“How did the gardening go?” Eli asked, not missing the dirt on her hands, nor minding it.
“I wanted a basket for Dannan and Corina, so I stayed out a bit longer. The weeds are trying to take over the beans, but I think I’ve gotten the best of them. Eli,” she said, changing directions rather swiftly, “does it bother you that Iris hasn’t brought Corina up here?”
“I thought I would meet her today,” he replied, sounding only slightly disappointed. “And the day’s not over yet, but her welfare is more important than my meeting her.”
Scottie nodded, not surprised he felt that way. She knew he would love to see and meet her, but a too-thin, slightly bent, bedridden man whose hair needed cutting just now might be a little scary to Corina’s small heart.
“I’ve got to clean up,” Scottie announced, “and help with dinner.”
“Coming to eat with me?” Eli asked.
“Absolutely,” Scottie told him on her way out the door.
“Come in,” Troy welcomed Dannan at dinnertime, having heard from Conner that he’d started the morning in a rough way.
“Thank you, Troy.”
“Well, Dannan,” Reese spoke from the doorway of the dining room. “I didn’t expect to see you.”
“Why was that?” he asked cautiously.
“You’re certainly welcome,” Conner put in, having come to his wife’s shoulder.
“Yes, Dannan,” Reese clarified, having heard the way she sounded. “I just assumed you’d be with the Petersons.”
“Iris has given me an open invitation—I think I told you that—but I wanted to give Corina this first day on her own.”
“Is it hard not to go?” Conner asked as they were each finding a chair in the dining room.
Dannan’s smile was wry. “I’m just waiting for when I think she’ll be napping. Then I’ll check.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Troy encouraged.
Reese had seen to another place setting, and just minutes later they had prayed and begun to pass the steaming dishes. It was a great meal—Reese could always be counted on for that—but as with everything else that day, Dannan’s mind was half on Corina.
“Here you go,” Finn offered, setting a cup of water next to Corina and gaining a shy smile. “Does your doll have a name?” he asked.
She gave a small shake of her head, and Finn just smiled at her.
It was only the three of them. Scottie dined with Eli, and Corina, happily situated on a box for height, remained at the worktable in the kitchen with Iris and Finn.
“These potatoes are good,” Finn commented.
“Um hm.” Iris’ face was calm as she agreed, but Finn caught the pleasure in her voice.
Corina gave a small cough, and Iris came to complete attention.
“Easy now,” she cautioned, leaning toward her. “Did it go down?”
Eyes streaming as she tried to catch her breath, Corina coughed until she could find air and then sat still while Iris wiped her little face.
“Are you all right?” Finn asked.
She didn’t respond but drank from the cup he offered. A little bit of a shudder, accompanied by a huge breath, lifted her frame before she took the spoon Iris handed her. The whole action made her look very tired and vulnerable.
When Corina started to eat again, Iris and Finn exchanged a look, their eyes silently communicating that Corina MacKay was a treasure.
“We have an early morning appointment with Douglas,” Doyle informed Cathy when she stopped in to get his dinner dishes.
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Why so soon?” she asked.
“Well, Douglas stopped in on his way to see Eli, and I asked him.”
Cathy looked at him. She had been resigned earlier, but now she wasn’t sure about this.
“What’s wrong?” Doyle pressed her.
“I’m not sure what we’re seeing him about. Why don’t you go on your own?”
“I thought you had questions.”
He was right, she did. But at the moment she couldn’t recall a thing.
“I’m not going to cancel,” Doyle said, his voice calm and matter-of-fact. “If you remember by the morning, fine. If not, I’m sure we’ll find something to talk about.”
“Doesn’t Douglas have better things to do than visit with us?”
Doyle was on the verge of telling her that Douglas had been very pleased about meeting with them, but someone was coming in the door. It took a while, and by the time he finished, Cathy was back at the house. Doyle was quite certain that the subject would resurface the moment he closed and went home for tea.
“She’s sound asleep,” Iris informed Eli an hour after dinner.
“How did she do this morning? How did you do?”
“We got along just fine. She asked for Dannan when she grew sleepy but didn’t cry for him.”
“He’ll be glad to know that. What did she think of the town set?”
“I don’t have that out yet. Just a few toys at a time makes them all the more special.”
Eli’s smile for her was fond. “You should have married and had a family, Iris.”
That woman only chuckled and reminded him it was time for Douglas to arrive. “I’ll send him up” was her parting remark, leaving Eli on his own.
“You’re looking chipper,” Douglas greeted when he gained Eli’s room, shaking his hand as he always did.
“I knew you were coming,” Eli teased, his Bible ready on his lap.
Both men valued these weekly visits. Eli was given a personal sermon, and Douglas had a student who was keen and hungry for God’s Word.
“Did Scottie tell you about Corina and the bee?”
“As much as she could. She was feeling quite emotional.”
Douglas nodded in understanding. “I’m still wondering about the way I handled it, but no one has expressed upset. At least, not yet.”
