The milk was at a drinkable temperature, but how much did a baby drink at one time? Lacking a bottle, Leah returned to the kitchen and poured some milk into a cereal bowl. No doubt the twins knew a better way to feed a baby, but they were making a point of ignoring her while they cooked, so she didn’t ask their advice. She picked up the eyedropper, but had second thoughts about using it. What if Betsy sucked hard enough to break the glass?
Carefully cradling the baby in her arm, Leah took a spoon and a towel from the kitchen drawers and then retreated to the unlit front room and the comfort of Jude’s cozy corduroy recliner. She set the bowl of milk on the nearby table. Why did the simple act of feeding a baby require so much thought and effort?
You poor thing, having to put up with my clumsiness, Leah thought as she positioned Betsy in the crook of her arm. We both wish your mamm was taking care of you, don’t we?
When Betsy gazed at her, so tiny and trusting, Leah’s heart melted. Somehow she spooned a small amount of milk into the baby’s mouth without spilling it, and when Betsy gulped it eagerly, Leah kept feeding her slowly and methodically. The aromas of bacon, biscuits, and percolating coffee drifted from the kitchen, but it was Jude’s masculine scent in the chair’s corduroy that kept Leah centered and calm. After a while she heard the mudroom door close behind Jude and Stevie. The daily routine was going on around her, yet Leah sat mesmerized, watching Betsy’s bow-shaped lips and eager swallowing.
Stevie approached the recliner slowly, his eyes wide. “She was really hungry, huh?” he whispered.
“Jah, she’s finally slowing down and getting sleepy,” Leah replied. She smiled at the boy as he gazed at the baby’s closing eyes. “Did you wash your hands? We have to be very clean around Betsy.”
“Jah!” Stevie held up his hands, smiling. His mood grew more serious as he gazed at the baby, who was drifting off in Leah’s arms. “Her mamm left her, just like mine did,” he said sadly, stroking the knit hat. “We gotta take gut care of Betsy and be her family now, ain’t so? She really needs us.”
Leah blinked back tears. Stevie’s heartfelt words—and the way Betsy was now breathing deeply, so peacefully—convinced her that God had brought this helpless, innocent child to them to soothe their frazzled souls. Just when Leah had been at wit’s end, wondering how to endure Adeline’s and Alice’s disrespect, a baby had arrived to remind them that the members of the Shetler family depended upon one another, just as all of God’s children looked to Him for support and guidance.
When I’m feeling anxious, God, remind me that You’re in charge and taking care of us, Leah prayed quickly. Bless us all as we try to do what’s best for this precious baby.
Chapter 11
Around noon, Jude returned home. His enclosed double buggy, built to hold an entire family, was so full of borrowed baby necessities that Alice and Adeline had to sit facing each other on the back benches, surrounded by boxes and bins. When he parked near the mudroom door, the girls quickly carried armloads of items inside and he followed them with a bassinet.
“We’ll fix dinner now,” Adeline called out.
“Jah, you and Leah can figure out where to put all this stuff,” Alice chimed in. “We don’t have a clue where you want it.”
As Jude passed through the kitchen and into the front room behind his daughters, he was pleased to see Leah seated on the sofa, holding little Betsy in a blanket, with Stevie leaning against her. The boy quickly put a finger to his lips, signaling for their silence.
The twins stacked their boxes on the floor around the recliner and returned to the kitchen, which gave Jude a moment to drink in the precious sight of his wife and son, both engrossed in the baby who dozed in the cradle of Leah’s bent arm. With her hat off and her thin face framed by a froth of wispy curls, Betsy closely resembled Alice and Adeline when they’d been babies.
Someday that’ll be my child Leah’s holding, he dared to dream as his heart swelled. If You’ll grant me that one favor, Lord, my life will feel wondrously complete.
He had no room to complain to God about the fullness of his present life, yet Jude yearned to expand his family—and the serenity that filled the front room lightened his mood, lifted his hopes. He stopped a few feet in front of the sofa. “Looks like I got here just in time with this bassinet,” he whispered. “Shall I put it in the room next to ours?”
Leah’s expressive eyebrows rose as she watched the twins carry in more plastic bins. “Let’s go upstairs and figure that out,” she said as she scooted to the edge of the couch. “Looks like you came home with quite a haul.”
“Jah, the neighbors are all buzzing like bees now, wondering who abandoned this wee girl,” he said as he offered her a hand up. “Jeremiah was alarmed to hear that such a desperate mother lives hereabouts—and he has no idea who she might be. Stevie,” he added with a smile for his son, “I’d appreciate it if you’d drive the rig into the stable after it’s emptied out, please.”
The boy’s eyes lit up, for he loved to drive the short distances Jude let him navigate around the home place. “Jah, I can do that!” he said in a loud whisper.
Jude gestured for Leah to precede him up the steps with Betsy. When they’d reached the upstairs hallway, he said, “Looks like you three were
