Her Story’s Unexpected Hero – Extended Epilogue

Ruth took Teresa’s baby with a little pang of hurt. Teresa had been married a little less than a year for Ruth’s three years, and Ruth had yet to even think there could be a baby. She didn’t get why she would be so unlucky when it was so easy for her sister. 

She still loved the little baby in front of her though. She had always wanted to be an aunt. She knew that Teresa deserved a good love, like the one that she had. Ruth didn’t mind that Teresa was happy. She wanted Teresa happy. It was just hard to see her there and not even feel a flutter in her room. 

“What’s his name going to be?” Ruth asked.

“I was thinking maybe Daniel,” Teresa said.

Ruth smiled up at her. “He’s going to be so pleased. You’re kind to do that for him.” 

“Well, I want to honor him as one of the few adults in our lives to be ever present and stick around. Obviously, neither of our mothers planned leaving, but it does make father especially important in my life. I’m so glad to have him.”

“You still know nothing about your father, do you?” Ruth asked softly.

“I don’t want to,” Teresa answered. “Not anymore.” 

“Well, I think we all appreciate that,” Ruth said. “But if you ever change your mind, I will help you find him.”
“Believe me,” Teresa said, “our father is the only father I’m ever going to need.” 

Ruth smiled up at her, then leaned down and kissed the baby’s forehead. “Well, he certainly has a pretty impressive namesake,” she answered. “Tell him when I’m there, so I can see how excited to hear it.”
“Have you had any more luck?” Teresa whispered, though there wasn’t anyone around.” 

“No, no luck yet. Although—” 

“Although what?”

“Well, I’m two days late. Not enough to meet anything. You know my cycle is spotty at best.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with being hopeful,” Teresa said.

“Sometimes, when it means your hopes get crashed over and over again, there is. But don’t worry about me right now. Keep your focus on little Danny. He will need all your attention.” 

“I don’t think I’ll have any problem with that,” Teresa answered. “He’s much too much of a sweetheart for me to want to even let anyone else hold him. In fact, I think I need him back once again,” she teased, reaching her arms out to Ruth.

“Fine,” Ruth said. “But only because he technically is your baby.”
“Technically?” 

“I think there is a lot of ways to see that I have been a figure in the baby’s life that deserves to be honored.”

“Honored, sure, but he’s still my baby. Though I wanted to ask you—” 

“Yes?” Ruth asked after Teresa was quite for a long moment.

“Well, if this is too much for you when you’re having your own child, I understand and I won’t push it for even a moment, but do you think we could make it official that if anything were to happen to Onan and I—God forbid—you and Edward would take over for us?” 

“Oh Teresa,” Ruth said. “I hadn’t ever expected you to ask, but I had hoped that you would. What a great honor for me, and for Edward as well of course. We would be so happy. Of course, we hope it never happens, but know that if anything does Danny will be in good hands.” 

“Thank you,” Teresa said. “That takes a big load off my chest. You don’t know how scary it is to be a parent.” 

“No,” Ruth said softly. “No, I don’t.” 

Teresa seemed to realize what she said and looked up at her. “Oh, Ruth, I didn’t mean—” 

“It’s okay,” Ruth said with a small smile. “I know you didn’t mean it like that. Could you take little Danny back?” she asked, leaning forward to hand her to him.

“Of course,” Teresa answered, taking the baby. “Ruth I really didn’t—” 

“I know you didn’t,” Ruth answered. “Who knows, give it a few months and maybe I’ll happier news.” 

“Well, I better be the second person to know,” Teresa said. “Edward, then me.”

 “What about father?” 

“I don’t see father giving you any nephews, do you?” 

“He did give me you. But fine, I’ll make sure you know before he does.” 

“Thank you,” Teresa said. 

“I need to go get dinner ready.”

 “Dinner isn’t for at least two hours,” Teresa pointed out.
“Well, I have big plans today, fried chicken and everything. I need the time.”
“Any special occasion?”

“Just wanting to get my mind off a few things,” she answered. She was pretty sure Teresa knew the thing she wanted to get her mind from was trying to imagine that she would never have a child. But she couldn’t escape her need to leave. She stood up and smiled at Teresa. “I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you, with more food. You don’t leave this bed.” 

“I can’t very well stay in bed,” Teresa said. 

“You need rest,” Ruth answered. “That is plenty of reason to stay in bed all day. If Onan doesn’t understand I’ll make him watch next time you give birth, rather than just waiting outside.” 

“I’m sure that would change his mind,” Teresa answered with a tired laugh. 

“I have to say, I’m surprised someone would ever have a second child after having one.” 

“I’m sure when he starts sleeping through the night, I’ll say he’s worth it.” 

“Well, it could be quite a while before that happens.” 

“I suppose he’s worth it now too,” she said with a tired smile. “Bring Onan in on your way out so he can watch Daniel and I can sleep.” 

