Seasons Under Heaven (26 page)

Cathy laughed and looked at Tory. “Mmm. Sounds good. He’s tasted his daddy’s shoes, has he?”

Tory couldn’t help grinning now. “The pork chops were dry. Barry said they tasted like shoe leather. They did not make me sick. No one else in my family is nauseous.”

“That’s ‘cause we all spit them out when you weren’t looking,” Spencer announced.

Cathy’s mouth came open in delight. “You see there?”

“Okay, so I’m sick from the pork chops,” Tory conceded. But that didn’t explain the queasiness that had assaulted her for several days.

Giving up, Cathy told Spencer to take care of his mom, then bopped back across the cul-de-sac. “Call me if you need anything,” she said over her shoulder. “I’ll be home around four.”

“I will.”

As they reached their house, Spencer looked up at her with big, serious eyes. “Want me to get you a barf bag?”

She couldn’t imagine where in the house they might have such a thing. “I’m okay, honey. Let’s just get in the car and go get Britty.”

The wave of nausea passed over her again as she drove to Brittany’s school at noon to pick her up. Beside her, Spencer was chattering nonstop about the action figure he wanted for Christmas, even though it was only October.

The nausea ambushed her again as she got into the line of traffic picking up kids at the school. Quickly, she pulled out of the line and parked the car.

Spencer looked up at her, puzzled. She saw in the rearview mirror that Brittany was standing on the curb staring at her with a troubled expression, not knowing whether she should launch out in front of the stream of cars to her mother, or wait patiently as her teacher had told her. To her children, obedience was always a cause for careful consideration. It was one of the few things they thought about before doing it. “Come on, Spence. I need to run in and use the bathroom.”

“Are you gonna barf again?”

The crude question made her situation even more urgent. Without answering, she got out and waited for Spencer, then grabbed his hand and crossed the busy lane of traffic.

“Mommy, what are you doing?” Brittany asked as she approached.

She kissed Brittany’s forehead, then put Spencer’s hand in hers. “Both of you just stand here for a minute. Mommy has to use the bathroom.” She darted into the school just as she heard Spencer explaining, “She’s been puking all over the place.”

Wondering where he’d gotten these expressions, Tory made it to the bathroom, into the stall, and stood with her back to the
door, thinking, perhaps, that the feeling would pass. She took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on something other than her stomach.

She really did not have time for this.

She had promised herself she would write this afternoon while the children were napping. She wanted to tweak her article one more time before sending it off, and she had that deadline looming over her. Nausea was an unexpected factor in this equation.

As if in answer to her mental declaration that she didn’t have time, her body proceeded to show her that it could make time for whatever illness had gripped her.

She couldn’t remember feeling this way since the last time she was pregnant.

She rose up slowly, trembling, as the thought seemed to settle on her consciousness like a visitor who liked the view.

No, she couldn’t be pregnant. Not when she had just gotten one child in school and the other in a Mother’s Day Out program three mornings a week. Not when she was finally writing and selling her work. Not when she had gotten her priorities straight and listed them so tightly that there was little room for adjustment.

The wave came over her again, and she leaned over the toilet.

She
couldn’t
be pregnant!

As if in answer, that stranger settling on her consciousness seemed to say,
Of course you can.

She went to the sink and cupped water in her hand, drank some, and splashed the rest on her face. Her makeup wasn’t waterproof, so she set about trying to blot it and repair it, but it was no use. At least her hair still looked decent. The teachers at the school had never seen Tory when she looked less than her best. Beauty and control were both near the top of her priority list, and today she seemed to be losing her grip on both.

The worst part of the nausea was gone, though she still felt the queasiness lurking somewhere in the back of her mind. She forced herself to head back to her kids.

Spencer had engaged the poor, bedraggled teacher in conversation, and was telling her about his mother getting sick all over his friend’s bathroom. She supposed that, in Spencer’s mind, that wasn’t a patent lie, for he’d probably misinterpreted the Lysol exchange. But she found it hard to look the teacher in the eye as she took her kids’ hands.

“Are you all right, Tory?” the teacher asked.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said on a laugh. “Just not feeling my best.”

“I’ve thought you were getting too skinny lately,” the teacher said. “You’ve always been thin, but you’re even thinner than usual. My friend started losing weight like that and found out she had stomach cancer.”

Tory tried to plaster a pleasant look on her face, and fought the urge to thank the woman for her cheery optimism. “I watch my weight, that’s all.” She took each child by the hand. “I probably just have a stomach virus. Either that, or I’m pregnant.”

