by Gail Sattler
Despite the argument she’d overheard, Adelle envied Dennis’s fiancée. She wished she had someone who loved her enough to go through such extremes to be with her. Not that she would allow someone she loved to do something foolish to risk their safety, but the knowledge that someone would have wanted to would have been a great comfort.
He stared down at the floor. “Actually, I don’t know what she thinks. I’m not sure I even care. We just split up.”
Adelle almost dropped the spoon into the pot. “I’m so sorry!”
He shrugged his shoulders, and stroked Raymond’s tiny back as he spoke. “Don’t be. I’m seeing her in an entirely new light since this happened, and it’s been a rude awakening. I guess I’ve been ignoring the truth until now. When I left to be with my brother and his wife, Joanna plainly told me she wanted me to stay home, to be with her for Christmas. But how could I not go? He’s my brother, and he was going to die. I couldn’t abandon him. So, I went. I basically threw what I could into one suitcase and drove away because I couldn’t get a flight sooner than it would have taken me to drive there.”
Raymond had fallen asleep in Dennis’s arms, soothed by having his back stroked, but Dennis didn’t put him down, which impressed Adelle.
“She was really mad that I didn’t stay to be with her for Christmas, but that’s not all. When Harv died that left me as Raymond’s legal guardian. Joanna told me she refused to raise someone else’s kid. The only children she wants will be her own, and she doesn’t want to start a family for five more years. She said she doesn’t want to be tied down by kids underfoot. Now that I think about it, I really don’t think she wants kids at all. When five years comes around she still wouldn’t want kids, and then it will be too late. She told me I had to make the choice between her and Raymond. So that means the wedding is off.”
He cradled Raymond’s head in his large hand, lowered his own head, and softly brushed his cheek to Raymond’s soft crown of baby hair. “I may not know exactly what to do with babies, but I do like kids.” He raised his head and smiled at her. Adelle thought it was the saddest smile she’d ever seen. “Even kids that aren’t mine. But Raymond is my nephew, so he’s kinda mine.”
“Really, you are good with him. You just need more practice.”
He gently kissed the top of Raymond’s head. “I guess. However, I must say I like him best when he’s sleeping like this. He’s quiet.”
Adelle smiled.
“So what about your husband? I guess he’s having fits that he probably won’t be spending Christmas with you and Rachel. But at least your aunt and uncle can pass on the message that both of you are safe.”
Adelle lost her smile. “I’m not married. And her father really doesn’t care where either Rachel or I am at any given moment. You see, he’s in jail.”
Four
Dennis tensed. While she hadn’t mentioned anything about a husband or significant other, it hadn’t occurred to him that Adelle might be a single mother. What threw him even more was the status of the baby’s father.
The man she, at one time, must have loved was in jail.
His mind raced with possible reasons for the father’s incarceration, ranging from petty theft to assault with a deadly weapon.
“I’m sorry,” Dennis muttered, unable to think of anything to say. He wasn’t sorry that someone who had committed a crime was being punished, but he did feel badly that a woman who would put herself at potential risk to help a stranger would be emotionally attached to someone like that.
She lowered her head and concentrated far more than necessary to stir the macaroni as it cooked. “I’m not sorry. I’m the one who put him there.”
He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he waited in silence for her to continue. But she didn’t say anything. Instead, she slowly stirred the macaroni, then covered it again.
Minutes went by with the only sounds the crackling of the fire in the woodstove, the slight hiss of the propane burner, and the sound of the lid moving up and down as the contents of the pot bubbled.
Finally, he couldn’t stand it any more. “Don’t you think he’ll want to see his daughter?”
“No.” She stirred the macaroni, checked her watch again, then turned the burner off, lifted the pot, and dumped the boiling water down the drain. “Can you get the milk and butter out of the fridge, please?”
Dennis knew when to take a hint, so he didn’t press it further. One thing he did know was that tonight, when he was alone and all was quiet, he would pray for this woman. He’d met many women who had been either widowed or abandoned while caring for young children. While loneliness was often difficult to deal with, what added to the trials of single parenthood was lack of support, both emotional and financial.
He balanced Raymond with one arm, necessitating two trips to deliver the milk and butter.
Adelle sighed loudly. Even in the near darkness he could see defeat written across her face. “I know you’re curious. I might as well explain because I don’t want you to be asking me questions about Rachel’s father, or think that I’m in any way emotionally attached to him. He’s in jail because he raped me. But I am a Christian and I don’t believe in abortion, even in a case like this. Murdering a child for the sin of another person isn’t what God would have us do. I know many people would argue with me, but that’s what I believe.”
She stirred the macaroni mixture vigorously. “I know what you’re thinking. But I know that God loves me, and although her conception wasn’t under ideal circumstances, Rachel is God’s child, as am I. God will take care of us both. I really believe that. And don’t be like everyone else and tell me I should have given her up for adoption. I may not like her father, but she’s my child, and I love her very much.”
