Hannah had agreed without giving the invitation a second thought. It wasn't until much later that she realized it would be difficult to hide her pregnancy. Although most everyone in her father's congregation was kind and loving, there were sure to be some who'd feel it was their God-given duty to point out that she'd married much too quickly and quietly after losing Jerry; and when they noticed her stomach, they'd know why.
Jerry.
Funny, she hadn't thought about her late fiancé in weeks. Although he was never far from her mind, the love she felt for him seemed far removed from the life she shared with Riley now. Jerry would always be someone special in her life and in her heart, but he was gone. Without her ever realizing it, the emptiness she'd experienced in the grief-filled weeks following his death had come to be filled with the love that had flourished for Riley and their child.
Even so, someone was bound to mention Jerry during her visit, and she wasn't sure how Riley would react when it happened.
The weeks since his return from the training cruise had been idyllic – so perfect that she didn't want to risk ruining the fragile peace between them.
"Hannah, my goodness!" her father called out from the living room. "So many gifts."
She left the kitchen to find Riley bent under the Christmas tree, unloading two shopping bags filled with brightly wrapped gifts.
"Ho, ho, ho," he teased, grinning up at her.
"What's that?" she asked, noticing a large square box she hadn't seen before.
Riley tucked it at the back of the tree, out of her reach. "Never you mind."
"The candlelight service is at seven," her father reminded them.
Hannah glanced at her watch. "I'd better change my clothes now," she said, heading toward the stairway.
"I put your suitcases in your old room," her father called out after her. Hannah stopped midstep and glanced back at her husband, her eyes wide with apprehension.
Riley read her look and followed her up the stairs. "What's wrong?" he asked, once they were out of earshot of the living room.
"Dad doesn't know," she whispered, hating the way color crept into her cheeks.
"Know what?"
Rather than go into a long explanation, she climbed to the top of the stairs and opened her bedroom door for him to see for himself. Inside sat two suitcases: one belonging to her and the other to Riley.
"Dad assumes we're sleeping together," she said. "If we don't… he might think something is wrong. Would you mind very much, Riley, just for tonight?"
He paused just inside the room, and his eyes slowly found hers. "No, Hannah," he told her after a while. "I don't mind at all."