Autumn Dreams (45 page)

As Cass sat, one of the twins poked her in the ribs. She absently rubbed the spot as she looked at Jared, home for winter break from his first year in college on a football scholarship. If anything, he was taller and broader than ever. She smiled. The boy had looks and a wonderful attitude toward life. The girls must be going crazy over him.

When she and Dan had gotten engaged, Dan felt he should leave SeaSong.

“You’ve only got one reputation, Cass, and I’m not going to sully it,” he’d said.

Jared was the one who suggested that he and Dan live at Tommy and Rhonda’s.

“The house is empty. Why not use it?”

The arrangement had worked very well for the month and a half until the wedding. Then Dan and Jared moved back to
SeaSong. At that time, Cass turned her understairs cubby back into a storage closet and moved into the turret room with her husband.

Now Jared smiled at her from across the room and patted his tummy. She grinned back and blew him a kiss.

Jenn sat on the sofa between Tommy and Rhonda. She obviously gloried in having her parents home again. She’d not only survived Derrick but grown ever more lovely in spirit as well as appearance in the past year.

Paulie, no taller than before but less bulky, sat at her feet. His face had firmed and matured, and he was becoming a very handsome young man. He, too, was a college freshman, but he had chosen not to play football, much to everyone’s surprise.

“I decided I don’t like it,” he’d said. “Enough of getting the stuffings beaten out of me every day.”

Jenn and Jared—and Paulie—had been gone from SeaSong for three months now, and Cass missed them. She knew Dan did too. Their time with the kids had been rich and wonderful, a gift from the Lord. Another kick reminded Cass that soon she’d have more than enough kid action to keep her busy, another wonderful gift from the Lord.

A knock on the door sent Dan to answer, and he returned with Sherri and Kevin.

“Happy housewarming, Cass,” Sherri said, bending to give Cass a kiss and a gaily wrapped present.

“How was your trip?” Cass asked, thinking that she would be happy to have her lap back soon. She had nowhere to rest Sherri’s gift.

Sherri and Kevin looked at each other and grinned.

Cass held up her hand. “Enough said. I know what those goofy smiles mean.”

It had been a long, hard year for those two. Sherri’s hospitalization, her recuperation at home in California, Kevin’s discovery that she came from a very wealthy family, the repairing of trust between both Sherri and Kevin and their families, the hours spent in counseling. Now Sherri and Kevin were in Seaside to stay, newly married and just returned from their honeymoon.

Sherri was to be the assistant innkeeper at SeaSong while Kevin was back at school full-time, going for a degree in hospitality. It
didn’t take much imagination to know that SeaSong would have some very stiff competition in the not-too-distant future.

Another knock and Pastor Paul entered.

“Ah, the most important person,” Dan said as he shook Pastor Paul’s hand. “We couldn’t do this without you.”

Dan reached out a hand and pulled Cass from her chair, no easy feat these days. He slid his arm around her waist and waited until everyone fell quiet and the sisters-in-law joined them from the kitchen. Then he spoke.

“It’s hard to believe that I didn’t know any of you wonderful people a little over a year ago. God sent me here to find His will, and I found just how deep and wide His love for us is. He gave me Cass, another family, wonderful friends, and a new career. This being a dollar-a-year man consulting with Christian ministries has been more fulfilling than I ever imagined. I am a very happy man.”

Cass, glowing with her own happiness, hugged her husband. “We asked you all here today for a very special ceremony. I did something similar at SeaSong, but then it was just me and the Lord. When I told Dan about it and suggested we do the same thing for SeaScape, we decided we’d like to ask your participation. A home can never have too much love and too much prayer.”

“We’ve asked Pastor Paul to dedicate this house to the Lord,” Dan said. “Cass and I found each other later than most, and maybe that’s why we’re so aware of God’s place in our lives. We just know that we want the Lord to be always in this place as we live out our lives together and raise our kids.” He laid a hand on Cass’s belly and was promptly kicked.

Everyone laughed.

“Somehow, I think they’re going to give you two a run for your money,” Tommy said.

“Then we’d better pray extra hard,” Cass said and bowed her head. The room fell quiet.

