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Mrs. Matthews’s brows drew together in a sympathetic frown, and Beth’s defenses soared. “How you must have hated to leave.”
“I’ll say.” Ida placed another bowl of the steaming soup in front of Beth. “Why did you?”
She didn’t know what to say. Not because of Tommy, but because she’d expected disdain, because she’d been prepared to defend her rural childhood.
She shrugged. “My brother works the farm now. He lives there with his wife and three kids.”
“You two aren’t grilling our guest, I hope.”
David’s voice had all three of them turning toward him.
He stood at the door, rolling back the sleeves of his blue oxford shirt, which he’d left unbuttoned at the top. He’d traded his suit pants for jeans and his black dress shoes for battered brown loafers, no socks. The casual look shaved ten years off him, and a totally inappropriate flutter in Beth’s chest startled her.
She hiccupped.
Oh, God. Not now.
Mrs. Matthews turned to her. “Are you okay?”
Beth nodded, and hiccupped again.
Ida jumped up and went to the sink. “Hold your breath for ten seconds while you drink down this water,” she said while she filled a glass. “It works every time.”
“Nonsense. That’s an old wives’ tale.” Mrs. Matthews waved a dismissive hand, but she said nothing more as Ida handed Beth the glass.
She hiccupped again, and then carefully avoided looking at David while she started to down the water. Slowly she counted to ten, and wondered if this evening could possibly get any more humiliating. Nerves hadn’t caused a hiccupping fit for almost five years. Why now?
She set down the glass and everyone waited in mortifying silence to see if Ida’s cure worked.
No more hiccups. She was afraid to so much as smile.
Ida planted her hands on her hips with a triumphant grin. “What did I tell you?”
Mrs. Matthews sighed. “I suppose we’ll hear about this for the next two weeks.”
“Indeed you would if I were going to be here.”
David went to the refrigerator and opened it. “Where are you going to be?”
“On vacation. I’m going to Denver to see my grandbabies,” Ida said, eyeing Mrs. Matthews who remained silent and apparently displeased, judging from her pinched expression.
“Good for you.” David took out an apple. “I’m glad to see you take some time off.”
“Nice someone’s happy for me,” Ida mumbled and got up and cleared the pie off the table. “Beth, can I get you anything else?”
Beth cleared her throat and prayed the hiccups were truly over. “No, thank you.” She briefly glanced at David who was giving his mother some kind of silent warning. “You’ve both been very kind, but please don’t let me keep you up.”
David pulled a chair out and sat down. The two women looked at him in clear astonishment. “Mother, you and Ida go on to bed. I’ll take care of Beth.”
The women exchanged startled glances, their differences temporarily forgotten.
Beth experienced a jolt of surprise herself. She hadn’t expected him to have anything else to do with her. He seemed more than happy to leave her to his mother’s care earlier. Not that she blamed him. She was a stranger, an intruder into his private life.
“Thank you for helping out,” he said. “Now, I’m sure there’s something on television you’re missing.”
Ida tightened the belt of her robe. “I would like to put my feet up. Anything special you’d like for breakfast?”
Busy staring at David, Beth belatedly realized Ida was talking to her. “Uh, no, thanks. I’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning.”
Mrs. Matthews had stood and picked up her cup and saucer. But she stopped and frowned at Beth. “But I—”
“Good night, Mother.”
She sighed and gave her son the eye. “I’d like to speak with you before you go to bed.”
“I’ll be in after I get Beth settled in her room.”
The simple statement sounded so intimate goose bumps surfaced on Beth’s arms. What the heck was wrong with her? Haywire hormones? Did that happen so soon into the pregnancy? She was woefully ignorant about such matters. At least if she were back in Rock Falls…
She put the brakes on. Going home was not an option. No sense in getting melancholy about it. She had to move forward, think about where she would stay, how she would support herself, get medical insurance…
The two older women had said good-night and were leaving the kitchen before Beth realized how lost in thought she’d been. Quickly she called out a good-night, and then silence descended. She’d already finished her soup and a third slice of bread. If she didn’t think she’d burst at the seams, she would’ve had another just for an excuse not to talk.
But there was a downside to the silence. More worries germinated and grew inside her exhausted brain. The small amount of money she had left in the bank would take her through one day. Hopefully she’d get a temp job tomorrow, but what if she couldn’t?
“I should have warned you about those two,” David finally said, his voice serious, but when she looked at him one side of his mouth was lifted. “I hope they weren’t too nosy.”
“Oh, no, they were incredibly kind.” She swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat. “They made me feel so welcome. I—I—”
Oh, God, not now.
The tears came in buckets.
Chapter Three
Great. This was terrific. David set aside the apple and then wiped his hands on a napkin, trying not to notice how fragile she looked in that oversized coat she’d oddly refused to take off. Had he said something inflammatory? What was he supposed to do now? He could call his mother…
Nah, he wasn’t that big a coward. Hell, he headed a multimillion-dollar law firm. He could handle this small problem. He cleared his throat, got her a box of tissues and then gave her several awkward pats on her back while he searched his helpless brain for something to say.
She dabbed at her eyes, blew her reddened nose. “I’m sorry,” she said, reluctantly raising her watery blue eyes to him. “I have no idea where that came from.”
He withdrew his hand. “You’re probably just tired.”
