“I do,” she said softly.

“Then let’s work through this,” he said.

“Please be patient,” she said with a sniff. “Please remember, I’ve been here before. It was very painful. I got over it, like we do, but I sure don’t want to do it again.”

“Huh?”

“I loved a guy my whole life. My whole life. He decided he just couldn’t get married, he just wasn’t ready, he needed to live a little. Rob, I begged him. I hung on to him, crying and pleading. He had to peel me off him so he could leave. It was not only painful, it was humiliating. I couldn’t do that again.”

His gaze was intense. “Being part of a team isn’t always easy but there’s one thing I can guarantee. As long as we’re trying, I will not give up. If it doesn’t work, odds are you’ll have to peel me away.” He was quiet for a long moment. “You’re thinking about that guy who broke your heart and I’ve been thinking about something else. I lost my wife when the kids were young. Your mother died in a freak medical accident when you were four years old. If something happened to you, God forbid, who’s going to raise your child?”

The look on her face said she was stricken at the thought.

“Your elderly aunt? Your boyfriend from down the street?”

She couldn’t even respond. The very idea was too horrific.

“I think it would be better for all of us if we were all in the same canoe. Just think about that while you’re considering all the options. Eat your dinner,” he said. “Then I’ll hold you for a little while.”

They ate dinner quietly. Leigh asked about the boys, Rob asked about Helen, they exchanged small bits of news about people in town. They washed the dishes together. Then Rob led her to the couch and held her as he promised. She leaned against him and took comfort in his strong arms.

“I love you,” he whispered, kissing her temple.

“There is something seriously wrong with me,” she said miserably. “I want to be with you. And I’m still very nervous about that.”

“Maybe you should see someone about this,” he said. “A counselor? Before the baby starts school?”

“Please don’t stay away from me anymore,” she said. “I think it helps to see you.”

“I’ll be around,” he said. “But I’m saving myself for marriage.”

Leigh was a little blue, feeling like she was screwing up everyone’s lives by not being more decisive, more willing. But at least Rob had spent some time with her, listening to her, talking to her. Then a few days later, she felt the flutters of movement in her womb and she was mesmerized. She sat very still, waiting for more.

From the second she found out she was pregnant she had been in love with her baby, but on this day she knew it was alive in a way she hadn’t before. She was at the clinic and, during a lull, she called Eleanor and Gretchen into her office.

“I didn’t want to say anything too soon, but you should know. I’m pregnant.”

Eleanor nearly screamed, Gretchen let out a whoop and there was a group hug. And of course the first thing they wanted to know was whether she’d be getting married.

“We’re working out some details,” she said. “There are complications. Like my house is too small, his house is packed to the rafters and I don’t see how he’ll ever fit me in there. He has two sons and I have an aunt.”

“I can see the dilemma,” Eleanor said. “You’re going from one family of two and another family of three to a joined family of six.”

Every time she thought about things like that, she felt paralyzed. She wasn’t that committed to the little house she rented. She really needed to talk to Helen. Helen would help her see this situation clearly. The fact that she hadn’t said anything so far to shine the light on this murky problem never occurred to Leigh.

* * *

Helen had a nice dinner on Sully’s porch, though the August weather was hot and humid.

“I look forward to fall,” Sully told her. “When the weather cools, we’ll have a fire. That’s how Cal wooed my daughter—he’d go down by the lake, start a fire and she couldn’t resist. She’d bring him a beer and sit by the fire with him.” He laughed at the memory.

“Sounds perfect,” Helen said.

“Any progress with Leigh?” he asked.

“Yes, I think so,” she said hopefully. “She’s gone to Rob’s house to have dinner with him and the boys a few times. She must be checking out the atmosphere. She hasn’t mentioned any drama. Everything seems to be fine. I think that’s good news.”

“She still feeling okay?” he asked.

“Sully, I’ve never seen her more radiant. Like this whole pregnancy is agreeing with her. And yet...” Helen just shook her head. “Rob was out of town with Finn for a few days and she admitted she missed him. Soon he’ll move Finn to Boulder to begin school.”

