The Reaper's Song by Lauraine Snelling

do I keep her safe?
    Surely as if He stood right behind her—or was speaking heart to heart—she knew the words: You just love her and I will keep her safe.
    Kaaren felt the burn of tears behind her eyes and at the back of her nose. Both began to run. Father, I love her so much, and at the same time, I can’t leave anyone else out . She waited, peace stealing around her shoulders like love from a warm hand.
    Be not afraid. You are mine. Be not afraid.
    Kaaren wanted to fall on her knees. She wanted to sing and dance in a meadow of light. She wanted to praise her Lord.
    “Why are you crying?” Lars and Sophie stopped beside the rocker. Sophie lay against her father’s shoulder, a thumb barely held between slack lips. She sucked once and slept on.
    Kaaren shook her head, unable to speak.
    Lars wiped her tears with the edge of the sheet she had thrown over her shoulder. “I think we can put them back to bed, don’t you?”
    She nodded and sniffed. Was it really God who had spoken? She’d heard people say “God told me” this or that but never really believed she would hear Him, or feel Him, or whatever it was that had just happened. “Be not afraid,” He’d said. Had she been afraid?
    Lars laid Sophie in the bed first and then took Grace from her mother’s arms and laid her next to her sister. Before he had time to draw up the sheet, Sophie had put an arm across her twin, as she’d been doing since they were only weeks old. Kaaren stood beside Lars, marveling at the picture the two made. One dark, one fair, both with swollen cheeks and a bright flush on their round faces.
    Lars put his arm around Kaaren’s waist and drew her close tohim. “I believe God has something special in mind for these two,” he whispered in his wife’s ear.
    “How do you come to know that?” Kaaren thought back to the early months when Lars couldn’t bear to hold Grace or even touch her.
    “I know this is strange, but it seemed a few minutes ago that God was walking right beside me. It was like I could hear Him or feel Him, and He said not to be afraid.” Lars spoke with a voice of wonder. “You think I am going crazy in these middle hours of the night?”
    Kaaren pulled a hanky out from her nightgown sleeve and blew her nose. The tears had slowed but still one followed another. “No, my husband, I believe we have been given a miracle, for I knew the same thing. That is why I cry.” She looked up to see tears in his eyes also. “We are so blessed. Two beautiful daughters and a fine healthy son. Maybe Trygve won’t catch the mumps.” But Kaaren knew that the way Grace and Sophie patted and kissed their nine-month-old brother, this was highly unlikely.
    Lars wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned into his chest. Was God standing with His arms around them? She surely felt it was so. All she could think was Thank you, Father, thank you over and over until, back in bed, she fell asleep, safe in the crook of her husband’s arm.
    When she woke, she lay alone in the bed. She knew Lars was over milking cows in the big barn next to Ingeborg’s house. He had let her sleep. She looked around the room, wondering what had awakened her. The babies weren’t fussing. All was quiet in the soddy. She slipped from under the sheet and went to stand at the screen door.
    Outside, the hush before the sun broke the horizon lay gentle on her ears. Off across the pasture she could hear one of the men whistle for Thorliff’s dog, Paws. A cow mooed and another answered. A rooster crowed, and with the sound, the birds left off their twittering in the eaves and broke into their morning chorus, welcoming the sun and another day. Inhaling deeply of honeysuckle, roses, and morning dew made her sniff again.
    She reveled in the coolness of the hard-packed earth floor on her bare feet. After the heat of the last days, this morning’s freshness felt like a gift. While the soddy remained cooler than the frame house during the hot days, there were no