Page 44 of On a Midnight Clear

“They’re sweet when they’re sleeping , aren’t they?” Norman’s wife , Alma , smiled at Stella over her knitting as her needles clicked quietly in the small parlor.

Alma had welcomed the baby boy into her home without batting an eye. She’d shown Stella how to change and swaddle him, and had just finished feeding him a few minutes ago, which had soothed the little lad back to sleep.

All the wrinkles smoothed from his pink face as he relaxed in Stella’s arms. His bow-shaped mouth hung slightly open as his chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm.

“I feel like I could just sit here and hold him for hours.”

Alma chuckled softly. “I was like that with my first, too. Didn’t want to put her down.

Just wanted to hold her and nuzzle those chubby cheeks.

With a toddler in the mix this time, I’m too busy to do much baby nuzzling, but I treasure the quiet moments with Millie during nursing.

” Her knitting paused as she looked up and met Stella’s gaze.

“Except the predawn feedings. Can’t say I treasure those. ”

Stella smiled as she brushed the back of one finger along the baby’s face.

Like most women, she’d experienced a desire to have children of her own, but she’d forced herself to forfeit that particular dream years ago when she realized marriage wasn’t in her future.

Frank had changed all that, however, and dreams she’d set aside as impossible were resurrecting with surprising speed.

A quiet knock on the front door brought Stella’s head up and Alma’s husband out of the kitchen, where he’d been raiding the cupboards for a snack after putting his girls to bed.

He shoved the remains of what looked to be a piece of jam-slathered bread into his mouth as he crossed the room, taking a moment to swallow before opening the door.

“Professor. Glad you could make it.”

Stella’s heart pounded as Norman opened the door and stepped aside so the newcomers could enter. The moment she spied Frank, she thanked God for bringing him through the night unscathed.

Well, perhaps not precisely unscathed. When he pulled off his hat, she noted his thick red hair standing up in ruffled disarray.

Not only that, but his bow tie was askew, and the bottom button of his vest was undone.

If she wasn’t so sure of his trustworthiness, she might be a tad concerned over the significance of his rumpled appearance, considering where he’d been for the last hour and a half.

But the way his gaze eagerly sought hers and radiated with a desire to please silenced the insecurities stirring in her breast.

“We found her, Stella.” He smiled and stepped deeper into the room to admit Mr. Muir and a young lady with red-rimmed eyes and a thin carpetbag. “This is Gladys.”

The girl looked as comfortable as a mouse being invited into a room full of cats. Her gaze darted to and fro as she nibbled her bottom lip. Until she caught sight of the small bundle in Stella’s arms.

“Curtis?” Her voice cracked as she dropped her bag and moved toward the sofa where Stella sat.

Tears misted Stella’s eyes as she rose to her feet and met Gladys halfway. “He’s been fed and changed,” she said, “but I’m sure he’s missed his mama.”

Careful to support the baby’s head, Stella opened her arms, surprised at the pang that ricocheted through her heart when she transferred him over.

“Oh, my sweet boy.” Gladys sobbed quietly as she curled her son close and dropped kisses on his head.

“I’ll never leave you again. I swear it.

” She glanced up, looking first to Stella, then to Alma.

“Thank you for looking after him. I ... I know you must think me a terrible person, but I didn’t know what to do. ”

“No one thinks you are a terrible person.” Stella circled an arm around Gladys’s shoulders and gave her a little squeeze.

“Anyone can see how much you love him. You were in an impossible position and did the best you could to protect your child. Thankfully, God led these modern wise men to your babe just as he led the magi of the past to his own Son. Things will be better now. You’ll see. ”

Gladys peeked over her shoulder to where Mr. Muir spoke in quiet tones to Norman.

“He says I can have a fresh start. That no one back east will know about Sherod’s.

That he and his wife will help me find honorable work and provide for Curtis.

” She looked back to Stella, her voice barely a whisper.

“I want it to be true—I need it to be true—but miracles don’t happen to girls like me. ”

Stella leaned close. “God doesn’t make mistakes when it comes to handing out miracles.

