Angel of the Cove (30 page)

Ted took a big bite of ham and chewed. “We been playin' hide-and-seek with the other young'uns. I 'spect I found the best hidin' places on this here farm.”

Lucy snorted. “Naw, you ain't. I done found the best ones.”

Ted doubled up his fists. “I done found 'em.”

Anna reached out and touched Ted's arm. “It doesn't matter who found the best spots. I just want to enjoy eating with you two. Don't you, Simon?”

He sighed. “Sure.”

At that moment Pearl walked around the corner of the house and stopped beside them. “Have you seen Josie?”

The worry on Pearl's face frightened Anna, and she stood. “No, can't you find her?”

Pearl shook her head. “She was right beside me digging in the dirt. Then the next time I looked she was gone.”

Simon set his plate aside and rose to his feet. “Don't worry, Pearl. She's around here somewhere. We'll help you look.”

Anna nodded and glanced at the children. “Lucy, Ted, you can help too.” She pointed toward the back of the house. “You go that way and Simon and I will go the other.”

Lucy and Ted jumped up. “We'll find her,” Lucy said. “Come on, Ted. Let's go.”

Simon grasped Pearl's hand. “Now you go back and sit down, Pearl. Anna and I will find Josie and bring her back to you.”

A tear trickled from Pearl's eye and rolled down her face. “Thank you. I jest ain't hardly let 'er outta my sight since I lost the baby. So I'm gittin' scared.”

Anna hugged her. “Don't worry. We'll be right back.”

Before they could take a step, Ted ran around the edge of the house. A look of horror masked his features. “Miss Anna, come quick. We found Josie.”

Anna and Simon bolted at Ted's words and ran after him. He raced across the field back of the house to where Lucy stood at the edge of the pond.

Oh, dear God, no,
Anna prayed.
Don't let her be in the pond.

She halted at the pond's edge but Simon waded in, thrashing his way toward the little body floating facedown in the murky water.

J
osie!” Pearl's wail, more piercing than any Anna had ever heard, ripped through the air.

Anna glanced over her shoulder at everyone running toward the pond. As Pearl neared the water, she stopped several feet from the edge and sank to her knees. She clasped her hands to her chest and stared upward. Another scream tore from her throat. “Oh, God, don't take my baby. Please, please, please, jest leave me one baby, Lord!”

Lavinia knelt beside Pearl and put her arm around her shaking shoulders. Cecil, unmoving, stood next to his wife.

Simon waded from the pond, the limp body in his arms. His anguished eyes stared down at Josie and then back to Anna. His lips moved, but Anna didn't want to believe the words he spoke. “I think she's dead.”

The verse her father had marked in her Bible flashed into Anna's mind.
I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song.

Lavinia pushed in front of her and reached for Josie. “Give her to me.”

Anna reached out and grasped Lavinia's arm. “No.”

Lavinia whirled around, a surprised look on her face. “What'd you say?”

Anna pointed to a grassy spot a few feet from the bank. “Put Josie down there, Simon.”

Lavinia gasped. “Anna, she's my niece. I'll take care of her.”

Anna whirled and faced Lavinia. “I said no. Now let me see about this child.”

Granny appeared at that moment and pulled Lavinia away. “Fer once in your life, listen to somebody else, Lavinia. Git outta Anna's way.”

Lavinia, her mouth gaping, stared at Granny, but Anna didn't have time to worry if she'd hurt the woman's feelings. A child's life was at stake.

Give me strength, Lord,
Anna prayed.
Help me remember what Uncle Charles told me about the time he revived a boy.

She dropped to her knees beside Josie, grasped her shoulders, and turned her on her side. With one hand on her back and the other positioned right below Josie's rib cage, Anna pushed. A stream of water trickled from the child's mouth. She pushed again, and more water streamed out.

Anna leaned over Josie, pried her mouth open, and ran her fingers around the inside to rake away any lingering water. Then she rolled Josie on her back and grasped the child's nose, squeezing the nostrils shut with her fingers.

Taking a deep breath, Anna knelt over Josie and breathed into her mouth. Anna straightened and looked at Josie's chest, but there was no movement. She repeated the breath, then checked again.

Behind her in the crowd she heard someone murmur. “It's too late. That child's done passed.”

Anna closed her ears to the voices around her and bent over Josie again. She breathed into the child's mouth again, and this time the chest moved. Once more she repeated the process, and the little girl's lungs expanded. Her eyes opened, and she coughed as if she were choking.

Anna sat back on her heels and watched Josie gulp air into her little body. After a moment her chest began to move up and down in a regular rhythm. Josie stared up into Anna's face. “Mama.”

Simon grabbed Anna's hand. “Thank God.”

Granny's voice drifted to her. “Thank you, Jesus.”

Cheers rose from the crowd, and Pearl rushed forward and grabbed Josie. Sobs wracked her body. “Josie, Josie.”

She clutched the child to her, her fingers stroking the wet curls, and repeated the name over and over as if it were the sweetest sound in the world. Tears streamed down her face. She reached out, grasped Anna's hand, and pulled it to her lips. Kissing Anna's fingers over and over, she mumbled her gratitude. “Thank you, thank you, Miss Anna. You done saved my child.”

Anna shook her head. “It wasn't me, Pearl. God did it.”

