My granddaughter’s just about the same age. She’s in Oklahoma. Oh, how I miss her.”
Cord flashed a sympathetic look of understanding at Sharon Lynn, then smiled at the woman. “I can just imagine.”
“You two count your lucky stars. You’ve been given one of God’s greatest blessings,” the woman said, then turned and walked on.
Cord sighed as she left. “That happen a lot while I was gone?”
Sharon Lynn nodded.
He reached over and took her hand in his. “I know it’s hard, darlin’, but she is our blessing for now.”
“But what happens when...” She couldn’t even say the words.
“When she has to go?” Cord finished for her. “We’ll get by. We’ll have to.”
Sharon Lynn didn’t think that was going to be nearly as easy as he was pretending. Not for either one of them. One thing was clear to her now, Cord was every bit as caught up in this world of make-believe parenting as she was. She might not totally understand his motives, but she knew they were as deep and sincere as her own.
She reached for a taco and bit into it, but her appetite had vanished. She put it back on the tray and gazed bleakly at Cord.
“I’m ready to go if you are.”
“Not yet. Finish your food. You’ll feel better. There’s not much that can’t be fixed with the kick of a little salsa.” He picked up the taco and held it for her. “One more bite.”
She dutifully took that bite and then, with his gaze locked on hers, she took one more. Before she knew it, she’d finished one taco and was reaching for the second.
“Better?” he asked.
“Okay, yes. You’re a very wise man.”
“I do have my moments,” he agreed with a twinkle in his eyes.
“So, smarty, tell me again why a baby who’s not yet one needs a saddle.”
His cheeks flushed a dull red. “Okay, maybe that was going a little overboard, but she’ll be able to ride a rocking horse soon. After that she’ll graduate to the real thing.”
“Do you realize how long that will be?” she protested.
His expression sobered. “I know.”
A tear escaped and began to slide slowly down her cheek. He reached over and brushed it away with a gentle caress.
“Don’t think about that, Sharon Lynn. Concentrate on the here and now. It’s all any of us ever have, anyway.”
* * *
Cord was getting to be a mighty fast talker. He managed to convince Sharon Lynn to let him spend another night on her sofa so he could take the middle-of-the-night feedings. He made it sound like a generous and unselfish gesture, but he knew it was anything but that. As long as he was in that house, spending time with Sharon Lynn and the baby, he could pretend that that was the way it would always be. A fine one he was to be telling her to concentrate on the present and not to look too far ahead, when he was already gazing years into the future.
Sunday morning he awoke to see a vision standing over him. Used to seeing Sharon Lynn in jeans and cotton blouses or sweaters, he was stunned to see her all dressed up in a dress made of soft blue wool in a shade the exact color of her eyes. She’d let her hair fall to her shoulders and had brushed it to a shine.
“Going someplace?”
“I thought I’d go to church, if you don’t mind staying here with Ashley a little longer. Do you need to get back to White Pines?”
“Not right away.”
He thought he knew why she was so anxious to go to Sunday services. There were prayers she needed to say in a place where she’d be sure God would hear her. He wouldn’t mind offering up a few of those prayers himself.
“We could bundle up the baby and go together,” he suggested.
She shook her head. “That’s okay. I’m running late as it is.”
“Then go,” he said. Something told him her words would be heard more readily than his own, anyway. There were a few sins he probably needed to acknowledge before the Almighty would be interested in much else he had to say. He could start off with lust, which seemed to be slamming through him on a regular basis lately.
“We’ll be right here when you get back,” he promised.
Sharon Lynn turned away, then hesitated before turning back. “If you don’t have any plans for the rest of the day, Grandpa Harlan wants me to bring the baby to White Pines for Sunday dinner.