“Lilly, what do you think?”
Lilly looked up from watching Joshua drift to sleep to find both women standing in the doorway.
“About?”
“About Cort Wells.” Esther Mae came into the room and sat on the sofa before the fire. “Is he as grumpy as App and Stan said?”
“Does he frown all the time and snap your head off when you ask him a question about his past?” Norma Sue came to sit in the chair beside Lilly. “I mean I met him the other night, but that was just for a few minutes. A person doesn’t always show all of his cards in the first game. So I was wondering what you’ve seen of the man. What do you think?”
“Well, I…” How to answer such questions? She hadn’t exactly been around Cort that much. Yes, he had saved her life. Who knew what might have happened if he hadn’t had the good sense to follow Samantha through the freezing sleet to her house? He was her hero. So her thoughts of him during the delivery were fond, even confusing, deep down inside.
Yes, he’d been kind of snippy in the barn after he’d thrown her to the ground. But that could simply have been due to the shock of realizing he had just roped a pregnant woman. It was a situation that seemed to highly agitate the poor man, and why not? It was pretty careless on her part to be out on such a night.
And yes, he was bossy and he got on her every nerve when he accused her of being neglectful of her pregnant state. But from where he was standing looking in, it could very easily appear that she was being careless. If she admitted it to herself, maybe she had been, without really realizing it. But who else was going to take care of things around here?
Despite it all, he had a way about him. A way of making her feel safe. Of making her want to be around him more.
And she couldn’t explain the need that kept plaguing her to find out what had happened in his past to account for the sorrow she saw in his eyes. The man tugged at her heart as nothing ever had, despite the fact that he made her angry at nearly every meeting. Every one prior to the night he’d rescued her and helped deliver her precious baby.
She cleared her throat and smiled at the ladies. She decided it was better if no one knew the turmoil Cort caused her. She schooled her emotions so that they didn’t play across her expression.
“Honestly I can only say that in such a highly stressful situation as I placed him, Cort Wells was the man for the job. He was amazing.”
“My,” Esther Mae said, relaxing against the cushions of Lilly’s great-great-granny’s couch. “That was well said. Norma Sue, don’t you think that was well said?”
Norma Sue was studying Lilly with an odd expression on her face. She looked over at Esther and they held eyes for a minute. Lilly got the distinct impression that she was missing something. Something important.
“How old a man would you say this Cort Wells is?” Norma Sue’s attention was back on Lilly.
Age? Age was something Lilly hadn’t thought about. She’d been raised by a band of grandmas. Age was never a factor. You were either older or you were younger. Hmm…Cort was older than her twenty-six years…but not much. “Maybe thirtysomething.”
“Cute, too?” Norma raised her eyebrows and Lilly got a twinge in her gut.
“Maybe. He has a hard edge to his looks. Like a stone wall. So cute isn’t exactly the word I would use to describe Cort. Handsome, yes.”
“Then how would you describe him, Lilly?” Esther scooted forward on the couch, her elbows on her knees, fist under her chin.
Lilly glanced down at Joshua, peaceful and blissfully content, and a sense of meaning surrounded her. This child, this darling boy was actually hers. She fought away the lump that threatened a rush of tears. God had truly blessed her. Then her thoughts turned to the man who had been sent to assure her baby’s safe birth, the man who had made Joshua’s contentment possible, and her heart got a weird heaviness around it. “Cort’s good-looking, there’s no denying it. But it’s the sadness in his eyes that makes him seem angry. I do wonder about that.” Had she said that out loud? He’d been so wonderful to her and to Samantha, and now she was blabbing about his personal business.
Norma Sue nodded and Esther Mae smiled. Seeing them looking at her, Lilly was overtaken by a sense of dread. What was going through their minds? Oh, no! No…no. “No!”
“No what, dear?” Esther Mae cooed.