” She smiled down at Curtis and rubbed the bottom of the blanket where his sweet little feet were cocooned.

“As much as you love your son, that’s how much God loves you, Gladys.

More than you could ever imagine. None of us deserves to be his children.

We all fall short of his standard. Yet he offers to adopt us anyway.

Just like the Muirs are doing for you. You can trust them, but more than that, you can trust the God who brought them to you. ”

Alma came alongside, a small bag in her hands, which she held out to Gladys. “I put a couple of extra baby gowns and diapers inside. They should see you through the train ride to Cambridge.”

“Thank you.” Gladys took the bag in one hand, her chin trembling. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you and the professors for your kindness.”

Alma pressed a hand to Gladys’s back. “You’ll repay us by using this opportunity to turn your life around and raise Curtis to be a man of honor.”

Stella gave the babe’s toes a final wiggle. “Maybe one day you’ll even be in a position to extend a similar kindness to someone else in need.”

Catching movement in her peripheral vision, she turned her head and spied Frank standing off by himself, trying to get his unruly hair to lay flat as he regarded his reflection in the front window. She bit back a grin.

“I’ll fetch the men so we can be on our way,” she volunteered before meeting Gladys’s gaze again. “You’ll be staying in my home tonight.”

Gladys nodded. “All right.”

Stella moved to join Frank. “Let me help.”

He pivoted, a sheepish expression on his face. “Pearl said I had to look mussed if we didn’t want Opal to get suspicious.”

Stella ran her fingers through the front of Frank’s hair, enjoying the feel of his wavy locks. “Pearl?”

“She ... ah, helped us find Gladys.” He cleared his throat and fidgeted as she began to straighten his bow tie. “Nothing improper occurred between us, Stella. I swear it.”

“I know.” She leaned close and pressed a kiss to his flam ing cheek. “I trust you, Frank. Completely. Besides, you were only at that place because I insisted. It would be the height of hypocrisy for me to disparage you for doing what needed to be done to rescue Gladys.”

Appreciation and a humbling bit of wonder glowed in the depths of his blue eyes. “I love you, Stella.”

A smile stretched across her face to match the stretch she felt in her heart as it expanded to accept him fully into her life. “I love you, too.”

She could have enjoyed that moment for hours, but their privacy shrank quickly as people gathered by the front door.

Professor Muir gazed over the heads of the others, seeking her out. “Where’s Goldstein?”

“I sent him to my father so they could prepare the spare bedroom for our guest. They’ll be ready for us.”

The older man dipped his chin, fetched the carpetbag Gladys had left behind, then opened the door for her and her babe to pass through. Frank offered Stella his arm, and they followed the others into the coolness of the mild December night.

Nervous energy vibrated through Frank as Stella walked beside him, hugging his arm. They moved at a quick pace due to the nip in the air, and every step they took ticked like a giant watch counting down in his head.

Tonight. He’d talk to her father tonight. While Stella helped Gladys get settled. He owed Professor Barrington a declaration of his intentions. He’d kissed the man’s daughter this evening. Had practically proposed. All without officially requesting her hand in marriage. He needed to—

“Thank you again for what you did tonight.” Stella’s quiet statement broke into his thoughts.

Kissing her?

“It was quite heroic, you know. Infiltrating the enemy’s keep to rescue a damsel in distress.”

Ah. That. Frank shook his head. Of course she was talking about Gladys. The young woman was walking directly ahead of them. Only a muddle-headed pigeon would be thinking about kisses at a time like this.

“I’m no hero, Stella.” In truth he’d been a mess, nearly bungling the entire operation before they’d even begun. If it hadn’t been for Pearl, he and Muir would have been tossed out on their backsides with a pair of black eyes as souvenirs. “I’m just an ordinary man fumbling about as best as I can.”

She cast a sideways look at him, her eyes shining with admiration. “You are far from ordinary. Though I do appreciate your humble spirit.”

“I don’t think I can claim humility. It’s more of a personal awareness of my many shortcomings.”