She sniffed and snuggled deeper into her coat as if for protection. “That’s no excuse.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Her gaze came up, her eyes bright, and he thought she might start crying again.
“This is a tough time for you,” he added quickly. “Uncertainty is difficult to face under the best circumstances and now you have a baby to consider.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, “for being so understanding. I’m really not such a wimp.”
The sincere gratitude in her eyes got to him and he touched the tip of her nose. “I don’t doubt that for a moment.”
The rest of her face got as red as her nose. “You’re treating me like a child again.”
“What?”
“Don’t deny it.” A teasing smile started at the corners of her mouth. “But that’s okay. I’m used to it. I look young for my age, plus my brother and his friends were so much older that they’ve always treated me like a kid.”
“Is that why you won’t go back to Idaho?”
Any trace of a smile vanished and she hunched her shoulders. “Not exactly.”
“I’m prying. I apologize.” He knew little about pregnancy but enough to understand that a woman’s body and mood changed. And boy, did he just get a sample of it. If she started crying again it would be his fault.
“You have a right to know. After all, you’ve taken me in.”
“Just for the night.”
Embarrassment rose in her cheeks. “I understand. I’ll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning.”
“I didn’t mean that. What I was trying to say in a very bad way was that you don’t owe me any explanations. My offer wasn’t conditional.”
“I know.” She sighed. “My brother has a notoriously bad temper. If he finds out about Tommy taking my college money—” She pressed her lips together, panic flickering in her eyes, as if she’d said too much. “Anyway, Junior and his wife work the farm now. They have three children. There’s really no room for me there.”
“And your parents?”
“They died when I was fifteen. Junior took over my guardianship.”
“He’s your only sibling, I take it.”
She nodded. “Even though he’s twelve years older than me we’re very close, but he wouldn’t understand me getting pregnant. He never liked Tommy.” She stared down at her hands. “I guess Junior was right about him.”
“Nevertheless, surely your brother wouldn’t turn you away.”
She looked up, her eyes troubled. “Oh, no, of course not.” She blinked, looked away. “It’s complicated.”
“And none of my business.”
She gave him a tiny apologetic smile. The discussion was closed. He respected that, and to reassure her, he laid a hand on her clasped ones. They were cold and fidgety, and she was so small his one hand covered them both.
Her eyes widened, slightly, just enough to spark an awareness in him that made his mouth go dry, his chest tighten. Trust…gratitude…were both there in her unguarded expression. He pulled away and raked a hand through his hair.
“I’m sure you’re tired.” He stood and disposed of his half-eaten apple. “Let me show you to your room.”
She got to her feet, her gaze following him with a wariness that unsettled him. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Of course not. I just figured you wanted to rest.”
She pushed back the sleeves of her coat. “I’m going to do the dishes first. Is the soap under the sink?”
David grunted. “You are not going to wash the dishes.”
“I’m certainly not going to leave them.” She brushed past him with her bread plate and bowl.
“We have a dishwasher.” His gaze scanned the room. He knew they had one somewhere…. Ah, he spotted it to the right of the sink.
“I’m sure Ida has already run it for the night. It won’t take me long to wash these up.” She placed the dishes in the sink and turned on the water. Her coat sleeves slid back down and she pushed them up again.
David shut the water off, and when she turned to him he placed his hands on her shoulders. “You are not going to wash dishes. You are going to bed.”
He’d expected her to comply but she surprised him by tilting her head back and narrowing her gaze. “Says who?”
The forgotten childhood taunt startled a laugh out of him. “Says me.”
They stood staring at each other a moment, and then a shy smile tugged at her lips and she moved back. “Really, I can wash up everything in no time.”
He lowered his hands. She had such slim shoulders a peculiar protectiveness stirred inside him. “You’re a guest in this house. If I let you so much as lift a finger, my mother and Ida will run me up a flagpole.”
She made a face. “I’m not exactly a guest.”
“I suggest you follow me, or you’re on your own to find the guest room.”
He headed out of the kitchen, hiding a smile when she scurried after him. Halfway across the dining room he heard her gasp and he made an abrupt about-face.
“Wow, this house is really something.”
Her gaze swept the two-story white marble foyer with the crystal chandelier his mother had found in Rome. The living room was decorated in a simple but elegant contemporary style, the real focal point the city beyond the wide expanse of glass. San Francisco twinkled like a hundred-carat diamond.
David watched the wonder light her eyes and suffered a surprising pang of envy. He remembered how excited he’d been over the architectural plans, and how he used to stand on the hill before the house was built and just stare at the city below, waiting, anticipating.
Now it seemed all he did was work. Which reminded him…he still had to get his briefcase out of the car and start in on that brief….
“Your room is right down this hall,” he said with more impatience than he’d intended.
“Sorry.” She threw one final admiring look around and then hurried after him.
The bedroom was already made up. Ida kept it in top shape for unexpected guests. He’d already put Beth’s bag on the luggage rack near the closet. The tote was so light he wondered what she had in there. Clearly she had to have more clothes stashed somewhere.
“There’s a bathroom behind the door to the left, the one on the right goes out onto a balcony. Let’s see, there are hangers and an extra blanket in the closet, bottled water over in that small fridge in the corner.”
She stood in the doorway, as if afraid to come all the way into the room.
He casually stepped back to give her space. “Can you think of anything else you might need?”
She shook her head, her eyes looking suspiciously bright again. Definitely his cue to leave.
