“So, Natalie, where are you living now?” Leah asked in the firmest voice she could muster. “I can’t possibly let Betsy go with you if you’ve not got a place for—”
“I’m at my parents’ house, on the other side of Morning Star,” Natalie replied quickly. “I’m ready to be responsible for my baby. Honest.”
Leah felt as though she might faint. She closed her eyes to lean against the kitchen counter, struggling to do the right thing. “When you brought Betsy here, you didn’t leave us any bottles or diapers or clothing. Do you have those things for her?” she asked. “Betsy’s been doing well—growing like a weed—on milk from my goats. What will you be feeding her?”
“I’ve got a can of formula powder out in the car,” Natalie quickly assured her. “But hey, if you could give me some clothes and diapers and stuff, I could sure use them.”
Adeline stared incredulously. “Leah, you can’t be serious!”
“You know Natalie can’t take gut care of Betsy! She doesn’t even have clothes for her,” Alice chimed in, placing her fists on her hips. “Why should we let her take a poor, helpless baby—”
“Because she’s Betsy’s mother, and a baby belongs with her mamm,” Leah put in, somehow managing not to burst into tears at the mere thought of what she had to do. “If—if you girls will help me pack the clothes and bottles, this will go easier. Faster.”
Not waiting for their reply, Leah turned to go upstairs before she lost her nerve. Her heart was banging against her rib cage and the staircase blurred as her eyes filled with tears, but she knew Jude would make the same decision, even though he’d loved Betsy as his own child since her mysterious appearance.
He’ll be devastated when he comes home and finds that Betsy’s gone, she thought as she entered the bedroom. Leah heard the twins speaking loudly and none too politely to Natalie downstairs in the kitchen, so she quickly emptied the drawers of the cloth diapers, onesies, and little dresses her mother had so lovingly sewn. She didn’t want Betsy to have time to get upset by the girls’ confrontational talk—and she knew she’d cave in with despair if she stopped to think about what she was doing. She found a big plastic bin in the hall closet and stuffed the clothes into it.
Downstairs, Leah tucked as many baby bottles as would fit inside the bin and snapped its lid shut. She couldn’t look at Betsy in Natalie’s arms—didn’t dare ask to hold her one last time, for fear she’d be unable to let go of the little girl who’d so effortlessly filled her heart and her days this past month. And if Betsy sees me crying for her—or won’t release me to go with Natalie—we’ll all get more upset.
“All right, Natalie, let’s go. Let’s get this over with,” Leah whispered as she hurried toward the door with the bin. Summoning every ounce of strength she had, she headed outside toward the run-down car, sensing she would regret this decision—would mourn this day—for the rest of her life.
But she was doing the right thing. In the Bible story about the two women who’d each begged King Solomon for a disputed baby, hadn’t the baby’s real mother loved the child enough to give it up after the king had threatened to cut the child in half?
Leah reached the car and flung open a back door so she could stuff the bin into the backseat. The car smelled musty and was littered with food wrappers, but that wasn’t her immediate concern. “Don’t leave yet,” she rasped as Natalie came along behind her with the baby. “I still have your basket. She—she can ride in it instead of bouncing around loose on the seat.”
Somehow Leah made it to the house and then to the car again. As Natalie laid Betsy in the towel-lined basket, Leah felt as though this girl had just ripped her world to shreds. When the baby began to cry and reach for her, Leah turned away and held herself. “I—I wish you joy and God’s blessings as you raise your beautiful little girl,” she blurted out. “We love her more than you’ll ever know. Denki for sharing her with us.”
Leah rushed back to the kitchen and fell into a chair—but the emotional toll of giving up baby Betsy propelled her to the bathroom, sick to her stomach. When she’d stopped vomiting, she stumbled weakly to her chair at the table again. The twins were so upset with her that they’d forgotten all about baking cookies.
“This is just wrong, Leah,” Alice cried out. “Can’t you see that?”
“Natalie has no clue about raising a baby!” Adeline added vehemently.
Leah understood their criticisms, but she tried to help them understand her reasoning. “Natalie gave us such a gift, entrusting her baby to us—think about what a hard choice she made, and how tough her life’s been since she had a baby out of wedlock,” she insisted softly. “We’ve become a stronger family because Betsy was here, because we all wanted her to grow and be healthy. We need to keep Natalie and Betsy in our prayers, and be grateful for the time we had with Betsy. She pulled us together, girls.”
“And now Natalie’s tearing us apart!” Adeline put in angrily.
Alice started for the door. “We’re going after her. We’ve got to make her see reason.”
The slam of the back door made Leah wince. She admired the twins’ fierce need to retrieve Betsy—and it warmed her heart to see how far the girls had come since the baby’s arrival, when they’d wanted nothing to do with her. Yet she felt Natalie deserved a chance to raise her child. Natalie would make mistakes and some questionable decisions, no doubt. But what parent didn’t?
Stevie was in the front room crying, but Leah didn’t yet have the strength to
