"Well, I'm sure he's better. We must tell the doctor when he comes. It's a good indication when they begin to take notice."
She went over to the crib and laid her hand lightly on the little forehead.
"His skin feels better, too. Yes, little boy, you'll be well enough to enjoy Christmas. Just one week off today, isn't it? That's time enough to get a pretty good start. Only we'll have to be very careful that he doesn't get another setback. Well, now, young man, I suppose you're reading for your breakfast, aren't you?"
"Ahhh!" said the baby quite insistently, and they all laughed.
The nurse hurried away for the bottle, and Rand slipped up beside Dale and put his arm about her.
Dale thrilled to his presence, and her cheeks grew rosy.
"Sweetheart!" he whispered, and then they heard the nurse coming back.
"We're going down to get some breakfast and then out to take a little walk," said Rand to the nurse. "Will that be all right? You won't need us right away, will you?"
"Oh, no, I shan't need you. This young man will sleep a little while after he gets his breakfast, and when he wakes up he'll be having a bit of a bath. No, I shan't need you."
So with radiant faces and eyes full of a great joy the two went off together, and the nurse sat down with the morning paper in a chair beside her, prepared to feed the baby and take a little easy time before she had to get the room "redd up" as she called it, and prepare for the baby's bath, which was still a most careful operation.
The room was very warm and quiet, the food was just to the baby's taste, the nurse was sitting close by. He could see the top of her head as he rolled his eyes dreamily that way, and the little place where the gray hair parted on her pink forehead. She represented comfort and relief from annoying hunger, or cold, or weariness. She was a comfortable thought even as she sat there crackling that paper now and then, and startling him as he drowsed happily off, almost asleep. It was perhaps after all a pleasant world to which he had come, through so much tribulation, although it had been so terribly cold at first. Perhaps it was only a bad dream, that coldness. That cold white stuff that he put his bare little claw into. That world where there was a glaring light above and nobody to help, and then suddenly big strong arms lifted him and bore him away.
Where were those two who had been there to do such nice pleasant things for him? That sweet-faced girl that crooned to him and put him into nice warm water! The big man nearby who fed him nice hot sweet water. And then that bottle the girl gave him!
"Mm-mmm-mmmm!" They knew what to do for a fellow when he had that gone, empty pain in his tummy! They knew how to smile and talk sweet talk, and call him nice names, and make him feel as if somebody loved him again!
His eyelids drooped, and he swallowed soulfully. He rolled his eyes a little and glimpsed the nurse in the offing, and felt drowsy and comfortable and good. Then he dropped off into a sweet oblivion and never knew when the nipple slipped from his repleted lips and the bottle rolled down against the willow side of the crib. The nurse pulled the blanket softly up around his shoulders and took the bottle away, and he was asleep!
But the nurse dropped down with a sigh and finished the paper, and then drowsed off herself, with her head against the soft upholstery of the chair, and really slept until someone knocked at the door sharply, and a youthful voice called out, "Telegram!"
Chapter 16
A kind of strange embarrassment came upon Dale and Rand as they went out into the hall and took the elevator downstairs. A sudden sense of their new relation. A breathlessness at the thought, the memory of the sweetness of their lips upon each other's. The thought of being close and dear and knowing that each cared for the other.
Somehow it didn't seem real yet. Somehow Dale felt as if she must have dreamed it, or if it was true Rand must have merely yielded to an impulse, and that surely he must be sorry. A feeling as if she must give him a chance to escape from what he had done.
He watched her furtively as they went down, noting the sweet outline of her face, the purity of brow and lip and chin, the delicacy of feature, the little curl at the back of her neck that had often lingered in his memory and intrigued his thoughts.
Was it really true, he thought, that she was his? Hadn't he taken advantage of her somehow to have dared to take her in his arms?
Then suddenly she turned and looked up to him with her shy smile, and a glory of joy came into his face. He reached out quickly and caught her hand that lay near his own, and thrilled at the touch!
He dared to grasp the hand close, and looked defiantly toward the imperturbable back of the elevator boy who was attending strictly to business and wasn't seeing them at all. And was it fancy that her fingers curled about his and almost nestled there, shy, almost fearful little fingers?
She stepped demurely out of the elevator, with a shy glance upward for his guidance as to where they should go.
"I know a nice new place to eat," he said gravely, lingering an instant in the lobby. "Or, are you in a hurry? We can go to the restaurant here, but I would like to show you another place."
"Lovely!" said Dale. "That will be nice. I don't think there is any special hurry. The nurse has had a nice long sleep, and she didn't seem to need us."
He led her out and took a taxi, and soon they were in a pleasant quiet restaurant where the waiters came and went silently, and there were restful walls of tapestry, groups of palms and ferns, and an air of intimacy and privacy.
"Now," he said, "you are going to have a good breakfast. You look as white as a sheet, and I don't believe you've been eating enough to keep a flea alive."
She laughed happily. It seemed so new and altogether lovely to have anyone care what she did, or whether she ate.
