A Gathering of Memories (19 page)

“Oh, Luke! That was a bad one,” Christine gasped. “You better go for Mark.”

“I’m going. I’ll run over and ask Amy to sit with you.”

“Fine.” She gasped again as another contraction seized her. The last had subsided and another had started when Luke’s horse raced toward Silas’.

Mandy, having heard the horse approach, was out of her bed and on the stairway when Luke pounded, making her the first to the door.

“I have to go for Mark. Please ask Amy to go over with Christine.” He was racing for the horse when Silas’ shout stopped him.

“Luke, stay with Christine! I’ll go for Mark!” It took a moment for the words to sink in and then Luke was swinging back off the horse and running for his house.

“I’ll go over and see if there’s anything I can do, Silas. I’ll be dressed in a minute.”

“Mandy, that’s not a good idea. It’s not very pleasant for a woman—”

Mandy’s laughter stopped him. “Silas, you’re forgetting I’m the oldest in my family. I was three years old when I watched Mama have Carrie.”

Silas heard her move off in the dark before rushing to Amy to tell her what was going on. Amy was still standing in sleepy surprise at the bottom of the stairs, long after the sound of the horse’s hooves had died away.

“Did Silas tell you I was going next door?”

“Oh, Mandy you startled me. Yes, yes he said you were going over. Would you rather I went?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

Amy was secretly relieved. She had listened to the stories her sisters-in-law told, and she wasn’t really sure she wanted to be anywhere near a woman in labor.

“No one heard me knock, so I came on back.”

Both Luke and Christine were vaguely surprised to see Mandy enter their bedroom, but Christine’s labor overshadowed everything. At the moment they gave very little thought to the fact that this young, unmarried woman was coming to help a woman on the verge of giving birth.

“I told Amy I would come see if I could be of any help. Luke, we could use a little more light in here.” Sounding distracted, she moved toward the bed, all her concentration on Christine. She bent over the bed and put her hand beneath Christine’s back. The contraction subsided and Mandy smiled at the older woman.

“They’re coming hard, aren’t they?”

“I want to push.”

“No, Christine! Don’t push, do you hear me?” It was a command. “Now, you’re nearly suffocating in these covers.” She turned to Luke who was coming in with another lamp. “We need some sheeting and a light blanket.”

Luke moved to obey and then sat on the bed by Christine and watched in fascination as Mandy readied the room. Mark’s nurse, Maggie, always took care of this, and Luke realized that he would not have known what to do.

“Have the wash basin ready. I washed up in the kitchen but Mark will want to wash up in here.” Luke only sat staring. “Please, Luke, take care of it.”

After that Mandy forgot he was in the room. She sat with Christine and talked with her, bathed her face, and supported her when contractions came.

“Mandy, I have to push.”

“No!”
The word was shouted and Mandy whipped back the sheet to check on her patient. “Christine,” she said in a voice almost angry with concern. “Don’t push! You want Mark here to bring this baby into the world. Now just hold on a little bit longer.”

But there was no answer from the woman on the bed whose eyes were dilated with pain, a woman who was losing the battle with her body and had to push this baby out or die, she was sure.

“I can see the head!” Mandy wailed. “Try to hold on Christine, please!” Mandy, intent on Christine and the baby, didn’t hear Mark enter the room and quickly scrub his hands. Quickly deciding not to move Mandy, he merely bent over beside her and gave Christine a few instructions. When the next contraction hit, a tiny baby girl slid into his waiting arms.

“It’s a girl, Christie,” Luke said from his place beside her as he tried to see more of the new little miracle God had given them.

Mark and Mandy’s hands worked in easy rhythm and in moments the smallest Cameron was dried and wrapped in a clean, warm sheet. A few moments later Maggie Pearson, Mark’s full-time nurse, was ushered to the door by Silas. Mandy, seeing she was no longer needed, slipped quietly from the room. Silas had gone to the kitchen, but Mandy walked past him without a word.

“Mandy?”

“I’m going back to the house.”

Silas walked behind her out the door and watched her stop in the yard. He followed her off the porch and down the steps and came up beside her. The moon, just a sliver in the sky,
kept him from seeing her face, and he wondered what she was thinking.

“What kind of God can make a perfect little baby like that and then take the mama of five children when they need her so badly? What kind of God can keep their pa away, so that they wait and wonder all the time and can’t be sure about tomorrow?

“Amy’s uncle talks about God’s love, but He doesn’t love everyone the same. He’s given something to Carrie that I can’t have. He’s hiding something special from me and I can’t find it. He doesn’t want me to find it.”

“That’s not true, Mandy,” Silas said quietly and then was afraid to go on. She was exhausted, the note of hysteria in her voice told him that. He believed they should discuss this after she’d had a full night’s sleep.

