by Janette Oke
When Jonathan returned they would need to tell the child what was happening. She was sure there would be tears. She knew she would be unable to keep her own in check. She prayed that Mindy might not—
She didn’t dare let herself even finish the thought. Lord, please help us was all she was able to put into words.
It seemed forever before she heard the motorcar. Had Jona? than said anything to her on the way back from town? Was Mindy fretting about missing the spelling bee? Virginia glanced out the window, her heart beating anxiously.
Jonathan was alone.
She was at the door to meet him. “Where’s Mindy?”
“At school,” he said as though there were no reason for her to think otherwise.
“But … but I said … Didn’t you understand?”
“I think I understood.”
She could not see his face because his back was turned as he slipped out of his heavy coat. “Then why …?”
“Because today is a school day,” he answered evenly. “Because she has a spelling bee.”
It seemed foolish to Virginia to pull the girl out of class in the middle of the day to make the afternoon train.
Perhaps Jonathan had been wise enough to think of notifying the teacher so that proper preparations could be made for Mindy’s transfer to another school. In her muddle? headedness, Virginia had not thought of that. “Did you speak to the teacher?” she asked him.
“No,” said Jonathan. “Why?”
Virginia felt totally confused, disoriented. She wished she could go back to bed and get some sleep. Maybe then she would be able to make some sense out of what was going on.
“Why don’t you lie down for a while,” Jonathan suggested. “I’m going to be working around in here this morning. Take care of some of these little inside jobs I should have done long ago.”
“Jenny will be up,” cautioned Virginia.
“I’ll call you. Anyway, she won’t be making an appearance for a long time yet.” He glanced at the clock and her eyes followed his. It was ten past nine. Jenny had not yet come down before eleven.
“Maybe I’ll just lie down on the couch for a few minutes,” she agreed. He nodded.
Surprisingly, she fell asleep. She did not waken until she felt Jonathan’s hand on her shoulder. He said nothing, but she understood. She pulled herself upright and disentangled herself from the afghan. She noted that Jonathan had spread another light blanket over her, as well.
Jenny was in the kitchen, already seated at the table, looking morose. A cup of coffee was before her. Virginia wondered if she had slept any better than the rest of them.
Jonathan worked on a nearby curtain rod that was loose, his back turned. He said nothing.
“Where’s Mindy?” were Jenny’s first words to Virginia.
Virginia avoided her eyes. “Jonathan took her to school.”
“But we have to catch the train at one-thirty.”
Virginia nodded and continued to the table with a plate of muffins.
Behind her she heard Jonathan approaching. He laid his hammer on the counter and reached for a chair across from Jenny. He flipped it around and straddled the seat, arms propped on its back.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and there was unmistakable firmness in his voice. “Mindy will not be going with you.”
Jenny stared. She seemed too stunned to speak. But virginia was just as shocked by the words.
It was then that the truth fully dawned. Jonathan had no intention of letting Jenny take Mindy with her. He had been busy working through a plan, no doubt finalizing details as he went. That was why he had not discussed it with her.
“This is Mindy’s home—and she’s staying here,” Jonathan said to the silence.
“She’s my child,” said Jenny, her voice harsh and demanding.
“Not anymore. You gave up those rights when you walked out that door many years back.”
“I never, ever said that I wouldn’t be coming back for her,” argued Jenny, her face now scarlet with rage. It sent her into a spasm of coughing.
Jonathan waited for the worst of the coughing to cease. “Nor did you say you would,” he reminded her.
“You—her parent—were taking her to an orphanage. Remember?” Jonathan had not raised his voice, but his determination could not have been more clear had he shouted.
“A parent can change her mind,” Jenny mumbled.
“Not a parent with any right to a child,” Jonathan said flatly.
“She’s mine. I have legal claim on her and I intend to make it.”
Another paroxysm of coughing.
“Have you considered what you are talking about? Do you have any idea what this would do to Mindy? She came to us scared and silent—she wouldn’t talk, she wouldn’t play. It’s taken us years to get the fear out of that little person. That little mind and heart. Do you think for one moment that I’d sit idly by and let that happen to her all over again?”
“Things are different now,” argued Jenny, obviously giving in on the point Jonathan had made concerning Mindy’s past.
“Yes. Yes. Things are different now. Mindy is loved and she knows it. She is part of our family. And she is staying—right here.”
“You have no right—”
“You gave us the right,” Jonathan repeated.
Virginia stood as if frozen, her eyes moving back and forth from Jenny’s angry face to Jonathan’s calm, determined one. She had never seen him like this. Never in all of their years of marriage. Of course they had never faced anything like this before. But Jenny was the child’s mother. She did have legal claim. Didn’t she?
“I gave you nothing—legally.”
“You gave us your word.”
“That will mean nothing in a court of law.”
“I happen to think it will.”
Virginia did not know whether to try to intervene and ask for some kind of compromise or to step aside. They seemed to have forgotten she was even in the room. No wonder Jonathan had not wanted the children present. He knew there would be a scene. One of his own making.
Jenny struggled to her feet. “You can’t stop me.”
