A/N: See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer.
Chapter Summary: On Christmas morning of 1978, Louise and George get the shock of their lives.
Chapter 7: Joy to the World
Due to Louise's age and history with epilepsy, not to mention the twins being born four weeks early, Dr. Crane kept them in the hospital for the next three weeks for observation, just to be on the safe side, before finally discharging them and allowing George to take them home. And it wasn't just Dr. Crane who was overly cautious where Louise was concerned. George was always terrified of Louise having another seizure, and he knew that stress induced them, so he was insistent on hiring their part-time housekeeper, Florence Johnston, as their live-in maid and nanny. Florence had been terribly lazy and arrogant in the past, but watching the Jeffersons going through the accident and the loss of their son really changed her. Florence knew that Louise's health was fragile now, and she knew that she no longer had the option of being lazy and disrespectful. Underneath her partially arrogant and harsh exterior, Florence really did love the Jeffersons, especially Louise, and when George asked her to move in with them to help Louise with the babies, she was more than happy to do so. Florence had hated working for families with small children in the past, but now, she was head over heels in love with the twins, and she wanted nothing more than to help Louise and George with them as much as possible. And that was exactly what she did. Seeing Louise in a coma after the crash really had a huge impact on her, and deep down, she'd always sworn to herself that if Jesus allowed her to have Louise back in her life, she would never take her for granted again as long as she lived. Now, Florence did all her household chores without a word of complaint, and she also helped Louise a very great deal in caring for Baby William and Baby Hannah, and Louise deeply appreciated it. Thanks to Florence, many burdens had been lifted from Louise's shoulders, and life was considerably easier for her than it would have been otherwise.
The next year flew by, and before the Jeffersons knew it, it was the twins' first birthday. Naturally, George and Louise threw a big birthday party for them to celebrate, and they invited several tenants with small children to the party so that their little ones could play with William and Hannah. The Willises were there too, of course, and Jenny, who had recently gotten engaged to the pediatrician she'd been dating for over a year, was also there, although her fiancé wasn't able to join her at the party because he was on duty at the hospital. Naturally, Mrs. Jefferson was there, as was Mr. Bentley, and they all had a wonderful time with each other that day.
After the party was over and everyone was gone, Louise and George put William and Hannah to bed in the nursery, and they tucked them in for the night. A couple of hours later, they also decided to call it a day.
"Hey, Weez?" said George moments after they got into bed.
"Yes, George?"
"Do you think Lionel saw the twins' birthday party from heaven today? Do you think Lionel, all the way up in heaven, knows that he's got a little brother and a little sister?"
"Oh, I have no doubts," Louise confidently replied. "I believe Lionel knows that he has a baby brother and a baby sister, and I think he's just as proud of them as we are. And for that matter, I think George, Jr. feels the same way." Weeks after Louise and George brought the twins home from the hospital, Louise had a dream in which she actually saw their miscarried child in heaven – a young man who looked very much like Lionel – and after they discussed it a little, they decided to name their son George Jefferson, Jr. "I can't wait to meet him someday," Louise said with a contented smile.
"Neither can I," said George. "Speakin' of meetin' people, have you met Jenny's new fiancé yet?"
"I have. I ran into him a couple of times when I was at the Willises'. He seems like a very nice man to me."
"Is he black or white?"
"He's both. His father is black and his mother is white."
"Well, as long as Jenny's happy, that's all that matters," George told Louise, and hearing him say that really made Louise proud of him. The old George Jefferson would undoubtedly have made some kind of insulting racist crack against Jenny and her new fiancé. Thanks to the good Lord, George was now a complete one-eighty from the mean-spirited, selfish, racist, sexist creep he used to be.
"I agree," said Louise. "I know losing Lionel hurt Jenny just as much as it hurt us. She's been in a lot of pain for a long time, just as we have, so I couldn't be happier for her now."
"I feel the same way. Jenny deserves some happiness after everything she's been through."
"She certainly does. Lionel would never have expected Jenny to live like a nun and spend the whole rest of her life in mourning. Lionel loved Jenny, and he would have wanted her to move on with her life."
"You're right, Weez. He would."
"You know, when that terrible wreck happened and we lost Lionel, I was convinced my life was over. I think Jenny probably felt that way for a long time as well. But now, Jenny's found love again, and here we are, blessed with two beautiful children in heaven and two more beautiful children here on earth. I don't know that life could get much better than this."
