by Amy Lillard
“You’re a good man, Seth Langston.” She raised those heavily mascaraed eyes to his but didn’t release his fingers.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Everybody in town is talking about it. You and Jessie, that is.”
“Why’s that?” Did he really want to know? The people in Cattle Creek talked about a lot of things, and only a small percentage of them were true.
Darly Jo spread his fingers apart with hers and laced them together as if testing the fit. “How you married Jessie to give the baby a name.”
What was it with people? It was over a decade into the new millennium and people still had hang-ups about babies and parents and when they got married. Wasn’t the important thing that there was a marriage and a tiny person to carry on?
He gently untangled their hands and moved out of her reach. He cleared his throat while he searched for a suitable response. “I did what any man would do.”
She took a step closer to him. “I seriously doubt that. And it’s so sexy.” She straightened his collar and allowed her hands to linger on his chest.
He picked them up and returned them to her sides. “Would you like to explain that?”
“What?” She batted her eyes. “It’s very sexy for a man to marry a woman to give her baby a name.”
“It’s our baby.”
“Oh, go on with yourself, Seth. Everyone in town knows that it’s Chase’s baby.”
He closed his eyes and counted to ten.
“Seth?” Her fingers brushed against his cheek.
Capturing her hand in one lightning move, he somehow managed to keep her from pawing at him further. “Listen, Darly Jo. You are a lovely woman, always have been. But I am a married man.”
“Well, I know that, but you don’t have to pretend with me.”
“I’m not pretending. I love Jessie, and she’s having my baby. My baby. Not Chase’s. If you want to start a rumor in this town, start that one. At least the girls at To Dye For will be telling the truth for once.”
* * *
Jessie clipped on her headphones and started to work. Who knew two people could have so much stuff? She had gotten almost everything essential put away before the wedding, but there was still a ton of boxes to deal with. Her mementos, Seth’s keepers, and she hadn’t even sorted through her grandmother’s house yet.
The idea filled her with acute dread. Moving in with Seth had been a big enough decision, but it was at least one she could make herself. But closing down her grandmother’s house, choosing what to sell and what to keep . . . the thought was daunting at best. But more than anything, it filled her with heartbreak and brought back the pain of her loss.
But now you have Seth and the baby.
She straightened from taping up the box and pressed her hand to her abdomen. She had Seth and the baby.
With each passing day she became more and more accustomed to living with Seth. And living was all they were doing. She slept in the master room on the iron bed she had brought over from her meemaw’s house while Seth had taken to sleeping in the next room. Sometimes at night she could hear him roll over in his sleep or pad quietly to the kitchen for a drink of water. There were even times when she lay awake and listened for signs that he was there. Never before had she wished for a husband who snored, but how funnily enough, she wished she had one now.
Her music player changed songs, and Kenny Chesney sang to the world about his girlfriend thinking his tractor was sexy. Filled with joy, Jessie sang along. She danced a little sideways step to get to the next box. This one came from Seth’s, and she had no idea what was in it.
As she bent to open it, a hand touched her shoulder. She screamed and whirled around to find Seth there, grinning like an idiot while her heart dang-near pounded out of her chest.
“Seth,” she breathed, pulling the buds from her ears. “What are you doing home?”
“I brought you something, but if I had known that I was going to get a show, I would have come home an hour ago.”
“Ha-ha,” she said; then what he’d said sank in. “You brought me something?”
He nodded as she noted that he looked quite pleased with himself. “Come on. It’s outside.”
He led her through the house, Sadie trotting along behind them.
“Are you ready?” Seth paused at the door, blocking her view to the outside.
“Yes,” she said, trying to peek around him yet not wanting to appear as if she were actually doing it.
“Ta-da!” Seth moved to the side and opened the screen door for her to step out onto the porch.
Jessie couldn’t begin to imagine what he had brought for her, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined . . .
“A car?” She looked from the shiny blue SUV to her husband.
“Yep.”
She shook her head. Was this really happening? Or had her mind simply overloaded on all the changes that had come into her life these last few weeks? “For me?” she asked.
“I wanted you to have a good way to get around. All the talk about Midland got me to thinking. You don’t have a way to get anywhere you need to go.”
His words sounded as if she were walking down a tunnel. He had bought her a car. A car!
“Well?” he asked as she continued to stand on the porch and look at the vehicle.
“A car,” she whispered.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“I love it!” She threw her arms around him and nearly knocked them both over backward. “It’s the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. . . .”
“I would.” She tipped off his hat and rained little kisses all over his face. Sadie danced around their legs, and Seth chuckled. His arms came up and slid around her waist, holding her close.
“There is one little problem.”
She stopped kissing him long enough to meet his gaze. “What’s that?”
“Can you drive a standard?”
“Of course not. Who drives a standard these days?”
Seth removed one arm from around her and held up the keys. “You do.”
* * *
This was going to be the death of him.
“Release the clutch slowly. Slowly,” he repeated as the Jeep lurched and died.
