A Family for Christmas (7 page)

O
n her way to the family room, Wendy stopped in the central hall and looked out the window. The countryside was a winter wonderland. Tree trunks, branches and shrubbery were glossy white. Sidewalk and grass were covered with several inches of snow and ice. The power lines were coated with ice. White pine branches littered the ground. Wendy stepped out on the front porch, gasping when she breathed in a suffocating gust of cold air. She heard sounds like gunshots.

She closed the door and hurried into the kitchen. Working by lamplight, Hilda, still dressed in her pajamas and heavy robe, was preparing breakfast.

“I've heated water so you can wash your face and hands,” she said. “When the power goes off, we live like pioneers.”

“I stepped out on the porch and heard odd, snapping sounds like gunshots.”

“The trees are breaking under the weight of the
ice,” Hilda said. “That's the main reason the power is off—tree limbs are falling on the lines.”

Hilda was as bright and cheerful as ever, and Wendy wondered if anything ever phased this woman. Even the family room, which was usually cozy, felt chilly, and Wendy backed up to the fireplace, welcoming its subtle warmth.

“I cooked oats this morning,” Hilda said. “I thought we needed a warm cereal. Evan and his dad like oats with cinnamon and brown sugar. That's the way I eat them, too, although my girls pour cold milk over their oats.”

“I'll try the cinnamon and brown sugar,” Wendy said. “Breakfast food at home is either cold cereal or nothing, but I started eating bigger breakfasts when I went away to college. I'll take care of my breakfast. You're going to be busy enough without waiting on me.”

“All right. Coffee is ready, and there's hot water if you want tea. I'm baking a coffee cake, which will be ready by the time you finish your cereal.”

In spite of the cold, the room seemed homey while Wendy sat at the table and ate.

“Wonder if this storm is widespread?” she asked. “I probably should phone my mother and let her know that I'm all right. If she hears about this ice storm in Ohio, she'll conjure up all kinds of trouble. I phoned her when I landed in Columbus, but I haven't talked to her since.”

“Go right ahead and call anytime you want to—that is, if the lines aren't down,” Hilda said. “Tell
her we're used to coping with emergencies like these.”

When Wendy picked up the receiver, there was no dial tone, but Marcy entered the room and said amicably, “The cell phones should work. I'll get mine for you.”

Marcy was fairly friendly when she brought the phone from her room, and Wendy wondered at the change in her attitude. Hilda or Evan, maybe both of them, had probably had a chat with Marcy. Wendy sensed that they hadn't approved of Marcy's coldness to her.

She had no trouble making the call, but there wasn't an answer, and Wendy left a message on the answering machine.

The sleet continued falling until midafternoon when the blustery wind blew the clouds away. The sun spread a mantle of brilliance over the valley that radiated off the ice covering. Wendy squinted when she tried to look outdoors because the dazzling brightness blinded her.

Though the sun was shining, the temperature was still below freezing and the Kesslers prepared for several cold days. The local radio station reported that thousands of southeastern Ohio residents were without power and that it could be a week or more before trees were cleared from all roads and power lines.

“If that's so,” Marcy said, “we won't have any power until after Christmas. Does that mean we can't have our family get-together, Mom?”

“Oh, we'll manage somehow,” Hilda said. “We'll
probably have power in this area before the outlying residents do.”

Some of the major highways were blocked by fallen trees or broken electric lines, and the family had to keep in touch with Karl by using cell phones.

Wendy despaired of having any time with Evan, and she wished she had stayed in Florida. He was an hour later than usual coming in for his breakfast, and as soon as he ate, he went back to work.

Wanting something to keep her occupied, Wendy helped Hilda prepare the evening meal. When she couldn't turn on a faucet and get water to wash the salad vegetables, she gained a new appreciation for the benefits she'd always taken for granted. While she worked, she sensed that Hilda was unusually quiet.

Suspecting the reason, Wendy said compassionately, “Are you worried about Mr. Kessler?”

Hilda cast a warm smile toward Wendy. “Not worried exactly, because I know the hospital will take good care of him. He's better off there than he would be at home. They have an auxiliary system that activates within minutes of a power failure. They have emergency plans that go into effect immediately when there's a crisis. There are food and water supplies to last for several days. I phoned this morning, and one of the nurses told me that there will be a full staff at the hospital all the time. The hospital has emergency four-wheel vehicles to bring in their workers. Karl is doing fine, but I miss him very much. He's always stayed close at home, and even if he leaves for a few days, since the girls have been old enough to stay
alone, I've gone with him. It's been several years since we've been apart.”

