Downstairs, the front door opened and closed. A thunderous din of footfalls on the steps preceded Lucas Graber’s thunderous entrance. “I have the doctor from Montgomery. I pray I am not too late.”
Heloise dared a peek over her shoulder and gave her husband an infinitesimal shake of the head. Lucas took off his hat and trudged over to join the rest of the grandparents around Lil’ Bit’s blue, lifeless body.
The doctor was not the same nightcap-wearing doctor who had saved Samuel’s life when he had his heart seizure. This doctor was younger and fresher faced.
“I’m Dr. Williamson from Boston, new to Indiana Territory and certainly new to Amish life,” he said. He offered Rebekah a smile and patted her blanketed foot. “I hear you had a hard delivery following a complicated pregnancy, with possible toxemia, little lady. I can check you over momentarily, to make sure more children are possible in the future for you and your husband, if you like?”
Rebekah stared into his young face. “Doctor, please. Save my sohn.” She gasped. “Please. He will live. I know it.”
Still, Elnora, Samuel, and Heloise chanted the old-world prayer, now joined by Lucas. Thomas’s and Joseph’s shoulders shook in tandem as their quiet sobs spoke volumes.
Dr. Williamson produced an instrument from a black case. On one end, the instrument was split in two, which he placed into his ears. The other end was a single piece that he placed against Lil’ Bit’s chest. He moved it around to several different places, then removed the instrument and put it back into its black case. None of these things were the likes of which Rebekah had ever seen.
Dr. Williamson slicked his case closed and shook his head. Slowly he turned to face Rebekah and Joseph. “I am so sorry, folks. This baby is dead.” He turned back to the grandparents. “I suggest letting his mother see him and say goodbye. That way, she can commence to grieve, and then you, as a family, can carry on however you see fit.”
“No!” Rebekah pushed herself onto her elbows. The world pitched and rolled, but she did not care. “No!”
Dr. Williamson paused and adjusted his spectacles. “The sooner you grieve, the sooner you can heal.”
In a very un-Amish-like fashion, Rebekah began to pray. Loudly.
“Dear Gotte! The Almighty and ever-loving fater. Danki for the gift of my bopplin. Danki for the trials and suffering from the pregnancy that I was blessed to have, especially when it hurt, for through this, you have made the way for something wunderbaar. Something wonderful gute. Please look down upon my family now Gotte, do not forget us in our moment of pain. In our moment of need. We are your kinder, and right now we are in pain! Right now, we are in need!”
She was shouting, but she did not care. Somewhere behind the prayer, in the deep recesses of her mind, Rebekah saw the blonde woman who claimed to be her mother. She was holding Lil’ Bit, swaying in a long, white gown against the pitch blackness.
“Please,” Rebekah said aloud, “breathe life into Dawson ‘Lil’ Bit’ Graber. A kinder of Gotte who fought so wonderful gute to be born. Wake him up, Gotte. Wake him up! It is time for him to live!”
The room fell silent, even from the grandparents’ changing prayers. Together, as a family, they waited with bated breath to see what would happen. To see what Gotte would choose to do.
The image of her Englischer mater, holding her bopplin, in the back of Rebekah’s mind fizzled from blackness into the brightest light.
At once, a shrill shriek pierced the stunned silence that followed Rebekah’s outburst. All heads turned from Rebekah to the writhing, pink body, moments before blue and lifeless, in Samuel’s arms.
Rebekah collapsed back onto the pillow, her eyes fixed on her squealing, newborn kinder. “Danki, Gotte. Danki wonderful gute.”
Dr. Williamson’s mouth hung open. “I have heard it said that a mother’s love can cure all ailments. Now I know that it is true.”
Joseph accepted the highly agitated Lil’ Bit from Samuel. Slowly, he made the walk across the room to where Rebekah waited, with Thomas on his heel. “Mater,” Joseph said. “There is somebody that I would like for you to meet.”
Bleary-eyed, Rebekah accepted her wriggly boy. “You just needed some time and a little reassurance from Gotte, didn’t you, Lil’ Bit.”
“Just like we all do,” Thomas agreed. “Do not worry, Lil’ Bit. We were not going anywhere. We were all here, waiting for you.”
A chuckle, soft and sweet, rolled through the room.
“Danki, Thomas, for the courage to tell Gotte what we need and when we need it.” Rebekah winked at her fater. “You gave me the courage to pray to Gotte in such a manner. Seems as though you saved us both tonight.”
