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"I thought--"

"It's too soon, sweetheart"

"It's been three years" Her desire for a child had grown progressively stronger in the months Ian had been at sea It nant again, but she'd done that and found a wonderful job "I'ed "I'nant" He zipped his pants and picked up his shirt, yanking it on and shoving his arms into the sleeves He fastened the buttons with record speed and scooped the car keys froht; she should've mentioned it earlier They'd communicated almost daily via e-mail, and phone calls whenever possible There'd been a before his arrival home

Ian walked out of the bedrooht there," he said, pointing in her direction

"Where are you going?"

His laugh ith istore Stay where you are, okay? I'll be back before you know it"

It felt as if the sun had disappeared behind a dark cloud

Perhaps, deep down, Cecilia had known this would be Ian's reaction Her husband was afraid of another pregnancy, afraid of what it would do to her physically and what it ht do to them as a couple

Cecilia understood why he felt that way because she'd faced those same fears herself She'd believed--or wanted to believe--that Ian, too, had

Three

With a sense of joy and celebration, Maryellen Sherman carried the heavy cardboard box out of her rental house and set it in the trunk of her car Soon she'd be living with Jon Bowman--married to him

After all this time it hardly seemed possible The barriers between theuise her love for his for each other The er put aside

Jon folloith a second box, which he set next to the first He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, silently letting her kno pleased he was that they were finally going to be together for good

Katie, their nine-hter, slept contentedly in her crib as they brought another load out to the car, then hurried back inside the house Maryellen realized they only had a few hter woke Most of her belongings weren't even packed

"That's it for now?" Jon asked, hands on hips as he glanced around the living room

"I'll have more later," she pro She'd lived in this rental house for alth of tih clothes and books-- what to keep, what to give away or throw out--had already taken weeks

"How much more?" A note of weariness entered Jon's voice

"Lots Do you want to pack up a few boxes now?" She was thinking she should probably fill up the back seat of her car before they caravanned to his hoet you permanently in my house" He sounded as iet there" She stepped into the coure out what else they should take with the had never see

"Did you talk to yourdate?"

"She thinks Memorial Day is perfect" Maryellen held back a smile She suspected her momer was just plain relieved that she and Jon had actually decided to tie the knot Since they already had a child together, a cere past due, in Grace Sherman's opinion

"You're sure you don't ?"

Maryellen shook her head She opened the refrigerator and took out a tall pitcher of iced tea She'd had all the gla had been lovely, theand naive; the divorce, a year later, had left her reeling e time

Twelve years after that, when she'd ain In the beginning, she'd spurned hi she could think of to keep hiht back on everything she'd said and done

Jon got two glasses froetting any bargain in the husband departer that flared in her was too hot to be denied "If you ever say that to ain, I swear I'll I'll make you suffer"

A smile briefly softened Jon's sharp features He wasn't a handso-limbed with dark hair and intense brown eyes And he was quite possibly the rapher she'd ever encountered His work hung in one of the best Seattle galleries and his nanition

"You know everything now," he said and lowered his head, avoiding eye contact

"You know everything about me, too," she reminded him

They both had their secrets, painful bits and pieces from their pasts Now they had each other and, for the first time since her divorce, Maryellen felt she could heal the unresolved griefs of that e She kneas their pasts that had kept the, they'd been draard each other fro, but the secrets they'd so desperately wanted to hide had almost torn them apart

"You're not the one with a prison record," Jonhis hand, Maryellen raised it to her lips "I consider it one of s that I'll be your wife Until I " That ht sound melodramatic, but she hten the kitchen, and she slipped her arainst him "The truth is, I can't wait to spend the rest of htened around her as she felt a sigh ruh his chest "It's a little silly, don't you think, you living here until after the wedding?"