Twice in a Lifetime Read online

  Everything seemed to happen simultaneously. More hospital personnel entered the room, including a doctor to take care of the premature baby. The incision Dr. Samain made in Rebekka’s lower abdomen fascinated and repelled André at once. Then, almost abruptly, the baby was out, scrawny, with a shock of wet, dark hair, and not yet breathing.

  No one said anything, but the baby doctor took over, while Dr. Samain stitched the gash in Rebekka’s uterus and belly. André felt torn between being with his wife and seeing what was going on with their son. His decision was made for him.

  “Is he all right?” Rebekka begged to know. She pushed André away from the bed with surprising strength. “Go be with him!”

  “I’ll stay with her,” Danielle said.

  André crossed to the corner of the room where the doctor was working on the baby with gentle hands.

  “He’s moving a lot,” André called to Rebekka. “And breathing. Don’t worry.”

  She began to cry.

  André stared in amazement as the baby’s doctor checked out seemingly every aspect of the newborn. “Is he okay?”

  The doctor smiled. “He had a little trouble at first, but he’s breathing fine now. He’s a big little guy for coming a month early. He’s got to weigh about two and a half kilos. If he’d gone full term he’d have probably been at least four.”

  André was pleased. Two and a half kilos was small, but many full term babies were only three. He remembered that one of his sisters had given birth to a baby nearly that same size, and it had been perfectly healthy.

  “We’ll have to keep a close eye on him for a few days, but you can hold him now.” The doctor wrapped the newborn in a heated blanket and handed him to André.

  He was so tiny and utterly precious. An emotion swelled in his heart that equalled the feelings he’d experienced at his daughters’ births. This was his brother’s son, as well as his and Rebekka’s, and he felt privileged to be the one to love and raise him.

  “Welcome, son,” he whispered, blinking back tears. The baby nestled contentedly against his chest. Carefully, he crossed the short space to where Rebekka lay anxiously waiting.

  “We have a son,” he said, lowering the baby into her arms, “just like they promised. And he’s doing great.”

  With a sigh of relief, she put her lips to the baby’s forehead, leaving them there for a long time. Tears squeezed from under her closed lids. André knew she was praying, and he too began to silently thank his Heavenly Father.

  There were more tests, but aside from a mild case of jaundice, the newest addition to the Perrault and Massoni families was healthy on nearly every account. The doctor warned them to keep the baby home and isolated for the first few months until he gained more weight, but that was perfectly okay with them.

  “He’s blessed with his mother’s endurance and both his fathers’ stubbornness,” André announced to their families.

  “So what are we going to name him?” Rebekka asked when they were finally alone. “We’ve never really discussed it.”

  André took her hand and kissed each finger slowly. “I didn’t think there was any choice. He’s Marc, of course. Don’t you agree?”

  Her eyes glistened. “Yes. That’s exactly right.”

  Rebekka began humming a soft tune while gazing into their newborn’s eyes. André wondered if she felt the same compelling feeling he did when looking at their son. Or was her bond even stronger? Perhaps. What mattered was that the baby was safe and that she was his wife. A rush of happiness filled his soul.

  Rebekka lifted her eyes to his. “He’s such a miracle.” Her long dark hair spilled about her shoulders and stuck to the pillow, contrasting with the stark white of her face. Her gray eyes were languid and content, and André had never seen her more beautiful. He leaned down and kissed her cheek tenderly, trailing over to kiss his favorite freckle above her top lip.

  “Didn’t I tell you we’d get through it?” He snuggled up to her on the bed, the baby nestling where their bodies touched.

  She smiled. “I think I could survive anything as long as you’re here.” Her face sobered. “I’m just glad I didn’t have the surgery months ago. If he’d come then . . .”

  Gratitude filled André’s heart. “The doctor was right. Miracles do seem to follow our family.”

  “You’re my miracle,” she answered. “Thank you for not giving up on me when I did nothing but push you away.”

  “I’d never give up. I love you.” He trailed his fingertips along her cheek and across her soft lips.

  She lifted her face for his kiss, her free arm sliding around his neck, pulling him closer. “And I love you.”

  Epilogue

  Because I know many of you will write to ask . . .

  Read only if you like all loose ends tied up nice and tight!

  Click here to skip past the epilogue.

  Raoul Massoni and Valerie Bernard were married in April. The following year, they had a baby girl, whom they named Dietrich. Much to the company’s loss, Valerie decided to quit her job at Perrault and Massoni Architecture and Engineering and become a stay-at-home mother. She quickly became pregnant again with the idea of having at least four children. For his part, Raoul began to spend less time at work and delegated more to his employees. He continued to share a special relationship with Raquel Nadia Portier, and the pain he’d once felt at Desirée’s betrayal faded until it was completely transformed by his happiness. He and Valerie eventually had not four but a half-dozen children, four girls and two boys.

  Six months after adopting Celisse and Raquel, Mathieu and Marie-Thérèse Portier had their children sealed to them in the Swiss temple. They never became very wealthy, but they had enough for their needs and to give generously to others. After the children were all in school, Marie-Thérèse began volunteering as a social worker to help save other at risk children.

