Bartered Bride Romance Collection (47 page)

She giggled.

As he turned toward the door, he caught a glimpse of Matty’s glistening eyes. What could he have said to make Matty cry? She was still smiling, though, so it must be all right.

Chapter 8

C
orrie couldn’t remember a more joyous Thanksgiving Day. She did feel awkward lounging in the parlor while her sisters did all the bustling and preparing, but the feeling didn’t last long. Luke pulled a chair and a small table close to where she lay then set up a checkerboard.

“It’s been ages since I played checkers,” she informed him. “I probably won’t be much of a challenge.”

“It’s been ages since I played, too,” he replied with the gentle, just-for-her smile that sent shivers all the way down her spine.

“And even when we played every day, he still wasn’t very good,” Jim offered, setting a plate of fresh-baked rolls on the table beside the checkerboard. “Bess sent these in to tide us over until lunch.”

Corrie played a game with Luke then watched the brothers compete against one another. The banter and affectionate insults didn’t pause throughout the game. Bertie then joined them to play against Jim and then Corrie. Corrie felt as if her youngest sister spent more time studying her than the checkerboard, and she kept trying to reassure Bertie with smiles. Then she’d catch Bertie studying Luke, then seeming to try to study the two of them together. She’d never had the instinctive understanding of Bertie that Bess seemed to possess, but today’s behavior was even more inexplicable than usual. Still, Corrie reached out to give Bertie a hug after the game was over. “Thanks for helping keep your useless big sister entertained.”

The girl’s gray-blue eyes flashed. “You’re not useless!” With that, she left the room.

Corrie looked at Luke to see if he’d noticed the exchange. He nodded. “She’s had a rough time of it while you’ve been laid up. She’s been really worried about you, and Matty and Bess didn’t explain much.”

“It wouldn’t be proper to tell her,” Corrie explained in a rush of defensiveness.

“I know.” Luke’s tone became soothing. “That’s what I told her, and I explained that I get told even less than she does. I’m not sure I helped though. She’s lost a lot in the past few years.”

Corrie instantly felt ashamed. “I’ve been so absorbed in my own troubles, I haven’t given much thought to how she feels.”

“She’s doing fine,” Luke assured her. “She just needs a bit of reassurance now and then, like we all do.”

It took Corrie several seconds to realize she was staring at him. She simply couldn’t imagine him in need of reassurance about anything. Before she could pursue the thought, though, Matty called them to lunch. Just that quickly, Luke scooped her up. He held her so lightly she could almost believe that he didn’t notice her weight. It felt good to be supported by his strong arms, to have her arms around his shoulders. It felt as if they were pieces of a puzzle designed for each other. Before the thought could disturb her unduly, the rest of the family assembled around the table.

“Before I ask the blessing, I’d like to begin by stating what I’m thankful for,” Jim said, reaching for Matty’s hand. “I’m thankful that before I even realized I needed a wife, God sent a perfect helpmate to me … dropped her at my feet, so to speak.”

Matty turned pink, and her three sisters laughed aloud at the memory of Matty’s ungraceful introduction to Jim. When she could make herself heard, Matty spoke. “I’m thankful for Corrie’s continued good health.”

Corrie thought she heard a quiet, masculine-sounding “amen” from Luke’s place beside her. “I’m grateful that God has given Matty the joy of marriage and the four of us a place to live,” she said.

Bess spoke next. “I’m thankful the four of us are able to continue to be together and that we’ve come to a place where women’s opinions matter.”

There was a pause until Luke prompted gently, “Bertie?”

Bertie looked at her hands in confusion then at each of her sisters before speaking. “I’m glad, too, that we’re together and that Corrie is okay.”

“I think we’re all in agreement on that, Bertie,” Luke replied. “I’m also grateful God sent the four of you to share our home for as long as He leaves you with us. I know I’m stuck with Matty for the rest of her life, but I hope the other three of you never feel you have to be in a hurry to leave here. Our home is your home for as long as you like.” His words addressed the three of them, but his gaze never left Corrie’s.

“Thank you, Luke,” Bess responded, saving Corrie the trouble of forming a reply that wouldn’t embarrass her. “Now, Jim, if you wouldn’t mind asking the blessing so we can eat before the food gets cold.”

Corrie grinned to herself. Emotion would never get out of hand with Bess around to remind them all of practicalities. Jim’s prayer was short, as usual, and then the serving dishes began to make their way around the table. Corrie felt she couldn’t possibly do justice to all the wonderful food. She took just a dab of this and a bit of that, hoping to be able to sample everything. Still, she felt uncomfortably full by the time the meal ended. The babies had grown so big that her stomach didn’t have room for much more than a snack. In a couple of hours, she’d be hungry again.

Luke carried her back to the parlor, and Matty followed them. “How are you feeling, Corrie? Not too tired?”

“I think I’m ready for a rest,” Corrie admitted, “but, no, not too tired. It’s been wonderful being back with the family.”

“It’s been wonderful having you back,” Matty assured her with a hug. “Now just don’t overdo so we can keep you here.”

By the time Luke carried her upstairs that evening, Corrie felt ready for the quiet of her room. It had been a day full of fun, laughter, and family togetherness, but her very bones felt tired. Her back ached. Her stomach still felt overstretched from lunch. She let Matty help her into a sleeping gown; then she settled gratefully into bed. But sleep didn’t come easily or linger long. She kept feeling Luke’s arms around her. Had she ever felt such safety in Brian’s embrace? She tried to recall a time Brian had carried her, but no such memory surfaced to banish the memory of Luke’s arms. Was she falling in love with the gentle-eyed rancher? Had she loved Brian as truly as she ought if she could replace him so quickly?