She couldn’t believe she had said the words out loud, and as the teacher’s pointy eyebrows shot up, Tory began to laugh, as if that was the funniest thing she’d ever said. The woman joined in with as much mirth as Sarah and Abraham must have had upon hearing of Sarah’s pregnancy.

Fortunately, her kids were fighting at the time, because Spencer was certain that Brittany had gotten their mother’s good hand, and he wanted to trade. Brittany never did anything Spencer asked without a fight, even when she knew that one hand was as good as the other. Neither of them heard the explosive word that had rolled off her tongue like a prophecy.

She got them both to the car, belted them in, and sat with the car idling as she tried to decide if she needed to run back in for one last round with the toilet. As she did, she tried to count back to her last period. Was it late?

She had it written down, she thought. On the calendar in the kitchen, she always used little dots to indicate her cycle. She could count up the weeks.

But as she drove, she began to feel that loss of control again. Her well-planned life was tipping a little on its axis. She and Barry had planned for both Brittany and Spencer. They hadn’t planned for a surprise. Tory didn’t like surprises, and she didn’t like disruptions to her schedule. She had her days planned down to the moment. Brittany could tie her shoes, and Spencer could make his own peanut butter sandwich. She didn’t have the heart to start over with an infant.

The nausea seemed to subside as she blew the air conditioning into her face, despite the fact that Brittany and Spencer complained about being cold. Usually, she deferred to them, but today she had no choice. By the time they pulled into their driveway, she was feeling better.

She got out of the car and helped her children out, then went straight for that calendar.

She counted the weeks—one, two, three, four, five…

She shook her head. That couldn’t be right. She would have realized it.

…six, seven, eight, nine…

She stood there for a long moment, gaping at the calendar weeks, while Brittany and Spencer began to fight over whether to watch reruns of
Full House
or
Saved by the Bell.

How could this be? How could she have missed an entire period without realizing it?

The answer came to her suddenly.
Joseph.

Her first missed period had been during the worst part of Joseph’s illness, before they had found a heart. He had been dying, and Tory had hung on with Brenda. She and Sylvia and Cathy, her other neighbors, had been steeped in grief and worry, not to mention the stress of trying to raise money to pay the medical bills. As Joseph slipped away, Tory’s period must have slipped her mind.

Now she had missed another one.

She stood there with her mouth open, counting the weeks over and over, wondering if she had just forgotten to mark the calendar. But she knew it wasn’t an oversight. All the signs pointed to pregnancy.

But it couldn’t be!
She and Barry hadn’t planned to have more kids. She was thirty-five years old, and their family was complete. Could she really be pregnant?

“Everybody back in the car!” she yelled, desperately trying to take back the reins of her life. “We have to go to the drugstore.”

“Can I get a Darth Vader?” Spencer asked, seizing on his mother’s obvious distraction.

“Yes.”

“I want M&M’s,” Brittany shouted.

“Okay.”

As she grabbed her purse and headed back out to the car, she checked off her list in her mind. Action figure, M&M’s…

And the fastest pregnancy test she could find.

Beverly LaHaye & Terri Blackstock

On the quiet cul-de-sac of Cedar Circle where neighbors are close friends, fierce winds of circumstance threaten to sweep one couple away. Their Down’s Syndrome pregnancy is shattering news for Tory and Barry Sullivan, but the option Barry proposes is abhorrent to Tory. It will take a wisdom and strength greater than their own to carry them through. That, and the encouragement only a loving, close-knit community can provide.

Over kitchen counters and across the miles, the women of Cedar Circle lend their support to Tory and to each other as all of them face their personal struggles, heartaches, and joys. Shining with bright faith and friendship that illuminates the stormiest night,
Showers in Season
explores the junction of life’s realities, the cost of obedience, the power of relationships, and the promises of God.

Softcover 0-310-24296-7

Pick up your copy today at your favorite bookstore!

Beverly LaHaye & Terri Blackstock

When Cathy Flaherty’s teenage son Mark is arrested for selling drugs, her neighbors once again show that Cedar Circle is more than a suburban cul-de-sac. It is a tightly knit circle of friends whose faith, love, and encouragement help each other make it through the changing seasons of life.

More is at stake for Cathy than her son. With Mark in juvenile detention, the single mother of three finds herself struggling over whether to marry Steve Bennett, a man she truly loves. It will take strength and wisdom for Steve to see Cathy through this time of family conflict. Fortunately, he is not alone. Other lives, each with concerns of their own, weave together in a strong show of mutual care and support. And through the hands and hearts of this loving community, God moves.

Hardcover 0-310-23319-4

Pick up your copy today at your favorite bookstore!

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