His Heart for the Trusting by Lisa Mondello Page B

room.”
    She smiled. 
“There's no rush.  It's easier to have him in the room with me until he's
sleeping through the night.”
    “A new nanny
might want her own room.”
    Her expression
was unreadable.  After a short pause, she gave a quick nod and went about
filling bottles with formula for the day.
    Jonathan
started to cry and Sara quickly abandoned the bottles to tend to his son. 
Mitch closed his eyes and gave himself a hard word silently.  He wasn’t being
fair to Sara.  She hadn't lied to him or led him on.  He was the one who had
changed the plan.  He wanted things to stay exactly the way they were.  But
sooner or later, they would change.  After his charming mood today, she just
might make certain it was sooner rather than later.
    * * *
    Sara reached
down and scooped Jonathan up from his cradle into her arms.  She loved the feel
of him, the way he smelled and the way his face suddenly transformed when his
eyes caught sight of her or Mitch.
    Mitch had given
her the cold shoulder about going to the reservation today.  She wasn't sure
exactly what was bothering him.  Maybe it was because of her offer to help look
for her replacement or that she was taking Jonathan away from the ranch for the
day.
    Part of her
hoped it was the latter.  He'd bonded somewhat with his son, but Sara could
tell that there was a wall there, carefully kept in check as if he were waiting
for Lillian to come back and tell him that it had all been a lie, that Jonathan
wasn't really his son at all.  Or maybe because he had every intention of
tracking Lillian down and giving Jonathan back.  Whatever the reason, Mitch was
keeping a careful distance. 
    But none of
that was any of her business.  She'd told Mitch she was only going to stay
until he found someone permanent for the job.  She had her plans to move back
to the reservation, teach the stories of her culture to the children.  Nothing
had changed.  She glanced down at the now fully awake Jonathan, who was
grinning up at her with a drooly, toothless grin.
    Her heart
squeezed.  This had changed, as she knew it would.  She nuzzled the baby's neck
until he let out a high-pitch squeal of delight.  She was becoming very
attached to this beautiful baby.  He wasn't just a child that she visited at
the daycare and then handed over to the arms of his mother.  This child looked
up at her with an innate trust that children only reserved for a parent, a
primary person in their life.
    Except, she
wasn't Jonathan's mother.  She wasn't a permanent part of his life or Mitch's
life.  Soon she would leave.  Sara’s heart gave another tug of pain and
longing.
    For all their
sakes, she should make it soon.
    * * *
    “It's
beautiful, mother.” Sara said, holding the blue and white dress up for view. 
The tiny metal “fringes” that had been sown all the way around the jingle dress
sounded like rain as she moved.
    “I knew you'd
like it,” Alice said, her face beaming with delight.  “A little over a year
ago, after Mandy came back to Texas, I had a dream that you were wearing it.”
    Sara tried not
to show her shock.  The jingle dress was used by Native American women to dance
at the Powwow.  Many stories were told of a sick child who needed healing.  The
child’s grandfather had a dream that the little girl was wearing a beautiful,
colorful dress that jingled as she moved, making music.  The child had been
healed. 
    “Me?  But
mother, I don't need to be healed?”
    Her mother eyed
her knowingly.  “Are you sure, sweetheart?”
    “I've visited
my doctor before I left California and I'm as fit as can be,” she said, knowing
full well her mother wasn't talking about her health.
    “You're still
so unsure of your step.”
    “I'm getting
steadier on my feet,” Sara quickly insisted.  “It's been a long time since I've
been back to the rez.  Los Angeles is so different.  The people, the
environment, the pace…everything.  It's taking a while to slow down and