“Spoken like a humble man.” She laughed softly and snuggled a bit closer as Muir and Gladys turned a corner, several strides ahead of them.

He covered her hand with his, loving the feel of her leaning into him. Going home to Cambridge without her would be lonely indeed.

Unless...

“Would you consider spending the Christmas holiday in Massachusetts with me?” His pace increased slightly as the excitement of the idea took hold.

“Now that the fall term is completed, your father would be free to travel. I could introduce you to my parents, show you around Harvard, and even take you on a walk down Brattle Street to show you the house where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived.”

Bribing her with literary landmarks probably wasn’t neces sary, but he really wanted her to say yes, and he was willing to pull out all the stops.

“I’d have to talk to my father first,” she hedged, “but it ... it sounds lovely. I’d enjoy meeting your family.”

That wasn’t a no. Frank’s pulse increased its tempo.

“I told Muir he could use my return ticket for Gladys, so we wouldn’t need to leave right away. We could wait a few days. That is ... if you want to. I don’t want to pressure you.”

Her grip on his arm tightened. “Of course I want to see your home. Meet your family. Walk the hallowed halls of Harvard.” She straightened a bit and shot him a grin.

“I want to know everything about you, Frank. And your home is a big piece of who you are. The truth is, I’ve been thinking a lot about Cambridge lately.

Of what it might be like to ... live there. With you.”

He stumbled to a halt. “I thought you didn’t want to leave your father.”

She shrugged, her gaze falling to his shoes.

“I don’t. But Papa and I had a long talk about it, and he promised to come visit often.

Said he wanted me to experience the same kind of happiness that he and Mama shared.

” Slowly, she raised her chin and looked him in the eyes.

“I can’t say that the idea of leaving doesn’t terrify me, because it does.

So when you mentioned spending Christmas with your family, I felt a bit like you were asking me to jump into a cold river all at once when I thought I’d have time to wade in little by little and get used to the water. ”

Frank collected both her hands in his. “I’ll give you all the time you need to get used to things, Stella.

If you come to Cambridge as my wife and, after a year or two, decide you hate it there, we can look at other options.

I’ve heard rumors of a university being built in Chicago.

One that intends to cater to the study of advanced mathematics.

It’s not Texas, but it’s closer than Massachusetts.

” He lifted the backs of her hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to both sets of knuckles.

“Wherever we end up, I know we can make a good life together.”

Her dark eyes glowed in the light of the corner streetlamp, glistening and beautiful. “I agree.”

Admiration and hope radiated from her so strongly, he swore he saw visions of their future together reflected in her eyes. His chest ached in response as his gaze fell to her mouth.

Her breath caught as if she sensed his intent, but she didn’t pull away.

He released one of her hands and settled his palm at her waist, slowly tugging her closer.

Finding her eyes once again, a thrill shot through him to discover them brimming with shy welcome.

His right hand slid into the small of her back as his left secured her palm against his chest. He hadn’t thought his heart could pump any harder, but the feel of her delicate fingers pressing into his coat sent his pulse oscillating at a frenzied speed that definitely surpassed the threshold of statistical significance.

When she tilted her chin upward in silent invitation, he bent his head to hers.

He swore he heard a heavenly host break out in song as his lips found her mouth.

The tender touch sent shock waves through him that caused him to tremble.

She must have felt it, too, for a slight tremor coursed through her body.

He tightened his hold in an effort to steady them both but quickly became lost in the taste of her.

Mercy, but she was sweet. She kissed him back with a tenderness that stretched his heart beyond any known measure.

Never had he imagined a love so abundant!

As if awakening from a dream, Frank gradually loosened his hold and leaned away from her beautiful lips. A fetching blush colored her cheeks as her lashes dipped to hide her eyes. Unable to resist, he bent back in and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead.

“I love you, Stella.”

Her blush deepened, bringing a smile both to his face and his heart.

He’d come to Texas to collect data and conduct a compatibility experiment with a woman he’d met through correspondence. What he’d found, however, defied calculation, quantification, or statistical analysis. For who could ever measure the infinite breadth of love?