Edward knew that whenever a woman couldn’t have children it was considered the woman’s fault, but he couldn’t help wonder if there was something wrong with him. Ruth was trying so hard, eating all the right things, doing all the right exercises, talking to doctors, but nothing seemed to be working. He considered seeing a doctor himself, but he was afraid he’d be laughed at simply for implying it may be his fault. 

He watched Ruth walk back in from seeing the baby for the first time. “Is she doing well enough for me to see the baby?” Edward asked.

“I would give it a few days.” 

“Girl or boy?” 

“Boy.”
“Name?”
“Daniel.” 

“Oh, how sweet, father will love that.” He paused, looking over her. “What’s wrong?” 

She collapsed against him, a sea of tears. “I’m trying so hard.” 

“Ruth,” he said, holding her shaking body and rubbing her back. “Ruth, we all know you are. You’re not doing anything wrong. I know how hard you’re trying.” 

“You should marry someone different. Someone who can give you children. I’ll consent to a divorce.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” 

“I’m being entirely reasonable,” and this line she snapped, sounding angry. 

“Do you have any idea how much I love you.” 

“The love of father and child is even more unbreakable.” 

“I’m not going anywhere. When it is God’s time, the child will come. And if it’s never time for our child, it will always be our time for each other.” 

“Are you certain?” 

“Positive.” 

Ruth didn’t tell Edward she was going to the doctor. She was becoming a regular there, and she wasn’t going to tell him about ever single visit. The doctor had recommended different herbs, different ways of being intimate, different everything. Nothing had worked. And then… Well, she wasn’t going to get her hopes up. She had drunk some different tea, and sometimes tea upset her stomach. Sometimes her cycles were odd or absent. It wouldn’t be the first time for her to come and him to say nothing was happening. There was no reason to get excited this time either.

She knocked on the doctor’s door rather than walking right inside. She had set up ages ago that they not do the appointments at her house where Edward saw him come and leave every time. She wanted to keep Edward from getting his hopes up.

The doctor’s wife walked up and opened the door and Ruth felt guilty that this random woman knew more about her health than her husband did, but it seemed impossible to avoid. “Ruth,” she said softly, “are you gaining weight.” 

Ruth felt herself blush, and she knew what the woman was trying to say. “Well, I’m not really sure yet. I hope so, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up for nothing.” 

“Good luck.” 

“Thank you,” Ruth said. It had been a few cycles now that she had missed, and she did think she was gaining weight and having a few other symptoms. She told Doctor Immad this when she went in, but she didn’t know what to think until he listened to her stomach. 

“Well, Ruth, I think you have some very happy news to tell your husband.
“You’re not serious,” Ruth said. 

“I promise I’m very serious. I guess it was this tea in particular. You never know what might work for someone.”

“Are you sure?” 

“As sure as I can be. Since you had so much trouble, I want to make sure you’re careful for the pregnancy, so you will be seeing me regularly. Do you have anyone that can help you if you need to rest extra?” 

“My sister can come; I’ve been helping her with her baby since he’s been born.” 

“Well, I think you should run and tell them both. I imagine your father will be very happy to hear as well.”
“Thank you,” Ruth said, and she didn’t think she would ever be so happy to run home. She had to tell herself that if it was important to be gentle running was something she definitely shouldn’t do. 

Edward knew, as soon as Ruth went out to the barn, that it was something good. It wasn’t that she didn’t generally come to the barn; she was very involved in the work of the farm, but she looked different, it was something in the grin on her face that told him to be excited.

“Are we having fried fish tonight?” he asked. Fried fish was her go to when she was happy, friend chicken when she had a lot on her mind.

“Let’s have both.”

He walked forward and grabbed her hand. “Ruth, you can tell me anything.” 

“Maybe let’s eat first.” 

“Then I’m ready to eat right now, find me some crusty old bread.” 

“I’m pregnant.” 

“What?” he said, half screaming, and then he crushed her into a hug. “Sorry, I guess I should be more careful now, I just—Wow Ruth, I’m so happy for you. For us. I think we’re ready.” 

“I think so too,” she said, but she was quiet, withdrawn.

“Why the chicken?”
“The doctor said I should be careful, that after such a hard time getting pregnant, I could have a high risk pregnancy.” 

“Well, we’ll have Teresa or Daniel come stay with us. You know they will both be willing. They can take care of the things in the house, and I can take care of everything outside without your help.”

“What if we lose them?”

“Ruth, we can’t think that far ahead. I know, you always tell me hope can be a dangerous thing, but it is important for you to remember that hope propelled you across the desert to find your sister, which means hope brought you to me.”

“I don’t want to have any hopes for this baby quite yet.” 

“Fine, no hopes for this baby, but no thoughts about them dying either. Today, we are going to focus on what we learned today. Today, we learned in a few months we may or may not have a baby. Today, we know that you have a baby in your stomach. Maybe it will or won’t make it to the real world. But at the very least, right now, I want to be happy that there’s a baby in your stomach. I want to go get your sister to cook us fried fish, and I want to read to your stomach. How does that sound?”

