Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Seth
Ella had a three-way text going with Maggie and me, where she mostly asked if we had seen any of her missing chickens or sent us pictures of Honey in her latest patterned diaper. But today, she sent an ultrasound picture and two short but incredible sentences.
Ella: Eight weeks along! Baby is healthy.
I was in the kitchen alone, fixing a snack, when the text came through, and from the amount of relief I felt, it was as if this were my own child.
I’d been carrying secret stress over whether or not Ella’s grieving could cause her to miscarry, and I prayed over her and the unborn child daily.
To see now that the baby was fine caused me to grin and text back quickly.
Seth: Great news!
Maggie: Praise God! I can’t wait to see the pictures.
Maggie’s text came in right after mine.
As I thought of sweet Ella and her situation, my heart ached for her.
Raising a child alone without the person you thought you would have by your side was incomprehensible, yet I’d been ready to do it.
I’d been ready had Scarlett passed but our daughter lived to raise that little girl on my own.
And now, I found myself daydreaming of being there for Ella in a way that was more than neighborly.
I wanted to protect her, to provide for her.
But I felt guilty having those thoughts, as I knew that it was too soon for her, and she might not even be interested in me that way.
So I sighed and wrangled my thoughts back on cattle business.
What she really needed was a friend. And that was what I would be.