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Good old Bunny was pretty shrewd. Jonas hoped his former guidance counselor didn’t notice his involuntary flinch when she mentioned Bridget’s marriage to another man. He disliked admitting that it bothered him.
“—and she’s obviously learned a great deal about budgeting and managing,” Bunny was saying. “Maybe it’s her independence that worries you, Jonas.” The older woman gave a mischievous little laugh. “Have you ever thought of that?”
Embarrassed, he only shrugged.
Bunny reached over and patted his hand. “Perhaps I shouldn’t speak so frankly when I really don’t know everything that happened. Forgive me, Jonas.”
He shook his head. “Well, you could be right. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Good. You do that.”
Jonas had to laugh a little. “Bunny, you’re too much. Talking to you is helping me puzzle this out. Are you sure you want to hear the rest, though?”
“Yes indeed.”
He folded his hands together and heaved a sigh. “Her parents didn’t approve of our getting married. They knew it would be several years before I could even make a living, not until I’d qualified as a doctor and set up a practice. And I don’t think her mother believed I would finish my training. The Harrisons didn’t want her working to put me through school.”
He and Margaret Harrison had never got along, but Jonas didn’t feel it was necessary to go into the psychological reasons behind all that. Bridget’s mother had said outright at the time that he was hopelessly immature, which was ironic, considering what she was like. Starring in her own personal soap opera would be his description of Margaret, but he wasn’t going to share that with Bunny. Just before the break-up, he’d gotten wind of her mother’s ridiculous fears of him running away with a sexy nurse and abandoning her daughter. Margaret loved to talk to anyone who would listen.
“Margaret Harrison just plain didn’t like me,” Jonas said. “And she still doesn’t. I get the impression she wishes there was a way to make me go away again.”
“She may be out of luck this time,” Bunny replied dryly. “You seem to be as determined as ever to me.”
“Maybe so,” he sighed. “But getting back to what we were just talking about …”
He fell silent when the waitress came over and refilled Bunny’s cup, then his. Jonas frowned thoughtfully. “This is the part that’s going to be difficult to explain.”
Bunny sipped her fresh coffee, giving him an encouraging look over the cup.
“If Bridget and I had married ten years ago, we might have had a little girl like Molly.” He met Bunny’s look squarely. “Instead I went away and she married another man.”
“Maybe she loved him.” Kind as she was at heart, Bunny could be blunt.
“I know,” Jonas snapped. He glanced away, agitatedly running a hand through his hair. “So I have to admit I’m jealous. I know it’s not rational. But Bridget found someone else to love instead of me, and she had his child instead of mine. Do you understand what I’m saying, Bunny?”
“I … think so,” she nodded hesitantly, her eyes wide, as if sensing the unfathomable depth of his emotion.
“Really?” His laugh had an ironic edge. “Then can you explain it to me?”
“I can try.” Bunny hesitated as she searched for the right words. “Okay … you still love Bridget and you hope she’ll love you again. You still want to marry her.”
“Right so far,” he said ruefully.
“But you’re afraid she doesn’t want to marry you, for several reasons—her mother’s misgivings, her daughter not wanting it—all that could change, you know.”
“Maybe,” Jonas said hopefully. “Maybe it won’t always be that way.”
“That little girl is always going to remind you that Bridget married someone else—Molly’s father. You don’t want to admit how much that bothers you, but it does.”
He let out the breath he’d been holding. “That about sums it up. So now what do I do?”
“Be patient, Jonas. That’s all you can do. Bridget has to figure out what she wants to do. If she loves you—”
Jonas scowled. “Big if.”
“Not necessarily. Give her time to think things through. And do the same for yourself. You’ve waited ten years.”
“So I have,” he said quietly. “So I have.”