Ruth looked apprehensive for a long moment, so Edward stuck his hand inside of Ruth’s once more. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “I know it’s so, so scary, but it’s going to be okay.”

If it were up to the scared part of Ruth, she would not tell Teresa till the baby was actually out, just in case it went wrong. But Ruth’s brave part of herself, and the whole Edward’s self, decided that Teresa needed to know. It also helped that she could tell the scared part of herself that the baby, and herself, had a better chance of surviving if she had Teresa there. 

“I heard you have news,” Teresa said, running in to where Ruth started, making up floor batter.

“Ruth, what are you doing up?” Edward asked. 

“The doctor hasn’t put me on bed rest yet,” she said.

“Bed rest?” Teresa said. “Edward promised me it was good news so I wouldn’t panic. Are you—I mean—” 

“I’m pregnant,” Ruth said for her.

“Oh, I had thought and hoped so, I was just so worried to say it against it was something else and I could disappoint you.” 

“We’re not having expectations yet,” Ruth said.

“What?”

“The doctor said I should be careful.”

“That’s okay. All pregnant women should be careful. And if you need to be extra careful, well I will help with that.” 

“You have your own baby to take care of.” 

“And Daniel will do just fine,” she said, showing him to her. “He can’t wait to have a cousin.”

Daniel gurgled a bit, and Ruth couldn’t help but smile. For the first time she was told, she realized how badly she wanted to have this baby, what this baby could mean.

“What about running your own home?”
“Well, I’ll have Onan come here for meals, then do a bit of work from home at night when I need to.”

“Danny doesn’t even sleep through the night yet.”

“So, I’ll sleep at my house so as not to wake you up.” 

“I more meant that you need extra sleep.” 

“Ruth,” Teresa said, looking at her with a small smile. “I can’t wait to help you. I don’t think you understand how excited I am.”

“No expectations yet,” Ruth repeated, but she was finally realizing that she was loved so desperately that people would be there for her, and probably even for her son or daughter if she died in childbirth, the way her mother had. 

“You’re looking awfully pregnant today,” Edward teased as he caught Ruth on the chair, letting out some of her dresses.

“Just for today,” Ruth answered.

“How was your doctor’s appointment? He told me on the way out that everything is looking good.” 

“It is.” 

“Then can we talk about names?” 

“That’s not taking it one day at a time.”

“What happens if we see her, or even him, and we can’t agree on a name? What if we like completely different styles of names?” 

“Then we’ll talk it over for a few days. Plenty of people and places haven’t always had a name for a baby when they were first born.”

“I have a wish for us,” Edward said.

“Oh, and what’s that?” she asked. Early on in their relationship that had gotten to call things that bothered them about their relationships as “wishes”, something that could be worked on together.

“I wish we would start working on a nursery.” 

“I told you, they’ll stay with us at first.”

“So let me make a crib. And you can’t say anything about it not being the day of, because we can’t get cloth and clothes and cribs the day the baby is born. I know it’s scary to plan ahead like this, but I think we need to start considering it.”

“What happens if…” she trailed off. 

“I know you’re scared we might lose the baby, and that scares me too, but it also scares me to think that the baby will be born and we won’t even have anywhere for the baby to lay down. Isn’t that thought scary?”

“We have a bed.”

“We don’t even have the right sheets to lay over the bed when you give birth. What do you think about that?” 

“Well, I suppose it could be good to get that around. I try not to think about the actual birth quite yet.” 

“I thought that the doctor was talking to you about breathing exercises.”

Ruth snorted. “You’re wild if you think any sort of special breathing will help. Anyway, I told him not yet.”

“Ruth,” Edward said. 

“We already agreed ages ago that just because something was a wish didn’t mean we needed to work on it. Sometimes we disagree about our wishes.”
“Ruth, not for me, for our baby.” 

“Fine,” Ruth said. “We can get supplies. A crib, some clothes, those sorts of things. But no names yet. When you name something, it becomes yours.”

“Fine, I think we can do that,” Edward said. “That seems like a good place to start.” 

Ruth hated seeing her sister disappear, but it was possible that she hated labor more. It made her even more scared, that if it hurt this much that something must have been wrong. The doctor confirmed repeatedly that that wasn’t true, but it felt like it must have been. 

Then, hours later, a baby was born. A beautiful baby boy, with blue eyes and a smattering of hair. He was gorgeous, and as soon as she was cleaned up a bit she told them Edward had to come in. He came in hesitantly, hat in his hands, and looked at the baby. “Is he ours?” Edward whispered.

“Of course, he’s ours.” 

“He’s alive,” he said. “You’re lucky I love you way too much now to say I told you so.” He glanced at Ruth. “I know you weren’t sharing any names with me, but you must have had some thoughts about it. It seems entirely impossible to not even consider.” 

“What about you?” she said, clearly avoiding the question.

“Well, I was thinking maybe after his uncle, Elijah.” 

“Absolutely not.” 

THE END

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