"Good," said Ralph. "We didn't get much of a chance to talk in New York, and I'd love to get to know you better."
"Sounds great to me!" Natalie replied. Ralph had crossed her mind a few times since she'd been back home, and she'd wondered whether he'd really been serious about wanting to keep in touch with her.
"So, have you ever been married before?" asked Ralph.
"Nope. Never had time," Natalie replied. "Too busy running all over the world."
"You must have a very glamorous career."
"I'm a news reporter," Natalie told him. "What about you, have you ever been married?"
"No, much to my Mom's consternation." He laughed. "I'm her only son, and she's been pressuring me for years to marry and give my father an heir to carry on his name. Yet here I am, still unattached at thirty-eight."
So he was only seven years younger than her, rather than ten as she'd feared. Yet she realized that that was still quite an age difference. What should she say if he asked her how old she was? How could she tell him the truth without fear that he'd immediately lose interest?"
"What kind of work do you do?" she asked him.
"I'm a third generation dry cleaning entrepreneur," he told her. "My grandfather started with just one store, my Dad increased it to eight, and I inherited the legacy. I'm afraid it's rather boring compared to what you do."
"That's all right," Natalie replied. "After all, somebody has to do it."
"That's true." He laughed. "Say, maybe one of these weekends I could fly out to California and meet up with you there."
"Actually, as it turns out, I'm gonna be back in New York for a story in just a couple of weeks. Maybe we could meet up then."
"That's great!" Ralph exclaimed. "I'll be looking forward to it."
"So will I," Natalie replied.
As soon as the Normans got home, Jamie went to the telephone to call Taylor and tell her all about her trip to New York. Clay disappeared into his bedroom, and Bethany coughed sharply. "She's been coughing like that for a couple of days," Jo mused, feeling the baby's forehead. "I think she'd running a fever, too. I'd better call Dr. Sanders." She did. "She wants me to bring her on in," she told Doug.
"Then do it, by all means," Doug replied. "I'll finish the unpacking."
As Jo drove her daughter to the doctor's, Clay looked through the stack of mail on the table. "Nothin' from Savanna," he muttered.
"We only just got back," his father reminded him. "Give it a few days."
Taylor arrived for a visit about thirty minutes later, and she and Jamie disappeared into Jamie's bedroom. Jo arrived at Dr. Sanders' office to find it so crowded that it was a challenge just to find a seat. She signed her daughter in and settled back for the long wait.
Another baby in the room was wailing, and Bethany soon followed suite. As she opened her mouth, Jo saw a tiny glint of white in the baby's lower gum. "You're getting your first tooth, Bethany!" she exclaimed.
After a couple of hours, Dr. Sanders' nurse called Jo and Bethany back. "She has croup," Dr. Sanders told Jo after examining the baby. After telling Jo to buy a nebulizer to use in the baby's room, she sent them on their way.
While in WalMart searching for the nebulizer, Jo ran into Grace's younger sister, Paige. "Oh, she's adorable!" Paige exclaimed. "I don't think I've even seen her since she was christened. How old is she now?"
"Seven months," Jo replied. "She has croup, and I have to buy a nebulizer for her. How have you been?"
"Great!" Paige replied with a brilliant smile. "Buck and I just found out we're expecting. I'm here looking for maternity clothes."
"Congratulations!" said Jo.
"Yeah, we'd been trying for awhile," Paige told her. "We were just about to give up and start looking into adoption when we suddenly got this wonderful surprise."
Briefly Jo reflected upon the ease with which Bethany had been conceived following just one act of unprotected sex. "Well, I wish you the best," she told Paige.
She arrived home to find Doug sitting in the recliner. Bethany reached for him, and he took her into his arms. "Come here, little bits," he said. "What's the news on this one?" he asked Jo.
"She has the croup," Jo told him. "I had to stop by WalMart to buy her this nebulizer. She's also cutting her first tooth. I saw it for the first time in the waiting room."
"Well, how 'bout that?" Doug chuckled. "Can Daddy see?" he asked his daughter, who cooed in response.
Neither of them particularly felt like cooking that evening, so Doug ordered take-out pizza. Taylor stayed for dinner, and then her mother picked her up and took her home. Jamie went along with them to spend the night.
Later Doug set the nebulizer up in Bethany's room and turned it on before retiring for the night. He entered the bedroom to find his wife sitting up in bed, reading a novel. He sat beside her on the bed and gently took it from her. "I've got more interesting activities in mind than that," he murmured as he began to place light kisses along the side of her neck. She moaned as she ran her fingers through his hair.
"I love your hair," she told him. "It's so thick and luxurious."
"Thank you." He chuckled. "And unlike so many men my age, I've still got a head full of it."
Gently his fingers moved beneath her pajama top and lifted it over her head, and his lips resumed their activity, gently caressing first her collarbone, then her already erect nipples. As she continued to moan in rapture, he placed light butterfly kisses on the warm softness of her abdomen, then finished undressing her.
After making love, they lay cuddling in one another's arms. "Boy, it's good to be back home," said Doug.
"It is," Jo agreed. Although she'd personally rather enjoyed the hustle and bustle of New York life, she knew that her more laid-back husband had found it a bit exhausting. "And it's such a relief to know Mrs. G.'s gonna be all right."
As they lay contentedly in one another's arms and slowly drifted to sleep together, Jo's heart swelled with love for her husband.