Love's New Beginning (a Love Comes Softly fanfiction)

Home with His Family

As the fall drew on and winter began to settle in, Clark realized he was beginning to become comfortable in their life together. Missie, of course, but also Marty and the new baby to come were part of his family. Not just responsibilities, but pieces of his life that he enjoyed. The idea of the little tyke on his way tickled him. He remembered what it had been like when Missie was small, and he looked forward to that again, holding the little one and watching him grow. Both Clark and Marty assumed the baby would be a boy, although they had never discussed it. Clark assumed she had a name picked out for the baby, and that was as it should be. He didn't need to get in the way of her decision.

And Marty was learning to speak up. At supper time she would tell him all the things Missie had done that day, like she had saved them up for him, and they would laugh together. She was listening more intently when he read from the Bible in the mornings, and every once in a while he caught her about to make a comment or ask a question. It was only a matter of time before she did, and he could share that part of his life with her as well.

And then somehow a reference to spring would come up, and Clark would be brought up short, realizing that in only a few months he seemed likely to be left alone here in this house that had become a home for all of them. They hadn't spoken of his offer to send Marty east, to send Missie with her, but he believed that was still Marty's intention.

The idea of Missie being gone, of not being part of her continued growth, of her sunny presence absent from his home, nearly broke Clark's heart. But he couldn't go back on his word—his little girl needed a mama, and Marty had become that. Her growing love for Missie was everything Clark could have asked for, had asked God for, in fact. While Clark, and Marty as well, would never let Missie forget Ellen, she was going to grow up with a mama who loved her, and Clark would have to be satisfied with that.

As he sat over his coffee after supper, watching Marty hurry through the dishes so she could get back to her sewing, getting things ready for the baby to come, it occurred to Clark that he liked her. Now that she had found her voice, she often brought up things he hadn't considered, or asked him questions that made him look at his plans differently. She had a tart tongue whenever she thought he was overdoing, fussing over him like he was made of sugar sometimes, which Clark found amusing and a little bit touching. And she saw the humor in funny things that happened, reminding him how much he had missed having someone to laugh with.

For the first time, he realized that when she went away and took Missie with her, it wasn't just Missie he was going to be lonesome for. He would miss Marty, too.

In the privacy of the lean-to that night, he closed his eyes and asked God for strength—strength to get through the months ahead without worrying about what would be, strength to trust that God knew better than he did what should be, strength to let both of them go in the spring if that was what he needed to do.

In the meantime, he was stepping up his search for a doctor. There was a candidate who had agreed to meet with him in a larger town not far away. It would mean being away from Marty and Missie longer than he would like, three or four days, likely, but if this was the right man, well worth it.

This doctor was interested in the job but not able to transport all his equipment and household goods and set himself up, so he had indicated the need for a cash advance. Along with some other local men, Clark had agreed to subscribe to the payment. He loaded up a couple of hogs in the wagon and hauled them with him on his trip to the larger town.

The meeting went well; the doctor seemed a good man, a bit older but steady and sure. Clark liked him immediately, and they reached an accord, if not an official agreement. The doctor would look at how long it would take him to find someone else to take on his current practice and then get in touch with Clark.

It was going to be close—even if the doctor agreed, it wasn't definite that he could be in the area in time for Marty's delivery, after all the work to try to get him here beforehand. All Clark could do was pray that God would manage it somehow. It was in His hands, after all. Clark was merely His earthly representative.

Still ... it was hard to be patient, knowing all the things that could go wrong. As Dan and Charlie neared home, their ears perking up as if they knew they were close, Clark could see Missie's happy face in his mind's eye, but he could also see Marty, see the lightening of her eyes that happened when she had been worried and wasn't any longer. He had to admit, he was glad to be coming home to both of them.

Marty greeted him at the door with a cup of her good coffee, and he was glad to reach for it, to ask her how things had been, to sit down and stretch out his feet and listen to her voice, flowing easily now after such a long time in silence, fill him in on everything Missie had done while he was gone, while Missie herself climbed up into his lap and wound her little arms around his neck.

It was good to be home with his family.