"Oh, I don't know. We just might end up having another baby one of these days if Mama has anything to say about it. I mean, you know all about Mama's dream of us havin' three children in our house," George said jokingly. He'd told his mother before that he believed what she'd said to them about them having three children, but as time passed, he'd begun doubting it almost as much as Louise did.
Louise shook her head, and not surprisingly, she said, "I doubt it, George. It was practically impossible for me to get pregnant again after we had Lionel, and I was in my twenties and thirties back then. Just having Will and Hannah was an incredible miracle. It's extremely unlikely that I'll be having any more children at my age, and anyway, I'm just so grateful to God that we have Will and Hannah now."
"So am I, Weezy. So am I."
"Anyway, do you want us to turn our lights off now so we can get some sleep?"
"We can turn the lights off and go to sleep if you want, but I did have somethin' else in mind for us tonight."
"Oh? What's that?"
"Well think about it, Weez. I mean, we had all our friends over here today for the twins' birthday party. Will and Hannah got to celebrate their birthday by playing with their playmates all day. All our friends got to come over here and celebrate their birthday with good food and good conversation. Ain't it time for you and me to have our own little celebration in here?" George asked with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, and it was then that Louise understood what George was suggesting.
Louise gave George a big smile, and then she told him, "I'm ready to start celebrating if you are, tiger."
George chuckled a bit, and then he and Louise began…ahem…"celebrating."
The following months were a real whirlwind for everyone. Louise helped the Willises with all the preparations for Jenny's wedding to her fiancé, Dr. Martin Russell, which was scheduled for June. And even after the wedding was over, Louise, George, and Florence still had their hands full keeping up with twin toddlers. Louise did experience a lot of fatigue in that time, but she didn't think anything of it. She was certain that every parent with twin toddlers was just as exhausted as she was. Furthermore, in the months leading up to Christmas of that year, Louise gained about fifteen pounds, and she believed that the extra pounds were also a big cause of her fatigue.
However, at about nine o'clock on Christmas morning, fatigue was the least of Louise's worries. George had just left a couple of minutes ago to go pick up his mother in a cab and bring her to the apartment for Christmas Day, and Florence was busy feeding Will and Hannah their breakfast in the kitchen. Both George and Florence knew that Louise hadn't been feeling well lately, so they had no problems letting her sleep in, even though it was Christmas. Louise had tossed and turned all night, unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in. And to make matters worse, shortly after George left the apartment to go pick up his mother, the most horrific pain ripped through Louise's abdomen. It lasted for about a minute and it was absolutely excruciating. Barely any time passed before the same pain returned. After enduring several of these agonizing abdominal cramps, Louise decided to go into the bathroom and run a hot bath for herself, hoping that the warm water would help her muscles to relax and ease the pain some. It was difficult for Louise, but she did manage to get into the bathtub on her own, and she just allowed herself to sink down beneath the sea of white bubbles that filled the tub, and she tried her best to relax.
Over the next few moments, the hot bath seemed to be working, and she did start to feel a little more relaxed. But then, she started having her most painful cramp yet, and this one was even more agonizing than the others had been. It wasn't until it finally ended over a minute later that Louise began to realize what was happening to her. The moment the pain ended, Louise started to feel what she knew from prior experience could only be…a baby's head. Her baby's head. A couple of seconds later, Louise also felt her water break. There was no longer any possible room for doubt. Louise Jefferson was about to give birth.
"Oh Jesus, help me," Louise gasped as tears of panic started streaming down her face. But in that instant, she realized that allowing herself to panic was the worst thing she could possibly do. She realized that she now had a baby coming who was depending on her to bring it into the world safely. And in that moment, Louise regained control of her emotions and wiped the tears from her eyes, and then her own natural maternal instincts completely took over. "Okay, baby. Let's do this," Louise told her child with confidence. And when the next contraction began moments later, Louise pushed with all her might, and she felt her baby move down a great deal. When another contraction started moments later, again, Louise pushed with it as hard as she could, and it was then that she felt her baby's head starting to crown. Louise then gave several small, light pushes, trying to deliver her baby's head as slowly as possible so she wouldn't injure herself.
