Katy’s heart pounded in her chest, and tears clouded her eyes. She read the words over and over, her mind swirling. Not so much because of the roses or what he’d said about missing her and wanting to talk. Not even because of his words of love. But because of what he’d said at the bottom of the card, a single sentence that said simply this:
P.S. I once was lost but now am found.
By ten the next morning the Baxters were spread out at their favorite spot on the shores of Lake Monroe.
They had a group of four picnic tables and more than a dozen folding chairs. Ashley sat in the most comfortable one and watched Landon and Cole chasing each other through the shallow water. Not far away Erin and Kari helped the little ones make sand sculptures, while Brooke and Hayley took slow steps—hand in hand—along the sand. Their dad and Luke and the rest of the group played a wild rule-free game of Ultimate Frisbee.
Ashley breathed in and savored the smell of spring.
Next to her she had country music playing softly on a small boom box, but the voices of her family were the best song of all. Storms were forecast for this afternoon, but the morning had dawned bright and warm, the skies bluer than any of them imagined. Ashley figured it was a sign. Whatever storms lay ahead, however things played out later when their father told her siblings the truth about their oldest brother, they’d get through it.
Because that’s what the Baxter family did.
This sunny morning smack in the middle of multiple storm systems reminded Ashley of Lamentations 3. Those were terrible times for God’s people, but in the middle of dozens of dark and stormy verses was a promise: His mercies are new every morning . . . great is His faithfulness.
Ashley studied the brilliant sky from her chair at the top of the hill. Surely, God was giving her mother a window. The way her dad had prayed.
Lord, tell her we’re okay. Ashley looked at Brooke, watched the way her smile lit up the beach. Tell her Hayley’s walking now. And that we miss her so much.
Something by Rascal Flatts was playing on the station, but there was a sudden static sound and the serious voice of an announcer. “We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement. A tornado watch is in effect for the rest of the day for all southern Indiana counties.” He rattled off a list, including Monroe County, where Bloomington was located. “We now return you to our regular programming.”
The first pain hit just as the music started again. It began as an ache in her lower back but quickly shot a burning tightness across her midsection. She drew a sharp breath, closed her eyes, and pressed her hand to her middle. The pain worsened with every heartbeat, then leveled off. After ten seconds or so, it faded completely.
Ashley exhaled, opening her eyes in time to see Landon jogging up the grassy hill. “Hey.” He dropped a football near her feet and stooped so he was level with her. “Everything okay?”
She smiled at him. Were they that closely connected that she could have pain and he would feel it across the beach? “I’m fine.” She still had her hand on her abdomen. “It was a contraction.” A frown tugged at her lips. “At least I think it was. With Cole everything happened so fast, I can’t remember having labor.”
“But the baby’s not due for a couple of weeks.”
She put her hands on his shoulders and grinned at him. “The doctor told me it could be anytime, remember?”
Landon looked anxious, his eyes wider than usual. “I know but not now . . . the baby needs this last week or two.”
“Because of the reunion, you mean?”
“The reunion . . . the storms . . . the fact that I’m not ready.” He sounded breathless, every bit the first-time father.
Ashley laughed. “I’ll ask her to please hold off.”
“Her?” Landon crawled closer on his knees and took Ashley’s face in his hands. “Since when is this child a her?”
“I don’t know.” Ashley gave him a teasing look. It felt wonderful having him so close, breathing the smell of him. She leaned in and kissed him, remembering all the times years ago when she’d wanted to do this and couldn’t. “I love you; do you know that?”
“I love you too.” The expression on his face made it clear that he’d forgotten his question. He worked his fingers into her hair and cradled the back of her head as he took the initiative this time.
“Ahem.” Luke gave Landon a light kick. “It’s a public beach, you two.”
Landon pulled back and chuckled. “She’s trying to seduce me.”
“Looks like it’s working.” Luke dropped to the sandy grass nearby and stretched out his legs. “Reagan said you looked like you were in pain.”
“Wow.” Ashley still had her hands on Landon’s shoulders. “I must really be loved. One contraction and the whole family’s ready to take me to the hospital.”
Luke’s eyebrows lifted. “So it was? You mean . . . you’re in labor?”
“No, it’s Braxton Hicks. False contractions.” Ashley waved at Reagan and gave her a thumbs-up. “Go tell your pretty wife everything’s fine.”
Luke bounded to his feet and jogged back down the hill.
“Uh-uh, Ash . . . not so easy.” Landon slid a finger along the length of her bare arm.
“What?” She found a mock innocent look for him and batted her eyelashes.
“You think I forgot, right?” Landon brought his face close to hers. “We’re having a girl? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
She couldn’t make him wonder another minute. “No, silly.” She closed the distance between them and brushed her nose against his. “I called the baby her so she won’t get a complex. What with you and Cole calling her a boy all this time.”
“And what if we’re right?”
“Then this is the last time I can call him a her now, isn’t it?”
They both laughed.
“Have I told you how beautiful you are? How you’ve never looked prettier since I’ve known you?”
