Sweet Saturday Sample: A Living Gift

Welcome back to Sweet Saturday Sample.  Today I'd like to share a sample from one of my WIPs.  Yes, I have more than one at a time.  The title of this manuscript is Reclaiming Wes Hagood.  In this excerpt, Wes has just buried his wife.

The priest stroked the baby’s soft hand and looked into Wes’s eyes.  “In spite of everything you’re a lucky man.”

“Lucky!  You have the nerve to call what happened to me lucky?”

Father Duncan refused to take offense.  “You had three years with a wonderful woman.  Lots of men never find a love like you and Chris shared.”

That was true, but still…  “I’m angry, Father.  Why did God allow this to happen?” Wes demanded, his face dark and tormented.  “We wanted a baby so much!  It isn’t fair to cheat her out of seeing her son grow up.”

“That’s a cry which has echoed down through the ages.  Unfortunately, the only answers I could give you would sound cruel, mocking, and hollow.  But even in the face of this tragedy, God is good.  He let you keep Chris’s last gift to you, didn’t He?  She knew her heart might not stand the strain of a pregnancy, but she did it because she wanted a child from the love you two shared.”

He patted the little boy in Wes’s arms.  “Take good care of him, Wes.  He’s a living gift from your wife.”

Father Duncan left Wes alone, and Wes buried his face in the blue blanket in his arms and cried.

 

Picture credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Un_b%C3%A9b%C3%A9.jpg