«I prepared this and kept it near because I knew you would need it.» Jessica said. «If you won’t cry out or use the leather, I’ll tell Caleb to leave. The last thing you should be worried about is fighting yourself so as not to upset your husband. He put the babe in your body. He can share in the pain as well as the pleasure of its birth.»
Willow’s mouth set in a mutinous line.
Caleb kissed his wife and said something too soft for Jessica to hear.
«I didn’t want to worry you,» Willow said. «Love, you get upset if I burn myself cooking.»
He lifted her hands and kissed them very gently. Then he picked up the leather strap. The marks of her teeth showed clearly. His fingers tightened on the dark leather.
«If I could bear it for you, I would,» he said roughly.
«I know. Just having you here helps me.»
It was true.
Despite the force of the contractions, Jessica saw that the lines of tension in Willow’s face had eased. When Caleb bent his head and whispered to his wife, the smile she gave him was as full of love as her eyes.
Then Willow’s body was claimed once more by the demands of birth. Caleb felt the tension of her muscles. Without a word, he held out the strap. She took it between her teeth just as a powerful contraction arched her whole body.
After that, there was little time for anything but easing Willow in small ways while she performed the hard work of bringing another life into the world. As the rhythmic fury of birth progressed, Jessica prayed silently, fiercely, that it would not all be in vain, all the wrenching pain and the blood, the set agony of Caleb’s face speaking eloquently of his fear and love for the woman who was giving birth to his child.
Finally, the contractions came so quickly that there was no time between for Willow to recover. Panting, sweating, dazed, she tried to smile at Caleb, only to be swept up once again.
«How much longer?» Caleb asked tightly of Jessica.
«As long as the babe requires.»
«She can’t take much more of this.»
«You would be surprised at what a woman can endure.»
And Caleb was.
In the final throes of birth, Willow’s hands gripped with a power that amazed Caleb, leaving bruises on his work-hardened hands, bruises that he didn’t even notice until later; he had care only for Willow, for giving her what ease he could.
The sound of a baby’s cries came as a shock.
«You have a son!» Jessica said, laughing and crying at the same time. «A beautiful, red-faced, crying, living son!»
Willow smiled and closed her eyes, letting everything slide away but the knowledge of her son and her husband’s kiss burning in the center of her hand.
Jessica managed to cut and tie the cord despite the happy tears running down her face. She washed the baby in warm water, wrapped him in receiving blankets, and handed him to Caleb. She was stunned to see tears in Caleb’s eyes as he looked at his child.
«Show Willow your son,» Jessica said huskily. «Then put him to her breast. He needs to feel her heartbeat again. She needs to feel his.»
Reverently, Caleb took their son to Willow. When Jessica looked up again, Willow was lying in her husband’s arms and the baby was sucking eagerly, his tiny head cradled by Caleb’s big hand.
«ARE you all right?» Wolfe asked urgently, pulling Jessica into his arms before she could answer.
«Willow did the work, not I.»
Wolfe didn’t seem to hear. He held Jessica hard against him. «When Reno told me, I kept thinking of your mother, of the horror you have of birth. I was afraid being near another childbed would terrify you.»
«I was afraid, too,» Jessica admitted, wrapping her arms around Wolfe’s lean waist. «I was afraid it would be born dead, like all the others.»
Wolfe made a hoarse sound, but the hand that stroked Jessica’s disheveled hair was very gentle.
«But this baby was alive,» she continued, excitement vibrating in every word. «Red-faced and crying, waving tiny fists, with black hair and long limbs. It was perfect and it was alive!»
Smiling, Wolfe bent and kissed her. When she returned the kiss rather than retreating, heat ran like leashed lightning through him. Memories of last night had come to him throughout the day, shaking him. He hungered for Jessica in ways he hadn’t believed possible.
Unable to stop himself, Wolfe urged Jessica’s lips apart. Despite the elemental need hardening his body, he tasted her with great gentleness, absorbing her warmth and the soft breaking of her breath when his tongue first touched hers. It was a long time before he lifted his head.
«Reno said both Willow and the boy are doing well,» Wolfe said finally, looking toward the closed bedroom door.
«Yes.» Jessica smiled and kissed the corner of Wolfe’s mouth. «Very, very well. Oh, Wolfe, it was extraordinary. To hold a new life where none was before made me feel as though I had touched God’s smile. The look on Caleb’s face when he held his son told me he felt the same way.»
«When will I be allowed to see this little red-faced miracle?»
«Willow can’t wait to share him. As soon as you wash, you can go in.»
«I’m clean as sunlight,» Wolfe said wryly. «Reno ran me through the wash house personally and thoroughly. Told me he wasn’t risking his one and only nephew on some dirtyhalfbreed.»
«What?» Jessica’s head snapped up. «Is he still alive?»
«Haven’t you heard? He’s pure greased lightning with that six-gun. I was as meek as a lamb — even washed behind my ears twice.»
«I’llboxhis ears,» she muttered. «Calling you names. He ought to be ashamed.»
Wolfe made a smothered sound and broke into laughter as he lifted Jessica off her feet in a big hug,
«Such a fierce little elf,» he said against her lips. «I was only teasing. Reno has called me some names from time to time, but none of them had anything to do with my Cheyenne mother.»
The laughter in Wolfe’s eyes made them a beautiful midnight blue. The strong slant of his cheekbones and his starkly defined mouth were heightened rather than blurred by his smile. Jessica realized anew how compelling Wolfe’s features were to her.
Suddenly, she wondered what it would be like to look down into the face of a sleeping baby and see hints of Wolfe’s beloved face.
«What an odd sound. Are you all right, Jessi?»
«Yes. No. That is…»
Jessica’s aquamarine eyes searched Wolfe’s face. She slid her fingers into his black hair and found that it was still damp. The cool, sleek texture made her shiver with pleasure and say his name as she watched him with wide, wondering eyes.
«Jessi? Are you all right? You’re looking at me as though you’ve never seen me before.»
«I haven’t.» Before he could say anything, she lifted her mouth to his. «Kiss me, Wolfe. Kiss me hard.»
The kiss Wolfe gave Jessica was deep, hot, frankly hungry. When it ended, both of them were breathing too rapidly. Just as he bent to take her mouth again, the front door closed hard.
«You keep that up and there will be one more small screamer come winter,» Rafe said, trying and failing to swallow his smile.
Wolfe tucked Jessica’s fiery face against his chest. «We were just getting ready to admire your nephew.»
«Uh-huh. What’s this I hear about a complete bath before I get to see the little mite?»
«Ask Reno.»
«I did. He has a scrub brush the size of a wagon seat and pure deviltry in his eyes.»
Jessica laughed into Wolfe’s shirt.
«Are you strangling her?» Rafe asked politely.
Wolfe’s hand slid beneath Jessica’s chin. He tilted her face up and brushed a kiss over her lips.
«Are you strangling?» Wolfe asked softly.
She blushed and said somethingRafe couldn’t hear.
«What was that?» Rafe asked.
«She said to enjoy your bath.»