“I am releasing it slowly,” Jessie moaned.
After their sweet session of kisses and thank-yous, Seth had driven the Liberty into one of the pastures and turned Jessie loose with the keys. The only problem was they hadn’t managed to go more than two feet before she popped the clutch and the SUV stalled.
“Then go slower than slowly. Try again.”
She pressed the brake and the clutch, then cranked the Jeep once again.
“Now ease up on the brake and press the gas. Slow . . . slow . . . don’t let her die. . . .”
Finally the car actually moved yards.
“Push the clutch in again and shift her into second. Let up easy.”
Jessie did as she was told and somehow managed to find the rhythm in driving a stick shift.
“I’m doing it,” Jessie cried. “I’m doing it!”
Seth smiled at her. She had never looked more beautiful to him than she did in that moment. “Okay, bring her to a stop and do it again.”
He had Jessie accelerate the car a couple more times and run through all the gears before he called a stop to the lesson.
“Wait a minute,” he said, giving her a sidelong look. “You do have a valid driver’s license, right?”
She shot him a look. “Of course.”
“Just asking. The sheriff’s wife can’t be going around town driving without a license.”
She laughed. “No, we couldn’t have that.”
“Then this calls for a celebration. Why don’t you drive us into town for supper? We could pic
k up something at the Chuck Wagon. Or maybe Manny’s.”
“The Chuck Wagon’s fine. It’s rib night.”
“Then let’s go.”
He managed not to leave too many finger indentations in the dash as she drove them into Cattle Creek. And the best part was she only let the Jeep die once. Unfortunately it was at the light at Third and Main, but she got it started quickly enough and they were on their way with hardly anyone noticing.
“Thanks for teaching me how to drive a standard,” she said as they sipped their iced tea and waited for their order. “And for dinner.”
“You’re welcome.” He punched down his ice and pushed the extra lemon wedge a little deeper into his glass. “How about this weekend we head over to San Angelo and pick up a few things for the baby’s room?”
“Like stuff stuff?”
He nodded. “He’s going to need furniture and such. I’ve been looking a little online, and babies need a helluva lot of stuff.”
She laughed. “She may not need near as much as you think.”
Seth smiled. “He’s going to have everything he needs and more. Twice that.”
Jessie laughed. “We haven’t even heard her heartbeat and already you’re planning on spoiling her.”
Seth decided to let her last gender reference slide. “Of course. That’s what daddies do.”
“That’s sweet, Seth, but you don’t have to take me shopping. I mean, I can go by myself, or maybe get your mother or grandmother to go with me.”
“I want to.”
She studied him for a moment as if trying to decide if he was being sincere. “I’d like that,” she finally said.
“Good. It’s a date, then.”
“So we’re up to two dates now. Wow, we’re rolling right along.”
He grinned. “That’s the plan.”
She returned his smile, then frowned at something over his shoulder.
Only years of training kept him from turning around to see what it was. “Everything okay?”
“Sissy Callahan.” She made a face. “She’s staring at us.”
Seth shrugged. “Why would that bother you?”
“She just . . .” She stopped, then blew the hair out of her face. “I don’t know. It shouldn’t, right? I shouldn’t care that everyone in this town is talking about me—us—wondering about the baby and why you married me.”
He covered her hand with his. “You can’t let this town get to you, Jessie. Small towns are known for gossip and busybodies, but it sure beats the indifference of the big city.”
She sighed and propped her chin in her hand. “Do you miss it a lot?”
“San Diego?” He shook his head. “I miss a few of the friends I made there and the beach now and then, but no, I don’t miss the city itself.”
“I think it would be heavenly not to have everyone going around town talking about all the mistakes I’ve made and taking bets on what I’m liable to do next.”
He leaned back as Debbie Ann slid the plate covered with a half rack of steaming barbeque ribs in front of him. “Thanks,” he said, shooting her a quick smile before grabbing the pepper shaker and adding a liberal dose to his french fries and coleslaw.
Then he looked up at Jessie. “Trust me. Small-town life is so much better than anything else out there.”
“It sure is quiet without you around here, Jessie,” Debbie Ann said as she set Jessie’s plate in front of her. She had ordered the chef salad.
“Y’all need anything else?”
“We’re good,” Seth said, and Debbie Ann left to see to her other customers.
“That looks . . . satisfying,” he said, shooting a pointed look at the salad in front of her.
She shook her head. “Calories, you know.”
“You’re not afraid of gaining weight, are you? I mean, you should enjoy yourself and being pregnant.”
“Yeah, but now that I’m not working I’m not getting as much exercise.” She trailed off with a shrug and didn’t meet his gaze. She loved ribs, always had.
“Well, you have a way around now. You can drive into town and walk on the track at the high school or the park. You could even use the pool at the ranch.”
Her eyes lit up. She loved to swim, and he knew it. “That would be heavenly.”
“Remind me to call Mama when we get home. I’ll give her the heads-up that you might be stopping in.”
