Choices of the Heart

by Daniels, Julia

  Dr. Babcock took another long look at Chloe and then left the room. Reese heard the screen door slam shut minutes later. The sudden silence left him feeling as if he was all alone in the world.

  Reese plopped on the chair next to the bed. He and Dr. Babcock had propped up Chloe with pillows so her head was cushioned. He’d never sat watch over anyone before. He imagined Chloe had done this often at the hospital in Lincoln. What a switch.

  Reece’s shotgun was still resting next to the window. He wouldn’t hesitate to use it if his father-in-law reappeared. Reese was a good shot. Gus wouldn’t leave here alive.

  Maybe Lowell had captured her father already. Jail was too good for the bastard. He deserved to die. He’d killed Chloe’s Mama and abused Daisy and hurt Chloe. The world was too good to have such a bad man roaming free. Reese bent forward and captured his head in his hands.

  Lucas talked! At least one good thing came from the situation. Whether the boy would continue to speak was anyone’s guess, but his fast feet and newly found voice might have saved Chloe. Maybe Gus thought the fall had killed her, and that’s why he’d disappeared by the time Reese got here.

  Reese lit the gas lamp next to the bed as the waning sun finally made its way home for the night, sinking below the horizon. It felt so much later to him. Two days could have passed with all the activity of this one, single day.

  ~*~

  The minute Chloe opened her eyes she knew something wasn’t right.

  Her head throbbed like a train was running through it. She couldn’t quite get her left eye open and her mouth, while very dry and sticky, was so swollen, she found it hard to stick out her tongue and lick her lips.

  Everything came back to her in an instant, faster than one of her father’s vicious blows. He’d punched her, kicked her and slapped her, finally pushing her against the counter. After that, she couldn’t remember anything, had no idea how she ended up in her bed.

  In the soft light from the lamp burning next to the bed, Chloe saw Reese sleeping in the chair beside her. Lucas must have fetched him home. She reached up and felt her head, wondering why it ached so much. A lump the size of an egg protruded from her scalp. Her hair was matted, no doubt with crusted-over blood, and a large bandage covered her wound.

  Dr. Babcock must have been there. She felt dopey, as if he’d given her something for the pain. She turned her head and with her good eye looked through the window into the inky darkness. It had to be late, although she couldn’t quite make out the clock on the opposite wall.

  She must have been knocked unconscious; nothing else would explain why she couldn’t remember how she got patched up and into bed.

  “Reese.” Her voice sounded like a slurred croak. “Reese,” she tried again, louder.

  He stirred and quit snoring but didn’t wake.

  She couldn’t lift her head too high without dizziness and a vicious pounding making her nauseated. The swaying, spinning sensation made her feel as if the bed was twirling underneath her.

  “Reese.”

  She got through to him finally, and he snapped to attention, sitting straight up in the chair. His features, what she could see of them, showed confusion, the blurry fog a person experiences when they first awaken. In an instant, he was sitting next to her on the bed, touching her forehead.

  “Thank the Lord you’re awake, Chloe.”

  “Can I have some water?” She was so dry. “Do you have something for pain, too?”

  “I’ll be right back.” He left the room, walking a little wobbly, probably still half asleep.

  She let her head rest back on the pillow, the painful throbbing making it hard for her to concentrate. She closed her eyes and focused on just trying to breathe normally. Her father had almost killed her. He would have raped her if she hadn’t passed out.

  Until she’d read the letter Daisy left her, she had no idea her father was capable of such repulsiveness. He’d raped Daisy over and over again. He took her innocence and ripped away her self-esteem. Daisy had protected her for so many years, and Chloe could never thank her.

  She opened her good eye when Reese came back into the room.

  “You know my father did this, right?”

  He had ice wrapped in a washcloth in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He set the items next to the bed and propped her up so she could drink.

  “Lucas told me.”