Dennis swallowed hard. “I’m not going to insult your intelligence and tell you that I know exactly how you feel, because I obviously don’t. I can’t even imagine what you must have been through. But I think I can understand at least a little bit about not terminating the pregnancy, because I’m a Christian, too.”
Her eyes widened, and she stared at him with her mouth hanging open.
He shook his head. “I’m not just saying that to get you to trust me. I love God with all my heart and I go to church every Sunday, but I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me. The only way to see that is by my actions, and to get to know me better.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Okay. Then what’s your favorite verse? And don’t quote me something obvious like John 3:16.
Dennis smiled. “How about Matthew 6: 9 through 13? And I can recite that in three versions.”
She remained silent for a few seconds. “I’m impressed. I’m listening.”
“This is from the niv.” He cleared his throat. “ ‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ Now which one do you want next, King James, or nasb?”
She stared blankly at him. “Nice try, but not funny.”
He couldn’t stop smiling. “Hey, I knew the reference, you didn’t. I thought you’d catch me before I even started.”
She didn’t comment.
“Seriously, I could quote you some of my favorite verses, but I’d probably get the references wrong. I’m not very good at memorizing, but my Bible study group just finished a session on the Lord’s Prayer and we all memorized the Lord’s Prayer from three translations. I picked the niv, the King James, and the nasb. I guess this is God’s way of telling me I should be better prepared to defend my faith, although it’s a different reason than I could ever imagined.”
“Well, I guess you earn some brownie points by being able to name three versions of the Bible and catching me off guard with the reference for the Lord’s Prayer.”
“If you want me to quote a lesser-known verse, my dad drummed into my head a verse somewhere
from I or II Thessalonians, I forget the exact reference. He said it a lot when I was a teen and I complained about my chores. It says, ‘if a man will not work, he shall not eat.’ And did you know that the famous ‘Golden Rule’ doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible?”
She covered her face with her hands. “The idea was for you to quote me something that was in the Bible, something you knew yourself, not something repeated to you over the years.”
“I can sing a song and name all the books of the Bible in order. Not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament, too. Does that count?”
Finally she smiled, which Dennis thought a welcome relief. It was also a reminder to get more serious with his Bible reading, including real memorization.
“The macaroni is ready. Are you going to eat with one hand, or are you going to put him down?”
“I guess I probably should put him down.”
Dennis walked to the playpen. Very slowly, he leaned over, and lowered Raymond to the padded bottom. He rolled up a flannel blanket and wedged it in behind Raymond’s back to prop him up on his side like the nurse had shown him, tucking a second blanket over top of him. Then, he joined Adelle at the small table.
She folded her hands on the table in front of her. “Would you like to pray?”
He didn’t know if the test was over or not, but he couldn’t blame a woman who had been a victim of such a violent and personal crime for not trusting him.
Dennis took a moment of silence to prepare himself to pray. He didn’t do eloquent prayers, but what he did pray was heartfelt. He cleared his throat, and reminded himself that he was supposed to be praying only for the food, no matter how much he had to be thankful for at that moment. He would do that when he was alone, in his own private time.
“Dear heavenly Father, thank you for this humble meal. Thank you also for the shelter You’ve provided, and most of all, for the kindness of a stranger, who turned out to be another one of Your children. Thank you that we can share Your blessings together to Your glory. Amen.”
“Amen.”
Dennis didn’t look up. He couldn’t remember ever being so hungry in his life. He immediately dug into the macaroni in front of him, thinking that he’d never tasted anything better, including a week before when he’d taken Joanna out to one of the best steak and lobster restaurants in town.
“This is really good,” he mumbled around the food in his mouth. “Thank you.”
He speared more food onto his fork, but just as he raised it to his mouth he looked up at Adelle, who hadn’t yet taken her first bite. She was openly staring at him.
He didn’t lower the fork. “I don’t do long prayers before meals. Don’t you just hate it when you go out for lunch after church, and whoever is praying goes on and on, while you’re hungry and your lunch is getting cold?”
“I guess. . .”
He continued eating. Thankfully, Adelle followed his lead.
Except for the slight glow coming from the woodstove, the only light in the room came from the candle between them. With everything beyond the candle on the small table increasingly shrouded by darkness, their world became very small. With no distractions except for the howling wind, all his attention focused on Adelle’s face. The uneven light played on her features, giving an unexpected intimacy to the sharing of a simple meal.
Adelle wasn’t particularly pretty, but the kindness radiating in her eyes far outweighed any flaws in her appearance. Her concern for him as a stranger carried beyond simple kindness, it stepped into genuine risk. Knowing nothing about him except that he needed help, she stopped to pick him up, even though she could have driven on and phoned for the police or someone else to go get him. For all she knew, he could have been an escaped felon.
He knew he shouldn’t compare. Still, he wondered what Joanna would have done, had she been in this situation. He doubted Joanna would have even stopped.
The flame flickered.
