The Widow Finds Love (Mail Order Bride Series) by Susan Leigh Carlton

bedside, she said, “Sarah, I’m going to tell you something nobody knows about except Clint, Arthur and me, not even Mama.  I just told Clint this morning.  I had a miscarriage in between Micah and Paul.  I was so ashamed, I thought it was all my fault, but over time, I realized it was God’s will and not something I had done.  You can see, we went on and had Paul, but we would have had three sons.
     
    “Arthur made a little box and we buried it in the rose bed.  It was hard, and I cried a lot.  I still get all weepy when I let myself think about it.  It’s over and done with, but I lost a son and I can never forget it.  You can get through this and I want to help.”
     
    Her eyes moist with tears, Sarah clasped Suzy’s hands between hers and said, “Thank you for sharing this with me.  It must have been hard for you, but I appreciate it, and I’ll take you up on the help.  I need all I can get.”
     
    Both of the women were crying.  Suzy wiped her eyes on her apron and said, Eat your food before it gets stone cold.  I’ll go see to the girls.”
     
    “Thank you, Suzy,” Sarah said. 
     

Chapter 20:  A New Addition
    It was three months after her miscarriage when Sarah said, “Clint, I think I’m expecting again.  My bleeding hasn’t started.  I think we’re going to have a baby.  We’d better go in and see Doctor Stone.  I don’t want to take any chances.  I want this baby,” she said fiercely…
     
    “I don’t want to tell the girls for a while yet.  I don’t want to jinx this and have them get their hopes up too,” Sarah said.
     
    “Nothing’s going to go wrong this time.  We’re going to have a big old Texas boy,” he said.
     
    “All the same, I’d rather not tell them yet,” she said.
     
    * * *
     
    “I want this baby, Doctor.  I need this baby.”
     
    “And you’ll have it,” said Doctor Stone after completing his examination.  “You’ll carry it to term and you’ll have a robust and healthy child.”
     
    “I hope so, Doctor.  I sincerely hope so.”
     
    At her six month checkup, Doctor Stone said, “Everything looks good to me.  Your weight is good, your blood pressure is good.  You seem to be in perfect health.”  He gave her the same report in each of the following months.
     
    Sarah was in bed with her two daughters.  She took Rebecca’s hand and placed it on her belly.  The baby moved.  “Did you feel that?” she asked.  Rebecca nodded her head.  “That’s your little brother stretching.”
     
    Rebecca’s eyes widened in wonder.  “He moved again,” she said.
     
    “Let me, I want to feel my brother move, Mama,”  Cassie said.
     
    Sarah pulled her dress up where her expanded belly was exposed.  “Now, watch closely,” she said.  A small ridge formed and moved slowly across her belly.  “That’s his foot moving,” she said. 
     
    “Really?” asked Cassie.  “When is he going to get borned?” asked Cassie.
     
    “It will be between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Sarah said.  “Won’t it be nice to have a new baby for Christmas?”
     
    “Yes,” chorused the girls.
     
    “What is it, Cassie?” Sarah asked, seeing concern on her face.
     
    “Will you still love Becky and me, when you get a new baby?”
     
    “Well, of course,” Sarah said.  “Don’t you know nothing can take your place in my heart?  You two are the most precious things in my life and you always will be.  I have plenty of love for everyone.”
     
    Six weeks later, Jonathon Clinton Thomas announced his entrance into the world with a loud cry as the doctor handed him to Emily to be wiped clean.  Emily wiped his face and arms, and then wrapped him in a blue receiving blanket.  “Your son is perfect, Sarah.  Ten fingers and ten toes, and everything moves.  You hold him, I’m going outside to tell Clint and your daughters,” Emily said.
     
    “You have a son, Clint.  He’s a healthy, strong boy.  Sarah is tired, but she is