Wendy's hands paused over the bowl of lettuce she'd shredded. “Was it very difficult for you to take on all the responsibilities you have here?”

Hilda smiled sympathetically. “Not really. You see, I just gradually eased into being the mistress of this house. Karl's parents lived here when we were married. We didn't move here until his father got sick, and Karl took over full management of the farm. Besides, I grew up on a nearby farm, and I didn't have to do anything I hadn't done in my parents' home.”

Wendy didn't answer, and she applied her attention to the salad again. Hilda turned the meat in the skillet, then she put her arm round Wendy's shoulders.

“Don't worry about it. Love finds a way around even the biggest problems. Evan loves you very much.”

Wendy shook her head and swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “You mustn't have the wrong idea about us. We aren't really engaged, you know.”

“He told me that you'd broken the engagement.”

“I still feel it was the right thing for me to do. I can never be the kind of wife Evan needs.”

“Let Evan be the judge of that.”

“For one thing, I don't have the spiritual beliefs that your family has.”

“Why not?”

“My grandfather is the minister of a large church in Miami, and Mother has always resented him because he didn't make my father stay married to her. That turned her against Christianity, and my grand
parents in particular. She's a very bitter woman, and she's been a huge influence on me.”

“Why is she bitter? Have you ever stopped to wonder?”

“Many times! But I'm not very persistent, and she won't talk about her frustrations. It's been easier for me to do what she wanted rather than to cross her. The only time I ever did something she didn't want me to was coming up here for Christmas. And I feel guilty that she'll be spending the holiday alone.”

“Let's sit and talk a bit while we wait for Evan to finish work for the night. Christmas really isn't a holiday—it's the commemoration of the birth of Christ. It's been turned into a secular celebration, but not in our family. We do many of the things that others do, like giving gifts, having a big dinner and decorating, but we have some family traditions that we always observe.”

“Tell me what they are, so I'll know what to expect.”

“Our families were German immigrants to this country, and we still carry out some of their traditions. The Christmas tree is supposedly a German custom started by Martin Luther. Early Christians didn't do much celebrating of Jesus' birth, but one cold and snowy Christmas Eve Martin Luther was walking through an evergreen forest. Stars sparkled down through the snow-covered branches, as if they were a part of the tree itself. He wanted to share this sight with his children, so he cut down a tiny fir tree and carried it home.”

“I did a history project on the Hessian involvement
in the American Revolution, and I learned that those German soldiers may have introduced the Christmas tree to America.”

“That's probably true. Luther and his wife decorated the tree with lighted candles to represent the Christ child as the light of the world. We always have candles on our tree, but the candles are electric ones now.”

“Mother and I don't do much decorating at Christmas, but we do have a tree.”

“Also we have special German foods, especially lots of bread and cookies from recipes our ancestors brought to this country.”

Since most of their Christmas food came from the deli, Wendy didn't comment, but waited for Hilda to continue.

“The highlight of the season for us is the midnight Christmas Eve service, when we celebrate what God did for us by sending His Son into the world to redeem mankind from our sins. Even though I've been a Christian since I was a child, each year when I kneel and take communion with my family, I renew my vow to worship and adore, not only the Christ child, but the crucified Christ. It's a tender moment, and I think after you've worshiped with us, you'll have a new concept of what Christmas means.”

“I hope so. After my grandparents got legal rights for me to visit them, I spent two weeks with them each year during the summer. They took me to church, and I do have some knowledge of what your faith is and why it's important to you. But when I turned eighteen, I didn't go back to see them. Rather
than hurt my mother, I made a choice and stopped visiting them. The only contact I have with my grandparents is through the check they send me for Christmas each year. I write them a thank-you note, and that's it until the next year.”

Hilda stood when she heard Evan enter the utility room. He was accompanied by a slender, gray-haired man.

“Wendy, this is our uncle Gavin, Daddy's brother. His farm adjoins ours.”

“Gavin, how did you get here?” Hilda asked. “I thought the roads were closed.”

