“I don’t doubt it for a moment,” she told him. “This will be a trip of a lifetime.”
…As the day wore on, they kept busy. Journey prepared some vegetables to go with the roast and tried her hand at a berry cobbler. Reno deemed it all to be culinary delights.
While she cleaned the kitchen and walked the dogs, he began the arduous process of going through the box of papers Apple had sent. Most of the items at the top were things like receipts, land records, and tax records. There were a couple of marriage certificates and Reno chuckled to see that his friends found happiness. The names didn’t mean anything to him, but he hoped they would one day. There were also some birth certificates of children to be born and there were a few letters he set aside to read later. So far, he’d found nothing earth-shattering.
“Reno?”
“In here, love,” he answered Journey’s call.
She appeared at the door. “Would you like to take a break? I’ve got an idea.”
“Do I need this?” he picked up the jasmine bottle.
“Maybe later.” She held up her bathing suit. “I thought we might go swimming at the Slab.”
At the mention of his old stomping ground, he was immediately ready to go. “Sure. What will I wear?”
“Grab your blue briefs. They look almost like swimming trunks. I don’t think anyone will be able to tell the difference.” As he headed to his room, she followed him down the hall. “I’m going to slip this on and wear a tunic cover-up.” When he joined her, she directed him to get a couple of the bigger towels from the linen closet. “The next time we go to town, we’ll buy you some nice trunks for the Hill Country Cowboy thing.”
“If we’re still here.”
“Right.” She didn’t feel the same pang as before at the thought of his leaving. Not when she was planning on going along. “I still don’t want to disappoint Apple and the others. Not if we don’t have to. The pageant is for a good cause.”
Reno made a face like the thought scared him a little. “I don’t mind dressing up, but I seriously have no talent.”
“I disagree.” Journey stated flatly. “You’re very talented.”
Sidling up to her as she tied the string at the neck of her cover-up, he whispered loudly, “Yes, I know, baby, but we can’t do that in public.”
“Oh, stop. I heard you singing to the radio. You’ve got a marvelous voice.”
“Huh.” He made a noise of disbelief. “I’ll think of something, I guess. If I have to.”
Digging through a drawer for sunscreen, she thought of something she’d intended to ask before. “Did you find anything in the box of papers and files?”
Reno shook his head. “Not really. There was so much stuff tightly packed into that box I didn’t get very far. We’ll have to look more later. I did see a couple of marriage certificates that surprised me. And a few birth certificates. I knew she was pregnant when I left, but Fancy and King have five kids in the next few years!”
Crack!
“What happened?” He rushed over to check on Journey.
She looked dazed. “I dropped a bottle of lotion. It was nearly empty but the bottle broke.”
He hurried to the kitchen to get a broom and a dustpan. “Don’t step in the broken glass.”
When he returned, he found her on her knees, picking up the larger pieces.
“Hey, I’ll get that. You’ll cut yourself.” She backed away to let him clean up, still having said nothing more. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Do you feel bad?”
“No.” She thought a second, then decided to share. “When you mentioned the birth certificates, it just hit me that we didn’t…take precautions.”
Now, it was Reno’s turn to drop something. The broom went careening to one side, but he caught it before it fell. “I’m so sorry.” Such things were a man’s responsibility. “I didn’t have any preventatives.” The new term ‘rubbers’ seemed to him to be a crass word.
“It’s not your fault.” She pushed her hair from her face. “I mean, yea, I was a virgin – but I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday.”
Her expression made him laugh, then he felt bad for laughing. “I should’ve thought. I lost my head.”
“So, did I,” she admitted. “I’m not on the pill or anything, but that’s no excuse. I’m a modern woman.”
“As opposed to your unmodern man. What about a pill?” he asked as he dumped the glass into a waste basket in the bathroom.
“Women have the luxury of taking a drug containing hormones that stops them from ovulating.” At his dazed expression she made a face. “The drug prevents pregnancy.”
“What will they think of next?” he mused, folding his arm over his chest. “Do you think you’re pregnant?”
Journey couldn’t tell by his tone whether he was happy at the prospect or not. “Let me think about my cycle.” She counted the days since her last period. Close. “Actually, I think we might be okay. We probably should pick up some condoms on our way home from the Slab.”
“What type of establishment can I purchase them from?”
“Any convenience store will have them.”
Reno was amused. “This store truly earns its name – convenient, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose.” Her mind was whirling with the possibility.
When he saw her worried expression, Reno just wouldn’t have it. “I don’t know what your plans were – aside from me. But if you’re worried about what I think? Don’t.” He came to take her in his arms. “Nothing would thrill me more than to see my child growing inside of you.”
His assurance lifted a burden from her heart. “You’d have descendants,” she whispered, remembering their conversations from before.
“Not
