“Of course not! I said no.”
In truth, Maggie hadn't given Jonah any kind of an answer and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. The whole idea of her marrying a complete stranger was ridiculous. She may have messed up her life, but there was still this part of her that held on to the dream of an old fashioned church wedding. Jonah had called it a business arrangement, but even he'd admitted the idea was crazy.
“Was he good looking?”
“Yes,” she admitted a little too quickly.
“And he has money.”
“So it seems.”
“A good looking, wealthy man asked you to marry him and you said no?” Rhonda flung her hands in the air and let them fall weightlessly to her side. “What has gotten into you? Did you forget that there is going to be a baby arriving in five months?”
“It's kind of hard for me to forget with all the throwing up I've done.”
Rhonda shook her head. She remained firm, but her tone and expression softened. “I don't think you understand what this can do for you and the baby, honey. Have you even thought this through?”
“Would you listen to yourself? I just met the man. I can't marry someone I met less than two hours ago.”
Stabbing a finger at her, Rhonda said, “So you get to know him. Fast. Besides, I knew your father for three years and look where it got us.”
Maggie shook her head. “It's not the same thing. You had a relationship. You were in love.” At least that's what her mother had always told her when she asked about her father.
“People have arranged marriages all the time. Your grandmother, God rest her soul, had an arranged marriage before she came over from Italy.”
“This is different and you know it. We're not trading land or goats here for me to marry Jonah Wallace.”
Rhonda's eyes widened, becoming full of life and she stopped pacing back and forth in front of Maggie. “Did you say Jonah Wallace?”
Maggie chewed on the last bite of her sandwich and took a sip of lemonade before answering. “Yeah, Jonah Wallace. He works in the office building across the street from the diner.”
“The Jonah Wallace. Tall. English. Rich. Incredibly handsome.”
She couldn't argue with the handsome part and the English accent had done things to her in some foolish way that reminded her of when she was young and had her crush on Bruce Espinoza. Her first boyfriend. Bruce had gone on to finish top of his class at Boston College and marry his high school sweetheart, Lori Nolen, in a wedding that had her parents remortgaging their house. Last she heard, Lori was pregnant too and Lori and Bruce just moved into a home east of Boston.
Maggie sighed as envy stabbed her. “Don't tell me you've heard of Jonah Wallace?”
“I can't believe you haven't! His family is one of the wealthiest families in England. He has more money than the Queen.”
“How would I know that?”
“You wouldn't, because you never read the Sunday paper,” Rhonda said, rifling through a neat stack of newspapers in the corner of the living room. “I know I saw an article in The Boston Globe a while back. Here, here it is.”
She blew out an exasperated breath as Rhonda skimmed through a section of the newspaper, pulled a page out and thrust the page in front of Maggie’s face. At the top of the page was a picture of Jonah standing at a podium. He was dressed in a black suit and tie, much like he was wearing today.
It had only been a short time since Jonah had driven off, but already her memory of him did no justice to the man. Even in a newsprint-smudged paper, Maggie could see the presence Jonah commanded. Whatever he'd been speaking about when the snapshot had been taken, he was clearly passionate about.
She shook her head slightly, dragging her gaze from the picture to the writing beneath. Skimming the article she learned it had something to do with a fund raising event scheduled in the coming weeks aimed at raising money for a halfway house for street kids. The new foundation was a parallel to the successful organization Jonah had started in England over ten years earlier. The article went on to praise Jonah and mentioned how he and another member of the organization were knighted by the Queen for their outstanding work.
Her heart warmed, thinking of the man who'd dragged himself out of the heat into her coffee shop, asking to use the telephone.
“I can't marry a man I don't love,” Maggie said, dropping the newspaper on the end table next to her.
Rhonda took Maggie's hand in both of hers and squeezed it gently. “Don't be a foolish romantic like your grandmother.”
With the mention of her grandmother, Maggie's heart pinched as it always did. If her grandmother were alive today, they'd be sitting there talking about the good times to come, sharing excitement over the baby, picking out names and making plans. Her grandmother wouldn’t be chastising her for making the biggest mistake of her life by getting pregnant before marriage. She’d be telling her this baby was a gift from God and that the Lord had a reason for wanting this child born, even if Maggie couldn’t see it.
Maggie choked back a sob. “I really miss her, Mom.”
“Me, too, honey.” Rhonda's own voice broke with emotion. “But you can't think the way she did. It's just not practical.”
Rhonda sat down on the sofa and gently draped her arm around Maggie's shoulder, giving her a warm embrace. Normally their roles were reversed and Maggie was the one offering comfort. Especially after her grandmother's death. Now she was glad for this brief moment to relinquish control to her mother.
“Life isn't about love and heaven forbid marriage be, Maggie. It's about getting along. If you marry a man like Jonah Wallace, you and the baby will want for nothing.”
“It wouldn't be right.”
“Why not? There's no reason for history to repeat itself. Believe it or not, I know how you feel. But this isn't just about what you want anymore. You have a baby to consider.”
