A Change in Altitude Read Free Page B

on her bulging belly and felt the baby—Jameso insisted on calling it the Stowaway—kick. So far she’d survived morning sickness, fatigue, cravings, swollen ankles, and indigestion, but whether she’d live through a wedding, a new husband, and a new baby was debatable. “I have plenty to worry about, starting with the fact that Jameso and I don’t have a place to live after we’re married.”
    â€œI don’t know why you don’t move in with Jameso. Or keep your place and have him move in with you.”
    â€œMy lease expires June fifteenth and the landlord wants me out so he can collect double the rent from summer tourists. And Jameso’s place doesn’t have room for a baby.”
    â€œA baby doesn’t need a lot of room, at least not at first.” Barb shifted again and guided the SUV past Living Waters Hot Springs. Steam rose from behind the wooden fence that blocked a view of the clothing-optional hot springs from the road.
    â€œI need for us to find a place to start life together that’s just ours,” she said. “Call me crazy, but I want a bedroom that Jameso has not already shared with half a dozen other women previously. And a kitchen with a stove that works—Jameso’s doesn’t.”
    â€œThat’s what you get for falling for the town Casanova.” Barb grinned. “Though I like to think Jameso was with all those other women because he was looking for you. Once you came into his life, bam! Instant monogamy.”
    Maggie snorted and plucked at nonexistent lint on the front of her maternity top. “I know he loves me and I love him. I just hate that everything’s so unsettled. I don’t have a baby bed, or half the things I’ll need for the kid, because there’s no place to put them. I don’t even have a wedding dress, because I don’t know what size I’ll be a month from now. Plus, I can’t get excited about waddling down the aisle, the size of a whale.”
    â€œYou’re the one who wanted to wait until spring to get married,” Barb said. “I told you you were cutting it close.”
    â€œNow I’m wondering if we shouldn’t wait until after the baby is born.”
    â€œJameso will never go for that. It’s all I can do to keep him from dragging you off to the justice of the peace now.”
    Maggie sighed. “I know. He’s not a patient person. But he’s trying. This is all a big change for him.” For a man who’d avoided responsibility for years, Jameso had embraced the prospect of being a husband and father with touching resolve. He made Maggie believe he would have moved mountains for her—so why was she so reluctant to buy a wedding dress and say her vows?
    â€œMaybe I’ll buy a dress and surprise you,” Barb said. “Consider it a wedding gift.”
    Maggie glanced at her friend. A former beauty queen, Barb had aged well, thanks to a combination of good genes and the money to afford the best salons, trainers, and plastic surgeons. At forty, she still turned heads wherever they went. Maggie ought to have been jealous, but Barb was unfailingly generous and had excellent taste. “While you’re at it, find us a house, too.”
    â€œWhat does the real-estate agent say?”
    â€œThat everything in our price range needs too much work or is too far from town.”
    â€œThere’s always your dad’s cabin.”
    Maggie laughed, a short, surprised bark that held no real mirth. The one-room miner’s shack perched high on Mount Garnet had no electricity except solar, no heat except for a wood stove, and no access to the house in winter except a snowmobile. She’d lived there when she first came to Eureka after her dad, Jake Murphy, left the place to her in his will. But it was no place for an infant. “Now who’s crazy?”
    â€œI’m sure pioneer women raised children in worse