  He handed her the glass. She took a small sip and nodded. “Wait.” She stared at him. “Did you say he told you?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Reese laughed. “Spoke as if he’d been talking all his life. I’m afraid we won’t be able to shut him up now.” He sat next to her on the bed and handed her the aspirin and ice.

  “Well, I’ll be…”

  “What hurts most?” He pushed aside some of the hair that draped in her eyes.

  “My face,” she whispered.

  “Not your head?”

  “Well, that’s pounding,” she said. “But every time I move my mouth, I get a sharp pain. Think the bastard might have broken my jaw.” She tried to move it from side to side but stopped because the pain was too great.

  “Lowell and Ben went out to get him.”

  “Reese, I want him dead.” She almost laughed at the expression on his face. “If I have to call those gangsters in Chicago to see it done, I will. We’ve got money, we can pay…”

  “Chloe, stop it, girl. Your father will get what he deserves. I’ll make sure of that myself.”

  “Reese, he tried to—” Her voice broke. “He was going to rape me.”

  Reese went very still, and the muscles along his jaw clenched. “Did he succeed?”

  “Not while I was awake, but I don’t remember anything after I fell.”

  She started crying, and he folded her in his arms. Chloe took comfort from his warm embrace.

  “There’s no pain…there…but, oh, Reese, it was so awful!”

  “Shhh, now. He didn’t have time to do anything like that, Chloe. As soon as Lucas got to my folks’ farm, I was in the wagon on the way. Were you still awake when Lucas left you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think you fell, and he thought he killed you. You were laying so still, Chloe. I was so scared. I think he probably left as soon as you hit the ground.”

  “Rosie and Bobby?”

  “Both made it to the farm safely. The baby was still in the crib when Pa and I got here.”

  “I just wanted to protect all of them.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “I locked the door, but he kicked the thing right in. I’m thankful the children are unharmed. They had nothing to do with Pa, didn’t deserve to see his ugliness. I just couldn’t let them get hurt.”

  “Honey, they’re fine.” He caressed her cheek. “I promise.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “My folks are caring for them. You just relax and let that medicine help. Put the ice up on your face; maybe the bruises won’t be so bad.”

  “I must look awful.” She opened her eye again.

  “Let’s just say you’ve looked better.” He smiled, softening his words.

  “How about worse?”

  “Can’t say that, no.” He smiled. “In a few days, you’ll look just the same as always. My beautiful Chloe.”

  She chuckled. “I feel anything but that right now. Stay with me.” She grabbed on to his hand when he started to rise.

  “I will. I’m just going to take my clothes off. Can I sleep with you?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I’ll sleep better knowing you’re next to me.” She snuggled deeper into the pillow, the ice sitting precariously between her cheek and eye.

  “I said I would protect you from your father, and I failed, Chloe.” He hung his shirt over the back of the chair and unbuckled his pants and hung them over his shirt, before climbing in next to her and pulling her into his arms. “I guess you were right in leaving town. You knew he would just keep trying to get to you no matter what I did. I should have believed you.”

&nbs
p; “You couldn’t have known, Reese. I felt safe here, in our home.” She kissed his chin, the skin closest to her mouth. “I love you, please don’t blame yourself.”

  He sighed.

  She wasn’t completely sure, but as she drifted back off to sleep, she thought she heard Reese whisper that he loved her. Shame it took her nearly getting killed for him to admit how he felt about her.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  With the dawn came many questions that Reese was anxious to have answered. Would she feel better today, or still struggle with pain? Where was her father? Had Lowell and Ben been able to pick him up and lock him up for good? Reese had thought he’d spend more time in jail after the incident at the hotel when Chloe came back for the funeral. A month seemed like small potatoes for what he’d tried to do to her then.

  It was time to visit with Mitch Schroeder and make sure Gus Brandt finally got his due. The bastard killed Chloe’s mother and had suffered no consequences. He almost killed Chloe, and he sure as hell wouldn’t get away with it. Reese would make sure of that.

