Christmas Gift for Rose (9780310336822) Read Online Free Page B

The tearful moans of men waking without sight, without the ability to walk.
    It’s over
, he tried to convince himself, wishing his mind and heart believed it was so.
    He tightly shut the door to the warm barn and thought about his first impressions of France. He’d seen the war-torn land and rejoiced in the Nazi defeat. He’d had false hope during that first week in Paris that he’d mostly be caring for those left in war’s wake. What he hadn’t realized was that the Nazis had no intention of giving up so easily, and the fight called the Battle of the Bulge would be only the first of the horrors.
    And what had kept him strong as he cared for the injured soldiers, most barely eighteen? Thoughts of Rose had brought strength to his weary limbs. He’d thought of her smile. Her brilliant blue eyes. He’d considered returning to her embrace.
    What a fool.
    Jonathan’s boots tromped through the frozen snow as he hurried to his parents’ house. As the youngest son, the large farmhouse would someday be his. Before he’d left to become a medic he’d even started work on the
dawdi
house in the back, where his parents would live after he married. Now it sat an empty shell. No need to get to work completing that anytime soon.
    He stomped the snow from his boots and opened the door to the kitchen. His oldest sister Ruthann sat at the table next to Mem, peeling potatoes. Surprise caused him to pause. Ruthann lived more than two miles down the road. He rarely saw her during the week, and he never saw her without her six children.
    “Johnny, get in, would ya? Yer letting out all the warm air,” Dat called from his spot near the woodstove.
    Jonathan hurried inside and hung his hat on the hook near the door. He removed his boots and placed them alongside the other shoes neatly lined on wooden shelves. Then he turned to his sister. “Did you come for a visit?”
    Ruthann tossed a dishtowel his direction. “Did you forget what day tomorrow is? My Sally is caring for the little ones while Mem and I cook. Thought it would work better this way without the twins underfoot.”
    The twin boys were toddlers and the most active children he’d ever known.
    Tomorrow. Thanksgiving.
“
Ja
, of course.”
    Thanksgiving meant a day of gathering as a family, of enjoying a meal and having a time of Bible reading together. But before that was a time of fasting … of being prayerful and still before God.
    Jonathan hung his jacket. He washed up in the water basin in the kitchen. It had been a long time since he’d been still before God. He spent his days living for Him; he just didn’t feel too comfortable praying
to
Him much. Mostly due to shame.
    During those dark nights in the Belgium woods, he should have turned to prayer, seeking God’s strength to help him, instead of turning to thoughts of Rose.
    He also worried. What if he prayed now and God made it clear that a life with his dear Rose would never be? Mem and Dat always said that God’s way was perfect.He didn’t see how that could be in a scenario without her as his wife.
    Finally, to be still was to question if he’d done the right thing by becoming a medic. At the time Jonathan had felt that’s what God’s Word had told him, but what if he’d been wrong? What if he’d given up everything for something that didn’t matter as much as he thought?
    “Son, will you fill my big pot half full with water and set it on the cookstove?” Mem asked. “You know with my arthritis I can barely lift it.”
    “
Ja
, of course.”
    Jonathan did what his mem asked, thankful Dat had agreed to let him pipe water into the house. His sister’s eyes were on him as he worked.
    “Did you take the longer route? Is that what took you so long?” Ruthann’s voice was even, as if she was just trying to make conversation.
    “It’s a better road.”
    “
Ja
, and a better view. I think …”
    The sound of the water hitting the metal pan dimmed her words. He waited until the pot was half full