âWhat are you doing up at this hour?â
Bethany looked around to find Chandler standing in the doorway, his boots in his hand. Her heart racing, she gasped. âYou frightened me.â
âSorry.â He walked across the floor in his stocking feet. âYou didnât answer my question. Why arenât you asleep?â
She shrugged. âJust feeling kind of weird, I guess.â
Frowning, he lifted a hand to her forehead. âMaybe youâre coming down with something.â
âIâm fine.â She reached up to remove his hand from her brow. The baby suddenly moved. Bethany instinctively placed Chandlerâs hand on her abdomen. âIâm not the only one who canât sleep.â
He stared at her belly as it rippled, little hillocks appearing here and there, only to smooth out again as the baby moved. Finally the baby subsided into stillness, and Chandler looked up at her with awe in his cinnamon eyes.
âAmazing,â Chandler whispered.
Their gazes held for several moments before he abruptly snatched his hand away.
If only, she thought, if only this was a true marriage.
says, âCamp meetings, mission work and church attendance permeate my Oklahoma childhood memories. It was a golden time, which sustains me yet. However, only as a young widowed mother did I truly begin growing in my personal relationship with the Lord. Through adversity, He has blessed me in countless ways, one of which is a second marriage so loving and romantic it still feels like courtship!â
The author of more than seventy novels, Arlene James now resides outside Dallas, Texas, with her beloved husband. Her need to write is greater than ever, a fact that frankly amazes her, as sheâs been at it since the eighth grade. She loves to hear from readers, and can be reached via her Web site at www.arlenejames.com.
âSix hundred dollars?â Bethany gaped at the mechanic. The man was unknown to her, just the first possible help that she had found along the road to Dallas after steam had started pouring out from under the hood of her pathetic little heap. âYouâve got to be kidding. The car wasnât worth six hundred bucks when I started out in it!â
The hulking fellow wiped grease from his hands with a grimy red cloth. âCanât argue with that,â he agreed, eyeing the offending vehicle.
âLook, Iâm not even going as far as Dallas,â she pleaded, clutching the thin cotton skirt of her empire-style, ankle-length, blue-and-white-flowered sundress, inadvertently pulling the fabric taut across her distended belly. Her slenderness made her look further along in her pregnancy than she actually was, but she didnât think about that now. âIsnât there something you can do to get me to Buffalo Creek?â
He scratched his bald head. âTell you what, Iâll give you three hundred cash for it as is. Maybe I can part it out, get my money back that way.â
âThree hundred?â Bethany repeated in dismay.
Making three hundred dollars beat shelling out six hundred that she did not even have, but how was she to make it to Buffalo Creek if she sold her car? The baby moved, producing an odd fluttering sensation inside her abdomen, as if to say she might as well get on with it. She wasnât going anywhere in a broken-down car that she couldnât fix, anyway, so she really had no choice here. That didnât solve the problem, though. She shook her head, trying to see another way.
The tubby, middle-aged man spread his hands, displaying sweat stains on his coveralls. Bethany didnât know how he managed to work in this old garage in the stifling July heat.
âSorry. Best I can do,â he said. âYou can always get a bus ticket at the diner next door.â
Well, that was better than nothing, she supposed. Sighing, she shook back her dark hair and smoothed her hands over her mounded belly, feeling a cramp building.
The cramps had started a couple weeks ago, at only five months into her pregnancy. She had attributed them to stress. Lately, her life had consisted of reeling blow after reeling blow. This was just one more.
Trying to look on the bright side, she reminded herself that three hundred bucks would more than double her pathetic bankroll. Besides, it was really her only option. She could take the money and buy a bus ticket or sit beside the road until she grew roots here, just a couple hours from her brother.
âThank you very much,â she said quietly, accepting the offer. âI appreciate your help.â