  Chloe awoke twice more during the night. Each time, Reese plied her with aspirin and water, fluffed her pillows and tried to make her comfortable. It must have done the trick, as she was still sleeping peacefully at his side.

  Each time she woke with more energy and said she felt better. Knowing her as well as he did, she would want to be up and around, and Reese wasn’t sure he could keep her in bed, short of staying there with her. Which, in actuality, was right where he wanted and needed to be.

  He’d received his wish from the day before, before all the commotion started—he’d spent the whole night with her, without any children. He laughed to himself and recalled the old adage his mother used to throw at him. “Be careful what you wish for.” He’d had much different plans for the night.

  He stretched out his legs on the bed and crossed his hands behind his head, watching designs appear on the wall as sunlight filtered through the lace curtains. The cool morning breeze swept in the small crack of window he’d left open the night before. Fall was in the air.

  He reached over and felt Chloe’s forehead. The last thing she needed right now was a chill. With her snug as a bug in a rug, he left her to get more ice for her face and some fresh water. He wouldn’t worry about the chores until she was awake, and then he’d call Babcock to come and sit with her for a while and give her a thorough check-up.

  Reese wanted to go to his father-in-law’s house and strangle the man with his bare hands. He knew, though, that Lowell and Ben would have found Gus by now. No doubt he was sitting in jail, getting ready to rot away for attempted murder.

  When Reese got back to the bedroom with ice, Chloe was sitting up, holding on to the edge of the bed. “I’m awful dizzy.”

  “I don’t think you should be up yet, honey.” He quickly sat next to her on the bed and eased the pillows behind her head.

  “I think you’re right.” She kicked her legs back onto the bed, under the covers, and fell back against the cloud of pillows Reese created for her. “I don’t want the children to see me looking like this.”

  “They’ll stay with my folks until you’re up to seeing them. Don’t you worry about them. Ma’s got it taken care of.” He handed her a glass of water. “How is your head today?” He caressed the side of her face.

  “I feel pretty well. Probably much better than I look.” She grinned and then took a tentative sip of water. “Just puffy and a little headache.”

  He kissed her temple and took her glass and set it on the bedside table before taking her hand. “I had special plans for us last night.”

  “You did?” Chloe looked surprised.

  “Uh-huh.” He squeezed her hand. “Ma was going to watch the children, and we were going to have a night to ourselves.”

  Tears glistened in her eyes and she looked away.

  “Thank you for thinking of that, Reese. I’m sorry your plans got messed up.” She sniffed and gently dabbed at her swollen eye with the edge of the sheet. “I would have loved spending time alone with you. We haven’t been on a date in quite a while.”

  “It’s hardly your fault. And I suppose we did spend time alone, just not under the circumstances I wanted.” He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. She looked horrible, but he wouldn’t hand her a mirror. “I wanted the chance to talk to you without interruption.”

  “Well,” she sighed and closed her eyes. “It looks like you’ve got me all to yourself now.” She smiled. “Not like I can go downstairs and clean anything.”

  He laughed and looked away, trying to remember the conversation he’d rehearsed in the barn while milking the cows the morning before.

  “Why, Reese, you’re nervous!”

  She was staring at him, and he felt flush, figured his face was red. He couldn’t quite meet her eyes.

  “I am, Chloe.” He shook his head. “It’s the damn oddest thing.”

  “Just talk to me, sweetheart. Like you used to, before we were apart.” She squeezed his hand. “You don’t share your dreams with me anymore, and I know you still have them, even though the farm is successful and growing. And especially now that we have children to raise.” She caressed the side of his face and then cupped his cheek. “You don’t share your thoughts much with me at all. I miss that so much. I miss our closeness.”

  “It’ll come back, Chloe.” He turned his face and kissed her palm. “I bet in no time, we’ll be as close as we always were, more so because we know…I know…you aren’t leaving me, and we have a life to build together.”