Several minutes later, Louise successfully delivered her baby's head, but then after reaching down to feel its head, she realized that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her baby's neck. Again, refusing to give into panic and fear, she tried her absolute best to stay as calm as possible as she worked to disentangle the cord from her baby's neck. Thankfully, Louise managed to remove the cord from around her baby's neck very quickly, and then once again, she started getting another contraction. She now felt an overwhelming urge to push, and she pushed with all her might once more. And when she did, the rest of her baby came out very quickly, and Louise immediately caught her baby and pulled it up out of the water. It was a beautiful baby girl with her mother's dark complexion and her mother's face. She was practically the image of Louise. But as Louise looked into her newborn daughter's dark eyes in that instant, she knew that something was wrong. The baby was conscious, but she wasn't crying or breathing, and Louise could easily see it in her baby's eyes that she was silently pleading for help.
"Oh, baby," Louise gasped as tears came to her eyes once again. Quickly, she instinctively put her baby over her shoulder and started patting her back, and that got the baby to cough up water and mucous. However, she was still having some trouble breathing, so Louise immediately started cradling her baby in her arms, and in the next moment, Louise covered her daughter's nose and mouth with her mouth and gave her a big, forceful breath, and then she gave her a second strong breath, and it was then that the baby really began to cry and breathe for the first time. And as soon as her baby girl started crying, Louise just held her to her chest and cried with her for several long moments.
"Hi there," Louise finally said through her tears. "I was expecting some guests over for Christmas today, but I sure wasn't expecting you, young lady. You really surprised your mommy this morning," Louise told her baby girl while lovingly stroking her cheek with her index finger. "But you're the most wonderful little surprise in the world. Oh, I love you so much."
Over the next several moments, as the shock of it all began to wear off a bit, Louise was able to push her emotions to the back of her mind once again and start thinking logically about what she needed to do next. Obviously, Louise knew that she had to tie off and cut the umbilical cord. Thankfully, when George had taken off his clothes and his tennis shoes before getting in the shower the night before, he'd left his tennis shoes near the side of the bathtub where Louise could reach them. There was also a small table by the bathtub that had Louise's makeup on it and an extra bar of soap and other bathroom clutter, as well as a small pair of scissors. Louise then grabbed one of George's tennis shoes and took the shoelaces out of it, and she used that to tie off the umbilical cord. Next, she reached for the pair of scissors on top of the nearby table and cut the cord several moments later. Then she carefully laid the baby down on the floor for a brief moment while she struggled to get to her feet, clearly not an easy task for a woman who had just given birth! After Louise had gotten out of the tub successfully, she immediately grabbed some towels and wrapped them around her newborn daughter so she wouldn't get cold, and then she quickly put on her bathrobe before picking her baby up again.
Louise then opened the bathroom door, walked to the side of the bed, and sat down with her baby in her arms. A few moments later, she called for an ambulance, and after that, she called out, "Florence! Florence, could you come in here for a second?!"
Florence had had her hands full with Will and Hannah in the kitchen the entire time. The toddlers had made a real mess with their breakfast that Christmas morning, and Florence had actually been too distracted with feeding them and cleaning up after them to hear Louise giving birth in the master bathroom. When she finally heard Louise calling her from the bedroom, she had just gotten finished cleaning up the twins and the kitchen. The moment she heard Louise call her, she went to the Jeffersons' bedroom, and just as she was about to open the bedroom door and go inside, she heard the unmistakable sounds of a baby cooing.
Immediately, Florence opened the door, and as soon as she did, she saw Louise sitting on the side of her bed in her lavender bathrobe, holding her newborn baby in her arms, wrapped up in two big pink towels.
Florence, completely in a state of shock, asked Louise, "Ms. Jefferson, where did that baby come from?"
"She came from the stork, Florence," Louise teased.
"I don't mean that. I mean…well just what happened, exactly?"
"As crazy as it sounds, Florence, I…I must've been pregnant and not known it. I was in a lot of pain this morning and I went into the bathroom and ran a hot bath for myself and after I got into the tub, she…she just started coming. I finally realized that the pains I was having were really contractions, and then I felt my water break, and then I started pushing with the contractions and…here she is!"
"That's incredible!" Florence gasped as she touched the newborn's left cheek with her index finger. "Oh Ms. Jefferson, she's beautiful. She's absolutely beautiful."
"Yes, she is," Louise heartily agreed.
"I'll go call the paramedics. You two need to get to the hospital."
