She was powerless to hide her excitement. “Please, can I have your hands?”
Joseph did as he was asked. She placed his hands on her belly.
“Kick your Dat, Lil’ Bit,” she whispered. “Just like you kicked me.”
Thud. Flutter. Thunk.
Joseph’s agonized countenance changed at once. His lips pulled back into a wide grin and his eyes, almost closed from happiness, eked tears of joy over fear. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Thank you, Gotte,” he said. “Danki for answering my prayer.”
Rebekah’s fingers closed around Joseph’s, still warm against her stomach. “Is that what you were doing in the hallway?”
Joseph moved his hands ever so along her belly. “Yes. I asked Gotte to take me instead. To take my life and spare Lil’ Bit’s.”
Rebekah gasped. “Oh, Joseph.”
He lifted his gaze to meet hers. “However, it seems in His infinite wisdom, Gotte has seen fit to spare us both.”
Chapter Six
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. – Jeremiah 1:5
Joseph strode into the bedroom, breakfast tray in hand. “Guess what today is!”
Rebekah grinned. “Tuesday?”
He turned and sat the tray on the side table that had seen more usage in the past eight months than ever before. As he did, Rebekah noticed a letter sticking out of his back pocket. At once, her sunny mood sunk into blackness.
“Well, yes. But more importantly, we are eight months along today.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek.
“Oh, are we?” She tried to hide the sourness from her voice but was not successful.
We aren’t anything. I am eight months along. Eight months in bed with swollen ankles and a chamber pot. She raised a weak hand and flipped her wrist. “I see Thomas brought the mail.”
“Right again.” Joseph took the already opened letter from his pocket and held it out to her. “I thought you’d like to read the latest from Katie.”
“Why would I want to do that?” Her flat voice filled the room.
The smile melted from Joseph’s face like butter in a hot skillet. There one moment, add heat, then it’s gone. Rebekah didn’t care. Her bladder ached, her legs hurt, and her face felt puffy. Hearing anything from Katie Knepp—now Katie Wagler—would only make matters worse. She stared at Joseph. “Are you really this glad to hear from her?”
He did not respond. Instead, he stood there, deflated, in the middle of the room, as though someone had come along and let the air out of him.
Something burned within Rebekah. Something she couldn’t place. Something that was not welcome in her heart or in her home.
“I’ll just leave this here, next to your breakfast.” Joseph’s voice, moments earlier so jovial, was muted.
Regret flooded into her mind and tightened her throat. Call out, Rebekah. Call out and apologize. Tell him you are so sorry. Tell him you love him.
Joseph gestured toward the plate and continued. “Thomas cut the pancakes into hearts for you. The littler hearts he made are for Lil’ Bit.”
His words tugged at her heart, but the simmering anger refused to let her apology pass. Resentment and jealousy had taken hold. She did not respond.
Joseph was stoic. “Do you need anything else right now, Rebekah?”
She stared at her swollen hands. “No.” Her fingers were so bloated they could hardly bend. They reminded her of sausages. “Just go.”
Do you really want him to go, Rebekah? For how long? For good? Why are you doing this? What is your—
“As you wish.” Joseph turned away from her. “Then I will leave you to your day.”
She counted his steps as he left. One, two, three. Then, they stopped.
He did not leave?
A funny, scraping sound thunked from just outside her door. That sounded like a chair scraping the floor then hitting the wall. Rebekah glanced around her room. Sure enough, the little chair was gone.
He moved the little chair out into the hallway.
She wet her lips. “Joseph?”
He appeared in an instant, a hopeful gleam in his eye. “Yes?”
“You were just in the hall?”
He nodded. “Of course. After you were so sick that you could not walk, I told you that I would never lea—”
Her simmering ire exploded. “Just go, Joseph. Go do what needs doing and leave me be!”
He opened his mouth to respond but closed it again. Hurt clouded his eyes and his entire stature seemed to sort of collapse on itself. Like a limp jacket, forgotten, hanging on a peg.
