“What is wrong, Jobeth?” Alan asked as he walked into the kitchen.
Jobeth had just begun to finish up last-minute chores before Oliver and Shawna arrived. She turned to him questioningly.
“The children say you are crabby.” He was carrying Joanna in his arms. He placed her down gently and looked to Jobeth for answers.
Jobeth thought Joanna was too old to be carried in her father’s arms. She was nine years old and quite tall for her age. She looked ridiculous, clutched to her father’s neck, her long legs dangling awkwardly around his waist.
“Nothing, Alan.” Jobeth turned away from him and continued to clean the counter. “I’m just edgy.” She attacked the counter with a vengeance. Alan frowned at her and looked to Joanna who sat pouting on the kitchen chair.
“I made Mama mad at me,” she whimpered.
Jobeth swung around and glared at Joanna. She closed her eyes tightly. The girl had a habit of making mountains out of molehills.
“Your mother is not mad at you, Joanna,” Alan soothed as he bent down to her level, his hands resting on her bony knees. He scowled at Jobeth with a red angry face. In a demanding voice he asked, “Right, Jobeth?”
“No, I’m not mad at her,” Jobeth said, looking away from them both. Her headache had once again returned and now she was feeling angry--angry that Alan was taking the child’s side. Couldn’t he see Joanna was playing on his good nature?
“Go outside and play.” Jobeth said in a cool voice, her back still to them.
Joanna stared at Jobeth’s straight back and felt empty. She got up and gathered the children around her. She looked at her father with a pleading face as she led Alan-Michael, Constance and Pauline outside.
“I wish you would not take your frustrations out on the children,” Alan said in a furious voice. Jobeth turned to him, shocked. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of Alan’s mouth.
“Joanna plays you against me,” Jobeth retaliated throwing down the rag she was using.
“She just wants your attention, Jobeth. You are always so harsh on her. You make her feel like she can never do anything right.” Alan’s face began to get red. He saw how Jobeth acted with the children. She played favorites with Mara-Joy and Alan-Michael and doted on their every move as the other three girls, especially Joanna, sat in the background starving for their mother’s attention.
“That . . . that is not true Alan.” Jobeth struggled to fight back tears. She hated it when Alan was irate with her. He never was unless it had to do with the children. She was about to protest more when Oliver burst through the door.
“Oliver!” Alan said, turning abruptly into the other man’s broad embrace.
The men slapped each other on the back affectionately. Jobeth bounced around excitedly, looking for Shawna. She spotted her coming through the door, a baby cradled in her arms.
“Shawna!” Jobeth squealed, scrambling past the two loud men. She hugged the young woman tightly to her, nearly squishing the baby between them. “This can’t be Daniel,” Jobeth said, gazing into the blanket. Shawna laughed wickedly.
“No, no,” she said warmly. “This is Donna. Daniel is coming out of the automobile--or trying to get out of that contraption--whatever way you want to look at it.”
“You never said anything in your letters!” Jobeth said, gently taking the newborn from Shawna’s arms.
“Oliver wrote that we had a surprise,” Shawna giggled, moving the pink blanket so Jobeth could see her sleeping daughter. “It nearly killed me not to tell you, Jobeth. But I wanted you to be surprised.”
Jobeth stared at Shawna, amazed that she had grown up right before her eyes.
“Some surprise,” Oliver laughed, throwing Mara-Joy up in his arms. She had come into the house to see what the commotion was all about. Oliver had spotted her and lifted her straight into the air, overcome with emotion to see her.
“Uncle Oliver, put me down!” Mara-Joy cackled, “I am too big for this.”
Oliver hugged her tightly to his chest and planted a warm kiss on her cheek.
“I have missed you, my darling. I didn’t think it was possible, but you have become more beautiful since I last saw you.” He placed her down beside the rest of the children who waited to be tossed in the air too.
“Mommy? Mommy? Where are you?” A small voice came from the doorway.
Everyone turned to a small blond boy with pale blue-gray eyes.
“Daniel!” Everyone said in union running to greet the startled little boy.
Jobeth felt her heart swell. It was good to see Shawna again. She had missed her deeply. She looked down at the baby squirming in her arms. Her family was home and under one roof again.
After dinner and when all the children had been put down to bed, the four adults collapsed in the living room, exhausted. With Jobeth and Alan’s five children and Shawna and Oliver’s two, the homestead had turned into a zoo.
It took everything out of the parents to calm their excited brood down. They were still fidgeting and giggling as Jobeth and Shawna tucked the crowded children into the beds they all shared.
“Shawna and I have good news to tell you both,” Oliver said, sipping some tea. He waited to continue until Jobeth settled down from serving them all.
Shawna sat glued to Oliver’s arm, grinning secretly at him. Oliver reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly.
“I thought we already had the good news--your daughter, Donna,” Jobeth replied, sitting down beside Alan.
Early in the evening she had apologized to him for her behavior with the children. They made up with a small peck on the lips and a hug. It would have to do for now.
“Yes, but we have more,” Oliver said mysteriously. Jobeth and Alan looked confused. What more could there be?
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense any longer,” Alan said, holding on to Jobeth’s hand. His heart was beginning to pound. He couldn’t explain the odd way he was suddenly feeling.
“In two days we are going to have our first family reunion,” Oliver said, nodding his head.
Shawna covered her mouth to suppress her urge to squeal.
“What?” Alan sat up straight. “We don’t have any other relatives.”
“Yes, that is true,” Oliver said, leaning in closer, “but aren’t there three guys you two have not seen in about . . . oh . . . fourteen years?” He sat back in his seat studying the bewildered faces of the two in front of him.
Alan looked to Jobeth, his face confused. She gazed deep into his green eyes that she loved so much. She could feel his raw emotions, as though they were her own.
“I think Oliver is trying to tell us that the boys have been found,” Jobeth spoke softly to Alan’s stunned face. He clutched her arm, unable to believe his ears. His face contorted with emotion. A tear began to roll down his cheek.
“Jobeth?” he asked in a shaky voice. She smiled at him and pulled him to her. “Can it be true?” Alan whispered.
She looked to Oliver and Shawna in disbelief, searching for an answer.
“It’s true,” Oliver said, staring down at the floor, his own emotions flooding over him. “Our brothers are alive and coming home.”
Jobeth heard a sob fall out of her mouth.
“A miracle,” she muttered.
“They will be here in two days with their new
families,” Shawna said in her sweet soft voice.
Jobeth and Alan sat back in their seats in disbelief. After all the years of wondering what had happened to them, the old gang would be together again. Jobeth looked down at her feet where Old Queenie was curled up asleep. She was an ancient dog now who had seen it all: Jonah, Tamara. A tear trickled down her cheek. She wiped it away absentmindedly.
Not all the family would be there.
Queenie looked up at Jobeth with her foggy dark eyes and gray muzzle and whined.
“It’s all right, girl. It’s all right,” Jobeth cooed, scratching the silky flap of the dog’s ear.
Chapt
er 21 —