“I came on my ATV,” Gavin said as he removed his coat. Hilda took the coat and hung it up. “Evan invited me for supper, but I can't stay long,” he said. “I want to get home before dark. I came to see how you were managing.” Looking at Wendy, he added with a sparkling laugh. “And I wanted to meet your guest.”

Hilda introduced Wendy to Gavin, then she said, “Supper is ready. Wendy, help me put the food on the table. Evan, call your sisters. They're cleaning the living room as best they can without a vacuum cleaner.”

“I often come this way for a good meal,” Gavin admitted with a smile. “My wife died three years ago, and my two daughters live in Cincinnati, so I get lonely. And hungry!”

“You're always welcome,” Hilda assured him.

Wendy liked Gavin Kessler immediately. She saw in him many of the traits she admired in Evan.

After Evan prayed God's blessing on the meal, they
gave their attention to the food for a while, then Evan said to Wendy, “Uncle Gavin has spent the past five winters in Florida.”

“Oh! In what part of Florida?” Wendy asked.

“I go to several different places, so I can see more of the state. I always wait until after the first of the year to go, but with this kind of weather, I wish I'd gone earlier.”

“Uncle Gavin, we couldn't get along without you here for Christmas,” Olivia protested.

“Well, don't worry. I'm not planning to leave until this weather improves. I drive down,” he explained to Wendy, “so I can have my car. Evan says you live in the Jacksonville area.”

“That's right.”

“Then I'll make it a point to see you this winter—maybe even take you out to dinner, if Evan doesn't object.”

“I'll consider it,” Evan said as Marcy and Olivia cleared the table for dessert.

It troubled Wendy that the family took her close relationship with Evan for granted. They knew she and Evan weren't officially engaged. If the rest of her visit continued to prove how inadequate she would be as Evan's wife, they might never be.

Evan was puzzled by his family's attitude, too. He had thought they would oppose his marriage to a non-believer, but he remembered what his mother had said when he'd told her about Wendy's lack of faith. “If it is God's will for you to marry Wendy, He'll provide a way.” No doubt his mother had spent a lot of time praying for Wendy's salvation, as he had himself.

For the next two days, Wendy didn't see Evan alone, and once she got over being sorry for herself, she realized how difficult it would have been for Hilda and the girls to have weathered this problem without Evan around. She understood now why Evan had to come home.

T
he family room was warm, and the light from the lamps and candles made it the most homelike place Wendy had ever been. Marcy and Olivia found a corn popper and prepared to pop corn over the open fire.

Evan stood on a ladder and searched a cabinet for some board games they'd played as children. He found a Bible trivia game. He shoved it aside because he didn't think Wendy knew much about the Bible, and he didn't want to embarrass her.

“What about playing Chinese checkers?” he said. “We need a game we can all play together.”

Wendy had played Chinese checkers with her grandparents, and playing with the Kessler family did make the evening hours pass quickly.

When they finished their fifth game, Evan said, “I can't play anymore. I'm going to the barn and check on things before I go to bed. Want to go with me, Wendy?”

“It's too cold for you to go out,” Marcy said to Wendy.

“Not if you put on your heavy coat and boots,” Evan said. “The ground is frozen now and covered with ice. You won't get muddy, but we will have to be careful.”

“I'll go,” Wendy said.

Evan held her coat and tied on the boots she'd bought. He took a red woolen scarf from a rack and wound it around her head. Her long black hair hung over her shoulders. He'd always thought that the fashionable clothes she wore had added to her beauty, but tonight in this ragtag outfit, she seemed more beautiful than he'd ever seen her.

The ice storm had passed, but the damage it had caused wouldn't be repaired for a long time. “Be careful,” Evan cautioned as they stepped outside. He carried a large flashlight in his left hand. “We've cleared a path to the barn, but there still might be slick spots. Hold on to my arm.”

When they were about halfway between the house and the barn, Evan turned off the light and put it in his pocket. “I'm sorry we had the storm, but occasionally I do enjoy being in total darkness. We rarely have it completely dark anymore, since we have to keep lights burning for security reasons. When I was a kid, I loved to go outside any season of the year and enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of the night.”

Wendy had never known such darkness or quietness. She shrank against Evan, and his left arm pulled her close to him. “I'll turn the light on, if you're afraid.”

“No,” she said, looking overhead, surprised at the
millions of stars blinking down at them. As her eyes adjusted, she realized it wasn't completely dark at all. A whitish light gleamed around the horizons, and in the east, a distinct glow could be seen.

