Choices of the Heart (17 page)

“Who you got there?” Pa retuned his handshake and craned his neck to get a look at the still-sleeping Rosie.

“My new daughter, Rosie.” He heard the pride in his voice. She
was
his.

Pa’s face showed the shock Reese had expected at the announcement.

“I’ll be damned. Chloe’s got one, too. What did you two go and do now? They ain’t Ronnie’s?”

“No.” Reese shook his head.

“We’ve adopted ourselves a bigger family.” Chloe chuckled.

“I bet there’s quite a tale behind this one.” Pa lifted his hat and scratched his head. “It’ll have to wait ’til your ma can hear it, or she’ll have my hide for knowing something she don’t.”

Reese settled a groggy Rosie in the back of the auto and helped Chloe climb in the front seat with Charlie cradled in her arms. He went back to get the luggage after he shut her door. He and his father lugged the trunks, filled with some of Bobby’s things and new clothes for Rosie and Charlie, to the car, loaded them and then joined Chloe. Reese sat in back, pulling Rosie onto his lap.

“I reckon you can come over for the noon meal tomorrow. Ma’ll want to hear all about it. I’ll just tell her to expect a surprise but not what that surprise, or surprises, might be.” Pa laughed, as he pulled onto the gravel road barely visible with the dim headlights. “Did you get all the business seen to?”

“We did,” Reese told him with a nod.

“Good.” Pa exhaled. “It will be good to put Chicago behind all of us.”

Reese held silent, but in his heart, he couldn’t agree with his father more. He wanted to let Ronnie and Daisy rest in peace.

~*~

“I would have been scared witless!” Dottie exclaimed.

Reese had just told his parents the whole of the gangster story, albeit a watered-down version. Dottie was holding Charlie, loving on him every bit as much as Chloe had.

“I can’t rightly see you dancing the Charleston either, Reese,” Mr. Lloyd said with a laugh. “Can’t believe that you set foot in that speakeasy.”

“Come now, Randy. In your day, you would have done the same thing, and you know it. If I remember correctly”—she laughed—“we met in a tavern at a dance! Thing was, back then it was still legal to hoist a couple a drinks and neck under a tree with a pretty girl.”

“Aw, hell.” Mr. Lloyd took a sip of lemonade.

“She got you that time, Pa.” Reese refilled his glass of lemonade and hefted Rosie onto his lap.

This scene was so perfect, as if they’d been doing it for many years already. The members of the family seemed to fit like a puzzle. It didn’t feel strange or awkward that two unknown children were sitting at the table, or that Chloe had been so readily accepted back into the fold. Reese hadn’t lied. The Lloyds didn’t hold a grudge.

“I suppose we ought to get home and finish unpacking,” Chloe said. They’d been there several hours already, and by the time they got home, it would be nearly suppertime. Chloe got to her feet, with Bobby clinging to her as if his very life depended on her.

“Thanks for seeing to the chores while we were gone.” Reese stood and placed Rosie on the floor.

Dottie handed Charlie to Chloe, and somehow she was able to juggle both Bobby and the baby out the door and into Reese’s waiting vehicle.

“Well, that went well.” Chloe set Bobby on one side of her, Rosie on the other and she held on to Charlie. Once settled, she adjusted her skirt over her thighs. “I thought your ma would be upset that we did this.”

“Did what?” Reese glanced at her as he pulled his car out onto the gravel.

“The children.”

“Why would she be upset?”

“Well, it was so rash.” Chloe shrugged, looking down at the baby sitting on her lap. “She never acts without thinking everything through. Your ma is very meticulous and thoughtful.”

“But it was the
right
thing to do,” Reese told her. “She could see that as well as we could. She’ll be supportive of whatever we do, Chloe. She loves us.”

Said so simply and so true. But to Chloe, the idea of a loving family was still foreign. She knew she and Reese would provide that for their children, but she herself had never had it. She didn’t know what unconditional love was, knew that Reese had offered her that at one time, but now she wasn’t so certain.

