Reunion by Karen Kingsbury

table, relief spilling from her eyes.
    The mention of Luke’s name brought another wave of emotion for Ashley. Her little brother, the one she’d been so close to growing up, the one she’d told first when she learned that she was HIV-positive. “No… not Luke or Erin. Let’s call them later, okay?”
    “So when’s the big day?” Peter was. seated next to Hayley’s wheelchair. He’d been feeding her throughout the conversation, and as such he’d been quieter than the others.
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    But Ashley had caught the emotion on his face. Just a few years earlier he and Brooke hadn’t believed in God or the power of prayer or the fact that miracles still happened. But now… now faith shone in his eyes as surely as it shone in the eyes of everyone around the table.
    “July nineteenth.” Landon looked at Ryan and then at Peter. “We want to be married by Pastor Mark at the church and have a reception at the club down by the lake.”
    “I want a floor big enough for everyone to dance on.” Ashley looked at her mother. “Even you and Dad, okay?” A flicker of something sad shot through her mother’s eyes, but was gone before Ashley could analyze it. “Sounds like a beautiful wedding, dear.”
    “Yes.” Her father put an arm around Mom. “We’ll be the first on the dance floor, right after you and Landon.” The conversation splintered as the group talked about yet another wedding-their third in as many years. But even before the conversation died down, Kari stood up and waited until she had everyones attention.
    Ashley listened, enjoying the feel of Landon’s arm on her the closeness of him and Cole, and the reality of the she’d just shared. She tried to focus on her older sister.
    “Now it’s my turn.” Kari smiled at Ryan and Jessie, and then at others. “I have something I’d like to share also.” She lifted one shoulder and looked straight at Ryan. “I figured what better time than now, when we’re all together.”
    Ashley leaned forward, suddenly interested. The blank look in Ryan’s face told her that whatever the news, he hadn’t heard Kari’s smile became a grin as she looked around the room. “I a test today, and I’m pregnant.” She made a soft squealing and looked at Ryan again. “We’re going to have a baby!” color drained slowly from Ryan’s face, and his mouth open. He rose slowly to his feet and put his hands on “Are you serious?”
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    “Yes.” She gave a quick nod of her head. “I tried to tell you this afternoon.”
    Ryan winced. “But I kept putting you off.”
    “That’s okay.” She hugged him, and for a while the two of them rocked, lost in each other’s embrace.
    “We’re having a baby? We really are?”
    Kari stroked the back of Ryan’s head. “Yes. A Thanksgiving baby, if my dates are right.”
    “Kari, I can’t believe it.” He kissed her, and then just as quickly he pulled back. They both looked around the room. “Sorry. I forgot where I was for a minute.”
    Ashley laughed first, and then the others joined in. Jessie tugged on Ryan’s sleeve. “What, Daddy, huh, what?”
    Ryan swung her into his arms and bounced her a few times. “Mommy’s going to have a baby, Jessie! Isn’t that great?”
    Jessie didn’t look quite as happy as the others. She stared at Kari’s flat stomach. “Is the baby in your tummy, Mommy?”
    “Yep.”. Kari tousled her daughter’s hair. “The baby will stay there for a long time.”
    “Where is he, Mommy? He’s not very big.”
    Giggles sounded from the group again, and Cole asked if he and Maddie could go upstairs to play. The children were excused, with Maddie and Cole promising to look after Jessie. Hayley, of course, stayed in her wheelchair next to Peter.
    It was the time Ashley most enjoyed about a dinner at the Baxter house. The time when the meal was finished and they were past sharing details of their lives.
    The time when they often brought up memories of days gone by, of