Adam by Joan Johnston Page A

you in a few minutes.”
    Tate had had only one pelvic examination in her life—when she had been fitted for the diaphragm—and all the medical hardware attached to the examining table looked as cold and intimidating as she remembered. The wait seemed more like an hour, but actually was only about fifteen minutes. Tate had worked herself into a pretty good case of nerves by the time Dr. Kowalski came into the room.
    â€œHello, Tate. I understand the rabbit died.”
    The doctor’s teasing smile and her twinkling eyes immediately put Tate at ease. “I’m afraid so,” she answered.
    The doctor’s hands were as warm as her manner. Tate found herself leaving the doctor’s office a short time later with a prescription for prenatal vitamins and another appointment in six weeks.
    Tate was in the parking lot, still dazed by the confirmation of the fact she was going to have Adam’s baby, when she realized that the woman who had been identified as Mrs. Whitelaw was trying to hoist her ungainly body into a pickup.
    Tate hurried over to her. “Need a hand?”
    â€œI think I can manage,” the woman answered with a friendly smile. “Thanks, anyway.”
    Tate closed the door behind the pregnant woman, then cupped her hands over the open window frame. “The nurse called you Mrs. Whitelaw. Would you by any chance know a Jesse Whitelaw?”
    The woman smiled again. “He’s my husband.”
    Tate’s jaw dropped. “No fooling! Really? Jesse’s your husband! You’ve got to be kidding! Why, that means he’s going to be a father!”
    The woman chuckled at Tate’s exuberance. “He sure is. My name’s Honey,” the woman said. “What’s yours?”
    â€œI’m Tate. Wow! This is fantastic! I can’t believe this! Wait until I tell Faron and Garth!”
    Tate sobered suddenly. She couldn’t contact Faron and Garth to tell them she had found Jesse without taking the chance of having them discover her whereabouts. But Jesse wouldn’t know she had run away from home. She could see him, and share this joy with him.
    With the mention of Tate’s name, and then Faron’s and Garth’s, Honey’s gaze had become speculative, and finally troubled. When Honey had first found out she was pregnant, she had urged Jesse to get back in touch with his family. It had taken a little while to convince him, but eventually she had.
    When Jesse had called Hawk’s Way, he had found his brothers frantic with worry. His little sister Tate had disappeared from the face of the earth, and Faron and Garth feared she had suffered some dire fate.
    If Honey wasn’t mistaken, she was looking at her husband’s little sister—the one who had been missing for a good two and a half months. The prescription for prenatal vitamins that Tate had been waving in her hand suggested that Jesse’s little sister had been involved in a few adventures since she had left home.
    â€œI have a confession to make,” Tate said, interrupting Honey’s thoughts. “Jesse—your husband—is my brother! That makes us sisters, I guess. Gee, I never had a sister. This is great!”
    Honey smiled again at Tate’s ebullience. “Maybe you’d like to come home with me and see Jesse,” she offered.
    Tate’s brow furrowed as she tried to imagine what Jesse’s reaction would be to the fact that she was here on her own. On second thought, it might be safer to meet him on her own ground. “Why don’t you and Jesse come over for dinner at my place instead?” Tate said.
    â€œYour place?”
    Tate grinned and said, “Well, it’s not exactly mine . I’m living at the Lazy S and working as a bookkeeper for Adam Philips.”
    â€œHorsefeathers,” Honey murmured.
    â€œIs something wrong?”
    â€œNo. Nothing.” Except that Adam Philips was the man she had jilted to