Jessie smiled big enough to light up Main Street, then picked up her fork. The look she gave her dinner was enough to make a grown man cry.
“Tell you what,” Seth said, holding one saucy rib toward her. “You eat all your veggies, and I’ll share.”
She snatched the meat away with a satisfied grin. “Deal.”
Chapter Fifteen
One day slipped into the next and before long another month had passed. A minor problem between Amos and Chester had wrecked Seth and Jessie’s plans to go to San Angelo and buy baby furniture. But they had time; she wasn’t even showing yet. Instead she had stayed at home that weekend and worked on the closets, cleaning and organizing.
Jessie knew she needed to get over and start cleaning out her grandmother’s house, but it was so much more fun to play house with Seth than it was to say good-bye to her last relative.
Seth was her future, the rest was her past, and she didn’t want to dwell there any longer than necessary. Yet there was something so isolated about being at the old ranch house all day every day. Sure, she had a way into town now that Seth had bought her a car, but it wasn’t like she could go bebopping into town every time she had the thought to. She wasn’t working and bringing any money into the household. That was how Seth wanted it, but still it bothered her that she wasn’t doing anything to contribute to their budding family. Or maybe it was not having a job after working nearly all her life. She had gotten her first job at twelve. She babysat, mowed lawns, and cleaned the church every Saturday morning. If she needed something she had gone out and worked for it. Her class ring, graduation pictures, cap and gown, new boots or jeans. She had worked her fanny off to get the basics. She appreciated what she had and only bought the necessities. It just wasn’t in her to waste gas just because she was unaccustomed to being alone so much of the time.
Of course if she went into town, she would feel obligated to stop by the house on Larkspur Lane, and she just wasn’t prepared for that. She still had a couple of months before she had to get everything out and the bank took possession. It would keep for a few more days.
“Are you ready?”
She looked up as Seth came into the kitchen. His hair was darkened to nearly black, and he smelled like a dream. After all the trials and tribulations in her life, she wasn’t sure what she had done to deserve a man like Seth Langston to take care of her and her baby. Whatever it was, she was grateful all the same. Good, strong, handsome, caring. That was Seth in a nutshell. Just call her blessed.
“Yeah.” She stood and took her coffee cup to the sink. At her last appointment the doctor had suggested she cut way down on her caffeine intake. These days she had allowed herself only one cup of coffee each morning and she nursed it as if it were the last one on earth. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to buy furniture this early?”
“You still think it’s bad luck?”
She shrugged and dried her hands. “No. I guess not, but it seems like we’re moving fast. What if we buy the furniture and I decide I don’t like it two weeks before the baby comes?”
He flashed her that killer smile. “Then we’ll buy new furniture.”
“Seth.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “Be serious.”
“I am serious.”
“We can’t do that. It’s such a waste.”
He crossed the room and took her into his arms. She could almost get used to him holding her close, kissing the tips of her fingers, trailing his
own across her flat belly whenever she was in reach. Was this how it was supposed to be?
She had never had any male role models in her life. Her mother had never dated, or if she had, Jessie had never known about it. Her grandpa Larry was long gone by the time she was born. She just didn’t know.
“We can do whatever we want. Whatever you want.” He planted a quick kiss on her lips. “I read in Your Body, Your Baby that sometimes it’s hard for a woman to make decisions when she’s pregnant. I can help or we can do this later. I’m just afraid that it’s not going to get any easier as time goes on.”
Had she heard him right? “You’re reading Your Body, Your Baby?”
His cheeks flushed a sweet shade of pink that almost had her giggling. Almost. “Well, yeah. I thought that it might give me insight into what you’re going through, and—”
His words were trapped as she reached up and pressed her lips to his. It was without a doubt the sweetest and sexiest thing he had ever said to her. That anyone had ever said to her.
His arms tightened around her and for a moment she was lost in the magic of being held in his arms.
“So,” he said, after he had taken over the kiss and shown her exactly how it was done, “do you want to buy furniture or not?”
When he looked at her like that, she would do almost anything to make him happy. She tapped down all her doubts and fears. “Let’s go furnish the baby’s room.”
* * *
It was almost dark when Seth pulled the ranch truck to a stop in front of the house. He had been worried about driving his own truck all the way into San Angelo, especially with its tendency to overheat, and if they bought a lot they wouldn’t be able to fit it all in the back of Jessie’s Jeep. In the end he’d borrowed a truck from the Diamond, in case they found what they were looking for.
And they had, he thought as he put the truck in park. A beautiful mahogany changing table and a matching crib that turned from baby bed to a toddler bed and then into full size with a few adjustments. It would be the only bed the baby would ever need, the salesperson had proudly proclaimed, looking expectantly from Seth to Jessie.
In the end it was the look on Jess’s face that made the decision. She had walked around the bed, trailing her fingers over the slick, dark wood as if she could already imagine their baby nestled there. What could he say after that?