CHAPTER 40
Three nights later, during a particularly difficult delivery, Lydia Dale reached in and repositioned an unborn lamb that was in trouble and delivered it all on her own. Graydon was impressed.
“I wasn’t too excited about letting you and Mary Dell help with the lambing . . .”
“Really?” Lydia Dale teased. “Gee, I’d never have guessed. You being so reluctant to give your opinions and all.”
Graydon scratched his left ear and smiled a little. “I deserved that. Anyway, I wanted to tell you I was wrong . . .”
“Beg pardon?” Lydia Dale cupped her hand to her ear.
“I was wrong.”
Lydia Dale laughed. “I just wanted you to say it again. That’s the first time in my life I’ve ever heard a man come right out and say so.”
“Well, savor the experience. Could be a long time before it happens again.”
It was close to morning. Lydia Dale smiled to herself as they walked through the half-light of the coming dawn, past a pen where newborn lambs slept peacefully next to their dozing mothers, toward another that held ewes with blue marks on their coats, indicating the presence of twins in utero. It was quiet. For the first time in days, none of the sheep seemed to be in labor, not one of them was bleating or bawling in distress. It was nice to have this moment of rest, to feel tired but peaceful, knowing she had done a good night’s work. And it was good too to have shared that night’s work with Graydon. She liked him. That shouldn’t have been a surprise to her considering that so many years ago she had loved him, but this was different. She liked him now.
She appreciated his quiet humor and solid good sense, his character, the way he talked to the men who worked for him, with authority but not a hint of arrogance. She liked the way he treated her kids too, the way he listened to them, the way Jack Benny never had, not to his children or to her. And she liked that he could admit when he’d been wrong. She felt comfortable with him, in some ways more comfortable than she’d ever felt when they were engaged. That had been wonderful, that experience of being so breathlessly, hopelessly in love, exhilarating and intoxicating, like tippling champagne, but it had also made her feel a bit out of control. Even at the time, she’d found love a little frightening.
But now they were friends, and friendship was what she needed. She felt like she could be satisfied like this, just walking silently, matching her steps to his, for a long, long time, but when Graydon’s voice broke the silence, that was all right with her too.
“I don’t know how you manage it, Lydia Dale. Not you or your sister. I swear I don’t. All day long you take care of the kids, or help on the ranch, or both. Then you take turns staying up all night to help with the sheep. And come breakfast, you still look fresh as a daisy while the rest of us sit staring into the bottom of our coffee cups, using toothpicks to keep our eyelids open. How do you do it? Mary Dell says it’s due to clean living and Aqua Net hair spray, but I have to think there’s more to it.”
“Well”—Lydia Dale laughed—“you can’t underestimate the power of good beauty aids, but I suspect it’s just practice. I’ve been a mother for ten years, which means I haven’t had a full night’s sleep for a decade. I’m on call every night, sometimes all night, to deal with everything from croup and teething to nightmares and bedwetting. Getting up to make the rounds of sheep every couple of hours isn’t all that different.”
“Well, you’re a wonder,” he said, in a voice that sounded as if he really meant it. “The way you handle yourself, and your kids, and everything that comes your way . . . I respect you, Lydia Dale. I really do.”
She ducked her head, glad for the semidarkness that hid the blush of pleasure she felt rising on her cheeks.
“Another first,” she whispered.
“Excuse me?” Graydon said, tipping his head to one side.
“Nothing,” she replied, not knowing how to explain how much the word meant to her. She had been valued and pursued for beauty, and discounted because of the same. Never before had she earned a man’s respect. Until this moment, she had not realized how much she had desired this.
“Thank you, Graydon.”
He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. They stood together next to the fence, listening to the silence.
“Well,” he finally said, “seems like everything is under control for the moment. Guess we should try to catch a few winks while we can.”
“I was wondering if it’d be all right for me to take a day off tomorrow?”
“Sure. You’ve earned it. We’ll be all right for one day.” Graydon started toward the barn. “See you at breakfast.”
“Graydon,” she called after him, “I won’t be at breakfast. I’m going to sleep for a little while and then go run an errand. Will you tell everybody I’ll be home later? Probably in time for supper, but if I’m late, tell Momma not to wait.”
“You’re running an errand before breakfast and won’t be back before supper? What are you up to?”
Lydia Dale squirmed under his questioning. “It’s a surprise. But I don’t want anybody to know about it because I’m not sure how it’ll turn out. Promise you won’t tell.”
“Not if you don’t want me to.”