"What did you wish for, honey?" Pearl asked her son.
"I can't tell you or it won't come true," he whispered, sticking a finger in his mouth.
"If you tell me, I can pray for it to come true, anyway," she whispered back.
Jesse heard her and smothered his laugh in a cough. She sent him a dirty look, then looked back at the little boy. "Well?"
He still looked unconvinced but after a second he capitulated.
"I wished the baby that comes next should be a girl."
Pablo's head popped up from where it was hidden beside Jesse on the sofa.
"Yeah! We need someone who looks like Mom around here," he said cheerfully. "There are too many handsome Murray men as it is."
Pearl's jaw dropped. "Pablo!"
Jesse burst out laughing. "It wasn't me, honey!"
"Well, at least we know he's a real Teab-Murray. That vanity must be spread like a pheromone," she muttered.
When he was done laughing, he called his son Caleb over. "You want a little sister, son?"
Their three and half year old nodded as he climbed up onto his father's lap. Pablo watched as his little brother looked earnestly up into the face of the man he loved with all his heart. Papa put one arm around each of them and hugged his children closer to him before saying anything.
"Well, Mommy's been praying for that, too, so I think God might consider your wish with extra care."
Caleb smiled, satisfied that it was still safe.
"Now, it's bed time for the both of you."
Ignoring the groaning and bargaining, Jesse herded his boys upstairs.
Left alone in the silence, Pearl sat down, stretching her tired legs out on the sofa. She closed her eyes and smiled. These moments of quiet brought her so much peace but today her contentment went beyond having some time to herself.
Jesse returned to the living room, just as Pearl started to speak. He stopped in the space between the entrance and the sofa where she was reclined, eyes still closed.
"Lord, I am so blessed and thankful to You. I still can't believe that Jesse, Pablo and Caleb are mine. And I am so excited about having our third baby… It's a gift that I will never take for granted. Thank you that I haven't had an asthma attack since we got married and thank you for restoring me to good health after Caleb was born. Thank you that Pablo is a fantastic older brother and he's growing into a fine young man. You've given me such an amazing husband who never ceases to give of himself and to teach the boys what being a good man means. Thank you for that difficult client that sent me home when she did- and that dusty field in Missouri. You changed our lives using the very thing that I had been fighting my whole life. You brought me someone I can rely on and who loves so absolutely. Please continue to grace this home with such blessings. Amen."
"Amen."
Pearl's eyes fluttered open and she turned to look at her husband. He was walking toward her with an expression of such undisguised love that she smiled broadly. She was the luckiest woman alive.
"I like catching you praying about me," he said softly, sitting beside her.
"Catching me?" she laughed.
"Yep. You say the best things about me when you don't know I'm listening," he chuckled. "I can't believe you thanked God for that asthma attack."
"That's the first time you ever called me sweetheart."
"Purely involuntarily!" he protested easily.
"Ha. Whatever you say… you've also told me how after that camp you felt connected to me. You think that was coincidence?"
"Not at all." Jesse looked at her with a serious expression. "And I certainly can't explain it scientifically. It's like holding you that first time activated a part of me that had been dormant my whole life." Pause. "And now you're a part of me I never want to lose."
"You won't lose me…"
"That is one prayer I say every day."
Pearl shook her head, knowing she had no control over when any of them were going to live or die. She felt so warm and delighted to know that the man in front of her still covered her in that way.
"Do you know why I love the dusty field so much?" she asked him now, eyes sparkling with joy and love.
He looked at her and shook his head.
"Because that was the dawn of a new era."
"What?"
"If you count the number of times you had to carry me," she giggled. "You became the perfect wingman, babe. It was Jesse Murray… the legs we stand on."
Jesse burst out laughing.
He didn't have to tell her that they could both stand on his legs for as long as he had them. It was written all over his face as he looked back at her, smiling. Asthma had always been her load to bear but Pearl supposed it was true that God brought the best blessings through the burden.
THE END