He thought back to a week ago, eating out at the restaurant with Joanna by candlelight. She’d tried to make the most of the close setting, batting her eyelashes at him, and smiling sweetly when the light from the candle cast its moving shadows. Instead of acting coy, Adelle’s brows furrowed as she laid down her cutlery, and cupped her hands near to the flame. “Did you see that? I never thought the cabin was this drafty. That wind must be really intense out there.”
He wanted to get to know Adelle Wilson better.
He couldn’t hold back a smile. “When I get home, I don’t think I’ll ever feel the same about those candles in the middle of the table when I eat out.”
“I suppose not.”
“Except for the lack of electricity, this cabin seems pretty cozy. Do you come here often?”
“Yes, I do. More in the summer time.”
“I’ll bet it’s beautiful here. There are probably lots of animals.”
“Yes, but it’s not like a big city park. The animals here are real wild animals, and have to be treated with respect and caution. Bears, and cougars, especially, can be dangerous.”
He hadn’t considered the dangerous animals; he’d mostly pictured squirrels and deer. His idealistic picture of the quaint mountain surroundings began to change. “I wonder how long the power will be out. You mentioned earlier that it’s fairly common out here.”
She nodded. “Yes, this area is very remote. Usually, when the power goes out, we can at least phone. But this time, since the phone went out first, and since not many people are in this area in the winter, they may not even be aware that it’s out until they do some kind of routine check.”
Dennis didn’t care as much about the power as he did the phone. He tried to hold back his anger at Joanna for starting an argument before he could give her the phone number so that someone might trace it and locate him. For now, he was grateful for their safety, but he had to get home with Raymond very soon. Since Adelle wasn’t speaking, he prayed silently for a miracle.
❧
Adelle wasn’t as frightened as she had been earlier, but she still wasn’t comfortable with the situation in which she found herself. Even if the radio’s weather advisory predictions, that the blizzard would be over in forty-eight hours, proved true, that wouldn’t mean an end to their predicament. For, when the snow stopped falling, they would still be without electricity or telephone service. And the roads would not magically clear.
Even if the snow ended on schedule, not much would be done on Christmas Day. Once the plowing began, the cities and the main highways would be plowed first, then the small towns. She didn’t remember ever seeing a snowplow on the old logging road to her aunt and uncle’s cabin, especially the quarter mile path her uncle laughingly called a driveway.
Since Dennis wasn’t talking any more, Adelle silently praised God that she had convinced Aunt Min to let her bring half the food. Otherwise, they’d been in a worse predicament.
“So, what do you do for fun when you’re here? I imagine you use this place both in the summer and winter.”
She smiled. “Usually we have electricity, so it’s different. Of course we have the radio or the CD player going. As you’ve no doubt already noticed, we don’t have a television here. We just relax and talk. In the summer, when the sun doesn’t set until late, we go for walks.”
“Since this is in the mountains, I guess there isn’t a lake nearby.”
“No. But there is a running stream at the edge of the property. It’s really beautiful in the spring, and in the summer the deer drink from it.”
He smiled, and his eyes glazed as he stared into nothing. “I’ll bet it is. It sounds so perfect. I don’t get away enough. I spend too much time working. But it sounds like it makes a nice getaway.”
Adelle didn’t want to think of her job. That was one of the things she needed to discuss with her aunt and uncle. For now, she was on maternity leave, but when that ran out, she had some very important choices to make, decisions she couldn’t leave until the last minute. Besides wanting to be with her favor
ite relatives for her first Christmas with Rachel, she needed this time to hide from well-meaning friends, so she could sort out what she was going to do.
“Yes, it’s nice and quiet here.”
“I guess it’s quieter than ever with no electricity.”
Adelle sighed, and absently stared across the room to where both babies slept. Her aunt had offered to watch Rachel in order to give her more time to think and provide a break from the exhausting responsibilities of single parenthood. It was difficult not knowing what the future would bring. Now, instead of a break, she had the added responsibility of entertaining a stranger, and instead of getting help with her own baby, she had a feeling she would have to help him with his baby.
She stood. “There aren’t many dishes to wash, but we should still hurry to get them done before Rachel and Raymond waken. They’ve both been sleeping most of the day, and I have a feeling that means they’re going to be up a good portion of the night.
Her guest’s smile fell. “Why do you think that? I’ve been told that babies sleep a lot.”
“Just exactly how long have you been caring for your brother’s baby, Dennis?”
“You mean all by myself? This will be the second night.”
“You mean he slept all night last night? At under one month of age?”
“Well, no. I couldn’t sleep last night, so I was packing some things and moving stuff around, getting ready for my trip home. I figured I was too noisy for him, because he didn’t sleep much at all, poor little guy. I know babies are supposed to sleep a lot, and I felt really bad. That’s another reason I wanted to get him home today, so we could get used to each other before I have to go back to work after the holidays.”
“So you don’t know if he sleeps through the night or not?”