by Lynn Shurr
Joe took a step back and held up his hands. “Nell, I’m dirty and I reek of stallion. Stay back!”
She launched herself at his torso like a petite gymnast charging a vault. He had no choice but to catch her and hesitated to attempt to pull her legs from around his waist and her arms from around his neck.
“Make love to me, Joe. I know you want to.” Nell let herself slip below his belt buckle to rest on the bulge in his pants, forcing him to cup her bare buttocks with his hands.
“Tink, I should wash up. Then, we can talk about this.”
“I don’t want to talk. I want sex.”
Joe carried her to the counter and edged her rear on to the surface. He tried to back away, but Nell drew him tightly into the V of her legs. He had given her the advantage of placing her at lip level. She grasped the back of his head and brought him in for a kiss of depth and excessive juiciness.
When she ran out of air, Nell gasped, “I need love, and I need it now.”
He groaned. “Fine, have it your way, but I don’t want you to move a muscle. You let me do all the work.” He escaped from his jeans, but didn’t bother to take off his boots. He leaned Nell back on his two broad, long-fingered hands and probed gently between her legs so carefully and so shallow the motion became a tease.
Nell dug her nails into his shoulders. “Deeper,” she pleaded.
He went deeper, but not as deep as she wanted. He kept her on the edge until she begged again. “Deeper!” With two or three thrusts as deep as she desired, she came, and he saw no reason to hold back. Joe Dean Billodeaux had been celibate six whole weeks for the sake of his wife and Nell had taken advantage of that knowledge. They rested their heads on each others’ shoulder, letting the counter bear the weight as they caught their breath and let their pulse rate return to normal. Joe raised his head first.
“Now, can I have lunch?”
Nell punched his arm and slid from the counter, but she could feel his hands enjoying an assist all the way down. By the time she stood on the top of his boots, her nightie had hung up on his belt buckle and covered very little of her. Joe ran his hands under the silky surface and massaged her breasts.
“Stop that! I’m tender and you need to wash your hands, cowboy.”
“Tender? Just the way I like them.” He nipped her through the fabric.
Nell groped the counter behind her and found the ham sandwich. She raised her hand and shoved a corner of the bread into his mouth. “Here, eat this. I’m probably ready to have my period. That’s why I’m sore and horny.”
“Now that just takes my appetite away, sugar. Tink, I mean, Tink.”
“I’ll tell you what, you can call me anything you want if we can do this again today.”
“Never let it be said Joe Dean Billodeaux passed up an offer like that.” He crammed the rest of the sandwich into his mouth with a grubby hand and washed it down with the waiting glass of now warmish milk. Nell reached over and snagged the dill pickle strip on the side of the plate. She sucked it into her mouth and drew it back and forth.
Joe polished off the second half of his sandwich, never taking his eyes off the pickle and Nell’s lips. “That doesn’t look too strenuous to me. Maybe we could try something similar after we both take a shower.”
Nell smiled with satisfaction. About time they got over their disappointment and got back to normal.
Since Joe Dean had the biggest house and the largest kitchen in the family, his mama and sisters commandeered the place and insisted on bringing all the food for the Easter feast. “Nell shouldn’t be straining herself to entertain us,” Allie told her brother in a whisper. He nodded in agreement and watched his wife ply Father Ardoin with another slice of the enormous ham his mother had glazed with brown sugar and ornamented with pineapple rings and cherries.
Nadine came up on his other side. “Nell seems better, more relaxed. She had that baby test, huh? Some women, they don’t want to say before three months is up because something might go wrong. Mais, you know, Joe Dean, y’all should get married in the church before the baby comes.”
“Let it be, Mama. Nell is still saying there is no baby and I don’t want to argue with her.”
“Oops,” said Nadine as she saw Father Ardoin pat the seat next to him and ask Nell to sit down.
“I was delighted to see you at Mass with Joe’s family, Nell.”
“How could you see me among all those people? You had standing room only for Easter.”
“Yes, the holiday does bring out the casual, the lapsed and the visitors, but the Billodeauxs take up two rows. You are the shortest one in the bunch, easy to pick out in that pretty spring dress.”
