Pride goeth before a fall in a haughty spirit before destruction.
And where had her pride gotten her? Nowhere fast. And now it was as if she was daring those around her to censor her. Pride could do that.
She thought she’d been ready to be on her own, but these feelings showed her how much she still had to grow. How much she still had to learn.
Her next breath caught in her throat as the pain seared across her once again.
False labor, she told herself. Too much stress. Too much walking. Too much cold. But the pain didn’t begin and end as quickly as it had before. Something about it was different. She didn’t have time to determine exactly what it was before she felt the warm gush between her legs. Her waters had broken.
The baby was coming.
Chapter Fourteen
Levi jerked awake, unsure at first what had disturbed him. Wasn’t Puddles in the kitchen? Was she having her puppies? Or was it just the fact that Tillie Gingerich was upstairs in one of his guest rooms that made him feel something was off?
Or maybe he had been dreaming.
He lay back on his pillow and listened to the ice hitting the frosty window just as he had when he went to bed. It was a bad storm for sure. By now, most all the trees had to be encased in ice. Much more and the limbs would start breaking off. It would make for slow traveling tomorrow, if anyone could get out at all. And that meant another day of Tillie Gingerich and her rounded belly that reminded him of all that he had lost.
He closed his eyes again, exhaled, and tried to relax. Then he heard it.
Was it the wind? That low keening sound? The wind through the trees covered in ice, maybe. Or Puddles. As cold as it was, he needed to get up and check on the dog. He threw back the covers and lit the lantern he kept by his bed. Then he slipped into his housecoat and house shoes and made his way to the kitchen.
Puddles looked up at him with those adoring brown eyes as he entered the room. But she didn’t get up. Her belly was still swollen with pups and she thumped her tail against the floor as he came near. He reached down and scratched her behind the ears, and she licked his hand affectionately. “Good girl,” he crooned. She thumped her tail harder. Puddles was fine. Must’ve been the wind. Or the simple fact that Tillie Gingerich had wound him up to where he was hearing things.
One last pat to the dog’s head, and Levi shuffled back to his room. Yet before he could go inside, he heard it again, that low sound somewhere between the creak of his barn door and a strangled cry. But he could hear it better in the hallway, and it sent his pulse racing. Was he just being anxious? Or was there someone in trouble?
Tillie.
Somehow he knew. Something was wrong with Tillie.
His heart lodged in his throat as he ran up the stairs and down the hall to where she slept.
He raised his hand to knock on her door. But stopped. What if he was being overly anxious?
The sound came again, and this time it raised the hairs on his arms. It was coming from inside the room.
He knocked on the door, the sound unnaturally loud in the silent house. “Tillie?”
“Levi?” His name sounded as if it had been wrenched from between her clenched teeth.
Something was wrong. “I’m coming in.”
She made another noise; he couldn’t tell if it was consent or not. Whatever it was, she sounded like she was in trouble, and like she needed someone immediately.
He pushed into the room, his lantern casting shadows across it. He swept the light around the room, stopping when it reached the bed. Tillie was there, hunched up against the headboard. Her knees were raised, her arms wrapped around them. Even in the dim light he could see the beads of perspiration despite the chill in the house.
He stopped.
“The baby,” she panted. “The baby is coming.”
He had never seen anything like it in his life. His thoughts went in so many different directions, then finally he settled on the one that seemed most logical. He was halfway down the stairs before he remembered they were in the middle of a storm. He had to think this through a little more. He couldn’t get the horse out in this. He supposed he could run to his nearest neighbors’ and use the phone to call for an ambulance. Though he didn’t know if they could get out in times like this either.
“Levi!”
She needed him.
He turned and raced back up the stairs and into the room where Tillie labored. But he could hardly step foot into the room. It was too fully ingrained in him: this was women’s territory.
Yet there were no women around.
“I need,” she panted. “I need . . . you.” She reached out a hand toward him. He stepped into the room and could now see that tears were streaming down her face. Still she beckoned him to come closer.
Unsure of what to do, he hooked a hand under the desk chair and pulled it close to the bed.
Still her hand reached for him. He reached back, offering her his fingers. She clutched them in a deathlike grip, and he felt the bones pop. Then she leaned forward as if bearing down. Never in his life . . .
Was this