Samuel clapped his hands together. “How about we try my kinskind in his cradle?” He bent with a grunt and retrieved Lil’ Bit from Rebekah. Still, the skinny baby shrieked and shrieked.
It wasn’t until that moment, with the sun across his face and him holding Lil’ Bit, that Rebekah realized just how much her fater had aged, seemingly overnight. She sucked in her lower lip and her heart thwapped in her chest at the sudden realization.
With his trademark gentle smile on his face, he leaned down and placed Lil’ Bit in the tulip tree cradle, made especially for him. The tiny infant arched his back and squealed an even more piercing squeal than before. Samuel jerked him up with trembling hands. “Joseph! Please,” he cried, “search the cradle for splinters!”
Rebekah’s heart sank as her fater’s excited face fell in disappointment. He looked down into the empty cradle and handed the wailing infant back to her. Samuel forced a smile that was nowhere near genuine. “Perhaps it is as you say. He just needs a little time.”
Still, his grossdaddi face, moments before shining with hope and lieb, did not shine as brightly as before. In fact, it did not shine at all.
Chapter Eight
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. – 1 Peter 3:7
Joseph crawled into bed beside Rebekah. “You are certainly a miracle worker. Gotte heard you today, heard your prayer, and answered it immediately. I have never seen anything like it. But then again, your whole life has been a miracle, has it not?”
“My whole life.” Rebekah narrowed her eyes at him in the falling darkness. “What does that mean?”
“It means like mater like kinder. You are both miracles and Gotte blessed me with both of you.” He leaned over and kissed her sweetly, scooping her hand into his. “Danki for making me a fater today. Ich lieb you, Rebekah. More than you could ever imagine.”
Tears pricked at Rebekah’s already tear-dry eyes. “I did not think I would feel like this. I am so tired, Joseph. Every part of my body, every bone. Every fiber.”
He placed his arm over her shoulder. She leaned into him gingerly. “I thought I would feel different once Lil’ Bit arrived. I thought I might finally feel…”
“Feel what?” The tone in Joseph’s voice told her that he would go to any length to delve into her mind. “Relieved?” he offered.
“No. Not relieved.” Rebekah wondered how honest she should be. “I thought I would actually feel happy.”
“Rebekah?” Joseph cocked his head. “You are not happy?”
Her eyelids fluttered with exhaustion. “I am grateful. But not happy. I am just so wunderbaar tired.”
Joseph sat in silence for a moment. “I suppose that is normal. You have had the biggest day that anyone could ever have, really.” Gently, he gave her shoulders a jiggle. “So, Dawson. I like that.”
Rebekah looked up at him through her eyelashes. “We did not talk about that name. And I know we agreed that we would talk about everything together regarding the bopplin before we made any decisions.”
Joseph kept jiggling. “It is really fine. I like the name a great deal.”
She patted his arm to stop the incessant jiggling. “I just opened my mouth and out it came. I do not think I have ever even heard the name before.”
Joseph let his newly stilled fingers tickle down her arm. “Another gift from heaven. A miracle name for our miracle kinder from my miracle fraa. We are so incredibly blessed, Rebekah.”
“Ja.” Rebekah tried to relax each muscle. As soon as one relaxed, another tensed. Now, only to tame those troublesome shoulders that kept hunching up around her ears. “We are.”
Lil’ Bit snoozed in his cradle and had been for several minutes. Despite trying to relax, every muscle in Rebekah’s body ached. Still, she could not help shifting to peek every few seconds at the bopplin, in his dark, blue bonnet and matching dress, both of which were gifts from his grossmammis. Her shoulders, adorned with all the tension they could stand, refused to cooperate. They remained hunched up at her ears, no matter how she tried to get them down.
Joseph reached over and plucked a cup from the nightstand. “I thought you might like something hot to drink.” He handed her the cup he had brought her. “Shepherd’s purse tea for you. It will help your stomach to feel better if what my mater tells me is true. Supposed to help with relaxation, too.”
Rebekah accepted the cup but did not answer, so Joseph continued. “Also, my mater and your mater are sleeping downstairs, eager to be of help with the bopplin when we feel we are ready to go to sleep.” He gave a little laugh. “It is like a sleepover, and they are both maedels again, not grossmammis.”
Rebekah took a long swill from the steaming cup and smiled. “The watermelon seed tea they made for him certainly soothed him to sleep. Thankfully.” Her brow furrowed and her smile turned into a frown. “He acts like he is in so much pain, Joseph.”
