“I think I am,” Grace replied. Her conversation with Gilbert had left her more confused, and yet more elated, than she’d imagined it would. The way he described his feelings about her . . . it was almost like he was reading poetry.
She had never imagined that anyone would feel that way about her. She was the unwanted one, the child of the drunk and the beggar. But he saw value in her. He knew about her parents, and he didn’t care. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about him, but knowing that he wanted to be with her meant that she was lovable, and she wanted to discover what that meant.
When they reached the hotel, Dr. Wayment examined Nora and said she’d likely be fine as long as she continued to take it easy. He approved of the plan for her to sit at the counter and take payments, and asked that she do that for at least a month before attempting anything more rigorous.
“I imagine you could chop vegetables in the kitchen as long as you sat at the table, but no kneading bread or anything that would require much energy,” he told her. “You’re doing well—let’s keep it that way.” He headed back downstairs to get the piece of pie Giselle had promised him when he walked in, and Grace turned to Nora, who had suddenly begun to cry.
“What’s the matter, Nora?” Grace asked. “Isn’t this good news?”
“I’m not really sure how to explain it,” Nora said, grabbing her handkerchief. “Goodness, I certainly cry a lot, don’t I?”
“That’s how expectant women are,” Grace said with a little laugh. “Now, why are you crying this time in particular?”
“It’s just funny how perspectives change,” Nora said after wiping her eyes. “When I first found out about the baby, I was resentful. How dare it even exist? Then I suppose I grew resigned to it. When the pains started, for just a second, I was relieved—maybe the baby wouldn’t survive, and I’d be free. I know—that’s a terrible thing to think, and I’m not proud of it, but it did cross my mind. Then I got scared. What if something was wrong? I began to think of it as a little person rather than a condition or a result of a horrible experience.”
Her tears started up again, and she wiped them away. “Knowing that the child will most likely be all right . . . I can’t help but feel grateful. So, so grateful. And I’m astonished at how I can experience all those feelings one right after the other, so contradictory, and yet every one of them so strong.”
Grace sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. “I’ve never been through anything like it, but everything you’ve just said makes perfect sense to me.”
“So you don’t think I’m crazy? Or awful?”
“No. I think you’re normal, and human, and scared. I also think you’re very brave, and I’m proud of you.” She put her arm around Nora’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “You can do this.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Two chicken and dumplings and two roast beef,” Grace called out as she entered the kitchen. It felt so good to get back to work. It had only been two days, but she had felt the loss as though it had been much longer.
“It’s about time you stopped being so lazy,” Ruth teased as she placed the dishes on Grace’s tray. “I thought we’d never get you back.”
“Oh, it was tempting to stay curled up in my bed forever, but I figured you’d all get into much worse trouble without me.” Grace picked up a plate with a pat of butter on it, added it to the collection on her tray, and headed back out to the dining room.
Giselle hadn’t found anything to counsel Grace about as far as her running of the dining room was concerned, and she only laughed when she was told about the napkin incident. Even so, Grace was more than happy to give the job back to Giselle. She hadn’t burned down the hotel, but she felt as though she’d come close, and she didn’t want the responsibility anymore. She was much happier being dependable in her own sphere.
As the meal service drew to a close, she saw the Osbournes enter, and she made her way over to greet them.
“We’re not here to eat,” the pastor said. “Well, maybe some pie, but not right now.”
“We’d like to see Nora,” Olivia added. “And you too, if that’s all right. I know it’s hard for you, being in the middle of everything like you are, but we feel that she’ll need you in particular this time.”
Grace looked back and forth between them. “What’s the matter? Has something happened?”
The pastor held up one hand. “No, no, everything’s fine. Please don’t be concerned. It’s just . . . unusual.”
“That doesn’t help me worry any less,” Grace said, and he smiled.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be confusing. We’ll explain everything when you have a minute.”
The whole time Grace was cleaning up the dining room, her mind puzzled over what could possibly be going on. None of the possibilities were comforting, and there weren’t very many of them anyway.
By the time she sat down across from the Osbournes upstairs in a vacant room, her emotions were on high alert. Nora looked nervous too.
Olivia clasped her hands in front of her. “I know it’s odd, us asking to meet with you like this, and I want you to know that we didn’t come here on a whim. We’ve been praying intently for two days, and we both feel that this is what God wants us to do.”
Grace and Nora exchanged a glance. Grace was tempted to ask Olivia to speed things up a bit, but she sensed that Olivia needed to work up to this in her own way, whatever “this” was.
“I’ve always been a very selfish person,” Olivia said, pressing her hands together tightly. “My father was a doctor, very wealthy and respected, and as his daughter, I had everything I wanted. All I had to do was demand it. Well, one day I got it in my head that I wanted Adam Brody, but he had left our community in New York to come out to some wilderness and start up a hotel, and I followed him and demanded that he take me back. It so happened that I arrived just before he was to marry Elizabeth, and they both set me straight and got married anyway.”
Grace hadn’t heard all these details. She wondered what it would have been like to overhear some of those conversations.