"I already called them, Florence. They're on their way here now."
"Well somebody needs to call Mr. Jefferson."
"You can call Mom's apartment if you want to, but I'm pretty sure they're already in a cab and on their way here."
"I hope the paramedics get here soon, Ms. Jefferson. You need a doctor."
Louise shook her head then and said, "Don't worry about me, Florence. I'm alright. But the baby needs to see a doctor just as soon as possible. When she was born and I first pulled her up out of the water, she was having trouble breathing."
"She seems fine now," Florence observed.
"I gave her a couple of breaths and after that, she seemed to be okay, but I'm still worried about her. I want to get her to the hospital as soon as I can."
A couple of moments later, George arrived home with his mother, and he called out for Louise.
"I'm in here, George!" Louise responded while Olivia went into the kitchen, accurately guessing that Will and Hannah were still in there finishing their breakfast in their highchairs.
George then walked into the bedroom with his usual strut, but the instant he saw Louise sitting on the bed with a newborn in her arms, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Stunned, George asked, "Where'd that baby come from?"
Louise laughed a bit as she told George, "She came from us, silly."
"Us? You mean that's our baby?" said George, still in complete shock.
Ever the smart-aleck, Florence said, "No, Mr. Jefferson. While you were gone picking up your mother, your wife just broke into a neighbor's apartment and kidnapped her. Yes, she's your baby, you knucklehead!"
"But Weezy, when I left the apartment this mornin', you didn't even look pregnant," George protested, and it was indeed true. Louise had gained some weight in recent months, but even so, she never developed the typical round pregnancy belly that most pregnant women usually get. Even on the morning of her daughter's birth, Louise honestly did not appear to be pregnant.
"Believe me, George; I'm just as shocked as you are," Louise told her husband as he sat down next to her on the side of their bed. "You know I wasn't feeling well when you left to pick up your mother this morning, and after you were gone, I thought a hot bath would help. Not long after I got in the tub, I realized that the pains I'd been having all morning were really contractions, and then my water broke. After that happened, I started pushing with the contractions, and now, here she is."
"That's amazing," George gasped as he stared at his wife and newborn baby girl in awe. "Weezy, you're amazing. You mean to tell me that all while I've been gone this morning, you've been back here bringin' this little girl into the world all by yourself?"
"Well not all by myself, George. I was praying the whole time for Jesus to help me and I'm pretty sure He was listening."
"He certainly was," Florence said with a smile.
"Weezy, are you okay? Here, let me take the baby. You need to be lyin' down."
Louise smiled as she handed the baby over to George. Then after he got up from the bed and she laid down, she told him, "I'm alright. It's the baby I'm worried about."
"Why?"
"Well when she was first born, she had some trouble breathing. I gave her mouth-to-mouth; I gave her a couple of breaths, and then after that, she was able to breathe on her own, but I'm still worried. She needs to see a doctor, George, and soon."
"Don't worry, Ms. Jefferson. You've already called the paramedics, and they're on their way," Florence told her, trying her best to sound reassuring despite how worried she still was inside about both the baby and Louise.
For several long moments, George just gazed down into his newborn daughter's face, totally awestruck. Of all three of their younger children, it was their newborn who looked the most like Louise. Olivia and everyone else agreed that Will looked almost exactly like all of George's childhood pictures. Hannah, on the other hand, did look very much like Louise, but like her twin brother, she too had ended up with George's lighter complexion. It was only their newborn who had inherited both her mother's lovely face and her mother's beautiful darker skin tone, and it was for that very reason that George was absolutely mesmerized by her. As George held his youngest child and looked down into her precious tiny face that Christmas morning, it took him all of two nanoseconds to fall completely in love with her.
Then all of the sudden, George just started laughing out of the blue, and not knowing why, Louise began laughing with him. "What's so funny, George?" she asked.
"Weezy, how long now has Mama been tellin' us that we were gonna have another child, and we didn't listen?" George had claimed to believe his mother at first, but the more time passed, the more skeptical he became. And nobody had been more skeptical than Louise.
"You're right. Mom's never going to let us hear the end of it!" Louise said aloud, still laughing with George.
"I'll go out now and show Mama her Christmas present," said George.
"Alright, dear," Louise agreed, and then George walked out to the kitchen to present Olivia's newest grandchild to her. And barely a minute after the newborn was placed in her grandmother's arms, the paramedics finally arrived.