If only the priest knew what she had done the last time she’d worn that frock with the cornflower print. Nell turned a bit pink and fanned herself with a hand. “It’s hot in here with all the people. Joe needs to turn on the air-conditioning.”
“Certainly, in your condition he should do whatever he can to make you comfortable. You know, Nell, you would make your mother-in-law so happy if you took instruction and were married in the church before the baby comes. I’m not pressing you to convert, merely trying to keep peace in the family.”
Nell shot a look across the room to where her husband and mother-in-law appeared to be plotting. “I guess you didn’t hear I was unable to carry the babies, Father.”
“No. I am sorry for your loss, Nell.” Father Ardoin balanced his plate on a knee in order to take Nell’s hand. A few grains of rice dressing slipped off the rim but two of Lizzie’s nippy deviled eggs stayed put. “If you want to talk about it, I’d be happy to listen.”
She didn’t have the heart to say an unmarried, elderly priest would be the last person she would want to consult about losing her babies. “Thank you, Father. Can I get you some of the Watergate salad in a separate bowl?”
“That would be wonderful. I would appreciate it, Nell.”
Glaring at her husband, Nell wove her way through the maze of children making themselves at home on the floor and filled a bowl at the dessert table. Joe came up behind and kissed her neck.
“It wasn’t me, I swear. Mama is pushing the church wedding and a baby on the way would give her an edge is all. Let’s not fight when we just got things back to normal. When everyone goes home, I’ll show you what we can do with leftover cold banana pudding,” Joe promised. Nell shivered beneath his hands.
Cassie returned around three. Her mother and father and half her siblings had come along and were shown the spread and invited to eat. The Billodeaux family, having digested the ham, turkey, stuffed Cajun roast, and all the sides washed down with coffee or iced tea, was considering second desserts. Bridget, Nora, and Kathy headed right for the table of treats. Ben and Brian hunkered down next to the enormous bowl of chocolate eggs and jellybeans on the coffee table. With her children set, Mrs. Thomas asked to speak to Joe and Nell somewhere alone. She looked around helplessly at the crowd of Billodeauxs covering every available space.
“Upstairs in our bedroom. We have a sitting area.”
Joe led the way and closed the door behind the nervous parents and Cassie. The three Thomases squeezed on to the dark green rattan loveseat near the window overlooking the oaks while Joe and Nell sat in the comfortably cushioned chairs opposite. Nell expected them to announce Cassie was going home to have her baby and raise it among her brothers and sisters.
“Cassie should tell you,” Mrs. Thomas said, ringing her thin freckled hands.
“I want you and Joe to have my baby. It was my fault you lost yours trying to help me. My folks really can’t afford another child and I want to finish school and do something with my life this baby can be proud of someday. I’d want to see him though. I want one of those open adoptions the doctor talked about. My mom and dad would want him to know they are his grandparents, too.” Cassie collapsed around her bulging stomach as if all the air had gone out of her. She hugged her belly and waited for a reaction from the stunned couple.
Nell
recovered first, reached out and took Cassie’s hand. “Honey, you shouldn’t do this out of guilt. You may regret your decision later. That wouldn’t be good for any of us.”
“It’s not just that I feel bad about the trouble I’ve caused y’all. My baby could grow up in this great house and go to any college he wanted. It’s a boy, Joe. I saw when they did the ultrasound—for sure a boy, not a guess. He and Deanie would be so close in age. They could ride horses and chase the barn cats and go fishing in the bayou together like real brothers. I want my son to have that kind of upbringing, not grow up in a crowded place in the city with a teenage mother and no chance in life.”
“Cassie, this is a great gift you are offering us, but I don’t know if Nell is ready to…” Joe said, looking into the girl’s baffled blue eyes.
“You don’t want him? Is it because he might have problems because of my chemo? The doctor in Phoenix said everything looked normal. Did he tell you different, Nell? Is there something wrong with him? How can I raise a handicapped child with no money and no job? I’ll have to quit school to help my parents raise him.”
