Samantha did no sleeping that night. About
mid-morning, Jeff’s eyes fluttered. He mumbled, in a quiet whisper,
“S-s-samantha…” Tired as she was, Samantha was overjoyed. She had not mentioned
her name to Jeff. He had remembered it!
Caylie came in with breakfast. Jeff said
nothing more, but was able to eat a light meal, and drink milk. Once he looked
at her, with wonder in his eyes, and smiled for a moment.
While Caylie sat with Jeff, Samantha made
arrangements with her detective, Jackson Cox, to guard the doorway outside
their room so that Samantha could get some badly needed sleep. That afternoon,
she talked to Mrs. George, who understood her wishes to resign from her job so
that she could be with Jeff twenty four hours a day. She paid for both beds in
her room, and meals for both of them.
Very gradually, Jeff was doing better. By
the next night, he was talking more. He could not take his eyes off her face,
and loved to stroke her red hair. By the next day, Samantha decided she could
give Jeff the good news. “Jeff, we’re going to have a baby! You’re going to be
a daddy!” Jeff broke into a smile, and they both cried. With Samantha sitting
beside him eighteen hours a day, and Mr. Cox on guard as she slept, Jeff
improved rapidly. Caylie and Samantha gave Jeff a bath, cleaned him up, and
found clean clothes for him. It obviously made him feel better.
After a week, Jeff was doing much better.
With Samantha talking to him all day, every waking hour, his memory was greatly
improving. The Doctor declared Jeff fit to travel in two or three days.
Samantha made plans to take Jeff home.
They arrived at the Little Rock train
station four days later. Soon, they were both home, in Samantha’s apartment.
Being in familiar surroundings, Jeff’s memory was getting better fast.
Physically, he was getting around well, and he was eating heartily. Slowly,
they began to venture out on short walks. Being in familiar Little Rock
surroundings, he did even better. They visited Captain Barrens, who was able to
help locate Jeff’s family, and they were soon in Little Rock. They found an
apartment at Anthony House, and planned to stay until Jeff was completely
recovered. His two loving sisters, Cati-Beth and Barbara, along with his
mother, Darlene, stayed with Jeff daily, and they all got to know Samantha
well. Now Samantha was able to get out more, and get the business back on
track, though her employees were doing a great job.
By the time the baby’s arrival was getting
near, Jeff was almost his old self. Samantha loved her new family.
Captain Barrens conveyed to the Army
Jeff’s situation, and he was granted an early discharge with honors. Jeff
seemed to be almost totally recovered, but they agreed that he should not
consider looking for a job for some time.
Having his
loving mother and two loving sisters around daily did wonders for Jeff, and
Samantha thought she was in Heaven. Only one thing was missing. Tenny.
With the baby due in a matter of days,
Samantha was able to contact James, Tenny’s father. Tenny was living with her
sister still. Arrangements were made for Tenny to be present for the baby’s arrival.
As it turned out, she arrived three days before the delivery. She would stay
until Samantha had regained her strength.
The time came. The labor was long, and
very hard. But Jeff had been lucky enough to hire a first-rate midwife.
Janette. She made things so much easier. After the birth of a large bouncing
boy, Jeff and Samantha were over-joyed. He was healthy, and beautiful. After
three days, Tenny said she could take over for the midwife now, So Janette was
thanked lovingly, and released.
The first night the four were alone,
Samantha sat Tenny by her bedside, and announced that Jeff and her had
something special to announce.
No comments:
Post a Comment