“Because Adam and Elizabeth are good people, they let me work here, and I resented the fact that I had to provide for myself. My father hadn’t taken kindly to me chasing Adam all the way out here and told me that I wouldn’t be coming back, so here I was, rejected by the two most important men in my life. And then do you know what happened?”
Grace shook her head.
“He threw me in the lake!” Olivia pointed at her husband, who was listening to her story with a smile of amusement on his face.
“He did?” Nora’s eyes were wide.
“He did, and I was furious, but it was exactly what I needed. I began to soften, and then we fell in love, and for whatever reason, he thought I’d be a good pastor’s wife, and I’ve been trying to learn ever since, but it’s not going very well.”
“Don’t believe her,” the pastor admonished. “It’s going very well.”
“Hush. You’re interrupting.” She turned back to Grace and Nora. “I could stretch this out and make it an even longer story, but I’ll condense it and tell you that in the nine months since we got married, I’ve become a lot less selfish. I’ve watched him care for others, pray for them, visit them, serve them, and it has softened my heart. I even decided that I’d like to be a mother, and that’s something I never thought I’d want.”
She pressed her lips together before continuing. “I haven’t told anyone this—in fact, I only told Robert the other day—but I keep dreaming about having a little baby in my arms, and yet for some reason, that hasn’t happened for us. I thought for sure that I’d be expecting by now, but . . . nothing. My heart aches every time I have that dream because it seems to be mocking me, reminding me that there’s something I want so badly, yet I can’t seem to have it. And I feel like a failure because women are designed to have children, and if I can’t, I wonder if that makes me less of a woman.”
Tears were rolling down Olivia�
�s cheeks now, and Grace’s eyes were wet too. She had no idea her friend had suffered so much.
“I realize that we haven’t been trying for a family for very long—some women try for years—but my emotions have made it seem much longer than it really is. My poor husband—he’s had to put up with me this whole time, wailing against God, wondering if this is my punishment for all my years of selfishness.”
Pastor Osbourne reached out and took her hand, lending support as she continued.
“When we came to see you the other day, Nora, a thought came to me, but I pushed it down because it seemed too coincidental, too convenient maybe. But I took it to Robert, and like I said, we’ve been praying, and now we’re here to talk to you.” Olivia took a deep breath. “Nora, if you’re willing, we would love to take your baby into our home and raise it as our own.”
Grace’s eyes flew to Nora. The girl sat there, stunned, her mouth slightly open.
“I know this is sudden, and I don’t expect you to have an answer right away. And we have time—lots and lots of time. But we’d be honored if you’d think about it.”
Nora finally closed her mouth. “I’ll think about it,” she said at last.
“Thank you.” Olivia smiled, although it seemed tremulous. “That’s all we want right now. And if you decide the answer is no, we’ll respect that.”
The Osbournes stood and left, and Grace and Nora sat in silence for a long moment.
“I can’t believe it,” Grace said at last. “That’s so unbelievable. I know I just said that, but it’s true.”
“I think I need to lie down for a little while,” Nora said, and Grace nodded. If she’d just had something like that happen to her, she’d need to lie down for a while too.
***
“Excuse me. I’m here to see Adam Brody?”
Grace turned from dusting the mantel in the parlor to see a pretty young woman dressed in a stylish traveling suit clutching a beat-up bag that didn’t seem to fit with her overall appearance. “Hello. Yes, his office is right through here. I’ll show you the way.”
Grace finished up in the parlor and was just about to move on to sweeping the porch when the office door opened and Mr. Brody came out, a smile on his face.
“Grace, this is Emma Gray. She’s the daughter of a friend of mine from New York, and she’ll be working with us here in the hotel.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Emma.” Grace gave her a warm smile. If they could get just one more waitress after this, all the shifts would be filled and each girl would have time off. “I don’t suppose you brought any friends along with you.”
Emma laughed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t.”
“Well, that’s all right. There’s only so much you can carry in a bag.” Grace wiped her hands on her apron. “Would you like me to show her upstairs, Mr. Brody?”
“Yes, please, Grace.” Mr. Brody nodded to both girls, then went back into his office. The next train would be coming soon—it was time to prepare the cash box to receive payments.
Grace showed Emma upstairs and told her which beds were still free, then left her to unpack her few things and settle in. As she turned to go back downstairs, she couldn’t help but think about all the other girls she’d shown up these stairs, how they came and went. Hopefully this one would stay longer than just a few months.
Chapter Sixteen
Gilbert sat gingerly on the edge of his bed and took a deep breath—well, as deep as his snug bandages would allow. He had gauze wrapped around his midsection from just under his armpits to his stomach, and while he appreciated the support, he wanted to rip it all off and throw it across the room.
“How’s that?” Dr. Wayment asked. “Any additional pain when you sit up?”
“There’s pressure, like the weight of my body is being pulled down onto the ribs. But when I lie down, it’s the same thing, except the weight of my body being pulled into the bed. I can’t think of a position that won’t put pressure on the ribs.”
