Forever Blessed (Women of Prayer) (35 page)

She shook her head no.

Jessi stepped up and smiled so Ella could see her. “Hi. How are you feeling? Any better?”

Ella understood what was being said much better. She tried to answer without getting frustrated. She pronounced one word as best she could. “Better.”

“Good. We have a lot of people praying. You know that, right?”

Ella nodded her head up and down and motioned to Marsha.

Laney spoke up. “I’m sorry, I should have introduced you right away. Pastor Mark and Jessi, this is Ella’s daughter, Marsha. Marsha, Pastor Mark and Jessi.”

“Great to meet you. We have heard so much about you, right Ella?”

Marsha smiled at her mom. “Have you been telling stories about me again?”

Her one-word answers were starting to get better. “Guilty.”

Everyone laughed; glad to hear she had her wry sense of humor back.

“We won’t keep you long. But, we would like to pray for you before we go. Is that okay?”

Of course Ella agreed and Pastor Mark and Jessi laid hands on her and prayed for her complete healing. Marsha took a step back, clearly not willing to take part in this prayer ritual. Laney chuckled. That was her several months ago. She closed her eyes and prayed with her pastors.

Afterward as they were about to leave, they asked Laney if she would like a ride home. She looked to Ella and Marsha to see if it was okay with them.

Ella spoke up. “Go.”

Marsha agreed. “It’s been a long day for you. Go home to your children and get some rest. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”

Laney gave Ella and Marsha a hug and followed Pastor Mark and Jessi out of the hospital. She climbed in their backseat and before they hit the highway heading south, she was sound asleep.

             
             
             
Chapter Forty-Three

“Mom, can I have a sleepover for my birthday party?”

Laney took her eyes off her computer screen and glanced at Joy, then mentally calculated the date in her mind. “Wow, your birthday is coming up quick, isn’t it?

“Mhm, in two weeks.” Joy kept her eyes on her mother, waiting for her answer.

“Well, maybe you could have a couple girlfriends spend the night on the Friday before your birthday, how does that sound?”

Joy threw her arms around her mother and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, mom! I love you.” Then took off running outside where her two best friends were waiting for her.

It was the beginning of June already. Ella was doing better every day. She had to make regular trips to her doctor to have her blood pressure monitored, but she had almost no symptoms left from the stroke. Every once and while she complained her shoulder hurt, a lingering side-effect of a stroke. Since almost all of her joints hurt, she joked about it not being anything out of the ordinary.

Laney was working shorter days for the summer. It gave her more time with the kids, for that she was thankful. It also meant she was making less money, but they would make do. Because of the generosity of her church family, she had been able to get her van fixed without getting behind in her other bills. It made things bearable income-wise for the summer months. She had also promised the kids a day at the water park in Wisconsin Dells.

June was a mild month, temperature-wise, so they would wait until July or August to go to the Dells.

She thought about her oldest daughter and the pressure she inadvertently put on her. It was a heavy load to carry for one so young. She wanted to do something special for her, but what? She would be twelve years old in two weeks.

After thinking about it for a bit, Laney had just the thing. She would ask Sheila about having an afternoon tea at her teashop. She would make invitations. Jessi had recently started a scrapbooking and card making class at church and Laney had joined as she wanted to get to know more ladies. She’d invited Ella to go with her but Ella declined, telling Laney she was too old for such things.

Laney would make the invitations and invite Joy’s friends and their moms from church. She would be so excited.

She called Sheila and asked about having the event at the teashop and Sheila came up with a great idea. “Since were closed on Sunday’s, what if we have it on Sunday afternoon, right after church for a tea luncheon. Only us girls? I can ask Austin if he’ll keep Matt. I’m sure it will be no problem.”

“Sheila, she’ll love it. And it will be right on her birthday. Thank you, so much. She has been so strong through everything. I just want to do something special for her.”

They decided to involve Joy in the planning so she could pick exactly what she wanted. Later that evening they sat down with her.

Laney and Sheila were drinking some refreshing ice tea and chatting when Joy came in from playing with her friends. “Hey, can you come sit with us a few minutes? We want to talk with you.”

“Sure, mom. I’ll be right there.”

Joy washed her hands then poured herself a glass of tea. “Yeah?”

“How would you like to have a tea party at Sheila’s teashop for your birthday party?”

Joy was hesitant. “Instead of having my friends sleep over?”

“No, plus have your friends sleep over.”

“Yeah, that would be awesome.”

Sheila smiled. She remembered what being twelve and having best friends was like. A night curled up with sleeping bags and pillows, eating chips and pizza and whispering all night long about which boys were cute. “We would never take away your girl time.”

Joy smiled. “We already have the whole night planned.”

Laney raised her eyebrows. “Oh really? Anything I should know about?”

Joy was quick to answer. “No, mom. Nothing. Um, let’s talk about this tea party.”

Together they made out an invitation list.

