Grace: A Christmas Sisters of the Heart Novel by Shelley Shepard Gray

coffee didn’t agree with you the other morning.”
    “I know, but today it tasted just as good as ever.” She looked away, not wanting to meet his searching gaze. “Perhaps I had a cold.”
    “But now?”
    “Now?” She fidgeted. “I feel just fine.”
    “These symptoms are worrying me.”
    He did look worried, and suspicious, too. Katie felt a lump in her throat. He, too, was most likely recalling all the changes her body had gone through with Eli. She knew she should tell him that she thought she was pregnant.
    But she just wasn’t quite ready.
    So she pushed things off again. “Oh, I hope not. Please don’t worry, Jonathan. All that’s kept me up this evening has been my quilting.” She pulled it out of the basket where she’d tossed it earlier and held it up for him to see. “What do you think?”
    He chuckled. “I think it’s a pretty thing, to be sure. But you’re going to lose your eyesight, stitching with only this lamp next to you.”
    “It’s a Christmas present for Mary. It must get done.” Carefully, she smoothed the pretty red-and-green star quilt over her lap. She knew her daughter was going to love the festive colors.
    “What you must do is sleep,” he chided gently. “Eli wakes up early, you know. He won’t care if his mother has been working on something for his sister. He’ll only care about wanting your attention.”
    “You’re right. Eli will be eager for me—at least his stomach,
jah?”
Even hearing his name made her smile. Yes, her baby was a wonderful-gut addition to her life. In her opinion, he made their family complete. She loved Jonathan’s Mary and Hannah like her own, and loved her husband with her whole heart. But there had been a small portion of her being that had wanted a baby of her own. She’d enjoyed her pregnancy as much as possible—and nowlooked, with Eli by her side, with wonder at all the world. He was a happy baby, easy-going and agreeable.
    She had so very much to praise God for.
    But she couldn’t help but contrast her good fortune with Melody. She no longer heard the woman’s cries, but that didn’t ease Katie’s conscience. She herself had spent a night or two in tears, muffling her sounds so no one else would hear her. “Jonathan, I feel so sorry for our guest.”
    “I know. But her problems aren’t ours, Katie.”
    “Now I feel so terrible … for ever resenting her staying here.”
    “It wasn’t a personal thing,” he said lightly. “I’m sure she would understand that.”
    “But still, it was wrong of me. I had a plan in my head and it was getting changed. You know how that makes me feel.”
    “Irritated.” He pulled the covers back. “Now, will you turn off the lamp and join me?”
    After carefully folding the Christmas quilt and hiding it in a drawer, she turned off the lamp and crawled into bed. Instead of feeling icy cold sheets, the bed was warm and inviting, thanks to her husband’s presence.
    As he wrapped his arms around her, she whispered, “How do you think I can help Melody?”
    “I don’t know. If she’s been crying a lot, she has more problems than we might ever be able to solve.” He paused, letting Katie know that he was still thinking. “Perhaps you could talk to her about Eli? About your experiences with labor and delivery and caring for a newborn? The onlything we do know is that she will soon be holding her own baby in her arms.”
    “That is
gut
advice, husband.” She had been anxious about the unknown.
    “I am full of good advice,” he teased. “Such as, we need to stop talking and go to sleep.”
    She snuggled closer and let her eyes drift shut. There, in the bedroom she grew up in, her life was full and joyous. She had so much to be grateful for.
    Why had she worried so much about a stranger taking her joy? As her husband’s deep breaths turned into gentle snores, she promised herself to reach out to their guest some more.
    After all, she was so blessed, it was the least she could