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Sixteen
Jenna hesitatedas she reached for the door of the SUV. The courtyard walls separated them from the house, but she knew everyone was insidewaiting.
She and Farrell had spent the drive from the city talking freely for the first time in days. All the uncertainty had dissolved with his proposal, herannouncement.
She’d been horrified to learn that he hadn’t been sure she would accept hisproposal.
He’d been equally horrified to learn she hadn’t been sure he would be happy about thebaby.
They’d promised to do better — to talk more freely and more often, to be more honest about their feelings, to lower the drawbridge on their respectivehearts.
She’d felt ten pounds lighter when they’d left the Orange Garden, but now she couldn’t help being nervous. They had left Christmas Eve dinner suddenly. Jenna had been too upset and shocked to worry about the confusion on their friends’ faces, the concern onLily’s.
Farrell reached for her hand, decorated with the biggest diamond she’d everseen.
“Everything all right?” heasked.
She leaned over to kiss him. “It’s perfect. But how will we explain everything? A lot’s happened in the last twohours.”
He smiled and touched her face. “It’s all good news. We’ll figure somethingout.”
She nodded. “You’reright.”
He opened his door. “Stay right there,” he said as he got out of thecar.
She laughed. It was a glimpse into the next six months, during which she was almost positive Farrell planned to carry her from place to place on a bed ofsilk.
She humored him, waiting until he opened her door to step out of thecar.
She felt like an adolescent confessing her elopement as they made their way through the courtyard toward the door. She wasn’t exactly comfortable with attention, and she had no doubt she would be the center of it until she or Farrell explained what hadhappened.
She was still trying to think of a way to transition from the awkward moment at dinner to everything that had happened since when Farrell opened the frontdoor.
He pulled her into the house after him, and Jenna was mortified to find everyone gathered in the great room, looking expectantly towardthem.
A split second of silence passed before Farrell raised Jenna’s left hand into theair.
“We’re getting married!” he said. “And Lily’s going to have a little sister orbrother!”
A cheer erupted from the group and everyone rushed toward them, Lily at the front of thepack.
Jenna bent to pull her daughter into herarms.
“I’m going to have a little sister?” Lilysaid.
“Or a little brother,” Jenna said, pulling back to look at her. She tucked a strand of hair behind Lily’s ear. “Is thatokay?”
“I’d prefer a sister,” Lily said, her expression serious. “But a brother will be all right, Iguess.”
Jenna laughed. “Good toknow.”
She squeezed her daughter again, and Farrell lifted Lily, squealing, into hisarms.
Angel stepped in to wrap Jenna in a long, tighthug.
“I don’t even have to ask if he was happy,” she said. “Congratulations,sweetie.”
“Thank you, Angel. Foreverything.”