Joy started counting off people on her fingers. “Jessi and Olivia, Aunt Merry, Miss Ella, my Sunday school teacher and her daughter,” She also wanted to invite her three friends who were spending the night and their mothers.

“Three, I thought I said a couple?” Laney looked at her daughter.

“Mom, I can’t leave Bridget out. She’s new and it would make her feel bad.”

Laney caved. “Fine. But that’s it, hear?”

“I promise, no more.”

Sheila counted the tally. “Okay, so that puts us with fifteen for the tea? Is that right?”

“I think that is right.” Laney looked to Joy for confirmation.

“Fifteen is a good number, don’t you think?”

All three agreed that fifteen was indeed a good number.

Sheila took over. “Now for the menu. What do you want for your birthday luncheon young lady?”

Joy grinned. “That’s easy. I want those little cucumber sandwiches. They are so good. And fruit soup.”

“The fruit soup we served the day you and your mom came in? The one with the strawberries, watermelon, and blueberries?”

“Yeah, that was so good.”

Laney questioned Joy. “Do you think we should have a couple of different sandwiches in case someone doesn’t like cucumber sandwiches?”

“Good idea. Any kind is good. I’m eating the cucumber ones.”

Sheila moved on to dessert. “How about your birthday dessert? What would you like? Do you want the cookies and scones or do you want a cake?”

“Can I have a cake layered with strawberries and whipped cream frosting?”

“You bet. We can do that. Maybe I’ll put out a tray of little cookies too. How does that sound?”

“Sounds awesome. I can’t wait.”

“I think this might call for a new dress, what do you think?”

Joy eyes popped open. “Mom, remember that pink sundress I saw at the store? Can I have that one?”

“Why don’t we run to the mall tomorrow after church and you can try it on? Maybe we’ll get you some new sandals too.”

Both Laney and Sheila received a big hug for their efforts. Then Joy announced she was taking a shower so she didn’t have to get up quite so early for church and took off running.

“Well, I guess that solves that.” Laney got up to refill their glasses. “How are you feeling?”

“Thank heavens I’m past the sick stage. Now, I just want to eat everything in sight. For some reason, I just want gyros. All the time. I could eat them for every meal. It’s terrible.”

“I don’t understand it either. When I was pregnant with Joy, I wanted Mexican food and fruit. With Matt, I couldn’t get enough wonton soup. I know, weird, right?”

Sheila agreed.

“With Melanie, everything tasted good. I gained forty pounds when I was pregnant with her. Of course, Paul had me on a diet as soon as she came out. I lost the extra weight very quickly, trust me.”

“I better be careful or I’ll be as big as a house.”

“I doubt it. As skinny as you are, you’ll probably be lighter after delivery than you were before you got pregnant.”

“I ate a quart of Ben and Jerry’s last night.”

Laney started laughing. “Okay, maybe not.”

“Speaking of parties, when do you want your baby shower? You know I’ll have it.”

“Well, I’m due in the beginning of November, so I think we have some time. Maybe September, after the kids go back to school?”

“Sounds good. We’ll set a date soon.” Laney took a drink of her tea. “The boys seem to be getting used to the idea of having a new baby sister.”

Sheila shook her head. “They have both decided a sister would be cool, although Jeremiah thinks a baby brother would be better.”

“When are you having your next ultrasound?”

“Next month.”

“Are you going to find out if you’re having a boy or a girl?”

“At first I thought I wouldn’t, you know, have it be a surprise. But, the closer I get, the more I want to know. I think we’ll find out.”

“I can’t wait. Hey, I saw they were digging out for the foundation for the shelter. So, everything’s a go?”

Sheila shook her head. “The petition that the neighbors started to keep us from building got shot down at the city council meeting. You should have seen everyone at that meeting. Some were saying a shelter like that in the neighborhood was a danger to everyone.” Sheila continued, incredulous. “The fourth ward is full of danger. I don’t know what their deal is. We presented our side as well as the fact that the police think it was local kids vandalizing, which means it could be the hoodlums of these parents who were complaining.” She stood up looking through the fridge. “That shut them up. I’m hungry, you have anything to eat?”

“There is some sliced cheese in the cheese drawer and some crackers in the cupboard?”

Sheila shook her head no.

“Okay, I made burgers for supper. I think there’s a couple leftover, want one of those?”

“That sounds better. Something I can sink my teeth into.”

Laney got out the fixings for her to build her burger. “Did the builders give you a finish date?”

Sheila had just taken a big bite of her burger. “En' ov seppemer?”

Laney repeated what she thought she heard. “End of September?”

“Yeah, if everything goes well, we should be ready to decorate about then.”

Laney just shook her head at her pregnant friend and pulled some grapes from the freezer. The kids would be hungry for a snack as well.

*  *  *  *

Two weeks flew by and before Laney knew it, three adolescents were invading her house. To make things worse, they were girl adolescents. Not that she had anything against girls. She loved her two more than life itself. But, put four of them, all around the same age in the same house at the same time, and the screams and giggles and whispering would last all night. She highly doubted she would get any sleep.