Throughout the long evening, August maintained his watchful guard over Bethany’s sleeping form. He managed to find a blanket to cover her with and continued praying for both Beth and Gerry as she slept.
August watched the seemingly motionless hands on the clock. Nine, then ten o’clock dragged by, and still what sky he could see through the window showed streaks of light. The long summer night made it impossible to judge time.
Eleven, twelve, and finally one o’clock passed without word of Gerald’s condition. August hesitated to ask for fear of waking Beth. She needed sleep more than anything else. He’d nearly decided to risk the disturbance when the nurse appeared with Gerald’s doctor.
“I’m afraid I have bad news,” Dr. Matthews said as he stood before August.
Beth stirred at the sound of voices and sat up. “What is it?” she questioned.
“Your son is failing rapidly. I suggest you and your husband come say your good-byes,” the doctor replied. Neither Beth nor August sought to correct the mistaken reference to their relationship.
Beth began to cry, and August could only hold her close and stroke her head. He turned weary eyes to the doctor before asking, “Are you certain there is nothing else we can do?”
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Matthews answered. “It is never easy to tell parents that their child won’t make it. Gerald has fought hard to get this far, but he’s too weak and the disease is taking too great a toll. He won’t make it through the night.”
“No, no,” Beth sobbed. “He must live. He mustn’t die!”
“Mrs. Hogan, please don’t do this to yourself. It is of no help to your son. He’s beyond our care now, and nothing can be gained by making yourself sick over his passing.” The doctor’s words seemed callous to Beth.
“You talk as though he were already dead,” Beth replied as she pushed August away and got to her feet.
“For all intents and purposes, Mrs. Hogan,” Dr. Matthews said without emotion, “he is. I can’t do anything more for him. He’s not responding to medicine, and his body is too spent to continue fighting. Let him go. You’re a young, healthy woman, Mrs. Hogan. I’m certain you and your husband will have other children.”
“I want other children, Doctor,” Beth said with an undercurrent of anger to her voice. “But not to replace a dead child. I refuse to give up hope that God can deliver my baby from this illness. I have faith that He can work beyond your abilities.”
The doctor shrugged his shoulders. “I cannot deny your tenacity, Mrs. Hogan. I only hope that your faith is not misplaced.”
“It isn’t,” Beth stated firmly as she pushed past the doctor and his nurse. “If you can’t give me any reason to hope, I know Who can.”
August watched as Beth moved down the hall with renewed determination. He turned to the doctor and spoke. “I can understand a portion of your unemotional response to her, Dr. Matthews. You must see dying every day and find it as grotesque and unbearable as I do. However, I will take it as a personal insult should you feel the need to ever resort to crushing her hopes again.”
“I assure you, sir,” the doctor interjected, “that stripping that young mother of hope was never my intention. She has labored long and hard at the bedside of your child. She has demonstrated a strength beyond human capabilities. I admire all that she has done, but I also want her to understand that there comes a time when nothing more can be done. We have reached that point with your son.”
August felt a tug at his heart with every reference to Gerald as his own child. “I cannot accept that the situation is without hope,” he stated firmly. “I refuse to believe it.”
“Most people do,” the doctor agreed. “But people get sick, and people die. We doctors can only do so much. I have done everything in my power, and now I must stand aside and say it is out of my hands.”
“You’re absolutely right, Doctor. It is out of your hands, but not out of God’s.” August moved with determined strides to Gerald’s room.
When he entered, Beth was stretched out over Gerald’s tiny frame. He could hear her praying in a hushed whisper. She was a determined woman, August admitted. She had been determined for him to come back to God, just as she was intent on seeing her son healed of meningitis.
August thought back to those long moments spent beneath the tractor. His accident had opened his eyes to God’s love and forgiveness, but it had also given him a glimpse into the power of prayer. Beth had been praying for him. His sister, Julie, and her husband, Sam, had both written letters of encouragement and mentioned their prayers for his well-being. Other people had prayed for August without him being aware of their concern.
That was it! August turned quickly from the room and went in search of a telephone. He would call Julie and ask her to pray for Gerald. He would ask her to gather as many people as possible and get all of them to pray. Then he would call and leave word for Mrs. Miller and the flock that attended church in Northway. There was power in prayer, of this he was certain, and August would leave nothing to chance where Gerald was concerned.
Locating a telephone, August quickly gave the operator all the needed information and waited impatiently while she connected him to his sister.
“Hello,” a sleepy Julie sounded on the other end of the phone.
“Julie, it’s August. I need you to pray about something!” August knew Julie would have received his letter explaining his return to God and the love he held for Beth and her sons.
