Morning Glory

kissed and never desired carnally.

Until now.

He began moving toward the house in long, unhurried strides, feeling the awesome thump of his pulse in his breast and temples, wondering what to say when he reached her.

She was already on her knees with a bucket and rag when he opened the screen door and let it thud quietly behind him. She went on scrubbing, riveting her attention on the floor. The boys were napping, the radio silent. He stood across the room, watching, wondering, waiting.

Go on, then. Lift her to her feet and see if you were right, Parker.

He moved to stand over her, but she toiled stubbornly, her entire body rocking as she scrubbed with triple the energy required for a simple egg.

'Eleanor?'

He’d never called her by her first name before and it doubled his awareness of her as a woman, and hers of him as a man.

'Go away.'

'Eleanor'-spoken softer this time while he gripped her arm as if to tug her up. Her head snapped back, revealing green eyes glimmering with unshed tears.

She was angry, so angry. And the tender tone of his voice added to it, though she didn’t completely understand why. She dashed away the infuriating tears and looked up the considerable length of him, to his bare, wet chest, his attractive face still moist with well water, his hair standing in rills. His eyes appeared troubled, the lashes spiky with moisture. His skin was brown from a long summer’s shirtless labor, and he had filled out until he looked like a lean, fit animal. The sight of him sent a thrill through her vitals. He was all the things that Glendon hadn’t been-honed, hard and handsome. But what man who looked like that would welcome the affections of a plain, crazy woman seven months pregnant, shaped like a watermelon?

Eleanor dropped her chin. He tipped it up with one finger and gave her face a disarming perusal before letting a grin tip the corner of his mouth. 'You got one hell of an arm, you know that?'

She jerked her chin away and felt his charm seep through her limbs, but nothing in her life had led her to believe she could attract a man like him so she assumed he was only having fun with her. 'It’s not funny, Will.'

Standing above her, he felt disappointment spear him deeply. He dropped to a squat, his gaze falling on her hands, which rested idly over the edge of a white enamel bucket. 'No, it’s not,' he replied quietly. 'I think we’d better talk about this.'

'There’s nothing to talk about.'

'Isn’t there?'

She suddenly made an L of her arms and dropped her face against her knuckles.

'Don’t cry.'

'I’m n-not.' Whatever was wrong with her? She never cried, and it was embarrassing to do so before Will Parker for absolutely no good reason at all.

He waited, but she continued sobbing softly, her stomach bobbing. 'Don’t…' he whispered, pained.

She threw back her head, rubbed the tears aside and sniffed. 'Pregnant women cry sometimes, that’s all.'

'I’m sorry I laughed.'

'I know, and I’m sorry I threw that egg.' She dried her face roughly with her apron. 'But, Will, you got to understand about the bees.'

'No, you’ve got to understand about the bees.'

'But, Will-'

He held up both palms. 'Now wait a minute before you say anything. I’m not going to lie to you. I havebeen in the orchard… a lot. But I’m not him, Eleanor, I’m not Glendon. I’m a careful man and I’m not going to get hurt.'

'How do you know that?'

'All right, I don’t. But you just can’t go through life shying away from things you’re scared are going to happen. Chances are they never will anyway.' He suddenly dropped both knees to the floor and rested his hands on his thighs, leaning forward earnestly. 'Elly, there are bees all over the place. And honey out there, too, a lot of it. I want to gather it and sell it.'

'But-'

'Now wait a minute, let me finish. You haven’t heard it all.' He drew a deep breath and plunged on. 'I’ll need your help. Not with the hives-I’ll take care of that part so you don’t have to go near them. But with the extracting and bottling.'

She glanced away. 'For money, I suppose.'

'Well, why not?'

She snapped her gaze back to him, spreading her palms. 'But I don’t care about money.'

'Well, maybe I do. If not for myself, for this place, for you and the kids. I mean, there are things I’d like to do around here. I’ve thought about putting in electricity… and a bathroom maybe. With the new baby coming, I thought you’d want those things, too. And what about the baby-where you gonna get the money to pay the doctor?'

'I told you before, I don’t need any doctors.'

'Maybe you didn’t the day the boys got stung-we were lucky that day-but you’ll need one when the baby is born.'

'I’m not having any doctor,' she declared stubbornly.

'But that’s ridiculous! Who’s going to help you when the time comes?'

She squared her chin and looked him dead in the eye. 'I was hopin’ you would.'

'Me?' Will’s eyebrows shot up and his head jutted forward. 'But I don’t know the first damn thing about it.'

'There’s nothing to it,' she hurried on. 'I’ll tell you everything you need to know beforehand. About all you’d have to do is tie the-'

'Now, wait a minute!' He leaped to his feet, holding up both palms like a traffic cop.

Riveting her eyes on him, she got clumsily to her feet. 'You’re scared, aren’t you?'

He stuffed his hands into his back pockets, gripping his buttocks. A pair of creases appeared between his eyebrows. 'Damn right I’m scared. And it doesn’t make a bit of sense, not when there’s a qualified doctor down there in town who can do it.'

'I told you once, the town’s got no use for me, I got no use for it.'

'But that’s cr-' He stopped himself short.

'Crazy?' She finished for him.

'I didn’t mean to say that.' Damn his thoughtless tongue. 'It’s risky. All kinds of things could happen. Why, it could be born with the cord wrapped around its neck, or breech-what if that happened?'

'It won’t. I had two that come out with no trouble at all. All you’d have to do-'

'No!' He put six feet of space between them before facing her again, scowling. 'I’m no midwife, goddammit!'

It was the first time Elly had seen him truly angry and she wasn’t sure how to handle him. They faced off, as motionless as chess pieces, their color high and their mouths set while Eleanor felt uncertainty creeping in. She needed him, but he didn’t seem to understand that. She was afraid, but couldn’t let it show. And if what she was about to say backfired, she’d be the sorriest woman in Gordon County.

'Well, then, maybe you’d better collect your things and move on.'

A shaft of dread speared through him. So much for love. How many times in his life had he been through this? Sorry, boy, but we won’t be needin’ you anymore. Wish we could keep you on, boy, but- No matter how hard he worked to prove himself, the end was always inevitable. He should have grown used to it by now. But it hurt, goddammit. It hurt! And she was being unreasonable to expect this of him.

He pulled in a deep, shaky breath and felt his stomach quiver. 'Can’t we talk about this, Elly?'

She loved the sound of her name rolling off his tongue. But she wasn’t keeping him around as an ornament. If he was going to stay he had to understand why. Obstinately she knelt and returned to her scrubbing. 'I can do it alone. I don’t need you.'