“Tell me more,” Christine said happily, leaning forward. “Who is he and where did you meet him? Is he okay with the baby?”

  “It’s my boss. Luke Jamison.”

  For a moment, Christine was speechless. Then she asked, “Does he know he’s the baby’s father?”

  “Not yet. I’m not sure how to tell him, and I don’t want to tell him unless I’m willing to marry him. Because if I’m not going to marry him, it’s none of his business.”

  “He wants to marry you, thinking that it’s someone else’s baby?”

  Hannah nodded.

  “That’s amazing. Not many men would do that.”

  “I know. I can’t tell if it’s misguided generosity or if he likes me, or what.”

  “And what do you feel?”

  “I don’t know!” Hannah wailed, and then laughed at herself. “I feel as if I’m in the middle of a soap opera.”

  “No, if you were in a soap opera, you’d have an evil twin or someone would have amnesia.” Christine smiled gently. “Give it some time. You don’t have to decide this minute. See how it goes. I’m sure you’ll figure out what is best for you and the baby.”

  Hannah hoped she was right.

  #

  On Monday afternoon, Luke sat in his office staring out the windows, unable to concentrate on the motion he was drafting. He kept thinking about Hannah, wondering what she was thinking. He wanted to give her time to consider his proposal, but he didn’t want to give her too much time. He called her number and waited impatiently for her to answer. “How are you doing?” he asked, when she said hello.

  “Fine,” she said cautiously. He imagined her lying on her couch, talking to him.

  “May I come over this evening?”

  “Yes. That would be wise. If I’m going to take your proposal seriously, I need to get to know you better.”

  Luke relaxed, pleased to hear that he hadn’t ruined his chances completely. She still had an open mind, and she was willing to consider marrying him.

  He dropped by her house after work, and Mrs. Parker made the lasagna he liked for dinner. Over desert, homemade apple pie and ice-cream, he asked, “Have you chosen names for the baby?”

  “If it’s a boy, I want to name him Thomas after my father. I’d call him Tom.”

  He nodded. “That would be better than James.”

  She looked at him oddly. “Why?”

  “James Jamison.”

  She laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that. I wasn’t thinking of Jamison as a last name, but now that you mention it, no, I wouldn’t want to use James. I wouldn’t want my baby to be teased as I was.”

  Don’t take it personally. Just because she hasn’t thought about using your last name, doesn’t mean she won’t marry you. He asked, “Was Hannah a family name?”

  “No. My mother liked the name, and she thought Hannah Hansen sounded cute.” Hannah rolled her eyes. “It could have been worse, I suppose. In high school, I knew a girl named Candace Kane.”

  He thought for a moment. “Oh. Candy cane.” Some parents were idiots. Why would someone purposefully give their child a name that would cause them pain? He asked, “Were you teased a lot?”

  “Mostly in elementary school. By middle school, everyone had gotten used to it. I don’t think about it much now.” She finished the last bite of her pie and set the dessert plate down on a table next to the couch. “That was delicious.”

  “Would you like another piece?” he asked, rising to his feet.

  “No,” she said quickly. “Mrs. Parker is too good of a cook, and if I’m not careful, I’ll end up the size of a barn.”

  He looked at her. She was pregnant, but she didn’t have the puffy look that many pregnant women had. Her arms and legs were still slender. Today she wore a lime green shirt and a pair of black knit pants that bared her ankles and feet. Her toenails were painted red. “You look great to me,” he said, then as her eyes widened, he added in a more casual tone, “Besides, you’re supposed to be eating for two.”

  “Yes, but one of those two weighs only about five pounds. And he or she will benefit more from carrots than ice-cream.”

  He asked, “Do you have a girl’s name picked out?”

  “Not yet. There are too many names I like. I like Rachel and Vivian and Amelia, just to name a few.”

  “Amelia Jamison is a mouthful,” he said. “I like Rachel better.”

  “Hmm. Rachel Jamison,” she said slowly. “That has a nice ring to it. And Tom Jamison sounds good, too.”

  He smiled. He was making progress.

  “Not that I’m agreeing to anything, yet,” she said quickly, as if sensing his approval. He could tell that she was not going to irrevocably commit herself – not yet. “As far as I’m concerned, the baby still may be Tom or Rachel Hansen.”

  Not if I have anything to do with it.

  #

  Hannah took a deep breath of the cool October air, and pulled the lapels of her wool coat around her throat. After nearly two weeks of bed rest, it was wonderful to be outside, and to be going somewhere, even if it was only to an appointment with Dr. Armanzo.

  She noticed that all the leaves from the oak tree in her front yard had fallen to the ground. She made a mental note to call a yard service when she returned home, but didn’t mention it to Luke, for fear he would step in and do it himself -- or pay for someone to do it. She didn’t want to feel any more obligated to him than she already did.

  For the past week, he’d been on his best behavior, coming by every few days, calling to check on her. And today he was driving her to her doctor’s appointment.

  As he held the passenger door open for her, Hannah realized how far their relationship had progressed. Luke was becoming a friend to her, and she was seriously considering marrying him.

