A Baby Changes Everything by Marie Ferrarella Page B

this moment.
    Stepping all the way back against the far wall, she critically surveyed her reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror one last time.
    All the right curves were still there, she thought with satisfaction.
    She’d worked hard at getting herself back into shape after Luke was born. It had been worth all those endless hours of exercise she’d managed to string together.
    She was going to knock Cruz on his ear.
    Running a comb through her hair, she placed it back into the medicine cabinet and then opened the door.
    â€œHere I come, Cruz,” she announced. “Ready or not.”
    There was no answer.
    Puzzled, Savannah stepped into their bedroom. Cruz was lying down on the bed with his back to her. The television had been turned on, though the sound was low. He’d obviously decided that she was going to be in there for a while.
    A lot he knew, Savannah thought fondly. She needed this time with him probably even more than he needed to be reminded that he’d shirked his “duties” as a husband.
    â€œYou can turn that off now, Cruz, I’m ready.” Standing on the other side of the bed, she waited for him to comply and turn around.
    She waited some more.
    â€œCruz?”
    He made no reply.
    Disappointment dropped over her like a dripping wet towel as she rounded the bed. Standing between Cruz and the television, she saw that his eyes were closed. He was breathing evenly.
    He was asleep.
    She pressed her lips together. Leaning over, she placed her hand on his shoulder and shook him.
    Nothing. She tried harder, and still there was no response.
    He was completely dead to the world.
    And to her.
    Short of jumping up and down on him, she thought, there was no waking him tonight.
    A ragged sigh broke free as she turned off the television and then walked back into the bathroom to change. This time she put on a nightgown that had seen more than its share of sleep.
    As she left the room, she looked over her shoulder one last time, hoping to find him stirring. But Cruz continued sleeping.
    Fighting back tears, she went downstairs to clear the table.

Five
    â€œI fell asleep last night, didn’t I?”
    Cruz’s voice surprised Savannah as she walked into the kitchen the next morning.
    She hadn’t expected to find him home, nursing a cup of coffee at the table. Most days, he was gone by the time she got up. When she’d woken this morning to find the space next to her empty, she’d just assumed that it was business as usual for her husband.
    The fact that it was, that he’d just shrugged off what had happened last night—or not happened, as the case was—had hurt. But she was getting accustomed to that.
    â€œYes,” Savannah replied quietly as she crossed to the stove, “you did.” She’d promised herself that she wasn’t going to say anything, because doing so never changed things. But the words refused to remain held captive by common sense. Turning from the cabinet, a pot in herhand, she added, “Just like you have every other night in the last, oh, I don’t know, maybe three months now. Maybe longer.”
    The apology Cruz was about to stumble through disappeared as he frowned. The last three months had been busier than usual. As his wife and his bookkeeper, she knew that.
    â€œLook,” he said, trying to hold in his temper, “it’s not my fault that the mare died giving birth and that I had to play mother to her colt.” That had been just one added chore on top of all the others. The herd he owned was far from large. It only numbered twenty-five, but each horse required a great deal of work. Combined, they took up his day. “It takes a lot to run a ranch. I thought you understood that.”
    Hurt turned to anger and Savannah struggled to rein it in. She held her tongue so as to not say something that would cause irreparable damage to a situation already tottering dangerously.
    â€œYes, I understood