A Cup Half Full Page 8

  He hurried to her and threw his arms around her. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you, too, Abram. With all my heart.”

  Her husband picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. While things were much better overall, one thing hadn’t changed for Sarah. She still didn’t want to have a child for fear she couldn’t properly take care of one.

  But she’d already checked the calendar, and all was well. Maybe with truths coming to light, she and Abram could enjoy each other the way a married couple could.

  It was a few weeks later when her mother pulled in the driveway carting the familiar brown bag. Brenda was selling lots of cookbooks, hot pads, and candles on eBay, but Sarah’s mother was also selling an abundance of their items at the farmers’ co-op market.

  “It is much too loud at my house,” Mamm said as she walked up the ramp to the porch. She handed the bag to Sarah. “Your father and husband are busy building things, and while they both seem happy as little larks, there are generators running, saws grinding, and . . . what was I thinking when I gave them a bell to ring when they needed something?” Mamm chuckled, but Sarah was fighting to hold back tears. “There is almost two hundred dollars in that bag. With your friend selling things on the computer, you must be building a nice little nest egg.”

  It was actually going to help pay off debt for the renovations to the house, but Sarah was happy to be able to help. Just when she’d thought she and Abram were adjusting to a new way of life, trouble landed in her lap again.

  “What’s wrong?” Mamm sat down in the rocking chair closest to Sarah’s wheelchair, putting a hand on her leg. “Mei maedel, what is it?”

  “I—I . . .” Sarah choked back tears. “I’m pregnant.”

  Mamm gasped. “I’m going to be a mammi!” She clapped her hands several times as tears gathered in her eyes. “This is the happiest news ever. When are you due?”

  Sarah turned to face her mother as a tear slipped down her cheek. “I don’t know for sure.”

  Mamm’s expression fell. “What’s wrong, mei lieb? This is such a blessing.”

  “How can you say that?” Sarah lifted her palms up as she raised her shoulders. “How can I take care of a baby?”

  “What do you mean?” Mamm’s lines on her forehead creased as she squinted her eyes at Sarah, genuinely seeming not to know what Sarah was talking about.

  “This!” She pointed to the wheelchair. “I can’t walk, Mamm.”

  “Sweetheart, you don’t have to be able to walk to nurse, feed, love, and care for a child.”

  “I can’t do it.” She shook her head as sobs took over. “I just can’t.” She told her mother about the reoccurring dream. “And every time, I can’t get to the baby before he pulls himself up and reaches for the pot.” For the first time, she realized that the child in the dream was a boy.

  Her mother gazed into her eyes for a long time until a smile filled her face. “Sarah . . . all mothers are scared. This is not an emotion that is exclusive to you. If you weren’t in a wheelchair, you would find other things about being a mother that scare you just as much.” Her mother sighed and blew out a heavy, exaggerated breath. Then she shook her head. “I didn’t think I’d ever tell anyone this, but since you are having these worries, I will.”

  Sarah waited as her mother twirled the string on her kapp, tapping her foot nervously against the wooden slats on the porch as she avoided Sarah’s gaze. She cleared her throat. “Okay, ya. Well. Um . . .”

  “Goodness, Mamm, what is it?”

  “I was always afraid of dropping you or Johnny. Especially Johnny because he was so tiny when he was born, since he was a month early and all. But I’d successfully gotten you out of diapers, potty trained, and into school without any issues, so I had to assume that I would do just as well with Johnny.”

  “I guess all mothers have fears, but my situation is different, Mamm. I will someday have a toddler running around that I can’t keep up with.”

  “Then you don’t cook unless you are right there by the stove. Or you put a baby gate up to block the boppli from going somewhere unsafe. There are many things you can do to curb that fear, and I’ll help you. This is a blessing, Sarah. A wonderful gift from God. And I bet Abram is thrilled.”

  Sarah looked away as she pressed her lips together.

  “You haven’t told him?” Mamm brought a hand to her chest.

  “Nee. I’ve just been so scared.”

