And Baby Makes Five

by Debra Clopton

  He studied the swirling sky. The full force of the storm would strike by the time she made it home. Ice pelted his face like needles. On the other hand, at the pace they were traveling the storm might have passed before they got there.

  He grimaced. This was no joking matter. The weather would be a record breaker for this part of the state, for this time of year. Turning back, stiff with fatigue, nearly chilled to the bone, he headed down the drive toward the warmth of his house and the bed he’d forgotten to think about. All the while he continued to tell himself that Lilly wasn’t his responsibility, a fact she’d made clear to him. Perfectly clear.

  Still, as he opened the door and strode tiredly into his kitchen, he couldn’t stop thinking of her. What if her truck broke? It didn’t look to be in great shape. What if she slipped and fell on her way into her home? Who would help her? Samantha?

  That thought spurred him to turn to the window. Loser appeared from the other room, sauntered over and with a sigh dropped his shaggy head onto the windowsill.

  A perpetual sigher, Loser sighed again, drawing Cort to look down at his pitiful dog. It had been a weak moment of loneliness outside the supermarket that had been Cort’s undoing. That and the cutest little brown-eyed girl trying to find a good home for the ugliest baby mutt he’d ever seen. A sap for kids, Cort had taken the pup and on a melancholy note christened the forlorn dog Loser. He shouldn’t have. It hadn’t been the poor pup’s fault Ramona had divorced Cort and left him feeling like a loser.

  Reaching down, Cort scratched him between the ears with his frozen fingers. They tingled as blood started flowing and warmth seeped back into them. Loser grunted—which was more response than Cort usually got. It was Cort’s own fault. He hadn’t given the dog much to aspire to by labeling him with such a lousy name. He really should change it.

  But it was a name he lived up to with pride. He enjoyed hot meals, warm beds and cool breezes on sunny afternoons. He didn’t like cold weather, loud noises or hairbrushes anywhere near his matted body. When he wasn’t sleeping, he moped around stumbling over his own ears and looking at people’s toes from beneath droopy eyelids and bushy eyebrows. The poor dog had mountains to overcome if he were ever to drag himself out of the pit of self-pity shrouding him. A state of being not unlike Cort’s own.

  In part, this move to west Texas had been Cort’s step in the right direction. At least he was moving on with life by realizing what he couldn’t have and making a new start with what he had. And most important, he had God’s grace. Cort knew God’s grace was sufficient to overcome the grief consuming him. But to have lost his wife and any children he’d hoped to father… He rammed a hand through his hair. He needed time to come to terms with such an incomprehensible loss. He loved the Lord, had walked every mile for the past fifteen years with a strong unfailing faith. But this wasn’t something he could just move on from and pretend never happened. Lately, even trusting the Lord was a struggle. He felt as if part of him was lost forever. The Bible said there was a time to mourn and a time to dance. He wasn’t ready to dance. Didn’t know if he ever would be.

  And he for certain didn’t need a neighbor who represented everything he couldn’t have. Everything he’d lost.

  “We’ve got problems, old boy,” he said to Loser. “I heard you barking. I had to think twice to realize it was you, but you knew I was in trouble up to my eyebrows. Didn’t you?” Loser shifted his chin’s position on the windowsill and his tail flopped halfheartedly. This, too, was more than usual. Cort reached to scratch behind Loser’s ear.

  “You’re feeling kinda spry, aren’t you? I see that tail a-wagging. You keep this perky attitude and I might have to change your name.” Loser’s shoulders heaved with another sigh as he returned his gaze to the storm. Cort’s gaze followed the animal’s and his thoughts returned to Lilly.

  “I don’t know why I’m worried, Loser. She wasn’t. She acted as if men have leprosy or something.” He glanced back at the dog. “Said we weren’t worth anything if we couldn’t father a child—” Loser raised his eyebrows just enough to look pityingly up at Cort. Cort frowned at the reflection he saw of himself in the dog’s eyes. The reflection of the fool he’d almost been again.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said wearily, scrubbing his eyes and turning toward his bedroom.