“The rib cage is the core of the whole body, but we don’t realize what a role it plays until we sustain an injury there.” Dr. Wayment lifted his stethoscope and listened to Gilbert’s heart, then sat on the chair next to the bed and regarded him. “I know it hurts like fire, but there’s not a lot we can do about that. The small doses of laudanum I’m giving you are dulling the pain by a fraction, but in order to take the pain away entirely, I’d have to sedate you entirely.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Gilbert joked. He knew that wasn’t an option, but it did sound rather nice at the moment.
“Only if you want to be sure I could wake you up again eventually.” Dr. Wayment stood up and offered Gilbert a hand. “Come to your feet and take a few steps. Gently now. We don’t want to jar anything.”
Gilbert did as he was told, but he’d been lying down for a few days and being upright seemed strange after all that time. “I’m a little lightheaded,” he said.
“Lie back down. This will take time.”
Gilbert grunted a little as he settled back against his pillows. It didn’t matter how he lay—everything hurt. “You said this would take weeks?” He wasn’t sure he could endure it for weeks. The pain was having a strange effect on his emotions and his thinking—he felt like he was going crazy.
“Yes.” Dr. Wayment looked square in his eyes. “I know this is hard, but I promise you, you can do this.”
Gilbert nodded. At that moment, he didn’t believe it, but he had to trust the doctor’s experience.
“I do have something that might make you feel a little better,” Dr. Wayment said. He stepped over to the door and opened it. There stood Grace with a picnic basket.
Gilbert smiled. He’d missed her since he saw her last. How long had it been? Between drifting in and out of sleep and the confusion caused by the laudanum, he wasn’t sure.
“Come in,” he greeted. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I have an hour before I have to get back to the hotel, but we did have a new waitress apply today, and that means I’ll have more free time once she’s trained.” Grace set her basket on the chair and opened it up. “Would you like to eat half my food?”
He grinned. “I would love to eat half your food. I’ve been on broth and custard since the accident because of the surgery—do you have anything I can actually chew?”
“I do, and you’ll be happy to hear that Dr. Wayment approved of everything I brought.” She began pulling out food and setting it on the nightstand, naming each item as she went. “We have meat pies, apple cobbler, cheese, lemonade, and cake. I didn’t know if we needed both cobbler and cake, but Sarah insisted, and I figured it would be wrong for us to disobey her.”
“Very wrong,” Gilbert said. “It would be catastrophic, actually.”
Grace looked around, one hand on her hip. “We don’t have much room, do we? Hold on—I have an idea.” She disappeared into the hall and returned immediately with a small table. “This was in the entryway. I don’t think the doctor will care if we rearrange all his furniture, do you?”
“He might not, but maybe his wife would.”
“Good point. I’ll make sure to put it back exactly where I got it.” She placed the table next to the nightstand and brought some plates out of the basket. “Some of everything?”
“Yes, please,” Gilbert said, watching with amusement as she dished up the food and arranged it on the newly acquired table. It was hard for him to believe that with everything she had to do, with all her duties and responsibilities, she’d come to spend time with him. It filled him with the hope he’d been struggling to find all day.
She put his plate on the edge of the table nearest him, then paused. “I’m not sure this is going to work. Are you able to sit up?”
“I can, but not for long.”
“What if we balanced your plate on your chest?”
“Not to be overly negative, but the pressure would be painful.”
“Well then, I suppose there’s only one thing that can be done.�
�� She scooted the table out of the way, sat on the edge of the bed, and held out a bite on his fork. “Open up.”
He began to protest, but she fed him a bite of meat pie as soon as he did, and his words were smothered. Oh, that was good.
“It’s real food,” he said as soon as he swallowed. “With flavor.”
She laughed. “I thought you’d like that. Ready for more?”
“You didn’t ask me if I was ready in the first place.”
“I’ve repented.” She held up the next bite.
“As pleasant as it is to have you sitting so close to me, I really can feed myself,” he said. “You can set the plate next to me on my bed, and I’ll manage.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to baby you.” She began to stand up, but he caught her hand.
“Don’t be embarrassed. I quite liked it.” He grinned. “It’s not every day that a beautiful woman wants to take care of me. I just feel that I should do everything for myself that I can—I want to heal as quickly as possible.”
“I understand.” She set the plate next to him. “What else can I get you?”
“You could put the lemonade there on the nightstand, and I’ll be able to reach it.”
She did as he asked.
“And I wonder if you could bend down a little.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Bend down?”
“That’s right. Move over about six inches—yes, there you go, and bend down. Just a little more.”
She did, looking confused, and as soon as she was close enough, he used what little energy he had to sit up just a few inches and kiss her. He expected her to pull away, but instead, she sank down on the edge of the bed and kissed him back. Oh, it was bliss, even though his chest burned and ached.
“That was unexpected,” she said when she did pull back a moment later.
“You didn’t know that I wanted to kiss you?”
“I didn’t know that I wanted to kiss you too.” She seemed a little breathless, and he felt exactly the same way—and he would even if he didn’t have a rib injury.
An Unspoken Dream (Kansas Crossroads Book 13) Page 9