Thanks Victorianlady79 for beta'ing.


Sherlock watched as his wife made her final preparations for church on Easter Sunday morning. She was putting on the earrings he had given her as a wedding present that he had bought the day he purchased her engagement ring. As usual, she was also wearing the cross necklace he had given her for Christmas. He thought she looked utterly beautiful in her purple maternity dress. Their baby was due one month from today, and the closer the time got until the blessed event, the more excited and nervous he got at the prospect of being a father for the first time at the ripe old age of forty-one. He hoped he would be able to keep up with his child.

"Didn't you want to be there a bit early to hand your disc to the person on the sound board?" the sleuth asked. He had been so proud after she sang that lovely song on Good Friday, and Molly had surprised him further by saying she was also doing a solo on Easter Sunday.

"I know, I know. It was so hard to get out of bed this morning. Every day I get more tired and more uncomfortable."

"Let me help you get your shoes on, at least." He reached for Molly's flat shoes and put them in front of her so she could slip them on. They did not look comfortable he observed. The shoes were not made for swollen feet and he could see they would leave a line along the top of her feet when they were taken off. "I wish you had more comfortable shoes," he said with some concern.

"It's fine. The midwife assured us the edema will most likely go away as soon as the baby comes. I can stand it for another month. I'm ready now."

Sherlock took his wife's arm and picked up her handbag and phone for her. They left the flat and took a taxi to church.

As they rode, Molly rested her head contentedly on Sherlock's shoulder, while he thought about the upcoming service.

This Easter service would be the first he had ever attended, to his knowledge anyway. Even if he had gone to an Easter service in the past, it would have meant nothing when he had been an atheist. His conversion to Christianity had changed his life completely.

Things had begun to change after Sherrinford, when he had finally realized he loved Molly. Her sweetness and gentle faith had made him want to learn more about her beliefs. Many things had occurred that drew him towards God and ultimately, Sherlock had given his life over to the Lord and had not looked back since.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight he could see God's influence in his life through the years, even when he thought the world revolved around him. Despite his arrogance, he had had an innate sense of justice, of the difference between right and wrong. He genuinely wanted to help people, to do good, and he supposed deep down God had been there leading him on the path to what was right. God had definitely been the one who had protected him, when he had been close to death on so many occasions. Chalking everything up to coincidence was more ridiculous than believing there was something or someone greater at work.

Sherlock kissed his wife's hair fondly. She was such a blessing to him, as was their soon-to-be-arriving daughter. The detective had never known such contentment in his life as he had found since turning to faith and marrying the woman who had always mattered the most to him. He was blessed, and he knew it.

When they arrived at church and headed inside, Sherlock could see the sanctuary, unlike Friday evening was brightly lit. The cross that was beside the pulpit now had white lilies (not real of course) stapled across its length. The items that had been "decorating" the cross were no longer there - the nails, the spear, the crown of thorns, the whip, the purple robe, and the sign that said "King of the Jews." Today they would be celebrating a risen Lord.

Molly handed her disc to the sound person and the pair made their way to their usual pew. Sherlock noticed many by now familiar faces in the crowd of people, as well as many visitors.

Sherlock really enjoyed the first hymn. "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." Not only the hymn, but also the tuneful hallelujahs That were sung during it. Molly sang with gusto, her lovely voice easily reaching the high notes, and Sherlock realized this was obviously a common Easter hymn.

The centre candle that had been extinguished at the end of the Good Friday service to denote Christ's death was now burning brightly, along with the three candles on either side, symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus.

The story of the resurrection was read and another hymn was sung. This one Sherlock had heard before at Church, "In Christ Alone." The key for this song was much easier for Sherlock's baritone voice, and he was able to sing along with it. He noticed Molly glancing at him and smiling. He knew she really enjoyed hearing him sing, almost as much as he enjoyed her singing.

The sermon by Pastor Briggs was very good as usual. He talked about how the resurrection of Jesus saved a world that was doomed. He explained that of all the religions, Christianity was the only one that talked about a risen Lord.

"We were slaves to sin, but we are now freed from the bondage of sin and death through Jesus's perfect sacrifice for humanity once and for all when he died on the cross. His resurrection ensures that we, as believers, will continue to live past this earthly life as well. What a glorious hope we have, to know one day we will leave all earthly sorrows behind and receive the gift of everlasting life!." Pastor Briggs finished with, "aJesus is risen!"