  After many years of professional counseling and support from her family, Celisse gradually recovered from the abuse she suffered as a child. She served as a missionary in France, obtained a degree in history, and later taught French history at a college in England. While there, she met a handsome Englishman whom she taught the gospel and later married. She turned thirty-one two months before their wedding, and he was twenty-seven. They had two children and adopted two more.

  Larissa married a man in her stake shortly after finishing high school. After seven turbulent years, hours of professional counseling, and three babies, she learned to take responsibility for her happiness and managed to save her marriage. Through all her trials she considered her mother and Celisse her best friends. Having survived the storm, she and her husband, a top architect, became devoted to each other and the gospel. They served as part time missionaries and went on to complete a full time mission when they retired.

  Brandon’s allergy attacks lessened as he grew older, though he had to watch his diet carefully for the rest of his life. He was a great student and graduated at the top of his class. After a year in the French army and two years as a missionary in France, he went to college where he studied medical science. He married a fellow student, who’d been recently baptized into the gospel, and ten years and five babies later, they won the Nobel Prize for their joint contribution to the science world in the field of allergy medicines.

  Raquel grew up a happy child, who knew she was deeply loved. Over the years, she helped Larissa many times with her children and the two became close. By watching Larissa’s struggles, Raquel learned what was important in her own life. She decided early to listen to her parents and stay close to the Lord.

  Desirée worked sporadically at bars for fifteen years after giving her baby up for adoption, living mostly on money from her divorce settlement. Occasionally, she would stop by the grade school to catch a glimpse of her daughter at play. She never approached Raquel directly or went too often. During these sad, lonely years, Rebekka continued to keep in contact with Desirée, passing along information and pictures of Raquel. Desirée wanted t
o change her life but felt hopeless to do so. When personally delivering the pictures of Raquel’s fifteenth birthday party, Rebekka reminded her that in only three years Raquel would receive her letter.

  “If I know Raquel, she’ll come looking for you.” Rebekka said.

  Desirée could barely see through her tears. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  For the fourth time she began attending a help group for alcoholics, and later that same month enrolled in a secretarial school. This time she didn’t give up. Three years later, Raquel read the letter her birth mother had written and set up a meeting. At this tearful reunion, Raquel threw her arms around Desirée and thanked her for giving her life and such a wonderful family. The two became friends. Desirée was never baptized, but at the age of sixty-one, she met and married a retired banker, who had lost his wife to cancer. She was a great support to him until his death ten years later.

  Two and a half years after meeting her birth mother, Raquel married the missionary she had waited for. She and her husband had three children, who were loved and treasured by all three of their grandmothers.

  Josette Perrault Fields became pregnant two years after Rebekka’s first baby was born—despite her continual assertion that she would never have another child. She surprised herself by having not only the one little girl she’d always wanted, but two fraternal sisters, thus carrying on the twin tradition in her maternal family line that had skipped only one generation in the last ten. (Neither Ariana’s grandmother nor her grandmother’s twin sister had twins.) The twins’ five big brothers doted on their little sisters.

  Zack Fields became successful in his real estate business. He and Josette began taking all seven children to America every three years to visit their American grandparents and other relatives. Most of their children eventually became executive managers at Perrault and Massoni Architecture and Engineering after working their way up from the bottom. Only one of their sons followed their father’s profession in real estate. Both of their daughters eventually had fraternal twins of their own—a boy and a girl each.

  Louis-Géralde, Ariana and Jean-Marc’s youngest child, married his shy girlfriend, Sophie, and they had three children. Two years after their marriage, he became a full-fledged partner at Perrault and Massoni. Sophie finished college and in her spare time line-edited children’s novels for a publishing company.

  Ariana and Jean-Marc Perrault went on two missions—one to Africa and one to their native France. Though they had suffered much in their lifetimes, they had also known much joy. They never again had to pass through the pain of losing a child. They served their family and the Lord with joy the rest of their lives.

  Danielle and Philippe Massoni retired and served a church welfare mission to Brazil. Philippe was so touched by what he experienced that when he returned home, he spent the rest of his life using his banking skills to raise funds to help those less fortunate. Five years before his death, he was called to preside over the welfare program in western Europe.

  Samuel and Polly Bjornenburg both became active in the Catholic religion—much to their parents’ joy. They kept in touch with Rebekka through yearly Christmas cards and occasional visits when Samuel was in Paris on business. Eventually one of their three children met the LDS missionaries at a street meeting in Cincinnati and was baptized. Samuel and Polly were supportive of their son’s choice. They spent the rest of their lives working hard and helping others.

  André and Rebekka juggled their work schedules so that one of them was always home with Ana, Marée, and little Marc. Though they faced many emotional challenges—ones that are shared by all those who have lost beloved spouses—they took their romantic relationship slowly, growing together and banishing the sadness of the past. They came to love each other deeply and passionately. Four years after their marriage, they had a son together, Jean-André, followed quickly by a little girl, whom they named Dani after Rebekka’s mother.

