Abide With Me (27 page)

T
he maternity waiting room was the only waiting room in the hospital Andrea did not mind entering. Happy memories sailed through the door with her. She looked around the crowded room and headed for the far corner. She could not see the woman sitting behind a bouquet of half a dozen balloons, three pink ones that read, “It’s a Girl!” and three blue ones that read, “It’s a Boy!” But it had to be Madge. Who else would bring both?

With her heart racing, she stopped in front of the balloons and peeked through, just as the thought hit her that maybe someone was going to be delivering twins. The moment she saw Madge’s face, however, she grinned. “Are you expecting twins or just trying to be prepared?” she teased.

“Andrea!” Her sister bolted to her feet and almost tripped
over her oversize purse and the ribbons tied to the balloons. “Where have you been? I called your office. I called your house and I called your cell phone. I left messages everywhere, and so did Jenny.”

“I’m sorry. I was out with Bill, and I left my cell phone off for a few hours. He just dropped me off. Any news yet?”

Madge sat down again, and her smile was smug. “Jenny had the baby a little while ago. Michael came back and told me right away. He’s with her now, but he promised I could see them once they’d taken Jenny to her room. I’m not sure I should tell you if she had a boy or a girl since you made me sit here all by myself while you were out on a date. Some sister you turned out to be.”

“Jenny’s due date is still three weeks away!”

“Not anymore.”

Andrea plopped down into the chair next to her sister. “Well, I don’t believe you. You’re just trying to make me feel bad because you didn’t like being here by yourself. If Jenny had had the baby already, you wouldn’t be sitting here with pink and blue balloons right now. You would have gotten rid of one or the other color already.”

Madge waved her arm. “Look around! This place is mobbed. I couldn’t pop three of these balloons. I’d scare someone half to death!”

“You wouldn’t pop the balloons. You’d give them to someone else who is waiting here, now if you don’t tell me the truth right now, I’m going to burst.”

Her sister shrugged her shoulders. “I did tell you the truth. Jenny had the baby, but you’re right. I wouldn’t pop the balloons. I just couldn’t get rid of the balloons I didn’t need.”

“Then we’ll just sit here and wait. As these families find out about the babies they’re waiting for, you’ll have a chance to give the balloons away.”

“Not if they’re all the same as Jenny’s baby,” Madge countered with a grin.

Andrea couldn’t be certain if Madge was bluffing or not, but after being sisters for over fifty years, she still was not prepared to let Madge get the best of her, either. She sat back and hoped that some other family in the room would get some good news sooner rather than later.

She did not have to wait long.

A man burst into the room and raced straight to his family. “A daughter! I have a daughter!” As he provided details to his excited family, Andrea looked to her sister. If Jenny had had a girl, then Madge would not be able to give this family the pink balloons. If Jenny had had a boy, then Andrea would find out within moments.

Andrea’s heart began to race when Madge pulled the balloons down, separated the pink ones from the blues one. “Let’s see. Here. You take the blue balloons, and I’ll take the pink ones.”

Andrea held on to the ribbons attached to the balloons and waited to see if Madge would take the pink ones to the other family.

Madge’s smile got bigger. “Oops. We’ll have to wait to see if any of the others have a boy. We need the pink ones for Jenny.”

“It’s a girl? Jenny had a girl?”

“She had a girl!”

Balloons and all, they hugged and kissed and shed a few tears while Madge told Andrea all of the details. The quick,
easy natural childbirth. Both mother and baby were doing fine.

Andrea toyed with the ribbons on the blue balloons. “Another girl,” she murmured as they relaxed in their seats again. “She’s just like Mother so far.”

“I think Jenny’s going to let Mother hold the record at five girls, though. Unless there’s a surprise, I think Jenny’s family is complete now. At least that’s what she told me on the phone before she left for the hospital,” Madge replied.

“Did they give her a name yet?” she asked.

“Michael said Jenny wanted to tell us.” Madge checked her watch. “It’s been half an hour since I talked to him. I hope we don’t have to wait very long to see her and the baby.”

