"A Mother's Job"

Norah and Ben Crabtee had adjusted to their quiet life in Texas - a life that no longer included their daughter Tess who had run off with the wrong crowd years ago. It is only when Ben goes to the grocery store and returns home now with the item that Norah sent him for but with their daughter instead, that their lives will drastically change. Ben wants to welcome his daughter with open arms even after all the pain she has caused them but Norah is finding it very difficult to accept her daughter back in her life.

It doesn't take long for Norah and Ben to realize that Tess really hasn't changed at all and has only come home becomes she's pregnant and broke and is hoping for the money to get an abortion. Norah silently thinks that maybe that would be best but Ben puts down his foot and tells Tess that she can stay with them and deliver the baby until she can find a couple to adopt it but he won't pay for an abortion.

Tess agrees to her father's terms and stays on with them as her pregnancy progresses but she soon starts to feel like the young girl she was when she left when she realizes that she still can't make her mother happy. So once baby Tansy is born, Tess takes off for parts unknown and leaves the baby with her parents to raise.

Years later when Tess has an eye opening experience, she decides that she did make a mistake and she wants Tansy back. Once again Norah and Tess will be on opposite sides of the fence as Norah is the woman who has raised Tansy yet Tess is the woman who delivered her. It will take a lot of prayers and forgiveness to give this special story a happy ending.

Deborah Bedford did a great job of catching this reader's attention with a fast paced beginning and a special story of forgiveness. Bedford is fast becoming an auto-buy author for me since she always produces a story that makes me think.

A Mother Who Is Really A Mother Is Never Free. Honore' De Balzac

Reviewed by Shelby Bagby
Posted August 9, 2004