Her feet were swollen, and freckles had broken out across her face and chest. She was carrying extra weight, and she could barely walk, let alone run along the beach. But in that moment, with Landon looking into rooms of her heart that belonged only to him, Ashley believed him. “Thank you.”
“I’ve never been happier in my life, Ashley.” He stood and grinned. “If you could get what I’m feeling onto a canvas, it’d sell for a million dollars.”
“I can only try.” She had stopped painting in the final months of her pregnancy, but she’d taken pictures instead. Sometimes she could capture through the eye of a camera what would take her an entire week with a paintbrush. Her favorites—photos of Cole and Landon and life at the Baxter house—were placed in a special box to use as inspiration for future paintings when her baby was a few months old and she would find her way back to her easel.
“Hey—” Landon took a few backward steps—“I’m gonna go play with Cole, but yell at me if you have more pains, okay?”
“Okay.” She could feel her smile all the way to the depths of her soul. “Hey, the radio said we’re under a tornado watch.”
Landon looked up at the blue sky. “Looks like we still have time.”
“That’s what I thought.”
As he ran off to join the others, a second contraction hit. But it was no stronger or lengthier than the last one. This time she didn’t close her eyes. Instead she did her best to hide the pain.
And that’s how she treated the irregular false contractions for the next two hours, through their picnic lunch, while she and Landon took a walk down the beach and back, and as clouds began gathering in the distance. Never did the pains get noticeably harder, and as time passed she was able to hide them better. When Landon asked if she was feeling more contractions, she kept her answer low-key.
“It’s nothing much. Just false labor. My body’s getting ready for the big day.”
Landon was wary, but he left her side long enough to join the others for a final hour of playtime near the water. Though the kids
claimed that the lake was cold, they enjoyed splashing and chasing each other along the sand.
Ashley was back in her chair, watching the others, when she noticed her dad sitting a dozen yards away, quiet and pensive.
“Dad—” she patted the chair next to her—“come sit by me.”
He smiled at her, stood slowly, and crossed the distance between them. He looked better than he had the year after Mom died. Probably because he was getting out more, taking his daily walks, and making time to work on the property. She dismissed the possibility that his friendship with Elaine Denning had anything to do with his improved appearance.
“How’re you feeling?” He stopped in front of her, his hands on his hips. “Luke said something about a contraction?”
“I’m fine.” She made a face. “They’re way too irregular to be anything serious. False labor, I’m sure.”
Concern shone on her father’s face. “Are you sure?”
Ashley smiled. “Definitely.”
“Well, keep track. You’re early, right?”
“Two weeks.”
“So, not really.” He gave her a look that showed his excitement. “How wonderful if you had the baby this week while everyone’s here.”
“Except I don’t want to spend the time in the hospital.”
“You’d be out in twelve hours.” He settled into the chair beside her. “Landon must be so happy.”
“He practically glows in the dark.” Ashley grinned and looked down the hill to where Landon was standing with Cole on one side, Maddie and Jessie and Hayley and Clarisse and Chloe on the other. He was picking up rocks and showing the kids how to skip them across the water.
“Just one at a time.” They could hear his voice, kind and gentle, teaching them the age-old skill. “Careful so you don’t throw them anywhere but at the water.”
“Hmm.” Her dad watched Landon, his eyes wistful. “You know what I sort of hoped?”
She turned to him. “What?”
He gazed at the men mixed in with the others playing along the sand. “I hoped your older brother would be something like Landon or Ryan, something like Luke.”
They hadn’t talked about the oldest Baxter sibling for the two weeks leading up to the reunion. Every time Ashley wanted to ask, she’d changed her mind. Her dad had told her she’d be the first to know, and when he didn’t mention anything, she figured his last efforts with her brother had amounted to nothing. “You never heard from him?”
“No.” Regret colored his tone. “I wrote to him. Sent him photos of everyone in the family. Nothing.”
Ashley let that thought sink in. She watched her family running and laughing on the shore, watched how the lake rippled and sparkled with the last bit of sunshine as the clouds moved in. Maddie and Jessie now sat on either side of Hayley, with Chloe and Clarisse finishing off the circle. The five girls were building a sand castle, clearly in competition with Landon, Ryan, Cole, and Tommy, making one a few feet away. Erin and Brooke and Kari sat with three of the babies on a blanket twenty yards off, lost in conversation. At a table nearby, Sam and Peter played chess. Luke and Reagan sat closer to the shore.
Wasn’t there some place in the mix where their older brother could fit in? Even for a onetime visit? Whoever he was, he didn’t know what he was missing. She frowned at her dad, still not sure she should ask. “You’re telling everyone tonight, right?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes. After dinner.”
She had more questions, like whether he’d be able to mention the guy’s name now or whether it was still important to keep his identity a secret. But before she could ask, heavy raindrops began falling.
John looked up. “Storm’s coming.” He stood and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Okay, everyone. Let’s pack up.”
At the same time, another song on the radio was cut short. “We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement. Weather officials have announced a tornado warning for several counties in southern Indiana.” He rattled off a list of names, and again Monroe was among them.
