“She’s afraid of loud noises, too,” Hale explained, giving the lab’s ear an affectionate scratch.
At the next crack of thunder, Luke scurried under the sheet.
Danielle scooted over to accommodate him and elbowed Hale in his taut belly by mistake.
He let out a grunt and rubbed his abdomen.
“Sorry,” she apologized with an embarrassed wince.
“How long until Drew arrives?” he drawled.
A smile tickled the corners of her mouth when she heard the good humor in Hale’s voice. “I doubt we’ll see my other son. Nothing ever wakes up Drew.”
“Good, because I doubt this bed can hold five of us.” Hale reached over her to tickle Luke’s ribs. “Have you got enough room, buddy?”
“No.” Luke laughed, squirming so much he bumped Danielle against Hale’s bare chest. She froze at the contact and wished she’d worn more than a tank top and shorts to bed, but in mid-May, the nights were getting warm.
She should’ve been used to her husband by now, but they’d barely touched over the past few weeks. Now they were spooning like a real married couple.
Hale seemed startled by the contact, too. After a long moment, he rested his forearm on Danielle’s waist.
She didn’t have any reason to protest, because no other place to put his arm remained now that their bed was crowded with a large dog and a squirmy kid.
A strange, euphoric feeling made her stomach feel light and giddy as she lay backed up against Hale. Were her feelings of friendship and gratitude transforming into an outright crush? Danielle lurched up on her elbow and sputtered, “We’re crammed together like a pack of sardines, Luke. Why don’t you and I go downstairs?”
“I want to stay here,” he pleaded, inching beneath the covers until just his eyes and forehead showed.
A vicious clap of thunder made Danielle flinch.
Hale’s thumb brushed against her forearm. “Are you scared, too?”
“A little,” she confessed.
“Don’t worry, Mommy. Hale will protect us.”
“You can count on that,” he echoed.
The quiet confidence in his deep voice made Danielle twist to look over her shoulder. Hale had settled back down on his pillow. The rim of his hearing aid glinted behind his ear. His eyes were closed, reminding her of how long he’d spent in the fields that day.
“You’ve been working so hard, Hale. Please tell me if you don’t have enough room to sleep. Luke and I can go downstairs.”
His arm tightened around her. “The last thing I’m gonna do is ask you to leave now that you’re close.”
She glanced at Luke, whose eyes widened as though he was surprised men said those types of things. Her boys hadn’t heard many sweet things coming from their father’s lips, particularly when Mark spoke to her.
Guilt did that to a person. The emotion made them brittle as splintered old wood.
Sobered, she put her head on the pillow and hoped Luke might mimic her attempt to fall asleep.
Her son frowned at the muscled forearm draped over her waist, jealousy flashing in his gaze. Luke opened his mouth but went mute when a bright flash of lightning painted the room white.
“Is it raining yet?” Hale asked.
“Yes.” Danielle had to raise her voice above the heavy drops thrumming against the side of the house. “Can you hear it?”
“White noise gives me trouble.” Hale’s voice vibrated in his chest, tickling her back. “Can’t hear rain, fans, or even music.”
Luke’s dark eyebrows arched. “You can’t hear music?”
“No, but that’s okay. At least, I can hear you and your mom. There was a time when I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that.”
Luke’s lips formed a silent “oh” and his smooth brow buckled into a frown. After a moment of thought, he reached across the blanket until he touched the big hand hanging lax beside Danielle’s forearm.
Hale’s fingers opened to welcome Luke’s small palm.
Danielle swallowed hard, moved by the sensation of those two hands twined in front of her belly button. Hale seemed to have a soothing effect on everyone in the bed, because Cocoa started to snore.
At the next clap of thunder, Luke smiled at Danielle. “I’m not scared now,” he whispered.
“Good.” She kissed his forehead, smoothing her fingers through her boy’s soft hair. He smelled like candy. She suspected Hale let the boys eat chocolate before bed. The three of them looked a little too innocent when she found them rummaging in the kitchen before bath time, but she didn’t have the heart to level any accusations.
