Her Fifth Husband? by Dixie Browning

and see,” she whispered.

Six
    â€œW ell, that went pretty well, don’t you think?” Sasha leaned forward from the back of the car, one hand on the infant car seat that was secured with a seatbelt.
    Neither Jake nor Cheryl said a word. After explaining the situation to the lawyer, they’d spent less than an hour in his office. Jake and Cheryl had signed an agreement, with Sasha serving as a witness. The small act of signing her name on little Miss Tuesday no-middle-name Smith’s adoption papers had set her eyes to watering. Jake had written two checks, one for the lawyer and one for a tearful Cheryl.
    The drive back to the house on Low Ridge Road where the young woman lived was largely silent. As they pulled up in front of the house, Jake said quietly, “Starting today I’ll be putting money into her college fund.”
    Sasha thought that was probably as reassuring asanything he could possibly have said. She hadn’t missed Cheryl’s occasional sniffle. And while her heart ached for the girl now, she had an idea that Cheryl Moser was a survivor.
    While Jake got out and came around to the passenger side, Sasha whispered, “Call me if you ever need someone to talk to. I have two younger sisters.” Granted, the twins were a lot older than Cheryl, but the sentiment still held. “That’s up to you, but Jake’s a wonderful man—he’ll take good care of her, you’ll never have to worry about that.”
    Just before Jake returned from seeing the young woman to her door, she carefully blotted her eyes with a tissue. It came away smudged with black and taupe.
    Oh, well, she thought, resigned. It’s not as if he hadn’t seen her in even worse shape. “We’ll probably need to make a stop at the nearest outfitters,” she said. Except for the basics, Cheryl had improvised. Even the diaper bag was a battered canvas beach tote.
    Heading for the closest big-box store, Jake picked up the conversation that had been left dangling earlier. “If the father hadn’t been my son, I doubt if things would’ve gone that smoothly.”
    â€œIf the father hadn’t been your son,” Sasha reminded him dryly, “you wouldn’t have been there in the first place.” She wondered if he had any idea of how many changes were in store for him over the next few days, not to mention the next few years. Granted, he’d once had a baby, but he’d been younger then. Besides, he’d had someone to share the responsibility. Whether or not he realized it, his whole life had just undergone a dramatic change.
    She admitted to herself that she envied him with all her heart.
    Jake switched on the radio. When static crackled noisily, he switched it off again and said something about lightning.
    Lightning my hind foot, Sasha thought. His touch was enough to short out any radio. She knew from experience that there was enough voltage in that tall, muscular frame to light up a small town. Idly, she wondered what it would be like to plug into all that current.
    To plug into it? Oh, for Pete’s sake, quit with the visuals!
    â€œTimmy will be so proud of you,” she said as they pulled into the vast parking lot. “Why don’t you try to call him while I shop?”
    â€œYou need some money.” He shifted his hips and reached for his wallet, and she shook her head.
    â€œWe’ll settle up later. I don’t know if I can get anything but the basics here.”
    He looked startled. “The basics?”
    She left him staring after her. Oh, honey, you have so much to learn, she thought, and I’m just the one who can teach you. That is, if I can stay ahead of the learning curve.
    Maybe she’d better look for an instruction book for new parents while she was at it.
    Â 
    Some forty-five minutes later Sasha pushed a loaded cart to the car. She was followed by another cart pushed by a clerk. On the way to the SUV where Jake