to stay here with Claire?” Joshua asked Jennie.

  “Okay, Thank you,” she replied, smiling at Joshua.

  “Thanks Joshua,” my gratitude was immense. I am not sure what he’s doing here, but I was about to find out. After he walked out I pulled Jennie closer to me.

  “What’s the deal with Joshua being here? Before all this went down, I wasn’t even on speaking terms with him. I am a little confused.”

  Jennie smiled at me. “He loves you Claire…”

  Shaking my head, I replied, “What? No he doesn’t. We haven’t even dated, how could he love me?”

  Jennie glanced back at the doorway. “Joshua’s been up here by your side day and night since you slipped into the coma a month ago.”

  “He has school and work though…” I replied.

  “He had homework brought up to him, but he graduated and his job… well he just gave it up to be here for you.” Jennie looked me in the eyes as she continued. “Men like Joshua are hard to find Claire, he’s special.”

  Glancing to the doorway, I shook my head. I don’t deserve that kind of love; he was too good for me. “I know he’s special Jennie…”

  Joshua came back into the room. “Hope and company are on their way up,” He smiled walking over to me.

  “Thank you,” I replied. “Has someone contacted Matt? He should know about his daughter being born.”

  Touching my hand, Joshua’s head hung low. “Something happened when you were in your coma Claire.”

  Looking up at him confused I almost asked what, but Jennie interrupted my thoughts when she walked over to Joshua and touched his shoulder.

  “Don’t… she doesn’t need that right now.”

  Sitting up in my bed, I leaned forward to both of them, “What is it? Tell me please.”

  Joshua looked Jennie in the eyes for a moment. She nodded and began to walk away. Turning his eyes back to mine, he said, “Matt…” He was hesitant.

  “What about him?” I replied.

  Grabbing my hand, he said softly, “He passed away…”

  Pulling my hand up to my face, I cupped my mouth and tears began streaming down my cheeks. Joshua came closer, letting my eyes fall into his shoulder. Once I calmed down, I asked, “What happened?”

  “He got jumped in jail… someone stabbed him.”

  “How’s that even possible?”

  “They didn’t give us much information. I looked it up online and sometimes they can use utensils as weapons.”

  Nodding, I continued to wipe my tears. “That’s sad Hope won’t ever know her Father, even if he was a jerk.”

  Joshua nodded softly. “You have a lot of people that want to help you Claire, you have a big support system here.”

  Smiling, I grabbed his hand and said, “I know. Thank you.”

  When Dale arrived in the doorway of my hospital room, I had never been so happy to see him as he had in his arms, my Hope. Coming to my side, he lowered Hope into my arms and I began crying as Dale said, “Here’s your Mommy.”

  Something amazing happened as I held my baby for the first time. My belief in God became a reality. While I had sat through countless high school classes insisting God didn’t exist, lived in a home that never mentioned Him and had spent the last five months struggling with the idea of God. My faith came to life when I held Hope for the first time. Looking into her eyes, inspecting her little fingers and holding her in my arms… I knew without a doubt God was real. There was no way this could just be an accumulation of energy, it was truly a miracle of God.

  “She’s perfect,” I said, keeping my eyes locked on my baby girl. Todd came up to my side and leaned his head against my shoulder.

  “She really is,” he smiled. “Mom would be tickled if she was here.”

  “I know,” I replied. My mother loved babies and she would always say jokingly that she wished she could trade Todd and I in for babies. “You’re an uncle bro… Isn’t that crazy?” I asked.

  He smiled again, “I can hardly believe it sis. I’m so happy you came out of the coma.” He pulled away from my shoulder and looked at me as tears welled up and his voice was shaky. “I was so scared.”

  I began crying and held him close to me. “I’m sorry Bud… and I mean that for everything. I’ve been failing at being a good big sister to you.”

  “No you haven’t,” He said.

  “I really have, but that’s going to change moving forward.” We both smiled at each other and hugged.

