A Midwife Crisis (24 page)

Ten months later

Katie tucked Johnny’s blanket closer to his chin as she, John, and Julia walked to church. The autumn morning was warm and Katie couldn’t fight the urge to show off her new little bundle for the first time.

“Do you need me to carry him?” John asked.

Katie smiled. He’d fussed over her constantly since she had given birth. “We’re fine.”

“If you need me to help carry him,” Julia said, “I’m here too.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Katie said to Julia. “Johnny is lucky to have you for a big sister.”

Grandma hurried across the yard to see the baby. Grandpa and Pa followed as quickly as they could, but now that Grandma was done with dying, keeping up with her was a challenge.

“Let me look at that great-grandson of mine,” she said, lifting the blanket from his face. “I swear he gets more handsome every day.”

“Hi, Grandpa!” Julia said, running to Pa for a hug.

“Hi, Julia girl.” Katie’s pa lifted her into his arms to carry her into church like a man who’d never had a back pain in his life.

Eunice Kopp waddled over to speak to Grandma. “Well, Mabel, I’m glad to see that you’re no longer dyin’.”

Grandma snorted. “I can’t bother with that now that there’s younguns to raise.” She waited while Eunice waddled into the church before leaning toward Katie and whispering, “That woman is an idiot.”

Katie controlled her grin until Grandma and Grandpa entered the sanctuary and Freddie came by to speak.

“Morning, Katie,” he said without blushing, no doubt due to the lady on his arm. Mary Thomas had fed him at the barn raising when his bandaged fingers couldn’t hold a fork, and lately the two had frequently been seen together in town. Katie wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a wedding for them before long.

Two steps later, Randy Kopp sauntered over to pay his respects. “You’re looking might purty today, Katie.”

Katie glanced up at John, who simply shrugged and said, “No arguments here,” as though Randy didn’t bother him in the least. Though she did notice he had stepped closer and slipped his arm around her waist.

“I’m going to have to whup him again,” John muttered, once Randy ambled away.

Katie laughed. “Not on my account.”

They had finally settled into their pew to await the beginning of the service when she noticed Julia’s coat was still tightly fastened all the way to her neck.

“Julia, do you need help with your coat?”

“No,” she said, but Julia was terrible at keeping secrets and the look on her face said she had a big one.
That was when Katie noticed a wiggle in one of Julia’s pockets and a fuzzy yellow head poked out to look at her.

“Julia!” Katie said, lowering her voice. “Do you have one of Harvey’s kittens in your pocket?”

Julia bit her lip while she thought for a moment before shaking her head.

Katie pointed to the ball of fur. “Then what’s that?”

“You asked if I had
one
of Harvey’s kittens.” Just then a second head poked from her pocket.

“You have
two
?”

Julia grinned sheepishly and reached into her other pocket for the third kitten. Unfortunately, Harvey had given birth to six of them. But before Katie could further investigate, Reverend Stoker took the pulpit and asked the congregation to bow their heads in prayer.

Katie leaned toward Julia and whispered, “Please tell me you don’t have all of Harvey’s kittens in your pockets.”

“I don’t,” she whispered back. “Mrs. Adkins said these were ornery for climbing up her skirts this morning, and I figured they needed a good churchin’.”

“I don’t think the Lord’s salvation works on kittens,” she said, hoping to prevent Julia from bringing in everything from chickens to butterflies in the future. “They can’t understand Reverend Stoker.”

John leaned to whisper in Katie’s ear, “I can’t understand him either.”

A laugh blurted out before Katie could clamp her hand over her mouth. Then John’s shoulders shook. He rubbed his hand across his mouth in an attempt to stop a case of church giggles, but he wasn’t having
much success. Served him right since he’d started it in the first place.

At that moment, Johnny decided to inform the congregation that he was awake and hungry. His face wrinkled as he released an earsplitting squall that sent Katie and her son from the sanctuary amidst the smiles and chuckles of the rest of congregation.

John waited a few minutes before deciding to follow Katie out into the churchyard. He knew she was more than capable of nursing their son without his help, but it was difficult for him to let her out of his sight.

He found her, sitting on a bench near the well, facing the woods for privacy. The autumn leaves crunched under his feet, alerting her to his arrival. She turned to him, smiling and he felt it to his soul.

He said, “I love you, Katie,” because the words were as natural to him as breathing.

She scooted to allow him room to sit beside her on the bench and watch their son nurse. “You know,” she said, brushing her hand across the top of his tiny head, “I think I need to add something to my list.”

He scrunched his brows. “What list?”

“The list I had for the perfect husband.”

“What do you want to add?”

Her eyes twinkled as she leaned toward him for a kiss. “I think it’s important that I love him after all.”

A special thanks to the midwives who gave technical advice for this story and all those who have brought millions of babies into this world, safe and sound. And to Diane, Erin, and Leah—the cool kids at Dorchester who make their authors feel very special.

TEXAS HOLD HIM