The congregation chorused, "He is risen indeed!"

Sherlock could feel his own joy reflected in the faces of the other believers in the sanctuary. The story of the resurrection was truly a remarkable one.

After the sermon, Molly stood. Sherlock noticed she had put her shoes back on, after removing them as soon as they got in the pew. He stood and got out of the pew, to allow her to exit it and head to the front of the church, where she picked up a hand-held microphone, as she had done on Friday.

Molly began to sing. The piece was hauntingly lovely at the beginning, and gradually building as it went along. The piece was by an American singer named Sandi Patty, and the song's title was "Who will call Him King of Kings?" It began with the disciples laying Jesus in a tomb, then returning to find him not there. The "Who will call Him King of Kings?" sung by the angels, changed to be a "We will call Him King of Kings" by the disciples. The Final refrain changed to "I will call Him King of Kings," that brought the song to a personal level for each person listening. Sherlock could not help beaming as he listened to his wife hit the high G at the end, and sustain the note, allowing her vibrato to make it richer as the last note went on.

As the song concluded, there was a spontaneous burst of applause. People normally did not applaud after solos, but on this occasion the music and the words, sung so well by Molly gave everyone such a sense of the joy behind it, that it wasn't just applause for Molly, but applause for the resurrection in general. Sherlock joined in enthusiastically, clapping until the noise died away.

He stood up once again to let Molly back into the pew. He could see her legs were trembling. She had told him that sometimes that happened, when she felt the power of the Holy Spirit surging through her. His wife was a woman of many talents.

As they sat, Pastor Briggs quipped, "Well, that's rather a difficult act to follow," as the people in the congregation laughed. Sherlock gave Molly a quick peck on the cheek and squeezed her hand.

At the end of the service, one last hymn was sung, "He Lives." And then Pastor Briggs gave the usual benediction.

The atmosphere was so different from the solemnity of Good Friday service.

This time, people lingered to talk after the service. Several people came up to congratulate Molly on her singing, to which she modestly replied, "I give all the glory to God."

The first to come up was Sheila, and Jake was with her. The middle-aged couple had been together now for several months and Molly suddenly noticed an engagement ring on her friend's finger. "You're engaged!" she exclaimed.

"See, Molly," murmured the sleuth, "we definitely started a trend."

Sheila beamed happily and said, "Jake proposed after church on Friday night. By the way, the song was lovely. I know someone who went to church with Sandi Patty's father. I love her songs, and you did it justice, Molly."

Molly blushed. "Thanks Sheila. Her songs are so powerful aren't they? Congratulations to both of you on your engagement." She hugged Sheila as Sherlock shook Jake's hand.

"I hope you will both be as happy as Molly and I are," he smiled.

Then, Molly's friends Caleb and Abigail came up, with their 6 month old baby daughter, Grace. The couple had sung "The Prayer" at Sherlock and Molly's wedding almost eight months earlier. Abigail had been 7 months pregnant at the time, So was able to empathize with Molly on how difficult it was to exert diaphragmatic control with a baby making things more difficult.

"I can't believe you were able to hit that high G so well," she told Molly. "It was wonderful!"

"Thanks," responded the pathologist/singer. "I really love that song. So, how is Grace doing?"

"She's doing great," enthused Abigail, "Just cut her first tooth, so we had a few fussy days,but she is fine now. You look ready to pop. When is your daughter due?"

"One month from today," responded Molly. "I'll be very glad when she is here and I get rid of these swollen ankles," she mourned, displaying her poor feet.

Abigail nodded sympathetically. "I know how you feel, I had that problem, but only in the last two weeks. As soon as Grace was born, within 3 days, the swelling was completely gone."

Sherlock wandered off. Pregnancy woes, while he sympathized with them, were not really his thing. He didn't like to think of Molly being in discomfort. He spotted his best friend John a short distance away, with Kayla.

"John," he called, walking to the couple. Kayla was holding Rosie, and the one year old held out her arms towards the detective.

Sherlock took his goddaughter from Kayla. "Hi sweetheart," he said, kissing the little one's cheek. She was getting so big! Then he set her on his hip as he asked, "Well, my friend, what did you think of the service?"

"I'm thinking your wife could have been a professional singer, that's what I'm thinking," grinned John.

