LOST AND FOUND HUSBAND

by Sheri WhiteFeather

  “But saints aren’t part of my faith. Nor were they part of hers.”

  “That doesn’t matter. It’s the message that you needed to hear.”

  “That miracles are possible?” He nuzzled Dana’s hair. “Will you go back to Corrine’s grave with me? Now? Today?”

  “Of course I will.” She stayed warm and snug in his arms. “It would be my honor.”

  “I owe her an apology for getting angry.”

  “I’m sure she understands.”

  “I still need to say it. But first I need to say this to you—I love you, Dana, and I’m going to do whatever I can to make miracles with you.”

  And keep making them for the rest of their lives.

  * * *

  Immersed in the comfort of her husband, Dana accompanied him to the cemetery. As soon as she saw the bouquet of flowers he’d left earlier, she smiled.

  “You brought her daisies.”

  “It just seemed like what I was supposed to do.”

  “They’re beautiful.”

  “I intended for them to be from you, too.”

  “Thank you. You know how much that matters to me.”

  “Next time we can pick something from the garden.”

  “That would be nice.” But this was nice, too. Following his lead, she knelt beside the grave.

  “How does it feel to have your first experience like this?” he asked.

  Her first time at a cemetery. “It’s humbling.” A reminder of how fragile humanity was, and how important being happy was, too. “We’re all going to die someday. But it’s how we value life that’s important. And how we live it.”

  “Corrine lived hers with hope and joy.”

  “She must have been a very special lady.”

  “She was. You can introduce yourself, if you want to. Unless that’s seems strange to you.”

  “It’s not strange.” It seemed to make sense, especially after all this time of wanting to come here. She put her hand on top of the headstone and said, “I’m Dana. I’m Eric’s new wife. The one he’s been telling you about.” She moved her hand to her stomach. “And this is Jude. We just named him that today. A name you helped inspire.”

  Eric spoke next, “I’m sorry, Corrine, for getting mad at you earlier. You were right to tell me that I should move on with my life after you were gone. You loved me enough to try to release me from my grief. But I refused to listen until today.”

  Dana softly interjected, “After Jude is born we’ll bring him here so you can meet him. And we’ll bring Kaley with us, too. We’ll come here as a family.”

  “A happy family,” Eric added.

  She glanced over at him and smiled. Then she said to Corrine, “I love Eric. I love him as much as you did, and I know that I have your blessing. Not just because you encouraged him to find someone else someday, but because you made yourself known when we both needed you.”

  “She’ll always be here,” Eric said.

  “Yes, she will.” Always in the wind, always in his heart.

  Only now, Dana’s husband was ready to live once again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Dana’s pregnancy progressed as it should, and on the day of her baby shower, she laughed and talked and ate. Surrounded by helium-filled balloons and animal-print decorations, she opened presents. She even felt Jude kicking away in her belly. But he kicked all the time now. He poked his little feet out. Sometimes he elbowed her, too. Eric, of course, loved how strong and persistent their son was. Kaley was also thrilled by her baby brother’s tenacious manner.

  “Jude is going to be hell on wheels,” she told the other women at the shower. “He’s going to rule this house.”

  “I’ll bet you were a tough little cookie, too,” Dana said.

  “I can vouch for how much she kicked,” Victoria said. “Bang, bang, bang in my belly. Just when I’d try to sleep, there went Kaley, jamming her high heels into my ribs.”

  The teenager laughed. “I wasn’t wearing heels then.”

  “It sure felt like it.”

  Dana watched the exchange. It was nice that Victoria had flown in for the shower. And it was even nicer that she was able to talk about her pregnancy with sweetness and humor, sharing those moments with her daughter.

  Dana was going to do the same thing with Jude someday, although she wondered if a boy would care quite as much. Maybe when he was older and starting a family of his own, he would be interested in these types of stories.

  It was strange to be thinking about the faraway future in such a vivid way. Dana had always been a live-for-the-day person, but now that she was having a child, she was considering every aspect of his life, as well as the rest of the family’s.

  “All I know,” she said, “is how much Kaley is going to spoil her brother. Look at all these gifts.” Many of them had come from Kaley. She’d obviously gone on a madly happy shopping spree. But Dana was certain that Kaley was going to spoil Jude in other ways, too.

  “Just think of how many built-in babysitters you’ll have.” This from Candy. “Me included.”

  “Ah, yes. My BFF and Jude’s future godmother.” As wonderful as this shower was, Dana couldn’t help but feel for Candy. Here was a woman who’d lost her baby and the joy that went with it. “Where would I be without you?”

  Candy grinned. “Still fretting over the pregnancy test?”

  Dana grinned, too, grateful as always that Candy was going to play such a loving role in her son’s life. She was the sister Dana never had. How fortunate she was to have met Candy when she did. Dana was blessed in every way imaginable.

  Victoria lifted a baby outfit off the coffee table. “Look how tiny and adorable this is. A plaid shirt with diaper snaps.”

