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~ With her thoughtful husband so far away, who will step in and plan a special Mother’s Day

for Jessica? Will it be as depressing a day as she expects?~ 

When the alarm went off, Jessica Ransford considered pulling the covers over her head and staying home from church that day. After all, it would be the first Mother’s Day that her husband wasn’t beside her in the pew, ready with plans for an all-out celebration of motherhood, complete with flowers, jewelry, and succulent shrimp scampi at a restaurant. Sitting alone in the service, she would feel sorry for herself as each couple sat down around her, each husband placing an arm around his wife. Jessica’s shoulders would shiver from the chill of loneliness.

She had the sheet up to her ears when she heard her bedroom door open and her youngest child’s voice sing out, “Mom, are you up? Happy Mother’s Day!”

With a sigh, Jessica climbed out of bed, serenaded by Brianna’s Happy Mother’s Day song, sung to the tune of “Happy Birthday to You,” followed by Maggie’s voice telling Brianna to tone it down.

“What are we having for breakfast?” was Caleb’s Mother’s Day greeting in the kitchen. Jessica couldn’t help noticing that no one had made breakfast for her.

“Cold cereal,” Jessica replied with a sigh. Why hadn’t she at least bought donuts when she was at the store yesterday? As much as the effort to give herself a special holiday would have pained her, it was worse to see that the kids weren’t making an effort at all. And she didn’t like cold cereal. She missed Sam and felt resentful that he wasn’t there.

She and the children rushed around getting ready for church, just like every Sunday, with one exception. Brianna was acting a lot happier than normal, practically giddy. It was extremely irritating.

Jessica helped in the nursery during Sunday School. Maggie surprised her by showing up just as her relief had arrived, to walk her into the service.

“How about I sit with you today, Mom?” Maggie said.

“Don’t you want to sit with your friends?”

“It’s Mother’s Day!” Maggie said, as if her mother had not noticed the corsages pinned to beaming ladies scattered throughout the sanctuary. “I should sit with my mother.”

It was nice listening to her daughter’s young voice lifted in song to the Lord. During the message, Maggie snuggled closer to Jessica and linked their arms. Jessica smiled at the loving gesture. Maggie giggled suddenly and unexpectedly, and Jessica raised her eyebrows. Her daughter shook her head and regained her composure. No telling what she had been thinking about, Jessica thought. Certainly not Pastor Calvert’s sermon on the virtuous woman, which was more stress-inducing than encouraging. No one could be that perfect! 

Afterwards, they collected Caleb and Brianna from Children’s Church, and headed down the sidewalk to the parking lot.

“What are we doing for dinner?” Caleb asked.

“Oh I don’t know,” Jessica said with a hint of self-pity. “Maybe we’ll just go home and eat leftovers.”

Brianna looked shocked. “But it’s Mother’s Day! We have to go out to eat!”

“No we don’t,” Jessica said stubbornly as they stepped off the curb.

“If Dad were here we’d be going to The Barefoot Fisherman,” Caleb reminded her.

“Well, your Dad’s not here, is he?” Jessica retorted childishly. “It just wouldn’t be the same.”

“C’mon, Mom,” Maggie said, “Dad would want you to eat out. It’s a family tradition.”

“Please, please, please!” Brianna chimed in, jumping up and down.

“Yeah, let’s go get some seafood!” Caleb exclaimed. He started a chant, and the girls quickly joined in. “Sea-food! Sea-food! Sea-food!”

“Oh, all right. Cut it out,” Jessica said, giving in. She looked to where her car was parked near the blue spruce, and saw Sarah Little hurrying away. Sarah’s red Honda was parked near the street. If she’d looked back, Jessica would have waved.

Jessica spied a clear plastic box in her seat before she opened the door. “What in the world is this?” Jessica opened the door and reached for the corsage box. In it was a white orchid.

“Put it on! Put it on!” Brianna exclaimed, dancing around.

Caleb climbed into the back seat as if nothing unusual had happened. But a little grin played on his face.