Not long after Louise and the baby arrived at the hospital, the same doctor who had delivered the twins, Dr. Crane, assisted with the delivering of the placenta, which thankfully, came out whole. Dr. Crane explained that sometimes the placenta could actually tear off into pieces inside the mother, and if that happened, a deadly infection could result from it. A few minutes later, Jenny's husband, Dr. Russell, actually joined Louise and Dr. Crane in the exam room, along with a nurse who was holding Louise's baby in her arms. The nurse then quickly placed the newborn in her mother's arms and left, and immediately after her exit, George came into the room as well.
"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, I must say, I certainly wasn't expecting to see the two of you in here with a newborn today," Dr. Russell told them. Like Lionel, he was tall and slim, but even though he was mixed like Jenny, his complexion was considerably lighter than hers.
"That makes three of us, doctor," George joked.
"Just tell us, Dr. Russell…is our baby okay?" Louise asked worriedly.
"Oh, she's fine; she's just fine," he insisted, and immediately, Louise sighed a sigh of relief.
"I was worried because she was having trouble breathing when she was first born," Louise explained. "I put her over my shoulder and I patted her on the back – you know, like when we try to burp our babies."
"Right," said Dr. Russell.
"And when I did that, she coughed up a little water and mucous, but she was still having trouble breathing, so I gave her mouth-to-mouth. I gave her two breaths, and it was after the second breath that she really started to cry and breathe on her own."
"Well what's most important is that you stayed calm and kept your head. Many people panic in situations like that, and that's really the worst thing you can do. And don't worry that it took your baby a little time to get started breathing. That happens with a lot of newborns. Lots of babies need a little extra help to take their first breath. It doesn't mean that anything is wrong with their health. As a matter of fact, I just performed a thorough examination of your daughter and I can assure you, Mrs. Jefferson, that you and your husband have got yourselves a perfectly healthy six-pound, two-ounce baby girl."
"Oh, that's so wonderful," Louise said happily, and then George leaned in and gave her a big kiss.
"I do believe you delivered at thirty-seven weeks, which is three weeks early. It's common for older mothers to go into premature labor – no offense," said Dr. Russell with a cautious glance at Louise.
"None taken," Louise said kindly.
"We'll keep you and your baby here for the next two weeks for observation, just to be on the safe side. Since your daughter did come a little early, we'd like to keep an eye on her due to the fact that all premature babies are at higher risk of developing complications. We'd also like to keep a close eye on you, Mrs. Jefferson, just to be cautious, given your age and history with epilepsy," said Dr. Russell. Shortly before Louise and George had started trying to get pregnant the last time, she'd been put on the lowest possible dose of a safer medication for her epilepsy so that any child they conceived would be protected from potential birth defects, and Louise had remained on that dose throughout her pregnancy with the twins. Thankfully, after Will and Hannah were born, the doctor had seen no reason to change the medication or the dosage, so Louise had remained on the same low dosage of medication throughout her unknown pregnancy with this baby as well. "And I'm certain you'd like to be here with your baby, as close to her as possible over the next couple of weeks," Dr. Russell added.
"You're right. I would," Louise agreed.
"We'll do whatever you say, doctor," George assured him.
"Mrs. Jefferson, if you don't mind my asking, did you honestly not have any suspicions at all that you might be pregnant?" asked Dr. Crane.
Louise shook her head and replied, "I had no idea."
"Neither did I," George added.
"No morning sickness? No strange cravings? You never felt the baby move?" Dr. Crane questioned.
"Not at all," Louise told her.
"Surely you noticed changes in your cycle," said Dr. Crane.
"Well yes, my periods did stop, but at my age, I was convinced that I'd gone into menopause," Louise explained.
"And Jenny and I saw Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson when they came to my in-laws' apartment a few weeks ago for Thanksgiving, and I can assure you that Mrs. Jefferson did not look like she was pregnant," Dr. Russell informed her.
"Wow," said Dr. Crane in disbelief. "You know, Mrs. Jefferson, I've read about cases like yours in some of my medical journals, but I've never personally known a patient who's gone through it before. It's a rare phenomenon called a cryptic pregnancy. A woman gets pregnant, but all throughout her pregnancy, she experiences none of the typical pregnancy symptoms and she doesn't even know she's having a baby until she goes into labor. Often, these women have irregular cycles and when their periods stop, even for as long as nine months, they think nothing of it."