“No, no, dear. The doctor said the baby was developing normally and he certainly had all his parts. As for other side effects, we’d have to wait and see. You heard him. If we adopted your baby, we’d accept that risk just as we did with Deanie being premature and a bit behind in his development,” Nell soothed.
“Deanie is behind?” Joe said, upset.
“Not by very much. You know Izzy has been bragging about how long Randi has been crawling while Dean is just starting to get up on his hands and knees. Children develop at different rates and a premature baby has some catching up to do. He’ll be fine, Joe, and so will Cassie’s baby.” Feeling as if she were caught up in some kind of strange parental Twister game, Nell rubbed Joe’s back with the hand not being squeezed by Cassie.
“Is it because Bijou is my baby’s daddy?” Cassie asked with anguish in her voice.
“No, hell no. That would make him a Billodeaux and we take care of our own. I was planning on setting up a college fund for the child anyway. We thought you’d be keeping the baby is all and we could help out.”
Nell watched a shadow cross Joe’s face as he realized Cassie might give a Billodeaux baby to strangers. She spoke up quickly. “Cassie, Joe and I would be honored to adopt your baby and give Deanie a brother if this is truly what you want. Joe’s lawyers can draw up an open adoption agreement and you can stay with us until the baby is born. We’ll plan his nursery together and shop for his clothes and pick out a name we all like. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, we will make sure you’re granted grandparent’s rights. This is the greatest gift anyone could give us.”
Joe unfroze from his shock and went into action. “It sure is. Why, Nell and I are well on our way to building our own football team. Now we have a quarterback and a receiver. This is great news. Can I tell my mama and the rest of the family?”
Cassie smiled for the first time since she’d entered the house. “Let’s do it right now, make a big announcement on Easter Sunday to the whole bunch downstairs.” She bounced to her feet and shot out a hand to catch her balance on the arm of the loveseat.
“Whoa, dizzy. I keep forgetting I can’t get up that fast right now. Nell, I’m saving you a lot of trouble because it’s a bitch being pregnant.”
“Cassie!” her mother reprimanded.
Nell gave a slight smile. “I’m sure you are doing the hard part for me, Cassie. Thank you. Let’s go tell the world the Joe Dean Billodeauxs are having another baby.”
THIRTY-THREE
Nell and Cassie sat on the large bed in the guest room next to Deanie’s nursery. The walls had been done in a masculine tan and the furnishings upholstered in leather, even the headboard and the tops of the night tables. Miss Ashleigh of Chapelle had envisioned massive football players sleeping here which explained the pigskin decor. They were about to play havoc with her design.
Cassie had the wallpaper book open to a border of cowboys on horseback chasing down a herd of cattle. “What do you think of this one, Nell? It would match the walls so we wouldn’t have to repaint. With the little guy only three weeks from coming, I don’t think we should mess with any fumes.”
“I think I like the one with all the pretty horses better. You know like the old song—dapples and grays, pintos and bays. It would blend in, too.”
Cassie ran a finger along the frieze of galloping steeds. “This one looks sort of like Copperhead before Bijou bleached him and made him so ugly.”
Cassie’s face clouded over. “Do you really think Norma Jean will return him to the ranch?”
“Yes, I’m sure she will if for no other reason than to get another look at Joe. I hope he’s on the road somewhere when she shows up. Look, here’s one like Buttercup.”
“Hardly. They’re both palominos, but Buttercup is a Shetland.” Cassie rolled her eyes at Nell’s ignorance. “Do you get jealous of Joe’s other women very often?”
“There wouldn’t be enough time in the day to do anything else if I did. No, he hasn’t given me any cause to doubt him since we married—except that time with my sister, which I now understand completely. He was trying to get information out of Norma Jean and I knew that. The hormones made me nuts. Have you given any thought to baby names yet?” Nell said to change the topic.
“I’d like him to give him my name, sort of. Maybe Cassidy or Cass. The baby name book says Cassidy means ‘ingenious’ in Irish, but Cass means ‘vain’. I wouldn’t want him to be vain. Ingenious would be great. Are they too girlie? Joe won’t want a girlie name.”