  But she couldn’t marry him without telling him that he was the baby’s biological father. That was the kind of secret that would only get worse with time. The difficulty was – determining when and how to tell him.

  He started up the engine and asked, “Do you want any music?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “You can adjust the seat so that you’re lying farther back,” he said.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him. “I’ll enjoy sitting up for the few minutes drive.” She stared out the passenger window, gathering her courage. “Luke?” she said finally. “I want to talk to you about the baby.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I know you don’t approve of my going to a sperm bank, but if we are going to get married –-”

  “Are we?” He glanced at her, trying to read her expression. “Is this a yes?”

  “Not yet. Part of it depends on you. I need to explain why I went to the sperm bank, so you can understand what I was thinking and what I did.”

  His jaw tightened, and he stared straight ahead at the traffic. “That’s the past,” he said coolly. “You know my opinion, and I don’t think any good will come from rehashing it. I think we should focus on the future instead.”

  “But if we don’t deal with the past, it may cause problems later.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter how you got the baby. I may disagree with your methods, but the only thing that matters is that the baby is going to need two parents – hopefully you and me, working together.”

  He wasn’t going to let her get a word in edgewise. “But there is more you need to know,” she persisted.

  “I don’t want to hear it. I’m going to act as if the baby is my own flesh and blood.”

  “How convenient,” Hannah murmured.

  “I’ll want him or her to call me Daddy. Kids need security. No one needs to know that they came from a test tube. That information can come later, when they’re grown up, if you think it’s necessary. But it won’t make any difference in the way I’ll treat the child.”

  “I appreciate what you’re saying, but –“”

  Luke’s cell phone rang. “Go ahead,” he said. “They can leave a voice mail.”

  She glanced at the caller ID. “No, it’s the office. Take it. We can finish our conversation later.” She looked out the passenger window as he accepted the call.

  “Jamison here.”

  “Hello, Mr. Jamison, this is Carolyn Dulane. Can you hear me? I’m getting a lot of static from you.”

  “You’re on speaker phone in my car,” he said.

  “Oh. Well, I’m just following up on your temporary secretary. How is Marcia doing?”

  “She’s adequate,” Luke said brusquely.

  “That’s great.” Ms. Dulane sounded relieved. “Hopefully she can stay until Hannah comes back. Do you have any idea how long that will be?”

  “You can ask her yourself,” Luke offered.

  Hannah shook her head wildly, mouthing the word, “No!” She did not want the Human Resources director to know that they were traveling together, but it was too late, for Luke continued, “She’s right here, sitting next to me.” Hannah winced.

  “She is?” Ms. Dulane’s voice rose in surprise.

  “Mr. Jamison is driving me to a doctor’s appointment,” Hannah volunteered, hoping that mentioning her doctor would somehow distract the woman.

  “How .... nice.” Hannah could imagine what she was thinking. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine, and the baby seems to be fine, too.”

  “Marvelous. Do you know how soon you’ll return to work?”

  “That depends,” Hannah evaded. “I’m not exactly sure when they’ll schedule the birth, and then I don’t know how soon I’ll come back to the office.”

  “Or ‘if’” Luke murmured, as he drove the car into the doctor’s parking lot.

  “Stop that,” she hissed.

  “What was that?” Ms. Dulane asked. “I didn’t hear you.”

  “The connection is terrible,” Hannah said, glaring at Luke. “I’ll call you later.”

  Ms. Dulane said her good byes, and Luke disconnected the call.

  “I can’t believe you did that,” Hannah said as the car came to a complete stop.

  “What?”

  “Ms. Dulane now knows you’re taking me to the doctor’s. Within half an hour, everybody in the law firm is going to know, too.”

  “So what? I’m not hiding anything.”

  Surely he wasn’t so clueless. “People are going to talk,” she explained. “They’re going to wonder why we’re spending time together. They will jump to conclusions. They’ll think something is going on between us.”

  Luke shrugged. “Who cares what they think? I don’t.”

  I do, Hannah realized. “I don’t want to be gossiped about.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have gotten pregnant,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “You’re kidding yourself if you think they haven’t been talking behind your back already.”

  She hadn’t thought of that. Whenever someone at work had asked about the baby’s father, she’d managed to evade the issue by saying, “I don’t want to talk about it,” and people had respected her wishes. She should have known that she couldn’t keep them from gossiping among themselves, wondering who the father was. She pressed her hands to her forehead. “Now, I can never go back.”

  “Marry me, and you won’t have to.”

  She looked at him sharply. “Is that your solution to everything?”

  “Everything so far.” He smiled. “You must admit, if you marry me, the gossipers will have a great time, trying to figure everything out.”

  He had a point. Hannah didn’t know what was worse, having her co-workers wonder who the father of her baby was, or having them think she’d been sleeping with her boss. She groaned. “They’re going to think you’ve been chasing me around the desk for months.”

  “I should have thought of that myself,” Luke said seriously, then laughed, throwing his head back. “It certainly would have livened up the work day.”

