“You didn’t leave without saying goodbye?” He covered his face. The implications of his words hit hard. The few bites she had taken felt like rocks in her stomach.Oh, my God! No wonder he is so mad.“All this time you thought I left without leaving you an explanation?”
“Yeah.” He answered.
Tears stung her eyes and poured like a waterfall as she spoke. “I would never have done that to you.”
Samuel slowly dropped his hands from his face. Hannah was in shock. How could he not have known? “Han-uel, I loved you so much! I left for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes. You were going to marry me and walk away from your family’s church to be with me. Golgota Hanbit was your family legacy. I didn’t want you to make that kind of sacrifice for me. It was too much.”
“What are you talking about? I never had to make a choice between you and the church. Even if I did, it was my choice to make.”
The couple spent the night talking. They discovered how Hannah had misheard a few conversations and pieced them together. She genuinely thought he would be forced to give up his rightful position as the head of his family church if he chose her. Hannah thought she was making the ultimate sacrifice by walking away, so he didn’t have to.
They had lost so much time because of misunderstandings. Samuel and Hannah were determined not to allow the mistakes of the past cost them anymore time. They were willing to have tough conversations. They made healing their top priority. Their relationship was stronger for it. They agreed to open communication. Lately, Hannah hadn’t been holding up her end of the bargain. She was afraid something was physically wrong with her. When she got home, she would come clean with him. Samuel would want to be there for any test. She didn’t want to put him through any heartache, but it was better than the alternative of him finding out later and being angry.
“Hey sleepy head.” Lisabeth came into the living room and plopped down beside her on the sofa. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.”
“Just, okay?” Lisabeth pressed. Hannah nodded.
Her mother-in-law came into the living room with a tray. “Here, I brought you some bone marrow broth. It will help with the tiredness.” Hannah mentioned to her last week how tired she was. Her mother followed with a glass of water. They were babying her, and it made her feel more worried. The women sat and looked at her pointedly until she drank the clear soup from the mug.
“How are you feeling?” Her mother-in-law asked. She looked at the women in the room and it definitely felt like they knew something she didn’t know.
“I’m okay.” She answered slowly.
“And you feel better after your nap?” Hannah nodded. “This broth is not homemade. I will make you some from scratch. It will help. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.”
“Well, it has been a while for you.” Her mother laughed.
“Was it like this for you with both girls?”
“No, just miss trouble over there.” Her mother pointed to Lisabeth.
“For me, it was my first.” Samuel’s mom added. What on earth were they talking about? “When did your exhaustion stop?” she asked Hannah’s mom.
“The night they got married.” More laughter. These women were having a laugh fest, and she had no idea what they were talking about. Her brow wrinkled in frustration.
“Mom?” Lisabeth called, “I don’t think she knows.”
“Of course she does.” Her mother turned towards her. “Don’t you?”
“Know what?” Hannah asked in exasperation.
“That you’re pregnant, silly girl.”
“But I’m not.”
All the occupants in the room turned indulgent eyes on her. It was her mother-in-law who sat beside her and patted her knees. “You are so tired. More tired than you’ve ever been in your life?”
Hannah nodded. That was, after all, how she felt. “Your breasts are larger. Sometimes it feels like someone punched you in them?”
All her focus had been on the exhaustion. Hannah had failed to pay attention to the other signs. She nodded again.
“You’ve been crying at the drop of a hat,” Lisabeth added.