  Sarah’s mother stood up and paced the porch, swinging her arms at her sides. “So, you know how folks sometimes joke about Johnny being dropped on his head?”

  Grinning, Sarah said, “Ya . . .”

  “I cringe every time someone jokingly says that.” She rolled her eyes and sighed, stilling her hands at her sides. “I dropped Johnny on his head when he was a baby.”

  Sarah covered her mouth with her hands, trying to stifle a smile, but failing miserably. “That explains a lot,” she finally said, laughing.

  “He was fine. He really was. I took him to the doctor, asked them to X-ray him, and prayed I wouldn’t get hauled to jail for child abuse.”

  Sarah lowered her hands, smiling, then laughing. “It’s not funny. But it is.”

  Mamm finally smiled. “I’m only telling you this because anything can happen whether you are in a wheelchair . . . or”—she shrugged nonchalantly—“or reaching for a platter high in the cabinet when your baby boy suddenly slings himself backward out of your arms . . .” She paused, sighing. “And lands on his head.”

  Sarah’s mother kissed her on the forehead and said, “Share this gut news with Abram.” She brushed away a strand of Sarah’s hair that had blown across her face. “Fear is the enemy’s way of separating us from God. With the Lord, there is nothing to fear. Each and every moment in our life is defined by God’s love, and mei maedel . . .” Mamm smiled. “This is your moment.”

  Sarah nodded, knowing she needed to stay close to the Lord if she wanted to admonish her fears. She pointed to the yard. “Look! It’s Henry.” She stared in awe. “With six babies waddling along behind him.”

  “Isn’t that something?” Mamm held a hand to her forehead, blocking the sun. “I think your Henry is going to have to be renamed Henrietta.”

  They both laughed. “I guess so,” Sarah said. “Look, she hops on one leg now instead of trying to walk and falling over. She’s figured it out for herself.”

  Mamm gazed at Sarah. “And you will too.”

  Henry—Henrietta—continued across the yard as Sarah’s mother unhitched her buggy and left. The bird was almost to the edge of the front yard when she stopped and looked at Sarah. Her fuzzy yellow ducklings halted as well. Sarah smiled. This is your moment, Henrietta.

  Sarah was sitting on the porch when Abram pulled the buggy in. The clouds had parted and the Lord had blessed them with much welcomed sunshine following all the rain. Doors had slammed shut. Windows were opened wide. Sarah had been quiet lately, but they were working their way back into a life that they were both still adjusting to.

  “How was work today?” Sarah’s emerald eyes sparkled with flecks of gold as she squinted against the sun’s glare.

  “It was a gut day. We finished the hutch we’ve been working on, and we planned out the rest of the week. Your daed said he might even go to worship service on Sunday.”

  Neither Sarah nor her father had attended church the past couple of months.

  “I’m going to attend worship on Sunday also.”

  Abram closed his eyes for a moment and silently thanked God for guiding everyone onto paths they seemed destined to travel. The journey wouldn’t always be smooth. There would be potholes, ruts, and wrong turns. But with God’s guidance, Abram knew that each step would be a coordinated effort toward doing His will.

  “Mamm and I decided to change Henry’s name to Henrietta. It turns out my duck is female.”

  Abram took off his hat, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, and dabbed at his forehead. “How do you know it�
��s a girl?”

  “She crossed the yard today with six ducklings behind her. She’s learned to hop on one leg and has been blessed with the gift of motherhood.” Sarah smiled. “I guess you could say it’s her moment.”

  Abram wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but he was happy to see Sarah smiling. And as her smile filled her face even more, Abram found himself smiling too. “You look like you have something on your mind,” he said.

  “Abram . . .” She brought both hands to her chest, blinking her eyes, still smiling. “It’s our moment.”

  His wife seemed to be talking in code, but when she lowered both hands to her stomach and rubbed her belly, Abram’s heart pounded wildly in his chest. So many things had gone wrong, but could it be . . . ? “Are you with child?”

  Sarah nodded, and Abram rushed to her side, laying a gentle hand on her stomach. “We’re going to be parents?”

