Katie's Redemption by Patricia Davids Page B

hers. She often wondered how her sister-in-law ever got a wink of sleep.
    Folding the dish towel carefully, Katie hung it on the towel bar at the end of the counter. Nettie and Elam were not like Malachi. She didn’t have to be afraid while she was here.
    Two hours later Katie’s solitude was interrupted when Amber arrived to check on her patients. To Katie’s chagrin, the nurse caught her sweeping the porch and steps free of the mud that clung to everything now that the weather had warmed up enough to melt the snow.
    Amber advanced on Katie and took the broom out ofher hands. “What do you think you’re doing? I gave you strict orders to rest.”
    Katie sighed. “I’m not used to lying around. Besides, I wanted to repay Nettie’s kindness in some small fashion. She and Elam have gone to visit his sister and I thought I’d clean up a little while she was gone.”
    “I understand, but you won’t repay her if you overdo it and get sick. That will just make more work for her. Come inside and have a seat. I want to check your blood pressure. At least your color is better today.”
    “I feel fine.” Maybe if she kept repeating the phrase it would remain true.
    Inside the house, Katie hung up her coat and took a seat at the kitchen table. Amber did the same and opened the large canvas bag she carried slung over one shoulder. “How’s your appetite?”
    “It’s good.”
    Amber narrowed her eyes as she wrapped the black cuff around Katie’s arm. “If I ask Nettie, what will she say?”
    “She’ll say I pick at my food like a bird.”
    “I thought so.” Placing her stethoscope in her ears, Amber inflated the cuff and took her reading.
    “Well?” Katie asked when she was done.
    “It’s good, and your pulse is normal, too. You Amish women amaze me the way you bounce back after childbirth.”
    “I’m not Amish.”
    “I’m sorry. That was thoughtless of me.” Amber leaned back to regard Katie intently. “I know you grew up here and I’ve lived in Hope Springs for almost six years, yet I don’t remember seeing you.”
    “How can you tell us apart in our white caps and dark dresses?” Katie didn’t mean to sound bitter, but she couldn’t help it.
    “I think I would have remembered you. There aren’t too many women in this area with black hair and eyes as dark as yours. I don’t think I remember your brother and his wife.”
    “They didn’t have any children.”
    “Then they’ll be excited to have a baby in the house.”
    “I’m not so sure.”
    Amber leaned forward and placed a hand on Katie’s arm. “I will tell you something I’ve learned in my years as a nurse midwife. No matter how upset a family may be at the circumstances surrounding the arrival of a baby, once that child is born…the love just comes pouring out. It’s the way God made us.”
    Would that be the case for her and Rachel? Would her daughter bring love and happiness to her brother’s home? Would Rachel help her mother find the sense of belonging she craved?
    They were big hopes to pin on such a small baby.
    One step at a time, Katie cautioned herself. First, she had to get home, and soon. She had been a burden on the Sutters long enough.
    “Amber, do you know what day the bus leaves that I’d need to take to go to Kansas?”
    “As a matter of fact I keep copies of the bus schedule in my car. You have no idea how often I’m asked about that when people want to make plans for family members to come see a new baby. I should just memorize it. It isn’tlike Hope Springs is a major hub. I think we only get four buses a week through here.”
    After she checked on Rachel, Amber went out to her car and returned with a laminated sheet of paper. “It looks like the bus going west leaves on Monday and Friday evening at six-ten. The buses going east leave on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon at five forty-five. There’s no Sunday service.”
    Today was Friday. Katie glanced at the clock. It was half past two now. If she