“Dear Father,” Pastor Paul prayed. “We ask You to come dwell in this home. Fill each room with Your …”

Cass felt a wash of water flow down her legs. Pastor Paul’s words faded as she glanced at her feet and the puddle surrounding them. Her water had broken. It was two weeks before her due date, but with twins, an early arrival wasn’t all that unusual.

She pulled on Dan’s sleeve. He glanced at her in question. She pointed down, and his eyes widened.

“Are you okay?” he mouthed as the pastor continued to pray.

She nodded. “Fi—” The word was cut off as a contraction gripped her. Her eyes widened in surprise at its strength. It made the Braxton-Hicks contractions she’d been enduring for a month seem like a single apple as opposed to an orchardful.

Dan lowered her to her chair. She grinned at him, tapping her watch. He nodded. He’d time the contractions.

“Towel?” she mouthed.

Dan nodded and left the room. He returned quickly with a white bath towel.
White. Why white?
Cass thought as he knelt and ran the towel over the floor.

When he rose, she thanked him with a smile, ignoring the smudges of dirt that streaked across the previously pristine towel. This time she felt the contraction begin its progress across her stomach and grasped the arms of her chair as it tightened like a vise. Her groan and Pastor Paul’s amen sounded simultaneously.

Everyone in the room looked at her.

“The babies?” squeaked Jenn, her eyes bright with excitement.

“The babies,” Cass confirmed as the pain receded.

“What babies?” Mom asked, wide-eyed.

“Cassandra Marie is having babies,” Dad said, taking Mom’s hand. “Twins. Remember?”

“Cassandra Marie?” Mom looked at Cass. “Then she needs to get married.”

The kids giggled as Cass, her heart aching, said, “I am married, Mom. I’ve been married for almost a year.”

Mom blinked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? To whom?”

“To me, Mom,” Dan said.

“Who are you?” Mom asked.

“I’m Dan.”

“I’m pleased to meet you, Dan.” Mom held out her hand. “You’re handsome. You should meet my daughter.”

After that, things happened in a blur. More pain. A fast ride to the hospital with a caravan of relatives following. Greater pain. The
puff, puff
of breathing exercises. Dan’s cheeriness when all she wanted was for the agony to go away, taking him along with it. The brisk professionalism of the hospital personnel. The incredible
weariness between contractions. Dan’s loving support. Then the unending haze of torture as the babies’ heads pushed through the “ring of fire.” Finally, that incredible moment of first one cry, then five minutes later, a second cry.

Her babies were here.

Early the next morning, Dan sat on Cass’s bed. In his arms he held Dan, Jr., a red, wizened little gnome with no hair. A weary Cass held Tobi Lynn, a sweet-faced pixie with a shock of black hair that stood out like Tobi already had a close acquaintance with an electrical outlet.

“Dan after his daddy and Tobi because we met in October,” Cass said, smothering a yawn.

“At least we’ll always be able to tell them apart,” Dan said as he studied Danny’s little hands. He held his hand beside his son’s. The miniature perfection of the baby amazed him. “Look at these fingernails. Did you ever see anything like them?” He looked at Tobi. “And did you ever see a more beautiful little one? She’s gorgeous, just like her mother.”

Cass shook her head at him. “You’re besotted with them. It’s very obvious that I’m going to have to be the firm one in the family, or these children will become wild little monkeys.” She reached out and cupped Dan’s jaw, her hazel eyes full of love. “I have to talk with your mother and find out her secrets of child raising because I want Danny to grow up just like his wonderful daddy.”

Dan felt love welling in him like he’d never known, and he thought he couldn’t love Cass more. As he tried to find words to articulate how he felt, Cass smothered another yawn. Dan leaned in and kissed her.

“Let me put the babies on their warming table, and then you can sleep.” He put Danny down and took Tobi from Cass. By the time he came back to the bed, his wife was sound asleep. He gently moved her to one side of the bed, slipped off his shoes, and climbed in beside her. He adjusted the sheet and blanket over them both and settled into sleep too.

This business of waiting on the Lord was the best.