A young man burst into the room and cried, “It’s a boy!” His family rushed from their seats and surrounded him, showering him and each other with hugs and kisses and lots of tears. This time, Madge took the blue balloons and gave them to the family.

Andrea watched a similar scene repeated two more times over the course of the next forty-five minutes when two more proud new fathers announced the birth of a son and a daughter, respectively, and families left to see their new arrivals.

Madge and Andrea now had the waiting room to themselves. Andrea would have been nervous about waiting so long, but Michael had stopped back in to say all was well. There just had been some sort of mix-up about Jenny’s room, and they would have to wait to see Jenny and the baby just a little longer.

Andrea found her thoughts wandering to her two sisters,
Kathleen and Sandra, and her parents, and she wished they could be here to share tonight’s joy. She looked around the room, sighed and tried to sort through other thoughts linking life here on earth with life in heaven. “I wonder…do you think this is what it’s like in heaven?”

When Madge looked at her, totally mystified, she tried again. “I mean, we know what it’s like here when a new baby is being born and a soul begins its journey on earth. Families gather together, no matter what day it is or what time it is. They’re so excited and anxious and they’re ready to burst with joy the moment they hear the news that the baby arrived safely. We felt that way tonight, and we saw all the other families who were here. They did, too.”

“Babies tend to make people happy. It’s always like that when babies are born, I think,” Madge replied. “What’s that got to do with heaven?”

Andrea sighed. “I’m not sure. I just was wondering if the same thing happens when a soul is coming Home. Do families get together in heaven, all excited and anxious for the moment to arrive when they can be reunited once again and forever? We never know for sure when our days on earth are over. Maybe they only know the time is near, and they get together like all these families did tonight and wait for the moment that God has chosen, a time known only to Him. And when that soul finally arrives, it’s the same sort of celebration.”

Madge dabbed at her eyes. “I never thought of it that way.”

“I never did, either, until just now.” She handed Madge a tissue and kept one for herself. “Sorry. I spilled everything out of my purse. The tissue is a little mangled, but it’s clean.”

“It’s times like this that I realize how much I miss them all,” Madge whispered.

“Me, too, but maybe if they’re all together in heaven, Mother and Daddy and Kathleen and Sandra, maybe they were there when God decided to send this little one to join our family. While we’re all excited about the days and years ahead, they’re already counting the days until they would be welcoming this little one Home.”

Madge sniffled. “You never mentioned anything like this before.”

“I guess I never really thought so much about life or death as I have…lately. After losing so many people I’ve loved, you’d think I would have thought about it before, but I didn’t. Not until cancer hit me square in the chest…or bladder, I should say.”

Madge took her hand. “You’re doing well, though. You’re halfway through your treatments and everything is fine, isn’t it?”

The worry in Madge’s voice tugged at Andrea’s heartstrings. “Yes, I’m doing well. With God’s grace, I’m going to beat this.” She paused. “I—I took a lot of things for granted before, and I’ve finally realized that I can serve Him better if I stop charging through life and trying to control everything. I’m trying hard to surrender my will for His.”

“I’m learning some lessons, too,” Madge whispered. “I’m learning to trust in His goodness and His love for all of us. I—I heard from Trish this morning. Sarah’s adoption should be final within a week or two.”

Before Andrea could respond with more than a huge hug, Michael appeared and got another round of congrat
ulatory hugs of his own from Andrea. While he went home to get Jenny some clothes, since he had dropped her suitcase and spilled everything out into the snow on their way into the hospital, Andrea and Madge went to see Jenny and the new baby. They promised to stay with her until he got back.

Carting balloons, purses and overcoats, they paraded to Jenny’s room. Andrea stopped just outside the door and looked at the balloons. “I didn’t bring anything for the baby,” she whispered.

Madge held on to the balloons while she rifled through her oversized purse, which was more like a quilted shopping bag. She pulled out a stuffed pink kitten and handed it to Andrea. “I had a feeling you might need something. I checked the tag. It’s fine for children under three.”

“It’s adorable.” When Andrea tried to peek into Madge’s bag, her sister zipped it shut.

“Yes, I brought a blue one, too, among other things,” she quipped.