"Why, I think I've been eating all right," she said thoughtfully. "You see, there were two or three days when there wasn't much time to eat. And then we were too anxious to feel like eating. At least I was. I felt as if I had the whole responsibility on me, though I suppose the nurse thought she really had it. But I couldn't help feeling as if it were mine, although I didn't always know what to do when the baby was so desperately ill. And it seemed to me that if anything happened to that dear baby before you came back I should just die! I never thought I could love a little stranger baby that way. It was a beautiful surprise to me to find a thrill like that in my heart. But sometimes I got to thinking about him, and wondering, if he did get well, how I could ever bear to part with him. I somehow felt that you loved him that way, too, and you wouldn't want to give him up to me even if I could find a way to take care of him."
Rand was watching her keenly, tenderly, his eyes lighting at her words. It seemed he could see her lovely spirit in her eyes.
"You are dear!" he said in a low voice, an expressive look in his fine eyes. "You are more beautiful of spirit than I had even hoped, and that was a great deal! Now, dearest, I don't want to be insistent, nor to rush you into something you do not feel ready for, but I wish you could feel your way clear for us to be married right away. Sometimes it seems as if I could not wait to have you with me all the time."
Her face kindled wistfully.
"Oh, I know, I feel that way, too, for you are wonderful, and I've been so lonely. But I tell you, you don't really know me. You might be greatly disappointed after you got to know me better. My mother used to say that if people were not in such a rush there wouldn't be so many divorces. I couldn't bear to think you would grow weary of me."
Rand's face grew almost stern.
"That isn't possible!" he said. "I have an indelible picture in my heart of you with a little freezing child in your arms, and your face filled with a loving motherhood that I can never forget. You are the only girl I have ever seen who has stirred my heart, the only one I ever thought I wanted as my lifelong companion, and I feel, whatever you may feel about it, that we have been brought together in such an unusual way that it is a sign God meant us to belong to each other. Yet, of course, if you do not feel that way, it wouldn't
be right for me to urge you. I don't want you to make any mistakes and spoil your beautiful life."
Her face suddenly sparkled with eagerness.
"Oh, I don't feel that I would ever be making a mistake to join my life to yours. Not on my part. For----" Her eyes dropped down for an instant and then lifted and looked at him steadily, the gorgeous color rising in her cheeks. "For you see," she went on, keeping her eyes upon his, with all her lovely soul in evidence, "I knew several days ago that you were the only man in the world I could ever marry and that I loved you with all my heart. But I couldn't ever think you could possibly feel that way about me."
There was wistfulness in her eyes and voice, and his glance met hers without wavering.
"And why not?" he asked in that low, husky voice of his that demanded the truth. "Why couldn't you think I could care for you that way? I'm quite sure that others must have loved you, and perhaps told you so. Why was I so void of understanding?"
Her face grew rosy once more, the telltale blood flushing her cheeks, her eyes owning to the truth.
"Tell me!" he demanded. "Isn't it so? You have had other lovers, haven't you? And you have loved them, perhaps? Maybe still love someone?" His eyes were compelling hers.
"No!" she said sharply. "No, I have never loved them."
"But there have been other men who have loved you. Please tell me. Let us get them off the carpet, out of our way. So that if possible they shall no longer stand between us!"
"Oh, they could never stand between us," said Dale breathlessly, "because, you see, I never cared for them, never even thought I did. It was all so silly. One was only a boy in high school. A nice enough boy, but I never enjoyed being with him. He was sort of a bore. Another was a young man in my father's business. He thought he knew everything and condescended to me. He wanted to advise me and adjust me to his way of thinking. I came away from my hometown partly to get away from him."
"And the third one?" His eyes were still steadily on hers.
Dale laughed.
"The third one isn't a lover at all. He is just an awful nuisance! He must be twice my age, and he thinks it is foolish to talk about love. He says that is a very poor foundation for marriage. He has just made up his mind that I would be a good wife after he gets me what he calls 'molded' and 'trained.' He lives in a fine house and seems to have a lot of money, and he wants me for a 'hostess.' He has even traced me to this place, and written, and been to call, and I cannot get rid of him. I almost wished I could run away and hide somewhere. But I wouldn't call any of them lovers, would you?"
Rand's face broke into subdued joy.
"Perhaps not, unless maybe the high school boy, but he'll get over it. As for the man from your father's office, I think I could soon show him where to get off. But the rich guy who wants to train you, I'd like to wallop him!"
"I wish you would," said Dale with a twinkle. "If he turns up again I'll send for you. His name is Arliss Webster."
"Well, if Artless comes around again I'll be right there on the job. Now, is that all?"
"That's all," smiled Dale.
"So! Having disposed of my three rivals let us go on to other more cheerful topics. When will you marry me?"
"Oh!" said Dale a great joy growing in her face. "Oh, do you think we should consider that, now, before the baby is perfectly well?"
"Why not? Don't you think we could better take care of him if we were together? I don't want any more Mrs. Becks nosing around in our affairs and saying things about you, do you?"
"Oh, no!" said Dale catching her breath. "But--that's not a reason for getting married, is it?"
Rand sobered.
"It's a reason," he said, "perhaps not the reason, for I still belong to the company of those who consider the sentimental side of marriage important, and I agree with you that love is the great important reason for marriage. And so I am putting it up to you. Do you love me enough to want to marry me, or do you not?"