  The rest of the family that tagged along with Dale came into the room after hitting the cafeteria. And the room began filling up quickly. Joshua faded away sometime shortly after the rest of the family showed up. I didn’t even notice when he had slipped out, but I wasn’t too concerned about it. I had Hope in my arms and our life was about to start.

  “I hope you two are coming back with us to the house to live,” Todd said.

  I had been trying so hard to do things on my own, that I didn’t stop to think about anyone else. Dale and Jennie really wanted to help me and that was evident now. I had a choice to make. I could return to the shelter and keep going forward with my life or I could go live with Dale and Jennie and have the support and help of my family. “I’m just scared of not doing it on my own… I don’t want to give up and be a failure.”

  Dale stepped up to my side and rested a hand on my shoulder. “Claire. You’re eighteen years old and you have been through a lot. It’s not bad to get help from your family. That doesn’t make you a failure.”

  Moving in with Dale and Jennie sounded like a dream. Jennie could help me with the baby and all the family would be a help for us both. “What about my job?”

  Jennie said, “I talked to your boss about what happened and he understood, he said to take all the time off you need for recovery and come back when you’re ready.”

  Dale said, “Hope has grown on all of us, I couldn’t imagine the house without her and you Claire, we love you so much and would love to be a part of your new journey in life.”

  Looking back to Todd, I nodded. After all, I had put them through with taking off and being so resistant to their ways of life, they still loved me through it and wanted to help me. It warmed my heart knowing that they truly loved me for the way I was, despite everything I had done. “I’d love to come live with you.” My smile was genuine as I looked from Dale’s face down to my little girl. “Hope and I need you guys…”

  “I’m happy you said that,” Jennie said. “We were a little worried you might be upset…”

  My eyes welled with tears as I shook my head. “I’m not upset at all with you guys.”

  Doctor Lindsey came into the room. “I am so sorry Claire!” She said coming up to the bed as Dale and Jennie stepped away.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Nobody told you?” Lindsey asked, glancing back at Dale and Jennie.

  Dale shook his head.

  “Told me what?” I asked.

  “I missed you having Preeclampsia. It’s a pregnancy complication. Your blood pressure was higher than normal during your pregnancy.”

  “You didn’t notice my blood pressure being high?”

  “It wasn’t that much higher and I wrote it off as a result from the stress you were dealing with. Preeclampsia also has symptoms that are typical with any pregnancy, such as: headaches, vomiting and so forth.”

  “Yeah, I had all those… How did that cause my coma though?”

  “Well… It turned into Eclampsia, which stops blood flow to your brain and caused you to have a seizure and thus made you slip into a coma.”

  “I see…” I replied quietly.

  Lindsey’s eyes began watering as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry I failed you as your Doctor, Claire.”

  Seeing the pain and hurt in her eyes, I knew she was sincere with her apology. The old me might have been became angry and frustrated with Lindsey for missing something
that could have ended up killing me, but I wasn’t. While I was upset losing the first weeks of life with my daughter, I pushed it aside and let it go, it was an accident. “It’s okay Lindsey,” I replied, smiling up at her. “Hope is okay and now I’m okay…”

  Lindsey hugged me, “I’m so happy you said that.” Standing upright, she composed herself and wiped away her tears. “We’ll want to keep you in here for the next twenty four hours to monitor you, but as long as you can get up and walk around and have used the bathroom, you’ll be free to go in the morning.”

  “Thank you,” I replied with a smile.

  Lindsey smiled again at me and then left. Jennie came up to my side. “That was awfully nice of you to say that to her.”

  Shaking my head, I looked down at Hope. “People can’t be expected to be perfect all the time… I’m not going to hold it against her.”

  CHAPTER 27

  After being discharged from the hospital the next day, I arrived home at the Vander’s. They had already decorated and arranged the room I’d be living in upstairs with baby décor. And even a crib. Jennie was even nice enough to let me use the rocking chair that was a family heirloom. When my eyes fell on the rocking chair I couldn’t help myself from bursting into tears as I felt overwhelming love.

