Hannah's Rainbow: Every Color Beautiful by Cynthia Hilston

Author:Cynthia Hilston [Hilston, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Three

In 1944, the war efforts of the Allied Forces in both Europe and the Pacific were progressing in a favorable direction. Everyone had high hopes that by Christmas, the war would be finally over.

With Edward’s family gone, the decision was already made to spend most of Christmas day with Hannah’s family at her parents’ house. Erik and Lily had welcomed their second child, Louis, into the world three months earlier.

“By next Christmas, we’ll have at least one more little one gracing this small home,” Ma said reflectively as she sat in her well-worn rocking chair next to the fireplace, where a Yule log crackled.

The smell of fresh pine wafted from the mantel, as Hannah and Irma had decorated it the night before with freshly cut sprigs from one of the yard’s trees, along with holly. Just as they had as children, the new generation had taken part in dressing the tree with strung popcorn and mostly handmade ornaments. Strings of lights now adorned the branches, which Hannah felt far safer than the candles they used when she was a girl.

Hannah smiled as she placed her hands over her belly. She felt the baby kicking and giggled.

“He’s certainly excited,” she said.

“Are you sure it’s a ‘he?’” asked Pa, stoking the fire.

“That’s our hope, although it’s in God’s hands what He provides,” Edward said. “One of each would be ideal, though.”

“You get what you get,” Ma said sagely. “Three girls and two boys was plenty for me, but I’d swear it on my mother’s grave that I had a horde of ten or twelve boys with the amount of grey hairs and trouble you two caused me growing up.” Here, Ma mock-glared at Harry and Erik over her reading glasses, the knitting lying momentarily forgotten on her lap.

“Oh, come on, Ma!” Erik said, chuckling as he puffed on a cigarette. “Life would’ve been downright boring without me and Harry around to liven it up some.”

“Yeah,” added Harry, also smoking. “How many times did you fix that window on the back door?”

“Too many to count,” Pa replied, smirking. “Until I had the good sense to just install a plank of wood over it. I’ve thought of taking it down after all these years, but with grandkids now wreaking havoc, I don’t see the point.”

“Speaking of grandkids,” Ma said, “I think some of these wee ones are getting anxious to open presents.”

“Yeah, Grandma!” Brenda exclaimed. “Can we, please? Can we?”

“Oh, all right, go on then,” Ma replied, half-amused, half-sighing. She gestured the children toward the tree.

Without hesitation, they darted for the pile of presents, and with their parents’ help, the distribution of wrapped surprises began in earnest.

Christmas evening dissolved into quietude as the hours wore on, and before long, Edward and Hannah returned home. With Brenda sleeping fastly in bed, a new Kewpie doll from her grandparents tucked in alongside her, the couple stepped outside onto the small front porch to watch the gently falling snow.

“So much happened this year,” Hannah said, searching for Edward’s hand and finding it.

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