It was a dark and stormy night. The wind hollered ferociously, and Mrs. Garner pulled her shawl closer to her body and held the lantern higher. Raindrops would be falling any minute, but she did not care. If there was the slightest chance that her husband was there, she would be there to greet him. Harry had been gone for almost a week now, and Julia felt certain that something dreadful had happened to him. Simply driving the cart to town to sell some of their merchandise and do the shopping would not take him that long. At the most, he had been gone four days on a similar errand.
Mrs. Garner felt a kick and looked down at her protruding stomach. He never wanted her to forget he was there, at least Julia believed it was a he. She gave her son a gentle rub and looked wistfully behind her shoulder before turning in. The clouds had opened up now, and she could not afford to get sick.
"Please let him be alright," she uttered in a tone that was scarcely louder than a whisper. Julia decided to stoke the fire again. The plate of food that was on the hearth had to stay as warm as possible. Harry would appreciate the hot meal. After pacing in front of the window, she sat down in her rocking chair and took up her knitting project again to pass the time. She was making their son a blanket for the crib.
Julia thought about how Harry said he might pick up some lumber while he was in town to make more baby furniture. She winced after thinking about him and tried to stop thinking altogether, but a new thought came in that was even better. She remembered how God always watched over the Israelites in the wilderness, the Christians of the first church, and even her own family while she grew up during Indian raids, bear attacks, and a war. If God could watch over all them, He was watching over Harry too. He loved Harry more than she did (although Julia couldn't imagine how that was possible).
A loud thump at the door startled her, and Harry appeared in the doorway, his clothes clinging to his body like limp paper. Julia raced over to him and hugged him tightly before helping him take off the soaked garments and placing him before the fire to warm up. While Harry ate, explained why he had been delayed. His wheel had broken shortly after getting into town, which delayed his errands for a day. Then, someone stole his money he earned from selling their merchandise. He didn't know what he was going to do until the owner of the inn where he had stayed the night offered to loan him some money to buy a few of the groceries they needed to buy. The day before he was about to leave for home, the sheriff tracked him down and said that a man turned himself in with Harry's money. The guilt had been too great. In addition, Harry was able to get a baby toy for their son and bought Julia new cloth for a dress. Everything turned out alright.
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