“Remember too, that she’s not the one who has to care for them all day and all night.” He laughed. “That’ll be us, honey.”

“True. Much easier to be doting grandparents than to be full-time parents. It’s certainly not the easiest of jobs. Children can be exhausting.”

As if in response to her words, she suddenly felt the urge to yawn. Charlie had slept well the night before. Rosie had not. Chloe believed everyone would need time to adjust. The children had to get to know her and Reese and had to realize they would be loved—and all the children needed to get used to each other. Poor Bobby seemed particularly confused, but his positive reaction to Rosie gave Chloe hope he’d soon adapt.

“What if all six of her children had been home?” Chloe asked the question she’d been thinking about since leaving the awful apartment where they’d found Rosie and Charlie.

Reese parked the car by the back porch and helped the children and then Chloe climb out.

When he didn’t answer, she asked, “Would we have taken them in, too?”

“I don’t know, Chloe.” Reese chuckled. “It’s not like we’re an orphanage, honey.” He must have noticed her disappointment. “We would have found room, though, if it felt like that’s what we needed to do.” He tipped up her chin and kissed her softly.

“I just mean—” She pulled away slightly, not wanting his gentle distraction.

“You have a very soft heart.” He smiled.

She looked away, hoping the tears she felt building wouldn’t spill over. Chloe sniffed and blinked quickly.

“Did you have fun with Grandma and Grandpa, Bobby?” She looked down at the small boy clinging to Reese’s pant leg. His thumb was firmly stuck in his mouth.

“Yup.” He nodded and shot Rosie, who stood on the other side of Reese, a shy glance. He’d been particularly quiet since they picked him up.

“Was there any mail for me at the post office?” Chloe looked back inside the car, remembering the pile his father had handed him.

“I didn’t look. You go ahead.” He bobbed his head toward the stack.

She shifted Charlie so she could reach inside the car without hitting his head on the frame of the vehicle. She’d given her nursing friends this address when she’d resigned at the hospital. There were several envelopes addressed to her, just as she hoped. The friends she’d made in Lincoln would last a lifetime. School had drawn them together, but their similar backgrounds would keep them close.

The letter at the bottom of the pile just about fell from her hands. She felt as if the hot day had suddenly gotten even hotter. She took a deep breath and shoved it back under the pile, hoping Reese wouldn’t see it.
Oh, Dr. Tom, leave me alone!

“Is something wrong, honey?” Reese asked.

“No.” She cleared her throat and gave what she hoped looked like a legitimate smile. “Just letters from my nursing friends.”

She leaned her back against the car and handed Charlie to Reese, worried that with the world spinning and feeling faint she might drop him. She swallowed back the worry.

“You sure? You’ve gone white all of a sudden.” He felt her forehead. “You feel all right?”

“I’m fine,” she lied.

She had so much to tell him, felt guilty she hadn’t shared anything about her time in Lincoln with him. He hadn’t asked her. Maybe he didn’t care? Maybe he just didn’t want to know.

Rosie ran off, singing
Amazing Grace
, and Reese held out his hand.

“Come on,” he called, “let’s get these kids inside.”

Chloe stuffed the mail under her arm and followed him, hoping he didn’t notice the sheen of nervous sweat coating her palm. They walked together up to the back door of the house.

“Home sweet home,” Reese said. “All of us.” He laughed and looked from Bobby’s chocolate smile to Rosie’s dirty hands and then at baby Charlie, who seemed content to simply stare at his new papa. Reese’s laughter increased until he was laughing so hard Chloe saw tears in his eyes. “What a family we’ve thrown together, Chloe Anne.”

Chloe laughed too—more at his reaction than at their situation. A month ago, she was sharing space at a nursing dorm with three other women, taking care of the sick and elderly. Today, she was a mother of three and a new wife. God willing, she would make her life one of happiness and few unhappy tears. But first, she had to find out why Dr. Tom was writing to her and maybe—just maybe—tell Reese a little bit about what her life had been like before she’d moved back home.