  “Thank you,” I said, looking back at her.

  “You’re welcome dear.”

  Opening the baby pink dresser drawer, I saw my clothing already in there. Turning to Jennie, I asked, “My clothes from the shelter are already in here? What if I went back to the shelter?”

  “Yes. Dale went and spoke with them about you coming to live with us once you came out of the coma… We’ve been praying you wouldn’t want to go back and that you’d come live with us… We just had faith you’d be coming back here to live.”

  “How’d you have the address?”

  “Lindsey had the information you updated at the doctor’s office.”

  “Oh,” I replied. Opening another drawer, I saw little girl outfits. I smiled back at Jennie. “She has clothes?” More tears came. “Thank you so much… I had an outfit, is it in here also?” Going through the drawer, I found the little pink dress I had found on clearance.

  “Yeah…” Jennie said joining my side with an arm around my shoulder.

  “This is too much… I don’t want you to pay for everything like this…”

  Shaking her head, Jennie said, “It’s completely fine, we want to help you Claire.”

  I smiled, giving my aunt a hug. Dale and Jennie were so nice to me and I couldn’t get over how loved they made me feel. There wasn’t any resentment or anger towards me for ending up pregnant the way I did, even though we both knew how they felt about pregnancy out of wedlock.

  Kissing my forehead, Jennie said, “I’ll let you two get acquainted with your room together. I’m going to go downstairs and prepare chicken noodle soup for dinner. I put the bottle on the dresser for you, she’s probably getting hungry.” I nodded and turned back to the dresser as I held Hope in my arm.

  Looking around I couldn’t help but continue to feel overwhelmed. Grabbing the bottle, I sat down in the rocking chair and rocked Hope, memorizing her face, her fresh smell and every little unique feature. Newborn babies always smell like a little bit of heaven, I thought to myself as I took a deep breath in through my nose. She had my eyes, but hers were a little bit more blue. Hope suddenly looked at me and I couldn’t help but imagine all the great things I wanted for her life. I wanted her to be smart, go to a good school and have every opportunity possible. And I knew being at Dale and Jennie’s right now was what was best for both of us.

  I put my finger in her small hand and her tiny fingers grasp mine. I smiled. My life felt like it had purpose suddenly and I knew raising Hope was a big part of it. She wasn’t planned, but it didn’t matter, I loved her with all my heart and holding her made all my heartaches fade away.

  Putting the bottle to her mouth, Hope looked into my eyes as she drank it; life began to finally make sense.

  After feeding Hope, she fell asleep so I laid her in her crib. Opening my door, I heard my name from down the stairs. Without interrupting, I listened at the top of the stairs.

  Lizzy said, “Is she going to dedicate Hope at church on Sunday?”

  “If she wants to she can… but we aren’t going to push it, she’s been through a lot. She has time if she decides she wants to.”

  “Hope and her need rest. I can’t imagine missing the first month of my child’s life… That’d be hard to process,” Jennie added.

  “I don’t think she’ll want to dedicate Hope to God…” Todd said. He looked disappointed at the words that came from his lips. But he was wrong; I wanted God in Hope and I’s life. I came down the stairs and smiled at Todd when he looked up at me.

  “What’s a baby dedication?” I asked, taking a seat on the couch next to Todd.

  Dale cleared his throat. “You bring your baby up to the front of the church and the Pastor says a prayer over the baby and then the congregation says Amen. Basically, it’s dedicating your baby to God and saying you’ll raise the child in the church and do your best to raise the child to follow God.”

  Nodding, I remained silent.

  “You don’t have to do it,” Jennie said.

  “I know… but I think I want to.”

  Dale’s eyes widened, “Really?”

  “Yes… can I dedicate myself too?”

