"Doug! Help!" Jo scooped the toddler up and dashed into the living room with her. Doug took one look at his daughter and once again dislodged the glob of mucous from her throat.
"I'm taking her to the emergency room right away!" Jo exclaimed.
"I'll drive," Doug offered. "You sit in back with her and make sure she's breathing OK."
"That's a better idea," Jo agreed. "You'll be OK, won't you, Jamie?"
"Oh, yeah, I'll be fine."
Doug raced to the hospital, where they ran into the emergency room entrance, Jo carrying Bethany. Luckily, the little girl didn't have any more choking episodes.
They were called back about half an hour later. "Hey there, Bethany," said the on-call physician, whose name was Dr. Collins. "Want to sit on the table?"
"No!" Eyes wide with fright, the little girl clung to her mother.
"Go on, sweetie," Jo gently urged her. "It'll be all right, I promise."
Reluctantly, Bethany obeyed, and the doctor checked her eyes, ears, nose, and throat. "Everything seems fine," he told Jo and Doug. "Has she had any fever or cold symptoms?"
"No," said Jo. "We were helping her older brother move into an apartment earlier today, and she was outside playing around some flowers and weeds. Her Dad thinks she might have had an allergic reaction to them."
"Has anyone in either of your families ever been diagnosed with asthma?" asked Dr. Collins.
"My brother Randy had it when he was little," Doug replied.
"She's too young to take a spirometry test, so I'm going to diagnose her with reactive airway disease," said Dr. Collins. "I'll give her a shot to control the symptoms for now, but you'll need to make an appointment with her regular pediatrician as soon as possible."
He left, and a few minutes later, a nurse entered the room. Bethany saw the hypodermic needle she carried and immediately started wailing.
"Aw, baby, it'll be all right!" Doug told her. "Just a little pinch, and then it'll all be over!" He and Jo held Bethany's arm still so that the nurse could swab it with an antiseptic wife and then administer the injection.
"There, now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Doug picked his daughter up and cuddled her. He carried her out to the car, and by the time he'd driven back home, the little girl was fast asleep. She didn't even awaken while Jo was tucking her into bed.
The following Monday morning, Jo took her to see Dr. Sanders, who told Jo to use a nebulizer in her bedroom at night and prescribed an inhaler for in case she had any more attacks.
"She's beautiful!" Jo whispered to Doug as they watched Bits walk down the aisle on Erskine's arm, her dark brown eyes aglow.
"She is," Doug agreed. Tyler, handsome in his black tuxedo, waited at the altar for his bride. When she reached him, he took her arm and pressed it against his side, and the minister began the ceremony.
After it had ended, Jo, Doug, and Jamie met up with Erskine's family in the reception hall. "It's so nice to see you again!" Jo said to Ada.
"Likewise," Ada replied. "This must be Jamie. Do you remember me?" she asked as she shook the teenager's hand.
"Yes, ma'am," Jamie replied.
"And this must be Cassie," said Jo. "How old are you now?"
"Fourteen." Cassie had grown to be a lot taller and now wore braces on her teeth.
"Where's your little one?" asked Ada. "I remember you were pregnant the last time we got together."
"Her name's Bethany, and she's two and a half years old," Jo replied. "She's with Doug's sister-in-law now. We just found out she has reactive airway disease, and we have to use a nebulizer in her room at night."
"Cassie's always had a lot of allergy problems too," said Ada. "You have a son, too, don't you?"
"Clay. He's a policeman now."
"That's great!" Ada exclaimed. "Let me introduce you to our son, Andy. He just returned from the mission field in time for his sister's wedding."
Andy was deeply involved in conversation with another young man when his stepmother lightly touched his arm. "Andy? I'd like you to meet Doug's wife, Jo, and their daughter, Jamie."
Andy had curly dark brown hair and dark eyes like his father and sister. He smiled as he turned to shake Jamie's hand, and she saw that his teeth were very white and almost perfectly straight. Her heart began to hammer madly, and she suddenly found herself tongue-tied.
"Tell me about your missionary work," Jo said to Andy.
"It's going great! We've just translated the Bible into four obscure rain forest languages, one so rare that it's only spoken by one tribe that consists of less than fifty individuals."
"Why did you decide to become a missionary?" Jamie wanted to know.
"I guess my Dad being a minister had a lot to do with it. I always wanted to follow in his footsteps, yet at the same time, my other passion was to travel and see the world. This way, I get to do both."
"But aren't you afraid of head hunters and cannibals?"
"A little bit, but whenever I think about it, I just remember that God is my shield and protection, and I can count on Him to take care of me."
"So when are you going back to the Amazon?"
"Not for awhile. I want to stay around here for a few weeks to spend time with my family and re-connect with some old friends."
Jamie felt her heart soar.