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"We're pregnant!"
Pamela Isaacs's jaw dropped as she looked up at her older brother, Kirk, and his wife, Callie. Squeals and cackles erupted as Pamela's daughters, parents and younger brother enveloped the expectant couple in hugs. They deserved a baby. Callie had fought and defeated breast cancer two years ago. Pamela knew they'd yearned for a child, and yet jealousy tickled her heart.
Pushing away her selfishness, she smiled and enfolded her sister-in-law in an embrace. "I'm so happy for you."
"Thanks. I couldn't believe it. When I went for the checkup, I never dreamed…"
Pamela grabbed both of Callie's hands in hers. "You'd receive the perfect surprise."
Callie nodded as the family headed into the living area and settled into seats. Pamela's mother, Tammie, clasped her hands and lifted her gaze to the ceiling. "God is so good!"
Pamela forced herself not to roll her eyes. If she heard one more word about the awesomeness of God, she was going to hurl. It wasn't that she didn't believe in Him. Having been raised in a Christian home and having worked with creation on the family farm, she didn't deny His existence. But life had taught her not to trust Him when things got rough.
"When are you due?"
"How'd you find out?"
Questions flitted from each of the family members, and Pamela watched as her eight- and nine-year-old daughters dropped to the floor, one on each side of Callie's legs. Their faces shone with delight and eagerness to hear about their new cousin. Emma and Emmy had never had the opportunity to be around relatives their own age, even though their father had siblings who were only a few years older than the girls.
Jack. Just thinking his name made her blood burn through her veins. Her so-called husband had been gone eight years. Eight. Over the past year, he'd called and hung up on her many times over; then today he'd called asking to see their daughters.
He had no right to see the girls.
"Twins!" Her dad, Mike's, voice boomed through the room.
Pamela blinked away her thoughts and stared at Kirk and Callie. Kirk waved a sonogram through the air. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, though October was too early to turn on twinkling lights.
"You're having twins?" Emma exclaimed.
Pamela studied her older daughter. With long red hair pulled back in a ponytail, she looked so much like Pamela had at that age. Around her ears and the nape of her neck corkscrew curls escaped the band. Taller than most of her peers, she sported a gangly physique and a lot of freckles. Her crystal-blue eyes shimmered with delight.
Callie nodded. "We are." She tapped Emma's nose and then Emmy's. "One baby for each of you to hold."
Emmy jumped off the floor and yelled, "Woo hoo!"
Emmy was only a year younger than Emma and so close in appearance, except that Emmy sported deep dimples in each cheek when she smiled. The girls could almost be confused for twins except that Emma had had a recent growth spurt and now stood a full head taller than her younger sister.
"I can't believe it." Mom grabbed the sonogram from Kirk's hand, and she and Dad looked at the picture. She waved her free hand in front of her face as her deep green eyes glistened with tears.
"With all the noise and smells those two will produce, I reckon I'll have to stay in Knoxville." Ben chuckled. Her younger brother was in his last year of school at the University of Tennessee.
"No way." Kirk elbowed him. "Your help is gonna be needed around here when the babies come. Somebody's gotta run the farm, the orchard, the play area and petting zoo. Mom and Dad and Pamela already take care of the gift shop, cafe and bed-and-breakfast."
Ben's features hardened. Pamela knew Kirk made the comment in jest, but it was obvious her little brother didn't want anything to do with working in the family's business. Not that she could blame him. She had two more years until she graduated from college. Only two. Then she would have her accounting degree and could hightail it out of Bloom Hollow, Tennessee. She could take the girls anywhere she wanted and rebuild their lives together.
Most likely she'd stay in Tennessee, would probably even find an apartment close by. But she'd be in her own place, not living in the small cabin behind her family's bed-and-breakfast that doubled as the main home. She wanted to make her own way. Be her own person. Not just a member of the Jacobs Family Farm.
Her dad and brothers became engrossed in conversation. She couldn't hear what they said, but it triggered a memory of Jack standing with Dad several years ago, discussing how to work out the farm schedule. Jack had promised to work certain hours, but inevitably several days a week something else came up. He always had a reason, and he never lied about where he was or what he was doing. The problem was that a drunken stupor was usually the reason he failed to do his job.
The phone conversation she'd had with Jack earlier that day traipsed through her mind.
"I'm sober, Pamela. I want to see the girls. And you."
At first his voice had covered her like a warm blanket, deep and smooth. She'd found herself wanting to see him. Then common sense kicked in, and she snapped back to reality. "You don't have the right to see the girls or me. You haven't been around for eight years."
"I know I don't deserve a second chance, but God has changed my life…."
She scowled at the memory. He'd found God. Why did everyone she knew think they could say God's name and suddenly all was right in the world? When Callie had shared about the loss of both of her parents to cancer and then had had to endure the disease herself, everyone had been so quick to chime in, "God is sovereign. He'll see her through." When Pamela's high school friend Greta had died in a car accident, the very same people had done the same song and dance.
If God was so sovereign, why did He allow the bad things to begin with? Why couldn't life be simpler for those who loved and followed Him? She'd been full of faith and love when she and Jack had married right out of high school ten years ago. She'd trusted God with everything. But then Jack had started drinking, and he'd left. And life was never the same.
