Elizabeth knew Jenna’s life hadn’t been easy. Other people may not have seen that. But after she’d left home, and her parents’ dysfunctional family, for Kansas City, she’d married young. Her first husband, a successful lawyer, had provided well, and their life together, their expensive home in a fashionable suburb, had appeared to be perfect. But that had proved to be a facade. He hadn’t been the most loving man, and the marriage had ended badly, in part because Jenna’s infertility had driven a wedge between them.
Elizabeth felt a guilty tug at her heartstrings. Yes, she’d lost a child, but she had three others, and, like Becca, she was pregnant again. If Elizabeth didn’t miscarry this time—a constant worry—she would have four children while poor Jenna would never hold the one baby she wanted so much. “Have you talked to a new fertility specialist?”
“I’ve seen them all, from Farrier to Kansas City. My ex and I even tried in vitro. Several times.”
“Then, are you thinking adoption? I know you considered that once.”
Jenna sighed. “That’s why I was in Farrier today. I talked with the agency there, gathering information before I face Hadley again.”
“You’d have your hands full with three kids under five, Jen. Are you ready for that?”
“With Clara’s help, yes. She’s a godsend with the twins.” Her expression dimmed as if someone had turned out the lights. “Unfortunately, I’m told the local adoption pool has dried up. Either more women are keeping their babies—or, sadly, they don’t go through with their pregnancies.”
“That’s a tough one,” Elizabeth said.
“Tell me. As I said, my ex and I tried everything until I finally did get pregnant—wonder of wonders—but then I lost it right away. We didn’t try again.”
“I didn’t know that. Losing a baby, no matter how that happens, is a tragedy.” Elizabeth’s heart ached. “I’m so sorry, Jenna. When I lost my baby last year, my mother actually kept telling me not to think of it that way. With Harry out of the house, our marriage on the rocks, how would I deal with four children? Another way, I suppose, for her to urge me to reconcile with him.”
“You were right not to patch things up. How could you ever trust him again?” Jenna murmured, “I just wish I knew the right thing to do in this situation.”
“You have to do what’s right for you.” Just as Becca would, as Elizabeth had done with Harry, as she still needed to do with Dallas. “Are you afraid Hadley won’t support you in this?”
“It’s not that. The ranch is coming along, but not out of the woods yet, and even though Fantastic Designs is doing well, I have to wonder if I’d be putting another burden on Hadley. He’d have a third mouth to feed, a child to put through college.” She added, “The twins are already covered. The trust we set up for them with the money their mother left will be sufficient for their educations.”
Elizabeth put an arm around Jenna’s shoulders. As Jenna’s friend, she wanted to help find the right answer too. “You won’t know how to proceed until you discuss this with him,” she said, knowing she should deal with her fear of miscarriage then take her own advice.
After that, their conversation took a lighter turn, and Elizabeth told funny stories about the kids’ adventures in Colorado, and Harry’s attempts to manage all three of them. Come to think, she hadn’t talked to them in days. She’d felt swamped with work, and maybe they were off somewhere with their father. Jordan couldn’t be right that they never saw him. “By now, I hope he’s truly bonded with them.”
Despite what Dallas had said at the McMann ranch, rejecting any notion of a serious relationship, they did have a problem. It wasn’t only hers, and those moments with him hadn’t made telling him about her pregnancy any easier. How would she ever find the words? And the courage?
BY THE TIME she got home, Elizabeth’s daily bouts of queasiness had passed, but her last bit of energy had dripped through her veins. All afternoon the shop had been even more crowded than in the morning, Jenna’s dilemma was still playing through her mind and Elizabeth had more work to do before bed. She also needed to call the local radio and TV stations—maybe they’d interview Dallas—and the Barren Journal, the town’s weekly newspaper. Thank heaven she’d been able to turn the food competitions and chili contest over to Clara.
A sudden commotion from somewhere close by shattered the remnants of her concentration, then Elizabeth heard—
“Mom!”
“Mommy!”
“Mama!”
The trio of sweet voices split the air from just outside the house. And Elizabeth’s heart nearly stopped. Unable to believe what she’d heard, she hurried to the window. No, she wasn’t hearing things. Her children were running along the front walk! Their footsteps pounded up the steps, then across the porch. They burst through the door—and her arms were suddenly filled with a bunch of squirming little bodies. My babies.
“What a surprise,” she said, face buried in Seth’s hair. She kissed one dear face then the next. She’d come home to her empty house, but the rooms reverberated now with sound as each child vied to share some aspect of their summer adventures. Her thoughts a jumble, Elizabeth flipped through her mental calendar. They’d left in mid-June, it was now July, and late August, when they were due home, was still weeks away. Why this change in the schedule? As if on cue, Harry appeared in the entryway. He gave the children a critical glance.
“Why didn’t someone shut this door?”
No one answered him. Elizabeth disentangled herself from the four-way embrace, and the kids scampered off up the stairs to their rooms, but she didn’t mind the noise they
