Someday: 3 (Sunrise) Read Online Free PDF Page B

most definitely missing.
    The soft, precious cries of her newborn daughter.

     
    The funeral service was brief and poignant—much like little Sarah’s life. Ashley sat with Landon and the boys in the front row of the church, and the rest of the Baxter family surrounded them. Only Ashley’s father spoke, quoting from Psalm 139—the verses that talked about God knowing a baby before she was born and how He alone could knit a child in the womb of her mother. He also referred to Jeremiah 29:11, about God having good plans for His people.
    “His good plans for Sarah will go far beyond this life.” Her dad looked at the faces in the first few pews. His eyes glistened, but he smiled anyway. “We look forward to that glorious day when we are all together, at home in heaven, and we can see for ourselves the plans God had for our precious baby girl.”
    Ashley turned her eyes to the small white casket, covered in a spray of white roses and baby’s breath. The delicately etched box was so small, so pitifully little. For the slightest, craziest moment, Ashley longed to cross the front of the church, lift the lid, and take her daughter into her arms one more time. She closed her eyes. Sarah’s not in there. I know she’s not, she told herself. Help me, God. . . . Let me see her in Mom’s arms the way Cole saw her.
    Ashley looked back at her dad. He was finishing, talking about God’s mercies being new every morning. Then he stepped down from the podium and returned to his spot beside Elaine.
    The church pianist played “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” and afterwards, when the funeral was over, everyone drove to the cemetery. The burial service took only a few minutes, and then—after hugs and quiet tears—the others left for their separate homes. Ashley had decided she didn’t have energy for a dinner back at their house. The funeral was as much as she could handle.
    Finally it was just Ashley, Landon, and the boys, standing near Sarah’s casket. Landon had Devin in his arms, and without saying a word, he reached out and touched the edge of the wooden box. “Good-bye, Sarah,” he whispered. Then he carefully took one white rose from the bouquet and brought it close to his face. For a moment he closed his eyes, and pain darkened his expression.
    Ashley, too, took a rose and opened her other hand gently against the smooth casket top. “Someday, baby . . . someday we’ll see you again.” Ashley felt the tears on her cheeks, but otherwise her heart was numb. She wanted only to be home with her family, away from this terribly sad place.
    Cole had been watching them, making circles in the grass with the toe of his shoe as if he wasn’t sure what to do or say. But now he moved to the headstone adjacent to Sarah’s plot. “This is where Grandma’s buried, right? It says Elizabeth Baxter.”
    “Yes, Coley.” Ashley touched his shoulder. “They’ll be together here.”
    Cole nodded. He stared at the gravestone for a few seconds, then touched the lettering with his fingers. “Together, like in heaven.”
    “That’s right.”
    Landon prayed, and the four of them stayed a few minutes longer. After that, they returned to the new truck and drove home.
    Ashley didn’t make her way to the nursery until after Landon and the boys were asleep. Earlier, Landon had urged her to take a nap, and she’d managed to get a few hours. But now she couldn’t sleep. How different this night might have been, the hours spent rocking Sarah and laughing about their lack of sleep.
    Ashley tiptoed down the hallway past Devin’s room. Before Sarah’s diagnosis, they had tossed around a couple of options for the baby’s room. They could move Devin in with Cole—something both boys were in favor of. But the house was older, the rooms barely big enough for a twin bed and a dresser. Even bunk beds would’ve caused the boys to be crowded in one room.
    Instead, they settled on turning Ashley’s art room into a nursery. She usually painted