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He remembered painfully an episode just a month ago. She d been too sick to go with him to a
cattlemen s association meeting and dinner. For some reason, Jaqui Jones had been there, sitting next
to Garon. A photographer for the local paper had snapped a shot, showing Garon smiling, leaning
toward Jaqui.
Miss Turner had hidden the paper from Grace, but she was too sharp not to realize the effort to
protect her. She d found the newspaper and just stared at it, Miss Turner told him. She hadn t said a
word. She d dropped it in the trash and gone on about her business.
Garon had been out with the men, moving the bulls out of summer pasture. It was a blazing hot day.
He d come inside stripping off his shirt, his hair damp with sweat. And there stood Grace, in the hall,
her hands folded at her waist.
Are you having an affair with Jaqui? she d asked bluntly.
He d laughed. It was unforgivable, but it was a ridiculous question. Here he was with a very pregnant
new wife, living in a town of two thousand benevolent gossips.
Are you nuts? he d asked, grinning at the picture she made in a jade-green maternity blouse with
white maternity slacks. Barbara would skewer me and serve me to you on a hot bun!
She d looked sheepish then, and her eyes had dropped helplessly to his broad, hair-roughened chest,
at the play of muscles. Her thoughts had been as plain as a statement of desire on her lovely face.
With a wicked smile, he d tossed his shirt onto the hall table, swept her up in his arms and kissed her
with such passion that she moaned and clung to him.
Just as he entertained forbidden thoughts of easing her down on the floor and doing what he felt like
doing to her, the phone rang. It was a call from the office about a high-profile case back east. The
SAC had him slated to go help with it. He only had minutes to pack and get to the airport.
He d glanced at Grace with a rueful smile, and she d smiled back, dazed. But when he came back a
week later, she was quiet and withdrawn. Miss Turner said she d had a long talk with Dr. Coltrain and
it had depressed her. He d asked what about. But Miss Turner didn t know, and Grace and the
redheaded doctor passed over it as if they d just been discussing labor and Grace was nervous about
it.
Now, weeks later, Garon knew what they d talked about. Grace had risked her life to bring this child
into the world. She knew how much Garon wanted a child, and how much he d have worried if he d
known about her heart. So she d sworn everybody around her to secrecy, and she d carried the secret,
the burden, all these months.
He drew her small hand to his mouth and kissed it hungrily. He felt the hot mist in his eyes and
lowered his head to hide it. If she died& if she died, what would he do? How would he go on living
without her? And he d never even told her what he felt.
THERE WAS A TEAM waiting at the hospital when the helicopter landed. Coltrain had told Garon
what would happen when they arrived. They d examine her. They d schedule a heart catherization to
see the extent of the damage and decide on the procedure. There was a heart surgeon in Houston, Dr.
Franks, who was world famous in his field. He d already agreed to take the case. Coltrain had phoned
him from Jacobsville. The surgery would take several hours.
It was a recipe for a nightmare. It got worse when the surgeon, Dr. Franks, and Coltrain told him what
could go wrong. Grace s pregnancy was advanced enough that they could take the child. But a C-
section or natural childbirth compounded the risk. Dr. Franks made the terse statement that she should
never have been allowed to conceive knowing this condition was already working up to open heart
surgery.
Garon had been crushed when he heard that. Coltrain snapped to his defense, informing him that
Grace had refused Coltrain permission to tell her husband, adding that nobody had expected that
Grace could even get pregnant in the first place.
Dr. Franks apologized, but Garon was beyond guilt. If he d only known, he kept thinking. If she d just
told him!
CASH CAME INTO the waiting room sometime later. Garon was in a seat by the window, staring out
onto the hospital grounds. People walked along sidewalks, came in and out of buildings. Garon didn t
see them. He was remembering his first sight of Grace, when she came to his house looking for help
with her grandmother.
He felt Cash s big hand on his shoulder.
What s happening? Cash asked, dropping into a seat beside Garon. He was still wearing his
uniform, and a family in the waiting room gave him curious looks.
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