A Lantern in the Window by Bobby Hutchinson Page B
Authors: Bobby Hutchinson
Tags: Historical fiction, Romance, Historical Romance, Sisters, western romance, christmas romance, Mail-Order Bride, deafness, canadian prairie
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was
happening.
“ Hold her tight, Bets,” he
signed.
A few moments before, struggling
exhausted and alone through the darkness and the snow, Noah had
thought with every single step that he couldn’t force himself to
take another.
Now, he took Bright’s reins and ran
easily beside the huge horse. They had to stop twice more as sharp
pains gripped Annie, and giddy relief spilled through Noah when at
last the lantern the women had lighted and left in the window
became visible in the distance, shining through the snow, a beacon
welcoming Noah and his family home.
Later, Annie remembered the haze of
the lamplight as Noah gripped her hands in his strong ones and
urged her to push out their child.
His sleeves were rolled up, and
perspiration rolled down his face. He smiled and spoke loving words
of encouragement, giving her not the slightest inkling that he was
deathly afraid that he’d be unequal to the task ahead of
him.
As soon as they had Annie warm and
settled, Bets had brought him the book Elinora had sent, entitled Advice To A Mother.
Desperate for any small bit of
assistance, Noah flipped through it. The book actually had
illustrations that depicted the birth of a child, and he propped it
on the bedroom dresser and dragged the dresser close to the bed.
Referring to the instructions it contained, he and Bets lit lamps
and found scissors and folded flannel into pads and filled the
copper washtubs with water and set them to heating.
With Bets in charge of keeping the
fires burning well and fetching anything he thought he needed, Noah
stationed himself beside Annie, glancing more and more distractedly
at the book as the hours passed, urging Bets to turn the pages back
and forth, soundly cursing the volume’s numerous omissions as the
birth inevitably progressed in spite of him.
* * *
At ten past noon on December 24, 1886,
with the able assistance of his young sister-in-law, Noah Ferguson
successfully delivered his tiny daughter, Mary Elinora.
Annie and Bets survived the ordeal
exceptionally well, but the first sound of his baby’s outraged
squalling so relieved her father that dizziness overcame him, and
he had to sink down on the bed with her minute, naked body cradled
awkwardly in his two huge hands.
He actually thought for the first time
in his life that he was about to faint, and he had to draw deep
breaths before he could really examine the child he
held.
She was scrawny, but already he could
sense Mary's enormous life force. The damp curls plastered against
her minute skull were undeniably red, and when she opened her eyes
and looked vaguely up at him, Noah saw an exact reflection of his
own coal-dark gaze.
Annie was watching, and it was evident
from the besotted expression on his face that in that first
instant, Mary Elinora had captured her father’s mighty heart in her
tiny fist.
Annie and Bets looked at each other
with tears in their eyes and giggled.
From their vantage point
in a corner of the room, an old man and a young woman with a
laughing little boy between them smiled angelic smiles and nodded
at one another with the satisfaction of a job well done. They alone
could clearly see the magnificent golden glow that filled the room,
the radiance of intense and lasting love, and at last they knew it
was time for them, too, to leave, to go toward the
light.
* * * * * *
If you enjoyed reading A Lantern in
the Window , continue reading for an excerpt from Bobby
Hutchinson’s novel Drastic Measures .
Excerpt: Drastic Measures
By Bobby
Hutchinson
CHAPTER ONE
St. Joseph's Medical Center sprawled
in Vancouver's watery June sunshine like a gigantic gray toad,
solidly situated on a large and expensive chunk of land smack in
the center of the city's downtown core, a few short blocks from
both skid row and some of North America's most breathtaking and
expensive beachfront real estate. The hospital had none of the
attractive patina aging sometimes endows on even the
happening.
“ Hold her tight, Bets,” he
signed.
A few moments before, struggling
exhausted and alone through the darkness and the snow, Noah had
thought with every single step that he couldn’t force himself to
take another.
Now, he took Bright’s reins and ran
easily beside the huge horse. They had to stop twice more as sharp
pains gripped Annie, and giddy relief spilled through Noah when at
last the lantern the women had lighted and left in the window
became visible in the distance, shining through the snow, a beacon
welcoming Noah and his family home.
Later, Annie remembered the haze of
the lamplight as Noah gripped her hands in his strong ones and
urged her to push out their child.
His sleeves were rolled up, and
perspiration rolled down his face. He smiled and spoke loving words
of encouragement, giving her not the slightest inkling that he was
deathly afraid that he’d be unequal to the task ahead of
him.
As soon as they had Annie warm and
settled, Bets had brought him the book Elinora had sent, entitled Advice To A Mother.
Desperate for any small bit of
assistance, Noah flipped through it. The book actually had
illustrations that depicted the birth of a child, and he propped it
on the bedroom dresser and dragged the dresser close to the bed.
Referring to the instructions it contained, he and Bets lit lamps
and found scissors and folded flannel into pads and filled the
copper washtubs with water and set them to heating.
With Bets in charge of keeping the
fires burning well and fetching anything he thought he needed, Noah
stationed himself beside Annie, glancing more and more distractedly
at the book as the hours passed, urging Bets to turn the pages back
and forth, soundly cursing the volume’s numerous omissions as the
birth inevitably progressed in spite of him.
* * *
At ten past noon on December 24, 1886,
with the able assistance of his young sister-in-law, Noah Ferguson
successfully delivered his tiny daughter, Mary Elinora.
Annie and Bets survived the ordeal
exceptionally well, but the first sound of his baby’s outraged
squalling so relieved her father that dizziness overcame him, and
he had to sink down on the bed with her minute, naked body cradled
awkwardly in his two huge hands.
He actually thought for the first time
in his life that he was about to faint, and he had to draw deep
breaths before he could really examine the child he
held.
She was scrawny, but already he could
sense Mary's enormous life force. The damp curls plastered against
her minute skull were undeniably red, and when she opened her eyes
and looked vaguely up at him, Noah saw an exact reflection of his
own coal-dark gaze.
Annie was watching, and it was evident
from the besotted expression on his face that in that first
instant, Mary Elinora had captured her father’s mighty heart in her
tiny fist.
Annie and Bets looked at each other
with tears in their eyes and giggled.
From their vantage point
in a corner of the room, an old man and a young woman with a
laughing little boy between them smiled angelic smiles and nodded
at one another with the satisfaction of a job well done. They alone
could clearly see the magnificent golden glow that filled the room,
the radiance of intense and lasting love, and at last they knew it
was time for them, too, to leave, to go toward the
light.
* * * * * *
If you enjoyed reading A Lantern in
the Window , continue reading for an excerpt from Bobby
Hutchinson’s novel Drastic Measures .
Excerpt: Drastic Measures
By Bobby
Hutchinson
CHAPTER ONE
St. Joseph's Medical Center sprawled
in Vancouver's watery June sunshine like a gigantic gray toad,
solidly situated on a large and expensive chunk of land smack in
the center of the city's downtown core, a few short blocks from
both skid row and some of North America's most breathtaking and
expensive beachfront real estate. The hospital had none of the
attractive patina aging sometimes endows on even the
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