Authors: Nanci Little
Tags: #Western Stories, #Kansas, #Fiction, #Romance, #Lesbians, #General, #Lesbian, #Lesbian Romance, #Women
The Grass Widow (37 page)
Go!”Goblin danced and rolled his eyes and went, glad enough to be away from her.
“Noooo—! Not to town, you Goddamned moron! Home,
Goblin! Home! Oh, you ignorant sack o’ soap—you turn a hoof in this yard again in your life an’ I’ll render you into lard an’
get a dog just to feed your fucking bones to, you useless bag o’
shit—”
Her heels hit the wet kitchen floor and she went down for the fourth time. “Oh, God,” she moaned. “She’s got to live through it. I ain’t goin’ to.”
She felt as if she were back in that ethereal, odd-lit slant of space and time she had lived in for the week after her accident; she sought the picture of Jesus as Aidan panted and sweated and stifled her screams; that picture was all that had let her know the difference between nightmares and reality then, and as long as she could find it now, she knew this nightmare was reality. Doc arrived, grinning over where he had found James’s horse until he realized how far progressed his patient was into her business, and how precarious a business it was going to be.
He only had to look at Joss for her to understand. She shook her head, a silent plea: don’t say it aloud. Don’t let her hear the word. Just let her do the work without fearing it.
It felt like quivering near-panic; it felt like helplessness and desperation and prayer, the kind of prayer sent with promises attached: God, please if you do this for me I swear I’ll never, or I’ll always—”
“Save the baby,” Aidan panted. “Doc, save the baby. Let me go—”
He looked at Joss.
“She’s all I’ve got,” she whispered, Aidan between her legs, cradled against her belly; her hands felt broken and swollen. She could see tiny legs and the belly and cord, but the baby’s head and arms were stubbornly unborn. “Jesus God, Doc, she’s all I’ve got.”“Close your eyes,” he said tightly. “I’ve got to help her, and you don’t want to see it.”
“Aidan.”
Dimly, Joss heard him.
“Joss—”
She dragged her head up from Aidan’s sweat-cold hair.
“She didn’t cry, but she’s breathing—she’s fine,” he said gently.
“She’s fine, Joss. All her fingers and toes and bald as an egg. She’ll be as blonde and beautiful as her mama.”
She shuddered against the limpness in her arms; Aidan hadn’t moved since the afterbirth had come. “What price?” Her voice was thick in her throat. “At what price, Doc?”
He smiled. “Josie, she’s but asleep. Lord, child, she’s worked harder in the last twenty hours than you work in a month. She’s all right, Joss. It’s just your turn to take care of her. She’ll need a long lying-in.” He laid the tiny flannel-wrapped bundle on Aidan’s belly. “Aidan, you have a daughter,” he said softly. Aidan’s hand sought the baby, tracing over flannel until her fingers found the wrinkled little face. “A girl?” Her voice was barely a breath.
“A bit more than seven pounds of her, I’d say, almost twenty inches long, and perfect in every respect.”
“Naomi,” she whispered. “Naomi Ruth.”
On the wall, Jesus and Ethan Bodett, flannel-shirted, sheepskin-vested, arms slung companionably around each other in a golden slice of late September sun, grinned out at them, beaming their approval.
Publications from Bella Books, Inc.
Women. Books. Even better together.
P.O. Box 10543 Tallahassee, FL 32302 Phone: 800-729-4992
www.bellabooks.com
TWO WEEKS IN AUGUST
by Nat Burns. Her return to Chincoteague Island is a delight to Nina Christie until she gets her dose of Hazy Duncan’s renown ill-humor. She’s not going to let it bother her, though…
978-1-59493-173-4 $14.95
MILES TO GO
by Amy Dawson Robertson. Rennie Vogel has finally earned a spot at CT3. All too soon she finds herself abandoned behind enemy lines, miles from safety and forced to do the one thing she never has before: trust another woman. 978-1-59493-174-1 $14.95
PHOTOGRAPHS OF CLAUDIA
by KG MacGregor. To photographer Leo Westcott models are light and shadow realized on film. Until Claudia. 978-1-59493-168-0 $14.95
SONGS WITHOUT WORDS
by Robbi McCoy. Harper Sheridan’s runaway niece turns up in the one place least expected and Harper confronts the woman from the summer that has shaped her entire life since.