“I think your comment, the one about how God feels when we sin, was very appropriate. I’ve only met Dannan a few times, and he doesn’t seem the type to wear his feelings on his sleeve.”
“I think you’re right, but I wanted to be sensitive to the feelings of others as well.”
“That’s kind of you, Douglas, but the only person I would worry about in that situation is Dannan.”
This gave Douglas pause, and after a moment’s thought, he wondered if Eli might be right. Dannan and Corina were the focus just now.
A moment later, Douglas realized he didn’t want to spend all his time with Eli on this subject. He opened his Bible and the men began.
Well over an hour later, as Douglas made his way downstairs, he heard Corina’s voice. He knew he was always welcome in the kitchen and stepped through to say hello.
“Well, look who’s here,” Iris said to her charge.
“Hi, Corina,” Douglas greeted her, glad to see recognition in her eyes.
“Tea,” she said to him, handing him a small cup when he drew near.
“Thank you,” Douglas just managed, wanting to laugh at her serious face. He noticed that her doll had tea as well, and it looked as if she had played in this spot all day.
“How is it going?” Douglas asked Iris.
“Very well. She’s a good girl.”
Douglas smiled down at the little girl, thinking it was quite true. Life had turned wrong side up for her, but as with most children, she was remarkably resilient.
“Thank you for the tea, Corina,” Douglas said as he handed back the cup, stooping a bit to be at her level.
Corina looked up at him and began to speak. Douglas caught Danna, dolly, a word that sounded like teepee, missus, and even Porina Joy. Attending as best he was able, he smiled all the while.
“Did you get any of that?” he asked Iris.
“As a matter of fact, yes. Once you spend a little time with her, she’s quite clear.”
“What did she say?”
“She makes tea for Dannan and her doll, and he
calls her Corina Joy and kisses her.”
Douglas had to laugh. It all made sense now. He thanked Corina again for the tea, bid Iris a warm goodbye, and made for the door. It occurred to him that he usually saw both Scottie and Finn at the Peterson house, and neither had been in attendance. Nevertheless, it wasn’t long before he was back on the green, a place he always used to remind him to pray for the folks in Tucker Mills, effectively putting the folks at the Peterson house in the back of his mind.
Dannan had not made it back to the house all day. He had not planned it that way, but just about the time he was ready to peek in on Corina, he was needed across town. The visit had taken longer than he expected, and he knew when he had finished that it was much too late; she would have been awake from her nap.
But now it was finally time. Dannan knew he might be called away in the evening, or at any time during the night, but he planned to deal with that if and when the moment arrived. His long legs wasted no time gaining the Peterson home, and he knocked loudly on the front door.
Iris must have been expecting him because she opened the door, but the first person Dannan saw was Corina.
“Danna!” that little girl squealed as she ran for his legs. Dannan scooped her into his arms, having to restrain himself from squeezing the life out of her. His eyes closed as her little arms surrounded his neck, and his heart beat almost painfully. He finally shifted her in his arms to look at her face.
“How was your day?”
By way of an answer, she hunched her shoulders and smiled with her whole body, her little hands patting his cheeks before hugging his neck again.
“How did it go?” Dannan asked Iris, who felt her own emotions close to the surface.
“It went fine. She asked for you at nap time but fell asleep so swiftly that she wasn’t upset.”
Dannan looked back at Corina, who didn’t appear interested in leaving his arms anytime soon.
“Why don’t you bring an extra set of clothes tomorrow, Dannan?” Iris suggested.
“I’ll plan on that, and will you please tell Eli that if he has time, I’ll be up to see him when I come in the morning.”
“I’ll tell him. Corina didn’t meet him. I’ll let you handle that.”
Dannan thanked her sincerely, instructed Corina to thank her, and then went on his way, holding tightly to the little girl. A part of him wondered how they’d survived the day. He wasn’t actually sure, but he was thankful that they had.
“You can’t do this every day,” Iris, finding Scottie in the kitchen, told her in plain terms.
Scottie turned away from the worktable, where she was working on the cake for tea, and looked at her.
“I don’t plan to, Iris, but I wanted to keep out of the way this first time. She’s going to be a permanent part of our household. I have plenty of time to get to know her. Right now, she needs this time with you.”
“That’s the full reason?” Iris pressed.
“Iris,” Scottie replied, growing a bit stern, “my heart is not made of stone. Don’t you think I ache when I see that little girl? If it’s selfish of me to keep my distance this first day to save my own heart, then call me selfish!”
Iris kept her mouth shut. She could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen Scottie grow cross with her or anyone else. Clearly this was sharply affecting the younger woman, and Iris had completely missed it.
“You let me know when you’re ready to meet her,” Iris said.
“I’ll do that” was Scottie’s reply, and that was the end of it.
“What’s the verse tonight?” Dannan asked of Corina, putting her down a bit early for her sake as well as his own.
Corina’s little face scrunched up with concentration for a moment before she said, “ ‘Heavens delare the lory of God, and the firnament showdith his handiness.’ ”
Dannan, always delighted with her pronunciation, said, “I learned that verse when I was a little boy. You did very well.”