Maggie hated to admit it, but her mother had a point. The time for waiting for the right man and falling in love before having a family was long past. All those dreams she’d had of a church wedding, a man who’d vow to love her meant nothing now. Her baby was on the way without her knight in shining armor. And here she had her very own surrogate knight stepping in to do the honors.
Of course, Jonah knew nothing about the baby.
“I'm tired. I'm going to go lay down.”
To Maggie's great relief, Rhonda didn't press the issue any further. She didn't know if she had the strength left to sort everything out.
“You need all the rest you can get,” Rhonda said instead.
She kissed her mother on the cheek before easing off the sofa, and pulled herself down the hallway to her bedroom. Once there, she stripped her clothes and searched for something big and cool to wear. Her slightly rounded belly was getting larger by the moment, and Maggie suspected that one morning she'd wake up to find nothing in her closet fit her.
She kept hearing her mother's words in her head. Life isn't about love and heaven forbid marriage be. It's about getting along.
Maggie didn't want to live her life embittered like her mother had. Growing up she had watched as her mother struggled alone, rarely dating and never finding happiness in a relationship. As she'd grown from a child to a woman, Maggie always wondered if her mother would have been different if she'd found comfort and love in a good man's embrace instead of living her life alone.
Probably so, Maggie decided. Things would have been drastically different. Maybe her mother would have married, and Maggie would have had a father to call her own. Instead, she'd grown up fatherless, just like her baby would.
A lone tear trickled down her warm cheek. Her emotions were always on edge lately. She ached for her grandmother's arms, but she always seemed to feel her presence whenever she was blue and that gave her great comfort. Her grandmother, a devote Christian woman, had a way of buffering her mother's bitterness toward men and allowed Maggie to believe in the power of love. Love of a man, love of the Lord. She ne
eded her grandmother now more than ever to help her see the possibilities of life again.
Rummaging through her dresser, she pulled out an oversize college tee shirt and put it on before crawling into bed. As tired as she was, Maggie didn't think it would take much for sleep to claim her. But she tossed and turned in the heat, kicking at the blankets at the foot of her bed.
Give me a sign, Lord, she prayed silently, the way her grandmother had taught her to do when she was feeling lost. I need to know what to do.
She reached down and pulled at the fan-designed quilt her grandmother had lovingly stitched for her before she was born. She drew the blanket to her chest, not caring about the heat, but needing the warmth of having her grandmother close.
“Give me a sign, Lord,” she whispered, swallowing a sob. “Should I call him? Am I being selfish to hold out for a man who'll love me and my baby forever?”
Maggie swiped her cheeks to rid them of her tears.
“And the baby? How am I going to raise a baby all by myself? Am I crazy to even consider this?”
With those questions spinning through her brain, she fell asleep with tears clinging to her cheeks and thoughts of Jonah whirling around the recesses of her mind. She woke in the early hours as the cool morning air filtered into the room through the window fan. She clung to the worn quilt, mulling the same words over in her mind. Daylight teased the room, making objects on her dresser stretch in distorted shadows along the wall.
Deep inside, Maggie felt a slight flutter, a tickle that she'd never felt before. Startled, she sat up with a start and clutched her middle. There it was again! It was like a feather brushing against the inside of her skin. Soft, delicate, but unmistakably real.
In that instant, Maggie knew exactly what, or rather who, it was. It was her baby giving her a gentle reminder that she was not alone. Her baby was with her.
Maggie had prayed for a sign and there it was. She couldn't just think about herself anymore. She had a child to think about. Although the coffee shop was doing well, it required a tremendous amount of her time and energy. She worried about whether she would be compromising her child by being away for so long.
She didn't have a choice on that front. Like so many single parents, she had to work to support herself and her baby. But she could certainly do everything in her power to make her child's life as easy as possible. And that also meant giving him a father. Even if it was only for a short time.
She closed her eyes and whispered with trembling lips, “Thank you.”
* * *
Jonah sat in the stillness of his eighth floor office and tossed the card he'd just received from Catherine on the rich mahogany desk. His weary sigh sounded much louder than it would have if his staff was present and the normal commotion of the workday was alive and kicking around him to drown his distress.
But he was alone. As unsettling as it was at the moment, it was something he was used to.
Catherine's note was to the point. She apologized profusely for her untimely departure, and included the keys to his Mercedes so he could retrieve the car at the airport. She'd cashed in the tickets to Australia and was thrilled to inform Jonah that she and Derek had flown to Vegas to elope last night.
Oh, if it were only that easy for him.
He couldn't really blame Catherine for following her heart. Deep down, he was truly happy for her. It had shattered her when Derek had gotten cold feet and walked out on her several months before their wedding. She'd admitted in her letter that she'd agreed to marry Jonah not for the money, but to force Derek to come to his senses.
Unfortunately for Jonah, it had.
But as happy as he was for Catherine, her little scheme made a huge dent in his plans. He needed a wife. And he only had one week left. If he hadn't spent so much time preparing for a wedding with Catherine, maybe he could have developed a relationship with another woman.
Who was he kidding? The whole idea was preposterous. Lord only knew what his grandfather's motives were for insisting he take a wife before inheriting Wiltshire. The sheer nature of his decision was archaic by today's standards.