Lilly zeroed in on Esther and caught Norma with her peripheral vision. “Do not even begin to think that there is the prospect of a romance brewing here.” Lilly started rocking Joshua. “My grannies, bless their souls, were telling the truth when they said the Tipps women had no luck with men. Why, you saw what happened to me. You saw what happened one after the other to my mom and grannies. Men do not—and I repeat—men do not stick around.” Lilly didn’t want to think about this. She had overcome it. She was a Tipps. She had reconciled herself to a life alone. She and Joshua…the first boy in a long line of girls. The first boy who would naturally carry on the Tipps name. Why, she had even gotten back her sense of humor as her pregnancy had progressed.
This wasn’t a good thing, this idea of Norma and Esther’s. Yes, she still daydreamed about finding the man God had made for her…but that was all it was. A daydream. And yes, Cort Wells caused her to wonder, caused her heart to skitter and lunge, but…
“I know the two of you, and Adela and Lacy, have this thing about bringing women to Mule Hollow. And I know that all the women heading this way will eventually keep y’all busy. So you can just set your sights on them and leave me out of this matchmaking plan.” She was rattling. Rambling. Fumbling. “I stuck my neck out on Joshua’s dad, and that landed me flat on my face in his tracks eating his dust. Nope.” She rocked harder just thinking about the humiliation, the confusion. “Nada. No way. Not on your lives.”
Esther smiled. “Now, hold on to your belt loops, Lilly. Do you think that Norma and I would do anything that would upset you? We know that baby doesn’t need to have you all agitated. We were simply trying to get a feel for what you thought about the man. Remember, there were a few ladies there the other night when he brought you to Adela’s place. We’re just trying to get your opinion. Right, Norma?”
“Right, Esther. Lilly, when you said that about the sadness in his eyes, well, naturally we got to thinking that maybe falling in love would put a spark in the place of the sadness. God, after all, does say that it isn’t good for man to be alone. Maybe Cort needs a wife. Maybe that’s why God brought him to us. You do have to admit that Mule Hollow is a bit off the beaten track.”
Lilly hated it, but found herself pondering the thought.
“Yeah,” Esther agreed. “If it wasn’t an act of God, then what in the world would have brought the man here to Mule Hollow?”
Lilly had kind of wondered the same thing. What had led the man here? When she was in pain she had thanked God for sending him here. But other than being her hero, what had caused him to move to the remote ranch?
Cort led Ringo back to his stall, then headed toward the house. The bad weather had eased up and the sun was shining bright and clear. The unpredictability of Texas weather, especially west Texas, was a factor that Cort appreciated. As the old saying went, if you didn’t like the weather you were having today all you had to do was wait a day and it would change. It made winters tolerable.
The distant rumble of a truck had him pausing in the drive. For the past four days he’d watched one truck or car after another pass by as the town of Mule Hollow embraced their newest resident. He’d wondered how Lilly and Joshua were doing. He’d even tossed around the idea of checking in on them. But they’d had plenty of visitors making sure everything was all right. They didn’t need him nosing around.
Besides, there was nothing for him next door except another broken heart.
Slapping his hat on his thigh, he walked the rest of the way to the house. It wasn’t neighborly not to go. But then, who said he was neighborly? He hadn’t seen any Mule Hollow citizens beating down his door to welcome him to town.
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And that was just the way he’d planned it. They’d leave him alone and he’d leave them alone. He was the one who’d started the talk about how mean he was when he’d chosen to be so cold to everyone.
Maybe he’d made a mistake. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt for him to find friends in Mule Hollow. Maybe his self-imposed solitude was off base.
Thoughts of Lilly and her baby had been repeatedly on his mind. After he’d watched them being whisked away in the ambulance four nights ago he’d driven to her house, put out the fire in her fireplace and closed the place up until her return. Then he’d gone to find Samantha.
