The weeks passed as Agnes introduced Bess to the important truths in her worn, much-read Bible. When she wasn’t grappling with the Bible stories, Bess ate with slightly more appetite and slept without dreams. Every other day, Judd would grace her room with his presence, standing at the foot of her bed like a sentinel, studying her with that icy stare. Bess returned his probing look with the blankest gaze she could muster.
Once, she blinked her eyes at him and threw him a kiss just to break the tension. Instead of leaving the room as she’d expected, he’d leaned forward, propping himself over her feet with his hands and told her in an even tone that didn’t reveal any emotion, “Don’t tempt me.”
After a few minutes of this silent interrogation, Judd would usually step over to the window and study the landscape while he told her about his youngest constable, who kept getting lost when they sent him out on calls, about how many cattle he was going to have to sell this winter because of the poor hay crop this past summer, about missing Daniel’s strong back to pitch in on the chores around the place that never ended.
They were almost surreal conversations, as if she were becoming his friend and not his enemy, but then he would glare at her again, sensing the secrets she carried and would not share. She did not know if she offended because she had the audacity to stand up to him or because he really did not want to be saddled with two more dependents.
A week before Christmas, an unexpected visitor knocked on the framing of Bess’ open bedroom door. She looked up to see Michelle’s brother, Samuel, immaculately dressed and flashing his dimples at her. “May I come in?” he asked, stepping into the room without exactly waiting for her answer.
She smiled to herself and said hello. Samuel took this an invitation to launch into a long monologue on the latest challenges in his business, his plans for Christmas Day, and the small house in Irving, a suburb of Dallas, that he was thinking about buying. Suddenly, he seemed to wind down like a spinning top, and sat down in the rocking chair.
“I could look at you all day, Bess Taylor,” he said. “When Michelle said she needed to visit with Agnes, I insisted on coming over here with her, just to see you.”
Bess forced herself to grin, even though Samuel’s straightforwardness made her feel uncomfortable. “I’m having a baby, literally any day now, Mr. Miller,” she said. “I find it hard to believe anyone would find me attractive at the moment, or for any time in the foreseeable future as well. Aren’t there plenty of eligible, single ladies in Dallas with more sophistication and looks than me? I find it impossible to believe otherwise.”
Samuel leaned forward, clasping his hands between his knees. “The chemistry between two people just is, Bess. Don’t tell me you haven’t felt something between us?”
Yes, something, like a thick, great wall of insincerity and shadowy intentions. “Is there a history between you and Daniel or Judd that I should know about?” she demanded, tired of pretense. “Maybe you think they insulted you some time in the past, and you want a way to get back at them? Whatever it is, I’m not interested in being part of it.”
“What a low opinion you have of yourself, Mrs. Taylor,” Samuel countered, but something like anger flashed in his brown eyes and was gone again before Bess was sure of what she’d seen. “I’m actually looking to expand my company with a branch office here. I plan on being in the area much more frequently in future. I hope you’ll do me the honor of allowing me to call on you?”
Bess didn’t get an opportunity to answer this question because Judd walked into the room then, just in time to hear Samuel’s bold invitation. He glanced between Samuel and Bess. “Your timing, as usual, leaves a great deal to be desired,” Judd barked. “Go find your sister, Sam.”
Judd didn’t wait to see if his orders would be followed, but stepped up to the bed with his back toward the other man. He placed a work-calloused palm against Bess’ forehead. “You’re warm,” he told her, “and you look pale. Are you feeling all right?”
His touch took away the agitation caused by Samuel’s aggressive behavior. She swallowed and pushed her head back against the pillows. “I’m okay, I think,” she said.
He stood back up and shoved his hands in his pockets. Samuel, still in the rocking chair, gave Judd’s back such a look that the hairs on the back of Bess’ neck stood on end, and then he stood and stalked out of the room. Judd, hearing the heavy footfalls behind him, gave Bess an assessing stare. “You like that silly boy?” he demanded.
Bess opened her mouth to answer him, only to hear a moan escape her lips. A pain, sharp and quick, wrapped around from her back to her stomach. She took a breath and then gripped the covers with knuckles gone white when a second pain ripped through her torso.
Judd stepped to the door and called for Agnes before turning back to the bed, grabbing Bess’ hands in one of his own and using the other to massage her back. All the while, he was giving her a cadence of comforting words, phrases that made no sense to her as she fought the pain, but that soothed nonetheless.
