Shadows of Yesterday
Page 3

No, no, I’m not! her mind screamed. She couldn’t let him think that. She must tell him what a coward she really was. But before she could form the words, he went on, “Your husband’s going to be proud of you.”
“I… I don’t have a husband,” she said through gritted teeth as another labor pain bore down on her.
Stunned, Chad stared at her for a moment before her contorted features alerted him. His eyes dropped to the birth area, then opened wide in delight. “Oh, this is beautiful. That’s it. A little harder. The head’s out,” he cried, laughing.
The baby choked, spat, then began to wail.
“Come on, Leigh, you’re doing great. All we need is to get the shoulders out. There, there, that’s it. Now! Oh, God!” he said, catching the slippery new baby in his capable hands. “Look what you’ve got. A beautiful baby girl.”
Tears of relief were rolling down Leigh’s cheeks as she looked at the man beaming down at her. “Let me see her,” she breathed weakly. “Is she all right?”
“She… she’s perfect,” he said gruffly. “Just a minute. Let me take care of this cord.” She felt the beating of fists and feet against her as he laid the baby between her thighs. “How are you doing?” he asked anxiously after a moment. He didn’t look up. He was concentrating on what he was doing. A bead of sweat clung precariously to the tip of his chiseled nose.
“I’m wonderful,” she said drowsily.
“I’ll say you are. You’re terrific.”
Crouched between her legs, he worked. He raised his arm so his sleeve could absorb the perspiration on his face. Then he was lifting up the red, wet, wrinkled, squirming, squalling infant and laying her tenderly on Leigh’s breast.
“Oh, Chad, thank you. Look at her. Isn’t she a miracle?”
“Yes.” His voice was rough.
The mellow look in her eyes changed to one of pain again.
She felt a gentle tugging, then relief.
“There. Is that better?” Chad wrapped the newspaper around the afterbirth.
“Yes.”
The knife sliced deftly through the cotton of the nightgown. The baby mewed against her mother. Leigh was no longer aware of the heat, only of the wiggling flesh that she held in her arms. Her hands examined the baby’s damp body. She counted toes and fingers. She kissed the beating soft spot on her daughter’s head. Her daughter! Leigh was awed to think that this tiny, perfectly formed little girl had come from her body.
Chad was pressing the pad he had made of the nightgown between her thighs. He secured it with a makeshift belt around her waist.
“It feels strange to have a flat stomach again.” She sighed.
He chuckled. “I’ll bet it does. Are you too uncomfortable?”
Only now was she beginning to realize the throbbing ache. “No,” she answered, but she knew hesitancy told him that she was.
“We’ve got to get you two to a hospital.” Chad spoke almost to himself.
He pulled her dress down over her legs and awkwardly handed her the discarded panties. “If you’ll get baby, I’ll get you,” he said. Easing her down to the tailgate, he caught her behind the knees and around her neck and lifted her off the truck’s bed.
His long stride had them to the passenger side of the car within seconds. When he opened the door, the heat of the enclosed car struck her in the face. After seating Leigh, Chad ran to the driver’s side and started the motor. “The air conditioner will cool this off in a minute. I’d take you in my truck, but the ride wouldn’t be as smooth and it’s cluttered with junk.”
“This is fine, but how’ll you get your truck back?”
“I’m not worried about that, but hold on while I secure it.”
He was back within a minute. He slid the driver’s seat back as far as it would go to accommodate his long legs. “Doesn’t that seat recline?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I think you’d be more comfortable that way.”
He adjusted the seat and aided her as she resettled into it, holding the baby. When he was sure they were as comfortable as possible, he put on the sunglasses again. The cowboy hat had been left in the back of the truck, but he was still wearing the bandanna around his forehead, and he had rebuttoned most of the buttons on his shirt.
“Chad, could you please hand me my bag? I think I should wrap her in something.”
“Sure,” he said, glancing down at the naked newborn. He braked long enough to haul the small suitcase onto the front seat. “All set? Are you okay?”
She smiled across the interior of the car at him. “I’m fine.”
Her smile was returned. He seemed about to speak, but changed his mind and steered the small car onto the narrow highway. It bounced over the bumpy shoulder until it gained the pavement. Leigh bit her lip against the discomfort.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re sore, but you didn’t seem to have much bleeding or anything. I don’t think you’ll suffer too much once you get treatment.”
Leigh rummaged through the overnight bag on the seat. In it she found an old comfortable T-shirt and wrapped the baby in its softness. “Lucky I had this along,” she said absently.
“Where had you been or where were you going as the case might be?”
“I had been to Abilene. A sorority sister of mine got married last night. I had taken my one good maternity dress to wear to the wedding,” she said, indicating the garment bag hanging on the hook beside the back seat. “But I knew when some of us got together, it would be like a slumber party. So I packed some other clothes for comfort.”
He grinned down at the orange University of Texas T-shirt she had covered the baby with. “It was Providence.” His brows lowered over his eyes, and he shifted them off the road long enough to look at her seriously. “You had no business driving alone like that. When were you due?”
“Not for two more weeks. But you’re right. I was asking for trouble. I wanted to go to that wedding so badly, and there was no one to go with me, so…” She let the end of the sentence trail off.
“Why didn’t you stay on I-twenty? It goes straight from Abilene into Midland.”
“I was driving a friend home from the wedding. She lives in Tarzan. I had to see a town named Tarzan, Texas. My pains didn’t start until I’d left there.”