Laughing softly together, they went into the room. Jenny was resting in bed with the sleeping baby in her arms. After showering Jenny with more hugs and kisses, Andrea tossed their coats on a chair and put the stuffed kitten on Jenny’s bedside table. Madge sat on the other side of the bed after she tied the balloons to the head of the bed.

Jenny placed the baby on her lap, all seven pounds four ounces of pure joy, and unwrapped the blanket swaddled around her. The infant stirred for a moment, but she did not wake up. “Poor baby girl. She’s all tuckered out,” she crooned. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

Emotion choked Andrea for a moment. “She’s so perfect,
but she’s her own girl. She doesn’t look like either Katy or Hannah. Oh, look at that! She’s got a little dimple in her chin, just like Daddy did.”

“She’s got Mother’s fair skin,” Madge noted before she leaned closer to get a better look. “She doesn’t have much hair, but I think there’s some red in it, too.”

Jenny beamed. “I knew you’d both see how much she resembles Mother and Daddy.” She caressed the baby’s head. “You’re sleeping through your introductions. This is your aunt Andrea and your aunt Madge,” she murmured before she looked up at both of her sisters. “And this is Joneve. Since she resembles her grandparents, I thought we should name her after them, too. Michael and I played around with their names a bit, but we decided there was only one way to put John and Evelyn together that sounded right. Do you like it?”

“I love her name, and I think they would love it, too,” Madge gushed.

Andrea filled up with emotion again and had to dab away a fresh tear or two. “You always know just the right button to push,” she teased.

“Wait until we start the ceremony,” Jenny countered. “Are you two ready?”

Andrea nodded. So did Madge. They joined hands, with Andrea holding one of Joneve’s hands and Madge holding the other, creating an unbroken circle that connected one generation to another. As the new mother, Jenny began the ceremony that was a tradition they had learned from their mother and she from their grandmother, although the words Jenny would speak came from her heart and not from rote. “My precious little Joneve, you are both a bless
ing and a responsibility that we all embrace with great joy and happiness. As your mother, I promise to love you and raise you with patience and wisdom and to teach you about the Creator who has entrusted you to our care. God has blessed you with two big sisters, and it is my prayer that you will grow up together and grow old together. You will be more than just sisters related by blood. You will be sisters united by faith and by friendship and by love. With God as your guide, life’s joys will be all the more joyful and life’s challenges all the easier to meet if you share them with one another.”

When she pressed a kiss to the baby’s head, Andrea continued the tradition, just as she had done for her other nieces and nephews on the day they had been born. “Remember, sweet Joneve, that your family is always here to support you—the family into which you were born and the family of Believers into which you will grow,” she whispered.

“One day, little Joneve,” Madge murmured, “you will be a woman, and we pray you will be blessed with children of your own. Love them well. Raise them to know and love God and to love one another always.”

Jenny brought the traditional ceremony to a close after they bowed their heads. “Father, we thank You for this precious child. Share with us Your love so we may guide her wisely.”

“Amen,” they said in unison.

Andrea watched Jenny swaddle the baby again and smiled. “Joneve is now officially a member of our family.” When she saw hurt flash through Madge’s eyes, she thought she might know why and felt guilty for not thinking about
this months ago when Sarah first came into their family. “I was wondering…maybe we should have something special like this for Sarah.”

Madge’s eyes lit up, then quickly dimmed. “The tradition is for newborns. Sarah is three years old.”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Jenny countered. “We should have thought of this before now. If you don’t mind waiting a few weeks until I get back on my feet a bit, we could have it at my house and include Katy and Hannah, too. It’s never too early to start teaching them about this tradition. They’ve learned others already.”

“We’ve never had an adoption in our family before,” Andrea noted, “but now that Sarah is here, we have the chance to change the tradition a bit, that’s all.”

Madge beamed. “Could we? Really?”

Andrea nodded. “Traditions are important, but they’re not etched in stone. If traditions don’t change or adapt, then they’re bound to be forgotten and maybe they should be.”

Madge sniffled again. “I don’t know what to say, except I love you both so much,” she managed before she dissolved into tears.