978-1-59493-166-6 $14.95
YOURS FOR THE ASKING
by Kenna White. Lauren Roberts is tired of being the steady, reliable one. When Gaylin Hart blows into her life, she decides to act, only to find once again that her younger sister wants the same woman.
978-1-59493-163-5 $14.95
THE SCORPION
by Gerri Hill. Cold cases are what make reporter Marty Edwards tick. When her latest proves to be far from cold, she still doesn’t want Detective Kristen Bailey babysitting her, not even when she has to run for her life. 978-1-59493-162-8 $14.95
STEPPING STONE
by Karin Kallmaker. Selena Ryan’s heart was shredded by an actress, and she swears she will never, ever be involved with one again.
978-1-59493-160-4 $14.95
FAINT PRAISE
by Ellen Hart. When a famous TV personality leaps to his death, Jane Lawless agrees to help a friend with inquiries, drawing the attention of a ruthless killer. No. 6 in this award-winning series.
978-1-59493-164-2 $14.95
A SMALL SACRIFICE
by Ellen Hart. A harmless reunion of friends is anything but, and Cordelia Thorn calls friend Jane Lawless with a desperate plea for help. Lammy winner for Best Mystery. No. 5 in this award-winning series.
978-1-59493-165-9 $14.95
NO RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
by Tracey Richardson. A war zone attraction is of no use to Major Logan Sharp. She can’t wait for Jillian Knight to go back to the other side of the world. 978-1-59493-159-8 $14.95
TOASTED
by Josie Gordon. Mayhem erupts when a culinary road show stops in tiny Middelburg, and for some reason everyone thinks Lonnie Squires ought to fix it. Follow-up to Lammy mystery winner
Whacked.
978-1-59493-157-4 $14.95
SEA LEGS
by KG MacGregor. Kelly is happy to help Natalie make Didi jealous, sure, it’s all pretend. Maybe. Even the captain doesn’t know where this comic cruise will end.
978-1-59493-158-1 $14.95
KEILE’S CHANCE
by Dillon Watson. A routine day in the park turns into the chance of a lifetime, if Keile Griffen can find the courage to risk it all for a pair of big brown eyes. 978-1-59493-156-7 $14.95
ROOT OF PASSION
by Ann Roberts. Grace Owens knows a fake when she sees it, and the potion her best friend promises will fix her love life is a fake. But what if she wishes it weren’t?
978-1-59493-155-0 $14.95
COMFORTABLE DISTANCE
by Kenna White. Summer on Puget Sound ought to be relaxing for Dana Robbins, but Dr. Jamie Hughes is far too close for comfort.
978-1-59493-152-9 $14.95
DELUSIONAL
by Terri Breneman. In her search for a killer, Toni Barston discovers that sometimes everything is exactly the way it seems, and then it gets worse.
978-1-59493-151-2 $14.95
FAMILY AFFAIR
by Saxon Bennett. An oops at the gynecologist has Chase Banter finally trying to grow up. She has nine whole months to pull it off.
978-1-59493-150-5 $14.95
SMALL PACKAGES
by KG MacGregor. With Lily away from home, Anna Kaklis is alone with her worst nightmare: a toddler. Book Three of the Shaken Series.
978-1-59493-149-9 $14.95
WRONG TURNS
by Jackie Calhoun. Callie Callahan’s latest wrong turn turns out well. She meets Vicki Brownwell. Sparks would fly if only Meg Klein would leave them alone!
978-1-59493-148-2 $14.95
WARMING TREND
by Karin Kallmaker. Everybody was convinced she had committed a shocking academic theft, so Anidyr Bycall ran a long, long way. Going back to her beloved Alaskan home, and the coldness in Eve Cambra’s eyes isn’t going to be easy.
978-1-59493-146-8 $14.95
Table of Contents
Table of Contents