“August!” Julie exclaimed. “What’s wrong that would have you calling me at this hour?”
“It’s Gerald. He’s one of the little boys I wrote you about. He’s the older boy, and he’s terribly ill,” August explained.
“What’s wrong with him?” Julie asked in an authoritative voice. Her years as a nurse would require August to give her all the details.
“Spinal meningitis,” August spoke the dreaded words.
“How long has he been sick? What have they done for him?”
“I guess he’s been sick about three, maybe four days. I just got here myself and don’t know what all they’ve done for him. I heard something about an experimental drug from the States, but the doctor says Gerald isn’t responding and that there’s no hope. He told us to say our good-byes.”
“How awful,” Julie whispered. “I’ll be praying for you.”
“That’s why I called. I want you to pray for a miracle. Beth can’t bear losing him, and neither can I. In my heart, he’s already my son, and I want God to heal him so I can be a real father to him.”
“A miracle is exactly what it will take,” Julie said hesitantly. “I know God can do anything, but—”
“No but,” August interrupted. “God can do anything. The doctor may have given up on Gerald, but Beth and I haven’t. I want as many people praying and pleading for his life as I can get.”
“Then you’ll have Sam and me,” Julie assured. “I’ll even wake up our friends and get them to pray.”
“Thanks, Jewels,” he replied, using his sister’s nickname. “I knew I could count on you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to make another call and get back to Beth and Gerald.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Julie replied. “And August,” she added, “welcome back to the family. I missed you and your encouraging faith. I knew God would work in a mighty way in your life, just as I know He will work in Gerald’s. Good night, Brother.”
“Good night, Jewels.”
The warmth of his sister’s love bolstered his courage, and August quickly made the call to Northway. Ralph Greening readily agreed to trek out into the night and rally the town to pray for Gerald.
Making his way back to Gerald’s room, August found Beth sitting beside her son, holding his hand. Her eyes were closed, and August wondered if she’d fallen asleep or if she still prayed. He touched her lightly on the shoulder, and Beth opened her eyes.
“I was worried,” she said. “Where were you?”
“I was rounding up support for our efforts,” August said with a sheepish grin. “I’ve rallied the troops, so to speak.”
“You’ve what?” Beth questioned, wondering at August’s smile.
“I called my sister in Nome and Ralph Greening in Northway. They’re in turn going to rally their friends and ask for prayer for Gerald. We’ll have so many requests for healing going before God’s throne, we won’t be able to count them,” August said with contagious excitement in his voice.
“How wonderful,” Beth said and dropped Gerald’s hand to take August’s. “You truly amaze me, Mr. Eriksson. Not long ago you would have scoffed at God’s power. Now you call upon it, knowing that even though the doctors have thrown up their hands, God can turn things around.”
“I have you to thank for this,” August said, pulling Beth into his arms. “You never lost faith that God could turn me around. I simply took that principle and put it into practice.”
Beth allowed August to engulf her with his sturdy arms. Her blond hair fell across his arm, glittering like gold in the pale hospital light. She looked up into dark eyes that bathed her in love. Silently, she thanked God for answering her prayers for August’s change of heart and then thanked God for hearing her prayers for Gerald. She felt hesitant at the latter, but it seemed important to trust God for those answers.
August felt his heart nearly burst with love for the woman he held. He longed to convey those feelings and ask Beth to marry him, but he knew the moment wasn’t right. He didn’t want her to say yes out of gratitude for his presence. Nor did he want her to refuse him because of the strain of Gerald’s ordeal.
“I hate waiting,” August murmured. Beth assumed his words were about Gerald’s condition.
“I know. God has things under His watchful eye, but it doesn’t always seem that way as we wait and wonder,” Beth replied.
“Waiting all these years for someone or some purpose to come into my life has been difficult, too,” August said cautiously.
“But now that you’ve waited, God has been faithful to send you people who care for you and love you,” Beth whispered as she hugged herself close to August. “That little boy loves you nearly as much as I do. You mean the world to him, and I can’t imagine God allowing Gerald to die without knowing that you’re back here with him.”
“All of this is a testing time,” August stated firmly. “A time of trial such as Jesus said we’d experience in this world. But Jesus also said we could be of good cheer for He’d already overcome this world.”
Beth nodded. “I believe that,” she said, pulling away. “I believe that we will overcome this situation and that God will bless our boy.” Beth thought fleetingly of JB and knew in her heart that he would approve of August as father to his son.
“Come on,” August said and pulled Beth with him to Gerald’s bedside. “Let’s join our friends and pray for Gerald.”