“The moon is ready to pop over the hills to the east. If you're not too cold, let's watch the moon rise.”

He stood behind Wendy and wrapped both arms firmly around her waist. The wind was cold against her face, but she felt a warm glow spread through her, and she gloried in this moment they shared together. She could have stood for hours wrapped, not only in his arms, but in the warmth of his love.

The skyline changed slowly and gently to a tinge of pink dusky rose before the large yellow orb floated into view and started its ascent of the heavens. The stars became obscured in the gorgeous display of the rising moon.

“It's beautiful, Evan. And everything is so quiet. Thanks for asking me to come with you. I've missed being with you today.”

He laughed fondly. “Why do you think I asked you? I know there isn't anything very fascinating about a dairy barn, but I couldn't think of any other excuse to have you to myself for a few minutes.”

Evan checked the cows that had bedded down in a covered shed area behind the barn, and ran his flashlight around the interior of the barn. “You're very thoughtful of your livestock,” Wendy said as they returned to the house.

“They're our responsibility, but also our livelihood. Their milk production will be low because the milking hours will be off schedule, but that's part of
farm life. Our income is never as sure as it would be in other vocations.”

He wanted Wendy to be aware of the negatives as well as the positives of country living.

The family had all gone to bed when they returned to the house. “I'm going to sleep on the couch,” he told her, “because it's supposed to be zero tonight, and I want to keep the fire going.”

He walked upstairs with her, lighting her way with the flashlight. The bedroom that had been so warm and welcoming the other nights now seemed cold and uninviting. Evan splayed the light around the room, and she noticed that someone, probably Hilda, had placed a candle on the bedside table.

“You have a flashlight, don't you?” Evan asked.

“Under my pillow.”

“If you're afraid, I'm sure Olivia will gladly share her bed with you.”

“No, I'll be all right.”

He kissed her, then said, “Mom put extra blankets on your bed, so you'll be warm enough.”

The room was cold, and when Wendy took off her shoes and socks and stepped on the floor, she hurriedly put her socks back on and rolled under the covers without removing her sweatpants and shirt. She was soon warm enough, but with all of her extra clothing and the added blankets, she could barely move, and turning on her side was a real challenge.

She had hoped that this trip to Ohio would prove that being a farmer's wife wasn't bad at all. The traumatic events of the past few days had convinced Wendy that she didn't have the stamina to be Evan's wife. She doubted that Karl Kessler would ever be
strong enough to pursue his normal activities, and if it was up to Evan to become the permanent manager of Heritage Farm, she had no future with him.

She would have to tell him so. She didn't want to hurt Evan, but she couldn't ruin his life by marrying him and then finding out she couldn't be the kind of wife he needed. Besides, she had her own aspirations. Was she willing to give up her dream of teaching to be a housewife and mother?

Her spiritual doubts bothered Wendy, too. In this house she'd experienced hospitality at its best, and she believed the kindness Hilda had shown to her had been motivated by Christian love. She wasn't the kind of bride Hilda would want for her son, yet she'd shown Wendy love as Wendy had never known it before. Wendy supposed her mother loved her, but it had been years since she'd said so, nor had Wendy told her mother she loved her.

In the Kessler house, love wasn't necessarily defined by words—it was an emotion that filled the whole house. Evan deserved that kind of love from his wife. Was she capable of loving her husband and family with a sacrificial love, as Hilda had done? She'd rarely thought about becoming a mother. Her childhood experiences hadn't encouraged her to want children of her own. Yet marriage and children were synonymous in the Kessler family.

 

Electric power was restored four days before Christmas. That same day, Hilda received a phone call from the hospital saying that Karl was being discharged. A few hours later he came home in an ambulance, protesting all the way.

The family had rented a hospital bed and placed it in the family room so Karl could be in the center of their activities. Olivia had made a huge Welcome Home, Daddy poster and hung it over the entrance to the house. Marcy drove into town and bought a set of helium balloons and hung them on the head of his hospital bed. Hilda ordered a large bouquet of flowers and placed them on a table beside the bed.

When Karl was wheeled into the house on a gurney and transferred to the bed, he looked at the faces of his happy family and all of the welcome-home gifts. His eyes filled with tears, and he shook his head.

“You should…have put me…in a nursing home until…I can…take care of myself.”

