Chapter Twenty-Five
Heath woke up to the moonlight shining through the bedroom window and landing on his face. He'd fallen asleep in the chair next to Leah's bed, unwilling to lie down in his own bed. When he sat up straight and looked at Leah's bed, he was surprised, but not shocked, to see that Bryon had climbed up onto his sister's sick bed and was curled up next to her. Heath might have stood up and taken the lad back to his bedroom, only his son wasn't asleep, and he was talking.
"I'm not supposed to be in here," Bryon said just loud enough for Heath to hear, "but I snuck in anyhow. I had to talk to you." His voice then took on a quite comical tone, as if he was trying to sound older than he was, "Look here, if you go away like mama did, who's going to help me with all the pranks I've been planning, and who's gonna help Uncle Nick and Faith with that noise box they made with each other? How 'bout the one Aunt Audra's gonna have? I sure don't want to." Okay, he knew it wasn't nice to call Gideon or any other baby a noise box only all babies could do was cry it seemed.
Heath had to both fight to keep more tears from falling and to keep from busting up laughing when it came to his son's description of his cousin and future cousin. Babies did have a way of crying a lot. Though, he had to flat out grab his heart as Leah opened her eyes and said, "If you don't get back into your bed, papa's not gonna be happy. You know he doesn't allow us in each other's room when we're sick."
Bryon, who temporarily forgot his father was sitting in the chair apparently sleeping, let out a cry of delight. "LEAH! YOU'RE AWAKE!" However, the sound of a chair being moved gave him a reminder and he whirled around. Heath was walking towards the bed.
"I'm sorry, papa." Bryon, afraid he was in trouble, hurried to explain. "I couldn't sleep; I had to see Leah." He was surprised to see tears in his father's eyes and to find himself in a huge bear hug instead of trouble.
"I wouldn't worry 'bout it right now." Heath sat down on the bed, keeping Bryon on his lap while feeling Leah's forehead. He felt the weight of the world roll off his shoulders as he realized her fever had broken and was back to normal. "Only, I think we best let your sister rest while we go back to bed."
"Papa," Leah looked at Heath with puppy eyes and asked, "Would you please let Bryon stay? He could sleep at the foot of my bed."
Any other time Heath would have told her that Bryon needed to go back to his room only, at the moment he didn't have the heart to. "I'll make him a bedroll and he can sleep on your floor." The children's faces as they lit up, made that decision all worthwhile.
~oOo~
Cynthia leaned against the empty corral watching as the sun climb out of its bed. Taking deep breaths, she let the tears of relief fall. She would have let them fall before, only she hadn't wanted to scare Leah or Bryon. At least the morning air was more than refreshing and the gentle breeze seemed to be drying her tears. Only when she heard footsteps behind her, did she hurry and wipe the remaining tears off her face.
She needn't have bothered though. Heath, who was also leaning against the fence now, could see she'd been crying. He laid his hands upon her shoulder as he spoke. "I haven't had a chance to thank you for all the hours, no, all the days, you've spent helping care for Leah. You're an angel, Cynthia."
Cynthia couldn't help but laugh softly. She'd been called a few things in her life, some good, some bad, only being told she was an angel was a new one in her book. "I don't know about that; still, I wanted to help. That little girl is something else, as is her brother."
"They're not the only ones." Heath spoke with a slight catch in his throat as he took a hold of Cynthia shoulders and turned her away from the fence.
Cynthia found her heart racing as she saw the look in Heath's eyes. "Heath…" it was the only word she got out as Heath lowered his head and covered her mouth with his, pulling her to him. Cynthia forgot about the sunrise, as she slid her arms around up and around his neck. By the time their lips parted, Heath had managed to move them into the corner where the fence met the gate.
"Marry me, Cynthia." Heath growled low as he planted a kiss on her cheek. "Marry me and be my wife and my children's mother." He whispered as he let his cheek touch hers, "We all love you and need you."
If her heart could have, it would have jumped out of her body and started dancing all over the ranch. How many nights had she laid awaked dreaming of hearing those words? How many hours had she spent looking after the children and getting to know Heath, when she wasn't working, how much time had spent growing to genuinely love and care for all three? And the past five days, they'd been such a nightmare, but Leah had survived and would recover just fine.
"Cynthia," Heath kissed her lips again, only now he was holding her as close as he possibly could. "Please, say you'll marry me."
"Yes, Heath," Cynthia was barely able to speak as Heath's hands had started running up and down her back as he again kissed her cheek once more, making it awfully hard to keep her mind where it needed to be. "Only, I think we best stop this right now. It's not the time or the place; we're not married yet. If we keep this up, we're going to find ourselves in trouble." There was no doubt in her mind about that one.
Heath let out another low growl and forced himself to stop what he was doing and step away. He didn't want to quit, only she was right. It was not the time or the place for the things he had in mind. "You're right. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have let myself forget where we were or the fact that I still have to put a ring on your finger."
Cynthia, once she got herself together, assured him there was nothing to be sorry for. She wrapped her arm around Heath's waist as he did the same to her, and then they headed back towards the house. The family would want to hear the announcement he and Cynthia had to make.