  Although all Rebekka’s children were important and special to her, she and little Marc were always particularly close. Together she and André taught him the gospel and about his father. He never strayed from the Lord but was a constant good example to his siblings and cousins, bringing the occasional straying lamb back to the fold. André joked that little Marc was so good because he had his own personal angel and guide in his deceased father.

  Little Marc, his brother Jean-André, and sister Marée served as missionaries in France, bringing many people to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Later, they worked at Perrault and Massoni along with Ana. Thierry, Andre’s adopted son, served a mission to England and after finishing college became an English teacher as he’d always planned. All the siblings learned to play the piano well—especially Dani, who under her mother’s tutelage became a concert pianist at the age of sixteen. With the exception of Dani, the children married young and lived rather ordinary but happy and fulfilling lives. Both Ana and Marée gave birth to twin girls. Over the years Dani went on many tours and recorded a dozen CD’s, but to her parent’s relief she eventually settled down and married her home teacher’s younger brother in the Swiss temple. They had two children (not twins), a boy and a girl.

  Meanwhile, André and Rebekka’s love continued to deepen with the passing of years until Rebekka couldn’t bear to think of a time when she would be without him. She faced every day with faith in the Lord and in her first husband, finding comfort in the fact that there would be an eternity to work out relationships and to develop stronger ties with those who had gone before. The Lord knows what He’s doing, became her life’s motto.

  André and Rebekka had twenty grandchildren and seventy-nine great-grandchildren. Their long and very happy life together proved that there really is such a thing as twice in a lifetime.

  We hope you enjoyed Twice in a Lifetime. If you have, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated. In the next section, you will find a special note from author Rachel Ann Nunes regarding this series. Then for your convenience we have included a sneak peek of House Without Lies, a romance by the author under the name Rachel Branton, followed by a bonus preview of The Superstitious Romance by fellow White Star Press author, Anastasia Alexander. A list of all books by Rachel Ann Nunes can be found in the About the Author section after the sample chapters.

  THE END

  Special Note From The Author

  Okay, I admit it. Just now as I finished updating this novel to put on ebook, I cried all the way through the epilogue, even during the parts that and I knew would make you laugh. Why? Well, I hadn’t remembered writing the epilogue, and I was touched to know what happened to the characters I love. I do remember writing the little tidbits in the novels that lead to the conclusions I wrote in the epilogue, but I’d forgotten the final lines. I felt sad that I would never read more about the Perraults and their extended family. I miss them.

  But after seven books and over eight hundred thousand words, the Ariana saga is complete. Even after this rewrite I still feel it’s time to let the Perrault family live “happily ever after.”

  I wish to thank my readers who have been so diligent at pursuing the series. Without you, the books are nothing but chicken scratches on paper (or black marks on a screen). I sincerely appreciate all the support you have given my work over the years. Thank you for your continuing support!

  As of this day, the entire Ariana series is now available on the ebook. Each book has been updated except the first three, which I hope to do in the future. “Update” is a nice way of saying rewrite because I’m a better writer now than I was all those years ago, and they really needed some work. Even so, I tried hard to stay true to the story and to the author I was at the time I wrote them.

  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your lives.

  Sincerely,

  Rachel Ann Nunes

  [email protected]

  Please continue to the next page for the sneak peek of House Without Lies, a roman
ce by the author under the name Rachel Branton, followed by a bonus preview of The Superstitious Romance by fellow White Star Press author, Anastasia Alexander. A list of all books by Rachel Ann Nunes can be found in the About the Author section after the sample chapters.

  Bonus Preview

  1

  I looked both ways as I headed into the back alley behind the store, not because I was embarrassed, but because I didn’t want to get Payden in trouble for slipping out to meet me there. The boy was going to a lot of effort to help me, and my runaway girls always needed the food he donated. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my car today, and I was already balancing two bags of groceries I’d purchased when I’d gone inside the store to signal Payden that I was here. So whatever he had for us would make my walk home that much more difficult.

  He was already outside in the alley, waiting at the back door by the green Dumpster, his round, heavily-freckled face grinning as always. The roundness made him look younger than his seventeen years, and rather innocent.

  “Hey, Lily,” he greeted me, shifting the large box in his arms so he could give a friendly wave. His blue apron was splashed with something that had turned it purple, and the sagging material made him look chubby. He puffed a breath upward to blow away the straight-cut brown hair that hung like a shield over his brown eyes.

  “Hey, Payden.” I hooked the grocery bags over my wrists and pushed them toward my elbows, freeing up my hands so I could take the box from him. “Thank you so much.”

  “Got bread, bagels, muffins, and cookies today. Should last if you freeze them.”

  I could also see dented cans, a few vegetables that would make a fabulous soup, and a gallon of expiring milk. “This is great. Are you sure you won’t get into trouble? That other clerk in there was looking at me kind of strange.”

  He shrugged. “Makes no sense to throw it in the trash if you’re right here.” He laughed. “I can always say you wrestled me for it.” His smile dimmed slightly, and he waited only a second to add, “How is she?”