  “Doesn’t it make you want one?” Kaley asked her.

  “I don’t think it would fit me,” her birth mother replied.

  “I was talking about another kid.” Kaley struck a pretty pose. “Another version of me, only smaller.” She teasingly added, “And one you get to keep this time.”

  Victoria laughed. “Believe me, my darling, I knew what you meant. And yes, it makes me want one. But I’m trying to contain myself.”

  “You have my permission,” Kaley said.

  “Mine, too,” Dana added. “You and Ryan are going to have to get cracking.”

  “We will. In due time.” Victoria reached for another of Jude’s outfits. “But for now, I’m just going to delight in all of this.”

  Dana was delighting in it, too. “Check out the baseball uniform. And the bib overalls and the skinny jeans for when he’s a little older. Who knew boys’ clothes could be so cool?”

  Kaley said to Victoria, “When you do decide the time is right, maybe you’ll have a boy, too. Then I’ll have two little brothers, and they can be bestie cousins.”

  “That would be cute.” Her birth mother made a wistful expression.

  Was the idea of having a baby sooner than later starting to grow on her? Or was she just caught up in the moment?

  “You’re not getting any younger,” Kaley said to her.

  Victoria snapped a balloon in her daughter’s direction. “Quit trying to con me.”

  “She’s good at it,” Dana said. Kaley was a master at persuasion.

  “She’s good at everything,” Victoria replied. “Maybe I’ll have another girl just like her.”

  Other guests jumped into the conversation, and the discussion turned to the differences between raising girls and boys. A lot of the women in attendance had kids, so Dana listened to them talk about their children, pride alive in their voices.

  Nothing was going to compare to being a parent, and she couldn’t wait for Jude to be born.

  Later that day, after the guests were gone and everything wa
s cleaned up, Eric returned home. Dana led him into the nursery where she’d laid out the presents.

  “Dang,” he said, “our kid scored.”

  “A lot of it is from Kaley, but everyone else was generous, as well.”

  “I expected Kaley and Victoria to still be here.”

  “They went to Kaley’s dorm. They wanted to spend some time alone together before Victoria goes back to Oregon.”

  “That’s understandable.” He came forward to hug her, and they both laughed when her belly got in the way. Then she sighed from the nearness of him.

  “You’re such the ultimate husband,” she said, expressing her joy of being in his arms.

  “I wasn’t so ultimate in the beginning. I was a wreck at our wedding.”

  “You’re the proud groom now. You carry around a wedding picture of us in your wallet, and our photo album is prominently displayed in the living room.”

  “I know, but I still regret that I stumbled through one of the most important days of our lives. Maybe next year we can have an anniversary party to make up for it.”

  “That sounds wonderful.” She gave him a cozy kiss. “But at the moment, I’m partied out.” Although she’d enjoyed every minute of her shower, she was ready to unwind.

  “Yeah, I’ll bet. You and Jude have had quite a day.”

  “You wouldn’t believe how much cake I ate. Do you want a piece? There’s a half sheet leftover.”

  “What kind is it?”

  “Chocolate with chocolate cream filling and white icing. It’s really, really good. And fun, too. It’s decorated with little sugar zoo animals. They were almost too cute to eat.”

  He smiled. “Almost, huh?”

  “Jude wanted to try them.”

  “Then his daddy will, too.”

  They proceeded to the kitchen and he cut himself a big slice and poured a glass of milk to go with it. Dana watched him eat. Then she stuck her finger into the filling and scooped up a glob of it.

  “Hey.” He pretended to shield his plate. “You already had yours.”

  “Jude wants to tastes yours.”

  “Listen to you. Blaming it on our son.”

  “What can I say? He’s going to be a chocolate hound.”

  “You’re the chocolate hound, Mrs. Reeves.”

  “That’s Mrs. Cherry Reeves to you,” she replied, reminding him about her Cherry nickname from their honeymoon night. “Seriously, though, can you believe how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time?”

  He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Life is good. Love is good.” He nibbled on her lobe. “This cake is damned good, too.”

  She erupted into a silly giggle. “I told you.”

  “And you were right. But you’ve been right about everything all along.”

  She considered what he said. “Actually, I wasn’t. I was wrong to think that I could fix you. People can’t fix each other. Each of us is responsible for ourselves.”

  “That’s true. But you helped me see the light. You were there when I needed you, showing me the way. You might be young, Dana, but you have the soul of a wise old owl.”

  “Does that mean that we’re going to age at the same rate now?”

  “In a spiritual sense, I would say so. In a physical sense, you’re still going to be pushing me around in a wheelchair someday.”

  She nudged him under the table. His old-man jokes didn’t concern her anymore. These days, Eric had the youth and vitality of a man half his age. He’d come a long way, making strides in every direction.

  After he finished the cake, he said, “Want to help me eat another piece?”

  “Sure.”

  “I figured as much.” He cut another slice, even bigger this time. He handed her a fork, and they shared it from the same plate, attacking the little sugar animals.