  “It sounded like she’d been talking to Ramona.”

  Chapter Three

  Lilly’s eyes popped open and she stared up at the ceiling. Sunlight danced across the pale yellow paint. All was quiet. No sounds of ice! Thank goodness there was no sleet this morning.

  Slowly she rolled to her side, “Ohhh!” she yelped, then used her arms to rise to a sitting position, or at least a semi-sitting position. The last stages of pregnancy were a real bug-a-boo. To catch her breath she had to prop her hands on the mattress behind her just to hold herself upright because of her growing-by-the-second tummy.

  She ached all over.

  The run-in with her new neighbor and his little lasso had caused more soreness than she’d expected.

  At least, to her great relief, the Braxton-Hicks contractions had stopped. She hadn’t wanted to admit it out loud, but for a little while she’d feared she really was in labor, and she couldn’t be. Not yet anyway. She had things to do. Tonight was the very first production of the Mule Hollow Cowboy Dinner Theater. And even though she had protested until she was blue in the face, she was now looking forward to being in the production.

  “What a night, kiddo,” she said, yawning and rubbing her tummy. “I hope you aren’t sore.” Talking to her baby brought a big smile to her lips. When he responded with a good hard kick to the belly button she laughed. Oh, how she loved having her little boy to talk to.

  A boy. The doctor had informed her she was expecting a boy and she still couldn’t believe it. A baby boy Tipps! After all these years. Wow. The grannies would most definitely be surprised.

  Lilly rubbed her eyes and focused on her day. She needed to find some way to keep Samantha at home, but she didn’t have the time. She had to be in town by noon. Everyone wanted her to take it easy, but she wanted to help with the last preparations for the show.

  Still, she knew she couldn’t be foolish again by taking chances like last night.

  The weather report had predicted that the icy weather would come and go for the next week. Cort had been right about her not needing to jeopardize her baby by being out in such weather, lost burro or not. It had been only by the Lord’s grace that she hadn’t been harmed last night. She was determined that after the show tonight she would slow down and start acting more like how a pregnant woman ought to act.

  Of course, she had to get through the show tonight. She and Samantha. They had a very important role.

  Pushing herself off the bed, she padded to the bathroom and turned on the water. She had gained only thirty pounds with her pregnancy, but with her height she felt as if she was as wide as she was tall. Not that she really cared—she was having a baby!

  For that wonderful cause she wouldn’t care if she were, as Granny Gab would have said, as big as the broad side of a barn. She was having a baby!

  And that was as wonderful as life could get.

  Nothing else mattered. Lilly would again gladly go through everything that had led up to her pregnancy. She felt blessed.

  She was blessed.

  Reaching into the shower, she tested the water with her fingertip and thought about the dinner theater. Hopefully the bad weather wasn’t going to hinder the program. Ever since the older ladies in the town had hatched a campaign to bring women to Mule Hollow, the town hadn’t been the same. It had all started with an advertisement about lonesome cowboys looking for wives. Of course, Lilly wasn’t interested in finding a husband. Everyone knew that she’d taken a chance against everything her grannies had taught her and married Jeff Turner.

  And everyone knew she had no interest whatsoever in going down that road again. She had learned her lesson and learned it well.

&nbs
p; She’d thought she could change the luck of the Tipps women. Lilly’s mother, God rest her soul, had thought the same thing in her life.

  Wrong.

  Her mother had wound up picking the lowest of the low. And Lilly hadn’t done any better. But that was water under the bridge and she had moved on.

  There was only one good thing that had come of her marriage, and it was this baby she was carrying. Neither she nor her mother had been able to stop the legacy of bad choices, but as her good friend Lacy Brown had recently pointed out to her, she had another choice to make. She could either wallow in the past or move on.

  And now she was making choices for two. Another life was counting on her.

  Lilly showered quickly. Normally she could hang out in the hot spray until her toes shriveled, but today she had things to do and places to be. She had to get to town and help finish decorating. Who knew a newspaper ad about lonesome cowboys needing wives would have had such an impact on her small town? Lilly combed her curly hair and chuckled at the memory of Lacy whizzing into Mule Hollow. As the first respondent, she’d been so determined in her mission. She was convinced God had called her to come to the dusty, dying town of Mule Hollow to open a hair salon, where she could witness to people as she cut their hair.