Enforcing the “no candy after dinner rule” would have been hypocritical when she had a piece of butterscotch hidden in her mouth.
They listened to the storm rage until the thunder rolled into the distance. The light patter of rain was a welcome sound, and Luke’s breathing deepened. His small hand slipped out of Hale’s and flopped onto the bed.
Lulled by the warmth radiating off the solid man behind her and the small boy nestled in front of her, Danielle blinked sleepily and looked over her shoulder at Hale. “Is it okay if Luke stays here?”
“Anything you ask.”
He twisted toward his nightstand to put away his hearing aid. When he settled back on his side, she shifted to give him room. She almost didn’t feel him lift a small tendril of hair, rubbing the strands between his fingers for a long time before letting the heavy curl fall against her shoulder.
Danielle wondered how often he bestowed those secret caresses while she was asleep.
She thought about the way Hale held her son’s hand a few moments ago. Would he hold her just as sweetly? Curious, she reached back until she touched his sturdy arm. The crisp hair furring his forearm tickled her fingertips as she slid her hand toward his thick wrist. He was big boned, the back of his hand a full inch wider than hers. The relaxed power beneath her questing touch shot a surge of wariness into her bloodstream.
Was getting closer a good idea?
Hale’s hand turned up, opening slowly.
An invitation. She grazed her index finger along his palm, discovering a callous near his thumb. This was the hand of a hardworking man. One who hadn’t poured a drop of alcohol into his mouth since he returned. Giving into temptation, she wove her fingers through his.
He claimed her hand with a meaningful squeeze, pulling her close. “Come back to me. I like when you’re near.”
At his murmur, shivers cascaded down her neck. She relaxed into his loving embrace. When he smiled against her bare shoulder, a tingling warmth radiated out from the center of her ribcage. The feeling was something she hadn’t experienced in a long time.
Happiness.
****
“That chicken is nuts!” Drew yelled.
Hale heard the boy’s exclamation above the squawking bird strutting around the back yard.
“Not a problem,” Hale insisted, ducking when the irritable hen took flight and almost flew into his face.
He squared off, determined not to let her win. Lately, he’d been doing everything backwards, like marrying a woman before he had the chance to win her affection. At least he knew what to do on a farm.
One ornery chicken wasn’t going to best him. Granted, this one took him by surprise. He didn’t expect her to be so cranky. The other hens he purchased seemed delighted with the repaired coop, but this member of the flock squirted out of his grasp the moment he took her into his care.
She wasn’t too happy about being forced to be with a Cooper, a parallel similar to what Danielle must’ve felt when she had to marry him to keep the farm afloat. Hale stuffed that disturbing observation aside to focus on the task at hand. Catching a chicken wasn’t easy, and this one had fled to the back yard. Even worse, she’d attracted an audience.
The boys watched with their mouths agape, and their hollering attracted their gorgeous mother.
Hale caught the unmistakable glint of Danielle’s blonde hair as she joined Luke and Drew on the deck. He pulled his hand down his face, remembering how good falling asleep with his arm around her last night felt. Ever since sunrise, he’d been stumbling around the farm in a distracted state of semi-arousal.
He couldn’t wait to see if she’d let him hold her again.
Luke let out a low whistle. “That bird looks mad.”
The hen took another run at Hale.
He tried to grab her, but missed.
Cocoa trotted into view, eyeing the bird.
The agitated hen pecked at the ground, tilting her head when she spotted the lab.
If the dog walked toward him, perhaps she’d herd the bird closer. “Cocoa, come.”
The hen wasn’t falling for that. She flapped her wings and charged at Cocoa, who yelped and sprinted toward Hale.
“Whoa, girl. No!”
She put on the brakes and slid through the wet grass, clipping Hale. Losing his footing near a huge puddle, his first thought was to protect his expensive hearing aid from damage. He twisted so he landed belly first in the water, and slick mud seeped through the front of his jeans. No time for self-pity.
The hen flapped wildly as she encountered the slop.
