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Ezra waited while Caleb dialed his number. But apparently Asher didn’t answer, and Caleb left a message.
“I don’t think he has service at the cabin.” Typically when Asher went, he’d drive down the mountain a bit and return any calls at the end of the day.
Ezra was not worried. Asher was more than capable of taking care of himself. And Sondra. As difficult as Sondra could be. But, he did feel a little responsibility.
“I hope she didn’t eat him,” Caleb said as he hung up the phone.
“You better watch it. She might end up being your sister-in-law.”
“You just got married to someone else yesterday. Don’t tell me you’re one of those.”
“Asher, you crackerhead,” Ezra said, like it was obvious. Which to him, it was. He’d seen the way Asher looked at Sondra.
“No. Asher and Sondra? No way.”
Ezra just lifted his brows and continued to drive. It seemed very realistic to him. Why else would Asher have volunteered to take Sondra out of the way? Not because Asher wanted Alaska to be part of the family.
And there it was again, all of his thoughts came back to Alaska. Maybe, when he got a chance, he would reconfigure the work schedule he had in his head and allow himself to be doing something that would keep him closer to the house. It wasn’t necessarily his concern for Alaska’s safety, although that definitely played a part in his brain, but he just wanted to be near her. The thought scared him a little, but it also made him smile.
Chapter 21
“Ican’t wait to have children,” Ellen said with a smile as she sat on the floor of Alaska’s little house and played with Eugene.
“You’re a natural with them. Eugene loves you. And he doesn’t always warm up to people very quickly,” Alaska said. Ellen looked up, smiling at her friend as her baby drank a bottle.
“Ezra is used to a lot of kids. He probably wants to have ten or twelve just like his parents. I think that would be so awesome,” Ellen said. Ellen couldn’t help but dream. The idea of growing up in a large family was one she had held close to her heart. She had ended up being an only child, after her mother had died, and her uncle had brought her to America to raise on his own.
Of course, her uncle had gotten married, and they had two children, but Ellen was so much older than her half siblings, that she felt more like an aunt or a nanny to them than their sister. But, she always hoped that when she got married, they could have a lot of kids. Twelve would not be too many.
“So you guys are going to have children right away?” Alaska asked, and it was a casual question.
Ellen nodded eagerly. “I hope so. I mean, we have to take what God gives us, but I’m really hoping we can start right away, and Travis is down for that too.” They were more blessed than someone else might be, because Travis had spent the last eight years working hard and he’d managed to be extremely successful. He wouldn’t have to work another day in his life if he didn’t want to, and they would have plenty of money to raise as many children as Ellen wanted to have.
“You know, Ezra’s mom had a helper. Nelda. Do you know her?”
“I’ve seen her at church. I wasn’t quite sure what the relationship was to the family. I asked her once, and she answered me, but I didn’t know her well enough to understand everything she was saying, if that makes sense.”
“It does. I don’t think that it’s easy to qualify her relationship, because she treats the kids’ children as her grandchildren. They call her a nanny, but I think she was more. Almost like a member of the family.”
“That would make things a lot easier. To have someone who was so dedicated to you and your children that they become part of the family.”
“Exactly. And it would make it easier whenever someone has to watch your children. Nelda has kept mine a couple of times, and she was like you and Travis. I felt like her main concern was for the kids. That... Isn’t something you get every time someone watches your kids.”
Ellen figured Alaska would know. After all, Alaska had given Eugene to someone at the same time she had given Alice to Travis, and whoever had kept Eugene had not done a good job. She didn’t think that Eugene had been abused or anything, but the person who was supposed to be watching him, had quit midway through.
Ellen knew raising children was a big job, and while it made her a little nervous, she knew that people had been raising children for centuries, and if they could do it, she could do it too. Her biggest concern was raising them to love the Lord. That didn’t seem to be a given in today’s world, and it’s what she wanted for her kids with all of her heart.
“I bet you wish Ezra’s mom was here so you could talk to her.”
Alaska seemed like she hadn’t even considered that idea, and Ellen remembered that Alaska hadn’t been married for very long.
Of course, neither had she.
“That would be really nice. I know I have some questions I wouldn’t mind asking someone who has experience. You know, things you can’t really talk about with just anyone.”
“Yeah,” Ellen said, thinking about how she’d found out this morning that there wasn’t going to be a wedding night conception. Not for her.
But, she wasn’t discouraged. She and Travis hadn’t been married that long, and they had plenty of time to practice, as Travis called it. He hadn’t seemed disappointed that they would need to keep practicing. In fact, he seemed a little happy about it. Ellen didn’t think it was because they weren’t having a baby right away, but it was because exactly what he said, he liked practicing.
