A Marriage Worth Waiting For

By the time he got the radios upstairs, he was so in control of himself that he might as well have been carved of ice. Selena must have been in the bathroom, since the door was closed.

He didn’t bother to call out a good-night. No sense giving himself another opportunity to hear the soft sound of her voice, or chance she’d come out and he’d see her in her nightclothes or robe. He didn’t want to know what she wore to bed, didn’t want that picture in his brain. It was late, and the soft light in her bedroom seemed to encourage enough notions that neither of them needed to fool with.

He could listen from the hall, and when he heard her moving around, he’d take it as a sign she was all right. The long moments that passed until he heard her come out into the bedroom made him restless. Maybe he ought to sleep someplace away from the house after all.

But when he considered how powerfully he’d reacted to Selena a few minutes ago, Morgan realized that distancing himself from her after this might mean that he’d have to sleep in Houston.

It was after 11:00 a.m. before Selena awoke that next morning. Except for a low grade headache, she felt much less stiff and achy than she had the day before, particularly after she moved around and got dressed.

When she walked down the back stairs, Em and Minna heard her coming, and were waiting when she reached the bottom of the enclosed staircase.

“Well, lookit our Selena,” Em said, then wrapped Selena in a warm hug before she drew back to look Selena over. “She’s pale in the face, but that’s as much a city look as anything.”

Minna was next. “She looks mighty good for a gal who coulda died,” she said before she too enveloped Selena in a big hug.

“She sure does,” Em chimed in, “and I bet she’s starved.” Then to Selena, “We’ve got anything you want to eat, you just say what.”

“Whatever you planned for lunch is fine with me,” Selena said.

“Then pick where you want to eat,” Em said.

“We can set you up on the sofa in the family room,” Minna offered. “You might be more comfortable in there anyway.”

“What do you want Minna to bring you to drink?”

Selena smiled at the double barrage. “Iced tea, but I can take it in myself,” Selena told her, and Em drew back as if offended.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Em declared. “The boss said we need to baby you a few days, feed you good and see you get plenty of rest.”