Thankful by Shelley Shepard Gray Page B

do!
    â€œI’m certain of it. This is your family, after all. Everything is cause for commotion, discussion, and excitement.”
    Thinking of the many big events . . . and the many more small ones that only felt big, Judith sighed. Usually, she didn’t mind everyone’s exuberance. She liked how their excitement made even the most mundane of things feel like something special.
    But now, well, she wasn’t sure that she herself was ready to be in the middle of a Graber family hurricane. “I fear you are right.”
    Ben gripped her shoulder as he rapped twice on the door before turning the knob. “Chin up, Judith,” he whispered before guiding her inside.
    â€œWho’s here? Oh, Judith! And Ben?” Looking from one to the other, her mother’s voice faltered a bit. As did her steps. “This is a surprise. Is . . . Is everything all right?”
    After smiling softly at Ben, Judith said, “Mamm, we have something to tell you. Do you have time to talk?”
    â€œOf course I do.” A line appeared between her brows as she gazed from Ben to Judith to Ben again. “What has happened?”
    â€œSomething exciting. And scary, too.”
    â€œScary, you say?”
    â€œ Nee , I mean . . . I mean. . . . Oh, I don’t know what I mean.” Feeling tongue-tied and helpless, she turned to Ben. Silently pleading for his help.
    He came to the rescue just as she’d hoped. “What my frau is trying to say is that we will be fostering a baby soon.”
    â€œSoon? How soon?”
    â€œHe’ll be arriving tomorrow morning.”
    Her mother’s eyebrows lifted so high, Judith almost feared they’d get lost in her hairline. But to her mother’s credit, she simply smiled. “Well, now. Isn’t that gut news? Come into the kitchen and tell us about it.”
    Us? Suddenly worried that her news was about to get sucked into the usual family whirlwind, Judith paused. “Who else is here?”
    â€œYou got lucky today, dear. There’s only Clara, her babies, and Gretta. Everyone else is either working on the farm or at the store.”
    Feeling chagrined, Judith said, “Mamm, you know me so well—it’s almost as if you read my mind! I wasn’t ready to have a big discussion with the whole family.”
    â€œI don’t need to read your mind to know that you’d like a little bit of privacy to share such an important bit of news,” she said as she led the way into the kitchen.
    Once there, Judith and Ben greeted Gretta and Clara and their babies, who were either sitting in high chairs or playing on a quilt on the floor. After kissing the children and exchanging greetings and accepting cups of coffee, Judith sat by Ben’s side and explained everything that had happened during the last twenty-four hours. “It all started with a visit from Bernie, our social worker,” she said.
    Clara leaned forward. “And?”
    â€œAnd she said there was a woman who had recently had a baby in prison.”
    Gretta blinked. “The mother is in prison?”
    Judith couldn’t fault Gretta’s look of shock. But it was funny, because she realized she was starting to take that in stride now. “The baby’s name is James.”
    The worried lines on her mother’s forehead smoothed. “James, is it? Tell us more, dear.”
    And so Judith did. She told her all about Bernie’s visit telling them what it meant to be foster parents. She told them about her prayers the night before and their phone call that morning. Finally, she revealed that baby James would be arriving the very next morning.
    As she expected, the other women’s expressions flickered between amazement, sadness for the mother behind bars, and a mixture of joy and doubt as Judith explained what she knew about fostering.
    And then pure shock.
    â€œTomorrow morning you say?” her mother asked.
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