An arrow of fear pierced Ashley. The tornado watch hadn’t seemed too ominous under blue skies. But now . . . a tornado warning? She tried to listen over the suddenly loud pounding of her heart.
“We repeat, conditions have formed a tornado that has been sighted in this area. Stay tuned for more information as it comes in. This tornado warning will be in effect until five o’clock this evening. Please stay tuned to your local forecast for updates as they are available.”
In the far distance, a siren began to wail. Slow and mournful, the sound was unmistakable and known by everyone who lived in the part of the country known as Tornado Alley. It was a tornado siren, the alarm that confirmed what the radio had just announced. A tornado warning was in effect. Everyone should take cover.
How crazy was this? Tornado watches were common this time of year, but a warning? When they’d had beautiful weather all morning? Ashley watched her siblings and their spouses stand a little straighter, pausing briefly to listen to the distant siren. Then—the way people in Indiana were used to doing—they moved quickly, packing things and hurrying children to the vans in a manner that was calm and efficient.
Landon was at her side. The rain was coming harder now, and already his hair and shirt were wet. “Don’t panic.” His eyes were bright with humor and a hint of fear.
A single laugh slipped from her throat. “You, either.”
“No, really.” He glanced at the sky, folding chairs and blankets as he talked. “Warnings happen every week around here.”
She stood and collapsed the chair she’d been sitting in. “I know, Landon.” The teasing felt good. It was better than being scared to death. “I live here too, remember?”
“Right.” He was breathing faster than usual. “And you’re not in labor, are you, Ash? Tell me you’re not in labor.”
“I’m not in labor.” She handed him her chair and picked up a bag of leftover chips. She felt a sheepish grin lift the corners of her mouth. “At least I don’t think so.”
“Great.” He set the chairs on the closest ice chest and heaved the entire load into his arms. “My wife goes into labor just as tornadoes are spotted coming our way.”
“Just don’t get called in to work.”
Landon groaned and headed down the hill. “God . . . get us through this.” He looked over his shoulder. “Cole, come on. Let’s get going.”
Despite the chaos and commotion around her, Ashley was touched by Landon’s concern. Here he was, a big strapping firefighter, a guy who had spent nearly three months cleaning up the debris at Ground Zero while looking for the body of his firefighting friend, and now he was coming undone over the idea of contractions and tornado warnings.
She grabbed two blankets and the food bag and followed Landon. Halfway down the hill she realized it had been nearly thirty minutes since she’d had any contractions. Definitely false labor. One less thing to worry about. It was pouring now, the drops so big they stung her shoulders.
Luke ran up from behind her. “Ashley, I’ll get that.”
She stopped and handed the large bag to her brother.
Kari ushered Cole down the hill toward the vehicles.
Landon dropped off one load in the back of his Durango and jogged back toward Ashley. He took the blankets from her and looped his arm through hers. “You okay?”
“Definitely. No more pains.”
“Good.”
They made it down the hill—Landon on one side, Luke on the other. There were no pains, but she felt nauseous, and suddenly she remembered that she’d felt that way before Cole came too. Landon helped her into the Durango and followed both vans out of the parking lot.
Ashley wasn’t sure, but far against the horizon one of the clouds looked as if it were trying to form a funnel. “Exactly how bad is this storm?”
“Bad.” Small beads of sweat dotted Landon’s brow. He looked in the rearview mirror at Cole and Tommy. Luke and Reagan and Malin wer
e in the back. He could see the concern on the faces of Luke and Reagan, but they were busy in conversation with the kids.
Ashley put her hand protectively on her protruding stomach. Please, God . . . not now, not tonight. We need to take shelter, Father. Be with us.
Landon was quiet, intent as they drove to the Baxter house. Lightning and thunder moved in, and rain fell in sheets that made it almost impossible to see the road.
When they finally pulled into the Baxter driveway, Ashley heard Reagan sigh. “Thank God we’re home.”
“I agree. This is one wicked storm.” Luke sat up straighter, his hand on Ashley’s shoulder. “You okay, Sis?”
“I’m good.” She covered his hand with her own. “At least we’re back.”
They gathered the children and whatever food needed to be refrigerated and dashed into the house, while everyone from the vans did the same thing. Once they were inside, the storm seemed to hit even harder.
Erin and Reagan and Kari put the younger children down for naps, and the adults gathered around the dining room table, with the kids playing in the next room, the way they had the night before.
An hour later the storm abated. And Ashley’s nausea seemed to fade also.
She and Landon held hands, and silently she thanked God. Not just because the storm had passed, but because the labor pains she felt at the lake had been false. This was definitely not the day to have a baby. Especially after the radio made another announcement.
The most serious tornadic conditions in years were only a few hours away and headed straight for Bloomington.
Dayne was listening to a talk station, jogging along Malibu Beach when he heard the news. Some of the worst tornadoes of the decade were brewing in the Midwest, most of them centered in southern Indiana.
He slowed his pace and looked at the sky. It was already six o’clock in Bloomington, so whatever storms were forming, the people he cared about must already know the news.
Three girls in bikinis were walking toward him. One of them pointed at him and said something to her friends, and the three of them picked up their pace.