  “Finally you trust me!”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “I do trust you, Chloe Anne. But you have to understand where I am coming from. After you came back, I kept seeing Graham Whitman everywhere, and it reminded me how Marina just up and left him with the two kids.” He shook his head. “You had a life in Lincoln I knew nothing about. How did I know I was enough for you to stay, especially with what your father had done to you at the hotel, what he threatened to do?”

  “I wrote you letters,” she whispered. “I tried to stay in touch with you. I missed you so desperately, Reese.” She started to cry again.

  “I threw them out—the letters. Burned them without reading them.”

  She looked crestfallen.

  “I figured that’s what you did to me.” He shrugged. “Just threw me away.” He waved in the air. “I didn’t want to read about your amazing adventures when I was here, missing you, missing Ronnie, working my ass off with Pa, trying to make something of this place.”

  “I’ve apologized, Reese, I don’t know what else I can say.”

  “There is nothing else for you to say or prove to me. I trust that you will stay with me, that you love me. You show me that, day in and day out with your kisses and your smiles and your small touches that make my life complete. You are a remarkable woman, Chloe Anne, and I am so very lucky we got another chance. You’re beautiful, smart, funny, and so very loving. But the most important thing I wanted to finally admit to you was how much…well…how much I love you.”

  She smiled, a jaw probably broken, lips-cracked, face-battered smile. He winced at the pain she had to be experiencing.

  “Finally!” She chuckled. “I thought you’d never spit it out.”

  He gave her a look but kept going. “You told me the other day that you never stopped loving me. Well, I never did, either. How could I, Chloe? You’re my other half.” He swallowed, willing himself to go on. “When you left, I lost the love of my life, my best friend. No one knew me better, no one could ever make me as happy as you do.

  “When you came back”—he toyed with the hair hanging at her shoulder— “and I saw you carrying Bobby.” He sniffed and shook his head, looking away. “I thought he was ours, Chloe Anne. I thought we made a baby and you left me with him growing inside you.” He looked back at her. “I wanted Bobby to be our child, a reminder of what we were to each other, the love we made, the love we had for each other.”

  “Yo
u got your wish,” she said. “He is ours now.”

  He nodded. “Yes, of course. But that’s not quite what I meant.”

  “I understand what you are saying…but you must know now the love we had for each other was always inside me, but in my heart, not my womb.” She took her hand and rested it against her chest.

  He nodded.

  She smiled suddenly and then winced. “But now, my dearest, most cherished love, it’s not only in my heart but here as well.” She moved his hand lower, resting it on her stomach.

  It took him a moment to catch on. “No…” He shook his head. “You’re…carrying?” He swallowed. “You’re having my baby?”

  She nodded, and more tears streamed from her face.

  He pulled her against him gently. Tears were falling from his eyes too, but he wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed. This was Chloe—his whole life. She had given him everything she had to give, all her love and care, and now was giving him a child.

  “Are you all right?” He pulled back, wiping his tears. “The baby…after your father…”

  “The baby should be fine,” she told him softly and caressed his cheek. “Pa only struck my head, not my body.”

  He pulled her close again. “We made a baby, Chloe,” he whispered.

  “I love you. More than life.” She kissed him softly and fell back against the pillows. “Seven children, Reese.” She chuckled.

  “We’ll be parenting experts by the time they all leave the nest.” He chuckled.

  She rolled her eyes and then moaned. “Did you have anything else you wanted to say? You don’t seem so nervous anymore.” She chuckled.

  “It wasn’t nerves. I just needed to say what I needed to say, how I wanted to say it. And I won’t bring up the past again. We have our future together to look forward to, and that is all I want to concentrate on. The past made us who we are, and I will only look back to the good stuff and not dwell on the bad.” He sighed, relief from clearing the air making his shoulders seem tons lighter. “That was the main gist of the conversation. I just had to trust your love and commitment—trust that you would stay with me, and that you had chosen me over everything and everyone. And I know you have. And I love you for it. I love you, Chloe Anne Lloyd.”