"Well I was convinced that George and I were done having babies after we had our twins. I wasn't expecting this little one at all!" Louise said with a laugh.
"I guess she's a little Christmas surprise from Jesus, eh?" Dr. Russell suggested.
"That's precisely what she is," Louise agreed with a big smile.
Dr. Russell and Dr. Crane exchanged the usual pleasantries with the Jeffersons for the next minute or so, and then they left so that they could start the process of admitting Louise and the baby into the hospital.
Louise was all settled into her own private hospital room by noon on Christmas Day, and Dr. Russell and Dr. Crane agreed to allow Louise to have the baby in her room with her rather than in the nursery. The little hospital bassinet was parked right by Louise's bedside at all times, but it was usually empty because the baby was almost always in her mommy's arms. Naturally, George accompanied Louise and the baby to the hospital when the paramedics arrived at their apartment that morning, while Olivia and Florence decided to stay behind for two reasons. One, to inform all the Jeffersons' family and friends, particularly the Willises and Mr. Bentley, about what had just happened, and two, to make plans for all the spur-of-the-moment shopping they would have to do for the baby shower they wanted to surprise Louise with in the very near future.
Since the Jeffersons had spent Thanksgiving with the Willises that year, George and Louise were planning to have Tom, Helen, Jenny, and Mr. Bentley over at their apartment, along with George's mother, of course, for Christmas dinner that day. (Both Jenny and her husband Martin knew that Martin would have to work a shift at the hospital on Christmas Day.) Quite obviously, as soon as everyone heard what had happened, all their plans for Christmas rapidly changed. Florence got together with Olivia and Helen and prepared all the usual Christmas dishes, and they brought the food to Louise and George at the hospital. At the Jeffersons' request, Florence also brought Will and Hannah along so they could finally get the opportunity to see their new baby sister for the first time. Tom, Jenny, and Bentley came as well, naturally, and by ten minutes after six that evening, Louise Jefferson's hospital room was crammed with people talking and visiting while a small radio on Louise's nightstand played Christmas carols softly in the background. When Martin also came into the room then, he let everyone know that he did not approve of there being so many people in Louise's room and that they had to keep their visit short so that Louise could rest.
In those moments, twenty-month-old Will and Hannah had managed to crawl up onto the hospital bed, and Louise reveled in having all three of her little ones with her for the first time.
"Will, Hannah, say hello to your new baby sister," Louise told them happily.
"Hello!" Will said aloud, and George and Louise and all the others laughed.
Hannah then looked up into Louise's face and asked, "What her name, Mommy?"
"You know, that's an excellent question," said Tom.
"It certainly is, Daddy," Jenny agreed.
"Yes, Louise, George, tell us," said Helen. "I mean, I know you just had her today and I know you didn't even know you were pregnant before this morning, but have you two thought of any potential names yet?"
Louise and George looked at each other knowingly then and smiled, and Louise told them, "George and I haven't just picked out potential names. We talked about it a little while before you all came over this evening, and we've found the perfect name for our baby girl. One of our most favorite Christmas songs is Joy to the World. When humanity's Savior was born into this world, the day of His birth became the cause of the greatest joy possible. And when Jesus decided to surprise us with this beautiful baby girl on the day in which we all celebrate His birth, she became the cause of indescribable joy to George and me. Furthermore, George and I are still shocked and stunned that at our ages, Jesus chose to grace us with another baby. So, ladies and gentlemen and dear toddlers," Louise said with a smile to Will and Hannah, "I would like to present for the very first time, Miss Joy Grace Jefferson."
Everyone oohed and aahed their approval, and Olivia said, "Oh Louise, George, that's perfect. That's absolutely perfect."
"It certainly is," Helen agreed.
"It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful," said Florence.
In that moment, the song Joy to the World began playing on the radio.
"Hey everybody, be quiet for a second. Listen," George told them, and then they all heard it.
"That's Joy to the World playing," Louise said happily, and then George quickly turned the radio up so that that most appropriate song, Joy to the World, could fill the room with its melody in those moments. As Louise and George looked into the faces of their children and then knowingly looked at each other and listened to that wonderful song, they knew that God had blessed them beyond their wildest dreams.