Gift of Wonder (7 page)

She didn't get to hear what he might have said. Jay's frantic shout stopped Jonah's next words.

“Alice, come inside. I think Lorene's going into labor. Hurry!”

Alice's gaze hit Jonah as a sick feeling coated her stomach. “She's not due for another month.”

Jonah jumped out of the car, all his anger seeming to disappear like a bayou mist. “C'mon. Let's go see what's wrong.” He took her by the arm, leading her back to the house.

Alice didn't try to pull away. The warmth of his hand on her skin made her feel better. She didn't understand why being near Jonah made her feel that way, especially when half the time she was bound and determined to find fault with him. But this time, she pushed all of that aside.

Her sister was in trouble. And Alice didn't have anyone else to turn to. So while Jonah hurried her back into the kitchen, she silently asked God to protect Lorene and her baby.

Jonah squeezed her hand. “It's going to be all right, Alice.”

Alice figured he couldn't know that for certain, but his words did bring her a bit of courage and a little peace.

Almost.

“H
er blood pressure is high and there's a possibility the placenta could separate from the fetus.”

Alice kept hearing the doctor's words over and over as she sat outside the emergency room of the regional hospital. Jay had driven Lorene the twenty miles in record time with Alice and Jonah right behind them.

“Thank you for coming,” she said to Jonah now. It was late and he looked tired. His eyes were laced with smoky circles of fatigue and his dark hair was messy and wind-blown. He held a plastic cup half-full of cold coffee.

“Not a problem.” He looked down the hall toward the double doors. “So…they're keeping her overnight?”

Alice nodded. “Her blood pressure needs to come down and they have to monitor the placenta. If she's better in a couple of days, she can go home. But she'll have to stay in bed for the rest of the pregnancy. That won't be easy for Lorene. She can't sit still for very long.”

Jay came through the doors and headed toward them. “They're moving her to a private room in the maternity ward. She might have to stay in the hospital for the next few weeks. Of course, she's begging the doctor to let her go home and rest there, but I'm afraid something will happen to her and the baby if she's not near the hospital.”

Alice nodded. “We'll make sure she gets her rest, Jay. Don't worry.”

“How can I not worry?” her brother-in-law asked. “What if something goes wrong? What would I do, Alice?”

“We won't let anything happen to them,” Alice answered. “You have me, and your parents said they'd help, remember?”

Jay nodded. “I'm sure glad they live nearby.”

Alice hugged him close. “They love Lorene as much as you do. We'll all make sure she's okay. We have to pray that she'll be just fine.”

Jay pulled back. “I'm going to stay here for a while longer, just to make sure she's settled in. I might stay all night. I don't want to leave her.”

“Want me to stay, too?” Alice asked.

“No, no. You go on home and check on the cats. You know the two she leaves food for out in the back garden?”

“I'll make sure the cats are fed,” Alice said, her heart going out to Jay. He loved her sister so much.

“I can help, too,” Jonah said, shrugging. “With whatever you need, I mean. Anything.”

She glanced over at Jonah and read something there
in his expression. Maybe he felt as she did—a bit envious but also very protective. The love between her sister and Jay was something to behold. Who wouldn't want that kind of devotion and unity? Alice prayed for the little baby they'd waited so long to have.
Please, Lord, keep them in Your heart. Help them.

Jonah took her by the arm. “You look exhausted. Let's get you home.”

“Maybe I should stay.” She glanced around at Jay.

“Go on with Jonah, you hear? My mama's coming back. She just went to get my dad a pack of peanuts from the vending machine. She'll send him home soon and, knowing her, she'll stay right here with me.”

“You'll call me if anything changes?”

Jay nodded. “You know I will.”

She'd talked to Lorene earlier, but Alice wished she could see her again. “Will you tell her…that I love her?”

“I will,” Jay said, grinning. “She knows that, but she'll want to hear it.”

