And so ends Chapter 14

Another new follower - welcome Erin, hope you enjoy my blog!

I will be on vacation for a week after today.  I will still try and post segments of Winter Wheat every day, but if I happen to miss a day, it will be because I took a day trip or have not been on the computer at all that day.  I'm quite sure I will pop on and check emails every day, but I hope to not be spending a lot of my vacation tied to my computer.  If I go somewhere interesting, I might however bore you with the details.

So although you may be reading the book next week, you might not actually "hear" from me.

Have a great week everyone, stay safe and healthy, and I'll talk to you soon...

Hours past and still there seemed no change in the young child’s condition.  Emilie grew angry with herself and her inability to heal the precious child in her care; she became angry at the severe cold winter, for surely this would not be happening if it were not so cold; but she blamed God most of all, for once again wanting to take away a loved one she held dear.  She was so exhausted by the time Karl came hours later to relieve her that she did not think she could go on one more minute.  She was just leaving the room to get fresh snow for the basin of water, when Karl appeared at her side.

“How is she doing?”  His voice was thick from sleep, but his face still bore the signs of strain and exhaustion.

“Oh Karl, I really don’t know,”  Emilie admitted fearfully.

Karl walked over to where his child lay, and gently rested his large palm across his daughter’s cheek.  He swung quickly to face Emilie, who stood half asleep by the door with the basin of water forgotten in her hands.

“Her fever is down!  Come feel . . . I think it’s gone!”  Karl’s excited words shocked Emilie into action.

She rushed to the bedside and quickly set the basin down on the nightstand.  Ever so carefully as if the child was made of delicate porcelain, she touched Anne-Marie’s skin.  The coolness took Emilie completely by surprise and then immediately sent a moments dread through her sleep-deprived mind.  Without checking to see that the child’s breathing had returned to normal, Emilie spun on her heals tore out of the room, as if the devil were at her heels.

“Emilie . . .!”  Karl called after the departing woman as quietly as he could so as not to wake the child.  He wondered what had put the terror in Emilie’s eyes just now as she had looked at his sleeping child.  He reassured himself that Anne-Marie was comfortable and then went in search of his housekeeper.

He found her slumped over the kitchen table, sobbing quietly as if her heart was breaking beyond repair.

“Emilie?  What is wrong with you, why are you crying?”  he said softly as he tried to pull her shoulders from the table.

“I’m so sorry Karl, it’s all my fault.  I made a bargain with God . . . I told him that if he spared Anne-Marie’s life, that I would go back home to my Uncle.  I would do it gladly if only he would save that poor baby.”  Emilie’s ravaged face contorted in grief.  She pleaded for him to understand.  “But you see Karl, I lied!  I do not really want to go back to Germany, and God – w-well he knows this, so he – he took Anne-Marie  . . .”  Emilie grabbed a hold of Karl’s shirt sleeve and nearly pulled him off his feet,  “ I killed her Karl, it’s all m-my fault!”

Karl dragged the frantic woman off the chair and gathered her into his arms.  “Emilie, no one killed Anne-Marie . . . she’s going to be just fine.  Her fever has broken and she is resting comfortably now.  Come on, come have a look,”  he pulled Emilie along his side toward the bedroom where the child slept.

“No  -o –o”  Emilie fought him and tried to stop their progress across the floor.

“Emilie what in the devil is wrong with you?”  Karl demanded as he struggled to get her under control.  “Why are you acting this way?”  he asked her, and then realized that she had stopped fighting him.  Her body had suddenly gone limp, and grabbing her closely to him, Karl realized that she had fainted right there in his arms.

He lifted her up into his arms and carried her through the kitchen and into his bedroom.  He gently lowered her onto his bed, and bent over to remove her shoes.  She offered no resistance as he pushed her into the middle of the bed and carefully tugged on the covers until she was buried beneath a pile of quilts.  He watched her sleep and knew that her reaction a few minutes ago had probably been a combination of extreme exhaustion and fear.  She’d feel better once she had rested awhile, he thought as he left his bedroom, and returned to the kitchen

He stoked the fire, added wood to the glowing coals in the stove, and filled the tin coffee pot with fresh water and coffee.  Within minutes the coffee was boiling, filling the warm kitchen with the wonderful aroma of morning, but it was far from morning yet.   

He carried his coffee with him back into the room where Anne-Marie and his housekeeper slept, and then retuned to the kitchen for another chair.  He made a make shift bed from the two kitchen chairs, placing his rump on one chair, and stretching his legs across until his feet rested on the other chair.  He dragged a heavy quilt across his body and reached to take his coffee from the night table.  Sighing heavily he readied himself for the hours ahead until it would truly be morning.