A Headstrong Woman - By Michelle Maness Page 0,119
into cleaning up the mess that was left behind.
Jonathon helped Sparky ease onto a bale of hay and examined the younger man’s leg. He had been the first to make a dash for the house to warn them the tornado was coming and had been rewarded with a large splinter of wood in his thigh.
“The wind just hurled it at me,” Sparky said on a gasp.
“Harold, could you go for Dr. Carver? Here, Chris; hold this cloth there would you? Has anyone seen my wife yet?” he asked the men who had gathered around him.
“She was just outside asking about you,” Rusty shared. “We’ll see to things here; you go on,” the older man offered.
“Thanks, Rusty,” Jonathon said with a hand on the man’s shoulder before he moved toward the house.
“You okay, Millie?” Jonathon asked as he poked his head into the kitchen. Lilly sat at the table a glass of milk untouched in front of her. She jumped up when she saw Jonathon and ran to him.
“We fared just fine,” Millie assured him.
Jonathon turned from the kitchen and checked for Alexandria down stairs before finding her upstairs in one of the extra bedrooms. She was cleaning up broken glass from one of the windows and had gathered several scattered items and piled them on the bed to be sorted through.
“I’m sorry, Alexandria; I was going to come back to the house after I helped loose the horses. They didn’t stand a chance if the barn took a hit. By the time we had turned them out the twister was on us,” Jonathon explained as he approached his wife.
Alexandria glanced up and he caught a glimpse of hurt and something else in her eyes before she turned her attention back to the mess in front of her.
“I’m fine,” she responded, though Jonathon could tell she wasn’t. He had caught a glimpse of the same desperation in her expression that had been in Lilly’s when she had hurled herself into his arms but Alexandria wasn’t allowing herself that comfort.
“Alexandria, I’m sorry,” he said again and watched helplessly as she continued to clean.
“I said I’m fine; there’s a mess to be cleaned up in case you haven’t noticed.”
“And it’ll still be there in a few minutes from now,” he reminded her. He set Lilly on the bed and moved to his wife. “Alexandria, don’t shut me out!” he pleaded as he took her by the arms and pulled her close. Alexandria remained stiff in his arms a moment before clinging to him.
“Mommy’s scared of storms,” Lilly commented.
Jonathon glanced at the top of his wife’s head and wondered how he’d missed that.
“I’m so sorry, I should have been there with you,” Jonathon said as he led her to the bed, sat down and pulled her into his lap.
Lilly giggled beside him. “Mommy doesn’t fit in your lap.”
“She doesn’t?” Jonathon asked with a smile. “I think she does,” he countered as he invited his stepdaughter to snuggle against him. She cuddled against his side and raised wide blue eyes to his.
“Daddy.”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“It was real scary,” Lilly admitted.
Jonathon’s heart turned over at her admission. All the horses and cattle in the world couldn’t match the value and importance of these two.
“But I’m glad the horsies are okay,” she added almost as an afterthought.
“Do you think my family’s okay?” Alexandria asked Jonathon.
“Ted’s on his way over there if he’s not there already,” he shared; Alexandria nodded against his neck. “Why don’t you two take a nap?”
“I need to clean up…”
“I’ll clean up the mess in here; you need to rest.”
“I’m fine,” Alexandria persisted.
“The doc’s not here to order you to bed so I am,” Jonathon informed her.
“I don’t think I want to be up here by myself.”
“Then you lay on the settee and I’ll pull two chairs together for Lilly and you two can rest in the parlor closer to where Millie will be working,” he suggested.
“Is Mommy sick?” Lilly asked her small brow scrunched up in concern.
“No, Lilly, we haven’t found out for sure from the doctor, but we think you may be getting a little brother or sister,” Jonathon shared. Lilly scrambled onto her knees and smiled at him.
“Really?”
“We think so.”
“I want a little brother,” she declared.
“Well, we don’t get to decide if you get a brother or sister but either way I know you’ll be a good big sister.”
“Oh I will, I’ll help and I won’t get into things,” she promised. “You know I’m real lucky.”