  His beautiful wife nodded again. “I can’t promise I won’t drop the baby on his head, but I’m going to be a wonderful mother.” Sarah laughed.

  Abram gazed into her eyes, unsure what she was referring to, but he didn’t care. “You are going to be the best mudder ever.” He lay his head in her lap, and as she ran a hand through his hair, Abram felt the Lord on their porch, in their lives.

  “And you are going to be the best father ever.”

  Abram swallowed back the knot in his throat. Thank You, God.

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1.After the accident, Sarah fears that she can no longer be a good mother because she is in a wheelchair. Do you think that Sarah’s worries are justified, or is Sarah’s mother correct when she tells Sarah that all mothers are scared?

  2.Who is the hero in this story? Sarah, for finally learning to accept her disability? Abram, for all he does to make a good life for Sarah? Saul, Sarah’s father, for helping Abram financially? Mary, Sarah’s mother, for calming Sarah’s fears about motherhood? What about Brenda, a loyal friend to both Sarah and Abram? Or, are all of these people heroes in their own right, each one serving the Lord and each other?

  3.If you woke up one day and couldn’t walk, do you think you would go through the range of emotions that Sarah did? Could you eventually accept the hand God dealt you, or do you think you might stray from Him for a while, or maybe forever?

  4.Sarah forms a bond with a duck she names Henry, both struggling to live a new and more challenging way of life. Have you ever had a pet that you connected to because of a shared set of circumstances?

  5.What were your initial thoughts about Brenda? Did you think that she was flirting with Abram? And if so, did you feel bad later in the story when you realized that Brenda is a genuine person who is kind and loyal? Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation, judging a person before you really know him or her?

  6.If you could ‘be’ any one of the characters and rewrite the story to accommodate or illustrate their hidden emotions, who would you choose and why?

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  IT IS AN HONOR TO DEDICATE THIS STORY TO ANN AND Bill Rogers, champions of the Amish genre and delightful people. Through writing and reading Amish books, friendships have formed, ones I suspect will last lifetimes. Bill, you make me laugh out loud, and I don’t do that nearly enough. Thank you for that. Ann, I’ve told you before—you have ‘the light.’ You can brighten a room with your presence and smile, which is such a gift to all of us.

  People go to jobs they dislike on a regular basis. I know I’m blessed to be able to write stories that I hope entertain and inspire readers, while also glorifying God. I try not to take that for granted. Everything I am and do is a gift from God. But no book would make it to the shelf without a team of believers, so much thanks to my publisher HarperCollins Christian Fiction, my fabulous friend and marketing assistant Janet Murphy, my agent Natasha Kern, my husband Patrick, and my friends and family who have supported me from the beginning.

  And it is always a delight to work with fellow authors in this collection—Kathleen Fuller, Ruth Reid, and Amy Clipston. Rock on, gals!

  RECIPES FROM A CUP HALF FULL

  SARAH’S CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE

  3 boneless chicken breasts

  1 ½ cups uncooked rice

  ½ cup chopped onion

  3 T. butter or margarine

  2 ½ cups water

  1 tsp. salt

  1 tsp. celery salt

  ¼ tsp. pepper

  ¼ tsp. paprika

  PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES. SPRAY AN 8 × 13-INCH glass casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside. Saute rice and onions in butter until light brown, stirring constantly. Add water, salt, celery salt, pepper, and paprika, then mix well. Pour into casserole dish. Place chicken breasts on top of mixture. Cover tight with foil and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes. When done, cut up chicken and mix with rice.

  BRENDA’S BEEF AND CHEESE CASSEROLE

  1 lb. ground beef

  1 can cut green beans, drained

  ½ an onion, chopped

  1 small jar mushrooms, not drained

  15 or 16 oz. tomato sauce

  2 T. flour

  2 T. butter

  ½ tsp. season salt

  ½ tsp. lemon pepper

  8 oz. bag of medium egg noodles

  8-10 slices of American cheese

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook egg noodles and set aside. Brown beef with onion, then drain grease. Add the flour and butter to meat and onions and stir until evenly coated. Add rest of ingredients to meat mixture, except cheese. In a large bowl, combine meat mixture and noodles. Pour half the mixture into casserole dish, top with sliced cheese, then pour remainder of mixture over cheese. Bake 30 minutes.

