Janette Oke - Love Takes Wing

Love Takes Wing (Love Comes Softly #7)

Janette Oke

To Aunt Laurine-- with love and thanks for who you are and what you mean to me. God bless!

JANETTE OKE was born in Champion, Alberta, to a Canadian prairie farmer and his wife, and she grew up in a large family full of laughter and love. She is a graduate of Mountain View Bible College in Alberta, where she met her husband, Edward, and they were married in May of 1957. After pastoring churches in Indiana and Canada, the Okes spent some years in Didsbury and Calgary, where Edward served in several positions on college faculties while Janette continued her writing. She has written over five dozen novels for adults and children, and her book sales total over twenty-two million copies.

The Okes have three sons and one daughter, all married, and are enjoying their dozen grandchildren. Edward and Janette are active in their local church and make their home near Didsbury, Alberta.

Visit Janette Oke's Web site at: www.janetteoke.com .

Contents

1. The End of a Long Day

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Characters in the LOVE COMES SOFTLY series

Clark and Marty Davis--partners in a marriage in which each had lost a previous spouse.

Nandry and Clae--foster daughters raised by Clark and Marty Nandry married Josh Coffins, and their children are Tina, Andrew, Mary and Jane. Clae married Joe Berwick. Their children are Esther Sue, Joey, and Paul.

Missie--Clark's daughter from his first marriage, married Willie LaHaye and moved west to ranch. Their children--Nathan, Josiah, Melissa (who came east to live with Clark and Marty while she finished high school, then went on to train as a schoolteacher), and Julia.

Clare--Marty's son born after her first husband's death, married Kate. They live in the same farmyard as Clark and Marty. Their children--Amy Jo, Dan, David, and Dack.

Arnie--Clark and Marty's first child. He married Anne, and they have three sons--Silas, John, and Abe.

Daughter Ellie--married Lane Howard and moved west to join Missie and Willie. Their children are Brenda, William, and Willis.

Son Luke--trained to be a doctor and returned to the small town to practice medicine. He married Abbie. Their children are Thomas and Aaron--and now new baby daughter, Ruth.

Daughter Belinda--Clark and Marty's youngest child. She was trained as a nurse.

Jackson Brown--the school friend who greatly impressed Melissa, Amy Jo, and Belinda when he first arrived at the country school. Melissa was the one who really carried a torch for him, though Jackson preferred Belinda.

ONE

The End of a Long Day

Belinda pushed wisps of gold-brown hair back from her flushed face and took a deep breath. It was "one of those days"-- again! The whole week seemed to have been filled with emergencies. One right after the other.

Why are people so careless? Belinda asked herself a mite crossly. She tossed her soiled white apron aside and began to clean up the bloodstained operating table.

The last case of the day was a boy who had caught his hand in a piece of farm machinery. Luke had worked hard and long to try to save all his fingers, but neither he nor Belinda were too hopeful about the outcome. She felt tired, overworked, and anxious about the state of young Jamie's fingers.

I should be getting used to such things by now, she admonished herself. After all, hadn't she been assisting Luke in surgery for over a year? But there didn't seem to be any way she could get used to the pain she felt when she looked at the suffering reflected in a patient's eyes--especially when it was in the eyes of a child.

She sighed again deeply and breathed another prayer for young Jamie.

"I'll do that," said a voice from behind her.

She hadn't even heard Luke enter the room. She turned, intending to argue that cleaning up was part of her job, but he

continued, "I know you're in a hurry. It's only an hour until the train will be in."

Belinda's thoughts now focused on the event that had been filling her with excitement this whole week. She had been counting the days--the hours. How could it have slipped her mind? It must have been the injured boy who had taken her complete attention while they worked to save his hand. But now with Luke's reminder, Belinda's excitement flooded through her again. Melissa is coming home! She now was finished with her teacher's training in the East and would be spending a few weeks at the farm before continuing on to her home and family in the West.

Belinda glanced down at her soiled dress. She sure didn't want to leave Luke with the cleaning, but she did need a bath to freshen up, and she just had to do something with her wayward hair. Missing out on welcoming Melissa on the afternoon train was almost unthinkable. It had been a long time--a long, long time since she had seen... well, had seen her niece, who was only a bit older than she and had become a dear friend during the two years she had lived with the Davises. Belinda was glad she didn't have to explain their complicated family very often.

She gave Luke a warm, appreciative smile and turned reluctantly from the untidy surgery.

"Sorry," she apologized.

But he assured her, "No reason for you to be sorry. It isn't your carelessness that has been filling our office with accident cases."

Belinda reached up and pulled the pins from her hair, letting it tumble down about her shoulders. She eased slender fingers through the curls to gently shake out the tangles.

"Have ya ever seen a week like this one?" she asked her brother soberly.

"It's been a bad one, all right," Luke admitted. Then he sighed deeply and said, "I sure hope it's about to come to an end."

Belinda agreed.

"Now you'd best hurry;" urged Luke. "You don't want to be late for that train."

Belinda scurried from the room. She did want to be there when the train pulled into the local station. Her whole family would be waiting for Melissa. Would she have changed much? Would the two of them still be able to share secrets and understand--sometimes even without words--how the other was feeling? Was Melissa still pining over Jackson Brown, or had she found another young man? What was teacher's training like? Did she like the city? Belinda had so many questions.

Yes, they had written frequently, but it just wasn't the same. There were some things that were not easy to put down on paper. Belinda did hope there wouldn't be any awkwardness between them. She was filled with anticipation and just a bit of apprehension.

She set the portable tub on the mat in her small upstairs room at Luke and Abbie's house and carried pails of warm water to fill it. As she settled into her bath, her thoughts went back to the first time the family had gathered to wait for the arrival of Melissa. That time she had been coming from her home in the West. None of them had known what to expect as they waited for the stagecoach to arrive. Belinda could still remember the butterflies and the questions. What would she be like? Would they like each other? Would they be able to get along? Maybe it would be like having a sister her own age.

And so it had turned out--Melissa had been like a sister, even though she was in fact a niece. Belinda had grown to love her dearly and had missed her greatly when she went away to normal school. And now the days had ticked by and Melissa was coming home again--this time by train from the East. And the train was coming to their very own town.

This was a new and welcome luxury to the people of their

community They were getting used to hearing the whistle and the clickity-clack of the metal wheels on the iron tracks, but Belinda still had not quite gotten over the thrill of it all. Often she dreamed of boarding the passenger car and being taken to some faraway place that she had only seen in picture books. But so far it only remained a dream.