  She said, “Remember what you told me about zebras?”

  “About how they imprint with their young?”

  She nodded. “It started to make me wonder about other types of animals and how they care for their offspring. I even did a little research.”

  “What did you find out?”

  “Tons of stuff. Like baby elephants weigh about two-hundred-and-fifty pounds when they’re born. And soon afterward, the mother selects several full-time babysitters from her group to watch over her baby when the herd travels.”

  He chuckled. “If I had a two-hundred-and-fifty pound kid, I’d be looking for babysitters, too.”

  She rolled her eyes, but she laughed, too. “Baby elephants don’t have very good survival skills, so I guess they need extra keepers.”

  “What other animals did you research?”

  “The usual.” She tossed a bit of wit at him. “Lions and tigers and bears.” She waited for him to say, “Oh, my,” which he did, and they laughed again.

  They also went to town on the cake, enjoying voracious bites. They shared the milk, too, refilling the glass.

  She said, “I really did look up lions and tigers and bears and discovered things they had in common.”

  He glanced up from his fork. “Like what?”

  “All of them are born blind and are completely reliant on their mothers. Plus newborn bears are even toothless and bald.”

  “Poor babies.”

  “I know. They’re so sweet and helpless, and then they grow up to be so big and fierce.”

  “And beautiful.”

  She agreed. All of those animals were beautiful. “I read about fawns, too.” She thought about the gentle depiction of the deer painted on Jude’s wall. “In the first few minutes of a fawn’s life, the mother licks it clean, removing its scent to keep the predators away. Then she keeps it hidden in the grass for a week until it’s strong enough to walk with her.”

  “It’s nice how you’re preparing for motherhood by learning about other creatures.” He looked at her as if she was a delicate creature herself. “Did you study penguins?”

  She nodded. “The parents work together to care for their young. After the nesting period, the little penguins are sometimes grouped in nurseries with other baby penguins while their parents hunt for food.” She paused to consider the information she’d gathered. “I also read that some types of penguins mate for life and others only mate for a season.”

  “I’ve always found that sort of thing fascinating. Which animals stay together and which don’t.”

  “Me, too. Especially since some humans stay together and some don’t.”

  “It’s different with our species, though. If we mate for life, it’s because we choose to, not because it’s part of our science.”

  “Our emotions drive us.”

  “Boy, do they ever.”

  They gazed silently at each other. Their emotions were driving them right now.

  “You’ve done this twice,” she said.

  “Decided that someone was my lifelong partner?”

  “Yes.” Only Corrine’s life had been cut short, but that went without saying.

  “I’ve been lucky to have found this kind of love with two different women.”

  “And I’m lucky that I found it with you.”

  They went silent again, steeped in the moment. She moved her chair closer to his and he kissed her. He tasted like chocolate cream, but she probably did, too. It was a dreamy, sexy flavor. She moaned her pleasure.

  “Touch me,” she said.

  “I am touching you.”

  “Touch me some more.”

  He nuzzled her cheek. “Are you propositioning me? In your condition?”

  “Yes, and you better take me up on my offer before my belly gets any bigger.”

  “Is it getting bigger as we speak?”

  “Probably.”

  �
��Then we better hurry.” He kissed her again, but he didn’t hurry. He took his sweet, sensual time.

  Finally, they went into the bedroom, and with the blinds closed and a single candle burning, they stepped out of their shoes and removed each other’s clothes. That was another slow process. But the results were worth it.

  “Who knew a pregnant woman could be so seductive?” He ran his hands along her naked body and when he reached her belly, he caressed it with warmth and care.

  She caressed him, as well. The breadth of his shoulders, the flatness of his stomach. He was a male in his prime, and he was deliciously aroused. She stroked him there, too.

  He sucked in his breath. “You’re wicked.”

  “So are you.” Gently wicked.

  They got into bed, pleasuring each other with familiarity. That was part of the beauty of having a mate. They knew how to make each other feel good.

  He entered her, and they made love in a position that had become natural during her pregnancy. She floated on the feeling, on the desire.

  “Thank you for being my wife,” he said, the romantic impact of his words shimmying down her spine.

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She had everything she ever needed or wanted, and she loved the man she’d married, more and more with each day.

  * * *

  Time passed quickly, so quickly that Dana’s due date had come and gone before she knew it. As of yesterday, Jude was late. But the doctor told them not to worry. If the pregnancy lasted for longer than forty-two weeks, he would induce labor. For now, it wasn’t necessary. Most likely, Jude would be rolling into the world any day.

  Eric couldn’t wait to meet his son in person, to hold him, to watch him nap, to see him nurse from his mama. He was even looking forward to changing diapers. All he wanted was for Jude to make his much-anticipated appearance.

  Tonight Eric was sitting in the living room, watching TV. Dana had turned in early. She was just as anxious for Jude to be born as he was. But apparently the kid was enjoying driving his parents nuts. His sister, too. Kaley called incessantly, asking for news. Eric assured her she would be notified as soon as Dana went into labor.