“Don’t just stand there,” Maggie urged. “We’ll end up waiting in line at the restaurant!”

“Did you do this?” Jessica asked, her heart swelling with love for her dear sweet children. She pinned the flower to her shoulder and got in the car.

“Oh, no, I think an angel left it for you,” Brianna said with exaggerated care from the backseat.

Maggie snapped her seatbelt on and turned to face her mother. “Don’t you think we’d better hurry?”

Maggie was right. Jessica’s mouth was beginning to water at the thought of shrimp scampi. What had made her think eating at home on Mother’s Day was a good idea? She needed to get out and show off her corsage, and have something good to tell Sam when he called.

Dinner was lovely, and Jessica was glad they went, even if she did have to pay for it herself.

She was just around the corner from her house, when in the backseat Caleb whispered something to Brianna, and they both started giggling.

“What’s the big secret?” Jessica asked, looking at them in the rearview mirror.

“Oh, they’re just happy that it’s Mother’s Day,” Maggie explained in her most grown-up voice.

She pulled into the driveway and shut off the motor.

“HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!” the three children squealed at once.

Startled, Jessica sputtered, “What has gotten into you three?”

Brianna laughed, Maggie grinned, and Caleb pointed out the passenger side window and said, “Look!”

At first Jessica didn’t see anything. Then she noticed a new bush in her flower bed.

The kids’ doors flew open and they scrambled out. “Come and see, Mom!” Brianna urged.

Confused, Jessica hurried after the kids. There in her oblong flower bed was a budding rose bush. “What --?” she began.

“It’s a rose bush in that nice peachy orange color you like,” Maggie said.

“But how did it get here? It wasn’t here when we left, was it?”

“I think an angel planted it,” Brianna said, giggling.

Maggie slipped her arms around her mother. “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. You know it’s tradition that you have to get flowers, and these will last a lot longer than cut ones.”

Jessica hugged her daughter and kissed her forehead. “Thank you, kids. I think I might just cry!”

“Hey, don’t do that!” Caleb said in mock alarm. “There’s more surprises in the house!”

Inside, Caleb produced a small package wrapped in pink and topped with a tiny white bow. “For you,” he said.

The yearly tradition of earrings continued, this time with dangling strawberries. “They’re from all of us,” Caleb told her.

Jessica thanked them and thought that was it, but Brianna brought a videocassette from behind her back and said, “Oh, look what the angel left behind! Do you think we should watch it?”

Laughing, Jessica nodded, and soon they were all snuggled together on the couch smiling at the TV as Maggie, Caleb, and Brianna appeared on the screen and talked about their beautiful, wonderful, smart mother. Jessica wondered which of her friends had helped the kids plan these surprises. Suddenly she heard her husband’s voice, and she jumped. There he was, right on TV!

“Hello, sweetheart,” Sam said, looking tan and lean in the bright sun, silver glinting at his temples. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there today to celebrate Mother’s Day with you. I hope Maggie, and Caleb, and Brianna all did their part to make you feel special today.” Jessica’s eyes teared up and she swallowed a lump in her throat. Sam’s blue-gray eyes were full of tenderness. “I love you and I want you to know what an incredible wife and mother you are. I thank God every day for blessing me with such a loving wife, and I hope I can come home to you soon.” Tears began to flow down Jessica’s face. “I miss you, and I miss the kids, and I pray the war is soon over so we can be together again. Happy Mother’s Day.” He smiled, and the picture faded out.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom,” the kids said quietly.

“Oh, you kids!” Jessica kissed each one. “How did you do all this?”

Maggie answered for them. “We had a lot of help,” she admitted. “But it was Daddy’s idea.”

“You were supposed to say it was an angel,” Brianna informed her big sister.

“You are all my angels,” Jessica said. “And you’ve given me the best Mother’s Day ever.”

It wasn’t the Mother’s Day she had expected, and for that she was grateful. In her heart she thanked God for bestowing his blessings on her this day.

Copyright 2002 by Brenda B. Covert