Read Samson and Sunset for Free Online Page B

ran towards them.
      “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I
sobbed. “Oh my gosh, my little Kelly!” I gathered her in my arms.
This time they were happy tears.
      “She sure is pretty,” Shay said,
peering down into her face. “Are all babies that pretty?”
      “No,” I said. “She’s an
exception.”
      The pilot carried the diaper bag and
the bassinet off the chopper and took them up to the house. Shay
said I was to call my mom immediately. I did and she was so glad
they’d gotten there safe and sound. She said she hadn’t wanted to
let him take Kelly, but he’d convinced her that I needed her.
      ***

    That night I saw Shay through different
eyes.
      With Kelly asleep in her bassinet in
the living room, I went to shower and when I came back in my PJs,
Shay had moved the bassinet to the master suite to be near me.
After we settled in, each on our own side, I turned and gently put
my hand on the side of Shay’s face. He left it there a couple of
seconds; then he reached his hand up, took my hand and gently
kissed the top of it.
      “Am I suppose to read anything into
this?” he asked.
      “Yes, I think so.”
      “Well,” he said, “we’re not having
sex. Not while there’s a child here.”
      “She’s three and a half months old!
She doesn’t know.”
      “But I know,” he said, “and I think
you have your hand on my side of the scarf.”
      As he returned my hand gently to my
side of the scarf, he said with his sweet grin, “Don’t let it
happen again. Goodnight, princess.”
      With that he turned his back to me and
went to sleep. Man, I thought, paybacks are a bitch!
      Five Little Magic Words

      That morning we were awakened in the
early hours of the morning by Cookie popping her head in.
      “Geez, Cookie, couldn’t you at least
knock?” said Shay in a sweet tone.
      “I hear we have ourselves a baby!” She
was peering down into the bassinet. “Oh my sweet Lord, we have
ourselves a little angel!” 
    (If Dane Dalton did nothing else in his life,
at least he created a baby that people would chase me down the
street, saying, ‘Can I see that baby again?’ Or, ‘That’s the most
unbelievable child I’ve ever seen!’)
      Cookie picked her up with gentle
expertise. “Now you kids go back to sleep, old Cookie’s here. I’ll
take care of the baby.”
      “She’s about ready for a bottle,
Cookie,” I said. “Room temperature, formula’s in the fridge.”
      Shay said he had to get up, but I
could sleep—he’d heard me up feeding Kelly several times through
the night. She was so good, never cried. That morning there were no
tears for me either, no dull day stretching out before me: I had
lots to do with Kelly! At one point I took her for a walk to see
Shay in the machine shop and he got all panicky, saying I shouldn’t
have her out where there could be germs.
      “Please, keep her inside! You can come
out if you want…but don’t bring her!”
      Gosh, he sounds like a father hen, I
thought going back to the house.
      ***

    When Shay was done working, we spent the
evening playing with Kelly. He loved getting her to smile. Bed
time: same old routine, except Shay said to set a bottle out to get
room temperature and I could sleep through the first feeding.
      “I’ll do the first round, you catch
the second,” he said.
      I accepted with quiet
astonishment.
      A few hours after we fell asleep I
heard her fuss, and Shay was out of the bed in a flash. (I had
shown him how to burp her so she didn’t get a bubble.) About an
hour later, when they weren’t back in the master bedroom, I got up
and went into the adjoining room and there they were in the
recliner: Kelly lying on Shay’s chest. He had one hand on her back
and one hand spread open, cradling the base of her neck. Well, if
my heart was a stick of butter, that sight was a warm pan.
      ***

    The next evening Shay came in about 7:30 p.m.
and told me they had opened the main road.