Always Dakota - Debbie Macomber [76]
“I didn’t talk to Sadie,” he muttered.
“Well, it’s no big mystery. I just needed to get away,” Margaret confessed as she gave Midnight a final pat and let herself out of the stall.
“Any particular reason?”
“Actually, I was worried about us.”
Her husband tensed. “Us?”
“It’s all right, Matt,” she said, and slipped her arm around his waist to hug him. “Really. I don’t know what’s bothering you, but I can tell that something is. I’m giving you space to deal with it in your own way. When you’re ready to discuss it with me, I’ll be here.”
He stared at her as though he wasn’t sure he should believe her.
“If you choose not to tell me, that’s fine by me, too.”
He frowned. “You’re okay with that?”
“I’m fine with it.”
He looked down at her, shaking his head. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you,” he said, his voice low and barely controlled. “But whatever it was, I’m grateful.”
Sarah and Dennis sat in Dr. Leggatt’s Grand Forks office and anxiously awaited his decision. “I’m feeling much better,” she told him. The cramping and contractions had lessened over the weeks of continued bed rest.
“The pregnancy seems to be progressing normally,” Dr. Leggatt said, sitting across the desk from Sarah. She looked at her husband and flashed him a huge grin.
“Then I can go back to being a regular person again?” That might be pushing her luck, but she couldn’t help asking.
“Back to work?” he repeated with a short laugh. “Not quite.”
“I can leave the house?”
He hesitated. “Some.”
Her shoulders sagged with disappointment, and Dennis’s hand tightened around hers.
“You’re the best judge in this situation,” the doctor said. “No one knows better than you exactly how much activity you can undertake. As soon as you feel any contractions, you know what to do. The most dangerous time has passed, but we still have to be careful if you’re going to carry this child to term.”
Sarah wanted that more than anything, even if it meant risking her sanity. This afternoon was the first time in weeks that she’d stepped outside. The first time she’d stood in the afternoon sunshine and breathed in fresh spring air. It made her feel nearly giddy with happiness. Giddy with love. It turned her thoughts to her husband and how long it’d been since they’d last made love.
They rode the elevator to the lobby and as luck would have it, they were alone. “Dennis, I want you to kiss me.”
“Here? Now?”
This joy was almost more than she could contain. “Yes, right here. Right now. Hurry.” It didn’t matter that she was five months pregnant or that the elevator could stop any second.
“Sarah, I…” Dennis paused, glancing over his shoulder as though he half expected someone to suddenly appear, then wrapped his arms around her. The kiss started gently but quickly grew as wild as their passion. Sarah slid her hands around his neck and gave herself fully to this man she loved beyond reason. One kiss, however, wasn’t enough. Their dilemma was ironic; before their marriage they’d made love often and with abandon. Now that they were legally husband and wife, their relationship was strictly platonic, for fear lovemaking might disturb the troubled pregnancy.
By the time the kiss ended and the elevator doors opened, Sarah was weak with longing. Somehow they managed to step out and allow others to enter. Smiling to herself, she wondered if anyone had noticed. Dennis didn’t look any more in control than she felt.
The ride back to Buffalo Valley was jubilant. The tests showed the baby was healthy and developing at the proper pace. The release of tension and worry was enough to make Sarah feel light-headed. With caution, she could carry the baby to term and they’d have the child they both wanted so much.
“I’d like to go to the shop,” Sarah told her husband as they drove into town.
He frowned in her direction and seemed about to object, then changed his mind. “Dr. Leggatt said you’d know your own endurance.”
“And I do,” she assured him.
Dennis pulled into a parking space in front of the Buffalo Valley Quilts. Although Sarah talked to