Read Promise of Blessing for Free Online Page B

to check on Helena and the baby.   Millie went with them, at Josie’s request.   When Helena saw Mr Jones, she begged him to help her sell the few animals and other valuables that were left on the farm in order to pay back the families Davis had stolen from.   Mr Jones was so moved by her words and her situation that he and his wife took her in and helped to manage her affairs.  
    But there was worse to come.   The next day, one of Davis’s friends from Delano smuggled whisky in to him.   During the night, he was sick in his stupor, and when the sheriff came to check on him in the morning, he was dead.
    Clae and Josie offered to take Helena in, but she said that she preferred to stay in town for the present.   She thought that she would use what very little money she would have from the sale of the farm to go back east, or perhaps further west to California, where an old friend and her husband lived.

    Early one morning not many days before Christmas, Josie dreamed of horses.   Half-way between asleep and awake, she couldn’t be sure if the noise of hooves was in her dream or real.   When she came fully awake, blinking in the darkness, there was only silence.   Clae was still asleep beside her, a warm spot in the cold room, and the night outside the window was at its darkest.   She tried to fall asleep again, but felt restless.   Perhaps it was the thought of all the Christmas preparations that must be done, and the excitement of her first Christmas with Clae.
    Finally, when she could just make out the grey outlines of the furniture in the room, she gave up and swung her feet to the floor.   Shivering madly, she went into the kitchen to stoke the fire.   Although she tried to be quiet, her wanderings woke Clae and he soon shuffled out of the bedroom in his stockings, bleary eyed.
    “Are you all right?” he asked, trying to flatten his hair.
    Josie started to nod, but thought for a moment and shook her head instead.   “No,” she said.   “This may sound like madness, but I feel strongly that something is wrong this morning.”
    Clae sank into a chair by the table, his forehead wrinkled.   “Is it a feeling like someone’s churning butter in your stomach?”
    “Yes, exactly that.   But maybe it’s because I’m excited about Christmas.”
    “No,” Clae replied.   “I don’t think so.   I mean, I’m excited about Christmas, too, but this is something else.   Come here and let’s pray.”   He shivered.   “On second thought, I’ll come to you.”
    He joined her by the hot stove and they prayed for the protection of their loved ones, the farm and their animals.   Then they spoke aloud their Psalm, which after so many weeks they both knew by heart.
    Clae collected his boots and coat and began to put them on.   “I’m going to check on the animals,” he said.   When he opened the door, the icy wind took it out of his hands and slammed it shut again.
    Josie watched the light of his lantern bob across the yard and disappear as he went inside the barn.   Less than two minutes later, the light appeared again, and where it reflected back off his body, Josie could see that he was clutching a large bundle.   She held the door open for him and he hurried inside, hunched over a basket, the open top of which he held to his chest.   Josie took the lantern, which dangled precariously from his two free fingers, and blew it out.
    “Is one of the animals sick?” she asked, reaching for the basket.
    Clae lowered it gently to the table, shaking his head, and took one step backwards.
    Josie stared and made an incoherent noise.   Inside the basket, wrapped in layers upon layers of blankets, was a baby, fast asleep.
    “F – found it…up on a bale – hay bale – with the cows.   It’s warm.   It’s fine.”
    “But who…?”   Josie’s voice trailed off.   She looked hard at the baby’s face.   Her hands shaking, she began to fold back the layers of cloth.   Only the first few