“That’s true. Why don’t we use your last name? Our son would be called Thomas Cassidy Billodeaux. Sound good to you?”
“Oh, yes! Thank you, Nell. He’ll have both my names. Let’s use the horse border. We can keep this big armchair and hassock by the window because it would be a great reading chair. Two normal sized people can sit in it and snuggle up. Maybe we can find a crib to match the wood on the dresser. We’d better do it soon. The doctor said I dropped so it won’t be too long now. Aren’t you excited?”
“Very,” Nell said, thinking she was also exhausted from trying to keep up with the teen who had twice as much energy as she did even in the ninth month of pregnancy.
“I’m hungry. What do we have for lunch?” Cassie stood up in preparation for waddling to the kitchen. Her stomach had gone horizontal when the baby dropped, making her look twice as big as she had been last week.
“Nadine brought over homemade chicken soup this morning while you were still in bed. I told her light on the pepper sauce. Her gumbo was burning out the lining of my stomach.”
“I like Nadine’s gumbo. Isn’t Thomas Cassidy going to be lucky to have four sets of grandparents? Could I have a peanut butter and banana sandwich with my soup? I’ll make it and start heating up the soup.”
Cassie went ahead leaving Nell with the wallpaper book and a moment of quiet. She wished she could stretch out on the oversized bed and nap. Nadine insisted on feeding those she called her T-mamas, meaning little in Cajun. The excessive feeding was starting to show. Besides feeling sluggish, she had gone up a size in jeans since their return from Phoenix and her bras fit too tightly. She’d made a secret trip to the mall to get bigger clothes claiming she had to meet a client at Dr. Green’s office. Some competition she would be for Norma Jean if she got fat. Maybe, she would close her eyes just for a minute.
Joe shook his wife gently. “Cassie has lunch ready downstairs. Would you like me to bring you a tray?”
“No, sorry. I fell asleep while we were looking at wallpaper borders. Do you like this one with the horses?”
“Yeah, it’s great. Not as good as the football players I picked out for Deanie’s room next door, but still great.”
“And we have a name. See if you like it—Thomas Cassidy Billodeaux. Our girl tells me Cassidy means ingenious.”
“It’s a good name. What does Thomas mean?”
“I d
on’t know. It’s Cassie’s last name and a saint’s name. That will make your mom happy.” Nell yawned and scooted to the edge of the bed.
“I’d better see if Deanie is up from his nap before we go downstairs.” She started toward the sky blue room with its border of football players. Red and black, she had told Joe, was not a good color combination for a nursery.
“Cassie has him. She heard Deanie whimper and brought him downstairs. He’s spitting out his strained vegetables as we speak. The table is set and the soup is on. I think we even have peanut butter sandwiches on the side. You still seem groggy. Want me to carry you down?”
“Of course not. I really need the exercise. I should go riding or swimming this afternoon.”
“You should go see Dr. Green. Cassie told me she’s worried you don’t have enough energy to take care of two babies. Nell, listen to me. If you aren’t pregnant—well, I don’t even want to say it because saying might make it so.”
Joe looked too serious for her to make a joke out of his concerns the way she usually did. “You are worried my cancer might be coming back?”
He nodded, still not wanting to say the word.
“I’m fine. If it will make you feel better, I’ll see Mintay as soon as she can work me in, okay?” Nell went down to lunch knowing she was almost as jealous of Cassie’s health and energy as she was of Norma Jean’s long legs and slim hips.
“Pregnant. Here it is in black and white. Read it and smile, Nellwyn Abbott Billodeaux. Everyone knew it but you.” Dr. Green waved the file in her face.
“Then I didn’t lose all the babies.”
“You certainly kept one. From my brief exam, I’d say you are three months and already porking up, so watch the eating. I know in Phoenix they gave you some names of good obstetricians. Here’s a few more. See one of them ASAP.”
Nell fiddled with the notepaper containing the doctors’ names. “Mintay, could we keep this quiet for now?”
“As a doctor, I can’t say a thing. As a friend, can’t I tell Rev?”