“You know?”
“Yes, do you want me to say it?”
Corina nodded and watched his face as he recited from Psalm 19, “ ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handywork.’ ”
“Where’s Mama?” Corina asked without warning, and Dannan wondered again what he should be saying. He improvised.
“She’s with Papa.”
Corina didn’t seem upset or at all confused by this, but Dannan wasn’t sure if it was the right thing.
“Time to sleep,” he told her, watching as she climbed into bed. At the moment it felt like he’d been doing this for years. The brevity of the time was unreal to him. “Goodnight, Corina.”
Her arms went around his neck when he bent to kiss her, and on impulse he decided to sit on the floor until she fell asleep. It didn’t take long, and when she was out, he went downstairs to read in the parlor, or at least that was the plan. What he ended up doing was trying to pray, mostly asking God to help him in this new role as a father.
“You look distracted,” Alison mentioned to Douglas after tea.
“I was just thinking about how we’re doing as a church family. It’s too easy to look good on the outside but still manage to harbor sin in our hearts.”
“Did something in particular get you to thinking that?”
“I’ve been thinking about our hearts. You won’t find our flock getting drunk and carousing around town, but you might find us unthankful, not humble, unforgiving, and forgetting to pray. All things that are so easy to hide if we aren’t working to know each other and willing to be genuine about who we are.
“And I’m not talking about everyone else, Alison. I’m talking about the Muldoon family. Are we keeping the standard high, or have we let it slip just a little?”
Alison put her head on his shoulder, wanting to be close.
“We know when we sin,” she said after a moment of quiet. “God doesn’t hide His expectations from us.”
“I wonder if there may be even just a shadow of turning in us, though.”
“The heart can be a deceitful place, but if we treasure the Word there, God will show us where we’re stained.”
Douglas put an arm around her, adding a little more to what she said.
“We have to be on constant watch, Alison. We can’t be lazy in any area, or Satan will gain a foothold.”
“ ‘Wherefore, my beloved,’ ” Alison quoted quietly from Philippians, “ ‘as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.’ ”
The two fell quiet with their thoughts for a time, but Douglas suddenly felt restless.
“Let’s gather the kids,” he suggested. “I want to talk to everyone and see how they’re doing.”
Alison went upstairs and Douglas headed outside. Within ten minutes the Muldoons were seated around the parlor, and the topic was holiness.
Jace put Valerie back into her cradle. For some reason, Maddie was exhausted. She had nursed the baby in bed and actually fallen to sleep. Valerie was asleep too, so Jace just moved her and climbed back into bed beside his wife.
“The baby!” Maddie started.
“She’s back in her cradle.”
“I’m sorry,” Maddie said on a sigh.
“It’s okay. Go back to sleep.”
But that wasn’t so easy now. Her heart had tried to leap from her chest, and she now felt wide awake.
“Jace?”
“Yeah.”
“I figured something out.”
“What’s that?”
“I want control. I want God to do for me just as I ask. When I pray that we’ll be here to raise Val, I demand it. And when I pray that Cathy will humble herself before God, I demand it. Douglas has talked about praying in God’s will, but I haven’t really taken it in. This is what he’s talking about. I can ask, and I can ask in belief, but the ultimate choice is God’s.”
“And the choice to trust God is ours,” Jace
added, glad Maddie had told him what she was thinking.
“Yes,” Maddie agreed on a sigh, feeling the fatigue roll over her again.
Jace was in the same state. Long hours in the fields had taken their toll. There was still much to discuss on the subject, but it would have to wait until morning.
“I’ve been thinking about God and death,” Cathy told Douglas in the morning. He had come to breakfast at their house, and though it had taken most of the meal for her to admit it, she had remembered her question in the night.
“And how does it seem to you, Cathy? Is God in charge of it all or not?”
“I think He must be, but we always give Him praise. Why can we never blame Him?”
“I think we do blame Him,” Douglas stated. “Every time we don’t thank Him and recognize the sovereign work of His hand in our lives, we end up blaming Him and having the view that He’s not doing His job.
“Now, Cathy,” Douglas went on swiftly. “I don’t think that’s what you meant, so I won’t go with that thought right now, but I will tell you that our only response to God can be thanks.”
“Even when someone we love dies?”
“Yes, and the reason is all tied into who God is, how much we can trust Him, and how much He’s in control.”
“I know that He knows more than we do,” Cathy said, “but it’s hard to think that He would want His children in pain.”
“It’s how He gets our attention. If this old sinful world is too easy to live in, we might forget that this is not the final place.”
“Eternity is hard to imagine,” Cathy admitted.
“I think you’re right. Everything here is so temporal. Everything here ends or dies. Life that goes on forever baffles the human mind, but we can trust what God has told us about that in His Word—”
“That trust in God’s Son means eternal life with Him,” Cathy supplied, telling both Douglas and her husband that she had been listening.