Lavinia, her back straight and tears streaming down her face, leaned over and squeezed Anna's shoulder. “Thank you, Anna.”

Holding Josie, Pearl struggled to rise. Simon grasped her arms and helped her get to her feet. “Do you want me to carry her inside for you?”

“No, I jest gotta hold onto her.” Pearl hugged the child tighter.

Anna reached out and rubbed Josie's back one more time. The pinafore dress she'd thought so pretty now clung to Josie's skin. “Watch her for a few days, Pearl. I heard my uncle say one time a person who almost drowns runs the risk of pneumonia afterwards, so be careful.”

Tears glistened in Pearl's eyes. “I will, Anna, and God bless you fer comin' to the Cove.”

Granny put her arm around Pearl. “Let's git this child inside and put some dry clothes on her, then wrap her up good.”

Anna watched Granny propel Pearl and Lavinia toward the house. When they reached the spot where Cecil stood, Pearl stopped and glanced up at him. She smiled, and he reached out and patted Josie's head. He watched his wife and sister-in-law walk with Granny toward the house. When they disappeared inside, he turned to the crowd still gathered behind him.

“Well, folks, I guess we got a lot of work to do. Let's finish our dinner, then get back to work.”

The crowd, smiles on their faces, stared at Anna for a moment before they began to clap and cheer. Anna wiped at her eyes in an effort to stop the flow of tears before she smiled and nodded in acknowledgment of their praise. Near the front Naomi Jackson studied Anna with wide eyes and clutched Eli closer to her.

One by one they turned and headed back toward their waiting meal until the only ones left were Naomi and Cecil. After a moment Naomi joined the crowd, but Cecil didn't move. When he glanced around and realized he was now alone, he walked forward and stopped in front of Anna. He pulled the sweat-stained hat from his head and swallowed before he spoke. “Thank you, Miss Anna.”

“You're welcome, Mr. Davis.”

He nodded to Simon, then replaced his hat and, without looking toward the food tables, walked off in the direction of the barn.

Anna glanced at Simon, who still stood beside her. “He's a strange man.”

“He's a very private man, Anna. He asks nothing from his neighbors but is always there when they need him. That's why everybody was so willing to help him today. I wish you could see the goodness in him I've known for years.”

“Maybe I'll see it someday.” She turned to Simon. “He seemed so unconcerned when you pulled Josie from the pond. Most fathers would have been in that pond before you could have reached her.”

Simon nodded. “Maybe so, but Cecil isn't like that. He doesn't show his feelings. That doesn't mean he's uncaring. Sometimes I think he feels things more deeply than anyone I've ever known. I think he was so scared he had lost Josie he couldn't move.” He pointed toward the construction area where Cecil had gone. “Did you notice how he couldn't join the group and go back to laughing and talking? He went off to be alone to deal with his feelings—just like he did the day the baby died.”

“I know you keep telling me this, and I hope I'll understand someday. In the meantime you need to get out of those wet clothes.”

He shook his head. “They'll dry soon enough when I get back to work. But what about you? That experience must have left you feeling drained.”

“It did. As soon as everyone's finished eating, I hope we can go. I'll come back and see the finished barn another day.”

Simon stared at her for a moment. “I need to say one more thing before you leave.”

“What's that?”

He swallowed before he began to speak. “The way you took over and saved Josie's life today was wonderful. Granny's right. You do have the gift of healing in your hands. You've touched the lives of so many people already, not to mention the effect you know you've had on me. And I want to repeat what Pearl said. God bless you for coming to the Cove.”

“Thank you, Simon.”

The words Simon spoke sounded sweet to her ears. She hoped she'd had a good effect on the people she'd worked with, but today had been very special. With God helping them, today she and Simon had saved a child's life. That was a bond they would always share. For a moment she wanted to throw her arms around Simon and tell him she didn't ever want to leave, but then the image of her brother popped into her head. If she stayed in the Cove Robert would win, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

The next morning Anna sat under the tree in Granny's backyard shucking some corn while Granny hoed around the plants still producing food in the garden. She remembered other days back at home when she and her mother gathered corn. Shucking and silking the ears had always been among her least favorite tasks, but in the peaceful surroundings at Granny's cabin she enjoyed the quiet and the time it afforded her to view the mountains.

She dropped an ear of corn into the pan next to her and reached for another. She'd just stripped off the first layer of the husk when a voice called out. “Granny, you home?”

Granny looked up from her work, leaned on her hoe, and called out. “We's in the back.”

Cecil Davis walked around the house, a burlap bag in each hand. “I knocked on the front door. I's beginnin' to think you warn't here.”

Anna rose to her feet and smiled. “Good morning, Mr. Davis. How's Josie today?”

“Fine, doin' fine.”

“Did they get the barn built?” Granny walked out of the garden and propped her hoe against the side of the house.

“All done, and bigger'n before.” One of the sacks he held moved, and he looked down at it.

Granny chuckled. “Cecil, what you got in that sack? It 'pears to be somethin' alive.”

Anna wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a little smile crook the corners of Cecil's mouth. He set the other sack on the ground and carefully opened the one that had moved.

“I's jest a-thinkin', Granny, that I got no use for two settin' hens and thought you might be a-needin' one.” He pulled the top of the sack open enough so that the head of a hen could be seen inside.