Dr. Finch barged into the room and rushed to Seth’s side. He dug into his bag, removed a scalpel, and cut Seth’s throat open.
Greta gasped and turned away.
The doctor inserted a long tube into his neck, and the room suddenly went silent.
Dr. Finch stood. “I’m sorry. I did everything I could. He’s gone.”
Chapter Two
The Sutherlands went into a long and despondent bereavement. They wore black, and the house felt like a cold, weeping hunk of stone. Greta had been sure Rhea and Sam would blame her for Seth’s death, but they remained silent in their weeping and never said a word to her about it. Greta felt invisible. She could walk into a room and everyone was too busy weeping to look up or speak.
Greta was heartbroken. To have made love to a man only to have him die minutes later was heart-wrenching. She did love Seth, in her own way, and she was glad she’d told him so. At least he’d died having made her his and hearing her say she loved him.
Two months later, Greta thought she’d go out of her mind in the grief-stricken house. She wondered if she was still welcome there, since she wasn’t married to their son anymore, but she couldn’t get up the nerve to ask them if she should return to Tilde’s cottage.
Then, it started: the throwing up each morning. Some days she couldn’t leave her bed until it was nearly noon.
Tilde came upstairs on one of those mornings with a tray of toast and tea. She felt Greta’s forehead. “What’s wrong, child? Is it still the grieving or have you come down with something?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like my insides want to come out and stay there.”
Tilde frowned. “Does it last all day, or is it just in the morning?”
“I feel fine around noon.”
Tilde rolled her eyes. “Oh, dear.”
“What, Grandmother? What’s wrong with me?”
Tilde patted her hand. “Have you missed your courses?”
“Why, yes. I think it might be from the grief.”
Tilde gave her a knowing smile. “No, child. You’re increasing.”
Greta sprang up to a sitting position. “But we only...it was just the one time.”
“It happened that way for me, too. If the good Lord wants to bless you, He will.”
Greta laid back down. “What will I do now?”
Tilde let out a slight laugh. “Dear girl, your husband is dead, and you’re carrying his child. Do you have any idea how thrilled the Sutherlands will be to have a living memorial of Seth’s life?”
“I’m not ready to become a mother. Especially not without a husband. I’m frightened, Grandmother.”
Tilde hugged Greta. “You’ll be twenty by the time the babe comes, and the Sutherlands will take excellent care of you. Don’t be afraid—you’re a Sutherland for life, now. You need to tell them as soon as possible. It will lighten their grief.”
Greta waited for a good opportunity, and one presented itself the very next day. Tilde called her down to the sitting room in the afternoon to inform her that Rhea and Sam wanted her to take tea with them.
She gingerly took a seat, wondering if they’d planned to dismiss her since she was no longer married into the family.
Rhea cleared her throat after pouring the tea. “Dear Greta—we haven’t forgotten you, but in our grief, we just needed some time alone. We wanted to let you know that we don’t blame you for Seth’s death. On the contrary: we blame ourselves. I knew it was a muggy day, and I should have stayed home and cancelled the wedding night, yet again—”
“It was my fault,” Sam said, cutting his wife off as he broke into the conversation. “I told her to stop babying him and let him enjoy his wedding night. He’d waited long enough for it.”
Rhea wiped the tears from her face. “It seems we all feel some guilt, but we’re happy that Seth got to enjoy his wedding night. If he had known it would kill him, he’d have done it anyway. That was Seth. He loved you so much, dear. I’m glad he had you in his life.”
The couple looked at her as if expecting her to say something, and Greta knew what she needed to tell them, but she didn’t know how to break the news.
“I’m glad we had the wedding night, too,” she finally said. “You see, it was meant to be: God has blessed us all—I’m increasing.”
Rhea gasped. She looked at her and asked, “Are you serious?”
Sam went over to hug Greta. Rhea followed. “We’re overjoyed,” Rhea said, “and we don’t want you to worry. We’ll take care of you.”
Tears rolled down Rhea’s face. “How do you feel, dear?”
“I’m sick most mornings, but other than that I feel just fine.”
“Wonderful,” Rhea said. She looked at her husband. “Our God is wondrous. He has truly blessed us.”
Greta agreed and said, “I’m just a bit afraid of having a baby without a husband at my side.”
Both of Seth’s parents embraced her. Rhea told her, “We’ll be here for you all the way.”
Greta was babied incessantly after that day. She enjoyed it at first, but she eventually wished they’d just leave her alone. They checked in on her constantly and called a doctor from Dallas to examine her. They wouldn’t let her do a thing except read and sew.
Sam left for Philadelphia on business. It was something he often did to check on things at the office. When he returned, Greta was about to enter the dining room when she overheard Sam