  For a town left with just a handful of old-timers and a host of lonesome cowboys, the thought of families—or even of women at all—seemed an unreachable goal. But in the late 1970s after most of the town’s financial support had dried up along with the oil well, many families had had to move away. Their departure had left a shell of a town that had slowly deteriorated over the decades. But now there was hope in the town. Because of the faith of three older ladies and Lacy Brown, Mule Hollow had a new spring in its step.

  Lilly admired Lacy’s faith. She admired her desire to follow God’s plan for her life by believing He would bring women here and she would get to spruce them up to fall in love and lead them to the Lord in her hair salon, Heavenly Inspirations. In an ironic twist, it had been Lacy who’d fallen in love and was soon to marry Clint Matlock. Theirs would be the first marriage in Mule Hollow in ten or more years.

  Lilly didn’t count her own marriage.

  The wedding had taken place at the courthouse in the nearby town of Ranger, and the marriage had lasted just over a month. She was such a hermit that most people in Mule Hollow hadn’t even known she was dating, much less gotten married! But everyone was so understanding when she explained how she’d made such a horrible mistake. And they were absolutely thrilled when they found out she would be having the first baby born in Mule Hollow in the past ten years. It was the start the town needed. And hopefully tonight’s show would continue bringing new life to Mule Hollow.

  Norma Sue Jenkins, Esther Mae Wilcox and Adela Ledbetter were the three ladies who’d hatched the original plan and put the ad in the papers. Tonight was the culmination of another of their ideas. Lilly would never have believed she would be participating in this cowboy dinner theater. But she was.

  All because Lacy had seen her singing in the church choir.

  Lilly had always loved to sing. And after Jeff left her she’d continued to go to church and sing in the choir. It was strange—even though she was hurting inside and wanted only to be alone, there was just something about being in the church singing praises to the Lord that ministered to her spirit. It didn’t mean for one minute that it changed her mind about men. God was going to have to do a mighty work on her heart for her to ever look at a man as a potential husband.

  Her grannies had hated men and taught her from an early age that they were useless, worthless liars, one and all. And with good reason, since they had each experienced the worst that men had to offer. And after her experience with her own loser, she’d decided to believe them. True, in the four months she’d known Lacy she’d softened to at least being able to kid around with some of the lonely cowboys who lived in Mule Hollow. Lacy had helped her see that as a Christian she needed to have a forgiving heart and not judge all men as completely useless. And by being in this presentation tonight she’d even come to like some of the guys as friends.

  Friends. As Granny Gab would say, untangling grapevines took more than an hour. It wasn’t until recently that Lilly had realized Gabby was talking about regaining trust. She was making progress, but there would never be anything more between her and another man except friendship. Her heart couldn’t take it. She imagined that she was going to be like Paul in the Bible and stay single for her lifetime.

  Yep, it would be just her and her baby. That was something she could trust wholeheartedly.

  She finally finished getting dressed, gathered up everything she would need for the afternoon, then went to load Samantha into the trailer.

  When Lacy had first approached her about letting Samantha be in the program, Lilly had been uncertain. But after a while she’d been worn down by Lacy’s enthusiasm and had consented. Then, because she loved to sing, she had finally agreed to be in it also. Especially after hearing what their part would be. She couldn’t resist.

  She just hoped that everything went as planned. She didn’t need any false labor pains tonight.

  Singing while sitting on Samantha’s back was going to be challenge enough.

  “What do you think?” asked Molly Popp.

  Lilly surveyed the room. “It looks great. Did you ever think when you moved here a few months ago that we’d be having so much fun trying to get more women to move to town?”

  Molly laughed. “Honestly, I came because the entire story of what the ladies were trying to accomplish intrigued me. But I never really thought about being in on the adventure myself. This has been incredible. All these weeks of practice and planning have been great.”

