Night Rain
Night Rain
It was a dark and stormy night. I sat on the couch watching the weather reports. Forty mile an hour winds and more rain was predicted over the next forty eight hours. I looked outside at the rain falling on the dark streets. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Clouds swirled like smoke. With a bad rain, the whole hillside could disappear in a wall of mud. Then the Heavens seemed to open. Nothing but rain and wind. The rain grew heavier by the second. Even though the generator was all set, I put out flashlights just in case. I had extra candles, too. I paced around nervously. I was a young mother home alone with two small children.
My husband had called me telling me he would be getting home later than usual which was not uncommon in his line of work. I was used to him working long and irregular hours. One of his co-workers had complained of chest pain and thought he needed to go to the emergency room. It was so like my husband. He was always the first one to lend a hand to anyone who needed help. As long as you treated him with respect he would give you the shirt off his back. My husband had called his co-worker’s wife to let her know what was going on. When she arrived, the doctors were still running tests. Not wanting her to have to wait all alone, my husband said he would stay and sit with her until they knew something. Two hours later, they learned the chest pain had been stress related. The doctors wanted to keep the patient overnight for observation and run a stress test the next day.
The doorknob turned. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing he had safely made it home.
“Hi, honey,” he said. “Sorry, I’m late, but John’s going to be okay. His wife is with him.”
Then he reached inside his coat and pulled out a Hershey bar he had probably gotten from the hospital vending machine. He walked over and handed it to me and said, “I know it’s not much, but Happy Valentine’s Day anyway.”
My mouth dropped open in surprise. I had completely forgotten it was Valentine’s Day. I had a hard day, the kids had been cranky and then with the storm and everything, it had slipped my mind completely. The fact he had remembered touched my heart. He took me in his arms. In that moment, I had never felt so safe, so secure, so loved. He gently took me by the hand and we went upstairs.
But the most special thing about that night was it was the night our daughter was conceived. Valentine’s Day or not, she was the best present I had ever received. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my two boys to pieces, but I had always wanted a little girl. We named her Amaya which means night rain, to remind us.
