Thomas was at her side in a moment. “Joseph, do you think Schwestie has what Dat has?”
Joseph dropped the letter and ran to her side. He arrived just in time to intercept her vomit all over his shoes.
Chapter Two
But women will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety. – I Timothy 2:15
Rebekah’s head spun as Joseph scooped her off the barn floor. “No, please…” Another surge of hot vomit broke her sentence in two. “Want to sleep…” she muttered as she weakly wiped the vomit from her face.
“Rebekah, Rebekah!” Joseph held her head as he dashed her into the house. “Do not try to talk. Do not worry, I will take care of you.” He stomped up the stairs. “Thomas, get the door!”
The door opened at once, and Joseph rushed her in.
“Go get your folks,” Joseph said, “quick as you can.”
“Okay, Joseph.”
The door slammed shut as Joseph reached the stairs. “Gotte, please, take care of my fraa.” His voice was frantic and charged, very much unlike him. Rebekah was too sleepy to think about it further. She closed her eyes, leaned into his chest, and ceased to hear anything else at all.
***
Rebekah roused long enough to see her mother’s face hovering above her. “Am I dead, Mamm?”
Elnora smiled. “No, child. You are not dead. But you are unwell. Your fater even came with me to see to you when Thomas told us of your having collapsed in the barn…”
Her voice faded off as Rebekah closed her eyes. She scarcely felt the cool rags and fresh clothes as Elnora turned her this way and that cleaning, undressing, and redressing. What seemed like hours, maybe even days later, Rebekah woke again to her mother bathing her face with an icy rag. She dipped it into a bowl on the nightstand, wrung it out, and bathed her face and neck. A moment later, she repeated the entire process. Rebekah flickered a smile at her mother.
“Danki, Mater, for taking care of me,” Rebekah said. Her throat was scratchy and sore from vomiting, so her voice came out as a whisper. Weakness ensured her arms stayed down and her legs did not move. “Am I going to die?”
“Someday, yes, you will die,” Elnora said. “As will I.” A sideways smile tilted her lips in an odd manner that Rebekah had never seen before. “However, it is not death that makes you ill now. It is life.”
***
“Pregnant?” Joseph started to fall.
Rebekah’s fater, Samuel, grabbed a chair and stuck it under his son-in-law before he hit the ground. “Gute thing I came with you, Elnora,” he said. “Otherwise, you would have had two patients to nurse. One in the bed, one on the floor.” His voice was weak but still tinged in his trademark jocularity.
Elnora smiled and wiped her hands on her apron. “Ja, sure, Fater. I would have had to call for Thomas to help me drag him into the bedroom with his fraa.”
Thomas stood barefooted in the corner of the hallway but said nothing.
“Mater Elnora?” Wide-eyed, Joseph sat in the chair, dazed, as though he had been struck on the head or kicked by a horse. “Is Rebekah going to have our child?”
She laid her hand on her son-in-law’s shoulder and nodded. “It is still early. She is having some bleeding, and that is not gute for the bopplin. She needs to stay in bed for a while and rest.”
Joseph mopped at his sweaty brow with shaky hands. He cleared his throat, then cleared it again. “Can I see her?” Still, his words squeaked a bit.
Samuel chuckled weakly. “She is your fraa. I would hope so.”
Joseph swallowed hard and stood. He took off his black felt hat and held it at his middle. He glanced over his shoulder at Rebekah’s parents, then eased open the door to the bedroom he shared with his wife.
There, in their tiny bed, sat his smiling, tear-streaked fraa. “You’re going to be a fater,” Rebekah whispered.
Joseph’s face lit up like a summer sunrise. His full lips spread into a wide, white grin and he dashed to her side. “And you’re going to be a mater.” He flung his arms around her. “We are going to be parents!”
Rebekah’s cheeks ached from smiling. Katie’s letter forgotten, she squeezed Joseph. “We are going to have a bopplin of our very own!”
Thomas sniffled from the doorway, a sullen look on his normally sunny face.
Joseph shared a look with Rebekah, who nodded. He patted the bed beside them. “Come here, Thomas.”
Thomas dragged his feet and did as he was asked.
Rebekah took her little bruder’s hand and held it in hers. “Will you help us when bopplin comes?”
“I suppose.” Thomas gave her hand a squeeze and tried to smile. “‘Fraid you won’t have much need of me then, since you will have grown your own helper.”
“You will always be my best helper.” Joseph reached over and flicked the brim of his straw hat.
“Mine too,” Rebekah said. “This little bopplin will love you so much.”
He snapped his fingers. “Hey, I have an idea,” Joseph said. “Thomas, would you like to help us come up with a name?”
Rebekah smiled. Sometimes, Joseph’s actions threatened to crack her heart—like in the barn with Katie’s letter. However, the majority of the time, it was her mann’s selfless actions that made her heart swell and her fall in love with him all over again.
You have to remember that in those trying times, Rebekah. She cleared her throat. “Do you have any names that you like, Thomas?”
“Ja.”
Thomas was silent as he studied the quilt over Rebekah’s feet.
Joseph nudged him. “Well, what is your name?”
Thomas looked up at him. “Can Schwestie tell me hers first?”
Joseph shared a look with his fraa. “You heard your bruder’s request, Rebekah.” He offered a wink that made her flush. “Let’s hear your names.”
“There are so many.” Rebekah’s excitement threatened to bubble over within her breast. “I like Abraham. Josiah. Jedidiah. Zechariah.”
“I detect a trend.” Joseph laughed. “I also see that you seem to think we are having a sohn.”
Rebekah froze. “A sohn.” A slow smile spread across her face. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would become someone’s mater someday. Sure, she silently hoped she would, but she, herself, a mater? She had not thought that was a blessing Gotte had in store for her. To dare to dream that perhaps this was a blessing meant for her, too, was almost too much to comprehend.
“A sohn.” Rebekah’s heart beat faster. “Perhaps I do.”
Joseph’s hand found hers atop the blanket. She could feel his excitement mixing with hers.
“I would love that,” she said. She gave his fingers a squeeze. “What names do you like then, Mr. Graber?”
