Page 109 of Just Imagine
With her last ounce of will, she pulled back and gasped out, “I didn’t come alone.”
His eyes were glazed with passion, and it was a moment before he heard. “No?”
“No. I—I brought Miss Dolly with me.”
“Miss Dolly!” Cain laughed, a joyous rumble that started in his boots and grew louder as it rose upward. “You brought Miss Dolly to Texas?”
“I had to. She wouldn’t let me go without her. And you said yourself that we were stuck with her. She’s our family. Besides, I needed her.”
“Oh, you sweet . . . My God, how I love you.” He reached for her again, but she stepped back quickly.
“I want you to come to the hotel.”
“Now?”
“Yes. I have something to show you.”
“Do I have to see it right away?”
“Oh, yes. Definitely right away.”
Cain pointed out some of the sights of San Carlos as they walked along the uneven wooden sidewalk. He kept his hand tightly clasped over hers where it rested in the crook of his elbow, but her absentminded responses soon made it evident that her thoughts were elsewhere. Content merely to have her beside him, he fell silent.
Miss Dolly was waiting in the room Kit had taken. She giggled like a schoolgirl when Cain picked her up and hugged her. Then, with a quick, worried look at Kit, she left to visit the general store across the street so she could make some purchases for the dear boys in gray.
When the door closed behind her, Kit turned to Cain. She looked pale and nervous.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I have a—a sort of present for you.”
“A present? But I don’t have anything for you.”
“That’s not,” she said hesitantly, “exactly true.”
Puzzled, he watched her slip through a second door leading to an adjoining room. When she came back, she held a small white bundle in her arms.
She approached him slowly, her expression so full of entreaty it nearly broke his heart. And then the bundle moved.
“You have a daughter,” she said softly. “Her name is Elizabeth, but I call her Beth. Beth Cain.”
He looked down into a tiny valentine of a face. Everything about her was delicate and perfectly formed. She had a fluff of light blond hair, dark slivers of eyebrows, and a dab of a nose. He felt a tight prickling inside him. Could he have helped create something this perfect? And then the valentine yawned and fluttered open her pink shell lids, and he lost his heart to a second pair of bright, violet eyes.
Kit saw how it was between them right away and felt that nothing in her life could ever be as sweet as this one moment. She pushed away the blanket so he could see the rest of her. Then she held their child out to him.
Cain gazed at her uncertainly.
“Go on.” She smiled tenderly. “Take her.”
He gathered the baby to his chest, his great hands nearly encompassing the small body. Beth wriggled once and then turned her head to look up at the strange new person who was holding her.
“Hello, Valentine,” he said softly.
Cain and Kit spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their daughter. Kit undressed her so her father could count her fingers and her toes. Beth performed all her tricks like a champion: smiling at the funny noises that were directed toward her, grabbing at the large fingers put within her reach, and making happy baby sounds when her father blew on her tummy.
Miss Dolly looked in on them, and when she saw that all was well, she disappeared into the other room and lay down to take her own nap. Life was peculiar she thought as she drifted toward the edge of sleep, but it was interesting, too. Now she had sweet little Elizabeth to think about. It was certainly a responsibility. After all, she could hardly count on Katharine Louise to make certain the child learned everything she needed to know to be a great lady. So much to do. It made her head spin like a top. It was a tragedy, of course, what was happening at Appomattox Court House, but it was probably all for the best. She would be far too busy now to devote herself to the war effort. . . .
In the other room, Beth finally began to fret. When she puckered her mouth and directed a determined yowl of protest toward her mother, Cain looked alarmed. “What’s wrong with her?”
