Free River of Dust by Virginia Pye Page A

of the precious sweet for special occasions, which gave Grace a shred of optimism about this visit. She so wanted them to be friends again.
        As Grace accepted the cup and saucer and placed them on the table, she hoped that her trembling hand was not too noticeable. In the four years since she had arrived in Fenchow-fu, Mildred, though only slightly older, had watched over her with a mother's keen eye. Indeed, Mildred was watching her now. There would be no hiding Grace's delicate condition.
        "You do not look well," Mildred began and patted Grace's thin wrist. "But, of course, you have been through so much."
        The two ladies looked down at their laps and slowly shook their heads.
        "It must lead you to prayer more than ever," Mildred said.
        Grace agreed, although oddly, she did not pray often anymore. She
    was far too occupied with keeping track of her dreams and all that business out the window. Her vigilance required a great deal of her.
        "The baby will help you enormously," Mildred said, now giving Grace's hand a firm squeeze as a signal for Grace to let go, which she did reluctantly.
        "My little Daisy has made my earlier loss all but disappear from my mind. Of course my earlier one never saw the light of day, unlike your dear little boy, who made it all the way to three years of age."
        Grace wished her friend would refrain from mentioning her son, especially not in the past tense as if he had died, which Grace was convinced he had not. She tried to recall if she had ever told Mildred about the two she had lost to miscarriage as well. Those were terrible, but nothing compared to the open wound left by her stolen boy.
        "I do hope for that, Mildred. You are most blessed with precious Daisy."
        Hearing her name, the little girl rose from where she played with blocks on the Chinese carpet. She toddled over, placed a block in her mother's lap, looked up, and spat out the word "block" as if it were the most thrilling thing on earth. Grace could not help letting out a giggle. The child was just so darling. But the little girl looked up at Grace and frowned. She took a handful of her mother's fine skirt and wrinkled it in her chubby fingers.
        "I believe I have upset her," Grace said.
        "Nonsense," Mildred said. "Daisy, say hello to Mrs. Watson."
        Daisy continued to frown at Grace as she pawed at her mother's lap. Mildred lifted her daughter and set her upon her knee. Daisy twisted her body away so as not to look at Grace.
        "I won't bother you, darling girl," Grace said. She longed to reach across and touch that fine blond hair, so like her own Wesley's that it pained her heart. "But did you know that very soon you will have a new playmate?"
        Daisy glanced back at Grace with a skeptical look.
        "I have a baby coming soon, and he or she will be your new friend."
        This seemed to finally set Daisy at ease. The girl pushed off from her mother's arms, clambered back down onto the rug, and waddled to her blocks. Grace and Mildred took up their cups and drank as Daisy commenced building a tower.
        "Your Reverend," Mildred asked, "he is excited about the child?"
        "Oh, yes," Grace replied with enthusiasm.
        "And you believe he intends to be around more often once the baby arrives?" Mildred's voice sounded rather pinched, Grace thought.
        "I assume so. We have not discussed it."
        "Really? You are entering your sixth month of pregnancy, and you have not discussed it?" Mildred's eyebrows rose again. "I would think that would be a most important topic at this time." Then she leaned closer and asked, "Do you actually know where he goes when he leaves for days and weeks at a time?"
        Grace set down her cup and sat up straighter in her chair, "Why, to the outlying churches, of course."
        Mildred let out a stifled laugh that cut Grace to the quick.
        "My dear,"