“I’m tired,” she said suddenly. “I have so many questions, but I just can’t think straight.”

“Let’s go home.” Taking her arm, he felt as well as heard her first sob. She was crying in earnest by the time they reached the house.

Carrie and Amy met them at the back door. Amy looked to Silas in near panic, thinking something had happened to Christine. Silas told her quickly that they had a niece but that Mandy needed to be put to bed.

Carrie helped Mandy undress and in no time at all she was cleaned up and in her own bed. Carrie, worried about her sister, climbed in beside her. They were both asleep very quickly.

Silas, downstairs in bed with his wife, spoke just as they went off to sleep. “Tomorrow is the Fourth, so Luke and I will do no more than feed. Then Mandy and I are going to take a drive. She has questions and I hope I have answers. Either way I’ve got to talk to that girl about things that just won’t wait.”

“It won’t work, Silas. We have a million things to do to get ready for this afternoon. Plus Josh and Kate are here as well, and I can’t abandon Amy.”

Mandy sailed off in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Silas in frustration. She had been so receptive to the idea of a drive. When he had mentioned talking over her questions about God she was thrilled, almost astounded that he really cared that much. But when he suggested they leave right then, Mandy had not even hesitated in her reply.

“There is so much to do. But thank you for thinking of me.”

“We’re not going to be gone all day. In fact, we could just take a walk.”

“It won’t work, Silas,” she had begun, and Silas had not known what to do.
Maybe it’s my will
, Silas thought,
and not God’s will that we talk. I’ll have to leave it for now.

Everyone was going to Grandma Em’s for a Fourth of July supper and then to the edge of town for the fireworks display. Josh and Kate were at Silas and Amy’s to give Christine and the baby some quiet, and Mandy was right, there were many things to do.

There was a lull in the activity just after lunch when Luke came to get Kate to put her down for a nap.

“Mandy, would you mind coming over with me? Christine wants to talk with you.”

“Sure, I can come.” Mandy was pleased, not because she felt she deserved any thanks but because she wanted to see the baby.

Luke led the way into the bedroom and then left the women alone.

“Come on over,” Christine called from the bed. Mother and baby were snuggled together since Christine had just fed her. “Sit here on the bed so you can get a closer look.”

“Oh, she’s lovely.”

“We think so.” Christine looked tired but very content. “Would you like to hold her?”

“Please,” Mandy said with a delighted smile.

Christine noticed she handled her like a mother of ten, supporting her back and head and keeping her well covered. She crooned softly into the tiny face, and Christine thought how sweet and giving she was. Luke rejoined Christine on the bed and spoke.

“We want to thank you for coming over last night; you were wonderful and I really needed you.”

“You’re welcome. I was glad to help. What did you name her?”

“Rachael, after Christine’s mother.”

“Rebecca was almost a Rachael. It’s such a pretty name.”

“Her full name is Rachael
Amanda
Cameron.”

Mandy’s head came up slowly on the emphasis of her name. She looked at Luke to see if he was serious, then to Christine whose smile was very watery.

“Am I the Amanda?” She whispered the words.

“We know no other.”

“Oh my,” she breathed the words and cuddled the sleeping infant even nearer. With almost a reverence she kissed the miniature forehead below the wisps of dark hair. Closing her eyes, she laid her cheek against the downy little head.

“It’s such an honor, I mean I didn’t do that much, that is, nothing that anyone wouldn’t have done in my—” She stopped when they laughed.

“Mandy obviously didn’t see you standing there like a man lost, Luke, or she wouldn’t say that.”

“I
was
a man lost. We had more time with Josh and Kate, and Maggie was there to get everything ready.”

As if the mention of Josh’s name could conjure him up, he appeared at the door, tears in his eyes.

“Can I come home now?”

“What’s happened, honey?” his mother asked. Josh glanced at Mandy and didn’t say anything.

“Was it Levi or Clovis?” Mandy asked with resignation.

“Levi,” the boy admitted.

“What did he do?”

“I don’t know. It’s like he’s mad at me and I don’t know what I did.”

“Lee is not very patient, not that that excuses him. You probably didn’t do anything. Think of poor Clovis, he gets it all the time.”

“Does your aunt or uncle know you left?” Luke asked.

“No.”

“Well, head back over and tell them I said you can come home. And if there is something you need to clear up with Levi, you’d best do it.”

“I have to go,” Mandy said. “I’ll make sure everything is okay.” She handed the baby to Luke’s outstretched hands and marveled at how small he made her seem. Their father had never been around when any of them were born. It was a new thing to see a man holding an infant with such tenderness.

“Thank you again. I’m more honored than I can say.”

“Thank
you
, Mandy. God knew you were just what we needed.”