“Can I go home tonight?” Dat asked.
“We’ll see how you do in the next few hours,” the doctor replied.
It turned out he was also dehydrated, so the nurse hooked up an IV and also gave Dat a large glass of water with a lid on it. When asked if he was hungry, Dat said he’d eat if it meant he could go home. The nurse laughed and brought him a tray with a bowl of soup, a small salad, and a slice of bread. Thankfully, he ate.
He appeared so vulnerable in the hospital gown. His belly was still round, but his arms and legs were thin. He looked downright fragile. Why hadn’t she noticed?
Could his heart be failing him? Had it broken, literally, when Mamm died?
It wasn’t until one in the morning that the nurse came in and said the doctor cleared Dat to go home. As the nurse removed the various cords and sensors from Dat, she said to Noelle, “You’re a good daughter. You’ve done a good job caring for your father tonight.”
A lump filled Noelle’s throat, so she simply smiled at the woman.
The nurse smiled back. “You’ll soon be on your way.”
“May I use a phone to call a taxi?” Noelle asked.
“Certainly.” She nodded toward the door. “But there’s a couple of people out here who say they’d like to give you a ride.” She pulled back the curtain, revealing Holly and Carlos.
Noelle gasped. “What are you doing here?”
Carlos called out, “Hello, Mr. Schrock.”
And then Holly answered Noelle’s question. “Steve called me after Salome phoned him. He thought I’d want to know,” Holly said. “We’ve been out in the waiting room.”
“All this time?”
She shook her head. “Just for the last couple of hours, after we got our chocolate boxed up. We figured it might take a while here.”
“I’ll go warm up the truck,” Carlos said. “And come around to the exit.”
Noelle thanked him. After the nurse gave Noelle a stack of paperwork, got Dat’s coat on him, and transferred him to a wheelchair, they all started toward the hall. Holly grabbed Dat’s cane from Noelle and walked with it, leaning against it dramatically.
Noelle couldn’t help but smile. For being “twins” they were as different as could be.
Dat dozed on the way home, in the passenger seat, as Carlos drove and Holly and Noelle sat in the back seat. Big fluffy snowflakes began to fall, melting as soon as they hit the windshield.
“You two will be so tired tomorrow,” Noelle said.
“You too.”
Noelle shook her head. “I’m not going. I’m staying home with Dat.”
“So Salome’s going?”
“No. Our booth will be empty.”
“But it’s going to be busy tomorrow. I hate to have you miss out on the big bucks.” Holly scrunched her nose. “Give me a crate of your product. I’ll sell what I can.”
“I didn’t get a chance to make more of the whoopie pies.”
“Of course not. But give me pies. I’ll sell those.”
As Noelle thanked her, tears stung her eyes. Holly and Carlos had both been good friends to her. Sharing the Advent calendar. Giving her rides home from the market. Helping with ideas for how to sell more product. Sticking around the hospital until the early morning hours to give her and Dat a ride. Being willing to sell pies for her. She turned her head toward the fields, embarrassed by her emotions.
When they reached the house, Carlos held firmly on to one of Dat’s arms while Noelle held on to the other. The first layer of snow was slick, and Noelle held her breath as they propelled Dat to the house. Holly went ahead and opened the door, which Noelle had forgotten to lock.
All three of them got Dat down to his room. He insisted he could change into his pajamas by himself, but Carlos waited at the door in case he got light-headed.
Noelle hurried to the kitchen and filled a box with pies from the refrigerator. “Ten dollars each,” she said.
Holly shook her head. “Fifteen. You’re not charging enough. I know how long it takes to make one of these things.”
Noelle shook her head. “It doesn’t take that long.”
Holly laughed. “Not for you, but for a normal person it would. You have to think about what you’re saving people—not what you put into it.”
Noelle had never thought of setting prices that way before.
Carlos came down the hall and said Dat was in bed. Noelle thanked both of her friends and walked them to the front door, thanking Holly again for taking the pies. She was still flabbergasted at their care and generosity. She would expect it from someone in the family, which hadn’t happened tonight, but not from near strangers. Except Holly and Carlos didn’t feel like strangers.
By the time she checked on Dat, he was asleep. She sat down at the end of his bed and stared at him by the light of his battery-operated lamp. It was much safer for an elderly person than a kerosene one.
What would happen to her if something happened to him? There was no room for her to live with Salome and Ted, especially not with Moriah living there. Paul and LuAnne would let her live with them, but she didn’t want that. It would be out of the question for her to stay in the new house. Salome and Ted would rent it out.
Noelle had been so brokenhearted when her Mamm had died that she hadn’t even considered that Dat might too. Jah, she knew he’d die someday. But hopefully later rather than sooner.
Why couldn’t Salome understand how important it was to have Family Christmas this year? Jah, Mamm had passed on, but Dat still needed all of them. And so did she.
CHAPTER FIVE
Several times during the short night, Noelle checked on Dat, shining her flashlight over him to make sure he was breathing. He was. Finally, at a quarter after seven, the first light seeped through her window, and she arose to another snowy landscape. On most days she