“I think I can.”
“I’ll get a lawyer. I do have money, you know.”
Jonathan also rose to his feet. He passed his hand through his hair, his fingers spread to comb through its thickness.
“Jenny—this isn’t about you. It isn’t about us. It’s about Mindy. It would destroy her to be uprooted and sent off to live with a stranger—”
“I’m her mother,” Jenny screeched, a string of profanity following the words.
“And a stranger. Mindy does not know you. Would not feel comfortable with you. And you are not well enough to care for a child.”
Jenny swung on Virginia. “You promised you wouldn’t tell,” she shouted. “I asked you not to, and you promised,” and another blast of swearing shriveled Virginia’s soul.
But she had said nothing to Jonathan. Nothing concerning the nature of Jenny’s illness. Now she thought she understood Jenny’s insistence on her silence.
“I didn’t,” she tried to say over Jenny’s angry accusations.
“Tell what?” asked Jonathan, turning to Virginia.
Jenny seemed not to have heard either of them. “First you pry it out of me,” she hurled at Virginia, “and then you spread it around the whole community. How many other people have you told? How many? Some friend you are—you can’t even keep your word. And you’re supposed to be a Christian. Well—saint you are not.” Jenny spat the words at her and swore again.
Weak from her outburst, she sank into the chair, coughing so severely that her face began to lose its color.
Virginia stepped forward uncertainly. She didn’t know what to do. How to help.
“Perhaps some water,” Jonathan said softly. He had moved around the table to help ease Jenny to her seat, but she shook his hand off angrily. He backed away again, his eyes dark with concern. Virginia placed the glass o
f water on the table in front of Jenny, but she did not touch it.
When Jenny finally regained her breath and her speech, she spoke again. “Another woman stole my husband, cancer is stealing my life—and now you want to steal my child.” She sounded very bitter. Very old.
“No one is stealing from you, Jenny,” Jonathan said quietly. His voice and eyes had softened. “No one cares for you more than Virginia. She has … has been a friend to you for many years. She … she still cares. And because she cares, so do I.” He paused briefly and his tone returned to its former resolve. “But my concern does not go so far as to let you take Mindy. The child has done nothing to deserve such a traumatic and devastating experience. We are her family. The only one she has known. To tear her away from us now would destroy her.”
In her weakness, Jenny seemed to have little fight left. But the anger clearly was still there. Still smoldering. She did not have the strength left to express it.
“We’ll see,” she said at last. “We’ll see. I’m going straight to a lawyer when I get home. I’m getting a court order—”
“You do that,” said Jonathan abruptly. “If you can’t think of Mindy, go ahead and find a lawyer. But until you have a court order in hand, don’t set foot on my farm again. It’s too disturbing—for all of us.”
Jenny’s head came up. She looked straight at Virginia. “I want out of here,” she said. “Now.”
“I’ll drive you to town,” said Jonathan.
Jenny swung around to face him. “No you won’t,” she hissed. “I’ll crawl first.”
Virginia cringed. She had never experienced so much raw anger in all of her life. She wanted to run and bury her head beneath a pillow to block out the angry words.
“All right,” said Jonathan. “I’ll get Slate.”
Jenny left the room, climbing the stairs too quickly for her limited strength. Virginia could hear her stop, hear the coughing, knew she was near collapse.
Jonathan grabbed his jacket from the hook by the wall and left, the door closing firmly behind him. True to his word, he was going to get Slate. Jenny would not need to crawl to town.
Virginia wrung her hands helplessly. She didn’t know what to do—where to turn. Jenny had always been her friend. Jenny was also Mindy’s mother. It seemed right that a mother should have access to her own child. She herself would die if anyone took her little ones from her. But Mindy was hers, too. That was what made it so hard. Mindy was hers. Hers and Jona? than’s. To take Mindy from them was just as cruel as to keep her from Jenny. And Mindy … Mindy would suffer so much if she were wrenched from them.
Jonathan was soon back. “Slate is getting the car,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking into her face. “Do you want to ride in with him and pick up the children, or would you rather have some time alone first?”
“I … I think I would. It … it would be awkward to go with Jenny now. I … ”
He nodded his head in understanding.
Jenny was soon back clattering down the stairs, suitcase in hand. Jonathan moved forward to help her with it, but she gave him a look of pure contempt and jerked the bag away. He let her go.
When she reached the door she turned back. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”
But Jonathan did not back down. “I’ll fight you on this, Jenny,” he said, and his voice made Virginia feel a chill all down her spine. “If I have to sell every horse on the farm. The farm itself. I’ll fight you on it. I won’t see Mindy torn from the only family she knows. She belongs here.”
Virginia’s knees nearly gave out on her. It was all she could do to make it back to the table and lower herself to a chair. Jonathan crossed to her and knelt by her side, putting his arms around her waist. “We’ll never let her go,” he said, his voice low and deliberate. “You don’t think I’d let them take her—do you?”
“She is Jenny’s child.” Virginia’s voice trembled. “Not anymore. She is our child.”
“But—”
“No buts. She’s ours—and I aim to keep her. Until she no longer wants to be with us—she stays here.”