  Lilly smiled and gently rubbed her stomach. Molly was a journalist who had a column in the Houston paper each week. After coming to the old-time fair that the town had hosted to draw women in, Molly had chosen to move right out to Mule Hollow to chronicle its progress while she started writing a book she’d been dreaming of writing.

  She’d dated a few of the guys, but so far, Mr. Right hadn’t come along. Unlike Lilly, Molly was still looking.

  The old buildings had been transformed into part of a rustic theater. In the past few months the town had drawn together and torn out walls between two buildings, built a stage and installed woodstoves to keep the place warm for the program while still giving it the ambience of the good old days. It was a great idea.

  Tonight would be the first gathering in Mule Hollow’s new community center/theater.

  “Lilly!” Lacy called, jogging into the room. Her short white-blond hair looked as if it had gotten caught in a blender, bouncing Meg Ryan-fashion in all different directions as she came to a jolting halt beside Lilly and Molly.

  “What’s up?” Lilly asked.

  “I just wanted to check and see how you’re doing. You feeling all right, not having any pains? Not too tired?”

  “Slow down, Lacy. I’m feeling fine.”

  “When I asked you to do this, I wasn’t thinking about how cold it was going to be. Are you sure you are up to doing your part of the show outside by the campfire?”

  “My costume includes a blanket draped across my shoulders. I’ll be warm enough. I love the idea of the campfire. I was over there looking at it earlier while the guys were setting up all the hay bales. It looks fantastic. Lacy, don’t worry. I’ll be okay. Leroy taught me to ride Samantha, and believe me, she hasn’t near the energy she had way back then. The fire will give a lot of heat, and there’s no drizzle on the forecast until late tonight, so I’m good to go.”

  Lacy grabbed her and Molly in a big hug. “Our program is going to be great tonight. I can just feel it.” Lacy’s face beamed with anticipation. “Yep, yep, yep, this is going to be good.”

  Lilly had come a long way in the past three months. She was still a loner, but she was taking steps to overcome her past.

  Lacy had given her the encouragement she needed to sta
rt letting people into her life. They didn’t crowd her. They recognized that she needed her space, and they gave it to her.

  “Okay, it’s time to get dressed,” Lacy said. “I see Adela and Esther Mae coming up the street, so they’ll be ready to start taking tickets as the ladies arrive.”

  Lilly and Molly followed Lacy into the back, where their costumes were hanging. Lilly’s part wasn’t until after the dinner, so she would help with waiting tables during the play, something they’d all tried to stop her from doing, but she’d insisted. Lilly had always pushed herself and always would.

  She didn’t know any other way.

  Cort stepped into the brightly lit building full of chatter and laughter and was met by Adela Ledbetter. She was a nice lady with a gentle elegance. Her bright blue eyes set against stark white hair sparkled with welcome.

  “Hello again,” she said as he removed his hat and looked warily around the crowded room. “I’m so glad you decided to join us. When I invited you the other day in town I wasn’t sure you would accept the invitation.”

  “To tell you the truth, ma’am, I didn’t know I was coming until an hour ago.” Cort stroked the rim of his hat and glanced around the full room again. There were women everywhere—which had him backtracking on his decision to come. What had he been thinking?

  Ms. Ledbetter placed a hand on his arm and smiled up at him. “God inspired you to come, because He knew you needed to be a part of this. You’re going to get a blessing.”

  Cort looked down, about to deny that God had anything to do with his decision, but she was looking at him with such certainty and wisdom it made him keep silent.

  “Well, well, well…what do we have here?” Norma Sue Jenkins said, coming to a halt in front of him like a steamroller hitting a brick wall. She had on a pair of overalls stuffed into rubber boots and a straw hat on her head with a red bandanna wrapped around it as a hatband.

  Cort had run into Norma Sue a couple of times at the feed store in the few days since his arrival in town. Both times she’d tried to start up a conversation with him, but he’d been blunt and unresponsive to her friendly overtures. Now he felt about as low as the dirt on the bottom of his boots. She beamed up at him with a genuine smile of welcome that split across her round face from ear to ear.