The angel bows in what almost seems a practiced routine; when it looks up again, she is struck by its eyes flashing back and forth, a dozen shapes and colors flashing in an instant. "It will be as you have willed," Gabriel says.
There's a moment before he vanishes, and the only thing Mary regrets is that she did not think to ask who he was addressing.
She is light on her feet, and fast, and they make good time all the way to the census. There's nowhere for a poor couple to sleep so they lie outside, Mary studying Joseph in the starlight. He wakes from a forgotten dream and grumbles about the imposition the taxes are going to be; like royal blood could grant him a raise.
Preparing for the wedding there's a countless list of chores to do and tasks to perform, which will only be the prelude to another cycle of responsibilities. Everyone fusses over them and only Joseph, curtly, cuts them off with a glance and a brusque assurance that everything will go according to plan.
It occurs to her hours beforehand that she might actually love her husband, and she wonders what she ever did to deserve that.
A year passes and their firstborn child is born; a daughter, Anna, who is cooed over by family and Joseph's business clients. He is as proud as any father could be, but at times distant too, turning back to his work late at night. Mary has no great power, no gift for deciphering the mysterious, but it seems plain that he wants to pass down his trade to a son.
Her second labor is harder, and James is enormous when he is born. He grows up quickly, too, racing to chase his older sister and follow his father all over the workshop, and Mary is stretched thin trying to keep up with him.
Perhaps the greatest miracle is how Elizabeth's second pregnancy seems so unremarkable; since she was fertile after all, nobody can really muster up any surprise when baby Achsah comes along, and at least Zechariah doesn't embarrass himself by clamming up.
The extended family has gathered together when, for the second time in her life, Mary finds herself paralyzed by fear. There was an accident, Joseph explains, James was reckless with the saw but he wanted to be part of something, wanted to help...
Words fail her, and all she can see is Anna, her Anna, lying in the dust.
The third time she is too afraid for words is ten minutes later. Zechariah is muttering scripture under his breath and Elizabeth is trying to bundle up John and get home as soon as possible, Joseph is torn between curses and blessings and James is looking on wide-eyed, realizing that these are things he oughtn't repeat, and Anna is alive and well, and a bit irritated her cousins don't want to chase her around anymore.
Achsah looks on in silence, but Mary can see time reflected in the young girl's eyes, and this time around, thinks she needs to ask someone how these things can be.