"I do!" said Dale solemnly as if it were a sacrament. "My dear mother taught me that was the important thing when I was only a very little girl. She impressed it upon me that I must never marry a man that I did not love with my whole heart. She made it second to only one other thing."
"Yes?" said Rand, lifting his head quickly and eyeing her with a startled look. "What was that?"
"That was that I must never marry a man who had not accepted my Christ as his own personal Savior, and was living for Him and putting Him first."
The room was very still. There were few others in the restaurant and those far away. Dale sat very quietly, with her eyes downcast as if a thing of great moment were in the balance.
Rand was looking at her with awe. Tenderly he spoke with great humility.
"Well," he said, "two days ago I could not have qualified in that respect, I'm afraid. But I had a talk with God last night, and I told Him I was His."
Slowly she looked up with a dear, trembling faith in her eyes.
"I was sure about it the night we prayed together," she said. Her voice was so soft that it was hardly audible, but Rand reached out his hand gently and enfolded hers in it.
"Dear," he said, "that's true! I didn't know what was happening in me that night, but I guess God was already working on me, even then."
The shining look that passed from one to the other and back again was one that the angels must have rejoiced to see.
"And now," he said at last, as they rose from the table, "what shall we do about this marriage? Do you feel you must wait and think it over further?"
"No," said Dale quickly, "I'm sure it's right. I know it's the most happy thing that could happen to me, and I'm ready to carry it out whenever you think is the best time."
They walked quietly, thoughtfully out of that restaurant, and as they paused in the doorway for Dale to put on her coat, Rand said gently, "Well, what would you think of our going over to the courthouse and getting a license? Then it would be ready in case we wanted it soon. That doesn't commit us to an immediate marriage, of course. We can talk it over later."
So they went and got the license and came away with a new look on their faces, a new feeling of the tie that bound them to each other.
As they went back to the apartment house Rand looked at his watch.
"It's later than I thought," he said, startled. "We'd better hurry up and relieve the nurse. But by and by perhaps there will be an opportunity for us to get together and make a few immediate plans. Think it over, dear heart, and let me know just what you want."
She flashed a beautiful look, and his own in answer was like a benediction.
So they went back to the apartment. But when they opened the door and slipped in, tiptoeing as they glimpsed the baby asleep in his crib, they found a most perturbed nurse, going around the room, silently, it is true, but excitedly, and tears flowing down her cheeks!
She turned around and began to tell them, handing out the telegram she had just received and motioning them to come into the tiny kitchen alcove.
"It's my dear old mother!" she said, mopping her red face with the corner of her apron. "She's been in an automobile accident with my brother and his wife, and she's broken her hip and one arm and a rib. She wants me to come to her right away, and I've got to go! Much as I wanted to see you through this case, I've got to go!" And then she gave way to a deluge of tears. "She's the only thing I've got left in this world that's all my own, and I've got to go. I was meaning to retire next year and make her have a happy time for the rest of her years, but now this has come, and I'm not sure if she can ever pull through!"
The nurse dissolved in bitter tears again.
"Why, of course you must go!" said Rand. "What can we do to help you? Where is your mother? Does she live in the city?"
"She lives away out west, Wisconsin it is. There isn't any through train till six o'clock. I won't get there till tomorrow morning, and she's going to be operated on this morning, maybe right now in a few minutes!"
"Well, that's tough luck. But, what d
o you say we try to speak to her on the phone now, if she hasn't been taken out to the operating room yet? Or, if it's too late for that, at least you might be able to get through a message they could give her as soon as she's out of anesthesia, or even before she goes under. Give me the names and addresses and I'll try to put the call through for you."
"Oh, thank you! You're good! I never thought of that. Perhaps there might be time to talk to her yet. They have a phone in every room at that hospital where she is. I nursed there for my first two years. I know it like a book!"
Quietly Rand took the addresses she gave, and went to work to connect with that far hospital. The capable nurse stood by with bated breath and watched, listened, suggested, her tears and her eagerness held in impatience while she waited.
At last they got the connection, and the word came through. No, the patient had not gone down to the operating room yet. Yes, she was conscious and could understand. Yes, she wanted her daughter to come to her, and the attendant nurse reported that a great relief and joy had come to the mother's face when she knew that her daughter would start west that night. Her message was, "You are not to worry. I'll be all right!"
Then the light of hope and restored strength came back to the nurse's face.
"Oh, that's so good to know she's cheerful!" she said, mopping away her tears. "Now, I can take heart and do what I have to do."
"Well, what have you to do before you start? Can't we help you?" asked Rand.
"Why, no, I guess that won't be necessary. I've just got to stop over at my boarding place and pick up my things. They're already pretty well packed. I always leave them so that I could get them in a few minutes anytime. If I leave here about three this afternoon I think that would be time enough. You'll have things you two will have to do if I'm going away. I'll stick by you as long as I can. You'll need to hunt another nurse, I suppose, for it isn't likely I can come back for a long time. I'll be wanting to give Mother all my attention, at least until she is entirely well and able to walk again, if that is possible."