The little donkey was nowhere to be found and he’d spent hours searching for her in the icy weather. He’d retraced his steps and found her slowly making her way toward Mule Hollow along the road at the edge of the trees. She was cold, tired and hungry, but in pursuit of Lilly. There was a loyalty in that donkey that Cort envied. He had been forced to leave her there on the side of the road, return home and get his small horse trailer. By the time he’d returned, loaded her and taken her home, the sunlight was bright in the morning sky.
Loading the obstinate animal had been an adventure of its own. Samantha wanted Lilly, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Cort had had to use every ounce of his experience as a horseman to get the little animal into the trailer.
She had pranced and danced away from him like a lumpy ballerina on ice. Cort had finally resorted to talking to the old girl, cajoling her with sweet talk and promises of carrots, apples and sweet feed.
Suddenly he was hit with a wave of guilt. He hadn’t come through on those promises.
He paused. He should take care of that. It wouldn’t hurt for him to go check on Samantha. With Lilly caring for her son, Samantha had more than likely not gotten the attention she was used to. She could probably use a little company. He sure could. Besides, if there was one thing Cort appreciated it was a sense of loyalty. Yep, he needed to make sure that Samantha’s loyalty was rewarded.
Lilly wouldn’t even have to know that he was out there in her barn. He’d just quietly drive over there and not disturb mom and child. Yep, they were probably holed up inside the house nice and toasty, sitting in front of a warm fire—that is, if they had enough firewood. He might check on that, too, while he was saying hi to Samantha. They would need firewood, and all those people may not have thought to check on her supply, thinking someone else had done it. He’d noticed her large stash of wood was a pretty good way from the house. Lilly shouldn’t have to be lugging firewood all that distance. She wouldn’t want to leave her baby alone all that time…. That’s what he’d do. He’d sneak right over there and check on things. Repay Samantha for her loyalty and make sure mother and child had everything they needed.
They didn’t have to know he’d even been there.
Chapter Eleven
The air was crispy cool as Lilly walked the length of her small stables. She felt more like herself with each new morning, and when she’d seen the sun peek through her curtains at sunrise she’d known it was time to try to get some chores done.
Samantha needed new straw, and that meant shoveling out the old. Lilly was actually looking forward to a little physical activity. She’d been housebound for the past few days, and the thought of using her muscles again thrilled her. There was more than enough neglected work to get her back in shape.
There was firewood to carry up closer to the house, a fence to fix—pronto—not to mention a leaky faucet that she’d been too large to get to before. Crawling under sinks when you were heavy with child was not a good thing to attempt. She knew, because she’d tried it.
She laughed, remembering squatting, or trying to squat, then maneuvering around to try to reach up and under the sink in the small space. In the end she’d lain flat on her back, arms and legs flared, as she let a cramp ease out of her side. She almost hadn’t gotten up from that little debacle.
But that was while pregnant. Normally she was handy with a hammer, a wrench and almost anything else that came her way. The grannies had taught her self-sufficiency. This little ranch had been supporting itself for the past fifty or so years.
Lilly paused in her climb up the ladder and listened to the baby monitor that sat on the work bench below her. The gentle rustle of her baby wafted to her. It was a fantastic sound.
The sound of her baby.
And the sound of her baby sleeping.
She was starting to realize that not all babies slept through the night. Joshua had odd hours. Thirty minutes here, two hours there. Never, never more than two hours at a stretch. Joshua also wanted to eat all the time. Why, she had more bottles fixed and ready just to be able to keep up. Lilly had to adjust everything accordingly.
Life was not anywhere near what it had been—not that she was griping, because she wasn’t. She was simply still trying to figure things out.
Norma Sue had told her to sleep when Joshua slept in order to keep herself from getting worn out. But Lilly hadn’t quite figured that out yet. There were the tons of things that needed doing, and they weren’t going to get done if she was sleeping or rocking Joshua.
And since she loved rocking Joshua, she’d decided to give up the sleeping. So far she was making it okay. She didn’t need an abundance of sleep anyway. Things would be fine.
