Chapter 7

Heath stood looking at himself in the mirror of the medicine cabinet. He had to get control of himself. Waking to have Deborah running her hand up and down his arm and shoulder had sent his blood to singing. She’d looked so sexy laying in his bed wearing his sweats and t-shirt. It had taken everything he had to not pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. He knew he needed to go slow, though. They’d had no kind of physical relationship in the past. Hell, he’d hardly even kissed her until yesterday. Now it was all he wanted to do. Well, NOT all he wanted to do, but certainly the first step into all he wanted to do. With a sigh, he approached the shower. He stripped down and turned on the cold water. Before turning the hot on to get clean, he needed the shock of cold water to remind certain parts of his body that slowly was the way to win this woman. What was surprising to him was he really wanted to win her heart. He’d already determined to marry her and keep her and the baby protected and provided for, but he wanted more. He wanted both their hearts to belong to him like he was truly a husband and father.

Maybe it was because his brother and sister both seemed to find that special someone, that his thoughts were running in this direction. He didn’t care about the reason. For the first time in his life, he looked at Deborah and saw not just the girl his dad forced him to hang out with. No, now he saw a woman who needed to experience true love and the knowledge that someone desired her for nothing but herself.

After his shower and dressing in his signature jeans and a gray V-neck t-shirt, he headed back to his room. He stopped in the door to see Deborah in a pair of his sister’s yoga pants, with one of his flannel shirts hanging untucked like a small dress. She’d found an adjustable belt and had gathered the shirt at her waist. Her dark hair was still damp and the scent of ginger from the tea she drank just was mixed with her unique scent to make her about irresistible to him. “I see you found something to wear.”

She smiled at him and he felt the effects of his cold shower go right out the window. He was in trouble with a capital T. “Your stomach settled enough for breakfast?”

She bit that full bottom lip, and it was all Heath could do not to pick her up and toss her on the bed behind her. “I think so.”

He took a deep breath and held out his hand. “Let’s go over to the Inn and see what Mrs. J has lined up for breakfast. Then we need to have a serious talk, okay?”

She walked over to him and nodded, taking his hand and wrapping her other one around his arm. Maybe he was worrying too much about going slow. After all, she’d been the one rubbing on him while he slept. He knew she’d said nothing before about wanting their relationship to be something different, but then neither had he. Could it be that she was as interested in something more as he was? Maybe he’d find out soon. But first, food and the discussion they needed to have. Plus, making a run to her parents’ house and trying to get her stuff. Surely the Reverend would let them have her clothes and things. It wasn’t like he needed them. He walked with her to the front door, and when they opened it, they looked out at a lot of snow. The weather had turned after he’d come home last night, and winter had returned to Colorado. Having closed the door, he turned towards the coat closet. He took out his winter Carhart jacket and searched for something she could wear. In the furthest corner, he saw his old letter jacket. He stopped wearing it after tenth grade when he decided to go his own way rather than follow Harry’s footsteps as the football team captain. He took it out, and she giggled. “I haven’t seen this since high school.”

“Yeah, I was just thinking that, too. But it should fit you and will keep you warm until we can go get your stuff.”

She let him help her put the coat on and zipped it up. Then they headed over to the Inn hand in hand. Once they reached the kitchen, they quickly placed an order and took a table in the corner where they could talk while they ate without being overheard.

Heath looked at Deborah, and his heart started racing. Until this point, he’d been the one in control. With this conversation, he was putting control in her hands. Would she accept his help? His proposal? His name? Or at the end of this, would he find the sudden ache of worry had turned into a full-blown heart break? While he still wouldn’t say he was madly in love with Deborah, there was something. Something that made him afraid she’d reject him. To make that fear worse, he knew he had to tell her that Pastor Lex had alternatives for her, Alternatives that she wouldn’t have to let Heath take care of her and the baby. He took a slow, deep breath and then let it out just as slowly.

“Deborah, you know I’ve said I’ll take care of you and the baby. That I want you both, and I do. But we have to have a serious talk about what that means.”

She nodded, and he could see the fear and tears she was holding on to with tight control.

“It’s important that I clarify this so you don’t misunderstand. You are what I want. I want to explore a more romantic relationship with you than we had before your dad wouldn’t let us hang out together anymore. You’ve obviously been through a lot since we split.”

“You’re worrying me, Heath. What are you trying to say?”

He reached across the table and took her hands in his. “I’m doing a poor job of this. What I’m trying to say is while I’m not madly in love with you yet. I think I’m falling in love with you. If we were in a normal situation, I’d date you and romance you and let us fall madly in love before doing this. However, we both know we aren’t in a normal situation. Tomorrow your dad is going to trash both of us in his sermon, you know it and so do I.”

She nodded her head, and a tear leaked past her eye and ran down her cheek. Heath lifted his right hand and wiped it away. “So, I want to protect you from most of the fallout of that. I can’t make it go away. I wish I could for your sake; but I can help keep most of the small-town harpies from snubbing you.”

“How can you do that?”

Before he could answer her, Mrs. Jackson brought their plates out to them. Heath looked up at the woman who was like a second grandmother to him. She had been his Grandma Gladstone’s best friend and the executor of her estate, and the only one who could release the funds of his wedding trust. “Thank you. Mrs. J, is it possible to talk to you in the kitchen for a moment?”