  Dale dismissed the children to go play outside; Todd even went along with them. Taking a seat next to me on the couch, Dale put his hand on my shoulder. “For adults, it’s not called a dedication, instead you would be accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It’s the biggest decision and commitment you’ll ever make in your life. Your brother Todd made that decision a couple months ago.”

  I smiled. “That’s awesome he did it! I know God exists Dale… I’ve held the evidence in my arms. There’s no doubt in my mind anymore that God is real… He’s brought me so far.”

  That evening, my name was written in the book of life. Through praying and talking with Dale I came to an understanding of just how big God’s love was for me. Dale told me the story of Calvary and how Jesus was sent to die for me on Calvary’s cross. He told me how Jesus was risen the third day and now I live crucified with Christ. I believed fully in everything. We even retouched on the issue of homosexuality and I understood God’s law was above man’s feelings. I still loved my friend Kevin, but I no longer was accepting of the lifestyle he chose as okay. Now that I was saved, I needed to be baptized.

  After praying and accepting Jesus into my heart, I felt this burden lift off my shoulders. My guilt over what had transpired during my drug days, my sorrow over my parent’s death and even some of the pain with Matt was fading away. I still had the knowledge of it and some of it still hurt, but it felt lighter to carry on my conscious. God was helping me carry the burden now.

  Later on that day, Jennie served her delicious homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls for dinner. Leaving Hope in the living room on her play mat, I took a seat at the table just as Dale began to speak after he finished praying over the meal.

  “We’ll talk to the pastor and get you baptized at the church,” Dale said before taking a big bite of his roll.

  “It’s a symbolization of what had already happened earlier, right?” I asked.

  “Yes, it’s a public declaration of the transformation that already has taken place in your heart.”

  “Ok, cool… Could we baptize me in the river? Right through the woods? I really think that would be neat to get baptized at the end of the train tracks where they vanish into the river.” It was the perfect spot, right near Copper’s Cove where so many drunken nights ruled my old life. And it being at the railroad tracks made sense to me; my life was finally on the right track.

  “Sure, we’ll organize it with the church so everyone can come,” Dale replied. “I’ll call Pastor Ray after dinner and let him know… I’m sure we could do it after church
this Sunday.”

  “Great,” I replied. “Hope and I have a big day Sunday!”

  Hearing a cry come from Hope in the living room, I excused myself from the table. She was lying on a blanket and throwing quite the fit. Picking her up, I began rocking her in my arms. “It’s okay…” I said softly into her ear. “You hungry?” I asked, carrying her into the kitchen. I made a bottle of formula for her and returned to the living room.

  “May I?” Dale asked, coming into the living room as I was feeding Hope her bottle.

  “What about your food?” I asked, glancing back towards the table.

  “I’ve already finished, go ahead,” He said with his arms out to accept Hope.

  “Thanks,” I smiled, handing him Hope.

  After finishing my meal, I went to see how Hope was doing in the living room and saw she was fast asleep in Dale’s arms. Smiling at him, I motioned I was going outside.

  Stepping out onto the back porch, I smiled as I saw the sun was beginning to set across the tops of all the pine trees. Reds, oranges and pinks mingled with one another, creating a beautiful sunset as I began heading for the woods. The hot summer day was winding down and the temperature with it as I stepped into the woods.

  “Claire!” Todd shouted from the porch as he came running into the woods after me.

  “What?” I asked, stopping.

  “Can I tag along? I feel like I haven’t talked to you much… you’ve been getting to know Hope and I understand that, but I was pretty scared this last month.”

  “Sure,” I smiled at him. “Join me.”

  As we went further into the woods, I began thinking about the coma and I wondered if people came to visit me. “Did Nicole come up to the hospital?”

  Todd shook his head. “It was mostly just Joshua… I am not even sure if Nicole found out.”

  “Joshua…” I said, stepping over a log. “He’s really persistent.”

  “He loves you.”

  “Oh come on,” I laughed. “Jennie said the same thing, but I highly doubt that.”