Beyond C – Part 3

 Good morning, FFFs,

It's cold and snowing right now. It just started snowing so not much is on the ground. I don't know if we're expected to get much, but I'll take what snow I can.

How was your week? Mine was good. Trying to get writing in when I can. I actually reached the end of a new story. I still have to reread and edit it, but at least the end is reached. We'll see what happens with it. I'm trying to work on planning for blog posts for Read Another Page this year. It always seems a little overwhelming at first, but somehow I always find something to blog about. :) As for this blog, it's still going. This is its 11th year. Kind of hard to believe.

Hey, I wanted to mention something. One of the Indie Authors that I've really enjoyed is getting ready to release a new story. It's titled Fanny's Hope Chest and is about a single young lady. I am hoping to read it today or this weekend, but it looks so good! If you have a blog and would like to be a part of the release, just let me know I can get you information.

 I'm going to stop talking and let you read the next part of this story. I hope you enjoy it.

 Beyond Comfort

Part 3

    When the baby woke twenty minutes later, May Ling handed the bottle to Jessica, and in another minute the baby lay cradled in her arm sucking the warm milk and staring at her.
    Jessica smiled. “You’re a little jewel, sweetheart. A precious little jewel.”
    With her tummy full, the baby fell asleep, and Jessica finally consented to laying her down in a crib because she knew she couldn’t be held all the time.

    For the rest of the trip, Jessica spent every moment she could in the Baby House with Jewel. The staff had allowed Jessica to name her, and Jewel was the only name that fit the small baby girl. The thought of leaving her behind tore at Jessica’s heart, and she wanted nothing more than to either stay in China or take the baby back home with her. But she couldn’t do either, and it was with tears rolling down her cheeks that she said goodbye and joined the rest of her team on the bus to head back to the airport.
    She wasn’t the only one in tears, and it was a sober group that at last bordered their plane for the States.

*

    “I want to go back, Em,” Jessica said. “You should come with me.”
    “Me? Go to China?” Emily linked her arm through that of her best friend as they strolled around the neighborhood. “I hate Chinese food, remember? And I don’t have the money for a trip like that.”
    “It won’t be until next summer. Unless I can find another group going back.”
    Emily glanced at her. “You really loved those kids, didn’t you?”
    Jessica simply nodded. She couldn’t put into words the feelings she had for each of those children she had played with, those babies she had held and cuddled, the aunties who had let her be a part of what they did. Yes, she had to go back.

*

    “Can I carry your bag, Jessica?”
    Glancing back and up, Jessica laughed. “Didn’t you ask me that last year, Eric?”
    The tall, blond young man shrugged but grinned. He took the bag she offered and said, “Are you ready for another life changing experience?”
    Drawing a deep breath, Jessica looked around at the crowds of people. “I’m not, but God is.”
    “Amen!” Eric agreed. “Oh, did you meet my sister Melody?” He nodded to a tall girl with blonde hair who was walking nearby.
    “Not officially. I saw her at our training.”
    Eric make the introductions quickly before the team made their way into the hot, smog-filled air to board their bus.
    This time the ride to the orphanage passed quickly for Jessica, for she and Melody sat together, with Eric across the aisle and talked. Jessica could hardly wait to arrive back at the place where she had left so much of her heart. Would her babies still be there or had they been adopted?
    Orientation and settling into their guest house seemed to take forever, but at last they were there. Jessica saw the eager, smiling faces, the dark hair, the bright clothes; she heard the sing-song language which had been so foreign to her last year, and drew a quick breath of delight. She was back. Eagerly, she stretched out her arms and hugged the first child who ran to her. Greeting the “aunties” and walking about the familiar grounds while toting a child made Jessica feel right at home. It was hard to remember how strange she had felt just last year.
    “Jessica, welcome back.”
    Turning, Jessica smiled. “Thank you, Mrs. Kelly. It’s so good to be back. I didn’t know how much I had missed these little ones until I had them hanging onto my hands again.”
    Mrs. Kelly laughed. “All our kids love visitors.”
    After a glance back at the noisy bunch enjoying time on the play equipment with the other volunteers, Jessica nodded. “Mrs. Kelly, is Jewel– I mean–”
    The woman knew instantly who Jessica was talking about. “Jewel was adopted three months ago.”
    An unexpected lump rose in Jessica’s throat, and she had to swallow hard to be able to speak. “I’m so glad. She needed a loving home.” But her heart ached. She had only known that tiny girl for a few days, but she had stolen a large part of Jessica’s heart. Shifting the toddler in her arms, she hugged her and blinked back a few tears.
    “Dr. Lewis and Miss Pendleton were excited to learn you were returning,” Mrs. Kelly said, walking beside Jessica toward one of the houses. “There is one little girl, barely a year old, who needs some extra love. Would you like to–”
    “Of course!” Jessica didn’t wait for Mrs. Kelly to finish. “Can we go there now?”

    “That is our little unnamed one,” May Ling said, pointing to a small, frightened figure crouched in the corner of the room. “She cries when anyone picks her up, doesn’t want to eat, and crawls into every hiding place she can. No one can think of a name for her.”
    Jessica looked at the forlorn child, and she wanted to cry. To cry for the little one who was alone, for the mother who had given up her child for some reason, or had not wanted her, for the hundreds, no thousands, of other children she knew were being left alone all over the world. “They need love,” she murmured, moving slowly closer. “They need cherished. They need an Everlasting Father.”
    Forgetting the other babies, the other “aunties,” and the noise they made, Jessica, her eyes on the little one in the corner, moved over and sat down on the floor nearby. “Please, dear Father,” she prayed quietly, “let this little one know she is loved. Let me cherish her because her mama can’t. Let me comfort her as You comfort me.” Slowly, she reached out her hands toward the child.
    The small girl drew farther back into her corner and stuck her fingers in her mouth, her dark eyes watching Jessica in a frightened way.
 

Would you want to go back to the place where you had experienced joy and pain?

How is your weather?

If you have a blog, do you like to plan posts ahead of time?