“But … but surely … not at the … the … ” Virginia’s eyes sought out Jonathan’s. A court battle would be costly in far more ways than merely dollars and cents.
“I don’t expect things to go that far,” he said to her unspoken fear. “But if they do … then, yes, we will have to weather the storm—together.”
Virginia shivered.
“Why don’t you lie down? Try to get some rest. Jenny is gone now—things will be back to normal again.”
Virginia wondered if life could be normal again. Ever.
Jonathan stood up. “I’ll be back after a while,” he said. Virginia supposed he was going out to the barn, but when he reached the door he turned once more. “I’m going over to the school. I’ll wait around until Mindy is dismissed and bring her home.”
His words constricted Virginia’s heart with new fear. Surely it hadn’t come to this. Surely they wouldn’t need to spend every waking hour on guard for Mindy’s safety. Was that the way they were going to have to live?
All she could do was nod her throbbing head. She just wanted the nightmare over. This horrible, horrible nightmare. She just wanted to crawl away somewhere and be claimed by dreamless sleep.
The door clicked shut. Jonathan was gone. She was alone. She would collapse if she could manage to make it to her bed.
And then the phone rang. Insistent. Making her already taut nerves jerk her body in response. She had to answer it. She pulled herself from the chair and crossed the room. “Hello,” she managed, and Clara’s voice came over the wire.
“Virginia, is that you? You sound so far away. I can hardly hear you. You’ll never guess what just happened. Troy came home with a new motorcar. He’s just dying to try it out—show it off. Is it okay if we come out tonight after supper?”
Virginia scrambled for concentration. “We … we need to pick up the children. They are at Mama’s. We’ll be driving in to get them later. I don’t know—”
“Great. Call us when you get to town. We can just pop over there. We can show the folks at the same time.”
“Yes … yes … I guess that … that will be fine,” Virginia stumbled along.
She had just replaced the receiver when the phone rang again. It was her mother inviting them for supper. Virginia wasn’t sure if she had said yes or no when she turned away after hanging up. She hoped she had said yes. The distraction would be good for all of them.
CHAPTER 13
Iam so worn out and confused it gives me a headache,” Virginia confessed. The supper dishes had been done and Clara and Troy, with their excited family, had driven away after showing off the new car. Mindy had the little ones in tow in a back bedroom where Grandma Belinda stowed some toys. Now the four adults sat in the family living room. Virginia could feel her mother’s eyes searching her face with concern.
Jonathan must have decided on the direct approach. “Jenny has demanded that she have Mindy back.”
Virginia’s eyes were on her father, the lawyer, who dropped his gaze as though to hide any message his eyes might give. Virginia thought she could see the legal wheels turning in his mind.
“Can she do it, Papa?”
Drew hesitated for a moment, then shifted in his chair. “She has the right to try.”
The words further frightened Virginia.
“What would it mean?” asked Jonathan solemnly.
Drew did not take long for his answer. “A fight. Perhaps a long, costly one.” He did then pause a moment before he added, “And probably an acrimonious one.”
Jonathan nodded. “I guessed as much.”
“Are you prepared for that?” asked Drew quietly.
Jonathan shifted in his chair. The muscles along his jaw line moved. “If that’s what it takes,” he answered, and his words sounded as determined as they had when he said as much to Jenny.
Virginia felt the tears sting her e
yes. She agreed with her husband, but the entire prospect chilled her soul. She had lived in the home of a lawyer all her growing-up years, and though her father had never discussed his cases with the family, neighbors and others did. She knew of court cases that dragged on and on, year after year—totally destroying families, sucking up every? thing they had in the process. And still without the intended results. Could they endure that? Should they even try?
Then there was the other side. Jenny had given birth to Mindy. Virginia’s mother-heart constricted at the idea of keeping a mother and child apart. Was it morally right? And yet it was Jenny who had brought Mindy to them. … She debated with her conscience, not knowing what was the weightier truth. Eventually her troubled thoughts brought her back to Mindy herself—what she honestly felt was best for the child. She knew that Jonathan was right. This could destroy the little girl.
Oh, if only there was some other way. … Virginia reached a hand to her aching head. She felt warm and feverish. “Jonathan,” she said, her voice unsteady, “we must get the children home. It is already past their bedtime. I imagine … Mindy—” her voice caught—“has entertained them as long as possible.”
Jonathan rose, nodding his agreement. “Can I drop in and talk with you tomorrow?” he asked his father-in-law.
“If … if this thing goes to court … you might need a lawyer with more experience in such cases,” answered Drew solemnly.
“Well, at least I’d like your advice on some preliminaries—more as a father than a lawyer.”
Drew nodded. “How about around eleven?”
It’s already started, Virginia groaned inwardly, her head throbbing in pain. Oh, God—where will it end?
They managed to change the tone of their conversation before collecting the children for the ride home. James was already sleeping, curled up on a pillow in a corner. Olivia was stacking blocks while Martha, tongue protruded slightly, concentrated on a new picture for Grandma Belinda. Mindy finally had been able to curl up in a chair with a book.