| |
Monday morning dawned clear and bright, but John missed the sunrise. An hour before, he had gotten up and awakened James and the two had been scurrying here and there and everywhere else since.
James lay on the floor in the entryway, tongue hanging out, in deep concentration. His hands were fisted around a small paintbrush as he worked with painstaking care on a large piece of paper.
Meanwhile, John was hard at work in the kitchen, his father supervising a baking operation from the table, a Bible open in front of him and a pad of paper under his right hand, a stub of pencil poised in his fingers.
There was flour on John’s right cheek, on the tip of his nose, and all over the large apron. He sighed heavily and held a bowl of batter in his arms as he walked toward his father. “Does this look about right, Pa?” he asked.
Miles looked up from his Bible and notes and into the bowl. John gave it a quick stir. Miles pondered the question. “Yes, I think it does look good. I guess we will find out when we eat it.”
John nodded with a solemn look on his face as he walked back to the counter and poured the batter into a pan. “You think her pa will come tonight?”
Miles chuckled. “I doubt it, but he might surprise us.”
“I hope so. I think that would be the best surprise of the day for Miss Stuart.” He finished dumping the batter into the pan and put the bowl in the sink before looking at the recipe. “Pa, could you put it in the oven for me?”
Miles stood up and walked over to his son. “Of course.”
While Miles put the cake in the oven, John took the warm water off the stove and dumped it and some soap into the bowl in the sink and started washing the dishes. “When are you and Miss Stuart going to get married, Pa?”
Miles looked up from his notes. “What?”
“When’re you and Miss Stuart going to get married?”
Miles sighed as he realized he wasn’t going to get much work done this morning. “We’ve courted for almost two months. I know it seems simple to you, but marriage is for life and if you are going to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want to make sure it is the right person. It will probably take Miss Stuart and me at least a few months to decide if we want to get married.”
“So you might get married before Christmas?”
Miles did some quick math. Christmas was only a few months away. “I doubt it. Maybe sometime after the start of the next year or maybe even as late as next spring.” He held up a hand to interrupt John before he protested. “One of the fruits of the Spirit is patience. Now would be a good time to start cultivating that fruit.”
John ducked his head and returned to the dishes. “Yes, Pa.”
James walked in with a huge grin on his face.
“Finished, James?” Miles asked.
A vigorous nod from James got John’s spirits back up.
“Let’s go see it, Pa!” John grabbed a semi-dry towel and wiped his hands on it before taking a couple of quick steps toward the other room.
Miles glanced at the clock as he walked past. “We’d better get the sign hung soon or Anna will get here before we’re finished.”
John changed direction and ran outside to get the hammer and nails out of the tool shed while James and Miles brought two chairs from the kitchen into the entryway.
When John returned, he handed the hammer and nails to his father and clambered onto the opposite chair. James handed them the sign and John held his side up while Miles hammered his side into the wood. When that was done, he stepped off the chair and moved over to where John stood on his tiptoes. Miles took hold of the sign and motioned for John to get down. John jumped off and stood back.
“How’s it look, boys?” Miles asked.
James motioned his hand upward and Miles moved it up a couple inches.
“Down a little more,” John said. Miles moved it down bit by bit, his head turned toward his sons, watching for a nod. After about half an inch, John looked over at James who studied the sign with miniscule care before bobbing his head in a down-up motion. Miles pounded the last nail in and then stood back to admire the sign.
“Wonderfully done, James,” he said. “You have always amazed me with your artistic abilities.”
John grinned and slapped his brother on the back. “Great job, James. Now to go see if my masterpiece turned out nearly as good as James’ did.” John raced into the kitchen.
“Pa!” He shouted. “It looks perfect! Can you check to see if it is done baking, please?”
Miles shook his head. This was why he had an office at the church. He would never get a sermon done here. He walked into the kitchen and opened the oven. One glance told him it wasn’t even close to ready yet.
“Not yet. Go finish washing the dishes and cleaning up the house, then I’ll check on it again.”
While the boys scurried around picking up every stray piece of anything, Miles sat at the table trying to concentrate on his sermon. Half an hour and two sentences later, he heaved a sigh and gave up.