The fresh smell of hay filled her nostrils as she stepped gingerly off the ladder onto the wood loft. She was hurting just a little as she walked to the stacks of square hay bales. It didn’t take much to prove she’d lost a little strength in the past nine months. Instead of carrying the bale of hay, she dragged it to the opening above Samantha’s stall. With her pocketknife she sliced the twine, then reached for her pitchfork with her gloved hand.
Her movements were sure and easy. She’d been taught early to care for the horses that used to roam this land before Granny Gab sold them all. That had been a sad day for the Tipps household. Especially for Lilly. At ten years old she hadn’t understood why suddenly Granny Gab didn’t want to raise horses. Lilly shook off the hard memory and dug the fork into the sweet-smelling hay, broke it up, then tossed it down into the rack below her.
While she’d been pregnant she’d used the hay stored below in the extra stalls. But now that she could climb, she was trying to get things back to normal. The exertion felt good.
Oh, sure, she’d pay for it tomorrow, but it was worth it.
She’d worked up a good sweat in the cold shadow of the loft by the time she’d finally tossed enough hay below into the rack.
Where was Samantha anyway? The little munchkin had trotted off a little while ago, which was unusual. Normally when Lilly was outside Samantha stuck right by her side, snooping around, seeing what was going on.
Lilly walked over to the loft door and slid it back. The cold wind whipped through the opening, stinging her cheeks and making her eyes water. Whew, it was getting colder. Again.
Glancing out across the land, she could just make out the top of Cort Wells’s house. His place was only about a mile from her home. Using the dirt road it was more like two. As a kid she’d taken the road less traveled. She knew every nook and cranny between her place and Leroy’s old place. She’d been welcomed there then. She wondered about now, now that it was Cort’s home.
Poor man. He was probably glad to be rid of her. She hadn’t heard or seen anything from him since the night of Joshua’s birth. She wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about that.
Lilly wondered if he thought of that night. Of the way he’d held her hand. Of the gentle words of encouragement he’d said to her. She just wondered. That was all.
He’d been her dream. Her hero.
Dragging her eyes away from Cort’s home, she scanned the acres around her house looking for Samantha.
Where was that long-eared little troublemaker? Leaning out the opening, Lilly held on to the door frame so she could see around the side of the barn to the house. A-hah! There she was, trotting out to the pasture, toward the firewood.
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nbsp; Toward the man stacking logs in his arms.
Cort—Cort Wells was here.
Lilly pulled back into the loft and scrambled for the ladder. A warm glow surged through her and a smile burst to her lips. Cort was here.
It was a good day.
Cort stacked the last pieces of wood into his arms and started for the house. The pile was too high, almost above his head, but he wanted to finish quickly. He’d stopped the truck at the edge of Lilly’s drive and left it there, not wanting to disturb Lilly and her baby.
All looked quiet at the house, so maybe mother and child were taking a nap. In the daylight Lilly’s house looked as if it hadn’t been changed in fifty years. The old farmhouse was whitewashed, with pale yellow shutters. There was a long porch running the length of the back of the house, with many chairs fashioned from tree branches. Colorful cushions made Cort think about sitting down and having a conversation with Lilly. Maybe watching the little boy playing nearby as he grew—
In your dreams, Wells. You came to check on Samantha and carry firewood. Remember.
Forcing the ill-gotten thoughts away, he stalked toward the house. This was his third trip, because she had indeed been low in her stash next to the house. That wouldn’t do in case there was another storm and the electricity went out again. She’d need the wood to stay warm.
He had gotten halfway to the house when Samantha trotted up to him. Not a stranger anymore, she nudged him with her nose until she found the pocket that held the carrots.
“Hey, Samantha. How’s it going, ole girl?” Cort would have scratched her between the ears, but his hands were full. The wood had shifted as he walked across the pasture, so he concentrated on his balancing act trying to keep the short logs from tumbling out of his arms and onto the ground.
And Baby Makes Five Page 9