  AN EXCERPT FROM HOME SWEET HOME

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE COLD AIR SEEMED TO SEEP INTO THE MARROW OF MIA O’Conner’s bones, and her teeth chattered as her husband steered their pickup past a large white farmhouse. Rain splashed against the windshield and beat a steady cadence on the roof of the old Chevy truck as the tires crunched on the rock driveway beside two large barns. She held her hand over the vent and shivered. Only brisk February air whooshed through. If only they had the money to fix the heater . . .

  That was the least of their worries. She glanced down at their five-month-old daughter bundled under a blanket in her car seat between them.

  “Well, this is it,” Chace said as the truck came to a stop. The headlights sliced through the dark and illuminated the front door of a rustic, one-story cabin. “Welcome to our new home in Bird-in-Hand.”

  Mia blinked twice as she studied the building. It featured a small front porch and two windows. She shivered again, hoping the tiny house was warm.

  “What do you think?” Chace shifted the truck into Park. “It’s not much, but it’s more than reasonable. Isaac is charging us next to nothing.” He paused. “Isaac Allgyer is the best boss I’ve ever had.”

  Mia turned toward her husband, and his handsome face and Caribbean-blue eyes focused on her. “Well, it’s not—”

  Kaitlyn’s sudden screech interrupted Mia’s response.

  Mia unbuckled Kaitlyn and pulled the sobbing baby into her arms. “Mommy is right here, sweet pea.” She snuggled Kaitlyn closer to her chest, wrapping the blanket around her little body. “I guess she’ll have to sleep with us until we scrape together the money for a crib.”

  Chace’s lips formed a thin line. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Mia swallowed a sigh as Kaitlyn’s sobs subsided.

  Chace pushed his door open, and a blast of frigid air filled the cab of the truck. Mia gasped and held Kaitlyn even closer. She longed to be able to afford the warm snowsuit she’d seen at a department store after all the snowsuits had been snatched up from her favorite consignment shop. Surely her baby was cold, and the guilt that had haunted her since Kaitlyn’s birth flooded her once again.

  Chace pulled up the hood on his navy blue sweatshirt to cover his sandy-blond hair as he stood by the open truck door. Rain beat down o
n him, drenching his sweatshirt and worn jeans, and no doubt his work boots too.

  “Why don’t you get her inside?” he called over the rain. “It has to be warmer in there than it is in here. I’ll help you, and then I’ll handle emptying out the bed of the truck.”

  Mia nodded before Chace shut the driver side door and ran to her side of the truck.

  She retrieved a blanket from the diaper bag she’d bought at Goodwill before Kaitlyn was born. After draping the extra blanket over Kaitlyn’s head, Mia shouldered the diaper bag and her purse, then leapt out of the truck when Chace opened the door. She hustled through the icy rain and up the front steps of the cabin, where Chace had run ahead to hold the door open for her. It must not have been locked.

  Mia stepped through the door and shivered once more as the chilly air from inside the cabin seeped through her damp jeans. She caressed Kaitlyn’s head. “I think it’s colder in here than in the truck.”

  “We just need to get the coal stove going.”

  Coal?

  By the light of the truck’s headlights shining into the cabin, Chace found a Coleman lantern that sat on a small table by the door. He flipped it on, then shut the door against the wind.

  The bright yellow light allowed Mia to take in their new home. Her heart sank when she realized it was only slightly bigger than their apartment had been. She had hoped for more. A tiny kitchen with a small refrigerator, a stove, a sink, a few cabinets, and a short counter spilled into an area with a table and four chairs. Off to her right, a worn brown sofa and dark green wing chair served as a family room. Beyond the sofa were two doorways.

  “How many bedrooms are there?” she asked.

  “One.”

  “Oh.” Mia adjusted Kaitlyn in her arms. Their apartment had only one bedroom. They could make do.