  His laugh made up her mind. She’d been agonizing for days, unable to decide whether she should marry him. But when he laughed, he seemed so open, so real, Hannah realized that she genuinely liked him. She enjoyed his company and she didn’t mind their occasional verbal spats. They might not agree on every issue, but she felt as if she could trust him, and they could build a life together.

  It wasn’t going to be the romantic dream of her girlhood, but they could be happy.

  He noticed her silence and misunderstanding the cause of it, said, “If you’re concerned about what people will say, I’ll see what I can do to limit the rumors.”

  “No, it doesn’t matter,” she said calmly. “Because I’m going to marry you.”

  Luke’s eyes widened. “You’re sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  He smiled. “Good,” he said, then started outlining his plans. He had gathered information about applying for a wedding license and arranging for a judge to marry them within the next week. “I think it would be best to get married at your house, so you can still lie down as much as possible. We can move into my house after the baby’s born.”

  Hannah listened in amazement as he spoke, feeling as if she were being swept along by a tidal wave.

  If theirs were a normal engagement, he would have kissed her, and they would probably have gone out to dinner to celebrate. But this wasn’t a normal engagement, she reminded herself. Their marriage was more a matter of convenience than anything else. She shouldn’t be upset by his plans. He was an attorney, used to getting all the details right – what else did she expect?

  He continued, “A large crowd is impractical. I’d like to keep it under twenty people, if possible.” He glanced at her. “What do you think?”

  She was glad that he was at least going through the motions of getting her input. She said quietly, “I always thought I’d get married in a church, with a big white dress and -”

  “Eight months pregnant?”

  Hannah frowned. She knew some women who would have the guts to carry that off, but she didn’t. He was right, a smaller ceremony would be more appropriate. And, as he said, she was supposed to lie down. “Maybe we should get married after the baby’s born,” she suggested.

  “No.”

  She was startled by his vehemence. “Why not? If we wait until then, I’ll be able to walk around and enjoy the day.”

  “It’s simpler if we’re married before the baby’s born. Then there aren’t any problems with my having to adopt. If we’re married, the child will be presumed to be mine. Besides, it will look better.”

  Hannah wondered, did people still discriminate against illegitimate children? “Whatever you want is fine with me,” she said finally. Now that she’d made her decision, she wasn’t going to quibble over the details.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Hannah had spoken to Luke’s sister Margaret several times on the phone when she worked as his secretary, but she had never met her face to face until Margaret invited herself over for a ‘chat.’ She called the day after Hannah had agreed to marry Luke. “You must be going crazy trying to plan a wedding while you’re bedridden,” Margaret had commiserated.

  “It’s not that difficult. We’re not having a large wedding,” Hannah explained. “Since I’m lying down, it will be a very small ceremony with only a few friends and family members.”

  “But you must have food!” Margaret insisted. “What are you going to feed people?”

  Hannah had a feeling that bulldozers must be the norm in Luke’s family. “Mrs. Parker is planning to make a cake,” she said.

  “Well, I’ll just pop over and see what I can do to help,” Margaret said, “Would this afternoon be all right?”

  Hannah agreed. She was anxious to meet some of Luke’s family. He had two sisters and a brother, and each of them was married with children. After years of almost no family, she was suddenly going to have an abundance of in-laws.

  Margaret turned out to be a tall, middle-aged woman, and Hannah could see a family resemblance in the shape of her face and her eyes. “So you’re the woman who has trapped my brother,” Margaret said cheerfully. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  What exactly had Luke told his sister? He’d said he wasn’t going to tell anyone about her going to the sperm bank, but what had he told her? Margaret must think it was strange that he was going to marry his pregnant secretary, unless she thought the baby was his, too.

  “It’s about time someone snatched him up,” Margaret continued, apparently not noticing Hannah’s silence. “I was afraid he’d be a miserable widower the rest of his life, thinking about nothing but his legal cases.” She smiled. “Personally, I wouldn’t blame him if he had. Living with Gloria would be enough to sour anyone on the idea of marriage. Nothing was ever good enough for her.” Margaret stopped herself. “But I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”

  I wouldn’t mind. Hannah wished she could learn more about Luke’s first marriage, but she wasn’t going to ask. No doubt Margaret thought Luke had already told her everything she needed to know.

  Margaret glanced around her living room. “I like your house,” she said approvingly. “You’ll be good for Luke.”

  Why, because Margaret liked her decor? Hannah watched her future sister-in-law with amusement, wondering when, if ever, she would have a chance to speak. She could see now, where Luke had developed the ability to talk a mile a minute. It must have been a necessary survival skill when he was growing up.

  “You love him, don’t you?”

  Hannah gasped, startled by the question. “I think we’ll be happy together, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Margaret peered at her closely. “I hope you are,” she said seriously, then changed the subject with lightening speed. “Do you have a dress?”

  It took Hannah a moment to realize what she was talking about. Hannah said, “I have a light green dress that will do.”

  Margaret frowned. “Don’t you want something new for your wedding day?”

  Hannah pointed to her rounded stomach. “I’m hardly in the shape for white lace and satin.”

  “Nonsense,” Margaret said, and Hannah could hear the family resemblance in that word as well. “They have wedding dresses to fit everyone these days. Would you like me to help you find something?”