“I’ll have a big crowd in here for Labor Day weekend,” Sully said. “Always do. Then it slows down a lot. There are the fall leaf peepers and hunters. Almost time for the elk to move to lower, warmer elevation and start the whole rutting season. That gets noisy.”

“I can’t wait,” she said. “Then snow,” she said. And the thought made her shiver.

“Relax,” he said. “I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“I should be going,” she said. “Get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I wish you could just stay.”

“So do I,” she said. “I’ll get Leigh settled. Then things will be much more relaxed.”

When Helen got home, the lights were on. She would have expected to find Leigh either watching TV or reading in bed, but she was up. Waiting.

“Auntie,” she said, her cheeks rosy and her eyes bright. “I felt the baby today! Just those first little flutters, but it’s wonderful.” She ran her hands over her tummy.

“How nice,” Helen said. “I’m going to make a cup of tea. Can I get you one?”

“Perfect. You spend so much time with Sully, we haven’t had any time to really talk.”

“Do you have breaking news, miss?” Helen asked, smiling as she fired up the kettle.

“Nothing besides the baby moving.”

“Have you and Rob figured anything out?”

She laughed softly. “He’s putting the pressure on. But there’s no getting around the fact that I haven’t known him long.”

“You’ve known him for a year, Leigh.”

“But despite the fact that I’m four months pregnant, I’ve only really known him about five months. We might’ve known each other, superficially, but we weren’t even friends.”

“I’d say your friendship got off to a roaring start,” Helen said.

“I know,” Leigh said. “One official date and bam. I don’t think I ever got involved that quickly before. Where was my brain?”

“But are you sorry? I was under the impression you’re very fond of him.”

“I am. Of course I am. But is that enough? I don’t know.”

“Hmm,” Helen said, dunking tea bags in both cups. “Ordinarily I’d agree with you, but the two of you have some extenuating circumstances. There happens to be a child involved.”

“But we’re capable of doing an excellent job with this child without rushing to commitment. My mother wasn’t married and I think I had an excellent upbringing.”

Helen frowned. “Leigh, your mother was eighteen. And she had no one but me. She didn’t have a capable man who loved her. Your father, whoever he is, didn’t step up. She didn’t give me too many details, possibly to keep me from hunting him down and kicking his ass. Her heart was broken. By the time you were a few months old, she accepted that the two of you were probably better off. He was a loser. He was also a child, like your mother. I hold the hope that as he matured he became a better man, but I’ll never know.”

“But we did fine,” Leigh said, taking her tea to the living room. She sat in the overstuffed chair, her feet up on the ottoman.

Helen chuckled. “Fine? I wouldn’t expect you to be aware of the finer details, given you were a child. We got by, but it was far from easy.”

“But better than it would have been had she insisted on making a life with my father, who you called a loser.”

“He might’ve had some fine qualities I was unaware of, but I never knew anything about him and I don’t know anything about his family, if he even had one! But never mind that, I think she would have chosen him over living with me, if that had been an option. It wouldn’t have been a good choice.”

“She chose you and stability,” Leigh said. “She was sure of you even if she wasn’t sure of him. And because she did, I had a good life. We were a very good team.”

“Oh, mercy,” Helen said. “There are no similarities between your mother’s situation and yours. None. You are thirty-four with a successful career, involved with a mature, responsible man who loves you. And I think you love him.”

“Oh, I do, for what it’s worth,” she said, sipping her tea. “In fact, I might end up married to Rob one day. You said not to do anything unless I was sure. That’s good advice.”

“When I said that, I meant that you should work at being sure. You weigh all the possibilities and choose the one that is most acceptable. If you need a definition of that—either decide you’ll share parenting responsibilities and nothing else or get together and do it together.”

“Right now I think it’s best I not move in with Rob or marry him.”

“How will you manage?” Helen asked imploringly. “You’re a busy doctor. Not as busy as you were in Chicago, but just the same...”

“We’ll manage. We always have.”