Love's Haven

"I'm going to marry you, Mara." "What?" The word didn't make a sound. "What!?" He placed a finger on her lips. "I'll marry you and give Todd's baby a home, medical care, college--whatever both of you need. I'll pay the bills, the insurance premiums, the creditors. I'll put the baby in my will. I'll do everything. Whatever you want." "You're crazy." Balanced on a scale in her tiny bathroom, Mara stared up at the man in the doorway. Brock Barnett looked as he always had. Six feet, four inches tall. Two hundred pounds. Black hat. Black hair. Gray shirt. Wrangler jeans a little worn at the knees. Black boots. Nothing about him had changed. He even acted the same. Moments ago, he had barged into her apartment and demanded to know why she hadn't told him about her pregnancy. When she mentioned the difficulty of seeing over her stomach to weigh herself, he had propelled her into the bathroom and onto the scale. "I went to the county clerk's office this morning to check on the license," he informed Mara. "I've already been to the lab for my blood test. Now we have to get yours, and we're set." "But that's!that's--" "I'll manage Todd's company until we find a buyer," he went on. "I've already talked to the project director at the Bureau of Land Management. Dr. Long said the restoration of Fort Selden is on hold while they iron out the legal details of Todd's contract. I told him I'd find a capable person to take over." "In Las Cruces, New Mexico?" she snapped, suddenly furious at his cockiness. "You think you can findhistoric restoration company?" "Sure. Why not?" His brown eyes, like dark, wet oak, searched her face. "You're nuts. Get out of my bathroom." "The moving company gave me a date to box up your stuff. You can live in the west wing of the ranch house. There's a room for the baby, and you can use the Lincoln-- I'm always in either the pickup or the Jag. We'll fence the swimming pool, and I plan to turn the weight room into an indoor playground with a seesaw and one of those nifty little--" "Brock!" Mara pushed his chest. It felt like a granite wall. "Stop. You're rambling. You're scaring me." "Scaring you?" "I'm not going anywhere. This apartment is my home. This is where Todd and I!we!" She couldn't start crying. Not in front of this man. She had the horrible realization she might want him to hold her. "Just move, so I can get off this scale." "I'm not going anywhere until you listen to me." "You can't trap me in my own bathroom!" "Looks like I already did." He gave her a smile more tender than brash. "Come on, Mara. Hear me out." "I heard you, Brock. You're talking nonsense." He propped one booted foot on the edge of the bathtub beside a novel she had been reading, and then he lifted his eyes to Mara's face. "You'd give up the chance to drive a brand-new car?" "Of course I would." "How about a big house with two maids and a French chef?" "Forget it. Look, I told you--" "Free medical care?" "I can take care of! I can get help." She searched for an escape, just as she had every day in the past months. Only blunt reality emerged--haunting her, nipping at her heels like a hungry wolf. Orphaned at six, Mara had been raised in a series of foster homes until she turned eighteen. During her teen years, the Division of Family Services had placed her with a godly family who had taken her to church on Sundays and to youth group meetings on Wednesday evenings. This family had been different from the others she had lived with, and Mara came to understand why. Soon, she committed her own life to Christ, clinging to Him through the upheaval of the ensuing years. But never had she experienced anything like the turmoil and pain of her husband's death. Consumed with grief, Mara took comfort in only one thing. Todd had been a faithful Christian, a true man of God. Now he was in heavePalmer, Catherine is the author of 'Love's Haven ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373785964 and ISBN 0373785968.