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them.”
    Damn. Either he was more perceptive than most
or she hadn’t been as careful as usual. “We’ve never been close.
It’ll be even worse now.”
    “Why is that?”
    “Because of the baby. They weren’t able to
have children. Tilly resented that her sister, my mother, was able
to. It probably didn’t help that once my parents were gone,
Grandmother doted on me. Now that I’m pregnant, it’ll be just one
more reminder.”
    He glanced at her foot, which still rested on
the brake. “So the father doesn’t want the child and your family
will resent it. Seems like quite a burden for the unborn.”
    She pressed her hand to her abdomen. “I’ll
protect my child,” she said. She frankly didn’t care what Tilly and
Louis thought. She’d stopped doing cartwheels for them a long time
ago once she’d figured out it was them and not her that were the
problem.
    “Does your grandmother know that there’s
friction between you and your aunt and uncle?”
    “She knows we’re not great friends but we’re
all very civil to one another. As long as they’re nice to
Grandmother, it’s not important how they feel about me.” It was her
grandmother’s opinion that mattered. The woman had given her a home
and loved her unconditionally. “Look, I’ll admit that it’s not the
best circumstance,” she said, “but I can’t worry about the things I
can’t change. I won’t waste my time.”
    “Speaking of time, shouldn’t we be
going?”
    The enormity of what she was about to do made
her chest hurt. She was about to take a stranger into her family’s
home and pass him off as her husband. More important, from his
perspective, she was about to subject this poor man to an
inquisition better reserved for insurgent rebels. “George, I don’t
think this—”
    Her cell phone rang and she grabbed it out of
her purse. George jerked back and bumped his shoulder against the
car door.
    “Hello,” she said.
    “You’re late. Your grandmother is worried and
Louis and I have plans this afternoon.”
    As usual, Tilly’s voice was loud and just shy
of shrill. Maybe that was why George was staring at the phone like
it was about to sprout wings. “Tilly, please let her know that I’m
close,” Melody said.
    “You know we eat at one o’clock.”
    “I know. I’ll be there in. . .” She looked at
her watch. It would take her another hour by the time she turned
around, dropped George off at the nearest bus station, and
returned. “Go ahead and eat without me,” she said. She’d lost her
appetite anyway.
    “You’re alone?” Her aunt’s voice rose, in
interest and raw speculation.
    “I’m. . .”
    George put his hand on her arm. His skin was
shockingly warm. She looked at him and he was shaking his head.
    She felt sick and dizzy and knew it was
because she was teetering on the edge of reason. Was it really
possible that she could pull this off, that she could convince her
grandmother and the rest of the family that she was a happily
married woman?
    She knew she had to try.
    “I’m showing my husband the grapes,” she
said. “We’ll be along shortly.”
    She heard Tilly’s hiss and then the
connection was gone. “Oh boy,” she said, feeling like her head
wasn’t connected to her body any longer, “now I’ve done it.”
    George sat forward on the seat and grabbed
the door. “We should probably be getting on. You need to have your
noon meal. You’re eating for two now,” he said, his voice even
kinder.
    Melody pounded her fist on the steering
wheel. “Yeah, but, don’t you see? Now you’re stuck. I’m stuck.” She
stopped pounding and pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose,
willing herself not to cry. “I’ve never lied to my grandmother.
Ever. Until now. I. . .” she sucked in a breath, “I don’t want her
to die being disappointed in me.”
    She closed her eyes and focused on breathing
and swallowing. It would be the icing on the cake if she lost her
cookies, or more appropriately, her