Alice turned to Jonah. “I guess I'm ready.” Then she waved to Jay. “I'll come by first thing tomorrow to check on her, okay?”

“Okay.” Jay sank down on one of the waiting room chairs, his head in his hands.

“I shouldn't leave him,” she said to Jonah as he escorted her toward the lobby and the parking lot.

“I could stay with you,” Jonah offered, stopping her just outside the doors.

The night was windy and chilly. Winter was coming soon. Alice wrapped her arms around her body, shivering.

And Jonah was there, offering her his jacket. “Here. It's getting colder.”

She nodded. “I can't stop shivering.”

He pulled her close. “Do you want to go back inside?”

“No,” she said. “No need for you to stay, too, Jonah.”

“I don't mind. Whatever you want to do.”

She looked back, torn. “I should probably go home and check on those stray cats. Lorene will be as worried about them as she is about herself.”

“Then we'll feed the cats and I won't leave until you feel okay.”

She got into his pickup, wondering why she hadn't noticed his kind nature before. Maybe because she'd been too busy judging him?

“Thanks again for getting me to the hospital.”

“I couldn't let you drive. You were as upset as Lorene and Jay.”

“They've waited for this baby a long time,” she replied, looking out the truck window. The streets were deserted this time of night. The whole world slumbered while the cold wind howled and danced all around them.

“They love each other.”

His statement shocked Alice. She turned to stare over at him, a hundred questions popping into her head. “What about you?”

“What about me?” he asked, giving her a quick look.

“Tell me about your family, Jonah.”

 

Jonah watched the dark road back toward Bayou Rosette. How could he tell her what he didn't really
know? Should he tell her the truth—that he was raised in a children's home with twenty other boys until he'd been sent to a foster home and that he didn't actually have a family to call his own? Maybe he could just give her the general stuff without going into detail. But tonight…he needed to talk about it. Really talk about it. And the darkness gave him the courage to do it.

“I…uh…My foster mother passed away while I was in college.”

He heard her intake of breath. “Foster mother?”

Jonah nodded. “Yes. I never knew my real mother. Or my real father. I lived in a children's home for a while and after that I always had Aunt Nancy—she was my foster mother. She was good to me.”

“Good to you? Is that all you can say about her? Did you love her?”

“Why would you ask that?”

She was silent for a while then she said, “Well, because I…I want to know that you had a good life. I want to know you were happy. And there's a difference between someone just being good to you and truly loving you.”

“I had a good life and I was content,” he replied.

“But?”

“But—” He stopped, wondering how to word what he needed to say. “But…as good and kind as she was, she wasn't my flesh and blood. Don't get me wrong. I loved Aunt Nancy but I always wondered, you know? You're blessed to have people who love you, Alice. Lorene is blessed to have Jay and a baby on the way. They make a nice family.”

“I am blessed,” she said. “But I miss our parents every day. I can't imagine never knowing your parents, though. That must be awfully hard on you.”

She'd never know just how hard. “I get by. And I learned a long time ago to rely on myself. That's how I manage. And I guess that's why I'm a loner. I got tired of living in that crowded orphanage. Now I like my privacy.”

“And you don't appreciate people snooping in your business?”

“No, I don't. So from now on, if you want to know something, just ask me. I'll try to be honest with you.”

She lowered her head. “Okay. I'm sorry I followed you today. It was wrong. But I have my own reasons for avoiding you, Jonah. It stems from being duped…by Ned. But I shouldn't take that out on you. It won't happen again. Besides, I need to get on the ball with this story for the magazine. What you're doing is important for our area. I'm sorry I've been such a pain.”

“Let's drop it,” he said, wishing he could tell her everything he had on his mind. “I just have a lot to deal with and…I'm not one for turning to others for help.”

She shot him a confused glance. “What about your faith? What about God?”

“I don't rely on Him too much either. I don't think I'm on God's radar. I always let Aunt Nancy do the praying while I just got on with things.” How could he explain that he'd always believed God had deserted him?