Hale snatched the bird and stood, tucking her under his arm as he walked to the coop.
Once the cantankerous hen was settled in her new home, Hale trudged back to the house.
Cocoa trotted beside him with a rueful wag of her tail, her lower half slightly less muddy than his.
Luke and Drew watched with something akin to adulation on their faces, but their admiration did little to assuage Hale’s embarrassment over Danielle witnessing his mud bath.
Her mint green eyes widened. “Are you okay?”
Hale pretended he didn’t feel downright humiliated. “I’m fine.”
“G-good.” She flicked the curly ends of her ponytail off her shoulder and bit her lip.
He frowned. Six years ago, this sort of thing would’ve had her in stitches. Back then, he never minded making a fool out of himself if it made her giggle. What would her laughter sound like with the help of his new hearing aid?
“No wonder Cocoa panicked.” He braced a hand on his hip and acted like he wasn’t dripping in mud. “That was one vicious bird.”
“Vicious?” Danielle shot an uncertain glance toward the coop.
“Nothing is more terrifying than an angry hen.”
“Didn’t you herd cattle in Oklahoma? Aren’t two-thousand pound bulls more intimidating?”
“You definitely don’t want to stand too close to a Texas Longhorn. They can gore a hole straight through you, but did you see the look in that hen’s beady little eyes? Heck, one well-aimed peck could leave a mark.”
Pointing out the absurdity of his chicken escapade was starting to work, because humor lifted the corner of his wife’s remarkable mouth.
“I couldn’t believe Cocoa ran away from the chicken.” Danielle covered her mouth to conceal a smile. “When she bumped you into the puddle, mud splattered everywhere.” Two seconds ticked past and then she dissolved into laughter.
Hale felt a sharp twist of triumph. In any given instant, Danielle took his breath away, but seeing her like this allowed him to hope he might burst through the wall she’d erected around her heart. As he watched her go into hysterics, he recognized the girl he once knew
the grad student who could critique a piece of literature one moment and catch the giggles the next.
For the first time since they got married, she looked at him in undisguised interest. Her gaze started at his muddy boots and traveled up the length of his muck splattered jeans, pausing at the sludge caking his upper thighs. The effect was akin to getting zapped with a cattle prod. He would’ve gone anywhere she led him.
Having his beautiful wife stare at his lower half in awe sent his testosterone levels sky high. Working hard to appear calm, he pointed to the filthy hem of his t-shirt. “This is why I try not to wear my hearing aid when I work. This crap would destroy it.”
Danielle managed a nod before she again broke into giggles.
Her mirth sounded like the best kind of music to a deaf man’s ears. Hale grinned. “Did you come out here just to watch me make a fool out of myself?”
“No. I have a m-message for you.” She tried to take a deep breath. “Do you remember Ben Murphy? He went to Selinsgrove High School with you. He mentioned the two of you played on the baseball team together.” She glanced at the glop of mud on Hale’s belt buckle and her voice went up two octaves. “He said he…”
She bent over to brace her hands on her knees and shook her head.
“Maybe you should just write this down.” Hale chuckled.
“No, I can do this.” She straightened and pulled a strand of hair from the corner of her mouth. “Ben owns a dairy farm across town. He heard you were here, and he offered to help if you need anything. He gave me his cell phone number so you can text him.”
“Good.” Hale swiped a hand along his thigh, flicking a wad of mud into the yard. “I don’t want to track this crud into the house. Could you get me some clean clothes?”
“Okay.” She wiped her eyes.
“Are you crying, Mom?” Luke frowned at Hale when she snorted.
“Don’t worry. She should recover in an hour.” Hale pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket, relieved to see it was mostly dry. “She used to do this all the time.”
“She did?” Drew scratched his head.
“Sometimes she laughed at the things I did, but mostly she laughed at herself. Silly things would set her off. One day, she mispronounced ‘potato.’ She got the giggles so bad I had to carry her out of the barn. After that, all I had to do was whisper ‘
pototo
’ and she’d lose it all over again.”