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“Yes. For six months.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he muttered, then changed gears. “Since you’re coming home with me, why don’t we pick out a few things today, and arrange to have them delivered to the house on Monday?”
; She tried to imagine Sheila’s shock, and couldn’t. “But we don’t have a room ready!”
“That will be our first project next week. In the meantime we’ll store everything in the spare bedroom next to ours.”
Ours.
She’d never been comfortable in that house, let alone the bedroom, unless Cord had been sharing it with her, of course. But that was all a long time ago. She craved to return to the ranger cabin, to the life which had made both of them so happy.
But that wasn’t meant to be, and it was only natural that Cord would want to hold on to the McKnight family home where he’d been born and raised. If memories of his father weren’t that pleasant, he had loved his mother and would always associate the house with her.
Ashley needed to be more sensitive to his feelings and block the image of Sheila draped across Cord’s bed from her mind. Otherwise she’d be crippled with renewed pain.
“Are you too tired to visit a store I have in mind?” Cord prodded.
Though she felt exhausted after wrestling with her emotions, she didn’t dare disappoint him. “No, but it is getting close to dinner. We should have been back on the floor before now.”
“The ultrasound was more important. We can grab a burger on the way. Right now I want to drive over to Forsey’s.”
Cord remembered!
A little thrill rippled through her body. Forsey’s sold hand-made, nineteenth-century reproductions of all kinds of furniture, specializing in baby cradles, cribs, dressers, tiny rocking chairs and little dollhouses.
Before she and Cord had found out that they probably wouldn’t be able to have children, Ashley had prevailed on him to stop at that store every time they’d driven down to Salt Lake from the Tetons.
Since their separation, she’d given up any ideas about owning such expensive furnishings, but obviously Cord hadn’t forgotten. He knew she’d always had her heart set on the natural oak pieces. That particular decor would work well in a boy’s room.
By the time they’d reached the store and Cord had helped her out of the Land Rover, Ashley was feverish with excitement and anxiety. Though they were the same two people, everything had changed because during their drive from the orphanage, she had agreed to end the separation and live with him again.
In her mind, they still had to work out the details. She’d been sharing a bedroom at the hospital with him, but she wasn’t ready to make love. She had a demon to face first.
Unfortunately she feared Cord entertained other ideas. There was a subtle difference in him as they spent time in the various showrooms—a palpable, sensual energy she felt radiate from him whenever he whispered something private in her ear or hugged her waist in a possessive grip.
When they came to the area displaying her favorite items, he happened to be standing behind her and slid his hands around her stomach, drawing her back against him. He probably had no idea how erotic it felt to her, but she almost fainted from the sensation and slumped against him because her legs could scarcely support her weight.
“Shall I tell the man to ship all of it?”
His husky voice reduced her to a throbbing lump.
“D-do you like the set as much as I do?” She finally managed to get the words out.
Against the side of her neck where she’d sprayed a fresh lemon scent he murmured, “It was my choice years ago.”
The ache in his voice gave her a deeper glimpse into his psyche and the pain he’d suffered because of his supposed inability to give them a baby. Not all men or women cared the same way about children, but she realized that this moment was as earthshaking to Cord as it was to her. Whatever the future held, he would never take his fatherhood for granted. As for his being a wonderful parent, Ashley could guarantee it.
She would have liked to stay in his arms, but some other people had come to look at the furniture. Cord, too, seemed reluctant for the moment to end. “Next week we’ll buy the rest of the things we need,” he announced sotto voce, grasping her hand and drawing her toward the nearest counter where a salesclerk awaited them.
While he took care of their transaction and gave the address for the delivery, Cord refused to break physical contact with her. It was almost as if he was afraid she would disappear if he let her go.
True to his word, they stopped for a hamburger on the way back to the hospital. They talked about their child, what kind of parents they wanted to be. Their discussion covered the various philosophies of child-rearing and they ended up agreeing on everything.
Ashley felt a new contentment she’d never known before. But it was a little like moving through twilight slumber, not quite awake, not quite asleep, that magical time when the whole world was enveloped in a rosy glow.
Enjoy it now, her heart warned her. Life will be quite different after you leave the safety of the hospital and return to the scene of the crime.