Bess just managed to get to the car, as Judd half carried her with Agnes following behind, holding tight to the suitcase they had packed days before. The sting of the hospital’s sterile environment clung to her nostrils as they wheeled her to a room. Bess concentrated on each inhale and exhale, willing herself to ride the wave of each, fresh contraction. Judd kept one, large palm splayed across her back for support. Agnes fed her ice chips and wiped her brow with a cool cloth.
Eventually, Dr. Warren came into the room, his white coat rumpled, his glasses perched on the edge of his nose as if they might slip to the floor at any moment. He ignored Judd’s tense questions and smiled at Agnes knowingly before giving Bess a loving pat on the foot and settling onto a stool at the foot of the bed.
When Judd would have left the room, Bess grabbed his arm, gritting her teeth against the wave of the next contraction. “Please stay,” she pleaded. “I’m afraid.”
Judd’s complexion, already pale, blanched further, but he nodded briefly and climbed into the bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her chest, allowing Bess to lean against his torso so that she could feel the strength of him through her thin hospital gown. Minutes later, how long she didn’t know, she pushed for the final time and held her breath until she heard the distinct wail that was her child’s first breath.
The moment the nurse laid the blond bundle into her arms, something in Bess’ chest broke wide open. She placed her lips against the soft skin at little Daniel’s temple and breathed in the sweet, new baby scent. When he opened his bright-green eyes and looked at her, raising one thin eyebrow, she was completely lost. How was she ever going to leave him?
Judd, still supporting her from behind, reached over her shoulder to lay a gentle finger alongside Daniel’s brow. “He looks just like his father,” he whispered, his voice husky.
Bess just resisted the urge to lean her exhausted head back into the crook of his shoulder. Instead, with a regret she ignored, she leaned forward slightly and told him, “Thank you, Judd. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
He patted the top of Daniel’s head and extricated himself from the bed, while Agnes leaned over her grandson and planted kisses all over his soft head. All too soon, the nurse was ushering all of them out of the delivery room while Dr. Warren helped Bess pass the placenta and then ordered her to rest.
Some time in the early hours of the morning, Bess was awakened by the nurse, who brought in a fussy Daniel to be fed for the first time. What Bess had assumed would be natural proved daunting until the kind, older nurse gave Bess a few pointers, the best of which was to relax.
Bess had just finished feeding Daniel and burping him as the nurse instructed, when the door to her room opened again. Judd walked inside, his gray Stetson twirling in his nervous hands. He stopped by the cradle where Daniel lay falling to sleep as the nurse began to roll it back to the nursery and laid his hand on the baby’s belly, patting it lightly.
When they were alone, he walked to the side of the bed, studying Bess’ face in his usual, blunt fashion. “How you feeling?”
“Tired, but happy,” she told him, casting her eyes to the blanket because she was feeling a little shy about having him stay for the birth now that it was all over.
His finger snaked under her chin and lifted her gaze to meet his. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he ordered. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I was proud to be a part of it.”
The kind words brought tears to her eyes. She brushed them away with the back of her hand.
“You can’t leave us,” he said suddenly. “No matter what your reasons for thinking otherwise, we’re better off with you than without you. You understand that, don’t you?”
She didn’t. She was going to have to leave her baby to save him, but she didn’t know how she was going to accomplish that feat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He glared at her, but the look quickly softened. “It doesn’t matter. I think I’ve come up with a solution.”
While she watched, he walked over to the door and opened it, inviting someone into the room. Michael Jones, his suit in disarray as if he had been pulled out of his bed, walked into the room, a shy smile on his ruddy face. “Congratulations, Bess,” Michael greeted her.
“Thank you,” Bess stammered. She looked between the two men, a question mark in her eyes. Surely Judd didn’t think she would tell all her secrets to the pastor, a complete stranger, when she had refused to disclose anything to either him or Agnes?
Judd walked over to the bed again and took Bess’ left hand into his own. She watched his chest move rapidly, as if he were having trouble catching his breath. As Michael pulled up a Bible, flipping it open as he positioned himself at the foot of the bed, Judd looked Bess straight in the eyes and answered the question he saw there. “If we’re married,” he said, “I won’t have to worry about your leaving.”
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