“Not as long as I'm able to look after you,” Hilda said firmly.

“But…I'm going…to be…a lot of trouble.”

“We know that, and I'll hire help to take care of the housework if I need to, but
I'm
taking care of you.”

“Why don't you…call off the family…gathering on Christmas night? The family…will understand.”

“I've got three young ladies to help me do everything.” Hilda bent over him and the look of tenderness in her eyes as she kissed her husband brought tears to Wendy's eyes. “Karl, don't you understand what a loss it would have been to all of us if you'd died? We love you. If you weren't here, none of us would enjoy Christmas. We have even more reason to rejoice this year.”

He lifted his good arm and pulled her close. For a moment they stayed cheek to cheek, and a sob rose
in Wendy's throat. If she married Evan, would she have this same kind of love?

 

Now that Karl was home and installed in the family room, there wasn't any place for Evan and Wendy to have any privacy. It was too cold for them to spend much time outside, and the farmwork was keeping Evan busy most of the time. When he kissed her good-night at her bedroom door the second night after his father came home, he said, “I wish I could see more of you. I'm sorry it's working out like this. I thought we could have a lot of time together. Your two weeks will be up before we've had any quality time at all.”

“Would I be any help in the barn? I could go to work with you.”

Evan didn't know offhand what she could do, but he wasn't going to miss the opportunity.

“That would be great. You could stay as long as you like, and then come to the house.”

“Call me when you get up tomorrow morning.”

Wendy felt as if she'd just gone to sleep when Evan tapped on her door and woke her the next morning. She forced herself out of bed, washed her face and hands, put on her clothes and staggered down the steps to the kitchen.

Evan had a cup of coffee and a sweet roll waiting for her. Staring at him with bleary eyes, she was half-annoyed to see him looking as fresh and energetic as he did in the middle of the day.

Yawning widely, she said crankily, “How can you look so perky this early in the morning?”

She hadn't combed her hair, she didn't have on any
makeup and she had her sweatshirt on backward. He smothered a smile because he knew if she saw his amusement at her appearance, she'd probably refuse to go with him. And although he didn't expect she would be much help, he wanted her company. These past few days in almost constant companionship with Wendy had reemphasized more and more how much he loved her. He had only one reservation about Wendy becoming his wife—would she ever believe as he did? Should he marry her if she wouldn't raise their children in the Christian faith? Would he break with Kessler tradition and marry her regardless of her religious views?

Evan helped Wendy into so many clothes that she could hardly move. He pulled a hat over her head and handed her a pair of heavy mittens. Although the coffee hadn't done much to rouse her, when Wendy stepped outside and got a jolt of below-zero air, she woke in a hurry.

“How cold is it?” she asked through chattering teeth.

“Five below zero,” Evan said as he hustled her along the cleared path to the barn.

Tears formed in Wendy's eyes as she accepted the hopelessness of a future life with Evan. She couldn't live in a climate like this. Tears trickled down her cheeks, making little frozen rivulets on her face. But she didn't want Evan to see so she swiped them away with a mitten before they entered the dairy barn.

Despite their uncertain future, she was ready to help Evan. He asked her to carry a bucket of warm water and follow him as he sanitized the cows' udders
before applying the milking machines. But he had a sudden inspiration, and he took her to the calf barn.

There were about fifty calves in little individual stalls, some only a few days old. “Aren't they cute?” she said.

“We have to take the calves away from their mothers soon after they're born, and we feed them by hand.” He took a large bottle from a shelf. “Would you like to feed them? I could show you how to mix the milk and other ingredients. You can feed them while I do the milking.”

“Feed them like they're babies?”

“Yes. Think you can do it?”

“I'd like to try.”

He mixed up a batch of the milk for her, filled one bottle and left her alone. She went to the first stall and eyed the calf warily. The calf wanted his breakfast. He bawled lustily and butted his head against Wendy when she stooped beside his stall as Evan had told her to do. She was pushed off balance, but caught herself before she fell backward. She extended the bottle toward the calf, and he grabbed it in his mouth. In a matter of a few minutes, she refilled another bottle and moved to the next calf. She'd fed ten calves by the time Evan finished his job and came to help her.

Her clothes and shoes were filthy, but Wendy had a high sense of satisfaction as her feet dragged slowly on the way to the house. Evan had praised her work, and she did believe she'd been a help to him.