Chloe followed him up through the back door of the farmhouse. The place needed cleaning, and dinner needed to be made, but Reese’s mother had given her a casserole to feed her new family, and the chores could wait. Right now, she wanted to find a way to get a few minutes alone so she could read her letter.

“I’m going to go change clothes and head out for chores.” Reese kissed her cheek and went toward the stairs. Bobby and Rosie trailed after him, unwittingly giving Chloe the opportunity she’d hoped for.

“Pa’s bringing the crib over after supper,” Reese called back to her.

She waited until she heard his footsteps in their bedroom upstairs before diving back into the pile of letters she’d set on the table. It was difficult not to rip open the letter from Tom. Why was he writing her? She thought they’d said their goodbyes, thought the letter she sent when she quit the hospital was sufficient to break off their relationship. What more could he have to say to her?

Reese bounded back into the kitchen, dressed in overalls and a sweat-stained work shirt. She definitely needed to clean up his wardrobe.

“I’ll take Bobby and Rosie out with me.” He pulled out a chair and sat down to put on his beat-up boots. “Think she’s too young to milk a cow?”

“Nope,” Chloe said, remembering her own childhood chores. “I think I was five the first time I did it. Let her try. Might be hard at first to get the rhythm, but once she’s got it, that’ll be a good chore for her. That and the eggs.”

“I’ve had second thoughts about her gatherin’ the eggs. Dang snakes love to get in there.” He kissed Chloe’s cheek again. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

She almost said it. She almost told him she loved him. It was on the tip of her tongue. How could it not be? He was as perfect as he always had been. Patient to a fault, a hard worker and a good friend. How would he react when she told him about her relationship with Tom? She had no choice but to do so, not since the fool had decided to write to her.

She looked out the window over the sink, watching him chase Bobby and Rosie down the path to the barn. She caught the sound of laughter and watched with pleasure as Rosie skipped as if there wasn’t a thing in the world to worry about. That picture alone, painted in her mind, would make rearing the girl worthwhile.

When Chloe was sure Reese was occupied in the barn, she took her lemonade and sat down, eyeing the pile of mail stacked neatly in the middle of the kitchen table. She sorted it into two piles, his and hers, feeling an odd pang again. Sharing an address with him. The weird and new intimacies of marriage went well beyond the bedroom. It was in so many little things. Seeing his shirts hanging next to her dresses. Sharing a bathroom. Putting his thick socks next to her hose.

She let the breeze from the window ruffle her hair. It felt so good she actually took out the pins and let it hang in its natural bob. It had been awhile since she cut it and it needed a trim, but she wasn’t all that worried about it. She was home now, and if she wanted to wear her hair long and stay in her nightdress all day, by golly, she would!

She shifted her attention back to the letter pile. Her stomach was queasy. She would read Molly’s and Nellie’s letters after supper. It would be fine to share those with Reese. But Tom’s had to come first, while the house was empty save for Charlie, who was napping. Maybe it was nothing, but Chloe figured if the busy doctor took the time to write, he must have something important to say.

Dearest Chloe:

I was quite saddened to learn of the loss of your sister. However, when I learned you had resigned your post at the hospital, I was shocked, to say the least.

Why didn’t you tell me you were going to stay in Broken Bow?

Why did I have to hear it from your roommates? I thought I meant more to you than that. I deserved more consideration. Don’t you think?

There’s the question of my marriage proposal, as well. You never gave me an answer, but now I must assume you are choosing not to come home to Lincoln at all. Has something happened to force you to stay away from here? From me?

Please tell me you will reconsider and come back to Lincoln! You are greatly missed at the hospital but most especially by me, my love.

Nothing has changed in my mind or my heart.

Please come home.

TF

“Well, how about that?” Chloe spoke aloud to the walls of her kitchen. “He never even said he cared about me while I was there. Now that I am gone, it seems he cannot make do without me.”