Page 9 of A Winter's Miracle

For the past several months, Anna, Julia, Ella, Alana, and Greta had crafted a state-of-the-art nursery for Baby Copperfield, complete with a cradle, a rocking chair with a cushion, a diaper changing station, soft blue walls, and a rug that felt like clouds beneath your feet. More than a month ago, Anna and Julia had officially called it “finished.” But when Anna led Julia and Violet back into the nursery this afternoon, Julia found it piled high with baby things they simply wouldn’t use. Violet had bought additional items—another stroller, another cradle, and far more baby toys than anyone ever needed. Worst of all, the things she’d bought reeked of bad plastic. It made Julia cringe, thinking of Baby Copperfield in the midst of that terrible material. She and Anna had been purposeful about what they’d purchased.

But the look in Violet’s eyes told Julia just how important these gifts were to her.

“As soon as you told me I could come out East to visit, I went on a shopping spree,” Violet explained, picking up a dark yellow blanket and pressing it against her chest. “It reminded me of being a young mother twenty-five years ago, buying little things for baby Dean. Gosh, it breaks my heart to think about it.” She blinked back tears.

Anna gave Julia a look that meant everything would be okay, and they would get rid of the new stuff in due time. But right now, they had to uphold Dean’s love for his mother and his mother’s love for his baby. It was the proper thing to do.

Not long afterward, Violet confessed she was tired after her two-day drive and retired to her bedroom to nap. They walked her down the hall, chatting about things that immediately fled Julia’s mind. Before Violet closed the door, Julia thought she spotted four large suitcases stacked against the wall. Her eyes widened, even as she raised her hand to say goodbye. Anna took Julia’s hand and guided her down the hall and upstairs to her bedroom, where she closed the door behind them and whispered, “I think she plans to stay forever.”

Julia winced and crossed her arms over her chest. “Did she say anything?”

Anna dropped onto the bed and sighed toward the ceiling. “I mean, I thought she still had a job to get back to,” she began, “but apparently, she quit last summer.”

“I imagine the grief made it too difficult for her.”

Anna nodded and swallowed. “She kept telling me how happy she is to be a part of my baby’s life. And I can’t push her away, you know? We both lost Dean. And I don’t want her to think I don’t honor his memory.”

Julia sat on the bed beside Anna and collapsed onto the mattress, making it shake. Anna chuckled lightly.

“Nobody thinks you’re not honoring Dean,” Julia said quietly, taking Anna’s hand.

Anna squinted. “But it’s true that I’ve forgotten things about him. Little things.”

“You’ve had a lot on your mind. You’re growing a baby.”

Anna raised her shoulders. Julia felt the heaviness of Violet’s visit, how loaded it was for Anna. She resolved to make it easier on her.

“We’ll do everything we can for Violet,” Julia said tenderly.

Anna turned her head, and her eyes flashed. “I can’t help but think about Baby Copperfield. About what it would be like to lose him twenty-four years from now.” Fear overtook her face, and Julia squeezed her hand harder.

“As a mother, you’ll never stop worrying,” Julia said, her heart shattering. “It’s just something you’ll have to get used to.”

Anna winced and turned her head back to gaze up at the ceiling. She sighed. “This is Violet’s home for as long as she wants it. I’m sure we’ll get used to each other. And I’m sure her husband will want her to come home soon.”

“Right,” Julia agreed. “Have you spoken to him?”

“Not at all,” Anna said. “But Violet said he wants to come out to meet the baby in January. So I guess we’ll have another guest at The Copperfield House soon.”

Chapter Five

It was the second week of January. Anna checked her phone’s pregnancy app—she was just a week and a half away from her due date so after stages of being the size of a walnut, an avocado, and a tiny melon, the baby was now the size of, well, a human baby. She sizzled with expectation and fear, even as acid reflux made her stomach and chest burn. She tried to cheer herself up, imagining her little baby with a full head of curly hair peering up at her.

There was a knock on her bedroom door. Anna gritted her teeth, already knowing who it was. It was confirmed a second later.

“Anna? Honey? I brought you a smoothie!” Violet’s voice rang through her head like a gong.

Anna rubbed her eyes and put her feet on the floor beside her bed. “Come on in!”

It had been this way ever since Violet’s arrival. It seemed like Anna never had a spare moment to herself, that Violet was perpetually on the other side of the door, or around the corner, or asking to make plans. She kept saying she wanted to form the “mother-daughter” bond they hadn’t been allowed to have due to Dean’s death. “Dean wanted to marry you,” she’d said. “And just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean I don’t think of you as a daughter-in-law.”

It was clear she was lonely. But Anna’s patience was running thin.

Violet popped into Anna’s bedroom with a mango-strawberry smoothie and placed it on Anna’s bedside table, grinning broadly. She wore a pair of light green yoga pants and a zip-up sweatshirt, and her hair was tied into a tight ponytail that straightened out her eyebrows.

“Good morning, beautiful Anna!” Violet said, hurrying toward the window to draw back the drapes and let the January light in. She’d read somewhere that natural light was good for the fetus. This was yet another on her very long list of things to do for “baby’s health” during the ninth month of pregnancy, all of which she’d attempted to cram into the past two weeks. Anna felt claustrophobic.

“Hi,” Anna said, taking a sip of the smoothie and trying to remind herself that this situation wasn’t forever. Violet would go back to Ohio. Eventually. “That tastes amazing. Thank you.”

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