 

Alice didn't want to push him on his faith, so they were silent for the last few miles. He pulled the truck up to the house, then got out before Alice could protest.

“You don't have to escort me to the door,” she said as he helped her out of the pickup.

She didn't know what else to say after his admission about his past. But his honesty had done what all the snooping in the world couldn't do. It had endeared him to Alice and…made her see that she had rushed to judgment. Jonah obviously had his own reasons for coming to Bayou Rosette. Maybe he really did need to build these homes.

“Yes, I do,” he replied. “I'm not leaving until I know you're all right. This place is kind of isolated.”

Alice glanced around, seeing her beloved home in a new and different way. It
was
isolated here. She'd never been alone here that much. She'd always had family around.

His gallantry shouldn't make her feel good, but it did. Not that she was afraid to be alone. She wasn't. It was just that tonight of all nights, she didn't
want
to be alone. And she had a feeling Jonah needed to talk to someone, too. But she had to be sensible.

“You can't stay all night, Jonah.”

“I know that, but I can stay until you're feeling better. Until Jay calls, which I'm sure he'll do soon.”

“Okay, just for a while.” She motioned toward her apartment. “I'll make some decaf. And I think I have some cookies Lorene made earlier in the week.”

“That would be good.”

Alice headed up the stairs, aware of his boots hitting the wood behind her. And she had to wonder if Jonah had come here to build more than just houses.

Maybe he was searching for a home, too.

 

“I like your apartment.”

Alice turned to find Jonah staring at some primitive watercolors she'd bought in a shop in Natchitoches. “Thanks. I paid to have this wing of the house remodeled into an efficiency apartment and I decorated it myself.”

“Judging from your eclectic décor, you seem to like the local traditions, same as me.”

She placed freshly percolated coffee on the table then set down a plate of snicker-doodle cookies. “It's ready.”

Jonah came and pulled out a chair. “Alice, I think I need to explain…about being at Arnold Gauthier's place.”

Alice's heart bumped against her ribs. “I'm listening.”

“It's nothing as sinister and underhanded as you might have imagined,” he said, his eyes going soft. He reached for a cookie, then dropped it on the bright pink napkin she'd put on the table for him. “I mean, think about it. I've come here to build houses, new houses. But I want them to have an old feel about them. I want this new subdivision to blend in with the bayou and the countryside. So I've been reading up on the local history—all parts of it. I told you that article you wrote about Rosette House brought me here, but that's just the beginning.”

Doubt nudged at Alice, making her want to lash out at him again. But he'd been kind and steady tonight when she'd been terrified for her sister, and he was
trying to be honest with her now. She had to at least give him a chance. “I can buy that. It just struck me as odd that you'd go to all that trouble to find out more about the Mayeaux family.” She twisted at her napkin. “And honestly, that whole feud thing is kind of lame. A lot of it happened before we were born, but we heard about it growing up. And our parents tried to be kind to them. They mostly just stole stuff and vandalized our property some. I think they were just poor and wanting food from our garden, which my mother would have gladly given them anyway. Did Mr. Gauthier tell you what you wanted to know?”

He took a long sip of coffee then gave her a direct look. “If you mean, did he tell me that the Mayeaux were more like a gang of outlaws than good, upstanding citizens, yes, he told me that. And he also told me that they sold their land rather abruptly many years ago and then they left. They have a very colorful history, apparently. I wonder what became of them.”

She shrugged. “I've never heard much since they left. I guess that's why I was so surprised that you wanted to know more—they don't even live here now. But then, history is full of both good and bad characters, I reckon.”

“Yes, and those characters, good and bad, have backgrounds and roots and family and…I like hearing all the details. I wanted details, so I went to the source by visiting Mr. Gauthier. Same as I did when I came here to see you.”

She had to smile at that. “But I haven't been very cooperative, have I?”