"I know, my wife is a woman of rare and varied talents, but what did you think about the service in general?"

"As you know, I was brought up in the Catholic church, but I only went as a child and didn't really understand it, or think much about it. I'm starting to think there's something to this Christianity thing. Kayla has definitely been working on me, much as Molly influenced you," his friend said, with a fond look in Kayla's direction.

"Glad to hear it, my friend." He had noticed John's views softening in the past few months. Kayla was a wonderful influence, and he felt perhaps he himself might have had something to do with it too. John, more than anyone else had seen the turn-around in Sherlock's life since Sherrinford and his subsequent conversion.

The detective noticed Molly walking towards them, and said, "Well, He is Risen!"

Kayla responded with an enthusiastic "He is risen indeed!."

Molly reached Sherlock's side and slipped her hand into his, before saying, "Hi Kayla, hi John!"

"My goodness, Molly," exclaimed Kayla, "You look ready to have the baby here and now. Do you think the baby will come early?"

Molly laughed. "Much as I'd like that, Sherlock has to finish painting the nursery first. We still have a few things to buy too."

"Don't forget, I have bags of baby clothes for you. Although Rosie was born in January, I'm sure you'll still find most of them useful. I must drive around and drop them off soon," remarked John.

"Thanks. That would be great," responded Molly. "Oh, excuse me, I just want to speak with George and Roxanne."

The older couple reached the group and George said, "You did a great job with that song, Molly! Glad I recommended it to you."

Sherlock knew that George and his wife were originally from America. They were a very nice couple who had traveled all over Europe, before settling in London after his early retirement three years earlier.

Molly explained, "George told me an opera singer from his old church sang this song on Easter Sunday several times over the years."

"That's right," affirmed the bearded man. "That opera singer and I even got to sing "The Prayer" together once, the one from when Sherlock and Molly were signing the register during their wedding," he explained to John and Kayla.

Sherlock beamed at his wife. "I'm very proud of Molly - but then, I always am."

"Well, in that case, give me a minute to hold our goddaughter, Sherlock," she responded, as George and Roxanne left to talk with some other people.

Sherlock handed over the little girl, who was, as usual, reaching up to tug on one of his curls. As he watched Molly bouncing the baby, not such a baby anymore though, he thought about how much he was looking forward to seeing her hold their own baby very soon.

Molly soon relinquished Rosie back to her father. "I guess we should head home. I need to get these shoes off."

Sherlock and Molly were home within thirty minutes. True to her word, Molly immediately took off her shoes and groaned.

Sherlock could see the creases the shoes had made on his wife's poor feet. "My poor darling," he said. "Rest your feet on my lap and I'll massage them."

"No, they smell," protested Molly.

The detective laughed. "Then I'll get soap on a flannel and wash them first."

Molly reached over to kiss him tenderly. "You are the best husband, Sherlock."

"That's no hardship, when I have the best wife," he responded.

"Oh, I need to use the loo before you wash my feet," his wife said and Sherlock grinned. He was quite amazed she had gone this long without dashing to the toilet. Yes, having a baby was a lot of work.

As his wife left the sitting room, he closed his eyes and prayed, Thank you Jesus, for the sacrifice you made for us, and for coming back from the dead to give us new life as believers. And thank you for my wife and baby.

He opened his eyes as Molly headed back towards him, flannel in hand.

"I thought I'd save you the trouble of getting the flannel." She handed her husband the warm flannel before kissing him again. "I love you, Sherlock."

Once they were seated on the sofa, Sherlock washed his wife's feet, then massaged them. It was the least he could do for her. She was the one doing all the work in readying their baby for the world.

Once he had finished, he held her close and kissed her. "I love you, Molly."

Yes, he was truly a blessed man.


Author's note: A lot of this story contains elements of fact. The cross I described is what is in my own church. The opera singer George talks about is me (yeah, I had to put myself in the story ha ha).

You can find the Sandi Patty song on YouTube as well, and yes, I sang it this morning for our Easter service.

Talk about Molly's discomfort comes from experience. I experienced severe edema in my feet at the end of my first pregnancy. I also sang in the opera Turandot when I was 9 months pregnant (gave birth four days after the last show ended). Putting in my own experiences helps to make the characters more realistic and believable (at least I hope so).

I hope the story resonates with you and that you will consider leaving feedback on it.

May you have a blessed Easter.