It took Matty only a single glance the next morning to declare Corrie bedridden for another day. “We must have worn you out, dear one,” she said. “Your eyes look like burnt holes in a blanket.”

Corrie didn’t object. While she doubted how much sleep she’d get, she needed time alone to get her emotional bearings again. After a restless nap, she turned once more to John’s Gospel and to the verses that had first caught her attention. “Let not your heart be troubled … I will not leave you comfortless….” The words brought peace, if not physical comfort.

It seemed no matter how she lay on the bed, her back ached. When Matty brought lunch, Corrie refused it. “I feel like if I eat anything, I’ll throw up.”

Matty’s eyebrows knit with what Corrie termed her “doctor frown.”

“Any cramps?”

“No, but my back aches miserably.”

Matty helped Corrie turn onto her side, facing the wall, then rubbed the lower part of her spine. “Right here?”

“Ahhh, yes,” Corrie breathed. But the relief didn’t last long. “Oooh, now that hurts worse.”

Matty instantly stopped rubbing Corrie’s back, moving her hands to Corrie’s arm instead, where she stroked gently. “How about if I get a hot pack?”

Luke was just finishing his second cinnamon roll after lunch when Matty came back downstairs from taking lunch to Corrie. A single look at her face put knots of tension in his shoulders. “She’s having trouble again?”

Matty nodded. “Bess, we need some tea towels dipped in water as hot as you can stand, then wrung out. Luke and Jim, we need the water reservoir on the stove filled, as well as a large potful to heat on the stove.” She studied Bertie for a moment, as if deep in thought. “Bertie, I need you to go through what’s left of the flour sacks. We’re going to need lots of cloths, so I’ll need you to take the seams out. Choose patterns that we can’t do much with. That purple one would be a good start.”

Through the haze of his concern, Luke was glad to see Bertie’s eyes brighten. Apparently, all she needed was to feel useful. He pushed back from the table, pocketing the remnant of his cinnamon bun. He’d lost interest in eating it, but Ramon usually enjoyed the table scraps he sneaked out of the house for him. On the way to the pump, he tossed the bun to the dog, who gobbled it. With energy brought on by worry, Luke had two buckets filled with water before Jim joined him. No words were exchanged as the brothers passed one another. Luke read in his brother’s eyes the same concern he felt.

Once inside the kitchen, though, he found Matty waiting for him. “I need you upstairs.”

Undeniable fear gripped him. “What’s wrong?”

A skeleton of a smile crossed her face. “Corrie’s asking for you. It may not be socially acceptable, but if your being there will help keep her calm, I won’t stand in the way.”

Luke stayed by Corrie’s side throughout the afternoon and long after night fell. He lent his support when she insisted on pacing the hallway and helped Matty keep fresh hot packs against Corrie’s back when she lay down. As the hours passed, Corrie’s discomfort increased. It tore at his heart to hear her moans. When she squeezed his hand until it went numb, he willed the gesture to impart some of her pain to him.

Just as dawn was beginning to lighten the sky, he helped Corrie to her feet once more. She draped her arms over his shoulders and leaned against him as another spasm gripped her. Without warning, a gush of water poured over their feet. Matty instantly banished him from the room. “Go get Bess.”

“Luke!” Corrie’s voice was hoarse.

“He can’t stay, dear one,” Matty informed her tenderly. Though exhaustion ringed her eyes, not a trace of it showed in her tone.

Corrie looked up into Luke’s face as she still clung to him. He marveled that she seemed to draw strength from his presence. He felt the bond between them, even though propriety didn’t yet allow them to acknowledge it aloud. “Corrie,” he whispered, “I’ll stay right outside your room, okay? I won’t stop praying until this is all over.”

She nodded and allowed him to loosen her grip on his shoulders. He and Matty eased her onto the bed, and he left the room quickly before another spasm could take her. If he heard her pain-filled cry, not even his respect for Matty would keep him from fighting to stay by Corrie’s side.

Bess responded instantly to his call. It seemed forever before she came out of the room again, her arms full of sodden-looking clothing. “Matty says it shouldn’t be long now,” she whispered. In moments, she reappeared, this time carrying a chair. Without comment, she positioned the chair outside Corrie’s doorway then vanished back downstairs.

Luke couldn’t have said whether minutes or hours passed. The chair stood watch as he paced the length of the hallway, sending wordless appeals from his heart to his heavenly Father. All at once, his absorption was broken by a small cry, hardly louder than Rhubarb’s kittens. Then Matty appeared in the doorway, bearing a hastily wrapped bundle. “Take her, quick, and call Bess to come clean her up.” She vanished back into the bedroom and closed the door.

He peered down at the squalling infant barely filling his two hands together. What could he possibly know about how to hold a baby? The thought had only a moment to register before the tiny eyes fluttered open. They gazed at him without recognition or focus, but Luke fell instantly in love. “So you’re a girl, Matty said,” he murmured, tucking the little one closer to his chest. “Welcome to the Rough Cs. You’re most welcome here, little princess.”

Before he reached the head of the stairs, Bess came barreling up, taking them two at a time. He wanted to grin at the uncharacteristic behavior, then at the joy of what he held in his hands, then at anything at all. “Matty say she’s a girl and to get you to clean her up.”

Bess reached for the baby. “Where’s Matty? Is Corrie okay?”

Luke suddenly recalled Matty’s haste in returning to the bedroom. Fear seared him once again. “I don’t know. She seemed—”