Read Rorey's Secret for Free Online Page B

she’d stand it over these roads. She seems so weak. I’d be afraid the baby would come halfway there.”
    I took a deep breath, thinking that now was the time to be extra strong. But I ended up bursting into tears, and he had to help me inside.
    “It’ll be all right, Juli,” he said. “We can do this.”
    “I can’t. I don’t even want to.”
    It was silly for me to argue. Of course Samuel knew that. But he was patient and reassuring anyhow. “Relax. We’ll be praying. Thelma’s healthy. They’ll be all right.”
    Dear Samuel. Wise and unruffled. At least he was here with me. At least I had that much.
    If Thelma even noticed that the doctor wasn’t there, she didn’t let on about it. She was bearing down and pushing when I got back in the room. Breathing in hard little gasps, she looked me straight in the eye. “This . . . baby . . . she’s . . . she’s . . . comin’ . . . right . . . now!”
    She screamed and pushed, and Lizbeth tried holding her hand the way she’d done with her mother, but Thelma pushed her away. “Sammy!”
    Sam Hammond leaned close, looking afraid to say or do much of anything. “Yes, honey?”
    “Are you glad? Are you glad?”
    “About the baby? Yes, I’m glad.”
    “Me . . . too . . .”
    She yelled again, and I felt like I was going to pass out. But Thelma kept pushing, and I stayed with her for what seemed like hours but was surely shorter. And that baby came right on, headfirst like it was supposed to, screaming and squalling like it should. I was so relieved I could barely see straight. A girl. A teeny thing. Didn’t take Sam and Thelma two minutes to name her Rosemary and start kissing each other. And all I wanted to do was kiss Samuel and cry because it was over.
    Ben and Lizbeth decided to go on home once we had everything cleaned up and mother and baby were finally sleeping. I hugged Lizbeth, so very glad she’d been there, but she shook her head.
    “I did nothing at all, Mrs. Wortham. You know that.”
    Ben was looking at her just a little uncertain, but he reached and patted her hand kind of quick, and she gave just a hint of a smile. I wasn’t sure what their problem had been earlier, but hopefully it was fixed now.
    I was standing at the back door watching them go when Samuel came up and closed his arms around me. “You did well, Juli Wortham. You make me proud.”
    “Oh, shush! I was fit to be tied, and you know it.”
    “I know I love you.”
    That easily, I melted completely. He was hugging me close, kissing my neck, sending little shivers of delight all the way to my toes. Wonderful. I hugged him back, loving every minute of it. We kissed full and warm until I saw Robert come in the kitchen behind us.
    Our near-grown son looked awfully embarrassed to see his parents carrying on so. He ducked his head and was about to turn away. But I stopped him.
    “You need us for something, Robby?”
    “Um . . . no. I was just wondering if you might want my room tonight, and I’ll sleep on the floor in the sitting room. Thought it might be easier that way.”
    “Thank you, Robert,” Samuel told him, not letting go of me. “That’s very generous of you.”
    Robert gave his father an indefinable sort of look and left us alone, shaking his head.
    I could hear the baby stirring again, and I went to check on her, hoping she’d be anxious to suck. Emma Graham had told me there were two things you’ve got to know for sure: if a baby can suck and if the mother’s strong enough to let it. They tried. It was a start. And I ended up rocking the baby a while as the father sat holding Thelma’s head and talking too low for me to hear.
    It was sometime around midnight when I left them all in our room. Robert had stretched his covers out on the sitting room floor. Sarah and Katie had gone to their room and were surely asleep with Georgie, the house was so quiet. Samuel and I tiptoed upstairs.
    Most days we were so tired when we went to bed that we couldn’t do anything