Knowing John would be in the kitchen soon, Miles got up and checked the cake. He tapped the top of the cake lightly with his fingertips and gave a shrug as John walked into the kitchen “I think it’s done.” He carefully lifted the confection out of the oven and set it on the table. “There. Now it just needs to cool. And it is time for you two to get ready for school. I’ll try to delay Anna when she gets here.” As the boys ran to their room, he muttered, “If I can.”
John and James scurried about the house gathering and packing what they needed for school while Miles stepped outside onto the porch to wait for Anna.
Miles was surprised to feel so nervous and excited about the surprise his sons had planned with Caleb’s help. When he saw movement in the corner of his eye, his breath caught and his muscles grew tense. He hadn’t felt this nervous about something since he preached his first sermon over eleven years before. Why should he be so nervous about this? It was Caleb and his sons who had planned everything, not him. He took a deep breath and stepped off the porch as Anna drew near.
“Good morning, Anna,” he said.
She had a confused look on her face. “Good morning, Miles. Why the welcoming committee?”
“John and James are finishing up the surprise they have for you.”
Anna’s laugh filled the small yard. “You know, I still have absolutely no idea what they are up to.”
“Ah, but I do, so you should be able to trust that they aren’t getting into too much trouble,” Miles teased.
Anna raised an eyebrow. “Sometimes I wonder if you aren’t more of a troublemaker than they are.”
Miles chuckled. “Bekah would have said the same thing.” He was about to continue when the door behind them flew open and a breathless John burst outside, his shirt half tucked in and his hair flying in every direction.
“She can come in now. Hi, Miss Stuart.”
“Hello, John,” Anna said with a smile.
John hopped down the steps and grabbed her hand. “Come on, you’ve gotta see what we did.”
Anna allowed herself to be pulled inside. John stopped inside the door and Anna’s eyes went right to the sign that read, “Happy Birthday, Miss Stuart!” in large, childish block letters. Surrounding the words was a beautiful, well organized design of swirls and flowers.
Anna turned toward where James stood away from the group at the doorway. Tears were in her eyes as she took a step towards him. “James, did you do that?”
James nodded.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you.” She knelt down and held out her arms. James ran into them and they hugged until John tugged on her sleeve.
“There’s more, Miss Stuart.”
Anna stood up and avoided Miles’ gaze as the tears continued to cloud her eyes. As John led her into the kitchen, she tried to stem the flow.
“Look what I made!” John exclaimed.
Anna looked in the direction John pointed. “You made me a cake?” Anna asked, incredulity seeping out of her voice.
John nodded his head vigorously.
Anna stepped around the table to get a closer look at the cake. It wasn’t perfect, but it was chocolate and it smelled good. She felt John to her right, put her arm around his shoulders, and gave him a quick hug. “Thank you, John. Nobody has ever made me a birthday cake before.”
She turned around to face Miles. “How did any of you know today was my birthday?”
Miles’ eyes twinkled. “That is for us to know and you not to find out.”
“Caleb told somebody, didn’t he?” Anna asked, looking each of them in the eyes as she asked. Miles and John both kept straight faces, but James grinned and nodded.
Anna laughed. “I knew I could count on you, James.” She glanced up at the clock. “But, it is time for two young boys to get off to school and one old boy to get off to work.”
A collective groan sounded through the room.
“What’s this? I thought as Birthday Girl, you three were supposed to do whatever I said without complaint.” Anna cocked an eyebrow, fighting a losing battle at keeping the smile off her face as she made up a new rule for her birthday.
“Yes, ma’am,” John said, in a disappointed tone. James and John picked up their lunch boxes and school books and Miles and Anna walked with them to the door.
“Have a good day at school, boys. I’ll have the cake ready for your after school snack.”
John’s face instantly brightened. “Yippee!!” He ran down to the road and James followed suit.
Miles turned to Anna. “You sure know how to make their day, don’t you?”
Anna looked up at him and smiled. “I try to anyway.”
Miles laughed. When he turned his twinkling eyes back toward Anna, he gave her an impish grin. “If I come home after school is out, can I get a piece of cake, too, Miss Stuart?” His twinkling eyes turned into begging puppy eyes.
Anna chuckled. “I’ll consider it.”
Miles gave a dramatic sigh and slowly turned to leave. “Okay, see ya later.”
Anna gave a quick wave before turning back to the house and getting to work on the cleaning.