But it was legal, Jonah thought with a groan. The property, while in the Wallace family for over three hundred years, could be sold without any of the family members' consent. There wasn't a thing Jonah could do to get around it.
And while the prospect of buying Wiltshire himself with his own money was an option, his grandfather had made it utterly clear he'd refuse any offer Jonah made. There was only one way Jonah could keep his family's birthright. He had to agree to his grandfather's terms and get married.
He lifted the set of keys that were delivered by courier that morning, and dangled them between his fingers before dropping them on Catherine's letter of resignation. In her note, she advised she'd taken the liberty of using the tickets to Australia as severance pay. She wished him luck and hoped she hadn't caused him too much trouble.
And Catherine was very sorry.
Yeah, Jonah was sorry, too. Not only was he out a much needed wife to complete the agreement with his grandfather, he was now out of a secretary right before one of the biggest fundraising events for his foundation.
His staff would be back in a few days and they'd be able to whip everything into shape. But until then, the office was stagnant. He may as well start looking at the paperwork for the charity dinner he'd pushed aside to plan for the wedding.
He'd reread the same memo twice before an outer office door opening jarred his thoughts.
“Hello? Is anyone here?”
Jonah’s heart kicked into gear. She'd actually come here? He didn't have to hear her speak again to know that it was Maggie. Maybe he hadn't made such a bumbling idiot of himself after all.
He'd gone home yesterday convinced Maggie would call the police if he so much as stepped foot in her coffee shop again. How could the woman take him seriously after such an absurd scene?
But now she was here. There was hope of a solution to his problem after all.
Jonah bolted from his desk, his chair almost tipping over with the quick motion, and quickly strode to the open office door.
Maggie stood near Catherine's neat-as-a-pin desk, her face bewildered as she perused the vacant office. In her hands, she held a full pie plate with both hands. From the sweet scent that wafted toward him, he was sure it was still warm. And most definitely blueberry.
Her gaze finally reached the open doorway where he stood, and she started. She was wearing a cleaner version of the uniform she'd worn the day before, her dark hair again pulled back into a tight ponytail. But her eyes as well as her whole face smiled when she looked at him.
She held out the pie plate to him. “My grandmother always said that a way to a man's thinking is through his stomach.”
“Heart.”
Her brows crinkled, but her eyes smiled up at him just the same. “Excuse me?”
“I believe the saying is a way to a man's heart--”
“Is through his stomach. That's right.” She lifted the pie and then settled it on the desk in front of her.
“Anyway, it's for you.”
Jonah rested his shoulder against the doorjamb and folded his arms across his chest. He watched her gaze follow his movement. “You're here to bring me some pie?”
“Yes. Well, partly,” she said quickly. “I told Virginia what you said about the pie yesterday and she was tickled pink. She baked it special for you.”
“I'll have to remember to thank her twice then.”
Maggie glanced around the office until her gaze locked with his. Her lips were full of color, as if she'd just applied a fresh coating of lipstick before coming over. He had a small hint of satisfaction that maybe she'd done it for his benefit. Although, he couldn't imagine why.
“You work alone in this big office?”
“I gave the staff the day off. I hadn't planned on being here myself with the wedding yesterday.” He shrugged. Nothing more needed to be said about yesterday.
Maggie n
ibbled on her bottom lip before taking a quick breath.
“Were you serious?”
“About us getting married?”
She nodded.
“Absolutely. Although to be quite honest I didn't think I'd ever see you again after the way I behaved yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, I'm just as surprised to be here as you are to see me,” she said, chuckling.
“Have some coffee?”
“Ah, no,” she said, shaking her head.
“Of course, you probably have your fill of it at the shop. Why don't you come in to my office and we can talk?”
“Actually, I can't stay.”
Jonah took one long stride through his office door, stopped abruptly, and angled back. “You mean you really just came by to deliver the pie?”
Maggie thumbed toward the door. “I have to get back to the coffee shop. It was a quiet when I left, but Virginia and Kelsey are alone and if it picks up it'll be tough to handle. Especially for Kelsey since she just started working mornings with Virginia. Oh, and I know I'm babbling.”
She covered her face with her hand and laughed. Her laughter faded almost as quickly as it came.
“Are you still...looking?”
Jonah nodded and smiled. She was nervous, that much was evident by the way she jiggled the change in her apron and rolled the pencil between her fingers as she stood there. He could also tell she'd given some serious thought to his inept proposal yesterday. And maybe, just maybe, she was considering it.
He smiled inwardly, his spirits suddenly lifting a bit higher.
“I've been thinking about what you said yesterday. And...I think this offer could be good for both of us, but I want us to spend some time together first. You know? Something like this should be discussed face to face.”
“I agree completely.”
“Do you like the Red Sox?”
He'd intended for the two of them to go into his office to talk, but she switched subjects so quickly, Jonah had to stop and think. “Uh, baseball. Yes, I enjoy the game.”
“Me, too. I'll meet you at the front gate of Fenway for the afternoon game.” Maggie started to turn away.
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